This first chapter is a test chapter. Let me know how badly I performed ya'll. Lay it on me, I can take it loljkI'mlyingplsbegentle.
EDIT: I would like you all to think of this a modern spinoff story, unconnected to my main story. I'm so glad so many people liked the relationship between Thalia and Sieglinde, and the relationship between Thalia and Sebastian. Also, yeah I picked Reiji, because he's a more sadistic, less likeable version of Sebastian.
I don't own anything other than Thalia, because fanfiction. Thank you all for supporting my stories!
Haunted Manor
Somewhere at the edge of the English countryside, behind a wide and swooping gate, stood a large castle that had stood there for hundreds of years. The grey stone walls of the old structure were covered in moss and vines, and the grounds were filled with flowers, the most abundant of which were blood red roses.
It was elegant in the way period pieces tend to be. The entire estate was large, sprawling even, but not obnoxiously so. It was tasteful, unassuming, yet stylish.
On that cool, early spring evening, a young lady stood in front of the castle gate. She was dressed in a white dress with a low, swooping back, and long sleeves. Her legs were clad in long white socks, and on her feet were a pair of black, low-heeled boots. Wrapped carefully about her shoulders was a sheer black shawl, the long ends of which fluttered in the wind.
In one hand she held a small red bag, and in the other a notebook that she seemed to be referring to through narrowed eyes.
The woman looked from the book to the house, and seemed to reach a decision. As expected, no one had come to meet her at the gate, so she carefully let herself into the castle courtyard. In the middle of the grounds was a fountain, atop which sat a grey gargoyle, or some sort of demon. She snorted at the squat caricature, and breezed towards the house at a determined pace.
Once she reached the large front door, she grasped the plain knocker and rapped one, two, three times. No one answered, unexpected this time. She knocked again, just to be sure, and then reached for the door handle.
The door swung open by itself with an ominous squeal of metallic hinges. The interior seemed dim and barely lit, in spite of how sunny it was outside. The lady considered the blue-black gloom beyond the door for a second, and then stepped inside.
As she'd suspected, there was no one on the other side. The door opened out into an opulent front room, with marble pillars reaching up to a high ceiling on either side. On the ground was a narrow, scarlet-red carpet – the same shade as her shoes – that went from the door up a wide staircase, and above that was a lit golden chandelier.
The lady ooh-ed and ah-ed with appreciative curiousity and awe as she admired the decor of the house, looking left and right, and twirling to take everything in. That was when she caught the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. She turned to see who it was.
It was a girl and a boy, both approximately the same age if she had to guess. The girl had pale blonde hair, dark pink eyes, and the countenance of someone who had been suffering for a long time but had generally resigned themselves to it for the time being. The boy, on the other hand, had dark red hair and green eyes, and a generally disagreeable expression.
They both froze upon seeing her, and the young woman smiled in greeting. "Hello," she spoke politely. "I'm looking for someone called Komori Yui?" The blonde jerked, and the woman's eyes fixed on her and brightened. "That's you, isn't it? It's lovely to see that you're still alive. No thanks to these idiots, I take it?"
The boy gave a confused snarl, and stalked down the stairs towards her. "Who the hell are you? What are you doing here?"
"My name is Thalia," she replied, maintaining her smile even as he stopped a foot away from her. "I was sent here to investigate the disappearance of Komori Yui. What?" She arched a disparaging eyebrow at the surprised look on his face. "She's been gone for almost a month. Someone was bound to become curious."
Yui took a hesitant step forward, stunned that there were actually people looking for her. It gave her a small piece of hope. "Were you sent by my father?" She asked, cowering back when Ayato sent a growl her way.
"Your father?" The woman, Thalia, ignored his furious expression entirely. "Oh, Komori Seiji! I believe so, although I don't have all the answers. Ayato, is it?" She snapped her attention back to the redhead before he could yell. "Since you clearly have no idea what's going on, is there anyone else I can talk to?"
"Like hell you are!" The boy snarled, baring unnaturally sharp fangs in a threatening manner. "Don't you know what we are?! I oughta-!"
"What is all this commotion?"
Another man came down the stairs. He looked more distinguished than the red haired vampire, entirely more put together. He had dark purple hair that lightened into a silvery shade at the tips, and purple-red eyes. He tutted at Ayato. "This is the entrance hall," he said. "We don't greet our guests in such a rude manner." Thalia blinked and thought he reminded her very much of someone else. His eyes landed on her, and he arched an eyebrow. "And who might you be?"
She repeated the story again, and all the time she spoke Reiji studied the woman consideringly. She was pale, nearly monochrome, with white skin littered with silvery scars, and white hair that fell to the tops of her shoulders where it curled into loose red ringlets. Red eyes, red hair, red paint on a white background…
Lovely…
Once she was done, he frowned, and then sighed and readjusted his glasses. "I think we should move this upstairs. I suppose school can be put off for tonight. The others should be alerted to this development."
Ψ†Ψ
When Ciel had received a phone call detailing this little adventure, Thalia had been interested right from the start (right after she got over being righteously furious). This was something that hit a little close to home for her, and she wasn't afraid to step in and play the role of a protector if she could. She loved a soul-consuming creature from hell after all, and she'd looked death in the eyes a great many times – sometimes of her own volition. At this point, there wasn't much that could scare her anymore.
A few moments later, she was seated on a sofa what seemed to be a small tearoom. On one side of the room was a large cupboard, which probably held valuables of some sort. In the middle of the room were two plush armchairs that stood facing each other, and between them was the sofa she and Yui had settled in.
Thalia placed her bag beside her, leaving one hand on it. The other hand held her notebook, and she casually ignored the other individuals in the room, opting to flip through pages of text. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the nervous, furtive glances Yui shot her way, but she only glanced up when she heard footsteps at the top of the staircase balcony overlooking the room.
"Oh? I thought I sensed another human other than the Little Bitch~" a new voice cooed. Thalia stared at the newcomer, and the one coming up behind him. The one that had spoken looked very much like Ayato, but he had a looser air about him, and generally seemed more playful, but not in a fun way. He leered down at her. "She's cute~"
Thalia stared at him for a second, before looking away dismissively. "My darling won't appreciate that." The other man was taller than the other two, with hair like – she consulted her notes – Reiji's, and similar eyes. He looked more annoyed by the proceedings, and he barely spared her a glance as he loped towards one of the far walls and leaned against it.
"Pretty hair..." Thalia turned to her left. Standing by her side of the couch was another boy, one with hair a brighter shade of purple than Reiji's, and matching eyes. He had dark bags under his eyes, and clutched a teddy bear to his chest. Thalia considered him thoughtfully. On the one hand, he had that childlike quality of cute that that she so often found adorably irresistable, but on the other hand... "I wonder what you taste like..."
That.
She snapped her notebook shut with a sigh, and leaned away to avoid his curious fingers. "My darling won't like that either." Then she arched an eyebrow. "This isn't all of you."
They all eyed each other for a second, and Reiji sighed. "Shu isn't here," he muttered. "Not that I expected him to be. Honestly, that lazy deadbeat..."
Laito had been keeping his distance, but suddenly he was right beside her, grinning down at her. "How old are you?" He asked, his voice growing more breathy as he leaned closer to her. "You're older than I am, aren't you? Can I call you mistress while I drink your blood?"
"Not if you value the tongue in your head," she replied coolly.
He laughed. "Scary~! You're so feisty, Little Kitty! I can't wait to make you submit~. You seem like you'd be more fun than the Little Bitch..." On the other side of the couch, Yui winced and looked down. Laito smirked. "Though, Little Bitch is pretty fun too~. She makes the cutest sounds when I bite her. Shall I show you?"
He reached across her for Yui, and suddenly there was a knife point right at his heart. There was a collective jerk as they all froze in place, and Thalia fixed them all with a hard stare.
"Listen assholes, I'm here for one main reason," she stated firmly. "To keep Yui as safe as I can. I I'm fairly certain that you're all abusive pieces of shit that not only hate each other, but just hate in general, so I'm here to make sure none of that hate and general fuckery," she waved the hand not holding the knife in the air to indicate what she meant. "Ends up directed at Yui, who literally does not deserve this. At all. Are we clear? You," she pressed the knife harder against Laito's neck. "Back up."
Still smiling, although it had dimmed slightly now, he held up his hands and leaned back until Thalia was satisfied with the distance. The knife seemed to disappear into her sleeve. "We weren't made aware of this," Reiji stated firmly.
"Oh," a new voice said. "It's you."
"Shu!" Reiji snapped at the newcomer. "Did you know about this? You never mentioned we would be having another guest."
Out of the others, he had the most distinguishable features. His hair was orange, and he looked to be the tallest of the group. There were earphones plugged into his ears, attached to a tiny music player strapped around his neck. The man, Shu, shrugged lazily as he walked over to a couch at the farther end of the room and flopped over onto it. "Must have slipped my mind," he mumbled around a yawn.
"So who is she?" Kanato asked curiously. "Is she another bride? I thought the one we already had needed to be dead first."
Shu didn't answer for a few long seconds. Just as Reiji was beginning to get impatient, he responded. "She is...protection...for the bride. We're supposed to treat her with the same courtesy we show the prospective brides."
Immediately, all eyes turned to Thalia, who blinked back in an unconcerned manner and turned back to the perfunctory check-up she was performing on Yui. "How are you feeling? How often do they drink from you anyway? Do they feed you? I hope they feed you more than just cranberry juice. I don't care how much of that stuff you drink; I'm just surprised you're not anaemic right now! Here, I brought some trail mix."
"Um, thank you..."
Seeing there was no help for it, Reiji adjusted his glasses with a sigh. "I suppose I should show you to your room. You don't seem to have very much of anything, however," he eyed the small bag by her side, to which she responded with a smile.
"Don't worry, my darling should be bringing my things soon. I'll be fine for the night."
That was the third time she'd mentioned a darling, and while she could just have easily been talking about anything else, Reiji decided that the odds of such a woman already being taken were fairly high. Unlike Yui, she had a presence that spoke of experience and capability. His eyes fell to her milk-white neck. "Then let me show you to your room."
Ψ†Ψ
Her room was located right across from Yui's. Unlike Yui's, it was sparsely furnished, with plain white sheets and a flat, economical duvet. Thalia paused in the doorway to take it in, and then nodded at him. "Thanks, this is fine." Then she turned and walked straight into Yui's room.
The girl squeaked in surprise. "What are you-?"
"I don't know much about the person I'm supposed to be protecting, other than that you went missing a few weeks ago and now you've been trapped by vampires. We should talk," she gave Reiji a sharp nod. "Goodnight." With that, the door clicked shut.
Reiji stared at the door, and then made his way back to the tearoom where the others were still seated. Ayato was fuming, Kanato seemed to be involved in a very engaging conversation with his teddy bear, and Laito was taunting Subaru about his lack of response to the fresh blood in the house.
He left off when Reiji reappeared. "How is the little Kitty settling in?"
There was a scoff from Ayato. "She's crazy if she thinks she can keep Pancake away from Yours Truly."
"I don't know, that knife looked pretty sharp~…"
"I don't see why we couldn't just kick her out," Subaru grunted, arms folded across his chest. "She's just going to cause even more trouble."
"Regardless of that, it's too late now," Reiji massaged the bridge of his nose. "We've offered our hospitality," he shot a dour glare in Shu's direction, which went unnoticed by the man. "At the moment, she talking to Yui in her room. Remember, we are to treat her the same way we treat Yui."
There was general agreement, ranging from reluctant grumbles, to sighs of pleasure, and a consensus was reached: Thalia would be staying on the behalf of her mysterious employer.
Later that night, on his way to his study, Reiji paused in the hallway. The door to Thalia's room was open just a crack, and the lights inside were off. For such a seemingly knowledgeable and capable individual, that seemed a little strange. He could hear footsteps, a heavier, muted tread than the sharp click of the pretty heels she'd been wearing all evening.
He walked in, intending to speak to her, and stopped short. Thalia lay fast asleep on the plain bed, hair splayed about her pillow, her duvet pulled up and over her chest, but leaning above her at the side of the bed nearest the window, was a tall black shape with glowing magenta eyes. The shape stroked her cheek gently with hands that looked more like the claws of a beast, and she smiled softly in her sleep.
As though it had just spotted him, the shape straightened unhurriedly, and made a shallow bow. "My apologies for intruding," its voice was smooth and deep, definitely masculine. "I have brought Thalia's bags. Thank you for allowing her to remain here on such short notice. I trust you will take good care of her."
Then, as though it was perfectly within its rights to do so, the creature bent and kissed her fully on the mouth, ignoring him as it did so, and then suddenly it was gone. The only evidence of its presence was the fluttering sheets at the half-open window, and the bag of luggage pushed against the bed.
Reiji stared, and then turned and left the room. As he did so, he recalled Thalia's words from earlier that evening.
Don't worry. My darling should be bringing my things soon.
It seemed that there was more to their new guest than he'd originally thought.