Reapers -- The First Familiar (Reapers Chronicles Book II)

32 - Last Will

I could feel the steady stream of tears down my face. "You keep picking a fight, but seriously, I'm just so glad to see you."

She crossed her arms, raising a brow. "Okay... But it doesn't change the fact that I'm still dead."

"I'm-"

"Don't. Even. Go there." She raised a finger at me. "Just try to apologize one time. Just one time and I'll pull all your hairs out and peel off your face. Everything I did, I did for the people I love and not for you. Don't think for a second that you're special."

"Then why did you choose to talk to me?"

She rolled her eyes. "Because, Stupid, Vincent doesn't listen to me. But unfortunately, he does to you. I knew I was dying anyway. If I can't heal myself, nobody else could. So I did what any sensible healer will do: I saved the one with the better chance of survival. You owe me your life. Now it's payback time."

"What do you want?"

She walked up to me, draughting boots clacking against nonexistent floor. With a devilish grin, she lifted a hand and pressed her fingers on my forehead.

Images flashed before my eyes. Treasured memories that Rosario placed in my care. Hundreds, thousands I could not begin to comprehend them. Not until I heard a small voice.

"Rosario," said a child with eyes like blue glass, tugging Rosario's kirtle as they stood in front of the Door with the inverted cross; the portal to Halja. "Shall Mother ever return from there? Does she despise me so that she had to leave?"

"No, Niño. Madame Roselle is away because of her desire to save you from harm." She sounded like she just learned English yesterday. "Once you are immortalized as the mistress wishes, everything shall be better."

The boy shook his little head, pouting. "But Father detests me and so do my brothers. For that, I do not wish for immortality."

Bending over, Rosario tweaked the strands of dark hair covering his eyes. "Then what is it that you yearn for, Vincent?"

Vincent shrugged. "Acceptance."

In a blink, I was transported into a dark room. I could sense nothing but the silent whimpers coming from a corner.

A sliver of light unrolled from the opening door.

Rosario's face reeked of fear as she entered. "V-vincent? I came to help you."

As the light from the hallway filled the room, I made out a much younger version of Vincent slumped in the corner of his bed. His eyes were wide with terror as he stared at himself.

Smoke wafted from his reddened skin. Reptilian scales covered his left arm, neck and half his face. His crimson eyes glowed in the dark like that of a fierce animal. The sheets had been burned, the bedposts wrecked. The whole room itself smoldered like a little piece of hell.

"What is happening to me?" he cried quietly.

Doors closed. Shutters were pulled down. Tension was palpable in the air inside the study.

Mistress Roselle sat at the end of the table, eyeing Vladimir, Mei and Rosario.

"I have... persuaded Pilgrim to immortalize Vincent," said she, clutching the armrests. "The Binds of the Reapers might limit his... condition."

Vladimir slammed his hands on the table. "But it's not a definite solution, Mother! We have to get help from Halja. Surely they have the knowledge on how to control it."

The mistress shook her head in regret. "I am afraid, they cannot be of aid. The Binds of Halja prevent them from doing such. Immortality is our last hope."

The floor beneath my feet collapsed like a trapdoor. As I got up, smoke scalded my lungs. The drawing room was on fire. Vladimir lay beneath a collapsed pillar. Beside him, Mei sprawled unconscious.

Rosario was on her stomach, crawling. "No..."

Before us was a monster who used to be Vincent. Those bloodshot eyes blazed. I couldn't see any trace of him left in that crimson shell.

Blood was all over the place. All over him. And to his feet, Mistress Roselle's dead body lay.

The snap of Rosario's fingers made me open my eyes.

"And... cut," she whispered.

I was back to reality. People moved to and fro in urgency. A giant crossbow with lots of wires attached to it was being transported into the woods.

"Why did you show all that to me?" I murmured, wiping off the tears with a trembling hand.

Rosario snickered. "Now that you know everything... The tragedies that broke his soul. His pain. I want you to do something even I failed to achieve."

"And what is that?"

"Acceptance," she answered and then, she was gone.

"What do you mean?" I knitted my brows. "Rosario! I don't understand. How do I do it?"

No answer came. The essence of her soul that was somehow imbued in the Memory Tome's cinders had run out. I was left with one word without a single clue as to how to go about it. Still, I wished I could have said goodbye.

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There are 8 things to watch out for in the next chapter. 1)The Attack 2)Vincent 3)What is acceptance, really? What did Rosario really want? 4)Kick-ass action 5)Possibility of romance. (Gah. I said it! Possibility though, not probability) 6) Alex 7)Vincent 8)Vince--Oh... I already said that. XD So yeah. Enjoy reading. Vote. Comment. Share. Please share. Like seriously. Share the story. :) It would mean the world to me. And the whole of Andromeda. Even part of Centaurus A. Puhleeease... share it to your friends. Force them. No don't. Okay. Shutting up now! :)