Pride X Familiar ReVamp (Pride X ReVamp Book 1) (43 page)

My whole body trembled.

Even the box on my lap jittered a bit.

It took a long, long while for my heart to ease down from a sprint to a jog.

It took a while longer for it to slow down to a fast walk.

Eventually, I reached out and unwrapped the package on my lap. I studied the white box, and ran my fingers reverently over the embossed gold writing on the cover.

Veronica’s Secret.

My heart started pounding loudly, even though Prissila had exhausted it with her second parting kiss.

Then, with slightly trembling hands I opened it and studied the contents inside.

Empty.

I blinked, closed the box, then opened it again.

Still empty.

I looked for a hidden compartment, something like a false bottom.

Nope. Empty.

Then I noticed an envelope stuck to the inside of the box’s cover.

There was a card inside it.

Nervously I pulled it out of the envelope and opened it with the trembling fingers.

THIS SUNDAY. ISLAND THREE, HABITAT THREE. THE MAG-LEV STATION IN DISTRICT SEVEN. TEN A.M.

I read the next line.

IF YOU SAY YES…THEN SOME DAY… I’LL SHOW YOU WHAT WAS INSIDE THE BOX.

Her palm-slate number was written on the card.

I re-read the message, before the card slipped from fingers.

Hot flashes surged through my body.

I slapped myself a few times to ensure this wasn’t dream.

Not a dream. Definitely not a dream.

The hot flashes died down, but then I struggled not to hyperventilate.

In the end, I barely succeeded in placing the card back inside the envelope and box before closing it. My hands were simply shaking so much.

I closed my eyes, took in a number of deep breaths, then pumped both fists into the air.

I cried my answer out into the room.

#

(Prissila)

As the car drove me home, I was looking out the window but I wasn’t seeing the lights of the habitat.

I wasn’t seeing anything but the sight of him, and the way he cried into my chest.

I pressed a hand down upon my breasts.

His warmth lingered there, as did the drying moisture of his tears.

I closed my eyes, and reveled in the memory of the embrace.

Reveled in the lingering taste of his lips.

My purse began to sing, shocking me out of the memory.

Opening my eyes sharply, I reached into my purse and fumbled for my palm-slate.

I recognized the number so I answered it quickly.

It was from one of the many nurses I’d paid to keep a close eye on him.

After all, I wasn’t so naïve as to fail to recognize I was up against some stiff competition. I needed to use every means at my disposal if I was going to win against the other girls.

Every means! That meant no half measures. Absolutely none!

I had plenty of passionate material from which to draw inspiration. Yes, plenty of material.

“Hello, this is Prissila,” I said.

A young woman’s voice replied. “Uh, Ms. Ventiss, you asked me to give you a call should anything happen.”

I sat up sharply on the plush backseat of the car. “Yes. I did indeed. Please tell me, has something happened?”

“Ah…well, a while after you left, I went to check up on him.”

I nodded. “Yes, yes. And?”

The nurse was quiet for a moment.

I was sitting on pins and needles waiting for her answer.

I heard her swallow on the open line. “Ms. Ventiss….”

I held my breath.

“…he cried out ‘yes’.”

I dropped the palm-slate and pumped both fists in the air.

“Ha! Take that Simone!”

#

(Haruka)

The Vice-President and I spent almost a week in hospital.

The fragments of ceiling had fallen on both of us, trapping us under the rubble.

I was knocked unconscious, but Simone Alucard remained awake during the whole ordeal.

She kept calling out for help but no one came.

Eventually, she managed to twist her arm and pull out her palm-slate.

It was damaged, but the emergency feature still worked.

When the fighting was over, the rescue and fire teams moved in. Their equipment picked up her palm-slate’s distress call and shortly afterwards they rescued us from the rubble.

I was surprised that with everything that happened she hadn’t lost her palm-slate, especially after knocking down the girl with the Fragment cannon, and struggling with her on the ground.

My shoulder blades and vertebrae were broken.

Simone was in a slightly better condition.

The medical team pumped us full of concentrated nutrients for the Symbiotes in our bodies to feed on. When we stabilized a little, they took us by aerial ambulance to the hospital in Habitat Three. They said it was the largest and best equipped. But I later learnt it was because the Ventiss family had ties to that hospital, and Simone’s family had a close relationship with Prissila’s family.

In any event, we were placed into separate medical capsules, and dropped into an induced coma. This would give the Symbiote the best conditions to repair our bodies.

I didn’t heal as quickly as Simone Alucard.

She was born an Aventis, and her Symbiote had a hundred percent compatibility with her body.

I wasn’t born an Aventis. My compatibility with my Symbiote was over eighty percent, so it didn’t work as quickly on my body. This was one of the key differences between natural born Aventis, and those that gained a Symbiote while still in their mother’s womb.

By Monday I was conscious.

The doctors came to see me.

My parents came to see me.

But I was inside the capsule so I couldn’t interact much with them.

Tuesday was better.

I was taken out of the capsule and placed in my own private room. I learnt this was arranged by Simone after talking to her family about my care.

Despite being a Raynar, she was going out of her way to help an Avenir.

I knew that the Prides shared rivalries and didn’t always see eye to eye, but here, in this microcosm of a larger whole, there were few rivalries that I could see. In fact, it was more a case of Aventis looking out for Aventis. That made me feel I was part of something special. But there was someone who made me feel special in a different way. He came round on Tuesday afternoon to see me, and he stayed until visiting hours ended.

Duncan Armand Avenir.

I apologized to him, telling him I’d messed up our date for the Saturday.

He told me not worry.

He filled me in on happenings about the school, the fact it was closed for a week or two. We talked about what the news channels were saying about the attack on the Academy. The Prides had admitted the attack on the Academy was orchestrated by Crimson Crescent. However, there was no mention of Fragments or Artifacts…or Familiars.

I broke down. Maybe it was post-traumatic stress – I simply don’t know – but I broke down. Everything I’d been keeping bottled in burst out of me in a torrent of tears.

Duncan held me and said nothing. He just held me until I ran out of tears.

Then he continued to hold me until he was certain I’d calmed down.

From my private room’s en-suite bathroom, he came back with a moist hand towel that I used to clean my face.

Afterwards we talked some more before our time together came to an end for the day.

He came to see me every day until I was released on Friday afternoon.

The doctors explained the degree of recovery my body had experienced.

I would have to be careful. No strenuous exercise. No heavy lifting or running, or anything that might place a load on my body. It would take at least another week for me to heal. I might even be excused from physical education class, pending on how far my recovery had progressed.

That Friday morning, Simone Alucard came to see me.

She was almost completely healed. As I said before, being a natural Aventis had its advantages, though she too was advised to take it easy and was due for a checkup the following week.

We spoke about what happened, and I agreed to keep what I’d heard a secret.

Simone assured me she would do everything in her power to help me, and protect me.

She said that the experience had left her shaken, and she was still coming to terms with it.

But she saw me as a sister-in-arms.

We’d faced the enemy, and we’d lived to tell the tale.

I agreed. Oddly enough, I agreed.

I felt closer to this girl, the mysterious Vice-President of the Student Council.

Then Simone surprised me.

She asked me to join the Student Council. She said she had spoken to the President and he’d left the matter in her hands. It seemed he was pre-occupied with his own battles.

I asked her for a few days to allow me to consider her offer.

Simone agreed to my request, but begged me not to keep her waiting.

She said she was counting on my support, and winked enigmatically at me.

#

(Haruka)

I was sitting on my hospital bed.

Today was Friday, and I was expecting to be discharged in the afternoon.

The doctors wanted to perform one more scan of my body after midday. If it went well, my parents would be notified and could come around to pick me up.

So for the time being I was reading the news articles on my palm-slate.

Simone had come by and we’d talked for an hour.

She had left a short while ago when I heard a knock on the door. I assumed it was a nurse dropping in to check up on me.

I didn’t expect Caprice Steiner to pay me a visit.

She sat down on the cushioned chair beside my bed.

“I wanted to come by sooner, but whenever I did your family was here, or your boyfriend was with you. So I decided to wait for a better opportunity.”

She kept her hands on her lap. I realized she really was demure. A very prim and proper girl.

She cleared her throat. “I need to tell you…about Caelum.”

I felt my stomach turn to lead. “What’s happened—what’s happened to him?”

“He was injured. He fought against Celica. He fought…the best I’ve ever seen him fight. But she was better and she injured him.”

Caprice’s eyes were tearing up, yet her face was a picture of calm.

She continued softly. “They brought him here, and he’s been recovering. He was discharged yesterday. They told him he can’t do strenuous activities for a while. His wound hasn’t fully healed. Being a Familiar, our bodies can make use of the Symbiote in a way that allows us to heal faster from injuries that might kill an Aventis. His injury would certainly have killed a member of the Prides.”

I felt cold, deathly cold. My heart was being squeezed so tightly I almost groaned in pain.

Caprice raised her hands gently. “He’s fine now. He will be fine. In fact, he’ll be training with us again in a week’s time. You don’t have to be concerned. I just wanted to tell you because I had a feeling
they
weren’t telling you about his injuries.”

I took a number of deep breaths.

To my surprise, Caprice stood up and embraced me hesitantly. I returned her embrace, and then I heard her whisper in my ear.

“Haruka….I love him.”

I felt my heart jump and my chest begin to ache. She held me a little tighter.

“I love him more than anything in this world, or all the colonized systems.”

I held onto her as she gave a voice to her heart.

“I will protect him, Haruka. I will give my life to keep him safe.”

I burst into tears.

It took a long while for me to calm down, and to find my voice. When I did, all I could muster was a hoarse whisper.

“I know, Caprice. I know you would. And I know that you love him. I believe you….”

This is the way it should be.

This is the best way to let him go.

To hand him over to this girl who treasures him and will always treasure him.

A girl who has the courage to love him the way I couldn’t.

For a long while we held onto each other.

Then we broke the embrace by mutual consent.

Caprice looked down at me. Her face was showing the barest of emotions, but I saw the tears drying on her cheeks.

I swallowed and cleared my throat, pushing past the emotional lump I felt there. “You’ve got some competition. The Countess—I think she’s serious about him.”