Yui's eyes flew open. She was back in her room, her covers up to her chin, her forehead soaked in sweat. Her breathing was laboured, as though her lungs weren't cooperating. Her spine radiated with a pain unlike any other. The inside of her thighs resonated with agonising fury. Everything was on fire. Her skin, her muscles, her bones. For the first time in many days, she felt whole. She didn't feel hollowed out. Her hands snatched at the duvet and threw it away. Somebody had tucked her in and she didn't remember who it was anymore. She'd lost a lot of time. She did remember the strange kiss she shared with Ayato at the lake, but everything after that was hazy, unclear.
She jumped away from her bed. Something had leaked into her bed. At first she thought she had wet herself, then seeing the white covers stain a scarlet red. Was this a strange surprise period she was encountering? The blood did concentrate around the area her thighs were resting. But when the blood started overflowing from her bed, she became confused. What was this sorcery? Her hands went up to her cheeks, and she felt a slimy liquid on her skin. She brought her hand away from her cheek, inspecting it with a closer look in the dim hallway light. It was stained with congealed blood.
Breathing hard, she turned towards the mirror.
Someone strange stared back in her reflection. It was Yui, or at least her face. Her blond hair had turned into a dull copper brown, probably due to malnutrition. Her cheeks were hollow, her eyes sunken deep into her socket. Her face was bathed in a mixture of water and blood. She was still wearing her uniform. What was this? Who was this? Her eyes darted back towards her bed, as her sheets were soaking wet with blood, that now dripped slowly along the sides of the bedframe, a pool of blood forming by the side of the headboard.
She looked at the ceiling, confused. something landed on her cheek, and slipped down her shirt.
Above was a sight that horrified her out of her wits.
Ruki, Kou, Yuma and Azuza, all were hanging on the ceiling, their mouths open, tongues out. Their necks were in nooses, probably snapped as they hung themselves. They were too far for Yui to touch or help them out of the ropes, but she knew they weren't moving. They were dead.
Not bearing the sight, she threw open the doors, running away from her room.
Why was all of this so familiar? She wondered while fleeing away. Her heart couldn't bear to accept the Mukami brothers' deaths. This wasn't real. This wasn't real.
Then, as she turned by the staircase, her eyes landed on Reiji. His expression was appearing stern and stoic, before his mouth settled in a sardonic smile. She was about to halt when he disappeared from her vision. Where did he go? Why was this feeling like a deja vu? She knew this had happened to her before. She just couldn't recount what had happened to her. The sun was raising as the day dawned, her eyes blinded by the sharp light that hit her from the skylight.
She felt hands grasp her neck from behind, as her knees buckled down, her hands fighting against the death grip of her attacker. A single word awakened her from her daze.
"Pancake."
***
Ayato sat beside Yui, his hands clasping her tender fingers in his grip as she flailed in her sleep, her torso bound by the leather straps Reiji had been kind enough to lend to him. She experienced night terrors too often nowadays. Her eyes were swollen, her legs were spotted with red spots Ayato knew were from internal bleeding. He had little choice in the matter. He'd begged Reiji for potions and spells and whatnot, but he refused to help the girl in distress. He knew the punishment was important, but he didn't understand why Reiji didn't bother to keep her safe. The priest had given specific instructions on not to kill her. Once the old man got to know what they had done to her, he would give hell to them.
Her eyes fluttered open, fixating on him for a second. His hands clasped her tightly, as he bent over towards her face. His voice was desperate. "Pancake?"
Her eyes rolled back in her head, as she lay still, her convulsions dying down. His hands caught her shoulders roughly, as he shook her, trying to wake her up. "Yui!"He said, his eyebrows knotting up in worry. He brought his fingers to her neck, feeling the faintest pulse in her carotid. He felt a pang of guilt inside him, as he decided he had to do something to bring her back from this sudden non responsive state.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, as he pressed his lips to hers.
Vampire saliva is a miracle for humans. In the middle ages, many people used to capture cursed or ill vampires and use their saliva as an alternative medicine. He'd used it twice to save her life before, once when he had thrown her into the pool, and again when she had stabbed herself. Once he had used it to seal her sutures and heal her surgery scars. But this time, he felt something different ring inside him as he carefully opened her mouth with his tongue, slipping it in.
A shaking breath raked through her chest as soon as he pushed through. He hated her not responding to his kiss, and his hand crept up in her hair, grabbing fistful of it, tugging at it harshly. He wanted to eliminate all possible ways of escape for her. He wanted to claim her as his. He wanted to imprint his name on her soul. His possessive side overtook him as he tried to avoid nicking her lips with his fangs. He was telling himself that he wasn't doing anything wrong, but the thought left a bad taste in his mouth, and he pulled away from her, wiping his lips against the back of his hand. Her chest regained the natural rising rhythm. He pressed his fingers against her artery. A healthy pulse flourished underneath.
"Not convinced with seeing her broken, are you?" Subaru sat down beside Yui's worn out body, his stare pointed at Ayato. Ayato looked at him, feigning hurt. "Do you think I care for her if she purposefully throws herself in troublesome situations?"
"You could have discouraged her," Subaru said, his hands finding her left hand, intertwining her fingers in his. Ayato's eyes followed this act, furious, but he held back.
"I'm not accountable for her irresponsible actions."
"Yeah but you didn't mind indulging in her so called 'irresponsible' actions."
Ayato was knocked out by that sentence, as it brought forth the memories of the kiss. Her chin rising up, her shoulders wet with water, her hands entwined in his hair. He held her right hand in his grasp, rubbing circles on the back of her hand.
"Tch." He snatched his hands away. "You don't have any right to tell what I do with her, bastard!"
Subaru rolled his eyes. "Look at what you have become, Ayato," he said, staring right into him. "Fucking pathetic piece of shit triggered by being sensitive about a blood whore."
Ayato breathed, closing his eyes, standing up. "Take it back."
Subaru crossed his arms, ready to incur his wrath.
Ayato raised his hand against his little brother, grabbing his collar, ready to knock the lights out of him.
Until-
"Ayato," Ruki leaned over the doorframe, watching the discourse amongst the brothers with a cynical expression. He wasn't wearing his usual grey shirt and jacket, rather donning a white shirt with a questionable red stain near his heart. Ayato let go of Subaru's collar, casting a disdainful look at him. "I won't forgive this."
Subaru aptly ignored him, exiting the room, bumping his shoulder against Ruki "by mistake".
Ruki looked at Yui's sleeping form, taking in the straps and her pasty colour. Ayato didn't like this man inspecting her. He might have agreed that he didn't take care of Yui enough, but Ruki was in no place to lecture him about taking care of her. Ruki walked towards the bedpost, leaning against it, his eyes devoid of any expression. Ayato watched silently, ready to be shut down by accusations and complaints.
Ruki surprised him by asking, "How have you been?"
How have you been? He had been pining for a girl oblivious to his affections for her, thank you very much. He doubted that the kiss was earned by him in any means. And if he did stand worthy of that gesture, he had just shown what a gentleman he was by turning a blind eye to her pain. There was little he could do in that aspect. Reiji wasn't somebody you messed and got away with. Even if Ayato would have saved her from that grueling torture, he had no way of ensuring that she stayed alive the following days.
"Where were you all this time?" Ayato asked instead, settling down on the bed, his hands finding Yui's hands again, finding comfort in her warmth. Ruki had fallen under the radar for about three weeks right now. Yui hd told him not to come back to the mansion the last time she bade him goodbye, before Ayato couldn't bear them making any sort of contact and jumped in on the farewell, dragging Yui away from Ruki. He felt like a fucking helpless puppy while faced with the idea of Yui liking somebody other than him. Come on, he had said, we'll say goodbyes later. You need to rest.
"You do realise your elder brother is running evil schemes under your nose?" Ruki said, his hands wrapping against Yui's ankle, inspecting for bite wounds.
"The fuck you doin' with those filthy hands," Ayato said, his voice sounding annoyed. Ruki looked up at him, confused. "She looked a bit thinner than the last time-"
"You don't need to worry about her health. We keep her well being in check." Ayato slapped his hand away. "Wait, what do mean by running evil schemes?"
Ruki tilted his head as he looked at Ayato, his eyes now on Yui's face, drenched in sweat. "Reiji is trying to sacrifice Yui in exchange for getting his mother back."
***
Kou popped his eye out with a fork when he was a little boy.
Sold into an orphanage that doubled up as a brothel, he was in high demand for his unparalleled good looks. Especially among the aristocratic people, that involved in sick perversions. Kou was beaten, whipped, cut, stabbed, poked and mutilated. He would get nice things to play with afterwards, and that became the truth of his life for years to come. Give and take was the way the world worked, and he was okay with it for a while. Until the torture grew far beyond the usual stick and poke, and Kou stabbed himself in the eye.
Turned out that he didn't do much to make himself undesirable. Kou was now even more attractive to people who thought flaws were a beauty trait. He struggled to get out of the hell hole he had found himself in. Finally he found Ruki and others. They tried escaping but failed. And while they were dying, Karlheinz brought them back as vampires. He gave Kou an eye that told him truth from deception.
And the past few times when he had talked to Reiji about some plan that would restart the Project of Eden, he had noticed a real, truthful desire to revive the project. Kou wanted to as well, he wanted more than ever to see Yui as Eve, starting a new race of vampires. As his conversations with Reiji expanded over time, he tried seeing him with the eye of truth and well...
Reiji had certainly gaping issues to deal with. Most of them related to his mother, and since Kou didn't remember much about his own family, he didn't have much to relate to.
Until Reiji started to deliberately started to lie about matters pertaining to Yui, and walked Kou into a hole that Kou knew to be a dead end. Kou didn't want any harm to befall Yui. He wouldn't like her being hurt yet again. But he decided to work on the few things he was given by reiji, uncovering the mystery.
Until he heard it himself. Reiji was going to sacrifice his masochistic kitten, and there was little he could do about it.
He saw Subaru exit her room, brushing against Ruki rather rudely. Kou blocked his way as he tried to escape. "Subaru kun, you know it's time for us to act."
Subaru smiled, tossing him the silver knife, and Kou caught it in between his index finger and thumb. Subaru exhaled. "Finally."