Sweet Temptations[DiaLovers Fanfic]

Part 16 - Who?

Whoosh.

Lillia looked up as she heard a soft clang from somewhere nearby. Ignoring the fact that she was on top of Shuu, she went back on her feet to inspect the source of the sound. After looking around, she found an arrow on the ground and picked it up.

Upon close inspection, it looked like it was made of metal, and there was a certain insignia at the pointy end of the arrow. She was about to squint her eyes and ran her fingers over the insignia when a deep voice spoke up from behind her.

“That’s the arrow from that family”. Lillia jumped at the mere proximity of the voice and looked behind her to see Reiji leaning in to inspect the arrow in her hand.

“May I have a look at that arrow?” Lillia obediently gave it to him and watched him inspect the arrow with his gloved hand. He rubbed the sharp tip with his finger and sniffed it. He let out a small smile and ran his finger along the arrow.

 “What a crude method. They actually had the gall to dip it with holy water” Reiji muttered as he held it up so that the moonlight shone on the arrow.  “Made out of silver, too. Interesting”.

Lillia looked questioningly at Reiji, trying to make sense out of his words. As far as her research had brought her, vampires are weak towards holy water and silver. Considering the Sakamaki siblings are quite the ‘modern’ vampires, she didn’t think that it will affect them, though it might weaken them. Even Reiji looked amused than worried when he inspected the arrow. Wait.  If she wasn’t mistaken, that arrow might have been used to harm Shuu. But who would dare challenge the vampires?

“Lillia-san” Lillia snapped out of her thoughts to see Reiji looking at her with his eyebrows raised. She blushed slightly and cleared her throat. “Yes?” she managed to say, her cheeks still a bit warm from being distracted by her own thoughts. “I will be taking my leave, now. I guess I should thank you for saving me the trouble to find this” Reiji said before turning away. Realising the meaning behind his words, she called him out.

“Reiji-san! How did you know…?” she bit her tongue before finishing her sentence.

“I knew about the arrow because someone had broken the barrier I had set up around the mansion” Reiji said, pushing up his glasses with a look of distaste written on his face, obviously displeased by the matter. Lillia froze and looked down. So someone did want to harm Shuu. Or maybe it was her? But then again, the arrow was dipped with holy water. She wouldn’t be affected by it, so the arrow was meant for Shuu after all. But wait. Someone broke the barrier that had been set up by Reiji? There was such a thing as a barrier?

“A barrier? Why would you want to set up a barrier? Surely you can protect yourself from humans, am I not right?” Lillia said before thinking her words through. Reiji let out a sigh and rubbed his temples. “I admit that we vampires are of higher regard compared to you humans, yet there are still quite a number who attempt to try and ‘harm’ us, maybe even try to erase our existence. There are even books that were written for that purpose, too” Reiji finished his sentence with a leer, a glint of amusement in his eyes as he looked at her.

Lillia blushed slightly, the look on his face reminding her of her possession of a book regarding vampires. Then again, only Ayato and Shuu knew about it. How did Reiji know? Or maybe she was just being conscious of Reiji’s presence, since he returned his gaze to the arrow. “Well, I guess I should bring this back to my room, then. This could be quite an interesting item for my research” Reiji murmured before turning back to her and gave her a bow. She bowed back, yet her mind was still in a daze with the new information about the existence of a barrier around the mansion. And did Reiji just mentioned about a research? What type of research is that man doing in that room of his? Lillia stroked her chin thoughtfully as she thought back about the arrow that Reiji had taken from her grasp.