Gregory took a long puff from his pipe. The smoke plume flowed out of his mouth and filled the air above him. He took a long inhale afterwards and closed his eyes.
"I suppose I should start by telling you that I am over 500 years old. I've lived quite the life. It has been a blessing and a curse."
"Wait? Over 500 years old? Are you like a vampire or something?" Aj placed her elbows to her knees and leaned in trying to get a closer look at him.
I investigated the glass of wine I was drinking, and my stomach lurched at the thought of drinking human blood. A loud booming laugh came from Gregory as he looked at the two of us. He threw his head back and held his stomach.
"Oh, my dears no. I am no vampire, I cannot say I have ever met one in my long existence. My immortality was sort of a 'gift' shall we say, from your family, Violet."
"A 'gift'?" I asked.
"Why, yes. I've been working for your family since I turned the age of eighteen, and my loyalty has saved their lives more than once in the past. So, your ancestors thought to reward me with eternal life." he rolled his eyes and took a sip from his glass. Swallowing he made a click with his mouth and continued. "Although I think it was more a convenience for them not me. I guess I'm just too good at my job."
"This is a lot." I spoke. "The immortality, I can deal with, but why are you here now? Why weren't you here when my mother and father died? There isn't many of us left! You said you've saved our lives before. Why not theirs?" Tears welled up in my eyes as I thought about them.
"Violet, your mother had cancer. Cancer's the one thing witches haven't been able to fight and cure. And no one could have saved your father from his grief but himself. Don't put their deaths on my hands. Nothing could pull your father out of it, he missed your mother too much.
"Not even his daughter apparently." I said as I quickly wiped the tears from my eyes. I hated him for it. I hated that I had to live without both of my parents for most of my life because he was too selfish to take care of me. And part of me could never understand nor accept that my mother had cancer. I always made-up different conspiracies in my mind about someone injecting her with the cancer. I could never believe that my mother who was in the best shape of her life could succumb to one of the deadliest killers out there. She was too strong for that.
Gregory got up from his chair and came over to my side he put his hand on my shoulder and stood there in silence. What could he have done? I didn't even know this man and I was blaming him for my parents' deaths. It was no one's fault, and I knew that.
"I'm sorry. Please continue with your story, I'd like to know more about you and your connections with my family. Why don't I know who you are?"
"Ah yes well that, you see, the people after you have something to do with that. I've been wiped from your history and memories. For centuries these people have been after your family, and they've recently decided to fight fire with fire. They now have a witch working for them, and she's probably one of the most powerful. One wonders who is working for whom?"
The fire crackled in the hearth as we all sat in silence for a moment. All of us in thought, Aj as enthused as she was had a lot to take in. She had always been a believer of paranormal and unexplained phenomena, but to have it all in front of her had to be a bit mind boggling. Even the strongest of believers must have some doubt.
Gregory broke the silence. "I've been in your dreams, Violet."
"Excuse me what?" the anger in my voice must have taken him aback. He physically stepped back and had a surprised looked on his face.
"I'm sorry, I had to, to find you. Immortality wasn't the only thing the Rowley family bestowed up me. They also gave me a sliver of their magick." He held out a necklace with a small ruby in it. It glowed slightly as he placed it back into his shirt.
"Ok, but that's pretty creepy and quite an invasion of privacy there guy." Aj had been silent since the beginning, but she was obviously angry about some guy sliding in and out of my dreams without permission.
"Well, now, hold on ladies. Let me explain. I told you I have been erased from your memories. My memories have also been tampered with as well. Shortly after your father's death I began to completely forget about your family entirely. The only thing I remembered was that I was immortal, but I could not recall why or how. Only in the last few years have my memories been slowly coming back and all I knew is that I had to find you. I had to make sure you were still alive. Your dreams were the only way I could find you. It's what brought me back to New York. Youre important, Violet. There is a battle that's coming and you're going to be the center of it, I needed to get to you before the battle began to help you and show you how we can be victorious in it."
"Fricken Wicked." Aj said as she grabbed my hand and kissed it. "Let's save the world baby!" She smiled.