A/N: I'm sorry I took so long, I really have no excuse. As I have said numerous times before, I want to thank all of you for your continued support of my story, and I hope you continue to read and enjoy it!

Chapter 8: Argument

The room was filled with people, eight adults and a mess of children of various ages. They all turned to stare as Quillish and Laurent entered. The children were first to react, jumping up all at once from their seats and crowding around the two, climbing over each other to get a good look at the "new kid." They all began talking at once, and then started shouting over each other so that their voices could be heard.

"He's so scrawny!"

"Has he ever been outside?"

"Look at 'im! Just look at 'im!"

"Whatsyername? Whatsyername?"

Laurent yelped as one child grabbed a handful of hair and tugged. He pulled away from the children in a hurry and hid behind Quillish.

Quillish sighed and shook her head, "Hello, everyone."

"That's how you greet us? Just 'hello?'" snapped a rather pudgy woman in the back of the room, "The last time you talked to any of us was three years ago!"

"I would have preferred it to be longer…" Quillish mumbled under his breath, he looked at the woman and put on a civil sort of smile, "It's always a pleasure to see you, Jane."

The woman scoffed, "Wish I could say the same."

Quillish forced out a laugh, "How did any of you even know I'd be here?"

"Friends of friends," a man said coolly, "It's very sad that we have to find out when you are coming home in that manner, right…?"

"I suppose it could be…"

"So, that's the kid that we heard about," growled one of the men, "Certainly doesn't look like anything special."

"Looks can be deceiving, George…" Quillish said easily.

All of the other adults laughed loudly and unpleasantly, "I'd bet!" a mustached man said with a grin, "You seem perfectly sane, but here you are, presenting us with a strange new child that will inherit all of your money!"

"I really find nothing wrong with it, it's my money after all," Quillish said.

"I told you, I told you! He's stark raving mad," growled another woman, folding her arms snugly against her thin frame, "We have all of these heirs, and he just throws them aside without any thought! I thought blood was important to people!"

"Sometimes blood isn't as important as people think…"

"Blood is very important!" roared another man.

Quillish gave a very deep sigh, "I…"

"Do you know what this is like?" Jane asked, frowning, "It's like those stories you always hear about, the billionaires giving all their money to their pets! That's it, isn't it? You just wanted anyone to get the money, as long as we didn't get it, is that right?"

"What I do with my money is of no concern to you."

"Of course it is! We're your family!"

"That makes little difference…"

It was then that everyone began talking at once. The children continued to push and pull one another so that they could get a better look at Laurent, screaming and yelping all the while. Laurent shied away all the more from all the strange creatures, trying to find protection behind his adoptive father. Quillish massaged the bridge of his nose in frustration as his brothers', sisters', and in-laws' voices continued to get louder and louder. They repeated the same tired lines as they always did: "You're crazy," "Why can't we get the money?" Their voices became angrier and angrier, shriller and shriller, noisier and noisier. Finally, Quillish had enough.

"EVERYBODY, PLEASE SHUT UP!" he roared, making everyone jump. Quillish hardly ever raised his voice; it was a quirk that the rest of his family never shared, "It's none of your business what I do with my life," he continued as calmly as he could.

All of the children stared slack-jawed at the man, then quickly hurried back to their parents. They had never seen their uncle act in this way, it was rather frightening. Laurent would have been frightened, too… but the man's anger wasn't directed at him. If anything, Quillish's rage made Laurent feel safer, as though it made sure the other children would be too afraid to touch him.

Unfortunately, many of the adults failed to witness just how upset Quillish was. They figured he had just grown a spine or something, or perhaps he had simply needed to yell to be heard over the din. Well, it was a fact that being heard was part of the reason why he did shout… but it wasn't the only one.

Laurent felt a little braver after the quiet had set in, and walked out from behind Quillish's legs. The man looked down at the young boy and then placed his hand on his shoulder protectively, "Whether you like it or not, Laurent is my heir," Quillish said calmly.

Jane cocked her head to the side, "I guess there's no way around it," she said.

"That's correct."

"Well, then…" Jane continued, walking up to Quillish and Laurent, her blue eyes flashing dangerously, "Let me at least take a good look at the dog you decided to give all of your money to."

Before either of them could react, Jane had already stooped down to Laurent's height. Her breath smelled mostly of stale cigarettes, causing the young boy to gag slightly. The woman's fat hand roughly seized Laurent's chin, then she began to tug his head back and forth, inspecting him as though he were an animal, "He really is nothing special…" she muttered, her eyes scanning the boy's frightened face. She made a move to force open Laurent's mouth to take a look at his teeth, and at that moment, Quillish grabbed his sister's wrist and pulled her away from the boy.

"Don't treat my son in that way," he said, anger bubbling beneath his calm voice.

"Son? HA!" the woman spat, "What breed is he?"

Laurent was still in shock, rubbing his sore face and looking disbelievingly at the woman.

"He is not a dog," growled Quillish, "To even say such a thing… you disgust me."

"I disgust you?" the woman snapped.

"Yes."

"Look at him, Quillish. Just look at him. I'm disgusted that you made such a decision!"

"If you can't respect my decisions, get out of my house," the words were calm and cold.

"I…Quillish…" Jane said, eyes widening in shock. This definitely was different…

"All of you," Quillish growled, letting go of Jane's wrist and glaring at the other people in the room, "You come to my home, insult me and my son, break my things, and then expect me to just take it? There is a reason why I avoided talking to you as long as I have! You all disgust me!"

The room was quiet as everyone in the room stared at Quillish, "Do you mean that?" a woman asked, tentatively breaking the silence.

"Of course. Who wouldn't be disgusted?" Quillish snapped, "Just look at yourselves!"

A man in the back scoffed, "If that's really how you feel, we'll get out," he said indignantly.

"Please," was Quillish's response.

"I told you that this was a bad idea…" someone hissed.

"Yes, it was a very bad idea," Quillish agreed, "Now; I would appreciate it if you would all just go…please." It seemed as though he was trying very hard to be calm and polite once more.

The people looked at each other for a few seconds, then back to Quillish. It was obvious he wasn't playing. Slowly, slowly they began to file out of the room, glancing nervously at the man, who watched them go with a hard expression. After a few moments, the only people that remained were Laurent and Quillish. As soon as he could no longer hear their footsteps, Quillish gave a deep sigh and collapsed on one of the chairs.

He looked to the far end of the room, where, until just recently, his whole immediate family had stood. It was then that he noticed the small figurine shattered on the hardwood floor. So that was the thing she broke… too bad… I liked that one... Quillish thought tiredly.

"Who were those people?" Laurent asked quietly.

"Those people were my family…" Quillish sighed, "My brothers, sisters, in-laws, nieces, nephews…" he covered his face with his hands. The two were silent, and the room was filled with the soft ticking of the grandfather clock in the far corner of the room.

"Why did they act like that?" Laurent asked.

Quillish took his hands from his face and straightened up in his seat, gazing into the curious eyes of his adoptive son, "I honestly don't know why they act like that…" he said softly, "They've just always been that way… petty, self-centered…" he gave a deep sigh and hung his head.

Laurent looked down, "They're those sorts of people, aren't they? The sort of people that want things just to want things…"

"That's right. They all just want my money… that's all I'm good for in their eyes…" Quillish shook his head, "You should have seen them before I had anything… they didn't want anything to do with me. It was only when I had wealth that they even noticed I existed at all."

Laurent looked up and put a hand on Quillish's knee, "Make sure I don't grow up to be like that," he said seriously.

Quillish looked up in surprise, "Laurent…"

"I mean it," Laurent said, "I don't want to be seen as one of them."

Quillish's face broke into a smile as he reached out and ruffled Laurent's messy black hair, "I know you won't be seen as one of them. You're cut from a different cloth, that's why I picked you to be my heir in the first place. You don't care about physical things like most people do… I'm sure you won't grow up to be anything at all like them."

Laurent smiled, "Thank you."

"However, you have to promise me something," Quillish said, "Since I'm from their family, I have a higher chance of ending up like them. If you see it happening, tell me. Tell me as soon as possible."

Laurent then laughed, "I promise."

Quillish smiled in response, but it was a tired smile, "This must be a horrible first day for you," Quillish said with a shake of his head, "We've hardly touched down in the UK and already my family was here to insult you. I feel horrible about this…"

Laurent shook his head, "Don't worry," he said, "I don't care about what they say. They're just a bunch of idiots."

Quillish gave a loud laugh, "Now, that's not very nice at all!" he said, grinning, "You shouldn't call them idiots… even though they are," he put his hand on Laurent's shoulder, "Now, what say we forget about all of this? How would you like a tour of the place?"

"Sure," Laurent smiled.