Location: Armandasanti Family Grave Site

Time: Midnight

Date: Sometime in the Future.

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The wind kicked wildly this night. Perhaps because it rode on the strength of it’s own change or maybe that it was riled with the arrival of the past that refused to die. In front of the Armandasanti gravestones stood a tall man with dark features and a stern look to his eyes. In his hand was a small folding wooden chair and a bouquet of flowers. Placing them down on one of the graves, a soft sigh could be heard before he unfolded the chair and took a seat.

“I know, Ma. I know. It’s been too long since I’ve come to visit. It’s...not safe for me to do this too often but I feel like I owe you guys an explanation of some sorts. Or maybe this is more like a confessional? I don’t know.”

A bloated silence hung pregnant above the living Heir’s head. A weight of ages sat upon him yet he showed to deference to it. Being what he was, a Vampire, time was no longer his jailer. Vito sat upon the precipice of eternity. He had no concept or concern over time itself.

“I didn’t think it would be so hard to talk to stones but...the words are harder to bring out than I thought. I know you’d know what to say, Pop. Sometimes I wish I could talk to ya but I’m afraid you’d hate what I’ve become. What I’ve done. As crazy as it is, I miss you too Scarlett. You reminded me so much of Pop. Your passing was more heartbreaking than I ever led on.”

If he still had the emotions he had back then, he might have shed a tear on the memories of the moment. The history that clung to him with so much vigor that he could never shake them off. No matter how much he tried to do so.

“Maybe...maybe it will be easier if I just start from the very beginning. Ahem, it started...a long time ago…”

A clearing of his throat, he leaned back in the chair, brushing his knuckles with his thumb as he recounted the tale of what was to be his life and unlife.

“You ever have a dream you were so certain it was real? Then when you wake up you can’t tell if it’s the dream still or reality? That’s how this all started. I had a dream about Alice...you remember her, right Pop? Yeah...she was a beautiful woman no doubt. When I woke up, I had the strangest urge to call her but I didn’t. Not sure why...I think I was just busy.”

“Anyway, the night passed on and I was havin’ dinner with Ma and Scarlett. Scarlett wanted money so she could do nice things with it and help people. Obviously I made sure she had the money and sent her with some protection. I got a call from Paulie, he’s kinda like my go-to guy. Helps me a lot. Well…”

He paused for a moment, letting the air wash over him and the scent of the changing seasons run through his being. He loved this time of year. It always felt so...right.

“Long story but we caught a Russian. See, these ruskie fucks have been movin’ in on the docks, the same ones you put so much in to, and I wasn’t havin’ any of that. So I told my guys to watch the place. They did. I went to go and talk to the guy, right?”

Vito balls his fist, a rare flash of anger coming across his visage. Normally he’d control himself but he was alone with his family here. He figured he’d let loose a little bit.

“And he had the stones to disrespect me. You know how we feel about that sorta thing. I took his left hand and, when he passed out, searched his body. Found some weird marks but nothin’ else that night. I went home, ate some food, went to bed. And wouldn’t you know it? I had that same dream. Something about Alice. I had to know. Turns out I wouldn’t have to wait long for it.”

Rolling his neck, he sighed deeply.

“The next day she calls me, says she needs to meet and talk. So I go see her, right? Now I’m nervous as all hell but I don’t show that to her. I show up and ask what goin’ on, right?” Pinching the bridge on his nose, he rolls his head and eyes back. “And you know what she tells me? She’s got a kid and the kid is mine!” Exasperation rolls from his features, flitting in to the night air with a depressed relief of release from tensions rising.

“Can you imagine keepin’ somethin’ like that a secret? And worse yet, the kid is very ill and needs my help to survive. I’ve never even seen the kid. Alice gets emotional and thinks she made a mistake so she leaves, right? Now I trust Alice but it’s been years. A detective type guy owes me a big favor so I have him go discreetly check the situation out.”

“Now, I do a little paintin’, a little relaxin’ and tell the boys to look for the symbol I painted. So the next day, I go in to work right? I run this little bank, keeps the feds off me, makes my money come out nice and clean. It’s great. I get told by my guy, Patrick Folliard the CFO, that some woman is callin’ trying to get me to sign over the bank.”

“So I call this girl, right? This uh...Maranda Logue lady, right? We set up a time to meet at some charity event for back problems and bada bing, bada boom, we are all set to go. The detective type I sent to check on the situation with Alice comes by and drops off some papers…”

He stands up and begins pacing about the grass. Moving slowly, in pensive thought with a tension to his features. “The papers...they confirmed it. The kid...Matthew is mine but he’s super sick. I had to see for myself. So I went down to the old school, brought Frankie and had a...’chat’ with the principal. Got the number from them and called Alice. I wanted to help…”

“With all that, I still had some business to do with Ma. She wanted to see the Opera like when she went with you, Pop, so I took her. We got really good seats and was safe, the whole thing, right? Get this, some weird people were staring at me. This chick and old guy. I stared at them back till the break was over and Ma came back. Took Ma home and made sure she went to rest.”

“That night...that night I painted a sunset. It was really well done and...truth be told I’m glad I did. It was the last one I can remember even though days passed after that. That painting held great value to me…”

Minutes pass as he reflected on what was the most important painting thus far. An how it drew him in like nothing else ever could. It was as though the brush moved on it’s own.

“When I woke up the next day I had to go to the Hospital to get checked on to see if I was a match for the Kid. Some serious blood loss later and I’d be done for the day. Hell, I barely had enough time to get to the charity event. Now listen to this fuckin’ mess I walked in on…”

“I went to the event to donate some money, clean some cash and meet with Maranda, right? This chick shows up, says hello, and leaves with her goon posse. I tell ya, I felt like a wet bag. It wouldn’t be the last I saw of her though. I remember I had to make a call because...well, to be blunt, the bank was failing and failing fast.”

“Patrick and I both looked in to options while my boys told me I’d be meetin’ with a Russian. See they told me the first guy said something about some angel they looked up to. I tell ya, these freaks believe anythin’. So I went to meet with the guy. He was alone but said he had some friends near-by, right? Somethin’ was off about him. Somethin’ fuckin’ wild but I didn’t know it at the time.”

“It looked like things were gunna go really bad for a moment but I managed to keep things clean and even work out some kinda deal, I was even going to meet with them in a week. I had my guys watch over this goon and where they come from. I later learned that they have some sorta hideout with some fat guy callin’ the shots. Didn’t know what it meant...had other issues at the time…”

Taking a moment, he sat back down and looked to his father’s stone. “I went home that night...and painted the family that never was...it was fuckin’ horrible. I couldn’t see what I was paintin’ because the damn tears in my eyes kept fuckin’ it up but...it was something amazing. I went to bed then and had some serious drive the next time.”

“So Patrick found an investor and went to meet, but the Doc at the hospital called me and said she needed to run another test but it looks like I’m a good match. I made a call to Maranda too, to set up another proper talkin’, right? Off to the Doc I went. They put in this like…” He tried to make the shape with his hands. “Metal fuckin’ thing and stuffed me in. It was cramped out as hell but I did it...oh yeah, and they poisoned me too! Fuckin’ ‘medicine’ am I right?”

“Anyway, while Patrick went to meet the investor, I went to meet with Maranda. Some big building with all kinds of...weird security measures. Even this thing in like the elevator...fuckin’ weird is what it was. So I meet with this chick, tell her it’s my father’s only remainin’ thing and she offers to buy it out over and over. I couldn’t sell my pride like that. So I left it. I said to hell with this place and left.”

“Thank God, Patrick had better luck, found the investor and we could settle the bank right. See, we had to close it down for ‘repairs’ and ‘holidays’ and the like so we wouldn’t go under. I didn’t buy it then, I don’t buy it now that it was some grace that saved us. When I got home, I went right to bed. Church was the next day.”

“I remember...some time passed before I got another call. The blood and my being were a match for the kid. I was told to come down there right away and get this show moving. So I went, I told Ma she had a grandchild and she came with me.”

“Pop...I wrote to the kid before I went under...I told him I loved him and I always will, just like you did. Please...if you can...guide me to be the man I need to be for him. I don’t think I can do it like I am. That’s all I can remember thinking about before the mask went on…”

Vito, in solemn remembrance, hung his head…