#elystarter

Nicholas slowly started to believe that he was cursed to always return to this city, no matter how hard he tried to stay away or how never-ending his life might be. The last time he had been here already seemed like such a distant memory. Even though it had only been a couple of months. So much had happened in the meantime after all. 

This didn’t mean that he had forgotten what was waiting for him here. Antonia, Kaden, Olivia. The three persons he considered family. But vampire time simply wasn’t experienced as the short fleeting moments of a human. He could be separated from them for centuries if he wished. Because they would still be there. But of course this wasn’t the case for Kaden. Could it perhaps be that he was here because he knew that his time with her was nothing more than a fleeting human life?

He would like to think he hadn’t come back if it hadn’t been for Victoria, who had pressured him to do so. Vitctoria. Finally. After three centuries of pain he had succeeded in the impossible. He had brought her back. The eternal grief that had guided his choices for so many years had been lifted. The hole in his broken heart had been filled. The relief was short-lived. Even though he was blissfully happy to have her back, grief had been replaced by an overprotectiveness he had never experienced before. A constant fear of losing her again. He didn’t let her out of his sight for a moment. He had so much to teach her in this new world after all. But after a few months she had convinced him to see her mother in New York. Something Nick had reluctantly agreed on for the only reason that he wanted nothing but her happiness. He actually was a better person when he was around her. But the condition had been that she wouldn’t show her face until he had tested the waters. He wasn’t about to let the one good thing in his life walk into a city solely focused on getting its revenge on him. With the possibility of using her to do so. Even though Nicholas thought that his crimes should be forgotten at this point. It was probably more the personal relationships he ought to worry about. He had left once again without a word of a trace after all...

He had been so very caught up in all these thoughts he hadn’t even noticed how the person next to him had briefly touched his arm, trying to get his attention. He looked to his side, to determine if it was a friend, foe or stranger. 

It’d been a long day. He was more than exhausted and right now the only thing keeping him on his feet is the idea of his bed waiting for him when he got home. He hadn’t had to deal with any sort of tasks today but he’d had his own things to accomplish, like tracking down certain spell books. He’d been successful in his pursuit, finding three of the eight he’d been looking for. They were incredibly rare so just finding those few was a massive victory on its own. 

Currently they were carefully tucked in the crook of his arm. He’d been very careful to hold them tight on the way here, making sure not to drop or damage them in any way. This wasn’t the first time he’d seen the books and just looking at them brought back memories of his home. His parents weren’t very strict about much but when it came to the books that was a whole different matter. Each book was to be carefully taken down, glanced through and then placed back in its respective place. You weren’t to leave any proof that you’d been there, no stains no dog eared pages, nothing. Spencer had always been very good with that, treating the books as if they were children, his brother on the other hand was far less responsible. 

He turned the key in the door carefully, making sure to balance the books so as not to drop them. He gently pushed the door open to reveal a familiar figure sitting on his couch. “Tatyana.” He muttered, feeling a sense of dread gathering in his chest. If she was here then he certainly wasn’t going to be able to crash like he’d hoped and who knows what he’d be made to do instead. “What are you doing here?” He asked, turning and carefully placing his books on a table by the door and turning to lock the door. Why he kept locked on the doors was beyond him though, Tatyana always managed to find her way in. 

Of all places he expected to be on a Sunday afternoon, bidding for a box of items at the police station was not one of them. It’d taken him a while to track down a certain spell book rumored to host many powerful spells, spells he couldn’t find anywhere else. Though he didn’t have a use for them in mind he was sure they’d come in handy later. It was better to be over prepared than under prepared and when it came to spell books that mantra rang extra true. 

Spencer hadn’t been well prepared when he’d taken off with Tatyana, thinking that he could come back and get some books if necessary. He didn’t realize that that would be the last time he saw the house or his family again. He’d only taken books he used often, books for reference. The issue was that none of those books were particularly rare or valuable. So when he’d gotten to New York he’d had to build up a new library from scratch without his parents or his family’s heirlooms. 

The book he wanted to buy was heaped in one big bundle with a bunch of other spell books, some rare some normal. Spencer already owned a few of them be he figured he could sell them, or keep a backup. He’d been expecting this to be an easy buy. Unfortunately another man had his eyes on the same books and easily outbid him. The man was like him, he could tell by the energy radiating off him, the magic that warlocks gave off. 

Spencer wasn’t the type to give up easily though and immediately after the auction ended he strolled over to him, back straight as he looked at the man. “How much do you want for the grey book?” He asked, not even bothering with formalities, just cutting directly to the chase. 

Spencer wasn’t new to the city in fact he’d lived here for years. So directions came easily. As soon as someone gave him an address he could easily map it out in his head, craft the route to get there the quickest and the least populated way. See, Spencer never liked people, well maybe before but now all they did is irritate him. Another thing Spencer didn’t like were variables. He liked knowing how everything would be and having control of each and every aspect. That was one of the many reasons that he avoided taking the subway. Still, there were some exceptions to the rule and one of them happened to be the fact that if he wanted to walk there it would take him a solid hour and a half and he didn’t have that kind of time. The subway shortened the trip by an entire hour. 

He took a breath, reluctantly boarding the train and taking the seat closest to the window on the left. Usually he put on his headphones to dissuade people from talking to him but he’d forgotten them at home. So vacantly staring out the window at the darkness was the way to go.