Pride X Familiar ReVamp (Pride X ReVamp Book 1) (23 page)

“Eh…well, if you put it that way….”

“Lady Arisa, did something happen to Caprice?”

She blinked and then narrowed her eyes. “The Raynars tried to apprehend her on suspicion of involvement in the attack. But the situation became ‘complicated’ and now she’s waiting in one of our safe houses until I speak to her later.”

“Complicated?”

“Yes, we’ll talk about it later. For now, I’ve lodged a formal complaint through official channels against the Raynar special operatives.” She grinned. “Oddly enough, the Avenirs appear to be on our side.”

“Huh?”

“It seems that Prissila’s people were monitoring the situation when the attack happened. And they also have a recording of it.”

“You mean, everything—everything I said while around them was being recorded.”

Arisa nodded. “I’m afraid so.”

I felt a wave of horror surge through me. “Everything that’s happened in the Academy?”

Arisa shook her head. “No. Believe me when I say Simone and Prissila are afforded some privacy within Academy grounds. In fact, you could say that only when they’re in the Academy do they get to let their hair down.”

“Damn that Countess. She asked me out while knowing everything I said was being monitored.”

“No, not monitored. Simply recorded. For Alessandro to learn what happened inside the restaurant he needed to access the recording chip on Simone’s clothes. The attack gave him the authority to do so.”

I thought I understood what she meant.

However, it still meant they had access to everything I said to her because they now had the chip.

I started thinking back through the day, wondering if there was anything I said that might hurt me, Arisa or the Lanfears.

“Oh no,” I whispered.

“Caelum, what is it?”

I looked into Arisa’s eyes. “Lady Arisa, I messed up. I told Simone that I believe my Fragment is not a Fragment but an Artifact.”

Arisa tilted her head to one side. “What do you mean?”

“Three times now I’ve seen my Fragment as part of a larger whole.”

“That’s normal. Familiars have experienced those visions before.”

I opened my mouth then closed it slowly. “I see….”

“Relax Caelum. We have a fairly good idea what the Fragments looked like when put together.”

“Something like an armor, or an armor-skin?”

She nodded. “That’s right.”

I breathed out a heavy sigh in relief.

Arisa reached across a little further and took both my hands in hers. “Caelum, tell me what happened. Tell me everything.”

I stared into her eyes for a long moment. “Okay. I’ll tell you everything. But will you tell me something in return?”

“Within reason.”

It wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but it was a case of take it or leave it.

“Do you believe Crimson Crescent was responsible for the super freighter explosion five —no, almost six years ago now?”

“I do.” She answered me without a hint of doubt in her voice or in her emerald eyes.

I started to breathe a little easier.

“However,” she added softly, “I believe the Prides were also responsible.”

“How so?”

“Because that freighter was carrying Artifacts.” She squeezed my hands. “It’s taken me a long time to learn as much. After all, I’m not much older than you. Alessandro was only half-right. I’m not playing with fire. I’m using fire to fight fire, and I’m doing it in an adult’s world.” She smiled half-heartedly. “And people don’t see me as an adult just yet.”

She released my hands and sat back. A heartbeat later she gazed through the window at the habitat buildings the van was driving by.

I studied her for a moment. She looked weary, as though squaring off against the Raynars had depleted her strength. I almost didn’t want to ask my next question, but now that she was here I took the opportunity to do so.

“Arisa, do you believe the threat to the Academy is real?”

She faced me fully. “I do. Otherwise I wouldn’t have allowed you and Caprice to work with Simone and Severin. There is a threat to the school, I just don’t know how big of a threat. Today’s events have really driven that home. I suspect a number of the Powers-that-be in high levels of authority are beginning to rethink their strategies. If they weren’t taking Crimson Crescent serious before, they will now. Perhaps, just perhaps, this might be enough to move those within the Sanctum.”

“The Sanctum?”

She snorted. “Consider them the highest level of public security here in Pharos, but below the authority of the Primogen Council.”

That was something new to consider, a level of power I didn’t know existed.

How long before I drew their attention, or had I already done so?

Taking a quick breath, I asked, “If Crimson Crescent are the perpetrators, what are they hoping to find in that black box in Galatea Academy’s information network?”

Arisa studied me intently from her seat. I grew a little unnerved, and was about to say ‘forget it’ when she replied.

“I have a suspicion that it’s data.”

“Data?”

“Medical data, on selected students across all of Pharos.” She switched her crossed legs. “You know about the two tests.”

“Yes, one for finding candidate Aventis, the other for finding Familiars.”

“The results of the first test are freely available to family members and the Prides. It’s data that can be accessed at a medical center. But data on the Familiars is restricted. It’s data carefully monitored by the Division of Health and Welfare which maintains complete independence from the eight Prides. I suspect that Galatea is a repository for such data and perhaps a lot more information on the Familiars currently identified. Maybe there’s even information on the Fragments. I can’t confirm any of this since my influence stretches only so far. I’m not that high up in the ranks yet.”

“Lady Arisa, I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but how high up are you?”

She grimaced a little. “If we say there are fifteen echelons in the pyramid of power, with number one at the top, then I probably haven’t broken into the top ten just yet.”

“Does Alessandro Alucard outrank you?”

She looked briefly disgusted. “No, we’re probably butting heads on the same level….”

I didn’t follow up with any further questions and we rode in silence for a while, until Arisa said in a reluctant tone, “The Prides are trying to find Familiars before Crimson Crescent does.”

“Why?”

She smiled regretfully. “Because the ones that will end up fighting this conflict are not the Aventis, but the Familiars able to wield the various Fragments we are finding deep in the Hurakan Nebula.” Her regret deepened. “Familiars like you, Caelum.”

Since climbing into the passenger bay with us, the guardsman had remained quiet, acting like he was part of the upholstery. Now he turned and addressed Arisa.

“Lady, we’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

She gave him a faint nod and resumed looking out the window.

“Where are we going?” I asked cautiously, not recognizing our surroundings.

“To the Academy,” she replied.

Outside the window my window I caught a glimpse of the security gate bridges flashing by as the van entered a four lane tunnel that connected Habitat Two with Habitat One.

Arisa turned to me. “You’ll be staying at the Academy dorms from now on.”

My eyes widened upon hearing this.

She smiled warmly but there was a hint of steel behind it. “No arguments, Caelum.”

I breathed in quietly.

“No ma’am…no arguments….”

Reflections – 9.

As I’ve explained before, the Cataclysm left behind a giant cloud of dust and debris that was christened the Hurakan Nebula. The asteroid Island colony of Pharos floated a couple of light-years within the border of the nebula.

However, I haven’t explained what purpose Pharos served.

The colony was an oasis – a port of call for the hundreds of starships that traveled back and forth through the mapped regions of the nebula. Freighters, mining ships, resource vessels, they all dove into the murky, cloudy space and kept the machinery of commerce and industry running.

The Hurakan is a source of raw material. Trillions upon trillions of tonnes of it – the remains of shattered star systems and planetary bodies the trans-light shockwave claimed in the first hours of the Cataclysm. All of this material was simply too much to pass up. Even while Pharos was being constructed, mining and shipping companies were already charting and staking claims on territory within the nebula.

It didn’t seem to matter that the Hurakan was a graveyard to the billions of people that died on those worlds.

The Aventis are as greedy as the next Regular.

However, there was another reason for building Pharos.

It served as a home for the Prides intent on harvesting the Fragments and Artifacts slowly trickling out of the nebula. The Sanreal Pride used its shipbuilding prowess and its experienced crews to sail deep into the nebula, acting as pathfinders for the mining and resource ships that would eventually follow. The Sanreals were always at the forefront of exploration.

The other Prides would make efforts to compete against them, but the Sanreals had kept their edge over the competition for decades, until the Lanfears happened upon a collection of Fragments that boosted their efforts at space exploration. Fairly soon, they were finding some rather juicy Fragments on their own.

If they weren’t trusted before, afterwards the Lanfear Pride was trusted even less.

By the same coin, the Lanfears had never trusted the other seven Prides, not even their close cousins the Raynars. That’s not to say they didn’t work together with the Prides, they just did so with a measure of caution best reserved for dealing with dangerous foes.

I might be generalizing too much.

I knew that Arisa had a good relationship with the Countess, and with Severin Kell.

But I also knew there was an undercurrent of distrust between the Imrehs and the Alucards.

In particular, Arisa had drawn the ire of the Raynar Witch – Simone’s older sister – and the woman who scouted my sister for Public Security, before she joined the Sanctum’s ranks.

In any case, the point I was trying to make was that Fragments and Artifacts found out in the Hurakan were returned to a secret repository on Pharos to be shared between the Prides. Each piece was carefully analyzed, and tested, then the Prides would follow procedure and allocate them to a compatible Familiar if one was available.

However, there was little doubt in Arisa’s mind that the Prides were careful with what they shared. In other words, they undoubtedly kept the best pieces for themselves.

What separated the Lanfears from the other Prides was they spared little effort concealing this fact.

Chapter 10
.

(Caelum)

I moved into the dorms that Sunday afternoon.

I didn’t even get the chance to go back to my apartment and pack.

Nope. Straight to the boy’s dormitory building where the dorm manager, a middle-aged man that could easily double for a professional wrestler greeted Arisa and I.

The room had already been prepared. I was relieved to hear there was no roommate. I found my new dwellings to be quite large. Essentially it was eight meters long, and five meters wide, with a bathroom and shower taking one corner of the floor space. This gave the room a distinct L shape. There was a smart desk, a writing desk, a holovid system, and a small refrigerator. The bed was wide and comfortable.

My necessities were brought over that evening. Annoyingly, someone had gone through my apartment and packed my clothes for me. I really didn’t have much in the way of clothes and essentials, so I wasn’t surprised to see only four large boxes delivered to my new room.

I stared at the boxes for a while, wondering if Caprice’s black panties were somewhere in there.

I’d kept those black panties in a special spot at the back of a top drawer.

I shrugged and unpacked the boxes, surprised to find them in the third one I opened.

I wondered what the person packing my clothes thought at sight of the panties.

After settling in, I checked out the dormitory’s cafeteria that was open until seven on Sunday’s. The place was almost empty. Only a handful of Academy students occupied it.

I didn’t bother going over to say hello.

What was the point?

A Familiar saying hello to the Aventis?

Truth was, I was too tired to be friendly.

With only a few minutes to spare, I avoided going hungry that night. Even then, all I was served by the kitchen staff were some small cold sandwiches, but it was better than nothing. Unfortunately, after eating just half a sandwich I found myself full, and had to bin the rest of the food.

I hadn’t eaten much on Saturday either. I wondered when my appetite would return. This happened whenever I drank the blood of an Aventis. It took a few days for my eating habits to return to normal.

Van Demon had said that was too be expected since my body ended up feeding off the Symbiote that briefly took up residence inside me.

I chose not to linger in the cafeteria or anywhere else.

Dorm curfew was ten p.m.

I went to bed long before then.

#

(Caelum)

Second week, Monday morning.

I wasn’t sure what I was expecting when I arrived in class the next day.

Would students be talking about Crimson Crescent’s attack on the mall?

Would there be talk about the fight between myself and the seniors?

What greeted me was a little of the former, but nothing of the latter.

Everyone I encountered acted the same as usual, as though no one had heard about those events taking place.

Even the teachers acted like nothing out of the ordinary had transpired.

During homeroom, I waited anxiously to hear my name called out over the public address system, but it never happened. In addition, there were no messages in my inbox. Not even from the Countess.

The lack of attention made me nervous.

I told Caprice as much during lunch break. We had chosen a secluded spot in the cafeteria, well away from the other students.

“You’re worried about that?” She stopped eating, her onigiri almost at her lips.

It was essentially a ball of rice with a dressed filling. The filling smelt to me like tuna. The rice ball was partially wrapped in seaweed. I was amazed by how well the whole thing held together as she ate it by the mouthful.

She put the rice ball down on the plastic tray before her, and stared at me in her usual way.

She kept her voice down.

“Caelum, Cee Cee made their move in a crowded shopping arcade. They killed people. You and I were there. Shouldn’t that be your concern?”

I dropped my chin onto an upturned palm and kept my voice down as well. “Caprice, you watched the news right? What did they report?”

“The authorities are investigating an explosion in the gas or power lines leading into the restaurant’s kitchen. They’re also investigating the shop below.”

I nodded faintly. “That’s convenient. Power lines. Restaurant kitchen. Explosion.”

“What’s more convenient is that Crimson Crescent didn’t announce they were responsible.”

I half grimaced. “True. I guess Crescent’s daring the Prides to make an announcement blaming it on terrorism. That would certainly wake up a lot of folks. Ruffle a lot of feathers. Aventis would start demanding something be done. After all, this happened in a crowded mall. I just can’t believe how quickly the Prides clamped down on the situation.”

“The Prides are Pharos. They control all of it.”

“Not all of it—not if Crimson Crescent’s running around loose. I believe someone saw it, and recorded it. I have a feeling this cover up is going to come back and bite the Prides in the ass.”

I slowly swept my gaze over the seated students and gently shook my head.

“People died. I was there and I saw them die. But here in the Academy, it’s like that never happened. It’s like yesterday was just a really bad dream.” I snorted softly. “It’s too surreal. You’re wrong Caprice, I am concerned.”

She asked, “Is it because that girl said this was a message to the Raynars, and to the Countess?”

I gave her a shallow nod. “Everything here looks so safe. It’s like the Academy’s begging to made a target. People died, and the students here either don’t know about it, or they simply don’t care. I have a really bad feeling that Crescent will ‘make’ them care, whether they like it or not.”

“Then why didn’t they announce they were responsible?”

I leaned forward a little. “Because this way everyone here continues living under a false sense of security.” I tapped the tabletop. “This is the calm before the storm—I know it.”

She studied me for a short while. “You really have given it some thought.”

I sat back and stared at the table. “I guess I have.”

It wasn’t the only thing I’d thought about. There was something about yesterday that weighed heavily on my mind, and my heart.

I looked up at her and said softly, “Caprice, Arisa told me what happened in the underground parking level, and the destruction left behind. It wasn’t mentioned on the news reports, but I guess that’s to be expected considering how well the Prides control the media.” I paused, and then asked, “Want to talk about it?”

Caprice chose to remain quiet for a few moments. “No. Not at the moment. But we can talk later.”

“Caprice—”

“Later, Caelum.” She gave me a subtle nod. “As you can see, I’m perfectly fine. Thank you, for thinking about me.”

“Ah…yeah….” I inhaled long and slow but it came out a heavy sigh.

How could I not think about her? She saved my life twice, though the circumstances were different on both occasions. She was my precious partner. My comrade-in-arms.

I said, “You can tell me about it anytime you want.”

She gave me another subtle nod. “Thank you, Caelum.”

We sat in silence for a short while, until Caprice cleared her throat softly.

“Caelum, I should tell you those four girls that form the Princess’s entourage weren’t hurt. They avoided being caught in the shockwave. However they remained about, watching the situation unfold. Undoubtedly they were concerned for the Princess’s well-being.”

I had forgotten about the Fearsome Quartet. “How faithful of them—I mean, how admirable of them.”

Caprice resumed eating.

I watched her while she ate. “So…have you heard anything?”

“Regarding the fight? No. Regarding you and the Vice-President on a date? No. Regarding you and the Princess? No.”

I gave her an annoyed sigh. “Forget I asked.”

She smirked faintly. “Truthfully, I do find it surprising that those four girls haven’t told anyone about you being at the restaurant in the company of the Countess and the Princess.”

“Not surprising if someone silenced them.”

“Why would you think that?”

I took a deep breath then let it out slowly.

“Caprice, I expected some reaction to last Friday’s fight. Whether it be gossip or an official response from the administrators responsible for second and third year high school students. There should have been something.” I pulled out my palm-slate and checked the inbox on the device. It was linked to my school’s account so I’d be able to receive anything that landed into that inbox. “I’ve had no messages from anyone.”

“The day is still young,” she pointed out. “You could be called up after classes end.”

“True. But my gut’s telling me the fight’s been completely covered up. And if that’s been swept under the rug, then so too my involvement on Sunday at the restaurant.”

She gave me a vague, somewhat non-committal shrug.

I pressed on, airing my suspicions. “Simone said she would deal with those five seniors personally. If she’s responsible for silencing them, then it’s quite possible she silenced Prissila’s friends. And I’ll admit, those girls looked really nervous to see me on Sunday. I almost think they ran away from me.”

She drank from her diet soda bottle, then capped it. “What reason would the Countess have? If she didn’t want people seeing the two of you together, she should have taken you elsewhere.”

“Then it wouldn’t have been the same kind of date. It wouldn’t have played out the way the Countess wanted. I think the whole shopping and eating experience was what she was after. Also, she may not have cared what people thought of seeing us together. But I think the attack by Cee Cee changed her mind.”

Caprice’s fingers tapped a beat on the bottle, yet her face remained as impassive as ever. “You have a point,” she murmured.

“Well, my gut’s telling me she was responsible for silencing both parties. Also, I don’t think she wanted people knowing the Princess was injured. I’m sure she told those girls to keep quiet about that as well.” I paused for a couple of heartbeats. “Can I ask you something?”

Her eyebrows twitched ever so slightly. “That depends on the question.”

“Do you think she staged Friday’s fight in the garden?”

Her eyes widened…ever so slightly.

I glanced away. “It’s been bothering me for a while now. The fact she was watching the garden, and knew exactly when to call you. I can’t shake the feeling she staged all that, but I can’t figure out why she would go that far.”

She was quiet for a little while as though gathering her thoughts.

“Perhaps, she did it for your benefit.”

I looked at her. “How so?”

Again she was quiet for a little while.

“Think of it like this,” she said. “By arranging to have the seniors beat you up, word would spread that you’d been put in your place. This would dissuade others from trying to make a move on you, since it had already been done. Everyone would know you’d paid for your offensive behavior to the Princess of the Third Years. Concurrently, she could instruct the seniors to go easy on you.”

“But they didn’t,” I said.

“No, because you fought back. You turned it into a battle to the death. This defeated the purpose of arranging for the fight to take place. If word spread that you’d heavily injured five senior students, then the situation could go either way. On the one hand, you’d earn a reputation as a real delinquent. No seniors would dare confront you for fear of their lives. The girls would also treat you as Galatea Academy’s Enemy Number One. You’d never get the chance to peek at another pair of panties ever again.”

I stared at her in shock.

Caprice continued after a beat. “On the other hand, the seniors might decide to try again with double the numbers. Without resorting to your Fragment, you’d never survive ten on one. This would have serious repercussions not only for the Academy, but for Arisa as well.”

I looked out the window at the school buildings and the sporting field beyond it. “Okay. I get it.”

“Regardless of it being staged or not, the end result is that by fighting back you made a bad situation worse.”

I couldn’t help clenching my jaw at her reasoning. “What a mess….”

“Why did you fight back?”

I was surprised by her question. “What do you mean?”

“You allowed yourself to be slapped and kicked by Prissila’s Quartet without defending yourself.”

“They’re girls, Caprice. I don’t raise my hand against girls.”

“They’re Aventis girls.”

“That doesn’t change the fact they’re girls. I simply won’t do it. Those other guys had it coming.”

“Oh? How so?”

I looked away in huff. “They said they were going to teach me to respect the girls of this Academy. Then they told me I should know my place as a Familiar, and a dog to the Prides. That pissed me off and I knocked one of them out.”