Byron Flynn sniffed curiously on the Swarth's decapitated body parts before letting out an ominous rumble. Vincent kept himself busy by reciting in a strange language to open Spirit Doors to help souls cross over. I knew he was avoiding the Swarth topic so I let it drop. After a minute or so, a rectangular shadow the size of a mall entrance appeared a couple of feet away from where Vincent stood, his voice resonating in my head although he was barely even whispering.

"Doors of light, I summon thee. Illuminate the path for lost Souls and guide them to eternal serenity. It has been spoken in the name of the Reaper. I, The Thirteenth Son command. Open!" Vincent's voice was ominous, imposing, yet, easy to the ear.

It was strange that I even understood his words when I was sure he wasn't speaking in English. Through the link, I could feel a little of his life-force seeping out into the air and into the Door. I never thought opening a Door could consume such amount of energy.

The rectangular shadow pulsed with a dim blue glow. The Strays whipped their heads toward Vincent's direction. Their hollow eyes flashed like crazy at the Spirit Door. After a few moments of foreboding silence, the souls wildly shoved and trampled each other to get to the Door. Like hungry dogs barking in nonexistent voices, they could only open their mouths wide to the point of being unhinged. The sight was both pitiful and terrifying.

As some of the Strays veered to our direction, Byron Flynn bared his set of razor sharp fangs and snarled to keep them at bay. The strays began falling in line like a herd of rabid sheep. Still, with the Door and the Gate open, it wasn't enough.

I steered clear of the Door and the Strays. Being lured to Nirvana was the last thing in my priority list.

"I'll make another Door," Vincent sighed with a grim expression, a bead of sweat trickling from his temple despite the cold. I knew opening a Door was taxing on him, yet he was doing an excellent job of acting like it was nothing. Showoff.

As he was about to step away, I saw the small flecks of light again, several yards from us, pulsing in synchrony with the Door. Faint dim crimson lights no bigger than my thumb. Similar to the ones I kept seeing every now and then. I thought I was imagining it. But now...

It reminded me strongly of the sky in my Nirvana. The color of blood dissolving in water.

Impulsively, I started to the patches of light, reaching out to them with a trembling hand. I nudged past Strays, flinching as some of them howled mutely at me. Like mindless empty corpses floating on air. A couple of them charged and swung their arms to me, only to pass through my body like mist. Then a look registered on their ashen faces-the realization that they were dead. Misery. Hopelessness. Confusion. It was a horror that made my stomach turn.

"Aramis!" Vincent's voice was muffled by the silent vacuum that seemed to envelop me and the souls. "Come back here!"

I glanced back at him, barely even able to see his face through the crowd of spirits. His bright silver eyes shone uncannily like a wolf's, but it calmed my heart to know that he was there.

"The lights!" I shouted back to him as I was within reaching distance of the lights. "I've seen these before. If I could only-"

Before I could lift my hand to touch it, several Strays swooped in front of me and huddled around the lights as if protecting them from me. I jumped back, startled. Just then, Vincent caught my hand, his eyes smoldering.

"What are you doing?" he muttered silently so as not to agitate the Strays.

"Look," I murmured, pointing at the three small patches of unmoving glinting red, suspended in the air. "Can't you see it?"

He shook his head, taking me by the shoulders. "Let's go home, Aramis. You're tired. Here," he breathed out in a soothing voice before squatting down before me. "I'll carry you home."

"You don't believe me." My voice caught a bit. He must be thinking that I was losing my mind. But I wasn't! The lights were real.

Angrily, I raced to the huddled souls and ran through them, my spine tingling cold as their hazy figures pierced through my lungs and fill my thoughts with nonsensical terrors. Then, I saw the lights again, just a feet over my head and reached for one of them. The crimson fleck I touched started to glow brighter than the others. As though it was a piece of tin foil, I found myself being able to hold it, peeling it off from its position. I tore down the red flecks one after the other, like strips of wallpaper, creating a large misshapen hole.

As he stepped beside me, Vincent cursed under his breath. His eyes were wide as he examined my work, dumbfounded. Carefully, he touched the ragged edges of the portal.

"A Door..." he mumbled vacantly. "How could you possibly..."

Even I was clueless. Together, we stared at it with awe as a dim red glow radiated from it. It was calling me. As the light, caught and danced on Vincent's face, I felt my eyes slowly drooping.

I'm tired. So tired.

Mindlessly, I took a step toward it, wanting to go in. It was time to rest. In there, there would be nothing to fear. Nothing to haunt me in my dreams and in my waking hours. No wraiths. No worries. No sadness. No more death. Just bliss. And cold. Numbing cold that eased away the pain.

"No! Stay with me!" a familiar voice pleaded.

I knew it was him. Vincent.

I felt an arm wrap around me from behind, brusquely dragging me away from my Door. His irregular breaths played on my hair as we backed away slowly and put a safe distance between the Strays and ourselves. The warmth from his chest seeped through me enough to distract me from the call of Nirvana. I felt the burn in my lungs and gasped for air. As I longingly watched the Strays eagerly crossover through the Door, Vincent buried his face onto my neck.

"I know you're tired," he whispered feverishly. "But you can't leave me. Not now that I can't imagine waking up the next morning without you. Not now. Not ever."

My feet were speared to the ground, at a loss for words. In my chest, the pounding was so violent, I couldn't even think. I almost stepped in to my demise. From behind us, Byron Flynn barked furiously and sunk his teeth into the side of Vincent's suit. The dog tugged my master away from me and padded back to my side, putting his giant furry head under my hand.

With an exasperated sniff, Vincent looked away. "We had a contract. If you run away from me like that again, you're dead."

A low rumble escaped from Byron Flynn's throat as his snout crumpled to bare his teeth. I stroked the dog's fur and he relaxed a bit, making little whining sounds.

"Aren't I already?" I nodded with a weak smile. Honestly, I didn't know if I should throw a fit or thank him for stopping me. "So are we going to try to reach the crossover quota or what? I see several clusters of openings right there." I pointed to the middle of the road, where more Strays were bunched, swaying like grass swept by a calm breeze, seeming to guard the red flecks. Vincent squinted through the dark, but shook his head in frustration.

We decided to call the lights Glitches since they were basically chinks in the boundaries between dimensions. Earth and another realm. At first, he was so opposed to opening more Doors my way. We still didn't know if it was safe. He blamed everything on my lack of restraint. I couldn't help it. I still had my original soul inside me and that was what made Nirvana's pull so incredibly irresistible to me. Maybe it was a good thing. Meaning my soul hadn't completely turned into a wraith. At least not yet.

I made him see reason though. If I could open more Doors by using the Glitches, he wouldn't have to waste his energy and time summoning them. So we ended up using the Transference Link by letting him see through my eyes. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be since Vincent kept snapping at me.

"Not your left! My left!" I shouted, standing on a tree branch about twenty feet away from the Door he was making. He made sure I was nowhere near him. "C'mon! It's easier of I do it!"

"Shut up! Don't even think of coming anywhere near here or I'll knock you out!" he roared frantically, throwing his arms up. "You'll be lured again. How can I concentrate if you keep nagging at me?"

"Fine!" I puffed my cheeks and folded my arms across my chest, hell bent on not talking to him for as long as I could.

The guy seriously needed to be on medication. One minute, he was saying that he didn't want me to leave him. Another minute, he would be back in his old obnoxious, angry self. What was it to him if I crossed over?

I couldn't understand myself either. For not hating him. For wanting to be by his side at all times. Would Vincent like this? Would Vincent approve of that? Everything seemed to be all about him. It was starting to sicken me. Literally. Like the palpitations and weird fluttering in my stomach. Maybe I wasn't really built for an immortal life.

"Okay, done!" he called out to me, seemingly pleased with himself.

His work looked more like a Door than the first one I made. Without a word, I showed him where the two other sets of Glitch were positioned. From afar, I watched his hands moved deftly as though he was sketching a picture. Occasionally, he would crease the gap between his brows and take a quick glance at me as though asking if he was doing okay.

I leaped down from the tree branch and sat on the damp slush-covered ground. Byron Flynn curled up beside me. The night seemed so peaceful now as snow fell lightly. I thought of my dad and wished that he was doing okay. Smiling up at the sky, I tried to remember my mother's face. What would she say to me now? Would she approve of the life I decided to take? I just imagined her smiling back at me from heaven. If there ever was one.

We spent the rest of the week like this. Patrolling after school. Opening Doors. A little combat training with Rosario during my spare time. I was a hopeless case when it came to draughting. But combat, I could manage at a decent level. Although Rosario kept pointing out that my fighting technique had no technique at all. Too many openings. Slapdash. All slash and no defense. I wouldn't expect less though, coming from her.

I tried to wring out details from Archie about the Swarth's head but he was playing hardball. Everyone kept changing the topic whenever I pointed it out. They wanted me to concentrate on my Door-opening skills. As it turned out, no one else could really see those interdimensional fissures to Nirvana. And even Archie or Vladimir who had perfect memory couldn't really explain how I did it. I was abnormal but useful. So no one complained.

Luckily, the wraith-instincts were slowly fading away with time. I learned to somehow control it, but I could sense that it was still there. Telling Vincent was out of the question. I was afraid he might change his mind about completing my Resurrection if he knew about it.

I was getting more anxious as the days passed by. Like seconds ticking in a death row.

We waited for the intruder. We were ready, but he hadn't shown up yet. My time was running out but Vincent still hadn't completed my Resurrection since doing so might render him powerless. We could be attacked any time and we needed everyone in fit shape.

Silently, Vincent and I moved along the school hallway to his last period. The students parted like they had just seen Moses incarnate. Something that happened almost every day. But instead of awe, I saw uncertainty in their eyes. A hint of fear. Then I thought how hard it must've been for Vincent to be treated like this. Like an outsider. And I realized that that he might not be too different from me.

As we walked, I felt his hand taking mine. And he had all the right to because I was his. But basically, I let him because through the suffocating gazes, his hand had become some sort of foothold. I wasn't alone and never would be.

Less than six months. Vincent's quiet voice occupied my mind again.

What? I blurted, giving him a look.

He turned to me with a small smile. Six months. That's how long we have to endure this. Give it two, three weeks and they'd be used to us freaks. Time will fly.

I nodded at him, trying not to laugh. I wondered if he could really read everything I was thinking. Was it the link? Or did he just figure it out?

From the crowd, I spotted Lindsay and Carter. There were questions in their eyes. My guess was why I had abandoned them for Vincent. If only they knew. I managed to smile at them. Carter just turned to his locker and pretended to busy himself, fumbling with his books and folders that must already have cheerleaders' names printed on them. Only Lindsay returned my smile but that loosened the grip around my throat. God, I missed those guys.

When we got home, I slumped on the remaining couch in the living room and did my homework. Vincent and Vladimir excused themselves to see Archie and the surveillance status. I had never seen those two make homework, but for some reason they both managed to get decent, if not good grades. Vlad was exceptional. Vince was a so-so slacker.

For three minutes, I stared blankly at my Trig homework. Nothing made sense to me. Every once in a while, Vincent tutored me on it despite my protests. He never missed every opportunity to act all high and mighty on me. With a sigh, I just answered what I could and hoped for the best.

As I headed to Vincent's room, I heard clicking sounds from the corridor. Cautiously, I hurried toward the source of the noise, fluidly taking a left turn. I passed by the Door to Centralia and Fountain Springs but the clicking sounds weren't coming from them. I pressed on, straining my ears. Before I reached the hallway to the kitchen, I made a turn to the right. In the end of it, there was a tall black Door on which a Roman numeral eight was engraved.

The doorknob twisted several times before it clicked open. An incandescent glow came from the Door as it opened, illuminating the dark hallway. I started to back away but it all happened too fast. The next thing I saw was a man in a dark gray Nysmic suit. Unlike the ones Vincent commonly wore, the dark enchanted inscriptions on his Nysmic clothing danced and moved faster in a swaying motion. The more I looked at his suit, the more it seemed to draw me closer like a swirling maelstrom.

The man seemed to be in his mid-twenties. Maybe a little over six feet. Lanky. With slick black hair that waved to his shoulders. What struck me the most was the pair of narrow gun-metallic eyes that glared at me as though in surprise. He stepped closer, straightening his suit then flashed what could only be his version of a million dollar smile.

A small winged creature glided out from the door and perched onto his shoulder. It looked like a large purplish-gray fruit bat with big brown puppy eyes. After that, a huge cat, the size of a retriever padded toward the man's side. The cat had long wispy tiger-striped gray and gold fur. Its slit-like pupils dilated as it trained its pale yellow eyes on me, its long inverted cone-shaped ears pointing up in alarm.

"You'd never believe how hard it is to use Doors these days," the man said, examining the old fashioned bunch of keys in his hand. "So annoyingly obsolete."

Inconspicuously, I stepped back, putting more distance between the newcomer and myself. I thought of summoning my Cataclyst but thought better of it. His animal companions weren't exactly your plain old house pets. I would be outnumbered if they proved to be hostile. My only hope was to escape. I gulped. To think that I couldn't draught to save my life.

The tall man eyed on me and gave me a nonchalant smile. "Oh, you're new, I suppose. I like new."

Vincent. I called for him through the Diviner's link, managing to sound calm though my chest was pounding hard. I think we have a visitor.