A message pinged up on his phone as Kelpsie, Daemon, Helper and Crystalline argued out back. His sister was coming home and she had something to tell him. Austin stared at the screen, then looked up at Gale. "Cay's coming home."
"Your sister?"
"Yeah."
"The hot one?"
The Necromancer glared. "She has a fiancée."
"So you think she's hot too?"
"This is society, dude. The other one is really fat. The kind you see on Fat Families, I doubt you mean her."
Gale shrugged and sat down, craning his neck so he could read the text.
"I have a really bad feeling about this." Austin muttered.
"Why?"
"Just...just the way she's...she is..."
"So you're worried."
"Of course."
"I'll come with?"
Austin narrowed his eyes, then heard a crash from the kitchen as one of the girls got a little violent. Gale jumped and even yelped a little, then looked embarrassed. "If it gets us out of here faster." Austin agreed with a curt nod. They got up and sneaked out the front door as the argument escalated. The last thing they heard was Helper trying to calm things down and getting punched in the face for his efforts.
-----
Some part of him asked why he was downstairs, in the dark, watching television. Another part of him answered 'you need snacks'. He ignored both parts and just lay there, thinking of meetings he had to go to tomorrow and what wonderful paper work would be there to welcome him to his office. Madame Mist walked in and sat by his head. He slowly shifted himself so that his head and one of his hands was resting on her stomach.
"What are you watching?" She asked politely.
"Blackadder."
There was a sigh and he bit his lip.
"Y'know, I never thought I'd be the type to want babies kicking me in the head, and yet..."
"You should be in bed."
"I know. I've become kind of good at falling asleep with the television on. There's this really boring programme on one of those religious channels that does the trick. Not on tonight, though...what about you? You're up late."
"I've got a bit of pain. It woke me up, and then I realised you weren't there. I'm fine, though."
"As long as you're fine." He sat up and turned the television off and smiled, landing a kiss on her cheek. She smiled back for a moment, but it quickly gave way to a wince. "Are you sure you're fine?"
"I am."
He excused himself to the bathroom with another smile. When he came back, she was standing up.
"Something wrong?"
"Either I've wet myself, or more likely, the babies are coming..."
There was an awkward and somewhat tense pause before he swore and ran upstairs to get hospital stuff, car keys and a coat.
-----
Cadence looked miserable when she came out of customs and security and all that and the way she was handling her bags showed she was in a very bad mood.
"Hi Cay..." Austin greeted anxiously.
"Hi." She snapped back.
"You, uh, said you had something to tell me...?"
"Jasmin's told me he doesn't want to see me again and..." she choked on the words and tears formed in her eyes. Austin wrapped an arm around her with a sigh.
"It's okay. You can do better anyway."
She took a few deep breaths, wondering how to tell him. "Belinda-!" She was cut off by her own sobs.
"Belinda?" Austin's eyes widened. He forced his voice to stay steady. "Cay...what happened to Belinda?"
"Mevolent's men...we went to France, and she was with us, and her boyfriend, and they...Mevolent's..."
"I...I get the picture..." He went a little quiet and Gale moved away a little.
"Do you...do you want to be left alone?"
Austin thought for a moment. "No...please, no..." Gale wasn't sure if that bit was to him or for the death of Belinda. Either way, Austin sounded very upset and still very quiet. His arm tightened around his sister's waist. Gale took a look around and saw something else. Something of interest. His own sister, about to kill someone. From Artemis, he would have expected it, but this was chatterbox, sweetie-pie Niamh Lovejoy...
-----
It was quite light outside when he was sitting on a chair by a bed with an unhealthily small newborn cradled in his arms. It was already clear they were different. One had a darker pigment to her skin, more tan than the two pale others. That was the one he was holding, and they already had the slightest bit of hair. Black, brunette and blonde. The brunette one was first, and she was Ruby. The more tan one with darker hair was Dextra. The blonde one was given the name Antonia-Lily. They couldn't take them home immediately, and Erskine didn't mind, as long as he got to hold Dextra for a while longer. This bit, he liked. Apart from the effects of the prematureness, they were adorable, and not actually as sick as he thought they would be. Dextra was, evidently, healthy enough to be held and to live without medical assistance. Antonia-Lily wasn't. Ruby was healthier than Dextra and could be taken home whenever the parents felt up to it. Dextra, they wanted to monitor. He didn't want to let go of her, though. She was adorable. She was his. She...had just peed on him. He gave a disgusted exclamation and handed her to a nearby nurse, examining the dark patch at the bottom of his shirt. "Wonderful." He spat before checking the time and deciding he ought to get to work. Mist was fast asleep and he was wondering if he should take Ruby with him or not. He had been taught all the stuff about caring for the children, but felt she would be better off with her mother first.
-----
Niamh sat in the car, covered in blood. "There are more subtle ways to kill someone." Austin pointed out.
"I'm aware."
Gale sighed. "Aren't you supposed to be killing your husband by talking him to death or something?"
She smiled. "I've been talking less and less recently. He's gone to do some stuff. Work stuff. He might die. It's been a long, long while, Gale..."
"That it has...how are you, by the way?"
"I'm good."
"Never thought you'd kill anyone."
"That gent ordered the death of one of my husband's friends. Esra Sunshine...oh, and Bayside Absurdity..."
Gale nodded slowly. "I'll pretend to know who they are..."
"That's good."
Austin smirked. "Sunshine was the tonedeaf whistling Nickleback's Lullaby when we were spies. The one who had the Grotesquery and all the information about resurrection and stuff?"
Gale nodded. "Ah, him. The fat one with the long hair."
"He wasn't that fat. You're doing the ugly society thing again, actually."
"Sorry. He was weird."
Niamh put her head in her hands. "He was one of my favourites of Advantageous' friends. Followed by Darren and Erin...both dead..." Gale frowned and turned in his seat so he could hold his sister in an embrace.
-----
Erin Hades Motionless broke the lock on the door with ease, something he had never done before despite knowing how for the protection of the other vampires, one or two of which decided to leave the disgusting conditions they were in. Tewdews followed him with a smile and they managed to creep around without alerting anyone to their presence until they reached Advantageous' room. Here, they found the short, bespectacled man in question, reading some book about some modern pop group. He glanced over the book as the vampires froze and words forced their way past his locked lips once more. "Erin?"
Erin chuckled nervously. "Hello, Mr Twist..."
"I thought you were dead!"
"Me too, but I wasn't. They just kept me in this little room down below where I could hear everything going on in Serpine's room. Seriously. He has Esra's spider, and Esra's dead, and B.J is alive and kicking and not allowed to leave that room unless under escort."
"Good listening..."
"I missed having friends. Oh...the lock in that room is kind of broken now, so it's not going to protect anyone from vampires anymore...you might want to tell someone..."
"Oh, Jesus Christ, Erin..."
"But I have more to tell you...and I think Miss Maleficent wants to leave..."
Twist smiled. "Then we'll honour that wish."
((Jasmin was supposed to have a part in this, but it didn't go very well so I decided to put it elsewhere when I'd planned it properly...same with Charles and River, actually...Also, Erin! :3 I missed Erin. Did you guys miss Erin? Also Jane Fairweather, Ebony Widow and Charis Grace have now been introduced. The wonderrific Rist babies. My friend made me a picture of them, and I might show you in the next chapter and...and it has just struck me that they look like the Powerpuff Girls...only with a little brother...and outside of MC at different ages...))
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