Morning couldn't have come any sooner. As dawn broke Al gently moved Annie to the side and got out of the couch. His hands were stinging something fierce as he finally ended the spell he had held going the entire night. Her pain would most likely come back soon, but at least she had gotten a good night's sleep.

  A quick shower and a shave left him feeling somewhat less crappy. Jane had told him that the human body needed to be acclimated to the power of magic and that the pain was a sign the power was starting to tax the body. It would affect him less as time went on, but he was still green as far as mages were concerned.

  As he reached his wardrobe and began dressing himself he heard a cold voice echoing from the hallway.

  "Don't bother putting on the uniform, you won't be going to school today."

  Pietro had appeared in the doorway out of nowhere. He couldn't help but sigh as he threw the blazer on the bed before turning to face his father. Power was surging within him and he could feel it more vividly than ever before. It felt like the awful sickening sensation of having sand paper pressed against the skin.

  "You're not even trying to hide your power now are you, father?"

  "Yet you're trying to conceal yours despite the fact that I'm the only one in this house that can sense it."

  With a slow exhale he let the power within surge through his body freely and without constraint. Not suppressing the power made him feel far stronger than before, but it also made him feel somewhat exposed as his father studied him intently.

  "Is this better then, father?"

  Pietro's dark eyes seemed as if they were looking right through him and studying whatever lay beneath the skin. Almost like he wasn't even there and all his father really saw was the power inside of him.

  "You're real mage huh? And to think you achieved that after only a month."

  His father must have figured out the timeline somehow. Perhaps he had interrogated Lola and managed to estimate how long Al had actually been emerged. Those observational skills had always unnerved Al, but that was the exact reason he couldn't let his father gain any advantage.

  "If my recent achievements had actually managed to impress you then that would be a first."

  "Nothing impresses me, Al, but it does surprise me that Lola was clearly wrong about your power."

  Could his father tell what type of magic he wielded just by studying the power coursing through him? If so then it would definitely be problematic for him in the future.

  "I never expected you to emerge, but what's more surprising is that you picked up a talent for a magic that's so similar to my own."

  So their magic was similar? They were alike due to the shared darkness, but what he sensed within his father felt far more insidious than his own. It felt like something vile and sadistic, which only existed to spread fear and exploit weakness. A power that fit that evil man perfectly.

  "Would you look at that? I almost forgot to tell you that I had notified the school that you and your sister are going on a short vacation, so you better start packing..."

  By vacation he probably meant a trip to their holiday home by the coast near Arthur's rest. Every holiday they spent there was the same. His father would shower Jennifer with gifts and attention while he spent the entire time within his room.

  "Jennifer also let slip that you had gone and got yourself a girlfriend, so I'm sure everyone in our little family would overjoyed if you invited her."

  The way he had said that almost made it sound like a threat. He was planning something and there was no way in hell it wasn't going to end up poorly if he didn't play along with it. With Jane by his side Pietro would be outnumbered, but it still felt like a trap. One that he had no choice but facing head on.

  "I'll call her and see if she's available," he muttered as his father walked off.

  He moved over to the home telephone on his desk. After picking up the receiver he slowly began dialing Jane's number. One signal became two and then three as he waited for her to pick up. Couldn't she just pick up already?

  "I'm going to assume you're not calling about setting up a date," she said as the call connected.

  "No, my sister had the genius idea of revealing I had a girlfriend and now they want me to invite you to the holiday home."

  "That might actually be to our advantage, Al."

  How could this benefit them in any way? All their movements would be monitored by his father the entire time they were there.

  "Think about it, Al, if your father is a member of overseer we'll be untouchable the entire time we're there."

  "I am thinking about it and seeing as overseer stood idly by when Garuda showed up it doesn't feel like this will be any better."

  "The Autumn clan can't directly assault the property of an overseer without breaking the rules of engagement," she chuckled.

  "We'll be able to act with impunity since they won't be able to attack us directly while we're there."

  Was this actually to their advantage? Jane might have actually been on to something. They could pick off people on the list one at a time only to retreat to a place where the Autumn witches couldn't follow them. Was Pietro actually helping them or was it some kind of ploy to sell them out in the future?

  "Where is this holiday house located?"

  "Arthur's rest, near the cliffs."

  "Al! That's ten miles from their main household, you'll be able to hunt them like dogs and it could take them weeks to get permission to storm your family's holiday home."

  Was this their chance to cripple the Autumn clan by striking directly at its heart? If they succeeded Jane's victory would be all but assured and they could spend the rest of their lives together. He would have to fight countless mages, but they would have to be as strong as Garuda to make him pause.

  "I'll get to packing and then I'll swing by your place."

  "Okay, I'll see you then, Jane."

  A short vacation usually meant about two weeks when his father said it, so they would have plenty of time to deal a significant blow to the main Autumn household. Were they that close to the end of the mission? He just had to cripple them beyond repair and that would be the end of it. No more war and a lifetime by Jane's side to look forward to.

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  If Pietro sold them out it would be the end, but the risk was worth it. His father hated it when others got involved in his business so there was a very real chance he was actually helping them for some inscrutable reason or other. What could have motivated him to do so was unclear, yet what was clear was that he had given them a perfect opportunity.

  Once he was finished packing he stepped out into the front yard with his suitcase in hand. The others had already finished packing and were waiting for him when he came to throw his luggage in the trunk of the car.

  "Hi Al!" Jane shouted gleefully as she approached the house with her luggage dragging behind her.

  "I had no idea your girlfriend was so pretty," his mother whispered to him.

  Was there something wrong with everyone's eyes? She was real pretty, but not nearly pretty enough to make someone stop in their tracks. The black frilly dress Jane wore made her look like a doll and he was ashamed to admit that it had stunned him somewhat.

  "Jane why don't you hop in the big car with the girls while me and Al take the coupé," Pietro said in his ordinary monotone.

  "That sounds great! Then I can get to know Al's adorable sisters," Jane giggled.

  "I'm not his sister, I'm just living with them," Annie said quietly.

  "Really? But you're so pretty that I just had to assume you were related!"

  There was something strange about the way Jane had said that. She had once said that talking to him was like speaking to a dark silhouette. Maybe she only saw what was hiding underneath the surface and couldn't perceive the physical. Had she been with him this entire time despite never even knowing what he actually looked like?

  "Come on, Al, let them get to know each other and hop in the car already," his father whispered to him.

  The moment he had gotten in and closed the door behind him, his father pulled the car out of the driveway. Pietro brought a cigarette to his lip and lit it with one hand as he held the other on the steering wheel.

  "The cars are warded to hell and back so no one can overhear us, Al."

  "I'm guessing you did all of this for a reason."

  His father let out an almost uncharacteristic sigh. Was he worried? He wasn't hiding his tells the way he normally did and was even smoking in the car. Something was on his mind and it couldn't be good if it made him act like this.

  "The Autumn clan and overseer has always had a shaky relationship."

  How much did his father actually know about the situation? Was that the motivation behind all this? If it was just work then maybe he saw them as nothing more than convenient solution to a work problem.

  "You're not planning to sell us out, are you?" he asked his father.

  "No way in hell! The Autumn clan are vermin and the sooner you deal with them the faster we can push for integrating the remnants into the organization."

  He knew it. Pietro only did things for himself. They carried the same evil and that meant he wouldn't hide his real motive. He had chosen to reveal his hand immediately so the conversation could move over to the real subject he was waiting to bring up.

  "Al, the faster you end this whole mess the easier it will be to ensure the rest of the family continues their lives as simple ordinaires."

  There was emotion in those words. Pietro had an attachment and it had to be the mundane family life he had created for himself. He liked the banal everyday life as an ordinary father and husband. He wasn't even trying to hide it.

  Al lit a cigarette of his own and drew a long breath. The nicotine cleared his head in an instant. Preparing him for the long conversation ahead of them.

  "Is this what you always desired? A boring family to get home to and watch shitty late night television together with on the couch."

  "Let's just say life as a mage doesn't get any better with time so I chose to live to live a boring and regular one on the side."

  There was something else hiding in those words. A mistake or some regret. No it was a personal failure rearing its ugly head, had to be.

  "You never wanted me to emerge because you knew it would disturb what you had created, and your attempt to prevent it ended up making it worse than you had anticipated."

  "You were a troublesome child, there was too much of me in you from the start."

  He hated him because they were alike. He adored Jennifer because she was perfectly ordinary. He loved his wife because she was just another ordinary woman. He desired normalcy and would do anything to maintain it. That had been his weakness all along and Al was always going to be the one that upset his perfect world.

  "You knew I would be the one that might put and end to the delusion, didn't you?"

  "When you're done with the Autumns you'll run off with the Jane girl once and for all. It is the optimal outcome in the current situation."

  The vacation served a dual purpose. A way to strike directly at the autumn clan and the last time his family would see him before he disappeared together with Jane. His father had done it so his mother and sister would have memories of one last good vacation with him before he left their lives for good.

  "So I guess this will be our last true conversation and the first honest one in my life."

  "That it will," his father said with a drawn out sigh.

  For some reason it stung. He had wanted to have a real one on one conversation with his father all his life, but all he had been met with was mistreatment and spite. So why did it feel so good all of a sudden? Like a childhood dream come true in the most twisted way possible.

  "So how long have you been a mage, dad," he said with tears forming in his eyes.

  "Fifty years. We don't age like the ordinaires and I certainly don't look like I'm in my eighties."

  He didn't look a day over thirty. Mom had changed more over the years than he had. Some of her hairs were beginning to gray while he had looked the same year after year. Would it be like that for him and Jane? Would they remain an ageless couple as the years turned into decades?

  "We either die in conflict or our will to continue living fades until we do something so stupid that it ends up getting us killed."

  The void he had once sought felt so distant when his father spoke those words. Would the grave ever come for him or would it all eventually just be taken from him by the careless world around him?

  "So we don't grow old, do we?"

  "Only a rare few of us are lucky enough to die from old age, son."

  When the world eventually ended would he and Jane watch the last sunset together? He couldn't imagine a fate worse than being denied the chance to die by Jane's side.

  "You're very lucky, son, few will be able to oppose you once you master that magic of yours."

  Was it really that powerful? Could it be that he would actually make Jane unstoppable? No, he would be the one to do it. Nothing would stop him from creating the life he desired.

  "They will miss you, son, your mother and sister always held onto their hope that you would eventually return to being the beloved Al they remembered, but their wish would never come true it seems."

  "Wasn't really a chance of that to begin with seeing as I was a day or two from throwing myself off the school rooftop before Jane found me."

  "That would've given them some closure, but now you'll just have to give them an unforgettable vacation before you disappear for good."

  They wouldn't see him ever again once vacation ended. He would go somewhere far away to be with Jane. The tears kept coming and he couldn't hold it back any longer. He turned his head and saw the tears dripping down the side of his father's face.

  "I always loved you, son, the evil in our blood was just too strong and because of that you ended up becoming like me when you deserved so much better."

  "Dad?"

  "You can cry, son, you're strong and it won't make me think any less of you."

  His father loved him and he always had. But they were never meant to inhabit the same world. The one his father had tried to escape and the one he sought to conquer. Why would his father tell him that he loved him now of all times when that was all he had ever wanted to hear?

  "Consider this car to be my first and only gift to you, when it's done I want you to take it and drive somewhere far away with that girl," his dad said as he struggled to hold back the tears.

  "I already got an identical one that's on the way," he stammered.

  "Then I am going to make it look like the two of you died in a car crash and they will never see you again!" his father cried out while fighting to hold back the tears that never seemed to stop flowing.

  His father was actually crying. This was the first and last time they would speak honestly as father and son. And it had broken him. Al had finally won, but he couldn't celebrate it. His tears fell like a waterfall as his father cried before him.

  If he had just been born normal like his sister they could have had a happy relationship. A father and son spending their weekends together. His dad would teach him all sorts of life lessons or they would go camping or something. But that would never be the life he got because of what he was.

  Being a mage wasn't a blessing. It was a curse. He would have an unimaginably long life with the woman he loved, but he would never have his family.

  Maybe in another life it could have been different, but there was only this one and it had never been meant to be. He would lose his entire family at seventeen, and that pain would never leave him.

  "Despite everything you did I only ever wanted you to say you love me, dad."