IV | Discovery (3)

Confused is an understatement of what Lauriel is feeling at this moment. Looking at her injured mom, relaxing her stance when she saw the raven-haired woman, the gears in her head started to work, trying to piece the events earlier together—only to fail when the thought that her mom is really injured, and bloodied, finally sunk in her head.

Subconsciously, a whimper escaped her lips, as if calling for her mom. In the past few months that she's been living with them, her affection-deprived heart from her past life was filled with warmth by her parents, making her undeniably love them with all her heart.

And that's why, now that she saw her mom injured, she didn't know what to do.

"Aaw, hun. Are you scared? C'mere." the raven-haired woman cooed at her walking towards her. As she was about to be lifted by this woman, Urielle indignantly stomped from the door way, dropping her beloved Seraphim and the head of the assassin that injured her—that caused a loud thump on the floor—before gently scooping up Lauriel.

"Don't you dare take away my baby, Julian!" Urielle hissed to this so-called Julian. Realization dawned upon Lauriel as the name of the woman, who saved her, reached her ears.

She recognized the name along the memory of her parents talking about the great dishes they ate on "Julian and Sebastian's" restaurant. Who knew that one of those personalities would be this ruthless woman, that stabbed and slit the throat of an assassin.

Lauriel could not help but think that her parents are not as ordinary as they seemed. Especially when she finally noticed the grotesque appearance of the lone head lying on the door way, along with an elegant, but menacing-looking sword, her poor little heart could not contain the fear that held it on its grip.

"Oh c'mon, Archy. I just met my gorgeous niece why don't you let me hold her?"

Surprisingly, Julian acted like she didn't just killed someone. And more surprisingly, her mom acted like she's not bleeding profusely—which made Lauriel want to yell at her mom for acting like a child and started bickering with Julian like all the gore she witnessed did not happen.

"Shut up, Julian—and here I thought Sebastian's security detail is top-notch. How come I saw you here protecting my daughter instead of being alone and confined safely in here?"

The sarcasm of Urielle's words made Julian's brow twitch, especially since ber beloved husband is suddenly pulled into the fray—how come she won't retaliate badly?

Clicking her tongue, Julian said in irritation: "My, my. Archy. My husband's security programs and our agency is the best in all Chronos! How dare you belittle him?"

Lauriel, who's in Urielle's arm, looked utterly lost at this exchange. Growing more alarmed by the second as she started to get soaked by her mom's blood. Feeling like she needs to do something to stop the two adults from slitting each other's throats, she shivered and whimpered quite loudly, feeling hopeless that she's reduced into this state of weakness.

Seeing this, the two women finally remembered their situation, and their faces instantly turned grim.

"I'll call brother Jacob to clean up this mess—and to also treat your wound." Julian proposed as she stared at the gaping wound on Urielle's right shoulder. With that, Lauriel instantly felt relieved, but the next thing that happened made her almost faint in shock.

Urielle laughed at Julian's remark, saying: "Oh, shush you, Julian. You know very well that I can heal myself."

As she said those words, the wound slowly closed up while qrotesque and nightmare-inducing sounds accompanied the process.

Lauriel's mind was blown.

Just... What the hell are these people? Surely, they are far from normal...right?

Wait—then does that mean she's not human as well?!

--

Soon after that, this 'Jacob' guy that Julian has mentioned, arrived at their home by, approximately one in the afternoon. He looked like an ordinary person, with above impressive face and charm—but all in all, his aura screams normal—at least, that's what it is on Lauriel's mind.

Then again, she should expect the unexpected with these people.

As soon as he started "cleaning up" the corpses of the assassins in their humble abode, Lauriel was once again, dumfounded.

"Four bodies. Hmm...this is not much of a work." Jacob muttered then whistled.

At first, Lauriel was confused by what Jacob did as she watched from Urielle's arms. Soon though, her eyes almost flew out from its sockets as a giant animal—creature—entered their home.

It looks like a giant reindeer, with its majestic antlers branching into several directions—but what scared the s**t out of Lauriel is the fact that its face is of a wolf, with its two long canines protruding out of its mouth.

'What the actual f***?!' Lauriel exclaimed in her mind, her small body stiffening greatly at the monstrous sight.

"Aw, would you look at that, Archy. Baby Lory here is afraid of brother Jacob's pet!"

Jacob flipped the bird on Julian's way as he sneered at the nickname she gave. The latter just smirked and returned the same atrocious gesture before sticking out her tongue.

'Is she really the woman who mercilessly killed someone earlier?' Lauriel thought, lamenting on how much these people in front of her are outstanding, at the same time peculiar in more ways than one.

"For your information, Julian, he's not my pet. He's my guardian and his name is Zero!" Julian hissed as he pointed the corpses for 'Zero' to 'clean'.

"Oh, yeah? Just like the score of your quizzes when you're just a mere mortal?" Julian jested, snickering with her own remark. Jacob's face visibly darkened as he stood beside Zero who's munching on the corpses bloodlessly, which amazed Lauriel beyond belief.

"Shut the hell up. My grades are above average, thank you very much. It's you who gets a failing mark, may I remind you."

"Hoo, lies, Brother! Such lies, tsk, tsk."

As the two continued bickering, Urielle and Lauriel pretty much did nothing as they watched the eccentric scene in front of them.

In the right side of the kitchen, Zero was eating the corpses they gathered there while behind him, Julian and Jacob (they are sworn siblings) continued to diss each other from their 'mortal lives'—which left Lauriel with even more questions.

Especially since, aren't they mortals?