Disclaimer: Do not own Vampire Knight or its characters. Spoilers to a certain point... not sure where, but read at own risk!
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In Blood
vovovovov
Another night, another dead vampire.
The vampire hunter known as Zero Kiryuu tucks away his gun, Bloody Rose, back inside his black trench coat. With long, fast strides, he walks out of the darkened alley and begins his solitary trek back to his apartment.
His tongue singes with the acrid taste of the dissolving corpse. But it is nothing compared to the thirst burning in the back of his throat. A dull, persevering ache. He clenches his jaw tightly, willing his self control to overpower the vampire instincts. The monstrous, beast-like instincts.
Dropping his belongings with a heavy thump, he makes his way to his unmade bed and collapses into the soft mattress. His eyes are throbbing with the lack of sleep for the past three days. But he cannot sleep. The unbearable itch in his throat prevents him from achieving any peace. He can down some blood tablets, but he does not want to.
Not when the memory of her taste, and her smell is constantly torturing his senses.
Zero turns onto his back and glares up at the ceiling. He recalls the way she felt the last time he held her.
Ridou is finished, and Kaname left them alone to say their goodbyes. She had just wrenched the transformed Bloody Rose from his arm, and prepared to leave when he instinctively latched onto her delicate wrist.
They are now enemies, but he didn't care at that moment.
She told him all she wanted was Kaname. All she could think was Kaname.
Kaname.
And he abruptly told her that all he wanted was her blood. Her sweet, precious blood.
All he could think of was her pulse, racing rapidly through the delicate veins at her neck. It was only a matter of seconds before his fangs found their target.
Now that she has awakened as a vampire, her blood tasted different. It was thicker, more potent than before. But it still held her essence. Pure, trusting Yuuki who is so kind-hearted to everyone that it hurts.
He didn't take much, because he knew she needed her energy. But as he gazed down at her face, so breath-taxingly beautiful even in vampire pallor, he could not help but steal a kiss. She has always been there for him. Given herself to him so many times, and he is nothing but a slave to her every whim.
She is the reason why he lives on now, dredging through a sad excuse of an existence. Yet, she is the reason why he suffers. Why he cannot lay himself to eternal rest. It is because she simply exists.
Exhaustion finally catches up to him, and he must have dozed off because suddenly he finds himself snapping awake. It is not a sound that awoken him. No, it is a scent.
Bloody Rose is out in a heart beat. Zero shoots up from the bed and points the gun at the shadow perched on his balcony.
His silver eyes widen in disbelief, and then narrow in suspicion as her form materializes.
"What are you doing here?" The silver-haired hunter hisses.
Staring down the unforgiving barrel of Bloody Rose, Yuuki Kuran does not flinch or make a move to defend herself. Her chocolate eyes take in the emancipated form of Zero with sadness and remorse.
He keeps the gun pointed at her as she walks over to him. His hand begins to tremble as the cold metal makes contact with her chest. His mind is telling him to shoot, but his finger doesn't pull the trigger. Will not pull the trigger.
"Zero… what have you been doing to yourself?" she asks, her voice melodious as the tinkling of bells but still it grates on his nerves.
She reaches a hand to his face slowly, but he snatches in midair with his other hand. He notes with surprise that it is tangible. Too many times he has dreamed of her only to wake up to find her gone.
But this time, she's real. She's here. Right now. In his room and he can hardly believe it.
"Get. Out. Don't think I won't kill you in an instant," he snarls out.
Every breath is painful. Hard and suffocating. Her scent is slowly killing him from the inside.
Yuuki does not answer. She retracts her hand, but then moves to pull her long hair aside. Exposing her pale neck.
"What are you doing?" Panic creeps up in his voice. Zero tries to back away from the wordless invitation. She follows his movements, ignoring the barrel of the gun that is now digging uncomfortably into her body, and commands with one word, "Drink."
A pureblood is ordering him. He has to obey. Even if she did not issue the command, he would have given in. Anything for her blood.
His fangs find that familiar spot on her neck. The location where he always have bitten her in the past, and sinks into her inviting flesh. Zero almost faints in the euphoria of her warm blood rushing into his mouth. After a year of drought, drinking the sweet, sweet essence of her is too much for his body to handle. Like a starved man with a feast in front of him, Zero gorges himself on her.
He does not notice how much he had drank until he feels Yuuki slump against him. Zero pulls away and opens his blood-filled eyes in alarm.
"Yuuki?"
Her pulse is weak, and he suddenly regrets his hasty actions. But her blood is so enticing. Such a sinful temptation that he cannot control himself around her. He shifts her so she is lying down on the bed, with Bloody Rose lying forgotten on the floor.
"Are you okay now?" she faintly smiles back at him from drowsy eyes. When he does not answer, she closes her eyes and appears to drifts off into sleep.
Zero hates her for being this way. Always thinking of the other person and not herself. He hates her. For being a vampire, the one thing he hates the most in this world. And for always giving herself to him.
"You should not have come here. Now look at you, weak and defenseless in front of your greatest enemy." His words are harsh, but his tone is soft. His body has drank his fill of her, but it is now his eyes that drink the vision of her in. There is more that he wants. As his gaze lingers on her peaceful face, a rueful thought enters his head.
I want your everything.
Whenever he drank her blood, he was always aware of her deep, unshaken affection mingling within the dark crimson.
It is love. Love for her foster father, for her friends… and for him. It has always left Zero with a bitter aftertaste.
But tonight is different. He licks the stray drops from his lips, and savors it carefully. He might be riding on a high, but there seems to be a new flavor-
"Zero…" her soft voice is drawing him in, and he leans in closer to hear her. "Do you hate me? For the pain I made you go through?"
"No," he breathes out. She waits for an explanation, but he gives none. He lowers himself over her, with arms on each side of her head. Their faces are a hair's breadth away, but Yuuki does not seem bothered by the proximity and closes her eyes while inhaling deeply.
"May I… have a taste?" Her soft voice beckons to him. Oh so pleadingly.
Zero starts. Did he hear her right? The pureblood princess, fiancé of Kaname Kuran, wants to drink his blood?
But Yuuki is staring up at him, with her crystal gaze free of deception but full of need, and he cannot help but give in to all her desires. Zero nods, and leans in.
His fists clench in the sheets when he feels her teeth puncturing his skin. Her tongue lapping up his blood sends him shivering, but not from cold. Zero clamps his eyes shut, forcing himself into composure. He tells himself he does not feel her curves, does not smell her sweet scent, and they are so close to each other that he can-
She only takes a few licks and then closes the wound. Leaning back into the bed again, her eyes a glowing red, she replies, "Thank you. I think my question is answered now."
Ah, so that's what it's about.
Yuki drank his blood because she does not believe his answer. She had to see for herself. After all, the true feelings of a person is written in their blood.
And now she knows. She knows that he truly does not despise her, and deep down, under the many layers of deception and false hatred, despite himself he is still utterly and completely in love with her.
"Look, even if you know the truth now, it doesn't change anything. You and I are enemies," he pauses painfully, "And you. Should. Not. Be. Here."
Anguish appears in her features at his callous remark, and Zero wants to kill himself. She needs to stop torturing him. By just being here, she is doing something forbidden.
They are committing a sin.
"Zero, what does my blood taste like?"
"It's sweet. And salty at the same time."
"Then you should know what my answer is."
He is confused. There is a new taste to her blood. He has still yet to figure out what that means, and what does she mean by-
"You still don't get it? Let me show you," a ghost of a smile plays on her lips, as she bites her own lips. Twin beads of scarlet form on her lower lip, and suddenly Zero forgets how to breathe. Yuuki slowly raises her head, and takes his lips with hers. The scent of her blood is too intoxicating, and before he realizes what is happening, he is returning the kiss hungrily.
She is sweet, but there's that new taste again. Teasing him, bothering him. And Yuuki, with her lips moulding against his, is eliciting new sensations that is driving him over the edge. She moans his name in the empty room, and he suddenly realizes it.
She wants me. Needs me. Almost as much I need her.
The realization makes him pull away from the heady kiss. Silver eyes scour her face desperately. Looking for a clue.
A hint. Anything.
"Now you know," she says sorrowfully, "That even though I love Kaname, there's a part of me, a piece of my soul that will always remain with you. No matter how much I drink from him, I also thirsts for something more..."
A troubled look flashes through her delicate features. "I know this is unfair, but I cannot change a decision of my heart and the fact that I love y-"
He cuts her off there with another kiss. This time fierce and possessive.
She can name off all the excuses she wants. But the only thing he hears is "I love you" and that is good enough right now.
She has no idea of the extent of his need. Even if she forsakes her fiancé and comes to him, it will not be enough. He will not be satisfied until he has drained every last drop of her blood . Until she lays lying there in his arms gasping his name with her dying breaths. It will not be enough.
Her love is gentle and kind.
His… is not.
It's as vicious and monstrous as the creature he has become.
She will haunt him into eternity.
So her confession is nothing for him. Here, in the present that is all he has and nothing more. In this moment, with the pale rose-colored rays of dawn shining from the balcony and the sound of her heartbeats racing at his fingertips, he loses and gains all reason for living.
Note: This is the first one-shot of a trilogy. Next chap will be from Kaname's POV. I think their dynamic with each other are just intriguing, and I just wanted something bloody and angsty.