Rule #4: 'Make sure the Sets are always a surprise. Reactions are far more natural that way.'

"Hey Vincent! Vincent!" Seth whined loudly as he jerked on his blonde guardian's sleeve demandingly.

"What?" Vincent's voice was sharp and laced with warning sprung from annoyance, slamming the car door as he emerged from inside the black Honda Civic.

"How come I have to help too?"

"Because I said so." The click of a lighter punctuating his words, setting the flickering flame to the tip of the cigarette poised in his mouth. He flicked the zippo closed and pocketed it then slanted a look at the huge house that loomed before them like a small mountain.

The house they stopped at was the only one at the end of a dead end street. Entirely roman in appearance the front of the house bore huge marble columns that caged in the manor's stoop. Done in a stormy, chalked gray color swirled with inflections of white and, more subtle, gold. The door was polished cherry wood and boasted a knocker of gleaming brass in the snarling shape of a wolf's head. A walkway of broken brick wound it's way across the rose bush littered yard to the house's front stairs, either side lined with a small rivulets were fish flickered, topaz gems among the liquid sapphire streams. The sun was low, fading rays casting red gold light over the arch roof of the manner, spilling over into citrine pools on the walkway and white stairs. Seth whistled in appreciation.

"Rich." Seth grinned. "Hey Vincent, after this job how about we upgrade my gaming system to a game cube?"

"No." Moving away from the car, up the winding walkway towards the front door.

Seth grudgingly followed him, kicking stray fragments of brick out of his way as he walk, turning up the volume on his CD player. Classic rock leaked through the headphones slung around his neck, filling the air, distraction causing him to collide with Vincent's suddenly motionless back.

"Hey! What's going on?" He peered around the blonde man's broad back.

"We go around the back." Vincent replied in a clipped voice. Seth studied the fragment of paper tacked to the door, advertising brief instructions and an arrow that pointed towards the side of the building.

"That's weird. Hey, wait!" He hurried to catch up with Vincent who had already begun to circle around the side of the manor. "Ya know if you want my help so much you could keep me in the loop."

"You'll do what I say if you wanna eat."

"Tha...that's a terrible thing to threaten someone with, Vincent." Seth said in a pained voice.

The side of the manor was no more then a long expanse of white wall, broken every so often by a curtained window. Stone arches curved from the side of the manor in a kind of corridor formation, halting abruptly at a small door near the end of the wall. There was no knocker or bell and so Seth lifted a hand and beat a fist against the mahogany woodwork. The noise sounded muffled to his own ears but no response came and he frowned.

"I don't think anyone heard me."

"Good. They're no home, so we're leaving." Vincent replied. "What are you doing?" Exclamation coming as Seth reached out to turn the doorknob. The door gave way and he pushed it in a bit then grinned over his shoulder at Vincent.

"Well, they're expecting us right?"

"Walking into other people's houses is illegal."

"Well we knocked. It's not like anything ba-aaaaah!"

SPLASH!

"Where the hell is the floor?"

Vincent pushed the door open further so he could peer down at Seth. The youth had fallen directly into a small...pond? Vincent studied the room, which wasn't even quite a room in fact. It went far beyond an indoor garden to appearing more like a fragment of forest. Coated in grass from one wall to another, bushes and trees shot their way up from the floor. The trees weren't all that large, only a foot or so taller then him but all the same...they WERE trees. Bushes grew together in tight clumps, a few heavy with crimson fruit that appeared poised to burst. A river wound from a small groove in the far wall, across the room and let off...right into the pond Seth had tumbled into.

"Ah damnit! My cd player is fried!" He snatched the headphones from his head and lifted the soaked thing.

"I told you to leave it in the car. That's what you get for being hardheaded." Vincent stepped into the room, slipping around the edge of the pool.

"It's not my fault. Who the hell puts a lake infront of a door?"

"It's a pond actually." The soft voice came from across the room, near the river's origin where a door had opened.

Sybille stood poised on the ledge above the grassy floor; amusement lit in cerulean eyes though her face remained serious. She was dressed in a simple dress of blue cotton that reached her ankles. A white towel was draped over her forearm neatly. Her feet were bear and her hands were clasped around a pair of large suitcases, one blue and the other dark brown. She set both down on the soft grass then walked over to the pond, holding the towel out to Seth who had rose to his feet, water streaming from his hair and clothes.

"I'm sorry. I didn't hear your knock. I ran upstairs to make sure my brother was ready."

Seth grinned at her, accepting the towel. "Thanks. What's with the decoration." Slinging the towel over his head.

"My mother was a herbalist, but after she had children it was very hard for her to study abroad. So she build a kind of indoor ecosystem where she could work." Sybille smiled quietly. "And it's rather hard to get rid of 20 trees once they've rooted themselves in if you understand. And it really is a peaceful place."

"Yea, yea. Nature's great. Are you ready?" Vincent questioned briskly.

Sybille seemed oblivious or simply unworried over Vincent's irritable mood. "Of course, Mr. Jenner. Let me just go and get my brother."

She quit the room again, disappearing through the doorway from which she'd entered. Seth glanced towards Vincent and frowned at him.

"You could be a little nicer you know. She's gonna be living with us for a while."

"She's a minor annoyance fostered on me by Heaven. I just wanna find their little, document thing so I can get my money and them both out of my hair."

"I like Aunt Heaven!" Seth beamed then yelped when Vincent clocked him in the back of his head. "What was that for?"

"Referring to the devil in an affectionate manner." Vincent answered drily.

Seth's grumbles were cut of by Sybille's return. He turned to see crossing the grass, pushing a wheelchair were a tawny haired boy sat. She offered a warm smile and laid a hand affectionately on the boy's head.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting. This is Eli, my little brother."