Cursed Children of the Night

1.4: Florentin

When he came to, it took him a minute to realise that he wasn’t in his bedroom and that he wasn’t at home. He went to sit, but a hand push him down and when he looked to the side Alexandrine was looking at him with a sad expression.

“Alexandrine?” Florentin asked.

Blonde hair was falling out of her bun, but soon her blue eyes steeled themselves and she opened her mouth before closing it. Alexandrine looked like she wanted to be anywhere but where she was standing.

“Morning,” Alexandrine said.

“Morning?” Florentin said.

“Stress does that to people.”

“The children!”

“Pierre-Louis stayed at yours to keep an eye on the children,” Alexandrine finally said after they had stared at each other for five minutes, “he promised to send someone to tell you of their condition. Three Mage teams are doing a sweep of your sect grounds to make sure no one else is hiding in wait.”

“And Rhiannon?” Florentin asked.

“Coma,” Alexandrine said, “Spirit Energy had been pushed into her system at an alarming rate. Emmanuelle is with her now, slowly getting the energy out of her system… Florentin. You should know, that … this might not work, she might not ever wake up again.”

Emmanuelle was Alexandrine’s identical twin.

“She’s strong, she’ll be able to pull through,” Florentin said.

“I know you love her,” Alexandrine said, “but you have to plan for the worse. There are children involved and they’re going to need their father.”

“Just look after her, please?” Florentin asked.

“We will,” Alexandrine promised, “we can have someone check the seals, it’ll keep everyone safe by adding a few more security. You’ll have to ask someone to move in to help you with the children.”

“I’ll ask Ligaya Mendoza,” Florentin said closing his eyes, “the children already know her and she’ll be able to update the security seals. She also uses Spirit Magic, along with being part of the Advantage Sealing Class.”

He had to plan for the worse, plan for the worse and hope for the best.

“It might be a good idea for them to talk with Evangelina about what happened, she’s always wonderful at helping children,” Alexandrine said, “you should also talk to someone, having the appointments setup will not be hard.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Florentin said running his shaking hand through his hair, his blonde hair was short, to keep it from getting into his eyes while he fought.

“Hang on,” Alexandrine said walking to the door, opening it and yanking a male to her before whispering something into his ear. She looked at him with a grin, while the male walked off a faster pace than he had been.

“What was that about?” Florentin asked.

“You’ll see,” Alexandrine said, “I’ll see you for a check-up.”

Florentin stared at her while she left, lying down and closing his eyes. He didn’t realise he had fallen asleep, until something had jolted awake by something, or someone, climbing into the bed next to him.

“Morning, sunshine,” Pierre-Louis said grinning, “Colette, Vivien and their lot is safe, whoever broke in didn’t even glance in their direction.”

If Pierre-Louis was there, then who was? Looking down and spotting Rhoswen and he lifted his arm and allowed her to put her head onto his shoulder.

“I get the other side,” Tanwen announced.

Pierre-Louis picked her up and putting her on the other side of the bed, keeping her steady as she copied her baby sister.

“Uncle Pierre-Louis told us what’s happening with Mum,” Arianwen said sitting down in the chair next to his bed.

“Mama can’t be gone,” Tanwen said.

“It’s up for the God’s now sweetie,” Florentin said.

“You think Auntie Ligaya’s gods would help?” Arianwen asked.

“It wouldn’t hurt to pray to them,” Tanwen added.

“No, it wouldn’t,” Florentin said putting his hand on Tanwen’s hair, “how would you three feel about Auntie Ligaya staying with us?”

“Butterflies?” Rhoswen said.

“I’m sure she’ll be able to show you butterflies,” Florentin said looking at Pierre-Louis.

Pierre-Louis grinned.

“You hanging around?” Florentin said.

“Until it’s time to fit the little army you’ve built,” Pierre-Louis said, “Colette’s looking after them. As you know, she loves children but six might be pushing it even for her.”

“We’ll work out some child care for her,” Florentin promised, looking at his children before humming to himself, “you three want to stay in my set of rooms?”

“Yes,” Rhoswen said.

“I’ll talk to Mama Colette, but I’m sure she can keep a guest room open for you three for when I’m on missions,” Florentin said.

“Why, isn’t it my favourite patients?” Alexandrine asked walking into the room, “and it looks like my patients have tripled.”

“Doctor Raine,” Tanwen said grinning.

“Tanwen,” Alexandrine said, “Rhoswen, Arianwen.”

Walking towards them, Alexandrine put her hand out for Arianwen to put her hand into it. Giggling, she put her hand onto Alexandrine’s and the glow meant that Arianwen’s health was being checked.

“Healthy!” Alexandrine said.

Grinning, she repeated the process with Rhoswen and Tanwen. With a glint in her eye, she checked on him. Now he could see why she checked on the girl’s to keep them calm while she checked on him.

“Healthy!” she said, “now ups, you have people who want to see you and rooms to prepare for these little princesses.”