III. House of Vigil

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***

"How are you feeling?"

The voice of the doctor put Irina back to her senses. She scanned the room. Everything was in place. She looked back to the doctor, a young woman who seemed not much older than her. Beside her was a grim looking man, probably in his 30's.

"Fine, I guess", she answered. "My leg.." she said with a surprise as she touched it.

"Does it hurt somewhere?", the doctor asked again. "Your results didn't show any broken bones. It appears you only got that small scratch on your head.", the doctor assured her.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"You don't remember? All right." It was the man who spoke and introduced himself as Agent Rosario, who's working for the National Bureau. He told her from the hijacking to the fall. The bus behind them was taken by eight armed men who turned out to be actual rebels, nine including the driver. It was a horrifying tragedy. They mercilessly massacred all 25 passengers, then started to shoot at the bus where Irina was, and they killed two more people on it. The fall took five more lives and left everyone else injured. Some of them had serious wounds.

It felt like her heart was in her mouth. She still couldn't believe that she escaped the brush of death twice in one day. But what about last night, she asked herself. The man must have seen her confused face and threw her a look that she'd gotten used to her entire life.

"These rebels often organize ambush but not at this scale, much less, in broad daylight with obvious reasons. They could have taken over the other bus and used the passengers as hostages, but they massacred everyone and went for your bus instead. If you ask me, they were targeting someone specifically from your bus, Ms. Kaspian." the man didn't even try to hide his blaming tone.

Irina's father, Alexander Kaspian, was a brilliant military and business strategist. His several businesses put him in the top 100 richest person in the country but what made him famous was his security agency. Since he became the Minister of Defense, the rebels' army had been thinning, as he ceased all peace talks. That created a lot of enemies. Very recently, he announced his desire to have a seat in the Senate, which certainly just increased the number of his enemies.

"No need for sarcasm, Detective Rosario" she instigated.

"It's Agent Rosario.", the man irritably corrected.

"If you have an opinion about my family, you can straight up say it to my face like those libeling media.", she retaliated. She may hate her father but she's not taking this cop's aggression. "I know why you're here. Spare me the tone, and I'll answer your questions when you're ready to do your job. I'll get dressed."

***

The "interrogation" went better than Irina expected. It turned out, it was just a formality. The real purpose of the agent was to give her police escorts until she arrived to her destination in Central City, where she would live in a dorm while studying. With two other police cars escorting her, it was a smooth ride for Irina as the agent kept the comments to himself. However, something was still not clear.

The agent confirmed that after exchanging fire, five of the rebels were killed but four, including the driver, managed to escape, thus the police escort. She recalled the events of last night. The driver Matthew, with three other men, stormed her room to do God knows what. The next thing that happened wasn't clear, where they turned to, what, shadow monsters? Then another man came in, killing those four, who conveniently vanished after getting killed.

How come there was no mention of last night? She didn't bring it up as she didn't want to sound strange or crazy. Much less, suspicious. She was certain that last night happened. She touched the leg where she was supposedly wounded but it was perfectly fine. She clenched the white cloth that was wrapped on it when she woke up.

After a couple of hours, they finally arrived. The detective signaled for her to wait in the car. He went out and rang the doorbell.

Bzzzt!

A man who looked like in his 60's opened the gates and welcomed the cop.

"Agent Rosario", as he showed his badge to the elderly. "We're dropping off Irina Kaspian. A mobile will remain at the front and another will be by the end of the block until our CO clears the threat. We expect your full cooperation."

"Of course, agent", the old man replied.

Agent Rosario opened the door for Irina. That's her cue to come out. "I already briefed the old man how we're doing this. You just carry on with your life like a normal student, and the police detail would be far from you as if it's not there but ready to do its job."

"Thanks", she replied, then greeted the old man as she proceeded to get inside.

"Welcome to the House of Vigil, Ms. Kaspian. I'm terribly sorry for your experience coming here. I know you insisted you wanted to travel like a normal person but we should have made preparations for contingencies", said the man who introduced himself as Mang Raul who had been a steward of the manor for decades.

Her father had close ties to this house, so even without her father's security, if the people from this house knew she's coming, they would've given her a detail just as secured as her father would have. She didn't like the idea, although she's starting to regret that now. Still, all her life was controlled by her father. At least once, she had the freedom to choose and do what she wanted like a normal person.

"It's fine. No one would have expected such events to occur.", she replied.

"But Ms. Kaspian.."

"And I'm not really hurt. Mentally, what happened was a terrible experience and memory but I can always get help if I need to."

Mang Raul let out a relieved smile. He gestured for her to enter the manor. It was a three storey house. A lot bigger than most houses and to the eyes of the average class, but looks like a studio apartment next to the Kaspian estate they have up north.

As she entered the house, another man greeted her. He looked the same age as his father, except for the grayish hairline which gave him an older look.

"Rin!", the man exclaimed as he saw her. Irina was sure the man would have hugged her. But she was more surprised with how he called her.

"Ehem", clearing his throat, "I'm Marcus Vigil. I own the place. I heard about your travel but I'm sure everyone you met must have brought that up."

"They did."

"Then I will not bother you to recall it. Come on, let me show you around."

She followed him to the common area but before he started to gave her a tour, "You called me Rin", she asked with a serious tone.

"Did I, huh?"

"Yeah. I was actually surprised when you did."

"Oh! I see. I'm sorry, do you not like being called that?", he asked.

"It's not that." Irina paused, trying to gather her thoughts. "It's just that, my mother and my best friend, Arthur, were the only ones to call me that. Do you know either of them?"

That answer was obvious. The Kaspian family had ties as old as time to this house so it's obvious that this man Marcus would somehow had known his mother, albeit not personally. Still, she was hoping he would. Her father and his stupid "rule" prevented her from knowing anything about her mother, so the slightest chance that someone knew something made her excited.

"Arthur? I think the name rings a bell, I can't quite recall. But your mother, I do kno-"

"Hey, old man! Why are you still here?" a voice interrupted, coming from Irina's back. "Trying to piss off the court again?"

Marcus was surprised. "I totally forgot! I'm sorry, Rin. I got to go, I am so late for court and my bosses might kill me for real. My son Lucian, will take care of you and show you around.", then he rushed, almost tripping, outside.

"What? Hey, that's not my job, old man!"

Irina hadn't turned around to see him yet but she's starting to hate this Lucian guy. She wasn't fond of her father too, but she wouldn't speak to him like that. More importantly, this guy ruined the chance for her to know something about her mom.

"Tsk. Come on. I'll show you your room." he said.

So that's why she had a sense of familiarity. She actually recognized the voice. Her eyes widened as she took a long look to Lucian's face. He met her with a smug look, as if asking what's her problem.

"It's you! You're the guy in black from the hospital incident!"