I've got just one order. Stay alive.

Vincent's words played in my mind again and again. Clenching my teeth, I breathed harshly, trying to force back whatever it was that wanted to take over my body. It screeched hatefully as I sucked it in and fought it hard, pushing against it until it was backed-up in a corner, cowering in fear where it couldn't do any harm.

The red stains from my vision cleared slowly, the pain easing slightly as the seconds ticked. But somewhere inside me, the strange entity was still there waiting for a chance to get out if my control over it weakened.

I opened my eyes, gasping for breath. Sensing the small legion of wraiths still surrounding me, I tightened my fingers around my staff and trained my eyes on them. Why they had not attacked while I was still vulnerable was still a mystery to me. Too bad I didn't have time for an exclusive interview. When I got up, they started to hiss angrily at me. Not a good sign.

They were just about three yards away, but before the wraiths could make the first move, I thrust the butt of my staff into the ground with all my strength. Rocks, pebbles and dirt blasted every which way, distracting the wraiths. I spun my staff around my wrist and caught it at the nub end, striking some of the wraiths while spinning it over my head. Only, it wasn't a staff anymore. A latch sprung out from the middle of the rod while on the other end, a curved glass blade about four feet long and a foot wide swung out like a Swiss army knife.

My eyes widened as two of the seven wraiths fell down somewhere down the bushes. But I couldn't afford to waste time being amazed at the moment. As the rest of the remaining wraiths scattered high up above, I did a mad dash back to the road where I could get a good view of them all at once. The scythe was a tad too big for me so it clattered heavily against the ground while I ran.

The wraiths shrieked hatefully and charged at me all at once, this time more fiercely. My weapon was slightly heavier now so they were able to veer off easily when I tried to hack them. It might take a little while before I got used to it.

Three wraiths launched themselves to me with a somewhat organized attack, sending me flying across the street. I slammed against a tree. That was weird. As far as Rosario taught me, wraiths normally act by instinct. They didn't team up and in fact, they had always competed against themselves. But now...

As I coughed and caught my breath, I saw half of a wraith's head dangling on the tip of my scythe. Lucky strike! But there were still more of them.

It seemed endless and I was in the brink of exhaustion. I couldn't think straight with the pain all over my body. All I could manage was to hack blindly at them while keeping my back on a tree so that I wouldn't fall helplessly to the ground.

Vincent! I called in my mind out of desperation.

"Need any help?" a familiar voice whispered from behind me.

At first, I thought it was Vincent but realized all too soon that it was Amyr with a big warm smile on his face. Just seeing that made me want to keel over and stay unconscious for a month.

"Where have you been all my life?" I croaked with a weak smile.

Amyr tugged on his black Nysmic suit and cracked his knuckles. "The world of misery," he replied, smirking comically. "But now that I see you, I'm all better."

"I'm touched," I panted, sagging weakly against the tree. "But could we get on with wraith-killing part?"

After tipping an invisible hat, he bounded toward the wraiths, the look of ease on his face suddenly being replaced with a wild exhilarated grin.

Mei emerged from the dark and ran to my side to help me.

"Oh, it was not a stick after all," she trilled, her catlike eyes widening with one look at my scythe. "Where's Master Vincent?" She took my free arm and slung it over her shoulder.

I could barely stand. My knees wobbled like I was ready to drop dead but I tried hard not to lean too much on her. It felt awkward that with her very petite stature, she was able to support me firmly.

Before I could answer, several blurs of black tore through the road, heading to us. I readied my weapon thinking it was another legion of wraiths but Mei shook her head and stopped me. Four figures appeared in front of us-Vladimir, Rosario, Byron Flynn and Vincent.

Vincent started to step to me but stopped when I averted my gaze from him. He didn't seem to have any injury, which was a huge relief.

As fast as I could, I re-established the Transference link between us. I didn't say anything. I couldn't even look at him. Instead, I just stared at my new staff. Scythe, whatever. My reflection was on its dark glass-like blade and I didn't like what I was seeing. It was like someone else-something unimaginably frightening-was looking back to me, but I shook my head and perished the thought.

Some of the wraith's blood still dripped from the thin blade of my scythe. To shake the black stuff off, I knocked the butt end of my weapon against the ground. With a soft click, the latch sunk back into the slender rod, the blade disappearing into frozen mist. And once again, it was a stick.

"I have not seen any scythe like it before," Mei chirped beside me. "The snath is definitely bigger than the rod, but it fits inside. It must be a work of magical energy."

"Yeah. We should send her to Vegas," Rosario noted sourly.

"Ah, you're humor is just stand-up material. We should send you there too," I countered with an exhausted smirk. "What's a snath?" I turned to Mei.

"The latch-like handle in the middle."

"Oh that," I said, nodding my head as though knowing what a snath is would save my life.

I let my scythe falter and disappear back into my Bind. My breathing was ragged as I tried to steady myself, an infinitesimal feeling of stupor creeping slowly on me.

"Shouldn't we help that guy?" I hesitantly asked, watching as Amyr vaulted over the roof, smashing the wraiths' faces with his massive skull-like Cataclyst.

"Nah," everybody else chorused as they seated themselves on the grassy ground nonchalantly as though they were merely having a picnic slash tea party. Even Byron Flynn snorted in approval as he rolled over his back and wriggled happily on the grass, paws up while barking at his master, perhaps to scratch his belly.

"Once Amyr gets excited, no one can stop him. So we just let him do whatever it is he wants," Mei told me with a sheepish smile.

Beside Mei, Vladimir just stretched his arms and yawned. "Amyr?" he called.

"Yep?" the familiar answered while dragging a wraith's dead body.

He paused to hurl it like a cannon ball against the three other wraiths. The creatures tumbled like bowling pins onto the neighboring roof. I groaned and flopped weakly beside Mei, making no sharp movements. My ribs were killing me. I nearly died fighting those wraiths while Amyr looked like he was just having fun playing with them. Maybe Rosario was right. I was a weakling.

"Will you hurry that up?" Vladimir yelled, looking bored. "I'm starving!"

"Sure, Boss!" he panted, lifting his gaze to us while he pounded on a wraith's head with a look that said here I am, just doing chores. "Give me a minute!"

Vladimir then turned to his brother. "So any lead on our mystery man?" he asked, quoting his fingers.

With a frustrated look, Vincent shook his head. "Tracked him from here and all over the place. Thought I had him cornered at the cemetery but he set a couple of wraiths on a couple of cops patrolling the borders. I should not have stopped for those decoys-"

"No. You did the right thing. Those wraiths could've sucked those policemen dry if you just ignored them and kept on the intruder's trail," the boy replied with a heavy sigh. "At least now, we already have an idea who caused all these disturbances with the Gates."

Vincent squared his shoulders in contemplation. "Now, all we have to find out is who he is. How he does it and what's his motive."

"We do know that he's an immortal. And a powerful one at that," Vladimir assumed. "He outran Vince in draughting and he's the fastest among us. Only an immortal can do that."

Vincent clenched his teeth with a dark look. That was a big whack on his ego and he wasn't exactly the humble type. From my left, Byron Flynn scooted up and barked indignantly at his master, his red foxy ears pointing up in attention.

"Okay," Vladimir sighed, giving the huge dog a rueful pat on the head. "Let me correct myself. Vincent's the second fastest among us. Next time, it'll be your turn to track the intruder, Byron Flynn."

"Could it be that..." I started to say but pursed my lips when I saw everyone looking intently at me. It seemed to me that joining the masters' conversation without permission was somehow a bad move. But still I wanted to know something. "Do all immortals have eyes like yours?"

It was Vincent who stiffened on his seat and answered with distaste. "No. Only if you're a son of the Reaper. It's something we inherited from him. Why?"

I told them about what I saw through Vincent's eyes through the Diviner's link. All of them listened without interrupting, falling into a brooding silence as I finished.

"I was thinking, maybe it's one of your... brothers," I whispered quietly, knowing the implications of the situation. Someone powerful-a Reaper-was out there to get us.

Pensively, Vincent nodded. "That's what I was afraid of." He tried to meet my eyes with a troubled expression.

"So that's why you chased him alone. You didn't want him to see Aramis," Vladimir implied, giving me a wink.

Narrowing his eyes, Vincent let his head drop on the ground, falling flat on his back while scowling at the starless night sky. "I tracked the intruder alone because she can't draught. End of story," he growled.

Vladimir jolted upright and rested his chin on the back of his hands.

"So our next move now is to track this intruder and find out why he's doing this." His expression darkened as he looked at everyone. "If that's not doable, we might have to result to killing him. But first, we'll need a plan," he concluded.

"And Archie," said Vincent still lying on the ground.

The boy nodded pensively. "And Archie," he agreed. "He'll know exactly what we have to do to get this guy out again."

There was a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as I thought about the mystery intruder. Not because of the possibility that he saw me, but because of the likelihood that he would report my existence to Vincent's Dad. If that happened, Vincent would have to be punished. I didn't know what was worse-that more wraiths were out there to terrorize homes of innocent people or the fact that Vincent would have to face death because of me.

"I'm done. Ain't I awesome or what?" Amyr said chuckling after jogging back over to us. "What did I miss?"

With that everyone got up from the ground and brushed the dirt off their clothes. No one seemed to bother answering him. They just exchanged passive meaningful looks.

"Shouldn't we tell him anything?" I whispered to Mei.

Inconspicuously, she shook her head and answered in an undertone. "If we need something killed... or destroyed, the master will just have to set Amyr loose on it. There are no explanations needed."

"Oh, right," I mumbled, as we all walked heading home. No wonder the dog got the surname.

"Guys?" Amyr called.