Pride X Familiar ReVamp (Pride X ReVamp Book 1)

by Albert Ruckholdt

  Caprice told me Maya and Rina had survived their encounters. She mentioned Maya was having trouble looking Kaleb Deneve in the eyes. Whenever Kaleb spoke to her during training, Maya would grow hot and flustered, and then turn away. It was starting to drive Kaleb up the wall, and Maya wasn’t explaining her odd behavior to anyone.

  She also told me about Haruka and Simone.

  They had been partly buried by falling rubble. Their injuries were fatal to a Regular, but as Aventis they would survive and they would recover. However, they were consigned to hospital for at least a week.

  I was relieved to hear they would recover.

  No, I was more than relieved. I felt like a great weight had been taken off my shoulders, but at the same time I felt responsible for what happened. Surely there had to have been something I could have done to have prevented their injuries.

  But I was also scared for their safety.

  I never thought the pair of them would be caught up in the struggle so directly.

  A case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  Caprice handed me a data-slate with documents to read. It was information prepared by the Student Council President, a detailed briefing of sorts.

  I was surprised by his openness. He was keeping me in the loop, rather than in the dark.

  I disliked him a little less, but then wondered how much he wasn’t telling us.

  Well, I guess he’s entitled to his secrets.

  Caprice spent a lot of that Tuesday in the room with me.

  She brought along a portable holovid game system and we played a multitude of games until we grew tired or our thumbs grew blisters from pressing down on the controllers.

  She left that afternoon for training, and promised to come by in the morning. She left the game console in the room in case I got bored during the evening or night.

  I watched her leave.

  Neither of us spoke much of what happened outside the Vault chamber.

  I didn’t think there was any need to.

  I knew that my life had been saved because Celica gave Caprice a pressurized needle with Aventis blood. The strain of Symbiote in the blood had spread throughout my body, growing at a phenomenal rate and healing my wound to the point where I would live long enough until help arrived.

  I was alive because Caprice had pleaded with her.

  I wasn’t going to forget Caprice’s tears anytime soon.

  No, I wasn’t going to forget her despairing face until the day I died.

  I lay back on my bed, feeling a slight burning in my chest that wasn’t due to the wound in my abdomen.

  I looked up at the ceiling, and grudgingly accepted what that burning ache was telling me as it slowly settled around my heart.

  I fell asleep, and when I woke I noticed it was evening out in the habitat visible through my room’s window.

  And I had company once more.

  She sat on the cushioned chair, wearing tight black slacks and a sleeveless, frilled white blouse. She looked mature and elegant, the perfect young lady, with light makeup on her face, and her golden hair tied into a bundle that exposed the smooth nape of her neck.

  To say she didn’t make my heart race was a complete lie.

  My body forgot it was injured and responded to her in the time honored tradition of a red blooded male. I hurriedly fiddled with my bed’s controls and sat up, hoping to hide my body’s reaction to her.

  She gave me a faint shy smile while I struggled to find my voice.

  I swallowed a few times, but my voice was no better than a thready whisper.

  “Princess….”

  Her smile grew a little more confident. “Hello Caelum.”

  “Uh…why—why are you here?” I looked at the clock on the bedside table. “Aren’t visiting hours over?”

  “The Ventiss Family has very strong ties to this hospital. It’s the same one I was taken to when I was hurt.”

  “Oh, I see.”

  “As a result, I’m allowed special visitation rights.”

  “Oh, is that so.”

  She tipped her head slightly. “Caelum, are you not happy to see me?”

  “No, I’m delighted—I mean, I’m very grateful you’ve taken the time to come and visit me.”

  She held a box on her lap. It was around the size of a shoe box though thinner. It was wrapped in gift paper and tied with a red bow. She held it up.

  “I brought you a gift. Open it later, when they discharge you.” She looked embarrassed and glanced away. “Truthfully, I wasn’t sure what to bring you. I’m not good with these situations—I mean I don’t have a lot of experience buying things for boys.”

  She muttered something under her breath, something about my special needs.

  Or was she talking about my special wants.

  Suddenly, she grew flustered and even more embarrassed. She hurriedly put the box down on the bedside table

  “Anyway, anyway,” she repeated. “It’s good to see you are recovering well. The doctor told me you should be released in two days’ time. Isn’t that good news? You’ll be up and about before the weekend.” Her fingers on her lap began fidgeting. “Yes, you’ll be right for the weekend.”

  She laughed nervously.

  I cleared my throat. “Princess, how have you been?”

  “Huh? Me? Oh, I’ve been fine…I guess.”

  “You guess?” I sat up a little straighter and focused on seeing the girl, and not just the beauty seated on the chair.

  She raised a hand and gently waved it. “No, I’m fine. I really am. Truthfully, I was scared when the evacuation order was handed down so secretively. At first I thought it was a joke, but then the President called me, and told me he was enlisting the help of everyone he could trust. He wanted the evacuation to happen without a public announcement. It took me and the girls a while to convince the others, but then more and more messages were sent to the students’ palm-slates and to the teachers. Then it was all down to keeping people from panicking while the shooting carried on outside.”

  Her fingers moved restlessly, and she clenched and unclenched her hands.

  “That…that was truly scary.”

  She folded her hands together.

  She wasn’t close enough for me reach, so I held out my left hand to her.

  She gave it a confused look.

  “Give me your hand,” I said.

  She looked nervous and puzzled now, but she placed her right hand in my open left. I took a hold her hand, and gently pulled it toward me. As I drew it closer, Prissila had to rise from the chair and stand beside my bed.

  I closed my eyes and kissed her fingers.

  “I’m sorry. I really, really wanted to protect your school. I wanted to protect it for you. I thought I could do it, but I was naïve and stupid.”

  I kissed them again, then pressed my forehead down onto the back of her hand.

  “I’m so sorry, Princess.”

  “Caelum…Simone and the President told me what happened. They made me promise never to speak of it to anyone, but I believe you deserve to know. You should know that I know what happened down there in…in the vault.”

  I kept my forehead pressed down on her hand, but I felt the bed sink slightly when she sat down on it.

  “Caelum, I have an older brother. I think if my brother ever hurt me…I don’t think I’d ever recover. I value my family, and I value the bonds we have, but if my brother ever broke that bond it would tear me apart.”

  Slowly, I looked up at her.

  She was looking flushed but her eyes were steady and so too her voice. “I think I can understand what it was like for you.”

  “Can you…?”

  She swallowed then slowly shook her head. “No, I’m being presumptuous. I’m sorry.”

  “It hurts, Princess.”

  “Huh?”

  “The way she looked at me. The way she made me feel. I can’t get past it. I can’t get past how relieved and delighted she was when she hurt me…as th
ough she was free of me…as though I wasn’t her brother anymore…just an enemy she had to defeat….”

  I felt the tears well up in my eyes and I couldn’t stop them.

  I felt ashamed for Prissila to see me like this.

  I let go of her hand and squeezed my eyes shut, but I couldn’t hold back my tears, not even when I pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes.

  Then I buried my face into my hands, and I cried, overwhelmed by the emptiness inside me – the emptiness Celica left behind.

  I grew conscious of someone holding me.

  I grew conscious of the fact I was holding onto them.

  I felt a warmth, and the gentle scent of girl, a delicious mix of scented perfumes, creams and shampoos.

  I felt the firm fullness of her chest, and I buried my face into her overly ample bosom.

  I stopped crying before I ran out of tears.

  Her warmth, her body, and the rhythmic beating of her heart calmed me. The sense of kindness and security I felt while held in her embrace went a long way toward filling the emptiness inside me.

  I swallowed and tried hard not to ruin her blouse any more than I had, but she wouldn’t let me go, and I surrendered to her anew.

  I wasn’t aware of time in any practical sense.

  I was only aware of its passage by the beating of her heart.

  Her heart wasn’t something I should be keeping time by, but it was soothing to hear it drumming gently in her chest.

  I drew back and this time she released me from the embrace.

  She handed me a couple of tissues. I apologized to her as I cleaned up my face. When I felt I was somewhat presentable, I looked up at her.

  She regarded me with her azure eyes. “Feeling better?”

  I sighed loudly then took a deep breath. “Princess, I’m sorry. I ruined your blouse. I’m really sorry—”

  “Caelum Desanto.”

  I swallowed and meekly asked, “Yes?”

  Her eyes regarded me with a steady light. “Don’t tell Simone.”

  I wondered what she meant by that.

  She answered my question by leaning down and kissing me.

  Not a peck on the lips, but a very proper kiss.

  We’re talking mouth to mouth, tongue on tongue.

  A very, very real kiss – the kind of kiss a guy dreams of sharing with a girl.

  She broke the kiss and slowly drew back.

  I looked up at her and realized a new path had opened up before me, one that presented interesting possibilities.

  Prissila’s eyes widened and she appeared to realize what she’d done. She blushed hotly, and rose quickly from the bed. Then she began fixing up her clothes, though her blouse was wet with my tears.

  “Oh dear,” she murmured then burst into nervous laughter. “Oh, what will I do? I mean, what I have done? Ha ha.”

  She broke into more fits of nervous laughter.

  I watched her look about the chair in a panic. Then she noticed the box on the bedside table. She picked it up and hastily dropped it onto my lap.

  “Ah, don’t open that until I’m gone. But you must open it before the weekend. You must. Do you hear me?”

  I nodded furtively.

  She continued to look about discombobulated.

  Then she found her purse hanging off the back of the chair. Hurriedly she slipped the straps over her right shoulder, and once more attempted to improve the appearance of her clothes.

  “Princess—?”

  “No, it’s no bother.” She took a really deep breath, one that pushed out her large breasts. “Right, I’ll be going now. I—I’ll come by tomorrow? No, maybe I should wait until the weekend. Ah, but will you give me a favorable answer. Ah, no. I can’t think about that right now.”

  Abruptly she darted forward with tremendous speed and kissed my forehead.

  Again, not a peck. Definitely not a peck.

  “Right, now I’m definitely leaving.”

  I stared at her blankly as she fled the room, her high heels clacking loudly. All manner of coherent thought had expelled out of my ears like steam.

  My whole body trembled.

  Even the box on my lap jittered a bit.

  It took a long, long while for my heart to ease down from a sprint to a jog.

  It took a while longer for it to slow down to a fast walk.

  Eventually, I reached out and unwrapped the package on my lap. I studied the white box, and ran my fingers reverently over the embossed gold writing on the cover.

  Veronica’s Secret.

  My heart started pounding loudly, even though Prissila had exhausted it with her second parting kiss.

  Then, with slightly trembling hands I opened it and studied the contents inside.

  Empty.

  I blinked, closed the box, then opened it again.

  Still empty.

  I looked for a hidden compartment, something like a false bottom.

  Nope. Empty.

  Then I noticed an envelope stuck to the inside of the box’s cover.

  There was a card inside it.

  Nervously I pulled it out of the envelope and opened it with the trembling fingers.

  THIS SUNDAY. ISLAND THREE, HABITAT THREE. THE MAG-LEV STATION IN DISTRICT SEVEN. TEN A.M.

  I read the next line.

  IF YOU SAY YES…THEN SOME DAY… I’LL SHOW YOU WHAT WAS INSIDE THE BOX.

  Her palm-slate number was written on the card.

  I re-read the message, before the card slipped from fingers.

  Hot flashes surged through my body.

  I slapped myself a few times to ensure this wasn’t dream.

  Not a dream. Definitely not a dream.

  The hot flashes died down, but then I struggled not to hyperventilate.

  In the end, I barely succeeded in placing the card back inside the envelope and box before closing it. My hands were simply shaking so much.

  I closed my eyes, took in a number of deep breaths, then pumped both fists into the air.

  I cried my answer out into the room.

  #

  (Prissila)

  As the car drove me home, I was looking out the window but I wasn’t seeing the lights of the habitat.

  I wasn’t seeing anything but the sight of him, and the way he cried into my chest.

  I pressed a hand down upon my breasts.

  His warmth lingered there, as did the drying moisture of his tears.

  I closed my eyes, and reveled in the memory of the embrace.

  Reveled in the lingering taste of his lips.

  My purse began to sing, shocking me out of the memory.

  Opening my eyes sharply, I reached into my purse and fumbled for my palm-slate.

  I recognized the number so I answered it quickly.

  It was from one of the many nurses I’d paid to keep a close eye on him.

  After all, I wasn’t so naïve as to fail to recognize I was up against some stiff competition. I needed to use every means at my disposal if I was going to win against the other girls.

  Every means! That meant no half measures. Absolutely none!

  I had plenty of passionate material from which to draw inspiration. Yes, plenty of material.

  “Hello, this is Prissila,” I said.

  A young woman’s voice replied. “Uh, Ms. Ventiss, you asked me to give you a call should anything happen.”

  I sat up sharply on the plush backseat of the car. “Yes. I did indeed. Please tell me, has something happened?”

  “Ah…well, a while after you left, I went to check up on him.”

  I nodded. “Yes, yes. And?”

  The nurse was quiet for a moment.

  I was sitting on pins and needles waiting for her answer.

  I heard her swallow on the open line. “Ms. Ventiss….”

  I held my breath.

  “…he cried out ‘yes’.”

  I dropped the palm-slate and pumped both fists in the air.

  “Ha! Take that Simone!”

&n
bsp; #

  (Haruka)

  The Vice-President and I spent almost a week in hospital.

  The fragments of ceiling had fallen on both of us, trapping us under the rubble.

  I was knocked unconscious, but Simone Alucard remained awake during the whole ordeal.

  She kept calling out for help but no one came.

  Eventually, she managed to twist her arm and pull out her palm-slate.

  It was damaged, but the emergency feature still worked.

  When the fighting was over, the rescue and fire teams moved in. Their equipment picked up her palm-slate’s distress call and shortly afterwards they rescued us from the rubble.

  I was surprised that with everything that happened she hadn’t lost her palm-slate, especially after knocking down the girl with the Fragment cannon, and struggling with her on the ground.

  My shoulder blades and vertebrae were broken.

  Simone was in a slightly better condition.

  The medical team pumped us full of concentrated nutrients for the Symbiotes in our bodies to feed on. When we stabilized a little, they took us by aerial ambulance to the hospital in Habitat Three. They said it was the largest and best equipped. But I later learnt it was because the Ventiss family had ties to that hospital, and Simone’s family had a close relationship with Prissila’s family.

  In any event, we were placed into separate medical capsules, and dropped into an induced coma. This would give the Symbiote the best conditions to repair our bodies.

  I didn’t heal as quickly as Simone Alucard.

  She was born an Aventis, and her Symbiote had a hundred percent compatibility with her body.

  I wasn’t born an Aventis. My compatibility with my Symbiote was over eighty percent, so it didn’t work as quickly on my body. This was one of the key differences between natural born Aventis, and those that gained a Symbiote while still in their mother’s womb.

  By Monday I was conscious.

  The doctors came to see me.

  My parents came to see me.

  But I was inside the capsule so I couldn’t interact much with them.

  Tuesday was better.

  I was taken out of the capsule and placed in my own private room. I learnt this was arranged by Simone after talking to her family about my care.

  Despite being a Raynar, she was going out of her way to help an Avenir.