Pride x Familiar

by Albert Ruckholdt

  Lavinia Mason was a tall, slender woman whom I would describe as handsome rather than attractive. She had a piercing stare that I had trouble meeting. Her business suit which comprised a skirt rather than pants was charcoal grey and crisp. In short, her attire looked brand new. I will admit that while she wasn’t attractive, she had the slender physique of a runway model and her legs were nothing short of stunning.

  But her tone was cold, and I was distinctly aware that she had no love for Familiars like us. It didn’t surprise me, and I could see she was being tolerant of our kind. By the same token, I didn’t exactly have fond feelings for the Aventis, so our tolerance was mutual.

  The briefing didn’t take long. Principal Mason instructed us to download the student handbook for Familiars and to read the rules and regulations outlined within. I had already downloaded it to my palm-slate last night, after gaining access to the academy information network. After reading it, I didn’t find it that much different from the school handbook at my old school. But there were rules and rights associated with being a Familiar – rules that were supposed to protect our kind from acts of aggression and victimization expressed by Aventis students.

  Mason had said that if we all followed the rules we could enjoy peaceful lives at the academy.

  I took that with a kilo of salt.

  I wondered how peaceful life would be for a Familiar bonded to a Fragment and classified as a Special.

  After the briefing, I hurried over to my assigned homeroom and introduced myself as per the norm for any transfer student.

  Now, during lunch break, I sat in the donut shaped cafeteria building at a table on the second level, overlooking the first level below.

  Caprice sat across the round table, eating from a meal tray.

  I looked down at the food on my tray and started picking at it, before I finally managed to eat a few bites. When I finished eating half the contents on the tray, I went back to gazing over the Aventis students occupying the cafeteria’s three levels.

  Resting my chin on a palm, I muttered, “This morning went well enough. My grand debut at the prestigious Galatea Academy. Whoopee doo.”

  “It was well within expectations, though the entrance ceremony was a little tedious.”

  I shifted my eyes in her direction. “So this is your second year here?”

  “You already know that Caelum. Why are you asking me again?”

  “Sorry.” I looked away.

  For six of the past seven months I’d been attending my old school. My status as a Familiar had been kept from the students. That meant I spent six months playing the part of being a Regular just like the rest of my classmates. But now pretend time was over. I couldn’t hide what I was from the Aventis student body here at Galatea. The handbook clearly stated that was against the rules.

  I fingered the badges pinned to my blazer’s breast.

  I had received them a week ago from Arisa who’d managed my transfer to Galatea Academy.

  In a way, I felt kind of relieved not to be hiding what I was. But it didn’t make me feel any better about being a Familiar. Seven months since that fateful day and I sometimes struggled accepting the card Fate had dealt me. There were things I could do now that really worried me. Was I responsible enough to make the best use of my abilities?

  Caprice had stopped eating and was quietly studying me. I grew a little uncomfortable under her gaze then realized I was unconsciously stroking my sternum through my shirt.

  “Stop that,” she said softly. “That wound healed months ago.”

  “It’s a habit, and I still have a scar—thank you very much.”

  “I already apologized for that, but triggering your Awakening was necessary. The best way is a shock to the system, usually by near fatal wound. Once injected, the Symbiote bonds quickly to your weakened body, triggering the genetic changes and healing you at an accelerated rate before it dies and is absorbed into your body.”

  “Yes, yes, so you told me before.” I remembered waking up with my head on her lap. Seeing I was still alive, Caprice had quickly explained what she had done, and why.

  Caprice continued as she had that day seven months ago. “By bonding you to the Lanfears you gained protection from the other Prides. And even if we leave that aside, the fact that you are bonded means they couldn’t fight over you either.”

  “Yeah, I know that—I mean I know that now. Still, it’s more a branding than a bonding.”

  Caprice’s eyes narrowed, then she glanced away. “Trust you to think of it that way.”

  I sighed softly. “I had no idea I was the center of so much attention.”

  “Neither did we,” she said. “However, we should be thankful those elements in the Raynar Pride have been suitably reprimanded and suppressed.”

  I bit my lower lip. “The Raynars, huh. Closest cousins to the Lanfears.”

  “Cousins, and nothing more.”

  I narrowed my eyes as I discretely looked around at the cafeteria. “You think they’ll make a move on me now that I’m here? It’s been seven months since I became a Familiar.”

  Caprice stopped eating again. “They’d better not,” she whispered. “Next time, I won’t be so gentle with them.”

  Talk about a cold whisper. I actually had to refrain a shudder. If what I witnessed almost seven months ago on the rooftop was ‘gentle’ I’d hate to see what she meant by ‘not so gentle’.”

  “Besides,” she added, “you’re not helpless anymore.”

  Involuntarily I glanced down at my right wrist where the wide bracelet was hidden under my shirt sleeve.

  No, I wasn’t as helpless anymore, but compared to Caprice, I was like a child venturing onto his first unsteady steps after spending months crawling along the ground.

  Thinking I’d better change the subject, I tapped my chest where the scar lay. “You know this does itch every once in a while.”

  Caprice tightened her fingers on the utensils she held though her face remained blank. “Caelum, I believe I have already made amends to the situation.”

  “You mean that compensation you paid me?”

  Her face was starting to grow a little red.

  She knew exactly what I meant by compensation.

  I really enjoyed teasing her.

  She was a lovely girl, and I especially enjoyed trying to pry that emotionless persona off her.

  I’d also made up my mind some time ago that she was one of the few I’d fight to protect.

  She was special to me.

  No girl had ever stabbed me in the chest, and then saved me.

  You could say she’d left an indelible mark on me.

  I watched her swallow as she looked down at the table. Her voice was low, but I heard it clearly. “At the time you said that was all you wanted.”

  “And I’m truly happy for them.” I smiled at her. “I keep them in my top drawer.”

  The utensils in her hands trembled, though her face was perfectly under control. “If you ever tell anyone about them, I swear I’ll stick another knife into you.”

  “Then you’ll have to compensate me with another pair of your racy black panties.”

  Caprice exhaled loudly. It sounded like an angry whoosh. Amazingly, she was still expressionless. Well, she’d had plenty of practice being around me for the last six months.

  I gave her my customary cheery smile. “Someday, you’ll have to wear those panties for me again. Until then, I’m keeping them safe and sound.”

  “You’re incorrigible.”

  The sound of crashing metal on the ground below made me look over the edge of the balcony railing we were sitting beside.

  On the first floor of the cafeteria, a girl had a dropped her food tray on the ground. It didn’t look like an accident to me since five other girls faced her in a crescent. They wore the white uniforms of third year seniors. The girl was wearing the midnight blue blazer of a second year student.

  Midnight blue, just like mine.

  I narrowed my eyes
and focused on the pins hanging off her blazer’s left breast.

  A Familiar of the Sora Pride.

  I watched her squat down and patiently pick up the contents of her tray.

  Some of the food she could recover, the majority she couldn’t.

  Her cup had spilled liquid all over the floor between the tray and one of the angry, white uniformed seniors. The senior shouted at the girl, demanding to know how the girl was going to compensate her for her stained uniform.

  “Who is that,” I asked, “the girl they’re bothering?”

  “Nobody,” Caprice answered. She went back to eating.

  I swept my gaze over the students seated at the first level. Most of them were looking away. Nobody was looking to intervene. It was much the same story on the second and third levels.

  I said, “She’s a Familiar like us.”

  “And she’s new here, just like you.”

  “So you do know who she is.”

  Caprice stopped eating. “Her name is Maya Khayman afil Sora. That means she belongs to the Sora Pride. She’s a second year student in Class Two Bee.”

  “If she’s new, does that mean she was only recently identified as a Familiar?”

  Caprice was quiet for a moment. “No, not really.”

  “Oh?” I murmured. I shifted my attention. “So who’s the witch in white harassing her? I have to say she does look familiar.”

  Caprice was peering at me. “She’s nobody you want to get involved with.”

  “Oh, why not?”

  “She’s from the Ventiss Family.”

  I felt my innards freeze as I slowly faced Caprice. “She’s…she’s a Raynar?”

  She nodded ever so faintly. “Yes.”

  I swallowed, having lost all my good cheer. “Ventiss. They’re the Family that—”

  “—broke the agreement between the Raynar and Lanfear Prides and came after you.”

  I swallowed again, my mouth unpleasantly dry. “I didn’t think any of them would be here.” I gave Caprice a hard look. “Thanks for telling me when I asked you last week.”

  “Arisa’s orders. Lie to him, quote end quote.” Her monotone was unblemished.

  “Why?”

  “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.

  Reflections – 2.

  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.

  Chapter 2 – Countess.

  (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?”