Lapilius

Note: Ok... still is bit bad... but atleast it\'s better than what it was *deep sigh* I so totally suck at writing


I wonder how it is possible to hear the exact same sound every time a crowd of people gather. No matter what the reason of gathering may be, whether it is a gathering of happiness or sadness, the same sound rouses from the mass of people, only in a different volume. Nuisance.
The school\'s annual meet and greet convention for first years is nothing but a disguise for a matchmakers theatre. It\'s a total win-win situation for all parties participating in this enormous act.

Masters are guaranteed to get a high quality apprentice, because the school\'s system simply does not allow any black sheep. True, money and high social ranking can get anyone in, but staying in is totally different matter. Every year a thousand are accepted into the first year, only five hundred are able to pass to the next. At the end of the five year course only twenty five remain and ten will be able to graduate.
Students will be able to get apprenticeships under the best teachers and be assured of a clear and good future.
The government is ensured of no illegal activity within the community, which has a law and government of its own.
But in the middle of everything stands the school who gains more and more power and prestige as its students and former students climb in social standing.

\'You still here?\' I nodded and looked up to see my twin sister. The sunlight lightened the pale skin we shared even more and ignited a spark in her already lively jade eyes. Unlike me she never had problems feeling at home with people, she was perfectly amiable to everyone, although some would call her loud. I listened to her as she chattered away about the women who had chosen her and about how she would move away today to her new home. \'We won\'t be able to see each other for spring break, but don\'t you dare forget me!\' I nodded again and she disappeared into the crowds. A glance at the enormous clock on the other side of the hall told me there were only five minutes left before the convention would close. Most Masters had already chosen an apprentice and were either ready to leave or waiting near a registration table. The ones without a match were either rushing to still find an apprentice or slowly making their way to the exits with slightly lowered heads and a disappointed manner.

As I let my eyes wander, I suddenly met pair of mesmerizing scarlet eyes staring straight at me. His eyes lit up brilliantly in the sunlit room and gave off a faint glow to his pale skin. He was engaged in a conversation with another man, but at the same time his stare held mine captured. I tried turning away my head, attempting to rip loose my eyes from his beauty, but to no avail. I quickly found my eyes trailing back to him. His face contorted into a twisted mocking smile and he lifted his chin at me. I felt enraged at how he made me feel pitiful in my isolated state and a deep longing to simply flee the whole scene took over my mind, but he held me in place with his piercing stare.
I bit my lip when he excused himself and blend into the crowd. My eyes followed him as he slipped through the crowd and by a sarcastic chance out of my direct sight. My mind settled down after a few minutes. He was no longer anywhere to be seen and I assumed he already left with his chosen apprentice.
A spark of panic flashed in me when I suddenly felt someone breathing in my ear. I jumped and turned around to see the man standing behind me. My eyes widened in shock at feeling him so close to me and my heart started racing. I wanted to run but my body refused to move as his eyed me up quickly. For a moment his face turned blank and he inched closer to me. His smell intoxicated me and along with the closeness and his stare paralyzed me.

\'I like you.\'

I secretly spied at him as he pressed the button to the top floor. Not a word had passed between us after he said he liked me. He had simply dragged me to the registry and registered us. The glass elevator slowly crawled past many floors. The building\'s exterior had not amazed me; I had seen pictures of such structures when children of the village boasted about moving to the big city. Back then we all dreamed of living in such a complex and we fantasized about what to do with all the space in such a big complex. When mail returned from the big city our dreams collapsed as we learned his family only owned one apartment and it was not even a whole floor.

A loud chime disrupted my thoughts when we arrived at the top floor. I looked up and could not believe my eyes. The dark, almost black floor and red drapes on the walls were so different from the rough concrete that had surrounded the elevator all that time. I stepped out of the elevator and looked around. The glass ceiling and the circle of spotlights at the edge of the circle finalized the whole scene. I wanted to lie down on the black stone floor and gaze into the glass ceiling the whole day and watch the clouds shift into stars and back.
A loud click ended my fantasy and left me disoriented in the middle of the round hallway. My Master was holding the door for me patiently and when I had made my way through it, I once again heard the loud click that had carried away my fantasy as the door closed.

\'I see you like your new hallway.\' Embarrassment rose in me when I realized he had seen me enthralled by the hallway. He threw down his keys in a black polished dish and gestured for me to follow. I took off my shoes, as he had done and stepped from the stone entrance onto the soft red carpet. He hurriedly pointed out where I could find the kitchen, bathroom and we ended at the bedroom.

It held a double bed in the middle, a wall of closets and a doorway leading to a bathroom to the right and a wall of glass to the left. The vertical blinds were drawn to the end of the room and the sun bathed the whole room in its brilliance. The double bed was covered by silk sheets in a dark shade of blue and the material shifted from a bright white to midnight blue as I gently stirred the cold fabric. I turned around to see him still standing in the doorway, watching me examine the room.

\'I love the dark colour.\' He smiled briefly and walked back into the living room.

\'I will be leaving now.\' I had just sat down on the leather couch and he kneeled down to level his face to mine.

\'Where are you going?\' He smiled. It was just a mere lift of the corners of his lips, but it gave me a sense of gentleness.

\'Work, someone has to pay for all this luxury. Just make yourself at home.\' I followed him back to the door. \'By the way, there is food in the fridge and I think I have an extra set of keys in the drawer of the nightstand, but I am not too sure. I do suggest you stay home and not go wandering.\' He left after those words and the apartment fell silent after the sound of the click had died away.

I spend the night examining the different rooms he had not showed me. The first door I tried was locked. Behind the second door was a complete wardrobe of suits and shirts in various colours and matching ties. The last door held a storage room with a few closets. Some were open, whilst others were locked. In the open ones I found wrapped gifts, on shelves with different tags, ranging from scarves to perfumes and other gifts. The last room left me puzzled. Why would someone keep all these in a storage room? As I pondered this question I suddenly realized I had no idea what kind of life someone like him lives. I sank away in the couch and started writing my daily journal.

I felt two arms slipping under me and lifting me off the soft surface of the couch, but my sleep muddled mind could not comprehend who was lifting me, or why I needed to be lifted. The one who lifted me felt warm and I clang to this person as I felt us move to an unknown destination. I felt comfortable in the arms of this unknown person and whimpered when I was put down on another soft, but cold fabric. My senses told me it was silk, but I had already dozed off enough to no longer care where I was or what it was I was sleeping on. Before my mind totally left me I felt a gentle kiss on my forehead, its warmth lingering there for the rest of my sleep.

I awoke the next morning, completely confused. I almost panicked when I could not identify the room I was staying in. The bed felt soft and the sheets warm, but strangely fresh to my skin. I turned around and stared straight into the face of a sleeping angel. The sun was a scorching deep orange that morning and temporarily removed the paleness from his skin. His black hair was slightly dishevelled, but still looked perfectly amiable and I would have liked to bury my hand in it and feel its silken threads surround and capture my hand forever.
His eyes opened while I was caught in my own world and I was startled when I felt his hand slip behind my neck and pulled me close to him. The dreamy look in his eyes, so different from the sparkling sharp look I had seen in them gently trailed me away from the waking world, but when his lips brushed mine my awareness jolted.

\'Good morning, my white rabbit.\' I stuttered as I tried to answer his greeting in a polite manner but could not utter more than a simple \"Good morning\". The texture of his lips was imprinted on mine and disrupted all my thoughts. He smiled at my The bed suddenly turned cold when he left it and made his way to the bathroom, leaving me stunned and confused entangled in the silk sheets. I turned to catch a last glimpse of his back before he slipped into the bathroom, naked. I dressed quickly and stumbled out of the room. My head was spinning. I had shared a bed with a naked man, whose name I did not know.
By the time he came out of the room, fully dressed and groomed, I had calmed down. He casually walked past me, trailing his hand over my shoulders and started preparing for breakfast.

\'You look troubled.\' He turned his head to me, holding two pieces of toast in his hand. He sat down opposite of me and handed me a piece of toast. \'By the way, normally I would have eggs and bacon, but I forgot to go shopping yesterday, because of the convention, please bear with me for today.\' I wanted to say I did not mind eating toast, but he had already swirled away and left me alone at the table. \'Hurry up now, wouldn\'t want to be late for school.\' I rushed over to the door and tried to put on my shoes, holding my schoolbag in one and my toast in the other. He was leaning on the doorpost, clearly very amused at how clumsy I looked. I followed him to the elevator, tumbling over my own feet because of the untied shoes. I leaned on the elevator wall and dropped my bag to tie my shoe laces while holding my toast in my mouth. He suddenly held his hand out to me, when I finished fastening my shoes. I stood frozen for a moment and suddenly realized. I placed my hand in his and he announced,

\'Karnè de Cris, Angelio Master.\' We held hands for a silent moment. I stared at his face, which was blank, but slowly his eyes shifted and soon his lips followed. \'Are you not going to tell me your name, Rubin?\'

\'Name? You just said it.\' He smiled.

\'Name, as in family name, as in the second part of your name.\' His happiness seeped away quickly when he realized the source of my silence.

\'Clarinus? Excuse me? Could you repeat that?\' Cline put down his pen gently on the glass desk and leaned back in his leather chair. I turned to my Master who was leaning on the table with his elbows, his nose resting on his folded hands. The gaze he held alarmed me and when he spoke his voice was hushed, but clear.

\'You heard me perfectly.\' Cline rubbed the temples, his anguish showing from the knots between his eyes. \'You can check his authenticity.\'

\'I do not doubt that, Karnè. I am perfectly sure you are not joking. Are you sure you want to shoulder him with the consequences that are binded to the name? Even the high ranking hide behind fakes.\' My head was spinning. What did those two mean? What was so special about the name?

\'Fools! The hunt was forbidden seven years ago and still those pathetic fools refuse to acknowledge their ancestry. Some of us are not even allowed to wear the name.\' These last words came out in a sharp whisper. His hands were tense and almost trembled from the force he was exerting on them to keep them together. Cline frowned and closed his eyes for a moment.

\'Very well, no one defies the Grand Angelio Master.\' He continued writing in the leather book. My Master leaned back in his chair and his face returned to his usual smile as if nothing had passed. \'Give me your hand, Rubin.\'

\'Why?\' Cline tried to make a dark face, but instead ended smiling.

\'Do not worry; I will not do anything worse than your Master has done to you.\' I felt blood rushing to my cheeks and my breathing grew faster.

\'Be gentle with my poor boy.\' My Master laughed and left his chair. \'I will be on the balcony. Do not worry, Rubin, you will be perfectly fine.\' He left the room and I found Cline kneeling down next to my chair. He took my right hand in his and gently rubbed his index and middle finger from my wrist to the centre of my palm. My heard started beating harder as he applied more pressure. My breathing became ragged and unstable.

\'Do not worry, this will just hurt a little.\' His fingers paused for a moment on my wrist and when he again started to the centre of my palm his fingers left a red line on my skin. His fingers left a piercing pain followed by a burning feeling and an aggressive pulse and when he stopped at the centre, it felt like he was pulling at my skin painfully. I gasped when suddenly I felt something pierce and pass through my skin. A throbbing remained from the whole ordeal and Cline returned to his chair. \'I just crystallized and extracted some of your blood. You can go now, your Master is probably at the end of the corridor, just go right.\'