𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐑. paul lahote ✓

𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐒𝐈𝐗

"It means January."

Augustine froze, something uneasy coiling in her gut. Not only was this vampire a Frenchman who could manipulate matter and had a knack for the arts, but he was named after one of the months.

Just like she was.

When her brain finally started to start back up, the first words of deflect on her mind escaped her. "This is a prank— are you punking me right now?"

"Based on the similarities alone, and with Alec bringing him up, I think Janvier is the key," Carlisle explained, and the girl instantly took note of how his tone took a sullen tone, "but no one, and I mean not one vampire, has seen him. He's been evading the Volturi for years, and even their best tracker has yet to find him."

She nodded, eyes flittering around the room. "So the key to figuring out why my powers are literally malfunctioning has been missing for hundreds of years," she repeated, teeth sinking into her cheek. Her head fell into her eagerly awaiting hands. "Even my afterlife is a shit show."

Carlisle rounded the desk, and out a comforting hand on her shoulder that caused her to look up at him. "Janvier may be missing, but I still know others who knew him as well," he reassured her, "so who's to say the answer can't lie in their memories of him, hm?"

Augustine thought it made sense; surely if anyone had any stories about the man and his abilities, perhaps they also had stories of him passing out from them too. The bitter part of her brain supplied that maybe Janvier was perfect, had no issues, and perhaps it was something about her that was causing these issues.

She plastered on a hopeful grin though, and shrugged. "Hope so."

⋆☾ ﾟ｡⋆

"What the hell kind of name is 'Janvier'? Do people not name their kids normal names anymore?"

"Your name is Paul... so yeah, people are still naming their kids normal names."

The pair had been on the phone for the last hour, with Augustine mainly rambling on about her new findings that she promised Paul she would relay, had she found anything. Since it was a school night, and even though she couldn't sleep, Esme still insisted on an early curfew, she resulted in calling him instead.

And yeah, it was safe to say that she found something— though in her mind, it was just something that led to even more questions.

And yeah, she made Alec's letter seem like it was a random one... not like they'd been writing to one another since before she and Paul patched things up. Would it come back to bite her in the ass later? Probably, but she had bigger things to fret over now.

Things like the mysterious Janvier.

A chuckle sounded from the other end of the line. "It could be a coincidence," he offered positively, though the way his tone wavered as he said the word coincidence revealed how he truly felt. A sigh. "Okay, it is fucking weird. I mean, you're basically this dude's carbon copy."

Augustine grimaced. "I know, and of course no one's seen him since the end of the 1700s," she mumbled in evident frustration.

"If anyone can find the solution, it's your family," he said resolutely. "I've never seen a group of people survive as much as you all have... it's astounding, really."