Pride x Familiar (6 page)

“You know the answer to that.”

I probably did, if I just stopped and thought
about it.

By lying to me they avoided dealing with any
protest I might raise.

I was at Galatea now, so what good would
complaining do me now?

“That wasn’t fair,” I muttered. “I try to trust
Arisa because in a way she’s much like me.”

“She only did it for your own good.” Caprice
waved a fork at the scene below. “However if you must know, her
name is Prissila Ventiss Raynar, commonly referred to as the
Princess.”

“The Princess?”

“Yes, the Princess of the Student Body.” Caprice
gave me an earnest look that I didn’t see often on her face. “I
would recommend avoiding Prissila Ventiss Raynar as much as
possible.”

I frowned at Caprice.

Something about that day on the rooftop came to
mind, but for now I decided not to ask. I wasn’t sure if I wanted
to know the answer to the question.

I looked down at the level below.

The Familiar, Maya Khayman, had ceased
attempting to pick up her tray.

She was facing Prissila Ventiss with a dead look
in her eyes.

For a long while they simply stared at each
other, before Prissila smoothly turned on her high heels and began
walking away, her entourage a step behind.

But she suddenly looked up, and my heart froze
as our eyes met.

I might have called her a witch, but the
Princess was sinfully beautiful, with long golden hair and clear
azure eyes, and winning topside curves.

I was grateful my Awakening as a Familiar had
improved my eyesight considerably.

I was able to appreciate her beauty even from a
distance.

I could feel her gaze pushing against mine.

And I saw the smile on her lips.

Normally this would have been an experience
straight out of a romance novel.

Except, Prissila’s smile was much like a
wolf’s.

A hungry smile that was certain to scare away
the little lost sheep.

Prissila looked away, and continued walking
across the floor below.

My heart kicked over again as my composure fell
back into gear.

“Caelum…?”

I nodded weakly while my gaze followed
Prissila’s progress across the floor until she disappeared from
view. “You don’t have to tell me, Caprice. I’ll stay clear of
her.”

As the words left my lips, a disappointed
thought ran across my mind.

What a waste. That girl was as close to a ten
out of ten as I’d ever seen.

I blinked and noticed Maya Khayman had picked up
her tray.

She was watching me too, with an unreadable look
on her face.

Then she turned away and walked over to the
stairs leading up the floors. At the second floor she found herself
a table, and ate the remains of her lunch alone.

The Prides called them Fragments.

They were artifacts found decades after the
Cataclysm had torn our little corner of the galaxy apart.

At least, that’s what we were told.

From what I understood, they were pieces of
numerous larger objects, and only the Prides knew how many of these
completed
objects could be made. However, the Prides were
reluctant to combine the pieces and form a completed item – an
Artifact.

I understood their reasons.

If a Fragment on its own was that powerful, then
when all the parts were combined the end result would be
unstoppable by conventional means. For that reason, the Prides
chose to keep the Fragments apart, locked away in secret vaults
throughout the asteroid colony of Pharos, and probably elsewhere at
covert installations deep within the Hurakan Nebula.

The other reason was the Prides didn’t trust us
Familiars.

And we Familiars were the only ones that could
operate a Fragment.

That being the case, what were Familiars? What
made us so special?

Genetically we were almost identical to humans
but there were differences, and those differences were what the
Fragments reacted to. However, before Arisa’s blood triggered my
awakening as a Familiar, my genetic sequencing looked unremarkably
Regular.

During the bi-annual medical examination
conducted at the school, I had recorded negative values when it
came to deciding my compatibility to one of the eight Symbiotic
strains. What I didn’t know was that there were two tests, one for
deeming eligibility to a Pride, and one for deeming eligibility as
a Familiar.

Two days before Caprice stabbed me on the
rooftop, my impending Awakening as a Familiar became known to the
Prides.

Two of those Prides moved to
acquire
me –
the Raynars and the Lanfears.

What resulted was a skirmish that led many to
believe the Raynars wanted me dead.

The truth was a little different, but I won’t
spoil the fun at this point.

Because I was ‘bonded’ or ‘branded’ to the
Lanfear Symbiote my abilities wouldn’t fully manifest unless I
absorbed the blood of a Lanfear Aventis. If I drank the blood of
other Prides, I wouldn’t
power up
to the same degree.

I did say
drink the blood
of other
Prides.

The truth is we Familiars have one trait we
share with fictional vampires.

We can drink blood and draw nutrients from
it.

At first the thought of drinking human blood
turned my stomach. The thought of drinking Aventis blood made me
want to slit my wrists.

But I guess things changed, or rather, I
changed.

Little by little, I stopped hating the Aventis
as much as I did.

But I digress.

That wasn’t what I wanted to talk about.

I was talking about the drinking of Aventis
blood.

Specifically, I was talking about drinking the
blood of Arisa Imreh Lanfear.

My Awakening had triggered genetic and
physiological changes. One of those was my ability to extend and
retract my canines. I have to admit that was the creepiest change
of all, and it made my skin crawl the one time I drew them in and
out while watching myself in a mirror.

There were a handful of occasions when I made
use of this new ability. I plunged my canines into Arisa’s tender
flesh, and drank her warm blood as it flowed into my mouth.
However, most of the time Arisa’s blood was injected into me
whenever the Lanfear researchers wanted to test out the abilities
of my Fragment with my body fully boosted by her blood.

I’ve mentioned Arisa a handful of times
already.

Who is she?

She is an Aventis, and the niece of the Lanfear
Pride’s Primatriarch, Yolanda Imreh Lanfear.

Yet she is someone who shares my pain.

She is someone I can connect with, even if only
on one level.

That’s because Arisa lost her parents in the
explosion that took the lives of my parents and hundreds of
others.

They had been on the dock awaiting the arrival
of the super freighter.

I was ten at the time, close to turning
eleven.

She was sixteen, close to turning seventeen.

The moment the bomb on that freighter exploded,
the red string of fate tied us together.

(Haruka)

I ate lunch.

I smiled and chatted amicably with Siobhan and
Alistair.

I tried pushing Caelum out of my mind as best I
could, and failed miserably.

He was seated with Caprice Steiner at a table
overlooking the open floor of the cafeteria. I watched him through
the corner of my eye, grateful for the acute vision of an
Aventis.

In the end, I chose to finish lunch quickly. I
might have inconvenienced Siobhan and Alistair, but I just couldn’t
remain in the cafeteria a moment longer.

So I made an excuse and departed for the
bookstore that Galatea maintained in the building that housed the
cafeteria. Galatea had a number of shops in the building, a sort of
mini-mall that students could avail themselves to during lunch
break and after classes.

Siobhan and Alistair hurried after me despite
telling them I was fine on my own.

Siobhan snorted. “Sure. Like we haven’t noticed
you looking over at him. You thought you could fool us?”

I had nothing to say to that except,
“Sorry….”

Alistair asked smoothly, “You told us once you
knew him for ten or so years. Is that true?”

I hesitated before replying, “I’ve known him
since I was five. His family and mine were close. But after his
parents died, my family turned their backs on him. All of a sudden,
he wasn’t good enough to be my friend.”

Alistair muttered, “That’s a little harsh.”

I nodded weakly. “Even so, we remained close
friends until last year when I became an Aventis.”

Alistair leaned in toward me. “So why did your
folks do that?”

“I guess…because they don’t like Familiars.” I
sighed softly. “They’re conscious of their social status.”

I noticed Siobhan shrug lightly.

“That’s understandable,” she said, and walked
down the aisle looking at the book titles.

Alistair shook her head ever so faintly. “Don’t
mind her.”

“I know,” I said. “I’m not going to take it to
heart….”

Alistair remained standing beside me. “You said
your family and his was close.”

I nodded faintly.

Alistair asked, “But if Caelum Desanto’s a
Familiar, weren’t his parents Familiars?”

I looked at Alistair. “No…they were Regulars.
They worked for an Aventis shipping company in Island One.”

“Hmm,” the girl uttered. “Yeah, you told me that
before. Sorry, I guess I just forgot.”

I went back to regarding the book shelf in front
of me.

Caelum’s family were Regulars, yet both he and
sister became Familiars.

When Celica became a Familiar, it didn’t bother
me at all, though I remember my parents were a little unnerved. It
was around this time they began privately expressing their
sentiments against Familiars.

Did it bother me that Caelum also Awakened like
his sister had?

No, not in the least.

But what would my parents say if I told them he
was a Familiar just like his deceased sister?

I snorted inwardly.

They’d tell me to stay the Hell away from
him.

For the remainder of the lunch break, I wandered
aimlessly down the aisles, but all the titles I read failed to
capture my attention.

I tried putting the matter of Caelum Desanto out
of mind, and barely succeeded when classes resumed. Nonetheless, I
had to dial the headset’s learning aid up to max in order to focus
on the lecture.

But when classes ended for the day – a day which
felt like it had been stretched to breaking point – there was
another surprise in store for us.

A Student Council announcement was made.

Caelum Desanto, and two others were called to
the Student Council President’s office.

I peeked at him over my shoulder and caught the
look of surprise on his face.

Then Caprice touched his arm, and gave him an
unreadable look.

Well, it was unreadable to me, but Caelum
appeared to read meaning in it.

He nodded faintly and stood up after collecting
his school issued carry-bag.

I watched him walk out of the classroom on his
way to face the Student Council.

#

(Caelum)

I followed the map on my palm-slate and arrived
at the Student Council President’s office after a five minute
walk.

Galatea was a big school.

Very big.

In fact, Galatea sat on the equivalent of four
district blocks.

From overhead, its various buildings were shaped
like the letter ‘H’, lined up side-by-side across a very big patch
of land.

There were three such buildings.

One for middle schoolers.

One for high schoolers.

One for administration and other duties, and it
was the smaller of the three buildings.

In fact, when viewed from high above, the
buildings of Galatea Academy spelled out the word, HIH.

Surrounding the buildings were various plots of
land designated for sporting activities. Track-and-Field had its
own sporting field, as did the tennis, basketball, and soccer
clubs. There were two large gymnasiums – one for the high-schoolers
and the other for the middle-schoolers – and each was adjoined to
an aquatic center that sported a fifty meter pool.

Last but not least were the student dormitories
on the north side of the school, and the various clubroom
facilities east and west of the sporting fields.

Galatea had everything the young, future
prospective leaders of the eight Prides could ever hope for in a
school environment.

It even had two mini-malls, each built adjacent
to the two cafeteria buildings.

The Student Council rooms and the President’s
office were located on the fourth floor of the west wing of the
high-school building.

Standing before the President’s office, I looked
at the sturdy double doors made of real wood – not the synthetic
variety, but real, honest to God wood – and trembled a little at
the thought of what awaited me beyond those doors.

I knocked on one door loud enough to be heard
without sounding like an ogre beating down a dungeon gate.

The door opened automatically a few moments
later, and melodious voice called out, “Please enter.”

A melodious
female
voice.

My stomach lurched. Was I stepping into a
lioness’s den?

What greeted me was a room adorned in opulent,
antique furnishings.

Along opposite walls hung the painted portraits
of former Student Council presidents.

I looked at them, noticing the majority of past
presidents were women.

All damn, fine good looking women.

I scowled inwardly at the handsome faces of the
few male presidents.

I guess it was to be expected. Appearances
seemed to carry a great deal of weight around here.