It was four months before Anita met the girl.
It had become a kind of hobby of hers, following the threads of Jean-Paul's life. They had been almost the same age, and while she'd barely had a relationship with any of her siblings back then, she'd spent most of her time with him. It was partially that, and partially curiosity, that led her to dig up the details.
Samuel would tell her off if he found out. As the best-adjusted of the Vasil children, he acted more like a big brother than Guillaume or Nicholas ever had, despite being a couple of years younger than her. He was staunchly committed to ignoring the entire matter, but Anita was...bored.
It was dangerous, she knew, but Heartbreaker wouldn't see anything wrong with her missing Jean-Paul. If he cared to dip into her feelings, he might be perplexed that she was thinking about him, but that was easily explained away. He might cut the feeling, but she wouldn't get into trouble. Not like when she'd...
She cut off her own train of thought. Unpleasant memories.
She didn't regret what she'd done to Clara, but she regretted letting dad find out all the same. She knew, on a clinical level, that she would be horrified about what had happened, if not for him. On the other hand, the girl hadn't suffered. She'd made sure of that.
Jean-Paul – Alec – he had suffered. She hadn't been there to take it away anymore.
She had watched the moment of his death over and over. The way his eyes fixed on Imp, the fact the person with him, Weaver, had recognised what he was about to do. She knew every line of dialogue he had, and all of Imp's too. They'd been like the people on TV: friendly, casual, laughing – but he was a Vasil. He'd grown up like her; worse even, because of his valuable power. More like Cherie: bored all the time, doing things because it was easy, never really feeling anything, unless he had a puppet to do it for him.
He'd found someone to die for.
And there she was, lurking outside the manor wall, clearly visible from Anita's spot in the trees at the edge of the grounds. The girl who was alive because Jean-Paul had saved her. Anita stretched out her power.
She could only affect one person at a time, but her range easily covered the distance. All she found of the stranger was focus and expectation, with a touch of... No good, she couldn't tell without stealing. Positive emotions were so much harder.
Then the girl waved. Anita stared.
When it became clear that she wasn't going to move, Imp scaled the wall with the help of a rope, and entered the manor grounds proper. She landed at the base of Anita's tree, placed her hands on her hips briefly, and then started to climb.
Anita felt her panic rising. She couldn't do this, meet someone, not after last time—
"Hi," Imp said, already only a foot below. "Anita, right?"
That caught her off-guard. She stared again.
"Yeah, I know you. I know you don't talk either so don't worry about that. Show of fingers. How many kids in there?" She jerked the scarf-shrouded chin towards the manor.
Anita counted quickly and held up her hands for ten, ten, then two. After a pause, she pointed at herself.
"Twenty-three including you. How many powered?"
Eight.
"How many women?"
With an uncertain expression, Anita suggested twenty-five.
"Does Heartbreaker ever leave the house?"
The intensity from Imp had slowly been growing, and with it came anger. Instinctively, Anita tapped the anger, sucking it away before it could be directed at her. She felt it swell, like a heat in her gut, but it didn't infect her.
She hadn't answered. Imp let her power go, then forced it off again. "Does Heartbreaker ever leave the house?" she repeated.
Faced with the question anew, Anita almost responded, but she was stopped again by the same uncertain feeling. This person had been Jean-Paul's friend, maybe even his lover. She had appeared after his death, seeking out his family. This could be benign, and asking about the inhabitants of the house merely curiosity. However, that last question suggested a different intent.
She drew her finger across her throat, and frowned deeply at Imp, head cocked to the side.
All of Imp's signals gave way to a surge of determined hatred as she recognised what was being asked. It telegraphed her answer: "Yes. I'm going to kill him."
Anita paused thoughtfully. Slowly, she pulled her tablet from her coat pocket. Imp stiffened, but relaxed when she saw what it was. With a few taps, Anita pulled up a picture of Regent, and showed it to Imp with another questioning look.
"Alec," Imp said, and Anita felt the grief like a tide. She pulled it out, coiling it up inside her instead. Imp let out a sigh, but her voice steadied. "Yeah, him. Were you close?"
She shook her head.
"You know what happened?"
This was a nod. Even if she hadn't, she would have guessed it easily from Imp's reaction.
"Does he?"
A fervent shake of the head. She drew her finger across her throat again. Heartbreaker wouldn't kill her, because of her power, but she didn't want to find out his workaround.
Behind the mask, Imp's eyes widened. "Fair nuff," she said. "Alright, here's my deal. I'm trying to be nice, be fair to you and the other baby Heartbreakers, since I've known two of you and it was fifty-fifty on whether you're irredeemable pieces of shit or...I dunno, semi-redeemable. And I've been spying and you seem like the calmest kid in the house. But I can't have the big fucker finding out I'm here, you know?"
Anita nodded, more through self-preservation than understanding. Imp's determination brooked no argument.
"So there's two options. You help me do things the easy way, or I send you home and things get messy. For you and the others."
The others? Anita could do without the others. They were all Vasil, they were all broken in their own individual ways. People outside the household, who hadn't been manipulated by her father...they were so much richer. The strongest emotions she spent time around were all constructed by Heartbreaker, and those, she couldn't touch. She'd gladly get away from that.
On the other hand...she was safe at the manor. As long as she kept to the rules, and was good, and quiet, nothing bad would happen to her. She had money, and a family who scared everyone dangerous away. She didn't even have to do jobs. He wouldn't let her out of the house, after Clara.
She considered how best to communicate her decision, and tried a smile. She wasn't great at smiling, never got the response she expected, but it worked well enough. Imp realised she was on board, and the relief was...soothing, somehow.
"I need Heartbreaker's schedule. Does he go out? Whe—" Imp broke off as Anita shook her head. "He never leaves the fucking house?" she replied, voice rising incredulously. "The lazy piece of shit!" A saddening thought occurred to her and she laughed bleakly. "Should've known he got it from somewhere."
He. Jean-Paul again. Anita was beginning to understand why he'd bonded with her. She acted like him, but the feelings behind it all were real. She wasn't pretending, like Samuel was when he looked after her. There was no sense of obligation, no expectation being fulfilled. Imp just did things.
"Alright, never mind. How about this – next time you come down here, bring someone. Another sibling, one with powers. Anything that lets them sense people. Swear it to yourself, right now, that you'll do it."
Anita bit her lip, then made a note on her tablet to remind her. Imp nodded in satisfaction, used her power, and left Anita alone again.
[AN: That was quick! Hi all. Welcome especially those from r/WormFanfic which does the lord's work in this fandom.]