Such is the la Avise family

Victoria's question was unanswered, the eerie silence enveloped the dining room, as if funerals were being held next door. Eugene could not believe what that woman just said. Nothing, but her shining emerald eyes, were stuck in his sight. As hard as he tried, he could not turn away from her, due to the sheer dread in her presence. At one point, Victoria closed her eyes and leaned back on the chair, seemingly disappointed. Then, she glanced over the one who sat beside the man.

Up until this point, no one dared to say a word. But finally, as two people similar in face noticed each other, their mouths broke loose.

"What an untactful thing to say to our guest, Victoria. Were you not the one who was babbling about the importance of background information and its use?" said Sylvia calmly, to which Victoria energetically replied, "Indeed I am! I also thought you to whom you should not speak about it, the ones that are dangerous to the la Avise clan, but also yourself. Eugene is a good fellow here, thus there is no need in hiding what we know about him."

"What the fuck are you talking about!?" finally snapped Eugene. He hit the table with both of his palms and stood up from the impulse, "The fuck you know about my family?-"

"Calm the hell down, boy, or I will throw you out of this house!" exclaimed Martin, which shook up not only Eugene, but servants as well. They immediately left the room, leaving Eugene alone in the presence of wolves.

"No need for such vicious words, Martin. Our guest is just confused, or rather unaware. As I said, you are free to ask anything from Arnold. As you yourself, perhaps, noticed, if something should be done for our family, he would gladly obey any demand."

Eugene gritted his teeth, but did not answer her. He was not only under pressure from Martin's gaze behind him, but also hateful about the truthfulness of Victoria's words. Indeed, he long noticed Arnold's weird soft spot for the la Avise family, and now he only got further confirmation of their unknown deep connection. All these years, the old man was silent about those arrogant bastards, and he refused to talk about them, even after their connection became crystal clear. Arnold had a reason to keep silent about these people, and Eugene's gut suggested those reasons to be bitter.

Suddenly, footsteps rang behind him and as the man turned, he saw Sylvia's spine with her long hair slowly swaying from right to left. She was leaving the scene, which sank Eugene's heart.

"Hey, where do you think you are going?"

"To my room, I finished my portion and there is no point in further discussion." she said coldly and continued walking. However, her pace did not last for long, Eugene caught her by the hand and said in sorrowful voice, "Sylvia, why are you so indifferent about it? Why are you so calm?"

She slowly turned to him, and for the first time Eugene saw the resemblance of compassion towards him. It lasted momentarily, immediately after, her eyes returned to the soulless state, and she said, "There is no need for anger, nor there is any need for joy. We exist to be serving those above in cold blood, doing all the dirty work. Such is the la Avise family."

Then, she pulled out her hand off of Eugene's grip. She dashed towards the dark hallway and whispered, before disappearing in it, "Goodbye, Eugene."

Eugene followed her shadow with his eyes, but as it vanished as well, he made a step back and held on to the chair to not fall to his knees. From behind, he heard slow, but loud clapping, then came the words, "Perfectly said, my daughter."

Then Victoria's words were followed by a subsequent phrase of the father of the la Avise family, he finished his meal and finally faced Eugene directly with no contempt, but rather sympathy, "You coveted one extravagant fruit, young fellow. By plucking it, you will leave the Garden of Eden, full of sweet ignorance. Such is the la Avise family, the keepers of truth."

Eugene looked him in the eyes, but could verbalize a single word. His mind was overflown with Sylvia's words, and now they are further stacking some pretentious phrases on him. Eugene was done with this family, he wanted to leave, but his legs were weak, as if made of cotton.

But then, someone else came in from the hallway that lead to the outside door. It was Vincent, middle-aged butler of the la Avise family. His footsteps were calming, as if a pendulum, ticking in a faster pace. As soon as Vincent noticed the man, he stopped and said, "What the hell are you doing here?"

He first words were filled with hostility, however, each word sounded calmer than the previous one. He looked to the left and right in search of an answer of what happened in his absence, but the answer did not follow. Instead, Martin stood up and limped to the same hallway, where Sylvia went earlier. Before leaving, though, Martin said, "Drive this fellow back home, Vincent. And mind your language."

"Yes, sir, sorry!" exclaimed Vincent, who immediately rushed to help out Eugene. In any other scenario, Eugene would be surprised and flattered from the sudden help of this butler, but now was truly the wrong time to have a bonding moment. Although, he still followed Vincent, who was gently pushing him towards the exit.

Victoria silently observed them and even saw off. Her face was shining with an arrogant smile, one very familiar to the man. Before the heavy wooden door closed on the two, Victoria gave her final words, "Fair well, Eugene, may luck be on your side."

Ironically, it was now Eugene's time to depart from the meeting place on a black Peugeot. Vincent sat him to the front seat and quickly hopped into the driver's seat, started the engine and drove away from the premise.

Eugene sluggishly turned his head towards Vincent and asked through bitterness in his throat, "Do you need directions?"

"Do not worry, I know where you live."

"Of course, you fucking do."

Instead of expected anger, only pity rose on Vincent's wrinkled face. He sighed and glanced at Eugene to say, "Well, they told me… Sorry, I knew it would end up that way, yet I did not try to warn you off. You are a sturdy pal, but they can be really violent at times."

"Really violent?" sobbed Eugene, "That's an understatement."

"Fair enough… do not tell them I agreed with you on that." giggled Vincent.

Eugene managed to smirk, yet tears slowly blurred his vision, and he turned to the left window. He saw the pitiful boy full of tears in the reflection and was wondering if there would be another chance to even consider snitching on Vincent. He was truly doubtful about this possibility.