Free Victor Deus (Heritage of the Blood Book 1) by Brent Lee Markee Page A

Dock's District when he got the feeling that he should be returning home. Sighing aloud, he started on his way back towards home. Most of the day had been spent watching day-to-day life go by in the Dock's District. It was a busy place. Victor loved to watch the ships and the tide come in and out. There were not as many boats coming and going now because it was Midwinter, and it was too cold to sit and watch the ocean for too long. The rest of his time had been spent in alleyways testing the sharpness of his new blade. He would slash at broken barrels, broken shipping crates, and whatever else he could find that someone had thrown out.
    Wandering back towards the Civilian Sector at a steady pace, he could smell wood burning. This was not the normal smell of firewood though. He could smell cloth, and other things burning also. He had smelled this smell before a few years earlier when he had witnessed a house burn down. Victor looked around to see where the smoke was coming from; he wanted to see the fire before he went home. He saw smoke finally, and it was in the same direction that he was heading, so he quickened his pace. After about three blocks, he realized that the smoke was coming from his home.
    Oh no, Shaylyn! That was the only thought that went through his mind as he broke into a sprint. When he got there, flames were billowing out from the attic, but that didn't stop him from running in the front door. People tried to grab him before he darted into the building, but none of them were fast enough to stop him. He got into his house and almost everything in sight was bathed in flames, but it also looked as if there had been a fight. Chairs had been knocked over, the stove was lying in a few different pieces, and there was paper everywhere. There was also a lot of residual energy in the air, and he could sense that something was terribly wrong. He heard a noise coming from his room, and he ran towards the door. He grabbed the handle, which was still surprisingly cool, and he swung the door open. He had just enough time to see the man in his room before the man disappeared in a blinding flash.
    Victor felt like he would never forget the man's face or the clothes the man wore, for the rest of his life. The man had a hawkish look about his face and an impish grin that framed his bald head, and his robes were the color of fresh blood. He started to head in towards his room, to save as many things from the fire as he could, when he realized that the smoke was making it hard for him to breathe. He felt so stupid, it is a simple matter for a Shaper to change the smoke going into his lungs into clean air, but he realized he had waited too long as his world began to go black. The last thing he felt before blackness enveloped him completely were two strong arms wrapping around his body.
     
    *****
     
    Victor awoke with a jolt.
    “You alright kid?” A large man whose hair was smoke blonde asked. His face was covered in soot, and his shirt was black and gold.
    “What happened? Where's Shaylyn?” His eyes were darting this way and that through the crowd looking for his teacher, and mother.
    “Sorry kid, you were the only one in there, I checked as fast as I could, but you were the only one in there.” The big man stated with sad eyes.
    “No! Shaylyn!” Victor stood and took his bearings. He was only about forty feet away from where his house used to be, and where a burned out husk now stood. Amazingly, his house was the only home that burned down. There were no scorch marks on any of the other buildings as far as Victor could see. Something in his mind began to send out an alarm as he realized the other buildings were only inches away from the inferno, and yet unscathed. Without conscious thought, Victor listened to a voice inside his head that told him to run.
    “Kid where ya' goin'?!” The man started after Victor, but soon realized that he was no match for the child's size and speed in such densely packed streets.