𝕯𝖎𝖆𝖇𝖔𝖑𝖎𝖐 𝕷𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖘: 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖐 𝕱𝖆𝖙𝖊

Chapter 17

"How long has it been since then?"

"I did that before our mother died," Kanato said. What he meant was that he killed her, but he didn't like talking about it. None of the triplets did.

"Can you show us?" Reiji asked. Kanato huffed, gesturing to both of them to step away from the pentagram, and placing the new teddy in the center of the symbol, and carefully stepping away from the pentagram. He then placed a hand on the outer circle, slowly pressing in.

Shu gasped as the edges of the pentagram flooded with blood in an instant. Reiji stepped further away, not bearing the amount of malicious energy that seemed to sweep the whole room. The blood for the edges of the pentagram slowly flowed away, towards the inner circle, pooling around the jagged edges of the scratched form. He removed his palm from the surface. The blood discoloured, turning into a dark sooty colour instead of red. The teddy bear fell on its side as they felt a rush of energy into the toy, almost knocking all of them down on their knees. For a brief moment, the teddy's exposed eye blinked. It was ignored by both Shu and Kanato, but Reiji pointed out, his finger trembling. "Is it alive?"

Kanato merely blinked at him. "Of course it is. I just performed a soul transfer."

Shu pushed Reiji aside, asking in a calm tone, "Can you choose a specific soul, or is it based on a lottery system?"

"Is your soul in hell?"

Shu looked at Reiji, who was going bonkers at the thought of a ghost residing in teddy. "Is she?"

"She was a vampire, of course she's burning in hell."

Kanato looked at the blood, rapidly drying up around the teddy bear, and picked the teddy by its ear. He clutched the toy in his frail arms, caging it in his chest, breathing the scent in. "Then it's fair game."

Reiji looked at the teddy, a bit confused. "Is the soul in there?"

"Oh, no, only demons can inhabit inanimate objects." Kanato sucked on the lollypop, trying to find comfort in the sweet taste of raspberry. "You'd need a soul to possess a living body."

"So, vampires cannot be vessels for the soul?"

"No, idiot," Kanato said, pushing both Shu and Reiji outside. "Now get lost, I need to play with Teddy."

The door slammed shut, as Shu looked at Reiji in bewilderment. "Did you feel the energy inside that toy?"

"Yes, I did," Reiji looked in the direction of Kanato's room, saying, "I felt it flow from the pentagram to the toy."

Shu shut his eyes in disbelief. "That hysteric. He's fucking nuts, keeping a demon that close to him."

"Now we only need the vessel," Reiji said, his eyes daring to look directly at Shu, who squinted at him. He knew Shu was overtly obsessed with the human, and perhaps hated the idea of trading her in exchange of their mother. He'd seen the lust in his eyes as he'd chased after her. Honestly, if Ayato wasn't providing her his protection, Reiji was sure that the girl would have been snapped in half by Shu after being violated by him. Or, Reiji thought in distaste, the other way round.

"Don't look at me like that," Shu said, looking at the floor instead of maintaining eye contact with his younger brother, "I don't care if the girl lives."

"Do you care if the girl dies?" Reiji said, trying to garner a reaction from him.

Shu looked at him, pissed at his insinuation. Now Reiji knew what aggrieved his brother the most. Talking about the death of the bride was obviously a trigger for him. Though Reiji seemed to think that he regarded Shu with an indifference bordering on aversion, he'd be delighted to see his brother uncomfortable, even if for just a few moments.