Pride x Familiar (7 page)

It was a known fact the Symbiote had a habit of
enacting cosmetic changes to the bodies of those it inhabited.
Those changes took place in the first few weeks after the Symbiote
entered the host’s body. The changes ranged from weight loss,
muscle build-up, fuller lips, smoother skin and a near perfect
complexion.

I found it all unfair to Regular humankind who
had to resort to a plethora of creams and treatments as they
struggled to remain on par with the Aventis.

I glared openly at the portraits of the male
presidents.

“Ara ara, aren’t you making a scary face.”

I turned in the direction of the wide, antique
desk that would have been perfectly at home in the manor of some
rich company CEO. Again, there was no doubting the shine and luster
of real, varnished wood. It probably cost more than my parents
earned in a year before they passed away.

I stared at the occupant of the high backed
leather chair that sat behind the desk.

Her legs were on the table, cast in sheer white
stockings befitting the white skirt she wore. The owner of those
impressive pins stood up and walked around the desk, choosing to
prop herself on its edge. Her crossed legs swung back and forth
slowly like pendulums.

My eyes followed her feet like a cat might
follow a ball on a string.

She was the second person I’d seen wearing
non-regulation footwear within academy grounds.

Prissila Ventiss Raynar was the first.

I looked up at the girl.

Ash grey hair – what a peculiar color – azure
almond eyes, and a heart-shaped face. She appeared to have
inherited the best of a mixed heritage. I was certain the Symbiote
had subsequently played a hand in enhancing her natural beauty.

She had a fine figure, a real work of art. It
was hard to ignore her slender yet shapely legs, as it was to
ignore her impressive bust line.

After studying her for a few moments, I asked,
“I do apologize, but might I ask you a question?”

“Oh?” She raised her perfectly shaped eyebrows
at me. “Ask away.”

I frowned at the beautiful girl before me. “Who
are you?”

She laughed softly under her breath. “I’m the
Student Council Vice-President. My name is Simone Alucard
Raynar.”

It was my turn to raise my eyebrows. “Alucard?
You mean as in ‘Dracula’ spelt in reverse?”

She looked briefly embarrassed. “Eh…yes.
Unfortunately so.”

I allowed my gaze to wander over her once more.
“Another Raynar….”

Her azure eyes widened slightly. “Oh…I see.” She
sighed softly but I still heard it. “Caelum, please understand, my
family—the Alucards—had no part in what happened to you that day.
There was no Alucard involved in the actions taken against
you.”

“How much do you know about what happened?”

She folded her hands over her midriff. “I know
that it was foolish for those individuals to strike at the
Lanfears.”

“Why did they break the agreement between the
Prides?”

I almost missed the shrug she gave me. “Caelum,
I don’t know.”

“Could it have something to do with my sister?
Did she do something to them—to the Raynars—that convinced them I
was a danger?”

For a long moment, Simone was very still and
quiet. “You know about your sister?”

I nodded just once. “Yes, Arisa Imreh Lanfear
told me the truth after I became a Familiar.”

“I see….” Simone looked down at the floor. “I’m
sorry Caelum, but I don’t have an answer for you.”

I swallowed as lightly as I could. Maybe I
shouldn’t have asked because now I felt as though what happened
seven months ago was not put to rest.

I remembered the hungry look Prissila Ventiss
had bestowed upon me during lunch break.

No, the matter was definitely not put to
rest.

But if it wasn’t, and something happened her on
school’s grounds, how would Caprice react to it? I worried that
somehow I was dragging Caprice into a fight in which she had no
place.

A really bad feeling crept up my spine. I tried
shaking it off by changing the subject.

Let me describe it as a hard right turn in the
conversation.

“Simone…that’s a lovely name.”

She blinked a few times, before breaking into
smile. She pushed off the desk, and stepped up to me.

I have to admit, her scent and her beauty made
my heart flutter.

I didn’t feel it was fair for an Aventis to be
as pretty as she was.

I didn’t think it was fair on mankind.

Seven months ago I told Haruka I hated the
Aventis.

Yet here I was in a school full of them, and
completely helpless before this girl.

Reaching up, she pressed a fingertip to my lips.
“Silly boy. Don’t get ahead of yourself.” Then her eyes narrowed.
“Did you know that Arisa Imreh and I have known each other for
years?”

I shook my head.

Damn that Arisa for not warning me about this
girl.

Simone smirked. “Well, she’s been like something
of an older sister to me. The Imrehs and Alucards have a long
history of co-operation between them. I’ve known Arisa since I was
a child.” A playful smile curved her lips. “She spoke to me about
you.”

I felt disoriented. Despite her fingertip
running along my lips, I blurted out, “Huh? She did what?”

Simone’s smile grew a little stronger. “Arisa
told me to be on my best behavior around you.”

I felt her fingertip separate from my lips.

Best behavior? Yeah, right.

She leaned forward a little more. “However, she
never told me how tempting you would be.”

This time I felt my heart jump.

For just one moment I’d forgotten this girl was
an Aventis, an entity enhanced by the Symbiote inside her.

For just one moment, I forgot I was supposed to
hate her kind.

Simone smiled and spoke in a breathy voice that
made my knees weak.

“I fear you’re going to bring out the bad in
me.”

A knock on the door saved me from falling to my
knees.

I felt ashamed at how quickly my body had fallen
under her spell.

Simone smiled and took a step back.

“Come in,” she called out musically.

#

(Haruka)

“We’re wasting time, Haruka. You’re wasting
time.”

I ignored Siobhan at first, but now I was tired
of her harping. “Go home, Siobhan.”

“Not without you.”

“I’m waiting here until I talk to him.”

“How do you know he’ll come out this way?”

“Because the shoe lockers are here. He has to
come out this way.” With my arms crossed I shifted my weight onto a
hip. “I’ll wait another half hour.”

“Uggh, you’re impossible,” Siobhan exclaimed.
“This guy broke up with you. Why are still so hung up on him?”

“We didn’t break up. We were never
together.”

“That proves my point even more.”

“Another half hour. That’s all I’m going to
wait.”

Siobhan found herself a spot on the steps
outside the building’s entrance. “Fine, then I’ll sit here in the
meantime.”

I stood with my back against a support
pillar.

Alistair had run off to get snacks from a
vending machine. She sure was taking her sweet time.

The torrent of students leaving the building
eventually petered out into a trickle.

I glanced at my wrist watch.

Half an hour and not a minute more.

Siobhan’s words caught my attention. “He’s a
Familiar, Haruka.”

“I know that.”

“Why are you so hung up on a Familiar?”

“I don’t see him as a Familiar. I see him as
Caelum Desanto, my childhood friend and someone I really care
about.”

“You have someone else to care about, or are you
forgetting about
him
?”

I froze for a heartbeat, then narrowed my eyes
at her. “Why do you hate Familiars so much?”

Siobhan glared at me for the first time in many
months.

A really, hard glare.

I watched her swallow down her anger. “I don’t
hate them. Okay? I just don’t like them.”

“Why?”

She turned away. “Because they’re…they’re not
human….”

For a moment I really felt like punching her, or
at the least slapping her.

I pressed my back against the support pillar
behind me.

“Shut up, Siobhan. You don’t know anything about
them. You have no idea what Familiars are.”

“I know more about them than you do.”

I clenched my hands and straightened. “Siobhan,
just leave. Go home!”

“Fine, then I will.” Siobhan grabbed her
carry-bag, flung the straps onto her right shoulder and stormed
down the steps.

I watched her stride down the path heading to
the east side gate some distance away.

“Hey, what’s going on?”

I turned my head and saw Alistair walking toward
me while carrying drinks and snacks.

She had a confused look on her face, but in
moments she seemed to realize what had happened.

Alistair stepped up to me. “Looks like I bought
too much.”

I looked at the collection she carried in her
arms, and laughed softly.

I picked a couple of cans of juice and a snack
bar from the bundle.

Alistair sighed and muttered, “So, I guess
Siobhan finally hit her limit. Ah”—she frowned as she peered
eastward into the distance—“what the heck?”

I looked in the direction she was staring.

An angry blonde girl was walking toward us.

We watched the angry blonde girl stomp up the
steps leading to the building’s glass entrance.

We watched her dump her carry-bag at her feet,
and drop herself onto the top step.

Siobhan wrapped her arms around her bent knees,
and glared at Alistair. “Is one of those for me or not?”

Alistair huffed loudly. “You never change, do
you?”

“Humph.” Siobhan turned away, but still stuck
out her right hand toward Alistair. “Give me one.”

I watched Alistair shake her head slowly, then
step over to Siobhan and hand her a drink.

“Like I said, you never change.”

Let me explain a little more about
Fragments.

We already know Fragments are pieces of what the
Prides refer to as Artifacts, and they are objects recovered after
the Cataclysm from deep inside the Hurakan Nebula.

Who made them is a point of contention, because
Fragments – and Artifacts – are simply too advanced and amazing for
humans to have created, and there are no records of Fragments and
Artifacts existing before the Cataclysm during humanity’s First
Golden Age.

However, if they were not created
by
humans, they were at least created
for
humans.

Specifically, they were created for
Familiars.

On this point, there is overwhelming agreement
in the scientific community.

Another point of consensus is that the majority
of Fragments are designed for conflict.

They’re weapons. They’re not toys. They’re meant
for chaos and destruction. They’re meant to kill.

As I explained before, when the right pieces are
combined in the right order, they form a complete Artifact – a
complete weapon. And, as stated earlier, the Prides were reluctant
to put an Artifact together, but that did not mean that completed
Artifacts did not exist.

In fact, many of them were already being used by
Familiars in their service to the Prides.

And many more were held in super-secret high
security facilities.

I say many…but not all of them.

The whole story behind Fragments and Artifacts
would undoubtedly require a separate volume. I’m not privy to all
the details, just a
fragment
of them, so I have no intention
of writing such a book.

However, what I know is that my Fragment – the
one I had most compatibility with at that time – was clearly a
weapon.

When I wore it on my right forearm in its
reduced form, the Fragment was shaped like a wide bracelet about
three inches across. I had to wear it over bare skin otherwise the
bracelet ring would refuse to close over my forearm. Also, I
couldn’t wear it on my left arm. Again, the bracelet refused to
close.

When I first received it, the Lanfear
researchers explained that the remainder of the Fragment existed in
something they called Pocket Space.

In other words, the rest of the Fragment was
inside a ‘pocket’ of folded space that had no visible interaction
with the space I was able to perceive around me.

However where I went, the
pocket
went.

It was like dropping a collection of keys into a
pocket, leaving only the key ring hanging outside. The bracelet
around my right forearm was the ‘key ring’.

When my Fragment manifested in the real world,
that is, was retrieved from Pocket Space, there was a distinct cold
that accompanied it. A real chill that frosted my breath in the
air. It was like opening the door to an industrial refrigerator for
a short amount of time. Depending on the outside temperature, it
could take a while for that chill to dissipate.

The chill was one thing, but the black mist that
accompanied a manifestation was something else.

Downright creepy is an understatement.

It took me a while to grow accustomed to its
appearance, but certainly not the cold.

When fully manifested, the gauntlet over my
right arm resembled a fantastical elliptical shield with a blade,
much like a short sword, extending forward. Two other blades ran
over the top of the shield and extended out the back by a few
inches. These reminded me of the blades you find on ice-skates.

For simplicity’s sake I’ll refer to the fully
manifested blades and shield as the Gauntlet.

My Gauntlet had a couple of useful features.

One, when used as a shield it would generate a
really strong effect-field. To put it simply, this field or barrier
could handle everything from physical to energy based attacks. To
test it out, the researchers once fired a small scale particle
cannon at me – the kind of cannon found on a main battle tank.