From the ground, back to life
December 1st, 2016. Thursday, 3:25 p.m. Barcelona, Spain. The Institute.
The vampire left Àngel and Isabel to themselves, allowing the two their privacy. He knew there was far too much to talk about that neither of them — or at least Isabel — would like to speak of in his presence. Despite being there for them, Philippe was far from the person whom others would seek out when they ought to be listened to. Instead of pressing his presence upon them, he asked Enzo to take him to the Institute. It would be a welcome distraction. He hadn’t been to the place in years.
It took them half an hour to near the research facility’s front gates. Philippe always had the strangest feeling of newness every time he arrived at the buildings he build decades ago. Despite founding the Institute, he left others to manage it and it felt like a different place every time he visited. “We renovated the left wing”, Enzo announced before the vehicle came to a stop. “There are sleeping quarters in them now.” He let out a soft chuckle, climbing down from the truck. “I haven’t used it much. It doesn’t feel right to sleep at work.”
“I can relate”, Philippe commented, following the witch inside the building. “The Queen has provided me with a suite at her palace.”
“Right”, Enzo said, grinning. “You got a job.” He shook his head, finding it amusing to imagine Philippe Ballard seated behind a desk, pushing papers.
“I’ve always had a job”, the vampire pointed out, throwing the witch a look. “I’m simply not used to answering to someone else.”
Enzo laughed. “You hate your boss, don’t you?” He used an access key to get them past glass doors. “Everyone hates their boss.”
“My boss happens to be the Queen of Louisiana”, Philippe reminded him. “It would be best not to make an insinuation like that.”
“Of course”, he agreed, but a playful gleam flashed through the witch’s eyes. Philippe let out a soft sigh, amused. He had almost forgotten how Vincenzo could be. There was a reason why he was drawn to the young witch after all. He pushed a door open to reveal his office to the vampire. Philippe stepped in, immediately nearing his desk to take a look at the grimoire left on the table. “I’m working on translating it. A lot of the pages are faded, but some of the symbols I found on them… I think this could be a very unique work”, the witch explained. “Spells we have never seen before, you know?”
Philippe’s eyes danced across the yellowed page. The symbols on it were indeed very old, written in one of mankind’s many forgotten languages. “You were always quite good at that, Vincenzo”, the vampire said, throwing a look at him. ”Solving puzzles.”
The witch offered him a confident smile. “Well, I had a good teacher”, he threw back, brows rising on his forehead.
The door to his office was pushed open and Philippe’s attention was drawn to the figure that stepped into the room. The sight left him speechless. Dark eyes greeted him and the vampire parted his lips, but no words spilled from his mouth. A dead man stood by the doorway and Philippe frowned, confused, uncertain. Vincenzo spoke by his side, but he drowned out the world, mind working a mile to make sense of what was happening.
“…and I introduced him to management. I think he would make a great addition to our team, don’t you think?”
Philippe snapped, eyes darkening just before he grabbed Vincenzo his the throat, pushing him back against the wall. “Is this a joke?” He hissed, squeezing the air out from his lungs. “I don’t think it’s funny. Whose idea was this?” He threw the stranger who wore Samuel Aldridge’s face a furious look before asking him: “Who are you?”
kianamaiart
stormborns
origamiaround
jacobvanloon
izzy806
