Chapter 2 – The Medallion
"Where do you want to eat ?" inquired Andrea.
Vincent was starving. This morning's lessons felt like they lasted an eternity, each professor introducing themselves and basically exposing their resume during several hours. He did try to stay focused but gave up halfway through.
"Anywhere, you decide" he responded.
She smiled. "We usually meet up at a small restaurant a few minutes from there with Sarah and Thomas. It's fairly cheap and there's plenty enough to eat, even Thomas says so"
"Then it must be true for anyone" he joked
"Tell me about it, he always eats two people's worth of food, I don't know how he does it"
"He looks like he does a lot of sport"
"Oh, he does. He's part of a semi-professional rugby team, they're pretty good. Once he told us he got an offer to go pro, but he refused."
Vincent frowned. "Why ? Wasn't it a good opportunity ?"
She shrugged "I suppose it was, but Thomas is very close to his family and doesn't want to leave them."
He understood, he might have felt the same way if his family hadn't split up when he was young. He tried imagining what it would have been like, but quickly pushed the image out of his mind.
"How about you ?" he asked
She hesitated for a while, then simply answered "Most of them are abroad, scattered all around the globe. Most of them I've never even met. We're not quite the Finns"
"The what ?"
She looked distressed, cleared her throat "Hum, I mean… It's uh… a French TV serie where they're a big family and always do everything together, yup. Sorry you probably wouldn't know"
Did she really get so stressed because he didn't catch a reference? That was a bit odd, he thought.
"It's fine" he said, trying to be reassuring.
They walked shoulder-to-shoulder in silence for a while.
"Here they are, look"
Sure enough, Thomas and Sarah were walking toward them at the other end of the street.
Thomas waved at them from a distance.
"You guys look like you've known each other for some time" he noted
"I mean, we have. We've basically grown up together, our families are fairly close, too. But you know, it's nice to see someone new join the group"
"Thanks, you guys have been great to me, I really appreciate it"
"How's the American doing ?" Bellowed Thomas, grabbing Vincent by the waist and lifting him up in the air effortlessly.
Caught by surprise, Vincent almost let out a shriek.
"Let him down you brute" laughed Sarah, "You're going to scare him away"
Vincent's feet found the ground again, as he sighed with relief.
« See ? He's still alive » answered Thomas, pretending to be sorry
« Don't do this to me, man, i almost had a hearth attack »
« Nothing a meal won't fix » Added Sarah, « Come along now, before the place is fulll »
"Are you alright ?" slipped Andrea to him before they entered the building, looking slightly worried.
"I'm good, don't worry, it's just that I'm not quite used to that"
She gestured him to enter, visibly relieved.
Vincent stepped through the door.
The place was very small, barely the size of his own appartment, only a handful of tables had been set up, most of them already occupied.
The white-coloured walls were crowded with mirors, paintings and various objects from all around the world.
He noticed a painting of a maze, some egyptian symbols, recreations of medieval banners, an old gun with a bayonet that looked like it was older than the building and a few framed photographs.
The wooden counter was clear of any item except for a phone, a small pile of menus and tracts for different shows.
A door opened and a woman with brown curly hair appeared behind the counter, a pleased expression on her face. "Oh, if it isn't the gang ! Along with a new face I see, hi ! I'm Clara and over there in the kitchen is my husband Jeremie"
"Vincent, nice to meet you."
"And what are you ?" she inquired
He frowned. What did she mean ? He looked at Andrea who in turn looked at Sarah.
"Uhm he isn't..." interrupted Sarah "... From here. He's new to Paris"
"Oh, i see, well nothing wrong with that" she laughed. "I mean, not being born in Paris. What will you guys eat ?"
Vincent shrugged off that awkward passage and picked the same meal as Andrea.
They all sat down at a table near the window. "So how was your first day, you two ?" started Andrea.
"It was mostly about meeting the teachers, not much more than that. At least now we have the afternoon for ourselves" answered Vincent. "I was thinking about visiting the city for a while later"
"I can show you around", proposed Andrea.
"Oh yes, definitely" he answered. The idea made him happy as he hoped to spend more time with her. "How about you guys ?" He asked in turn to Thomas and Sarah.
"Classes" she shrugged
"Same, but I'm sure you two will be fine without us" Thomas grinned. "But don't worry, this weekend you're coming along with us, no refusal allowed"
"It's his birthday soon" explained Sarah, "We're throwing a party at his parent's place"
"Well sure i'd love to be there"
"Like you had a choice" she joked.
Thomas crossed his arms "He didn't"
"Looks like you got yourself in trouble" smiled Andrea.
He returned the smile, slightly nervous.
"Where do you live, by the way ? You're not staying at some hotel, are you ?" asked Andrea
"Oh, no, not at all ; I live at a flat that used to be my dad's. It's not far from here, in Dureau street, near the graveyard. It's been unused for some time it seems"
Thomas stopped eating for a moment, "What number ?"
"Uhm, 42 ? Why do you want to know"
"There's no way... what did you say your surname was again ?"
"Fireheart..." Vincent was getting uncomfortable. "Did you know my father ?"
"Hell if I do ! He's a good friend of my family, I didn't even know he had a son !" roared Thomas, visibly thrilled "They're all going to be so happy to meet you this weekend !"
"You knew him as well ?" Vincent asked to Andrea and Sarah, who both nodded. "What was he like ?"
They all fell silent. "Did you... not know him ?" risked Sarah
"Not really, he left for France when i was very young still, my mother and grandparents raised me"
Thomas looked uncomfortable "Look, I'm very sorry I thought..."
"No harm done"
They were interrupted by their plates being served. "There you go, blanquette de veau for our american friend" said Jeremie with a smile
"Thank you"
They ate in an awkward silence for a while, until Vincent spoke again.
"Do you guys want to see the appartment after lunch ? I wanted to drop my bag there before going aorund the city, so..."
"Oh, I'd love to, but I have class this afternoon" answered Thomas. "Same here" sighed Sarah, "But some over time, sure. I bet your father has quite the collection of antiquities in there"
"That's true" Vincent laughed, "It took ages to clean the dust, it was everywhere! Hell, I didn't even have time to clean half of it"
"Tell me about it" sneered Sarah "At my parent's workshop there's so much dust we have to clean it every week. That's the downsides of sculpture, i guess"
"Your parents are sculptors ? That's so cool, i'd love to see their workshop some time around"
She cleared her throat "Uhm... yes, sure, probably not this week though, they're working hard on a big project so I don't want to bother them for now"
"That's fine, don't worry about it. So it's just you and me, Andrea ?"
"Sounds like it" she said with a smile. She looked rather pleased at the thought and to be honest, so was he.
Vincent search his pocket for his keys, while Andrea waited next to him.
"Sounds like the street is pretty quiet, isn't it ?"
"Well it has been so far" he noted.
As quiet as a big town's street could be, that was, there was no avoiding the noise of cars, people and birds at any hour. At least he'd heard nothing of his neighbours.
The lock gave way, and they entered through the door, climbed the steep, narrow steps to his appartment.
The dark room that they entered was almost creepy, until he turned on the light.
He raised his arms "Welcome to my place"
"It's much nicer than I imagined, you did a great job of cleaning it up" She said, examining the many paintings.
"You should have seen the look it had when i first got there, straight out of a ghost story. These books were scattered all over the..."
Vincent paused for a second, noticing a shiny metallic circle on the ground that protruded from under the cabinet.
He kneeled to get a close look.
It was a pendant of sorts, one that looked like it was made of gold, or copper.
He discerned an engraving similar to the one that he'd noticed on the appartment's key : a winged lion with a snake tail. A silver chain ran through its top, indicating it was meant to be worn.
How did it get here ?
Intrigued, he reached to pick it up.
His finger closed on the ornament.
He felt something like an electric shock in his hand, then a weird, unpleasant feeling.
His vision went blurry, his arms felt heavier.
When he looked at them, they were gradually covering in fur.
"WHAT THE HELL... ?"
His own voice was deeper than usual, he watched in dismay as his shoes got shredded to pieces, revealing the hooves that quickly formed inside them.
"Vincent ! Oh my god !"
Andrea's voice felt distant, almost foreign.
He struggled to move, his paws scratching the floor loudly, claws riping wood.
As Vincent turned toward the mirror, something on his back sent furniture tumbling on the floor.
What he saw made him freeze.
A lion face, two yellow, wild feline eyes, staring right back at him. He could read his own fear in the reflection.
Atop his head, ram horns curled in a perfectly symmetrical fashion, only bested in height by two gigantic wings of brown feathers.
Lying on the floor was a greenish tail, scaled like a snake.
"I...I..."
He watched in dismay his reflection's mouth move as he spoke, revealing a row of sharp teeth.
His breathing grew hoarse as his mind tried to make sense of what was happening to him.
"Vincent... you... you need to stay calm, okay ?"
He couldn't hear her anymore, already fainting.
His mind has already gone blank as he hit the floor.
End of Chapter 2