Ascension - Book Eight - Man x Man

Chapter 95

Resting my hands on the wheel excitedly, I'm practically vibrating in my seat as Darrius and Xaiver chatter quietly in the background.

 More so Darrius than Xaiver, the younger of the two still wasn't speaking much. It was hard to tell if that came from the time he spent not knowing who his daddy had become or if it was age related, Darrius was so advanced it was difficult to compare the two. The time we'd spent with them these short few weeks had seemed to helped the two come back to some sense of normalcy. 

Much as our lives might never be normal, they were acting more like children. Bickering, excited for Christmas, it was easy to forget one of them would eventually become the new spirit of the earth.

Verando holds onto the over head handle of the large SUV, attempting to not look so nervous that I was driving. We'd gotten the call this morning that Tiberius was awake and in need of a soul or two, Verando would be expected to go back on tour at the end of the week so the sense of urgency to get us into our new home laid heavily on his shoulders.

"This is mine?" I ask again, I'd owned a castle and a country, I'd had more money than one could hope to have and yet having this reformed military vehicle was sending me over the moon in delight. Talking about a car for myself was easier than thinking about the fact we were in the middle of a hostage negotiation with Europe over my husband's person. 

Thankfully, with Ron on our side, America was unwilling to give him back but Senator Campbell was making large campaign pushes to rid the country of magic users. Much as cival war raged on in our wake, we'd set plan in motion to keep up a strong defense in the places we'd left behind. 

Slayers kept stability in the form of magic interference, those who could not obey the rules were dispatched, creating it's own sense of unrest among our own ranks. We could be partners, but we were also the executioners, an uncomfortable reality citizens of this time weren't keen to continue with yet they were out of options. A simplistic notion to obide by the rules and not fear the consequences that did not concern them was a hard pill to swallow of many low level users just trying to fit in.

I flick the radio station off the news, speaking about the push to create schools that would separate magical children from those who were human. Newer than most vehicles around today in that it wasn't on tracks or covered in any sort of medieval armor, but the SUV was still safe in it's features and unable to be accessed by Gospel or Artiface.

 There was none of the fancy technologies inside, not even a GPS. It was as baseline as he could fine in the interior, still a stick shift, to make it difficult to part with. It was insurance that I would be safe if something happened to him. 

"Yes." he sighs, finally. Distracted, we both tried to keep up appearances in front of the children. We hadn't yet told them Verando would be leaving, I hadn't decided if I could stomach staying behind or if we should attempt to take them with us. But with Darrius's face becoming more public, it was giving us both an unsettled feeling. 

The older he got, the less he looked like an elf.

 "It's about time you stop abusing my car. They don't make them anymore, this will at least keep you safe with your ridiculous driving sense." 

Nothing could put a damper on my mood. We were on our way to see the progress on our temporary home, it was moving day and the potential to have our own space again was to good to pass up. Unlike a typical family, everything would already be put in it's proper place, I'd had very little to do with the actual move though. 

"Where is your car? You do realize you have zero taste in clothes and we will be going shopping, right? You can't rob me of that experience."

With a small amused hum, he glances at the watch on his raised hand. "I've got Ron giving it a once over, not many people work on cars like mine anymore. It's mostly just reading old books and what have you on how to maintain it, there's a shortage of everything in America. I'd forgotten about that when we made the move."