"P-put me down now, please."

We were standing by the entrance of the castle, the giant wooden front door facing and towering upon us.

"No." And with that one single word, Axel pushed the big door open with a thud, ignoring the two blue and gold liveried men who were standing by the door, ready to open it for us. I tried to struggle, only Axel held his grip tighter. I was kind of afraid of him right now, since I'd never seen him like this before. He was pissed. And I mean really pissed.

It was pretty embarrassing because I was being carried by a Van Allen brother. Not that it wasn't nice, but because the Van Allen who was carrying me to someplace in this castle was not in good terms with the other Van Allen, which was his brother. My head lay on his chest, since I had no choice. I couldn't hold my head up. I couldn't even move my limbs, for heaven's sake.

"Please, Axel. Just put me down."

"No."

"Why?" I asked. My eyes looked up, meeting his chin. I saw that his jaw was clipped. I blinked a few tears from my eyes. What was going to happen to Gabriel and him now?

"Because," Axel bit off, "I want to let them see how you feel. You won't be as you are if it wasn't for us, Venise."

If it wasn't for...

"I..." I whispered. "I...please...just put me down. Please."

He groaned. And then, unexpectedly, he did put me down. He breathed for a moment. I looked at him. "Axe..."

He raked a hand through his hair, pulling my wrist with force. He walked me into the hall, completely ignoring all the servants in their uniforms, and opened a giant door on the left. Our feet echoed through the castle, and stepped inside the large room with only two chairs and a gorgeous little wooden table. There were large, gothic windows facing us, but my admiration was cut short when Axel held my shoulders tightly and faced me to the left, where there were full of mirrors lined from the floor to the ninety-foot ceiling. Reflected in that mirror were two people; there was young man like a Greek god, beautiful in every way possible, but his face was scorched with sadness and agony. His brilliant turquoise eyes were a deep hue of the dark ocean, and the other...was a girl who was young in age, but looked as if she were the old ugly witch who has lost all mirth and beauty from all the troubles she has been through. Her bony face sagged and her shoulders slacked. And that old witch was none other than me, standing by the god Axel.

"Look at yourself," he whispered savagely. "This wouldn't have happened to you if it wasn't for us."

I realised that I was sobbing. "No..." I kept saying, shaking my head.

"Venise," Axel hissed. "It's true! If it wasn't for Alexander's evil; if it wasn't for Roman's hostility; if it wasn't for Gabriel's strange attitude...this would not have happened."

"Please!" I exclaimed. "Don't say that! It is not all your family's fault."

"If it's not us who's the reason, then it's Alexander's. He's family no more." His jaw tightened and his eyes were like shards of glass.

I buried my hands in my face, my eyes flooding with tears. My sobs were echoing inside the empty room. "I don't know who I am anymore. I don't know my life. If it wasn't for me, my family would have still been alive! I never should have left them there in that house. Greg was supposed to become a senior in college next month. My sister was supposed to be entering middle school. She wanted to be a doctor, Axe," I whispered. "She wanted to help people! My siblings had hopes and dreams. My parents wanted us to reach them. But what happened? They died. And it's all my fault."

"Shh..." he hushed, coming up behind me. He walked up front and looked at me. "Don't blame yourself. It's not your fault that you've entered a hard path in your life. Enough of this."

"No. It's all my fault," I kept saying over and over.

He walked a step forward, rubbing my tears away from my eyes with his thumbs. "It's not your fault," he repeated more fiercely. "This is just another hardship in your life. We all have this. And soon, we'll get through this hellhole. Self-pity isn't going to make things better! Venise, don't cry. It's hard for me to see you like this."

He looked into my eyes, and I closed mine. "Hey..." he said gently. "Don't cry now, Ven." He kissed my forehead benignly, then he gave me his heart-stopping smile. "If you cry again, I'll start crying like a wussie, you know. Like a little girl screaming and crying because her big, eleven-year-old jerk of a brother took her doll away from her and took off its head and threw it on their roof."

All of a sudden, I began to half laugh and half cry. "Did that actually happen?"

His lips quirked up. "Don't tell Georgie, okay?"

Bubbles of laughter escaped my lips until the room rang with it.

"There we go," Axel said encouragingly, a tinge of laughter in his voice. "We better go before Georgie finds you then berates you from crying."

I sniffed. "She's sleeping in one of the castle rooms."

He grinned. "The more she's gone, the better we'll have peace and quiet. She'll be dreaming again about some loser guy."

And finally, I laughed heartily. There were tears in my eyes but it wasn't tears of sadness, it was tears of mirth. I was laughing so hard, I thought I'd sag. "You ass," I said between sobs of laughter.

"Hey," he chuckled, "at least I made you laugh."

"You're a total ass," I said again, smiling.

He came near me and his smile slowly faded as he looked at me with eyes that were brilliant and full of tenderness. My smile began to fade away too. In that moment, we were both silent, staring at each other's faces. And then, slowly and gently, Lucifer cupped my face in his hands and leaned forward, kissing me.

For a moment, I was touched and felt loved, but there was some part of me that wanted to lean away.

I placed my palms on his chest, slowly pulling away. I looked down, then up in confusion. "We have to stop this," I said quietly.

Our foreheads were pressed together; we could feel our breaths. "Why?" he asked, his breathing fast.

"Because I think that now's not the right time to do this, Axel," I stated reasonably. "You and your brother aren't leading to a good direction right now, and I really think that we should show ourselves to them. I don't know what...what this means. I need to think."

He sighed, placed his hands in his pockets, and looked at me. "Guess you're right," he admitted like this was defeat, but then he smiled, strained as it was. "Come on!"

The next thing I knew he scooped me up in his strong arms and jogged away from the room. We both laughed aloud, our voices heard from all the corners of the mediaeval castle. "Put me dooown!" I exclaimed.

Axel only laughed hard. "No way, princess!"

"You're such an ass!" I yelled, laughing back.

As we headed to another room, one man in a blue and gold livery walked fast toward us, his chin held high, brown hair swept back, and the other hand up held a silver salver with an envelope on it. He halted and stood before us, sweeping a bow that was meant for a king.

"Signori Axel," he said in his deep, Italian-inflected voice. He stretched the gleaming silver platter in front of us, his head still bowed, a leg slightly forward, the toe of his buckled shoe in front of his bowed head.

"Mario!" Axel exclaimed, his lips stretching out into a grin. The man did not move from his position. Man, was he like a statue! A total pro.

"Oh." Axel put me down carefully, and took the cream envelope. He opened it without a word, scanned the contents, then placed it back on the platter. "Tell him we'll be there on time," he instructed.

Mario straightened and gave one nod. "I will, signori," he said. The man stood there for a moment, and stared past Axel, his chin held high, his back ramrod straight.

"Mario. Where're the others?" Axel inquired.

He and I looked at the servant. He eyed both of us without losing his composure, and said, "Signora Georgiana is in the west wing corridor, resting in her chamber; Signori Gabriel is in the drawing room; Signori Romano is in the north wing, in his chamber; Signoras Matilda and Elizabetta are also in the west wing in both their chambers, while Signori Alistair is in la sa grazia la sua grazia il Duca di D'Onofrio's study."

Axel nodded and, without another word, the man turned on his heel and left us, his silver salver placed on his side

"Has Mario been here for a long time?" I queried politely.

He turned to face me and nodded. "Yeah," he said, "Served Matteo for hundreds of years."

I raised my brows. "Is he also a Daeva?"

He shook his head. "Matteo found him dead in the streets of Naples. Dead from hunger and poverty in, I think, 1764. Matteo thought he might be of good purpose, so he took him in Caserta Palace and there he began reviving our Mario."

"Wait...Matteo revived him?" I said incredulously, scrunching my brows. "I thought he could only read minds?"

"Yeah, he does only read minds and...others," he clarified. "But Matteo has a Filipino friend who can revive people. You see, Mario wasn't exactly dead, as I said a while ago. He was on the verge of dying, is what I should have said to you. Anyway," he continued, while the door leading to another room, were opened by two liveried footmen, "his Filipino friend Andres has a skill for reviving, as you now know."

We entered a room the same as the one we were at before, but only it had more furniture inside. All of it seemed to be from centuries way back. I was marveled. We sat on a gorgeous navy blue embellished settee where, in our view, were four floor-to-cieling windows that showed the outside world. A world painted in white, where it held a cold beauty that would make your heart soar. Axel rested an arm on the headrest and his ankle was on top of his knee. I sat still, afraid that I might ruin another expensive (and, obviously way vintage) settee, even if I knew I wouldn't repeat it again. I looked at him. He was looking at me with amused eyes, but he held his silence.

"So...this Andres guy is a Daeva, too," I stated in astonishment. "What happened to him? Is he still here somewhere?"

He shrugged. "I don't think so. The last time I saw him was, what, three years ago? Not sure. He said he'd stay in the Philippines for a while, just to ease his mind from all the troubles that are happening here. We don't hold much peace because every day we have to struggle from new problems. It's like a curse to us. Turning good has its price, it seems. But I really believe that this curse we have doesn't make us weak. It only shows to prove we're even stronger."

I smiled. "That's pretty awesome,"

"Chyeah, it is," he said with cool confidence.

I laughed. "And then what happened?" I urged.

"Andres will come back soon. He wouldn't want his affianced sweetheart to be alone here without her fiancé."

"He has a fiancée?" I asked, blinking. What an idiotic question. Of course he had an affianced bride already. After so many years of living in this world, would he not have someone to love?

"Yep." Axel nodded. "He's got a very fine wife."

"That beautiful, huh?"

"Yes," he admitted. "She's half Spanish and Filipino. Name's María Teresa. A gorgeous woman. A Daeva also. She'll be entering her senior year with Gabe in two weeks."

"Must be a bummer to repeat school again," I said quietly.

Axel shook his head. "No. To María Teresa, she actually likes going back since she said that women back in the Philippines and in Spain in her past didn't go to any school. Only tutored at home. You know, like what it was before."

"Oh yeah," I said. "Women did not have rights to become equal with men, whether in voting or heading to a real college and many more."

"Right. Good thing we're all equal now. Anyway," he said, shifting in his seat, getting a comfortable spot for his large frame, "what happened when Matteo took Mario in Caserta Palace was -- since he was obliged to stay there for a Christmas feast with King Charles as he ought to, being the Duke of D'Onofrio. He told the king's men there that Mario, being carried by four of his men, was his ill servant. They took Mario up in Matt's room and lay him there for a day. Greg wrote to Andres, who was luckily in Naples that time, coming in from Spain, and told him about the poor guy. He came at once, excited about the idea of helping another person again, never getting tired. King Charles himself welcomed the famous and beloved physician in Italy, Spain and Philippines.

"Andres came inside Matt's private room where Mario lay down like he was already dead, white as marble, losing plenty amount of blood, and cold. Andres let all the doors closed, making sure no one else but him, Matt, and Mario were there. Problem was, the king wanted to see the miracle that Andres can do. No choice, they had to let the king in and half the court with him."

I was fascinated. "Oh gosh," I said, interested. "That's a huge problem. What happened?"

He smiled. "Andres came up to the dying Mario and took a knife from his black bag. He pressed Mario's bony stomach with it, and blood came out. Many people in the room were paying close attention. Andres then put poultice on the blood without wiping it off first.

"Charles asked why, but Andres's calm reply was something like, 'It is not something serious, Your Majesty,' and the king said, astounded, 'How can you think that? The man is practically as skinny as a dry bone left off in the desert, where vultures feast upon him!'" We laughed at what the king had said. "And Andres gave the king his most charming smile. Then said, 'Trust me, Your Majesty. I know what I am doing. Now, if you will, could you kindly stand there on one side because you are quite near me, and I am awfully getting distracted.' Which he had to say, because how could he do his skills as a Daeva, when the king is practically breathing down his neck?"

"No way!" I exclaimed, surprised at what the famous Filipino Andres had said to King Charles III of Spain, Jerusalem and Sicily -- and Charles VII of Naples! I knew all of this, because I kind of enjoy reading biographies of these kind of historical people.

It's my thing, actually. It was really cool that I was going to meet one of the noblemen who was a part of the life of the royal family, someone like Matteo D'Onofrio. There's no harm in meeting the fearless and great Andres, too. I beamed.

"Heck yeah," Axel said, grinning. "Andres made them all believe that Mario would actually live from just pressing a knife into him in his stomach and putting some weird medicine thing on it after. The real thing is, as he was making all of them -- minus Matteo -- believe this nasty, unbelievable and not to mention ineffective solution to a dying person, Andres touched Mario on the sides of his ribs to 'check for broken bones,' but really, he already did his thing! The next day, Mario was walking and looking very healthy again. He swore that he would lay down his life for Matt and Andres, and he would be glad to be serve the Duke of D'Onofrio. He was given a very long life, like the age range of the Daevas, but without powers."

"Oh my God," I said, my lips stretching into a grin of fascination. "That's amazing!"

"I know," he said happily. "Andres and Greg fooled the king. That was amazing. King Charles honoured Andres with two noble titles. One is an Italian ranking as the Marchese di Amalia and as Viscount Cabrera in Spain. It's pretty tight. He saved many people's lives. And he's never stopped, even now. The reason why that guy left the States for a while too, is because he wants to help his people in his country. He heard the news that many storms and typhoons were halting there and had killed many people's lives. He also missed his country."bI smiled. It was nice of Andres to help out his fellow countrymen.

"Jeez," Axel suddenly said under his breath.

I looked at him and raised a brow. "What is it?"

He glanced at me and at his watch. "We've been talking for a while now."

I tilted my head slightly at that. But then, as I looked out the window, the sun was already setting. "You're right," I agreed.

"We --"

Before Axel could finish what he was about to say, he was cut short because the door behind us was knocked by someone and it opened. "Signori Axel, Signora Venise," Mario said, dipping down into a bow. He straightened and said, "Supper is served. The duke is expecting Signora Venise in the dining hall at this moment."

I gave him a smile, which was returned by a gracious nod. At least he did something to acknowledge me.

"Thanks, Mario," Axel said.

And again, Mario only nodded once. He spun around and strode away swiftly.

Both of us went to our feet from the settee, and we quickly headed to the dining hall. As the doors were opened by, again, two footmen, we saw chandeliers lit and a thirty-seater dining table stretched out in front of us. Countless of interesting and delicious looking food that looked hard to eat, because of its beauty, were placed on the table in a row. Many servants were standing in each corner, the others serving. Everyone was there. But the only one I noticed immediately was a man who looked to be in his mid-thirties. He was undeniably handsome and looked superbly fit. He looked up from his dinner plate made out of gold, and smiled at me, spreading his arms in a welcoming gesture. "Ah, here I finally meet the lovely Venise!"