Chapter 2: The Early Bird Gets Assassinated

Till Death Do Us (Not) Part

Chapter 2

The Early Bird Gets Assassinated

There were three people in the kitchen and one of them was dead. 

The twins, Nate and Nadia was bickering about pretty much everything under the sun as usual while the ghost was sitting at the head of the table with a sly look on his face. Vincent, the ghost, had a sick habit of egging the twins on about one thing or the other until what started as a petty argument became a full-blown fight. It wasn't as if they were always at each other's throat or that they have a bad relationship, bickering and fighting was the twins idea of fun, not to mention, they were very competitive with each other. Seth thought this kind of behavior would stop once Nate reached Nergal-level while Nadia was still Yama but no, they simply competed about other things instead like who could eat the most pancakes, or who has the most lint in their pocket.

Seth had learned to ignore and tune out their arguments or their annual try of showing the other up, but being Nadia's Bond-Ghost, Vincent didn't have the luxury of walking out on the argument so he dealt with it in other ways. Vincent really liked to poke the highly volatile combination that were the twins.

Pulling the mirror out of the pockets of his sweatpants, he flipped it in the air before catching it again and watched the twins' attention focused on it, their eyes darted to the smoky surface of the mirror.

Before the twins could blow a vein for his mistreatment of what was now a dangerous artifact, Darling grabbed it midair and sent a chiding look at him before placing it carefully on the table.

Nate lifted an inquiring eyebrow. “Early guest?”

“Like you didn't know?”

"Why would I?” Nate leaned back on his chair, the white shirt he was almost wearing gaped open, showing the long, ugly scar on his chest viciously close to where his heart was underneath vulnerable flesh. But Seth didn’t look at the scar, he never looked at the scar, it was a reminder of things better left in the past. Nate’s blue eyes slid to their sister, who of course already looked perfect without a hair out of place in this early morning, an evil twinkle in his eyes. “You know what this means. Your ward is flawed.”

Identical blue eyes to Nate’s narrowed. “No, it’s not. My wards are never flawed. It is perfect. As usual.”

Nadia scowled at the mirror on the table with a ferocious frown. Every Affinity-user house was warded—especially Affinity-users that belonged to any of the seven great Houses, and these wards wards have to be renewed every month, this month it was Nadia’s turn and she hated maintaining wards but she was good at it. Usually.

Seth knew he should just shut his mouth or stuff it with the breakfast Nate had cooked this morning, but his mouth had other plans. "Then how did the ghost who tried to strangle me this morning come in?"

He could practically see Nadia's hackles rose and sparks shot out of her eyes. Vincent, who sat on her right turned to her with an uncharacteristic giddiness, waiting for the inevitable result. When Nadia gets in a temper, something usually explodes. It was one of the reasons why Nate was Nergal while Nadia was still Yama-her lack of control due to her emotions. But she took a deep breath and it wasn't until the air around them calmed that Seth realized there was a disturbance in the first place, the fine hairs on his arm rising in reaction. She tucked a stray hair behind her ear and gave each of them a glare. Nate smirked and dodged the spoon that Nadia threw at him.

She passed the mirror to her twin and stomped outside, possibly to recheck her wards. Or sulk. Or blow something up intentionally rather than unintentionally, you could never really be sure with Nadia. 

“So, was that the whole screaming and moaning was about?” Nate asked as he munched on a strip of bacon. 

“Heard that, huh? I didn't notice you guys barging in to help me.”

“Well, we would but we thought that was just you getting lucky.”

Seth snorted into his orange juice. Like that would ever happen.

Nate’s eyes drifted over his shoulder, a small smile on his lips. “Hey, Darling. How are you today? Did you catch all the excitement?”

Darling kissed his cheek then shifted to treat Vincent to the same greeting. “Please, who do you think caught it?”

Seth watched his brother flirt with Darling and scooped up some eggs. “Where’s Lizzie?”

Nate shrugged. “Dunno, she disappeared this morning, probably going to check on her great, great, great whatever. I swear, never met a ghost so dedicated to family.” Lizzie was Nate’s bond-ghost, she died in the age of wild horses, gun-slinging, Indian raids, gold fever, and saloon fights. She was a genuine corset-wearing, derringer-wielding, saloon-owning western hooker.

“Shame, I was curious what she’d be wearing today.”

Nate snickered. Blessed with a mischievous personality, Lizzie lived to shock the Reapers by whipping up different western-hooker attire. Of course, what she wore day by day wasn’t as skimpy as modern dresses nowadays, but it wasn’t really what she was wearing, it was how she wore it. He couldn’t explain it, you just have to see to know what he meant. The way Lizzie could rock boots and skirts with small bustles bordered on miraculous, but then again, he suspected Lizzie could wear a sack and still could seduce with the best of them. It was a skill that he respected. The things the girl could do with a lace fan, you wouldn't believe. And Nate egged her on as often as he could which was always. 

Lizzie and Nate was a bad combination, they tend to have a habit of jumping head first into bad situations. But Seth couldn’t help but feel grateful for Lizzie, Nate had a tendency to brood and distance himself from the rest of the world, but Lizzie could always guilt him into going out and enjoying himself no matter if it was to eat one of her favorite food or watching a good movie. It wouldn’t be anything big or important but it was always something that made Nate returned with a smile on his face.

“Where did Vincent go?” Darling spun in place before noticing the young man dressed in a three piece suit and holding a cane was standing beside Nadia outside the window. Vincent came from an era where the word gentleman meant differently then what it meant now; blue-blooded, with a crisp English accent and a laundry list of what a gentlemen should and shouldn't do. Come to think of it, on paper, Vincent wouldn't be at all the ghost that Nadia should be bonded to, but Vincent had a twisted way of thinking that complemented Nadia's also bendy brain. Together they made the top of GRIM's research and development program. 

Bored now that his twin was no longer in his vicinity to pester, Nate picked up his tablet. “Did he, she, give you trouble?”

Seth poured himself orange juice and stifled a yawn. “Ask Darling, I didn’t do much.”

Darling shrugged. “She didn’t give me much of a fight.”

“So, she’s low level, then.”

Seth dragged a plate of pancakes and bacon closer. “Do you really think Nadia’s ward has a flaw somewhere?”

Not lifting his eyes from his tablet, Nate answered. “What level was it?”

“Phantom level.” Phantom was a medium-level ghost, able to manipulate and move things but altogether nothing to worry about, at least not on the level of power that the three siblings have. 

“Then no, Nadia’s ward isn’t flawed.” He frowned at something before swiping it away from the screen. 

“Then you think it was deliberate?” 

“Come to think of it, I didn’t feel any disturbance in the ward, obviously neither did Nadia.”

“Do you think it’s a test?” Seth looked to his brother again, there was a nine year difference between him and the twins, it was hard for him not to ask for reassurance. After all, they were his only family since their parents died when he was five years old. Both Nadia and Nate were only fourteen back then but they were already making waves as reapers, with Nadia being one of the fastest student to learn sigils and wards and Nate as the strongest and only Yama-level reaper of their age. Yama-level means you have the ability to not only capture but destroy a ghost--not that you have permission to do so but you could if you really, really had to. Being students with so much promise, the council gave leniency in their guardianship and not separate them into different foster houses. They were allowed to live under one roof with their uncle as guardian. It was a controversy back then to allow James Matthews, a none-Affinity user to be their guardian, but his lack of Affinity was also the reason why the Council chose him to take care of them. Less temptation or so they say. 

“If they wanted to test me, they would’ve brought me a poltergeist at least.”

That was Nate, everything is always about him. But then again, when you’re a Nergal, most things usually are. “Maybe they’re not testing you, maybe they’re testing me.”

He smiled. “Then you passed with flying colors.”

A suspicion entered his mind. “You seriously, didn't do this?” 

“You mean, did I intentionally brought a ghost into our home, across our ward with the sole purpose of testing you?” He clucked his tongue. “You know me better than that. I’d have to have more than one reason to do so, at least three or five.”

“So, did you have three or five reasons?”

“It wasn’t me.”

“Then it’s the Council?”

“Probably.”

Seth sighed. “How long are they going to do this?”

“Possibly until all of us are dead and buried. And even then they’ll probably watch our ghosts if we have any.”

“Do you think we’ll have any?”

Nate put down his tablet and looked at him. “It’s time for you to get ready for school. Hurry up. If you want me to drive you, you need to hurry. I can’t be late today.”

“Fine.”

***

“Is that legal?” Darling had been quiet as she followed him to his room.

“What is?”

“For the Council to sic a ghost on you like that?”

“It’s not illegal." He touched his left hand to the walls and let his senses seeped into wood and brick and glass, testing the protective sigils laid onto it by all three of them. We’re the sons and daughter of Peter and Milla Matthews, we’re lucky that we're only under watch and not rotting in a dungeon somewhere.”

“That’s just stupid, what happened with your parents was ages ago.”

“But not forgotten. Clearly you’ve never heard one of the by-laws of the Council.”

Darling raised an eyebrow. 

“Blood will tell.”

Her mouth twisted in disgust before sending him a dubious look. “You seem awfully calm about this.”

“No use worrying about it, it’s not like I can turn back time and stop my parents from enslaving ghosts, or change the Council’s mind about us.” A small smile played on his face. “Besides, can you really be sure that I’m not just biding my time until I can make my move?”

“You, enslaving ghosts? You let me boss you around, and you’re too lazy to rule the world.”

“I could delegate." He said with a grin before closing the bathroom door, cutting off the sound of Darling's laughter. 

History has marked their family in ways that couldn't be fixed. The Matthews family had been respected for their strong line of Reapers, they were leaders, advisors, healers; important men and women who led and guided society both Affinity-users and not. They were one of the greatest Houses but due to greed or whatever it was that drove their parents to start enslaving ghosts and using them for their own agenda, their family was now in disgrace. The Council decreed that their family--what's left of it--should be stripped of their wealth and position, and their existence monitored carefully. Every month they have to submit to a random ‘interview’ and they couldn't leave their house without some Council appointed spy following them. 

Seth doesn't remember his parents which was probably a blessing, so he didn’t take it personally when someone spat when he passed by or cast a protection from evil sigil at his back or right in his face. He did mind when the twins were with him though, they remembered their parents, remembered both the good and the bad. Nadia made time to tell him about the good days, when both their parents were well-respected and their family led by example, she told him about how gentle and bright, how smart and compassionate they were. It was hard to connect the man and woman she described to the couple who had terrorized the Affinity world. Of course the Council had wrapped it all up cleanly, making it seemed the their parents had no connection to the Affinity world at all, that they weren't Affinity-users but were the garden-variety serial killers—which was true in a way.

Both their parents hadn't been content to simply enslave stray ghosts, no, they had to make them. Like some sort of weird twisted experiment they had alternated between non Affinity-users and Affinity-users, killed them, chained their ghosts and Bonded themselves to it. By the time they were found out, both had more than a hundred Bonded-Ghosts each to their name, practically an army of fractured souls: wild, angry, and afraid. 

But it wasn’t the Council who managed to take them down; that was Nate. Fourteen-year-old Nate who was already more powerful than both of their parents combined, took on the responsibility to clear the world of their parents. He succeeded and had the scar to prove it. Seth knew that was the real reason why the Council had been so lenient toward them. Why they were allowed to stay in the same house, was allowed to keep a small measure of the family wealth, and was allowed to stay together. The family name was besmirched, struck out of the history of the Great Houses, and their house, one that had been in their family for generations, burned to the ground, in the hope that the evil done inside the house would disappear along with its ashes. 

Nate had been the one to strike the match. 

Nate didn't hate their parents, either, even if they had tried to kill him so they could take his ghost. They had found out that the more powerful the Affinity, the more powerful the ghost because Affinity comes from the soul and even fractured as all ghosts were, the Affinity would still be there. The ghost of a Reaper was more precious than diamonds in the black market. Imagine having an army of ghosts, an army who couldn’t be seen or killed, one that could go through walls and appear everywhere in the speed of light. Imagine  having a ghost of a Reaper who can control ghosts and other Affinity-Users ghosts as well. 

Seth knew the appeal of power but he wasn’t tempted. He knew the cost to such power, he saw it in the shadow of grief in Nadia’s eyes, the ripple of rage in the flare of her Affinity, he saw it in the way Nate rubbed a hand over his left chest, touching the scar that their parents had carved upon his skin, at the caution and wariness in Nate everytime he asked Lizzie to do anything. 

No, Seth didn’t know their parents, but he knew the destruction that they left in their wake, that was enough. 

***

Darling watched as he dressed for school, her eyes sliding away when he dropped his towel. Seth didn’t really care about his privacy, he was too used with the existence of ghosts popping in and out to believe anyone had real privacy, but Darling was a great believer of privacy, especially her own. 

“Seth,"

"Yeah."

"Why are you still a Cronus?”

Seth raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“You could be Yama ages ago, but you’re still a Cronus. Why?”

There were different levels on being a Reaper: Hel being the lowest one, and Thanatos being the highest. From the very top to bottom, it should be Thanatos, Nergal, Yama, Anubis, Hades, Cronus and Hel, every level has different levels of power and different levels on how to use said power. Nate was a Nergal, named after the Babylonion god of death and destruction, in short: Nate not only had the ability to exorcise or capture ghosts, he has the ability to destroy them and the legal right to do so. Nergal-level reapers were enforcers and only deal with ghosts who are classified as Revenents, Wraiths and the worse of all; Demons.

Nadia was a Yama though she could be a Nergal if she had wanted to but she was content in her current position. Seth was a Cronus which was quite respectable with him still sixteen and all, especially considering that you are only allowed to enter the ranking ceremony when you’re fifteen. At first testing, Seth immediately jumped to Cronus, earning him more than enough scrutiny from the Council. 

“You noticed that, huh?”

“We’re bonded, of course I’ve noticed.”

“Then can’t you guess why?”

“Too many powerful kids in your family will make the Council nervous?”

“Yep.” Seth shrugged on a white button down shirt.

“But Nate was already Yama when he was your age. Why would it be fine for him and not for you?”

“Nate achieved Yama when our parents tried to kill him, it was a sudden spike of energy born out of desperation and survival. Besides, the council saw what our parents had done to Nate, had saw what he had done to them. He went nuclear on them, hard not to believe where his loyalties lie after that."

“But they think you and Nadia will?”

“One Nergal and Yama in the family is already enough, but all three, in a family like ours? We’ve already under surveillance and review such as it is, what would they do next? Camp out in the back yard?” He slid his tie on and turned toward her. Her fingers were skilled in tying his ties, she’d been doing it for years, after all. It was odd, he thought as he watched her hands moved, that he couldn’t touch her, but she could touch him. Not that it matter, most days, Darling avoided touching him, and if she did, it was only when it was really necessary. He looked up when Darling eased the knot of his tie closer to his neck, a small smile on his face, “Thanks.”

He lifted a hand to adjust the tie, and ignored the fact that she pulled away her hands as if he could burn her with his touch. He knew if he let it, that small annoyance would nag at him all day, but he kept his eyes on her face when a weird look passed her face. 

“What?”

She hesitated but finally said, “It’ll be your birthday in a few days.”

Seth blinked. “Huh, oh, right. So?”

She shrugged. “Nothing, just—Nothing.”

Seth had learned when to push or pull away when it came to Darling, this time he knew he should push. “What is it?”

She fidgeted and pressed her lips together. He stepped closer, his hand placed beside hers on the edge of the table she was sitting on, he could feel the heat coming off her presence and wondered whether she could feel his. “Darling.”

She bit her lip and he knew he had her. Back when he was younger he used her name without thinking too much of it but—he didn’t really remember when he’d stopped--but now he only said her name when she wasn't around, or when he referred her to someone else, or when he was being serious.

“It’s my birthday today.” She said softly, almost shyly, her lashes covering her eyes even as she peeked at him. 

A sharp thrill rode up his spine, she had told him something of herself for the first time and she had done it voluntarily. Most of what he knew about her was something he knew from connecting the dots himself, learning from school or figuring things out from the journals of Reapers before him or something that she had accidentally let slip. When that happened lies and prevarication always followed.

Seth kept his face blank and his eyes averted, only looking back at her when he had his expression under control. “Is it?” He asked calmly as questions sprouted inside his mind. He picked up his gunmetal-colored uniform jacket--the official color of Reapers--and slid his arms inside. He felt her hands smoothed his collar at his nape. He had a strong urge to ask how old she was but swallowed it down. “You want a cake?”

“Can I?”

“Sure. We’ll buy one when we come home. What cake do you want?”

“Cheese cake.”

“Cheese cake it is.”

“Can I borrow your body to eat?”

“Sure.”

Seth looked down on his feet when he felt her brushed her fingers against his. He wondered whether she could feel his touch.

“Thanks, Seth.”

He kept his face down. “No problem. Consider it a thank you for fighting off the ghost this morning.”

She smirked. “Well, that is my job. Fat lot of use you’d be if she got inside you.”

Seth let out a little laugh. 

Copyright © 2014 by D.F. Jules,