Chapter Forty-Five → I got something to say you know but nothing comes, yes I know what you think of me, you never shut up

Life wasn't too overly complicated for the family, there was tv watching.

Tea parties.

Imagination play.

And even when things happen that would have been considered 'stressful', they were usually taken care of quickly.

Even when the family was hit with the sudden loss of Tamara's older brother Michael and his wife, followed by her two cousins a week later, the managed to rally together and continue on. 

Audra had been working at the theater for a while with a bunch of old friends from high school, but when one of her co-workers made a harmless invite of coffee to the commitment phobic girl, she quit. Besides, she had other things she needed to consecrate on. No, not Kung Fu, even though she still spent too much time on that.

It was the black arts that was her new found interest, or the white arts, grey arts, whatever the hell color you wanna call 'em arts. She's not trying to make a statement people, she's just bewitching! Although she was desperately lacking a black cat.

"Witchcraft?" Jarvis asked one morning while he was about to start another project, Audra meditating a few feet from him. They were usually the only people in the house in the mornings and the only ones awake past midnight, so they spent a lot of time together, talking.

"Alchemy." She clarified.

"There's a difference?"

"It's more like chemistry,  just slightly more.... mystical?"

"Uh-huh." Jarvis said with a nod as he stared at his blank canvas, unable to find a muse.

"I found your old Grimoire." Audra said after a beat.

Jarvis paused, looking over at his daughter who was attempting to be 'zen' whatever the hell that meant. "Lyla's Grimoire of fay magic was passed down for centuries, you'll barely be able to read it let alone do anything with it, your blood is too diluted, my blood is too diluted even Lyla herself could barely use it." He said, calling his mother by her first name. There had never been a time when he called her 'mother' around his children, or called her their grandmother.

"So i'm not allowed to touch it?" Audra asked, peeking at him out of the corner of one not so closed eye.

"Just don't put a coffee cup down on it."

It was that conversation that lead Audra into Ghost Hunting, figuring if she found the right one, an ancient with a kind heart, perhaps it could boots her readings. Of course hunting the dead was less fabulous than it sounded, it actually ended up being a lot like Ghostbusters. "Alexandria! Stop shouting and get outta here! Ugh, leg go of my god damn leg you pain!"

While Audra was off doing god knows what for god knows why, her children were having their own identity crisis. "What is we're mutants!? Like one of those zombie movies?" Trista seemed obsessed with the fact they she and her brother were different than the other fay children in town. They were paler, shinier and had eyes like a cat.

"We're not mutants, or zombies!" Tommy said with an exasperated sigh, he really was getting tired of his sister's crackpot ideas.

"We could start eating brains!"

Tommy: *sighs*

"Don't worry Tommy, i'd never eat your brain." Trista assured as she rather randomly pulled him into a hug, the boy just patting her on the back. He worried about her sometimes, she watched too much tv. Hopefully the slumber party that they were having that night would give her something else to think about.

Tommy even broke his rule of not going outside, giving his complete dislike of clean air and sunshine, and played in the backyard with Trista too keep her mind off of zombies and mutants and anything else. It worked, for about five seconds.

"Maybe we're aliens, from a planet like Mars of Pluto or something." Trista said as they played on the seesaw.

Tommy rolled his eyes. "We're not aliens. And Pluto isn't a planet, it's a moon."

"Well that's gonna have to be my first job when i get back to my home planet of Pluto, telling the universe that it's not a moon! It's my home, a great home too, i bet." Trista was a little odd.

There were times Tommy felt like she would drive him crazy, usually a good temper tantrum to blow off some steam calmed him down.

And if not, well there were other ways to blow off steam. "Tommy! You are so grounded and i'm cancelling your slumber party!"

Okay, so she didn't cancel his party or ground him, but it could have been because she had to leave for work just before all the children arrived and didn't come home until they were all asleep.

That Monday, when the children were at school, Tamara at work and Audra was upstairs sleeping, Jarvis was surprised by a visit from his eldest son. "I need to talk to Audra." Andrew said, fidgeting slightly.

"Why? What's this about Andrew?" Jarvis asked.

"It's about the kids, I may have, I mean, I'm pretty sure.... I may have found out who their father is."

Jarvis was blank for a moment before a very serious look came over his face. "Who is it?"

"It's... I mean, I dunno."

"Who is it!?" Jarvis demanded.

"Why, what are you going to do old man? You going to try and take on a roid raging vampire who's twice the size of me?"

"Don't you try and protect him." Jarvis said, having always know that whoever had done it had been one of Andrew's friends. 

"Oh, piss off!" The younger man scoffed, going to walk past his father and toward the stairs, only he didn't expect Jarvis to grab his arm, or to be that strong.

"This has always been as much as it was your fault as it was anyone elses and yet you never cared!" He waved an angry finger in Andrew's face. "You might as well have given her the drink yourself!"

"Oh spare me the malfeasance act officer." Andrew mocked his father. "It was a party, she knew what she was doing."

"Is that what you tell yourself at night? Is that how you live the way you live? I hear things, i know what you do Andrew. You filthy gigolo!" Andrew just gave a little 'heh' laugh at his father's name calling. "She was your baby sister, it was your job to protect her, to protect them. Not sell them out to the highest bidder!"

"Get out!" Jarvis ordered. "I don't want to see your face again." With Andrew's departure, Jarvis thought that was that, he'd never have to worry about the creature he use to call a son sullying his doorstep again....

Perhaps they had been too loud, perhaps she had been to quiet. Either way, she knew. And somewhere deep in the back of the depths of her mind, Audra knew, more than anything, she needed Andrew's help.

Chapter Notes:

DUN DUN DAAA! In case you were wondering, this is the classic case of 'cure the vampirism' i'm doing here, it's been done to death in legacies, i'm aware but i knew i didn't want my heir living too long, they live too long as it is lol. Attention span, gnat like, remember this. Also, when the fluck, yes fluck, did the vampires stop skilling faster than everyone else!? I haven't played a vampire since before Gen came out, so obviously they fixed something that wasn't even borked! How about getting off your asses and fixing Bridgeport guys, leave the shit that people like, alones! Anyway, yes, rant over.

I may post another chapter tonight, i may not. It's a million degrees in my apartment (no AC) and it's super uncomfortable so my inability to sleep might lead to another update. Or i might continue combining packages, either way, whatever. Seriously, it takes like 20 minutes for my game to load up, it was combined the packages or stop using CC, obviously i had no choice, combining it is!

Also, blooper pic!

It's Andrew's 'i gotta poop!' face, yes, i am a 12 year old boy at heart :P

Oh! And i am well aware that i keep switching up the form of martial arts Audra does, i know Kung Fu, Karate and Tae Kown Do are all different forms and not the exact same thing, but i'm a stupid Westerner, lets chalk it up to that and not that i can never remember which one it's suppose to be in the game.