Dear Hodge Starkweather,
I am writing from the California institute with grave news. There is no easy way for me to say this but your brother, my loving husband, has been killed in a demon attack. I know we have never met and you and your brother were not on the best of terms but none of that matters to me. I am writing in regards of my son, your nephew. He is now without a father and I feel it would benefit him greatly to have another man in his life. His name is Darren and he just passed his tenth name day. I do not believe I can take care of him all by myself. He is a great kid and could use some guidance from his uncle at this time. I have not told him about you yet, in fear of getting his hopes up. I hear you now reside in New York. I ask you, for my son, to please consider at least visiting us here in California. If that is too much to ask, a letter in reply would be fine. I just ask that you put whatever feud you and your brother had behind you, for Darren's sake. You and I are the only family he has left.
In the angels name,
Meredith Starkweather
Hodge read the letter for the fifth time, running his hand over the print. With a sigh, he throws the letter on his desk. He debated writing back. He wanted to meet his nephew but knew he couldn't. He was not allowed to leave the New York institute due to the curse the clave had put on him. Writing back would just get his hopes up, would allow him to retain ties that he would never get to live out. Shaking his head, he took the letter and crumpled it up. He could do nothing for the family he had left, the family he had never met. He had already ruined that for himself. He thought of his older brother, Daric. They had never much liked each other but still the hearing of his passing troubled him. He wished he could see his brother one last time, to apologize. To tell him that he was right. Hodge had chosen the circle over his own brother and look where it had gotten him. Back in school, his brother tried to warn him that he was hanging around with the wrong crowd. He never listened, what would Daric know, he was always the popular one while Hodge was left in the shadows. When he had finally found friends, he wouldn't let anyone tell him he couldn't be with them, not even his brother. When Daric graduated and offered Hodge the chance to move away with him, Hodge had denied. They had never talked to each other afterwards. At least he got to live a good life, Hodge thought. Daric made the right choices, he always had. Again, Hodge was left in the shadows while his brother lived a happy life. And now he is dead and I will never get to tell him I am sorry. I can make it up to him though, Hodge thought, I can take care of his son. At that moment, Hodge swore he would do whatever he had to to break the curse that kept him trapped inside the walls of the New York institute. Whatever it took, he would meet his nephew one day.