--XIII--

So much for presentation.

All of Mei's efforts hadn't paid off.

My dress was ruined. My hair was messy and I was all dirty. Most of all, I was half-dead as Byron Flynn tried to drag me back into the house. The stabbing pain in my ribs exacerbated when the dog lifted me up with his teeth by the collar of my dress, then slung me over his back before he began loping to the front door.

Once we were already inside the invisible barrier, Byron Flynn barked at Amyr and Mei. They both dashed back and reached the porch before I could even blink my eyes.

Archie carefully scooped me up from Byron Flynn's back and hurried into the living room.

I fought the urge to scream in pain as he put me down on the recliner. Then I heard the double doors close, followed by metallic clicks of bolts being secured. Although, without the barrier, I doubted if any kind of lock would stop those creatures from coming at us.

"How's she?" Amyr asked feverishly.

He was panting. Beads of sweat trickled on his forehead, the lust for battle slowly being washed away from him as he knelt beside me. It must be the lack of oxygen in my brain but I thought I noticed a bruise over his left brow. The round patch of blue suddenly turned into green, then to yellow. A few seconds later, it was totally gone.

With a gentle shake of his silver head, Archie disappeared into the corridor. He came back in no time with what looked like a first aid kit.

"I can only do so much." He placed the kit on the center table, nudging Amyr out of his way. "Some of her ribs appear to be broken. Only Master Vincent can help her now."

Byron Flynn growled menacingly at the silver-haired familiar, baring his fangs as he did. Maybe he didn't like his breakfast (me) pounded until tender. That or he didn't like Archie's pessimism.

Archie spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, mostly to the dog. "I'm only stating the truth. Without her master, her chances would be slim. Perhaps if Rosario was here, she could—"

"First aid is better than nothing," Mei interjected as she knelt down to check my injuries. "Leave her to me."

Amyr started to refuse. "She won't stand the pain! You've got to be kidding—"

The Asian girl glowered at him, silencing him in an instant.

"Okay. But I won't stay to see her suffer. If you need help, just..." he trailed into silence, dropping his clear brown gaze to the floor. Resignedly, he tugged on Byron Flynn's collar. "Let's go Flynn," he urged.

When the dog let out an ominous growl, Amyr pocketed his hand and slung his black coat over his shoulder before walking away. For a moment, Byron Flynn looked reluctant, turning his reddish-brown head to my direction. With a quiet whine, he padded after Amyr.

"Are you sure you can handle her?" Archie asked without so much as moving a facial muscle. But after receiving a silent nod from Mei, he too disappeared into the corridor.

The whole room whirled around me. The stabbing pain kept coming with every shallow breath that I took. Mei drew a pair of shears and cut my clothes before assessing for damage. I stared vacantly at the arched ceiling, eyes wide, stifling the screams that formed in my throat.

"This is going to hurt a bit more, but you will feel better afterwards," said Mei as she put some pressure on my sides followed by the cracking sounds of bones—my bones.

The screams tore through my throat as the sharp stabbing pain gushed from my chest. It nearly had me passing out. After a while of feverish thrashing, the pain eased a bit, replaced by a dull throb.

I could breathe a little better but still, I was like a fish thrown out of water, trying to gasp for air. As if she had done it a million times before, Mei wrapped supportive bandage around my torso and fitted a brace around my neck. She draped a robe around me and helped me put it on.

"This is all I can do for now. Rest. And for the meantime, we wait," said she, brushing the bits of dried leaves off her dress. A distressed look had taken over her docile features.

I caught a glimpse of the yard from the gap between the curtains. Hundreds of dead wraiths were scattered about the forest floor. A few still hovered aboveground. But most of the survivors took flight as soon as they had realized that they couldn't attack us as long as the invisible barrier protecting the whole mansion was intact.

What were those creatures, really? Where did they come from? What did they want?

My train of thought was interrupted by the sound of hurried footfalls coming from the corridor.

"Damn it!" It was Vincent who stormed into the drawing room, shaking furiously as he stood glaring at me. "I've been gone for what?! Like five seconds and you almost had yourself killed? And again!" he gritted the words through his teeth, his perplexing silver eyes burning with rage.

Ugh. Since when did he become my mother?

I started to open my mouth for a retort but shut it when he kicked the solid marble center table, sending it crashing against the rear wall of the drawing room. One of the paintings tumbled off the wall. I saw cracks slowly making their way up the concrete panel, the marble table crumbling to unrecognizable chunks.

I flinched. He was totally going to kill me for sure.

Swearing, he dragged one of the bronze-framed chairs, its feet grating angrily against the floor. He plunked it in front of me with a loud thud. Heavily he sagged on it, squaring his shoulders.

For some reason I felt guilty. I was about to apologize when he raised a hand to keep me from opening my mouth.

His fingers were cold and trembling when he closed them around my wrist, his jaws tensing as he muttered "Shut. Up," through clenched teeth. Breathing deeply, he turned to Mei. "How bad?"

"I cannot be sure. A few broken ribs, maybe three. One must have pierced her lung," she answered, automatically dropping her gaze.

Vincent closed his eyes, tilting his head back. Slowly, warmth seeped from his hand spread throughout my body, concentrating on my torso. The force intensified until it was starting to burn me.

Muffling a cry, I felt my chest shift as though the bones were realigning themselves on their own under my skin.

Snap! Snap!

I let out another scream. The pain was stabbing on my sides, worse than before.

"Stop!" I pleaded.

I couldn't bear it anymore. It was killing me.

Vincent turned away like he would rather be anywhere else than here, beside me. Nonetheless, he did not let go of my hand.

I wished he would. I wished he would just let me die so I wouldn't have to deal with pain and the fear of dying anymore. Tears formed on the sides of eyes as I stared vacantly at him, my body twitching involuntarily with agonizing torture I never imagined possible.

"Rosario," Vincent called, careful to not move a muscle. "Take over."

Gingerly, he let go of my hand. The pain doubled and Mei had to press her hands on my shoulders and on my forehead to keep me down. All I could do now was kick and cry silently, hoping that one of them was kind enough to end my suffering.

Taking her time, Rosario stepped from the dark corridor into the room, reluctance evident in her hazel eyes. There was a grim look on her face as she knelt down beside me.

She placed her palms on my chest. Her hands started to glow blue to green to white, spreading a strange tingling feeling all over my body. Slowly, the pain disappeared and I could breathe again.

Euphoria washed over me, urging me to close my eyes and go to sleep. But despite the numbness, I could still feel the shifting of my ribs.

As if reading the question in my mind, Mei held my hand and gave me a reassuring smile. "Rio has the ability to heal. It is not as potent as your master's ability to restore your body to full health but she can alleviate the pain. For now."

I was about to thank the Spanish teacher when she averted her gaze from me and muttered, "Don't. It's not as if I'm doing this for you anyway."

"Rio, you don't have to act that way. Aramis belongs to us now," Mei said calmly in my defense.

A bitter smirk formed on the teacher's face. "No, not really," she muttered.

Vincent threw Rosario a cold look. She instantly stared at the floor as though locking gazes with him would fry her brains out.

"What do you mean?" Mei asked. "And where have you been? Wraiths attacked our territory. They have never done that before. And in those numbers..." She trailed into a pensive silence.

"Why don't you ask your new friend?" Rosario grumbled.

It took me a while to respond to Rosario's snide question. I had no idea what she was talking about or why she had been treating me awfully.

"What do you mean?"

"What do I mean?" she echoed with sarcasm. "You attracted those—"

"ENOUGH!" Vincent toppled his chair over scooting up. His eyes burned like molten platinum when he turned to Rosario who immediately straightened and went silent. "You will stay out of this Rosario! It's a matter that concerns only me and my brother. Know your place," he muttered through clenched teeth.

"Yes, Master," she murmured in defeat.

From my side, Mei stood up and faced the corridor as if anticipating someone. Upon seeing her sudden reaction, Vincent helped me up and propped me on the seat. Even after Rosario's healing, I still couldn't stand without looking like a hunchback cripple. Other than that, I was feeling rather numb.

They all stood facing the corridor. Vincent advanced a step forward. On the other hand, Mei and Rosario bowed their heads and dropped on one knee.

Soon, the quiet footsteps grew nearer. Byron Flynn padded into view followed by Amyr and Archie. Automatically, they lined themselves beside Rosario and Mei, kneeling as they did. Even Byron Flynn sat low and bowed his head too.

A small figure emerged from the hallway, the reddish light in the room deflected by a daunting pair of round blue eyes. I craned my head through the gaps between the familiars and saw a boy around middle-school age with dark ruffled hair. There was a somewhat frail look about his pale face. It was Vladimir.

"Brother." Vincent locked eyes with Vladimir for a while. In the end, Vincent was the first to drop his gaze.

Wordlessly, Vladimir scanned the room. His face was vacant while regarding the rubble of what used to be the marble table, the cracks on the wall and a painting of a dark-haired woman lying on the floor. Then he waved a hand and all the familiars arose.

Mei hurried to his side, holding what looked like a contact lens case. When Vladimir was done removing his contacts, I found myself staring at a pair of silver eyes just like Vincent's.

The realization came crashing to me. He was that boy I saw with Amyr in front of Mrs. Thomas' house. The memories suddenly became clearer. I was sure of it now.

"I see we have a visitor," he stated without even blinking.

Almost mechanically, Vincent stepped towards him. "We need to talk."

Vladimir raised a small pale hand to hush his brother, his eyes still fixed on me like he would scrutinize an experiment specimen.

"It can't be." An unnerving smile of delight crept on his lips as though he just recalled a cruel joke. Then his brows knotted. "You didn't," he muttered incredulously, now facing his brother. "You know it's forbidden to raise souls back from the dead!"

Vincent's jaws tensed. For a moment, he was unable to meet his brother's enraged eyes. "I know what you're thinking, Vlad. But she's not Adrianna. Her name is Aramis Rayne."

Vladimir waved a hand again and one of the grandfather chairs whizzed across the room and landed behind him with a silent thud. Rubbing his temples, he sat down letting out a sigh.

I felt compelled to ask about this Adrianna person but I was scared that Vladimir might fling me to the ceiling with one wave of his hand. None of what they were saying made any sense to me. I wished being a familiar came with a manual, maybe a Familiars for Dummies.

Vladimir turned to me. "If that's the case, forgive the outburst. I thought my brother had lost his mind and did something utterly stupid. I believe we've met before—"

"Aramis," I answered, my lips quivering.

Mei stepped closer to him. "Master. Notice the resemblance?"

The boy rubbed his forehead with his index and middle fingers. "Now that I had taken a closer look, yes. It was hard to see with those contact lenses on."

"I told you so," she trilled, smiling meaningfully at me

A kind smile flashed on Vladimir's gentle face. "Aramis, now that you belong to my brother, I expect you to start training—"

"No!" Vincent butted in. "She's not going to train or join missions or do anything. She'll just... stay in the house and make sure she won't get killed."

Vladimir's eyes narrowed in frustration. "I think I'm not making myself clear. I don't want to take chances and make that mistake again, just like what happened to Adrianna—"

With his left eye giving out a spaz at the mention of the name, Vincent cut his brother in midsentence. "She's... not fully resurrected. I didn't complete the ritual." His voice was barely a whisper.

I think I saw Rosario smirking silently as she threw me an I told you so look.

Vladimir's shoulders shook with rage, his face turning from just pale to ashen. "What?! The law of immortals is absolute! This is frank contempt! Of all people, Vincent, I didn't think that you would do such a stupid thing!"

The crystal chandelier started to flicker on and off. Embers violently crackled in the fireplace I was afraid it would explode.

Mei ran to Vladimir's side, kneeling before him. She began rubbing his back as he started coughing.

"Master, please calm down," the Asian girl said in a soothing tone, worry painted all over her face.

It took a couple of minutes before the coughing stopped. Vladimir let his head fall back on the headrest of the chair, catching his breath. Strangely, everything calmed down and turned back to normal.

"Explain yourself then," Vladimir demanded grimly. "Explain why you haven't finished the Resurrection properly."

"I'm not getting any of these," I finally managed to say, though it was purely by accident.

After asking for Vladimir's permission, it was Archie who answered me. "Resurrection. It is the process of taking a small part of an immortal's soul and placing it inside a lifeless body. In our case, it is how we, familiars are brought back from the dead. The Law of Familiars states that before a candidate is resurrected, the full scope and contents of the familiar's responsibilities as well as all the outcomes and consequences of pledging allegiance with an immortal must be conveyed to the said candidate before the contract is signed with blood."

I remembered that night in the hospital when Vincent nearly burned me alive and dropped my blood onto an ancient looking contract. That was when I started seeing wraiths and having strange encounters with dead people.

Amyr rolled his eyes. "In short, Vincent should've first gotten your permission before he turned you into a familiar. That's the rule."

Vincent shook his head, frantically closing his eyes as he sagged weakly into a gilded seat. "I didn't have time for a contract. She was already dead when I found her. I panicked. I didn't want to lose—" He stopped before he could say more and instead, cleared his throat while glaring at me. "Her expired soul's still in there."

With the faintest hint of disapproval, Archie continued his recitation. "The expired original soul of the candidate shall cross over Nirvana at the soonest possible time past the programmed time of death and after the contract has been signed and agreed upon by both parties. Resurrection will then take place. If the process is successful, the familiar will live off on his or her master's life force and must perform all the duties agreed upon in the contract."

Again, Amyr translated. "In English, you have no choice but to grant every one of his orders." An impish smile played on his lips and whatever he was thinking, I had the feeling that I wouldn't like hearing it out loud. "And oh, your expired soul should've been montaging in Nirvana by now, not stuck in that little body of yours. So technically, you have more than one soul."

I put a hand over my chest, searching for an unknown force inside me. I couldn't tell the difference, really. Could it be possible that I have both a part of Vincent's soul and mine inside my body?

"Which explains why wraiths crossed the boundaries and attacked our protected territory in large swarms," Rosario pointed out, throwing me a stern look.

I shook my head in confusion. "Wait. How's that my fault?"

She let out a sigh of mock sympathy. "Because your life-force is overflowing, that's why. With that much soul seeping out, you're practically inviting wraiths to devour you."

"So that is why there were so many of them," said Mei. "They were tracking you."

Vladimir eyed grimly at his familiars one by one and finally at the yard. "I see some of you had gone wraith-hunting while I'm gone."

With that, Amyr, Mei and Byron Flynn collapsed flat on their stomachs, face down on the floor. They all writhed in pain as if an invisible piano had just fallen from the sky and crashed against their backs. No one made a sound but I could almost feel the pain, fear and suffering that never materialized on their stoic faces.

"Oh, God," I blurted, wincing. "Please make it stop."

Vladimir just shook his head and looked at me with sympathy.

With a caustic smile, Rosario gave me an accusing look. "It's the Bind. Even the Master has no control over it. They've acted on their own discretion despite the Master's orders and so they shall be punished by their own Binds."

"It's... It's my fault," I stammered. I scrambled to my feet only to flop back down on the sofa because I couldn't feel my legs.

They disobeyed orders because of me even if they knew that this would happen.

Guilt gnawed on my insides. I had been nothing but a nuisance to them.

Once the Bind stopped punishing them, Byron Flynn barked at me and looked expectantly at Vladimir. The boy nodded back at the dog like they have just understood each other.

"Byron Flynn says that he finds your smell... interesting," Vladimir told me.

The dog looked at the boy again. They held each other's gazes for a moment. Again, Vladimir responded with a nod of understanding before facing me and when he did, his brows were about to meet each other.

"Something between a familiar and a... wraith," he translated.

Mei gasped and stood up clutching her chest. "So that was why he chased you. He must have thought that you were an enemy."

"Really? You're just figuring that out now?" Rosario muttered with sarcasm. "If she had just come with Master Vincent earlier just like I told her to, none of this would have happened."

I was at a loss for words. It wasn't like I asked for this. If they just told me about these things earlier, I would've never hesitated. Okay. Maybe not. But that only proved a point. Alive or dead, I had been nothing but a huge block of failure. A dead weight.

"No." Vincent's voice was weak and small. Never had I heard him seem so helpless. "I made a big mistake. And I don't want to keep her... as a familiar. But I have a plan."

Fantastic! I thought bitterly. Now I'm a failure, a big mistake and unwanted.

I just felt like throwing stuff at him. I wanted to cry but I wouldn't give him that gratification. Who in their right mind would want to be his stupid familiar anyway?

Vladimir was roused from deep thought. "Very well. We'll talk of this plan in private. You know what punishment awaits you. And I trust you to take full responsibility of her."

Vincent nodded coldly. "I do."

"This is a matter that shouldn't reach Father's or the rest of our brothers' knowledge just yet. Am I clear?" The boy demanded.

Vincent and all the other familiars bowed their heads and nodded in unison.