"Richter," Cordelia crooned to her counterpart who was sitting on an armchair beside us. She had cleaned my face of blood and laid out on the couch, feeling a bubbling excitement for when she would properly be greeted by the Sakamaki boys. "When do you want to spend quality time? Now? Here?"
"Don't use a body that is not yours for such an indecent purpose."
Reiji strode up to the balcony of the living room and faced us. His eyes appraised me, or rather, Cordelia, with a cold anger.
"Don't be so standoffish, come closer."
In the next blink of an eye, Reiji became too close. Richter tensed, but Cordelia remained unsurprised and even smiled gleefully. The corners of my eyes were crinkling in a way they never had before. The grin Cordelia etched onto my features felt pinned in place with needles, pinching at my skin.
"It seems that scheming comes as naturally as breathing to you," he said with a grimace, his posture somehow growing even more statue-like.
"I do need to stay vibrant, dear Reiji."
"I see," he growled stiffly.
"You see, boredom is what I despise most; it is the agony of an immortal life."
"I agree; boredom doesn't suit you. I imagine only death would."
"You know, Reiji," Cordelia murmured in what she must have thought was a silky voice. "I am becoming interested in you... so handsome – you remind me of Karl."
"What of Richter?"
"He does not mind what I do."
Reiji's comeback was easy and quick, laced with unveiled malice, "I'm not attracted to corrupt women with loose morals."
I felt the rage flood through Cordelia, snapping through my limbs. It was all too easy to anticipate, after all I knew my body better than she did. As she raised a hand to slap Reiji, I remained stubborn. The hand jerked straight back down to her side robotically and she snarled at it, grasping at my arm as if it was a foreign appendage.
Reiji raised an eyebrow, his face still turned slightly to anticipate the blow, but before he could speak, another voice wafted up from below.
"Cordelia." She turned my chin stiffly to look over the railing. Laito stood beneath the balcony, looking up with his lush green eyes. His shoulders were more squared than usual for his relaxed posture. "I thought I'd only next see you in Hell."
"Sorry to disappoint," she said richly, recovering her composure.
"I am quite disappointed," he said, his lips giving away his displeasure by twitching toward a scowl.
"Ah, Kanato, my little songbird," Cordelia crooned as she spotted the lilac-haired vampire stride into the room, completely ignoring Laito's last words. "Won't you sing for me?"
"No," he said shortly, his eyes narrowed just slightly as he stared up at us from beside his brother. "How are you here?"
"She's a thief," Subaru growled, storming up to the balcony and striding up to Richter and Cordelia. Reiji stepped back slightly, seeming completely at ease with the idea that Subaru would tear Richter apart if need be. "She's taken over Miyako's body."
"This wretch took my heart, it's only fair," Cordelia cooed, though I could feel her insert a blade of irritation into those words.
"All the same, I prefer her to you."
"Why do you pick such a fight now?" Richter asked of Subaru, a taunting smile upon his thin as wire lips. "Is it because you feel the need to protect this girl in the way that you could never protect your mother?"
Subaru snarled, throwing a fist at Richter, who grasped it and twisted it away. He kicked Subaru away squarely, and the white haired vampire hissed, retreating a few feet to regain balance.
"She needed it, did she?" Cordelia inquired curiously. "Is that what she told you?"
Subaru's eyes narrowed and I heard the lack of shuffles from the others in the room as they grew still with curiosity.
"No, she didn't need the heart," Subaru muttered. "If you think you can turn us against her, you're wrong."
"Oh? Can't I?"
No! No, no, no!
"I didn't know!" I cried out, breaking Cordelia's control. "I love you, all of you – I promise- I-"
Cordelia overpowered me, recomposing the panic on my features to malevolent excitement in just moments. Even so, my eyes burned despite her.
"She was sent to kill all of you," she said with a malicious grin. "It's better that I'm in control of this body now, isn't it?"
"What do you mean?" Reiji asked lifting his chin speculatively and narrowing his eyes.
"She's a vampire hunter, born and raised; sent undercover as a sacrificial bride to kill the lot of you. Quite daft – she didn't account for the fact that I would reclaim my heart."
I was quaking on the spot; my body shook with fury and despair despite Cordelia's grasp over it.
"Miyako wouldn't."
"It's the truth – I can see it in her memories," Cordelia laughed, the sound rattling me around my own skull before she mellowed quite quickly. "This is all quite boring – your infatuation with this human girl. Richter, please, can you dispose them for me?"
She produced Subaru's knife, which smiled a brilliant silver in the light, and passed it to him.
"It should only take one stab through the heart to kill them this way," he said with a mild look of surprise.
"It will be a quick death. Painless. It shows my love for them," she said dismissively. "If you do I promise to make you the head of the family."
"Do you swear it?"
"Of course," Cordelia replied.
"Strange," Richter muttered, turning slowly on the spot to face Cordelia. "I remember that those terms were in our last agreement when I preserved your heart."
"Please, Richter," Cordelia cooed, standing and latching herself onto his arm. She rubbed my breasts upon his triceps, but he remained stoic. "I promise to do anything you wish if you kill these boys."
"You fool," he growled, his deep crimson eyes sliding to look at my face out of the corner of his eyes. "You are worthless to me in this state. All I needed was your heart. As long as I can Awaken the girl with your heart and make her mine, then I can become the head without your assistance."
Cordelia stepped back, I could feel my eyes widening in shock.
"Y-you've planned this from the start?"
"You've only just realized?"
In just a few strides, Richter was upon my body. His hands cuffed my wrists, his head bent toward my neck...
"Oi! You cannot touch Miyako without my permission."
Ayato...
I didn't look over to the vampire, but as Richter released me, I realized I had full control once more; Cordelia was in a state of shock.
"Don't interfere!" Richter demanded, grabbing a sword from its place on the wall and brandishing it at Reiji, Subaru, and Ayato as they drew closer. "None of you can match my strength!"
"Oh really?" Shuu chuckled from down below. His face was upturned, his blue eyes piercing. I'd only just noticed him, perhaps he'd just arrived, there was too much information warping through my my mind. But I recognized a humor in his sapphire eyes. "Karlheinz does not even acknowledge you as a rival."
As Richter snarled, his back to me, I took my chance. Flicking Subaru's blade through my hand and clenching it in my fist, I braced myself. The hilt sat in my palm like an old friend and seemed to hum with energy as I wielded it.
It was over before Richter realized it had begun. The silver slipped into his back and grinned sharply as it emerged between his ribs. With a jerk, I retracted the weapon and Richter staggered.
"You missed," he hissed, rounding on me, but toppling mid-turn .
"Miyako?" Ayato said, his green eyes wide with shock as Richter crawled off.
"It's true," I whispered, feeling my heart pulse with agony. Cordelia was regaining her composure. "I am a demon hunter."
I looked up at the vampires before me; Kanato, Laito, and Shuu had joined us upon the balcony.
A hysterical chuckle escaped me, "But I failed my mission. I fell in love with my targets a-and... there's not much else I can do. I can rid your lives of Cordelia once and for all, I think, I'm so sorry..."
I grasped the hilt of the knife with both hands. In just a second's swift motion, I flipped the knife's point toward my heart and plunged it deep into my ribcage. A strangled cry escaped my lips and I collapsed to my knees. Breathing was impossible. Cordelia writhed around in my mind, furious.
"Only a foolish girl would stab herself."
This is my heart. I do with it what I wish.
I surrendered to the blackness.
~
"Miyako."
"Mhm?" I mumbled, but my eyebrows crinkled.
Is this you, God?
"Wake up already."
You sound an awful lot like Ayato.
My eyelids slid open.
"Ayato!" I yelped and snapped upright. "How? What? You didn't kill yourself, did you!? Tell me you didn't kill yourself!"
"Oi, Cupcake, I wouldn't do something so stupid."
"Oh thank God," I breathed and my chest ached at the motion.
"You owe me, Miyako," Reiji said somewhere behind my head and I twisted to look at him. "The concoction I created should have rid that bitch from you. You'll be safe from her now."
There was a serious humor to his eyes, as if he truly wanted something in return. I would certainly give something to him; he practically brought me back from the dead!
"You're a demon hunter, eh?" Laito asked, a small smile on his lips.
He perched on the couch at my feet, Ayato crouched near my head, Subaru sat near my waist, Reiji stood over my head, Shuu laid out at the base of the couch near Laito's feet and watched with a slightly turned head, and Kanato looked on anxiously from behind the couch as he leaned over.
"Yes," I whispered, staring at my knees. "I... when I came out of surgery, I had forgotten my true purpose. My mother, she reminded me to be kind; always to be kind..."
"Your mother's dead."
"Yes, but... she visited me while I was unconscious. Cordelia thinks that the delayed Awakening was caused mainly in part by her blessing. That it protected me."
"You owe us for your trickery, Cupcake," Ayato said, his smile widening as he leaned in.
"She's lost enough blood," Reiji warned Ayato, narrowing his eyes at the redheaded vampire.
"Tch, she can repay me in other way-"
I smashed my lips into his, wrapping both arms around him, and leaning into him. Shock paralyzed him at first but he responded soon enough, looping an arm around my waist. He had to be the one to pull away, gasping for air.
"That's highly inappropriate," Reiji muttered, but I could hear the tang of jealousy.
"I'm just so happy that you all don't hate me!"
The tears flowed gently down my cheeks before I could choke them back.
"I could never hate you, Miyako, you are too precious..." Subaru ended the sentence with a gentle blush instead of words, but leaned forward to place his lips upon mine as well.
"Oi," Ayato cautioned.
"No," Reiji chastised Ayato soberly. "I have no doubt that Miyako could love all of us."
"What a perverted idea," Laito said, smiling with a light blush creeping into his cheeks.
"You don't have to if you don't want to," I said earnestly a fierce red blush flaming in my cheeks. "It was just an idea... because I guess I'm just selfish..."
"I'm not opposed," Laito said eagerly, putting his hand on my calf and massaging it through the dress.
"Neither am I," Reiji stated calmly, a small smile on his lips.
"I suppose I can share Cupcake a little," Ayato decided grudgingly.
"Me too," Subaru said, watching my expression with rapt interest.
Shuu chuckled lightly, smirking, but voiced his assent.
"I would like a part of Miyako too," Kanato murmured, leaning over the couch and placing a chaste kiss on my earlobe.
"Then it is settled," Reiji said, pressing his glasses up against the bridge of his nose.
"Miyako needs rest," Subaru said quickly, moving to hitch me up into his arms.
When he teleported me to my room, the world around me blurred out of focus then sharpened just as quickly into my familiar king-size bed, spacious room, and pink décor.
"Oi, you can't get away with her so easily," Ayato cautioned, appearing near the door with the others.
"After what's happened, I think Ayato means to say that we all wish to keep an eye on her," Shuu provided lazily, both eyes open as he leaned against the door frame and observed me.
"Right," Subaru mumbled, setting me on my feet.
"As much as I appreciate the gesture, I think I need some privacy to change," I muttered, the blush in my cheeks still strong.
"Of course," Reiji agreed.
When each of them had vacated the room, I inhaled deeply then sighed just as deeply. Quickly, I strode to my nightstand and pulled out a cotton nightie. It wasn't as glamorous as the negligee that Laito preferred, but I felt that this would be more comfortable. I ran my fingers over the skin where I thought I had pierced myself; the scar from my surgery was still there, but the wound from where I had stabbed myself had vanished. I didn't ponder this too much; my vamp lovers were waiting.
Lovers. Plural.
It sounded so scandalous.
"Good you're finished," Ayato said, striding in, but Subaru reached me first.
His strong arms scooped me up and brought me to the bed as if he was firmly against me exerting myself in any way, shape, or form. As if he were handling a child, he placed me gently on top of the sheets. Ayato crawled onto the bed and curled himself near my head, Subaru laid across my breast to listen to my heartbeat. Shuu spread out near my feet with his eyes open to watch me while Reiji sat by my hip and rested his head on my stomach. Kanato clutched at Teddy as he crawled up near my waist near Subaru and fitted himself into my side. Laito was the last, but he seemed content that my legs were unclaimed and laid his head on my bare thighs. I could've sworn I heard the pervert sniff me while he was down there. Oh well, I could put up with their quirks.
Contentedness washed over me like a warm, swelling wave and with it came sleep.