Chapter 25: Chapter TWENTY FIVE

Calm fell again on the home for the two days following the announcement of the massacre, although the atmosphere remained gloomy and heavy. The two couples didn't necessarily have the same preoccupations, but the episode of the convoy had disturbed them all enough so that joy couldn't pierce the thick morose layer that covered their minds.

Mia had spent her days with Irina, helping her in the morning with the chores and then practicing shooting in the afternoon under Ethan's worried eyes. He still didn't fully approve of her wielding such weapons, but he was slowly beginning to realize that it was indeed a good thing that she was learning to defend herself. His mind began to gradually accept that they would not escape the conflict.

When he wasn't watching the blonde shoot, he spent time with his brother discussing the current state of their family or war stories from the genocide. The presence of someone going through the same thing as he was kind of reassuring, and he knew he didn't need to voice what was tormenting him since Adam had been going through the same thing for much longer than him. Yet they always ended up discussing it, as if the older Vila wanted to make his little brother understand something. Ethan was not fooled, he was sneakily trying to convince him to get involved. He still didn't intend to accept, but the idea was germinating enough in his head for his refusal to lose force.

"You're going to be dealing with a lot of families like Shaun's staying here, you know," Adam said, sitting quietly in the living room chair.

Ethan was in front of him, in the same position. He could see Mia from here if he turned his head far enough, and though he avoided looking at her too often, his inner Vila was reassured by the prospect that he only had to turn around a few centimeters to find that she was safe and sound.

"It really is annoying," Ethan sighed. "I have nothing to do with it, but the guilt is eating my mind. I feel responsible in a way because I'm her son. It's killing me."

"I know," Adam replied, smiling slightly. "I carry it too, this guilt. That's why I fought for a long time, to silence it."

"Did it work?"

"No," he chuckled gently. "I understood long ago that I wouldn't find peace until Impervia was dead."

"Yeah, I figured it pretty quickly too."

The arrival of Liam on his father's lap ended the conversation. Adam didn't like to talk about war or anything like it in front of his son, which was completely understandable. The mother of the two Vilas had never spared her children from the harsh reality of life and, although it had offered them some advantages in their current daily life, Ethan shared his big brother's opinion on this question of education: children did not need to be confronted with such violent and harsh facts and narratives. They had to be allowed to grow up carefree, not lying to them about the reality of life, but not forcing these horrors into their developing brains.

They will have plenty of time once they are adults to realize how cruel the world is.

The sound of someone knocking on the front door caught the attention of the four individuals in the house. Adam begged Liam to get off his knees to get up and head for the door while Irina and Mia crowded into the living room to find out who was coming to disturb them so close to lunchtime without warning them. Before opening, the older Vila peered through the door peephole to learn their mysterious visitor's identity.

"So? Who is this?" Irina asked impatiently.

Mia and Ethan stayed in the living room since they could hear the conversations there. There was no point cluttering the hallway, and it wasn't their home after all.

"Andrew."

The young Vila gritted his teeth when he heard the wizard's first name. He had hoped he wouldn't have to run into him and the vampire again for a long time, a luxury the Resistance was obviously not determined to give him. At least Vassili wasn't with him.

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"I need to talk to you all, something happened," Andrei announced as he walked in after Adam invited him into the hallway.

The wizard followed the couple to the living room and sat down on the chair across from Ethan when Irina motioned for him to sit down. The Vila's hands clung to the armrests of the chair to keep from being hostile. Seeing the wizard's worried face made him want to rip his head off when he remembered what he had done to Mia. His mate was standing next to him and had placed her fingers on his shoulder in a vain attempt to calm his nerves.

"Liam, go up to your room, please," Adam ordered.

"But-"

"Go."

The child ended up complying and obeying his father, disappointed. His figure disappeared seconds later from the living room so his youthful ears wouldn't be confronted with what sounded very much like bad news.

"Is it about the meeting?" Irina asked nervously.

It was to take place in the early evening and, although his brother and his wife had not re-emphasized the need for them to be on stage, Ethan knew it was only a matter of time before they would talk about it again to the young couple. However, given Andrei's grimace, it was something even more serious.

What else has she done? he mentally despaired.

"Impervia took over the school with Solomon's help," the wizard blurted, the desperation almost palpable in his voice. "Students who support humans are being held hostage so their families won't ally with us."

It didn't take long for Mia to fidget behind him realizing that her friends were potentially in danger. Arry might have gone to join her family, but Lily... The fairy worked at the school, she had to stay there no matter what. And the two young women supported humans, it was no secret.

"Mia..." continued Andrei. "Impervia ordered Arry and Lily captured when she learned from the other students that they are your friends."

"But why?" she asked naively, totally distraught by the news.

"To get you out of your hiding place and force you to meet her," Adam sighed, answering for the wizard. "She wants to force you to choose between your lives or those of your friends."

"Fuck!" Ethan got angry, rubbing his face with the palms of his hands. "So either we die or we have their death on our conscience?"

"What if…" Mia began shyly, almost in a low voice. "What if we tried to fight?"

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