AN: I am sorry for the delay being a fulltime student and working fulltime has cut down on my time to transcribe my ideas from my head to paper and then paper to digital copies.
Chapter 2
When I came to I was groggy and could not place where I was right away it did not help that I found myself staring into the eyes of the devil. Not the easiest way to wake up especially when starts to speak. "Hello petite, Remy is yer pere and he along wid the rest of the house needs you to stay calm and have some patients. We shall be getting out of here in the morning and headed someplace safe where ya can learn ta control yer powers." The man claimed to be my father. He spoke in a beat down and worn out voice.
I could not withhold my burst of anger and rage that I released from me at that precise moment. "What the bloody hell are you talking about?" I demanded of the man kneeling over me.
"There is a school up north that can help you learn to harness your powers even control them hopefully." He said as he pulled out a suitcase and started packing it as though his life depended on his speed at the task. "They won't guarantee anything except to try and help you. Now give me a hand with packing this stuff or else your mother may change her mind before you are ready to leave." He said as he continued to put all my belongings into the lone case. "You are not an only child mon Filis."
I could not hold back my anger at this rambling any longer. "Would you slow down for one minute and explain to me what the hell you are going on about?" I vented at the fool who stopped and looked at me confused by my outburst.
"I am your father." The former prince said but did not get out anything else as I decided to cut him off.
"I already know that you fool and deserter. It is overly obvious that I am your child." I ranted off at the person who sired me. My fraternal heritage was a very sensitive subject for me.
He let out a sigh before continuing to speak. "I can see dat it is blatant for me to be yer pere but yer mere left a mark on yer eyes similar ta how I did yer sister from what Tante tells me. You are not an only child." He explained as if trying to calm a scared animal. "They will be here tomorrow morning. You and yer sister are ta come wid Remy up to stay and learn ta control yer powers. So we need to get you packed so that we can go when they show up and so that we will have time to complete yer tilling tonight." His rambling continued on and on about nothing important. I was too stunned to say anything in return. "Yer mere did not even have de decency ta tell Remy about y'all being born. It took both yer grand Peres calling Remy fer me to believe it and come back down here." He continued to pack my belongings into the lone suitcase as if there was no greater purpose for him than to do that with occasionally looking my way. "You are going to have to try and relax or we will have to blindfold you for everyone's protection."
I tried to do as he suggested but it felt forced just like his calm attitude. The feeling was coming from him but not showing his true feeling yet I did not know how that was. "Here catch." He said tossing a deck of cards at me. "Keep them handy at all times. They will hold off your boredom and they are very useful as weapons. Also they happen to be very cheap." He explained to me.
It was then that I realized where we were and it startled me. My father continued to pile everything he could into my simple suitcase. My breathing became erratic as I thought of the scowling I was about to receive from Tante Mattie and Tante Mercy. I knew they were going to tan my hide. The bed started to glow bright neon blue. The stinging in my hands was not helping me remain calm. "Remy what is going on? Why am I here?" I asked as panic started to get to me.
He looked up and started to walk over to me slowly. It was one of the scariest things that I had seen in a long time. My hands were on fire as he approached me. "Your Tante brought you back here after you were sedated." He explained as he came and sat beside me on the bed. The glow started to fade as he laid his hand on the bed, but even with his facial control, I could tell that he was in pain. "Here, put this on." He said as he held out a blindfold to me. "Now I need you to do me a favor petite and stay calm."
I nodded and put the blindfold on before asking him a question that was starting to bug me. "Why do you keep telling me to remain calm?" In response, I heard him chuckle.
"Désolé, but if you do not stay calm you may end up blowing a new hole in the house." He explained seriously. I was fearful of what that meant. "You are a little too much like moi." He explained to me taking a breath before continuing to talk to me. "The power we hold can open many doors with the right touch, but control will be a hard fought success before you feel it unless you get away from moi and make de same mistakes dat I have made. Den de pain will be less physical and rest deeper." Remy explained to me as he stood up from the bed. "Now, do you have a coat?" He inquired of me.
"Non, Grand Pere was going to take me to get one after Mon tiling." I replied in the direction his voice came from.
"That is being moved up to tonight and the timing will be limited to only a few hours if that much at all. I am going to be proctoring your tilling it will be a simple in and out job with you wearing a power inhibitor to restrict your explosive potential."
"You used your powers on plenty of heist. So why can't I use my powers on dis job?" I demanded of my father.
He smirked at me before responding. "I never had dem for my tilling. I nearly blew up de kitchen a week later." He seemed to laugh at the thought of his past. "Now, enough with reminiscing about the past. We need to get you packed so that way we can leave in the morning mon fils."
"Why so that you can haul me away to the freezing weather of the North with your cold hearted bride?" I asked and demanded of him. "I would rather let the rippers get at me."
He released a sigh. "Virgil Trystan LeBeau, I never want to hear you say that ever again do you understand me?"
"I never wanted to ever meet you, you stupid piece of junk. Do you have any idea the trouble your reputation is around here has caused me? Le Diablo Blanc the rapist who ran off to the north once the police started to circle around and close in on him, but lucky for me the LeBeau family found me and brought me in to the fold where I belong. You were too busy getting your groove on that you did not even pay enough attention to your standing in the guild and because of your actions causing such a black eye to the family I have had to work very hard to set my reputation apart from yours. The prince who was banished and had to run off to the north to find a cheap whore that would look at him more than once and not cringe in fear, because you were always too busy hitting on anything that at one point may have worn a skirt to have any honor." I could not hope to contain my anger here I sat one of the greatest child thieves to ever live already in full possession of the skills that would set me apart and notate me as a master of my craft and with the gifted fingers that no lock ever stood a chance against me. I was a tilling away from my master's mark because of all the military secrets I had obtained over the years and the armaments that I had disabled for the fun of it leaving behind a jack of diamonds at every crime. It was a little bit much but hey, I saved them for that specific purpose always making sure my print was on the card only and making sure that it never got anywhere else. "I will never be a pet lap dog for you to use like Jean-Luc wanted you to be for him." I ranted at him feeling a burning sensation in my hands.
"Petite you need to calm down before you go and blow a new hole in this house." He said in a pained and strained voice as if my words could wound him a beast and lowlife trying to appear as a human.
The next thing I knew I went from being angry at the trash in my room to fearing for my life. The door smashed open and I heard the voice that even the devils fear. "Virgil Trystan LeBeau, calm down this instant and stop making such a fuss child or I will grab out my wooden spoon and make sure you can't sit until there is snow on the ground. As for you Remy Etienne LeBeau, get your butt back to packing so that you all can go out tonight and be ready to get on the plane. Oh, and make sure you are ready his sister and mother will be here first thing in the morning to go with you to the plane." Tante Mercy said in a cold voice as she stormed into the room. "Now Trystan you are coming down to have some dinner before you boys go off to have your fun tonight."
"Mercy it is not as if I am taking him to a club it will be a job." The fool said to my aunt as if he could defend himself from a woman's wrath without running.
Her reply came quick and terse. "I have known enough of you LeBeau boys to know that clubs are distractions for you lot, and sex is nothing but a small joy. None of you ever have any true fun unless you are breaking the law by stealing and the riskier the job the more fun you have." I could not help but smirk because she did describe my actions to a tee.
"Then maybe you should have not gone and married one of us if you knew that." Gambit said with a smirk evident in his voice.
"Henri is a might better man then you Gambit. Now, l'demond blanc get your butt out of that bed so that Mattie can fuss over you before you get ready and Jean-Luc has to talk to you." She said sternly before her attention returned to the man who's sperm led to my birth. "Those clothes ain't gonna fold them themselves."
I got up and walked to the door. "Mon dieu, you sound more like Tante Mattie each day." I mumbled dejectedly just before Tante Mercy smacked me in the back of the head.
"Watch your mouth Virgil." She said leading the way towards the kitchen. I could hear my father grumble something about southern women but it was too low for me to hear properly. I had a slightly disconcerting feeling as I followed my aunt through the mansion. I could somehow feel where everything was. I knew the layout of the house by heart but this was something different it was as if everything had its own signature and I could feel things that I never could before.
I kept quiet about my thoughts and this feeling as I moved through the only place I had ever called home in the wake of one of the women that raised me to be the proud little thief that I was today. Moving around while blindfolded was unfortunately not a new experience for me as it had been part of my training for years. Jean-Luc was a good but strict taskmaster and trainer. His son my uncle Henri never took too well to being a hand on thief but he was one of the guilds best minds and always pushed me to the edge of my abilities with his training ideas added to my grandfather's own. They had me running drills over that I completed previously but with the addition of blindfolds and darkness. They even felt it would be a good idea to have me wear one weeks on end occasionally. The old men of the guild wee relentless taskmasters but if tonight went well then it would all be worth it with my master's mark especially with the support that I have from the other guildhalls that report to us in New Orleans.
Rest was never a common theme for my childhood but my skills as the unopposed best kleptomaniac child on the planet had benefits. Both Interpol and the FBI wanted to use me as an excuse for surveillance of children. I did not mind the video they had of me. It only let them know a child had stolen some priceless works and secrets that were a little embracing for them. It is not my fault that they did not have more than three hard copies of the case file I wanted and deleted all the digital versions in existence. In my defense, Cezanne and Pissarro's works looked better adorning the guild seats. I made sure that at least one painting from each artist was present in all of the guildhalls I had been to and even moved some from one hall to another. That is the reason why after my tilling I shall take the award as a master of my craft and the youngest to do so in history. Mattie placed a decent size meal of eggs and sausage before me once Mercy had instructed me to sit in my seat and I ate it all up like man that had not had anything to eat in days. Jan-Luc came into the kitchen as I finished eating. "Now that you have ate something and won't fall out on the job go suit up. I put your uniform in the bathroom off my office." I followed the Patriarch's orders without hesitation.