Cursed Children of the Night

1.1: Florentin

Florentin Vaillancourt had been the last surviving member of his Clan for years, at least he had been before he had his first child when he was sixteen. He and Vivien didn’t love each other, but they could respect one another. Together they had twins; Jacqueline and Maximilien who were now eight years old, along with their six-year-old daughter, Marie-Jose.

His second wife, Colette, agreed to marry him because she wanted children and nothing more. This he could easily agree to, their children are growing up strong. Leonard was seven, Estienne was five and Desiree was four.

His third wife was different, he had married Rhiannon because he loved her and she loved him. Arianwen was eight, Tanwen was seven and Rhoswen was five. He adored all of his children, and it made him sad that he couldn’t spend enough time with them. Vivien, Colette and Rhiannon all had their own sets of rooms in the main house, their own gardens and cooking spaces.

Since he had still at the Academy, he had time to train them in the Vaillancourt fighting style. All of his children were at different stages of training, and he was proud of all of them and many of them were starting their own classes at the Academy.

Pinching his nose, he looked at the accountant book for his Clan, how much money was coming in and how much was being spent. After the m******e, some of the adults of the branch families had survived, they had been on missions and they had to return to find their families gone.

“Dad,” Arianwen shouted banging on the secret door, the door being connected to a series of underground tunnels. Only members of the Vaillancourt family could access them, talisman and seals stopped others from entering them.

“Arianwen!” Florentin shouted running to the door and opening it.

It wasn’t just Arianwen standing in the hallway, it was Tanwen and Rhoswen as well, both gripping their older sister’s nightgown.

“Dad,” Arianwen said walking forward, “it’s Mum, she made us go into the tunnels.”

“Come in, come in,” Florentin said pulling them closing the door behind them, “let’s get you settled and then I’ll check on your mother.”

“There’re were red eyes under my bed,” Rhoswen said, “I told Mama.”

“I’m proud of all three of you,” Florentin told them, pulling them into a group hug and he felt his heart drop into his stomach. He did not have a good feeling about this, something was wrong and he needed to get to Rhiannon’s side. “I’m going to go take a look.”

“No!” Rhoswen shouted grabbing his shirt, “you’ll get hurt.”

“Rho, he needs to make sure Mum’s okay,” Arianwen said.

“Dad’s strong,” Tanwen added.

“I’m going to be okay, Rhoswen,” Florentin promised, “I’ll be fine, I promise you, all of you.”

“Pinky promise?” Rhoswen asked.

“I pinky promise,” Florentin said hooking his pinky finger around Rhoswen’s, pulling out of their group hug. “I won’t be long.”

Standing up, he tucked them in. He stood up and grabbed his sword, walking towards the door and quickly slipped through the door, along with the underground tunnels towards Rhiannon’s set of rooms.

He wasn’t going to let down his daughters.

He’d sooner walk across lava bare-foot.

Opening the door to Rhiannon’s room, he looked around and walked when he saw nothing. Closing the door, he walked towards the living area, stopping at the door and peeking around the corner.

“You have been around the Children of the Night,” a voice said, “Spirit of the Night, Water of the Night has passed away, my nephew has yet to be reborn. Light of the Night and Dark of the Night, had been murdered so long ago. Niece and nephew have roamed the lands for hundreds of years, for as long as the Mage Wars dragged on -”

“You killed my Great-Uncle!” Rhiannon snapped.

Florentin walked into the living room, looking at the back of a woman’s figure, all he could see was her long white hair. He looked at her, she looked at him with wide eyes before looking at the woman.

“What are you doing in my house,” Florentin snapped holding his sword up, tensing his body ready to attack if she moved even an inch.

“She won’t let go,” the woman said turning around, looking at him with dark crimson eyes. She grinned.

“Stay away from my husband,” Rhiannon screamed slamming her body into the woman and he could see that she had put a dagger into the woman’s side. Florentin stepped towards and stabbed her in the middle of the chest.

Looking up, the woman was still grinning and then she disappeared.

Florentin dropped his sword, he barely had time to catch himself, let alone catch Rhiannon when she hit the ground with a thud.

“Rhiannon,” he shouted dropping his sword, and pulling her into his arms, “Rhiannon? Oh, gods please be okay.”

Her skin was paling and there were horrid purple marks on her skin, like they were following her veins. He didn’t say anything, just picked her up and ran towards the front of the manor. He had to get a medic, he had to get her to someone who could help and he was glad that he lived close to a emergency medical centre.

“It’s a Spirit Illness, there’s no cure,” Rhiannon said opening her eyes, her head leaning against his shoulder. “All that matters is that the children are okay.”

“They’re fine,” Florentin promised.

“Vaillancourt!” someone shouted.

Florentin didn’t look he continued running towards the medical centre, he didn’t know who was following him but the voice was familiar enough that it didn’t raise any alarm bells.

“Florentin?” Alexandrine asked walking out of the medical centre, she looked down and her eyes widened, “Rhiannon?”

Alexandrine didn’t give him time to say anything, she bolted towards him and removed Rhiannon from his arms before running back into the medical centre. A mess of voices followed suit, he couldn’t make out what any of them were saying.

He did what he could, not he just had to hope that Rhiannon pulled through.

“Florentin, dear gods, what happened?” Pierre-Louis Anouilh, Colette’s brother, asked.

“It’s Rhiannon,” Florentin said, “a woman attacked Rhiannon.”

“That explains the alarms going off,” Pierre- Louis said.

Alarms? Arianwen. Tanwen. Rhoswen. Not just them, but Jacqueline. Maximilien. Marie-Jose. Leonard. Estienne. Desiree. Would Vivien and Colette be able to defend them? Would they be able to keep themselves safe?

“He’s going into shock,” a woman’s voice said.

Florentin could feel his heart racing, his breathing was getting shorter and he felt himself being lead somewhere. His vision was getting spotty, but he had to stay present, he had to check his children.

Arianwen was eight, he couldn’t let her look after her siblings during the night. He was a horrible father! That woman could have gone after his children! It was like the seals around his rooms were any better than Rhiannon’s, hers was better than his and that woman had still broke in.

Eight, Arianwen was eight, she had only been in the Academy for two years. She only had four years of training, most of said training was disguised as play. Yet, here he was being useless while his children were in danger.

Ligaya would have his head for this! It wouldn’t just be Ligaya either, it every single Mage in the Advantage Sealing Class would have his head for not taking up their offer of adding protective seals to his home.

Every. Single. One. Of. Them.

A hand on his forehead made him flinch, bringing up out of his thoughts, he could feel his heart slowing down and his thoughts were slowing down. His were closing and he felt himself drift off.