Mathieu (White Flame Trilogy) (49 page)

He punched her shoulder lightly, "For you Avian...anything. I wouldn't dream of hurting your mom. She was always good to me when I was there, and it meant everything to me. I love you, Sis. But I got to go. I'll be seeing you, alright?"

She slammed into him with a hug before pulling away and pushing his arm hard. "See ya." Then she tripped him backwards, sending him falling back into the darkness and into his body.

Mathieu sighed and opened his eyes. The whole exchange had probably taken less than five minutes, but he felt calmer now. It took him a moment before realizing someone was just behind him.

Lione'a voice floated over his shoulder, "Are you back? I'm sorry if I disturbed you, but Enak wanted me to get you, and some scraggily kid is out front, claiming that he's here in response to the word you sent. I'm sorry if I bothered you...."

"It's no issue. What's the kid's name?" He said as he got out of his seat.

The raven thought for a moment,
then
said, "Vincent, I think."

"Ah. I'm going to go see
Enak,
would you let Vincent in and get him something to eat if he's hungry?"

"Oh, okay. Enak is upstairs." Lione stood there awkwardly for a moment before heading back for the headquarters.

Mathieu followed and they parted way at the stairs; he
went upstairs to find the god child.
"Enak, you up here?"

"Ow, yes." There was a thud, then Enak crawled out from under the desk, grinning. "I see Lione found you. Did you know Jo is mad at you? Well anyway, I want you to try summoning my power again."

He rolled his eyes. "You've had me do it every day since I got back. I think I can do it just fine."

"Humor me." The boy said.

Sighing, Mathieu looked at the phoenix on his wrist, staring at it until the metal was a fiery gold, the warmth inside him building easily until it spread along his body from the point of the bird. All of his senses heightened and the air around him became hazy with power. Then he let his concentration go, the power dissipating as quickly as it had come. "Good enough?"

"Why yes, it is. You can go. Oh, and if you see my shoe, will you let me know? Thanks." Enak crawled back under the table, another thud sounding.

You've got to be kidding me...
He sighed mentally, leaving the room. Enak was such a weirdo, and he asked for the most random thing. Mathieu was just glad it hadn’t taken long. Down below, he could hear voices arguing, which hastened his steps.

Erik's voice was the first he could distinguish, "Kiev, leave him be."

"A mysterious teen showing up the day before the start of our attack?
That's so suspicious it's making me itch." She responded.

Mathieu rounded the corner to see his father and Kiev both holding one of Vincent's arms, their hands like steel traps. "Let.
Him.
Go." Three pairs of eyes snapped to him before apologies were spilling from the guilty parties. Vincent was thin and willowy, with dark eyes too big for his head. He had a perpetual half-smile on his face, and his strawberry blond bangs fell into his eyes often.

Vincent skittered off his stool to hide behind Mathieu, eyes wide. "Crazies..."

Lione looked up at him from where he was petting the wild cat, next to a pouting Jo.

"Sorry, Vincent.
Listen, thank you for coming on such short notice.
And for not eating Niveus."

"Like nothing..." He smiled vacantly.

Mathieu motioned to a stool, "I'm glad you came. I have a question or two before tomorrow." At the blank nod he received, he continued, all the while wondering if Vincent was touched in the head. "So the army Anastasie is forming...is it definitely going to be ready?"

Suddenly, Vincent’s eyes came into focus and his voice was clear as a bell. "Of course it will be. It's always alive, just waiting in the labyrinth to be called upon. She will send it out with Banin tomorrow, and follow soon after."

"Wait, Banin is coming to this thing?"
Asked Erik.

"Yes, Uncle.
But my father wants you to know that he won't take his vengeance because Anastasie has given him orders, but someday you will answer to him."
Vincent took a sip of water.

Mathieu looked at him, confused, "Vengeance?"

"Yes. Erik betrayed my father when he ran away to be with Anita. The things he was responsible for fell to Banin, including purging our family."

"Purging?" Mathieu prompted.

Vincent nodded, "Yes.” The teenager’s eyes became glossy again and a confused smile came over his face.

"Vincent? What was that about purging?”

“No idea.” Vincent said lazily.

Studying the teen for a moment, Mathieu shook his head, "I was wondering if we could possibly incorporate one of your…guys into each of my units?"

"Probably.
I'll be in your group, 'cause my change is the fastest. Banin, Anastasie, Chadwell, and Luca are the other ones that can become wolves." Vincent's tone was becoming more and more absent, as was his gaze.

Mathieu decided that was enough questions for now, and patted the boy's head. "Eat, drink, do whatever you want. Our home is yours."

"Of course.
I'd like to sleep if that's possible..."

"I'll do it." Jo said, getting to his feet.

Mathieu sighed as Jo brushed passed him, dragging Vincent with him. Mathieu then turned to the others,
"Has anyone seen Enak's shoe...?"

Erik grinned at him, "Haven't seen it. Did he lose it?
Poor kid."
It was clear that he didn’t feel bad in the slightest.

"Okay, I know you have his shoe, but I don't want to know why. So I'll settle for knowing where Solomon got to." Mathieu said.

Lione pointed to the door, "He went outside a few minutes ago. He and Mina were going to do some training, I believe."

He looked out the window with concern. Their backyard area now had a forest, where he was fairly sure his beau was currently. "Damn it, I wanted to talk to him."

"Then go find him, jeez." Kiev said.

"He hates his time with Mina being interrupted." Mathieu said simply. "But it's fine. Erik, why did you take Enak's shoe?"

"Because he's being a twit.
He spent all last night barking at me. Literally, barking.
Annoyed the crap out of me until he fell asleep.
So I took his shoe."

Mathieu gave his father a blank look, "I'll pretend that made some form of sense. Let me ask you something."

"I'm going to smoke. Come with me." Erik led him onto the back porch,
then
lit up a cigarette, "Shoot on your question."

Mathieu leaned against the headquarters and struggled to stifle a yawn. "It's about Anastasie. Solomon says she
started in Giath, hunting people like him. Is that true?"

"Yeah.”
Erik said with surprisingly less struggle than Mathieu had expected. “Anastasie is an elder of our clan. Their 'gift' gave her eternal youth, so she's looked like that for a very long time. I think she was born close to eighty-five or ninety years ago." Erik said in a controlled way, betraying nothing.

"So Solomon wasn't lying...." He sighed softly. "I really thought he was..." Pinching his brow, he sighed.

Erik chuckled
deeply,
smoke puffing out of him like a chimney. “Don't get so upset. You haven't slept well in days."

"That's because I want everything to go well!" He said defensively. "If I don't do this right...I'll let everyone down..."

Erik stuck his cigarette between his lips and put both of his hands on his son's shoulders, looking him square in the eyes, "Mathieu, we are the only stick by which we can be measured. Your mother used to say that." Then he let Mathieu go, "May I tell you something about her?"

"...Yeah."

"Your mother was a feisty, smart, beautiful woman. I met her when I was just a kid. She, Darcia and I all lived in the Outer Zone."

Mathieu's jaw dropped, "
Darcia
?"

"Yeah.
Good ol' Darc. When we were twelve, he started living with Zanika and Zerieve. But that isn't the point.
There was a village at the base of our mountain back then, and I liked to go down there. Darcia lived in an orphanage, like you, while your mother lived in the streets. She did alright, though.

"The first time I met her, she was wearing this blue dress with a white sash. We were six. I was all but obsessed with her, even as a kid. I started sneaking food out of our home for her and I used my family name to bully some people into giving her somewhere to live.

"We got older, and she was mine. I loved her more than the suns love each other. I was already planning on marrying her when she told me she was pregnant. I had never been happier in my life. I was almost eighteen. But I knew that you and her were all I was going to need out of life."

Erik sighed softly, lost in the past, "We tried to hide it from my mother, but word travels fast. You were the first of your generatiom in our family, Vincent the second. I told my mother to give your gift to Vincent, which is what happened anyway. But at the time, Anastasie said she'd hunt us down and take you by force.

"Anita and I were terrified, but I swore to her that I'd find a way to protect her. Where I was going, however, she couldn't go because she was pregnant. I took her into Unith and hid her Zurn. Somehow, though, I knew something was wrong. I never should have gone. But Darcia and I went anyway, going to find Enak." His finished, his tone clipped now.

"Ma sounds pretty amazing..."

Erik gave a short quirk of the lips, "She was. Mathieu,
I've wanted to ask you something for a while now..."

"Okay."

"It's just that...I've wondered...do you hate Anita and
I
? I heard from the others about the orphanage and then living with Avian..."

Mathieu gave a shake of his head, "No…I don't hate either of you. I thought I did, but the first time I saw Mom, I could have cried. She was so beautiful, and she was my mother. All I felt was sadness and love when I saw her.
And then you.
For a long time I blamed you for how I turned out. But seeing you interact with the people here, and getting to know you, it's really helped me understand. I get it, losing Anita wasn't easy, and I was gone, too. I know that if I lost Solomon, a part of me would go with him. So no, I don't hate you. Not as
Erik,
and not as my father." Mathieu didn’t point out that he wasn’t sure how close they could become, though.

"That means a lot to me, Son. It really does." Erik ruffled his hair, "The hair is growing on me, by the way." Then he went inside.

It was only a moment or two later when Mina and Solomon emerged from the forest, making a beeline for him. Mina gave him a polite nod before going in, but Solomon hung back, wrapping his arms around Mathieu.

"We didn't want to interrupt," he said, "it looked like you and Erik
were
having a pretty serious conversation."

"What can I
say,
we were discovering that I never really hated my parents." He laid his head against the hard muscles of Solomon's chest.

The blond held him like he was a glass figurinre, "I would go into hiding like he did if I lost you.”