Important!: Only the first chapter will be written like this (in drabbles). It's a prologue and I decided to write it like this because I did not want to spend the next few months describing my protagonist's early childhood. However, I did not want to completely leave it out as well, so I decided to write this prologue. The next chapter will be a 'normal' one (2k-3k long) that will deal with Reika's and Kaname's first meeting.
As I know that most won't bother to read this I will post the upper part at the end of the chapter as well. Maybe a few more people will decide to read it there.
If you have any questions, you are welcome to inform me of them in a review or a PM.
Summary: As Reika slowly started to understand her new life, she came to the conclusion that fairness did not exist in this world and that blood was the only thing that mattered. [SI, Self-Insert/OC-Insert as Kuran Rido's daughter]
Have fun.
To Rule The World
Chapter 1
Prologue
.
.
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Where Dreams Were Fated To Fail
"Alone. Yes, that's the key word, the most awful word in the English tongue. Murder doesn't hold a candle to it and hell is only a poor synonym."
― Stephen King
"I do not love men: I love what devours them."
― André Gide, Prometheus Illbound
I.
She had been just a child. Her chubby cheeks barely starting to change into the sharp features both her mother and sister possessed, her figure a little more than a stick. Long limbs and well manicured fingers always dangled at her sides.
Red. They had been painted red.
A late bloomer. That's what most had called her.
The girl did not like thinking of herself as such. Personally, she preferred to not think about the whole subject at all. In her opinion, ignoring how young she had actually been made her situation a little less tragic.
Dying a week before her fifteenth birthday, what felt like ages before reaching full maturity.
But what did that matter? Death never did care about the identity of its victims. It was the one thing that made all living beings equal. Young or old. Healthy or ill. Man or animal.
To die, that was what they all lived for.
II.
A cold winter night. One shortcut through a dark alley. Silver gleaming in the moonlight.
All it took was a second.
He, it was undoubtedly a he, came at her from the front and grabbed one of her arms in a bruising grip. A knife, sharper than anything she had ever come across, reflected the silvery moon.
Too frightened to even hear what he was saying, she started struggling.
His grip on her arm loosened. She fell forward. The knife slid between her ribs.
Blood flooded her right lung.
Alone, in that dark, dark alley she drowned in her own blood.
III.
Heaven or hell. She did not know.
A second chance was perhaps the better term.
She liked that...a second chance.
IV.
She had died. Of that she was aware.
It did not take her long to figure out what had happened. Rebirth, apparently that was a thing.
The Buddhists seemed to be the only ones who knew what they were talking about. Did that mean that all those wars fought for religion were ultimately for nothing? Just countless lives lost for something that did not exist?
How morbid.
The most important question, however, was if this was how the world worked. Was it just an endless cycle of life and death?
Maybe she would manage to reach the age of fifteen this time around.
And if not, there was always a next life waiting for her.
V.
Reika. Kuran Reika.
VI.
Reika. Kuran Reika.
That was her new name.
From what she gathered she had been born in spring to an albino woman who had not wanted her to begin with. Silvery white hair and porcelain skin had been the first things that greeted her once she entered this new life.
Her rose-colored orbs would be forever embedded into her mind.
They had watched her being taken by a foreign man without blinking once and even though Reika knew that her new mother held no love for her, it still hurt.
VII.
She remembered the time she met her new father for the first time so vividly that even the memories of her old life and death seemed to be blurry images in comparison to that.
Her eyes had by then cleared from their infantile blindness and she could see everything with an almost frightening clarity.
Icy blue and an inhuman garnet met her gaze once she awoke from a long nap.
Heterochromia iridium. Never had she seen something so beautiful.
She would soon learn that there was nothing truly beautiful about that man. Not his differently colored eyes, nor the madness that accompanied each of his steps.
But in that moment she had known none of it.
It had been so long since someone had last come into that dark room and touched her so gently. The woman was with her most of the time, of course. No one would just leave an infant completely alone. But, it just wasn't enough.
The woman was so cold.
Besides, she knew the man meant safety the moment she heard him whisper one word so warmly and tenderly into her ear. ''Reika.''
Unaware of the fact that this man was a monster and delighted that there was finally someone there—someone who would willingly take care of her—she smiled at him, toothless gums and all.
VIII.
There were those rare nights during which the silver-haired woman had actually deigned to visit her.
Fair hair and unusually colored eyes always gleamed in the darkness of the night and her bell-like voice whispered things Reika never bothered to understand.
Her whole attention had been captured by the woman's inhuman beauty and the wide eyes that regarded her with a small amount of something akin to disdain.
If Reika was lucky, her mother would hold her. Those times allowed her to forget everything. Surrounded by the scent of flowers and her vision blocked by the pale kimono the woman loved to wear, she would allow herself to relax.
There was nothing Reika craved more than human touch.
IX.
The universe truly did seem to hate her.
X.
Her new father took her from the only home she knew since she woke up after dying. Picked her tiny body up from inside the wooden crib she spent most of her time in and proceeded to carry her out of her new mother's mansion.
They entered a car and drove through the frozen streets of what she guessed to be a small city in Japan. One day and then another.
The man wasn't human.
From what she had gathered, everyone who met him seemed to immediately feel some kind of fear. The maid whom the silver-haired woman had ordered to take care of her cowered at the sight of him. His driver had bowed deeply when they stepped out of the house and averted his eyes from the man's form.
Though fear might not have proven his inhumanity, the bright glowing red orbs currently regarding her with the curiosity of a lion that had finally found its meal did.
Red. Just like her blood had been.
XI.
Reika could not bring herself to completely fear the man. A part of her did fear him, of course, but the rest just felt curious and slightly hopeful.
That hope was squashed into nothingness once they finally arrived at their apparent destination and her tiny body was unceremoniously thrust into the arms of a very obviously pregnant woman.
He left soon afterward.
She was alone once again.
XII.
It did not take her long to realize what was going on. Not when the people now taking care of her constantly addressed her with 'Kuran-sama' or 'Reika-sama'. Not when she heard more conversations in this new home of hers than at her supposed mother's side. Not when she finally learned the name of her 'father' and how unfortunate her situation truly was.
Kuran Rido. A pureblood.
And as it turned out, her mother just so happened to be Hio Shizuka.
Was this the universe's idea of a joke?
XIII.
Kuran Reika. She was Kuran Reika, the pureblood daughter of Kuran Rido and half-sister of the unborn Shiki Senri.
She had been reborn into a fictional world. Vampire Knight, to be exact.
Knowing her luck, she would probably end up somewhere in the middle of the plot. As a piece on her own ancestor's chessboard.
Lovely.
XIV.
Reika, she had to get used to that name now, did not remember everything about the story her sister had once told her about. What she did remember did not make her too optimistic about reaching her life-goal of not dying before her fifteenth birthday.
Neither did her predicament as the antagonist's daughter make her situation any better.
At least, Shiki Hiromi wasn't completely bonkers yet.
On most days it was the Shiki woman who took care of her. Fed her with milk and made sure she received all the energy she needed from the servants.
Young vampires truly did get their sustenance from kissing others or more like maintaining skin contact with them.
The thirst Reika had expected of vampires wasn't as profound as she feared it would be. But that did not fool her into believing that things wouldn't change in the future. There would come a time when she would start desiring blood and it would be then that the thirst would unfortunately rear its ugly head.
Reika feared that time.
XV.
Shiki Hiromi did not like the young pureblood in her care.
She did not hate her either, but that was a whole other matter. Whom the lady of the household hated more than anything else was the man who sired the tiny child in her arms and the one residing in her womb.
There were no words in the world that could describe how much she hated that bastard.
The only thing stopping her from denying Rido's order of taking care of his daughter was her own unborn child. Hiromi would always love it more than she despised that man.
She feared what he might have done should she have said no.
Besides, raising Kuran Reika could end up being a golden opportunity. Her child would grow up alongside the girl.
As her little sibling.
Yes, the opportunity was too good to say no to it.
XVI.
She did not know much about children or their development. And quite honestly, she did not care about it either.
Reika just wanted to see the world from a perspective other than laying in her crib or in someone's arms. Thus, after days and days of trying, she finally managed to push herself up and sit for the first time.
She thought that compared to that walking couldn't be too hard.
Immediately, she tried pushing herself onto her feet, but that turned out to be a mistake. Falling backwards, she almost hit her head against the railing of her crib and couldn't help crying out loud in fright.
People rushed into her room. Eyes wide and glowing red.
It was then that she noticed her scratched arm. She was a helpless, bleeding pureblood in house full of hungry vampires.
There wasn't any doubt in her mind about how this situation would end.
Surprisingly, her worries turned out to be for nothing. Shiki Hiromi rushed into the room and ordered everyone else to leave it.
The woman gently cleaned her wound with a cloth and by the time she was finished there was no injury left. Then she burned the bloodied cloth.
Reika wasn't left completely alone in that room ever again.
XVII.
He came back. Only three months after he had left her in the arms of a stranger Rido came back to visit her.
She had been calmly sitting inside her crib and looking at the full moon shining outside of the window. Back leaned against a small stack of pillows and eyes slightly wider than usual.
The night truly was a beautiful one.
That is until her 'father' stormed into the room and scooped her almost harshly into his arms.
A frightened wail escaped her lips and she might have actually started crying if she had not noticed the expression on his face.
Red eyes regarded her hungrily and she could see blood staining his clothes. There were a lot of different smells, a lot of different people he must have drained that night or the night before, but the one that stood out the most to Reika made the blood in her own veins freeze.
Sweet and pure. She knew exactly what atrocity Rido must have committed.
The young Kuran Kaname was dead and their ancestor once again among the living.
XVIII.
Shiki Senri was born in winter.
After hours and hours of Hiromi's pain filled shrieks his crying finally joined her.
He was bundled up in a violet cloth and put into Reika's crib.
With her new brother at her side, she fell asleep.
XIX.
Senri was adorable in a way only small children could be.
A pale face, a tuft of mahogany hair on his head and most importantly wide gray eyes. Rarely, if the light shone in just the right way, they changed their color into an icy blue that instantly reminded Reika of their father's one orb.
But besides those eyes, there was nothing in her new brother's features that indicated their shared heritage.
Sometimes it made her wonder if he truly was Rido's son. Because how could something so innocent be created by such a man.
A man with no moral. A man completely incapable of love, even for his only two children. That was something Reika knew without a doubt and had no illusions about.
Rido did not love anyone. Not Juuri. Not her. Not Senri.
And that was the one thing that made Reika fear and pity the man in equal measures.
XX.
Since the day of Senri's birth and Rido's consecutive visit Hiromi's sanity seemed to be in a steady decline. She stopped visiting their room as often as she used to and when she finally did appear there just seemed to be something wrong with her. Reddish brown locks were always disheveled and blue-tinted eyes glazed over.
There was nothing either Reika or Senri could do. Both them were still at least physically too young to even understand that Hiromi was changing.
And so Reika silently watched Shiki Hiromi's descent into madness.
XXI.
Senri liked to hold on to her fingers while he slept. His grip surprisingly tight for someone of his size.
He always reached out for her in his sleep and grasped onto her hands tightly, as if afraid of being left alone. There were also those times when he decided that her hand was the perfect pacifier.
Those times her hands always dripped with saliva after she finally managed to free them from his grasp.
Quite surprisingly, even after experiencing such behavior, Senri rarely actually managed to annoy her. And although Reika liked to think that it was because she was a very patient person, a part of her knew the truth.
Shiki Senri was the first person who showed her any true affection in this new life and for that Reika loved him.
XXII.
Her first word ended up being her little brother's name.
The action itself did not mean much to her, but she wanted her first word to be some kind of statement.
That's why she decided to talk for the first time when there wasn't just a servant in the room but Hiromi as well. Reika pushed herself up from her laying position and opened her mouth.
Only to promptly close it again. Forming an actual word wasn't as easy as some might think. Especially when you have been only wailing for the last few months.
She tried again and again, fearing that Hiromi would leave soon.
Reika reached her goal just half an hour before the Shiki matriarch left. Her lips spread into a wide smile and whispered her first true word. ''Senri.''
Shiki Hiromi smiled rather deviously.
XXIII.
They both grew at a peculiar pace.
While their bodies stayed small and somewhat frail, their mind matured rather fast and their behavior changed. Or at least that's what happened to Reika's brother. There wasn't much she could say about her own mental development, but she did notice that some things had gotten exponentially easier.
Maybe it had to do with being a child or perhaps it was another perk of being a vampire that made remembering things so easy.
Even after months had passed Reika could still remember her biological mother's cruel eyes and the way they regarded her when Rido came. She could remember small useless things the servants talked about in her vicinity and she had no problems when it came to remembering the small card pictures the servants showed her as a game.
Reika was slowly starting to understand how different this world truly was.
Fairness did not exist here, blood was the only thing that mattered.
XXIV.
Walking wasn't easy and Reika only dared to try it again months after her last failure.
A servant had put her and Senri on a thick woolen blanket on the floor and turned for a second to get some of her brother's favorite toys.
Reika stood up on shaky legs and fell.
The servant, a short-haired blonde, turned around and her eyes widened slightly. She rushed over to her, but did not raise her voice. None of the servants ever even dared to scold her for anything.
Kuran Reika was a pureblood and they were far too beneath her to dare something like that.
But the unexpected thing was that the girl did not stop her from trying again. On the contrary, the servant helped her up and held Reika as she took her first step.
That day the young pureblood bothered to remember a servant's name for the first time.
Akiyama Makoto.
XXV.
After little persuasion Akiyama Makoto was permanently assigned to her. The young girl was like a mother for both Senri and Reika. She spent most of her time with the children, taking care of them in every way possible.
And while Reika would deny ever loving her in the future, it did not change the fact that the young servant crawled into her heart and would rip it apart with her death.
A death that would stop her from getting close to anyone but her brother ever again.
XXVI.
''Why don't you give me a kiss on the cheek, Reika-sama, Senri-sama?'' The blonde girl smiled down at the two children sitting on her lap.
They did as she told them to, their bodies absorbing energy from Makoto while her thin fingers tickled their sides.
Childish giggles echoed through the whole mansion.
XXVII.
Jealousy.
It could be such an ugly thing.
Among vampires even more so.
XXVIII.
Reika watched as her brother tugged on the servant girl's dress. His legs were barely holding him and trembled with exhaustion, but he did not give up until he gained Makoto's attention.
Smiling, the girl knelled down and put her hand's on Senri's waist, keeping the child from falling backwards. ''Hai, Senri-sama?''
''Outside?'' The word sounded childish and it was hard to recognize its true meaning if one wasn't familiar with Senri's speech.
''Hmm...the weather is nice enough to go out for a walk, I guess.'' Shining blue eyes turned to the grinning pureblood. ''What do you think, Reika-sama? Would you like to go outside?''
After standing up carefully from her blanket, Reika waddled over to the duo, the wide grin never left her face. ''Yes. Weather so pretty.''
Was that something a child would have said? It was something Reika often wondered. She might not have cared all that much about what people thought of her, but she did not want them to start being suspicious.
Quite honestly, she should have just said 'no'.
XXIX.
They went into the garden and sat down in a small circle.
Flowers in full bloom surrounded them and Makoto weaved a small crown for the pureblood princess.
A small accessory that would soon be joined by her own blood.
XXX.
Reika was the first one to notice him, her head turning to the entrance and eyes widening.
Rido looked feral.
But there was something else in his eyes. Something besides anger. The madman had long since ceased to care for appearances and did not even bother to try hiding what he truly felt.
Not that there were many emotions left inside of him. However, Reika knew the ones she saw very intimately.
Jealousy. Possessiveness.
Her father might have not loved her, but that did not mean that Reika was allowed to love anyone besides him.
XXXI.
''I do not remember allowing anyone to take my daughter outside.''
One sentence. A blur. The smell of blood.
Akiyama Makoto's head flew through the air and landed with a sick thud at Reika's feat.
Stained with blood, the little girl screamed.
XXXII.
Nightmares haunted both children for the following months.
They awoke screaming in the middle of the night and found solace in each others embrace.
None of the servants gave them any comfort. They did not dare to.
XXXIII.
''You are a pureblood, Reika-sama, and as a pureblood you stand above us all.''
XXXIV.
They were taught the vampire hierarchy from a very young age.
From Level A to Level E and all their characteristics.
The most important one was that there was no one more important than a pureblood. A pureblood could practically do no wrong. They stood above everything and everyone else and were to be treated only with the outmost respect.
After that lesson Senri was forced to call her 'Onee-sama'.
XXXV.
Reading. Writing. Dancing. Singing. Playing an instrument. Etiquette. Speaking at least two different languages. Knowledge of the vampire history.
Those were all things Reika was forced to start learning when she reached the age of two and a half.
After all, a pureblood couldn't be anything but perfect.
XXXVI.
When they outgrew their crib, two separate rooms were assigned to them.
That did not stop Senri from crawling into her bed every night.
XXXVII.
The tutor looked at her with kind eyes. ''It's 'Mädchen', Reika-sama. You pronounce it the wrong way.''
Why had she chosen to learn German instead of French once again? In comparison to the language she was currently learning, the subject she once hated so much seemed like nothing.
XXXVIII.
A sharp tug. Reika's scalp hurt.
Senri continued trying to weave her hair into a plait.
His loud giggles stopped her from interfering.
XXXIX.
''Only the blood of a beloved can quench a vampire's eternal thirst. If that beloved dies, then so does any chance at peace the vampire ever had.''
XL.
Holding her tightly to his chest, Rido stroked Reika's hair.
He visited the Shiki manor sporadically and always managed to frighten the girl into an almost paralyzed state.
Perhaps the monster would not notice her, if she did not move. Sadly, Reika never did have so much luck. A hand tightened painfully around her tiny wrist and pulled it towards her father's mouth.
Rido inhaled deeply and practically purred. ''So pure, my dearest princess. You know, we are royalty among royalty. The son and granddaughter of a true king.''
Glowing red eyes regarded her with thinly veiled amusement and for a moment Reika feared that he would actually bite her.
XLI.
''There is nothing more sinful than spilling a pureblood's blood.''
XLII.
Reika was eighteen years old, looked physically like three and did not know what to think about her new life.
Sometimes she thought that despite what the future held in store for her this new life wasn't bad at all. On other days she had no idea what her purpose truly was and why she should keep going on.
A good thing was that she had a long time to find answers for those questions.
After all, as a pureblood Kuran Reika would live for the rest of eternity.
XLIII.
She woke up one morning with a aching throat.
An illness or upcoming sickness were used as an excuse for the unusual feeling.
It did not go away.
XLIV.
Reika's lips touched a servant's cheek, eyes closing as she felt the energy entering her body.
Her throat burned.
Eyes glowing a bright red, she bit the servants cheek.
The pureblood had never tasted something so heavenly before.
XLV.
The burning never stopped.
XLVI.
Senri started desiring blood not long after her. Reika became his first victim and according to the vampire law he should have been heavily punished for that.
They did not dare touch him after the windows cracked at her anger and the whole mansion shook.
No one told Rido about what had happened.
XLVII.
Shiki Hiromi was cackling.
It was their first family dinner since, well, ever and the woman was cackling like a madman. Her head thrown back and teeth gleaming in the dim light.
''A wonderful idea. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.'' Sometimes she whispered and sometimes she shrieked.
Reika's supernatural hearing caught both, but she did not dare ask what the woman actually meant. Taking a pair of chopsticks into her hand, the young girl whispered. ''Itadakimasu.''
Both her and Senri ate in silence while Hiromi continued mumbling indefinable things.
XLVIII.
She was to be kept hidden. Not allowed to ever leave the Shiki mansion.
The world could never know of her birth.
Kuran Reika did not exist.
XLIX.
Books. They were the only escape she had from reality. Her personal haven.
At the age of three, almost four, Reika had a giant shelf spanning over a whole wall full of books in her room. There were all kinds of genre there. From Thriller to Fantasy and Romance.
Her personal favorite, however, was horror.
L.
Blood.
It was a fundamental part of every vampires life. It determined the course of their life and was often the main driving force behind every action.
Drinking this sacred liquid wasn't just a daily action in a vampire's life. It was a hallowed rite that strengthened the bonds of families and friends and was seen as one of the most beautiful experiences one could have.
But it wasn't just the drinking that mattered, no, the sharing was just as important. Giving your blood to someone could mean many things. It could show respect, loyalty and sometimes even love.
Reika once heard the servants arguing over who should be the one to feed her their blood. For them it was an honor to sustain her. For their blood to flow in her pure veins and a part of it to stay with her for the rest of eternity.
An honor wasn't what she would call it. Maybe it would have been in another situation, if she was actually allowed to take part in this sacred exchange.
She never was and that was something that made feel rather bad. The truth was that Reika was always taking and never giving anything back. Of course the young pureblood did not want to feed the whole mansion with her blood, but she would not have had anything against sustaining her own brother.
Especially after their father once forced her to almost drain Senri dry.
To help him that day, she would not have minded if he had some of her blood. It would have only been fair.
LI.
Senri was going on without her.
Unlike Reika, he was allowed to leave the mansion and experience freedom. Play dates were arranged for him and he found companions other than her.
While he continued evolving, Reika stayed behind and watched him slowly leaving her side.
Not once did she protest.
LII.
''Your mother doesn't need someone like you; an unruly child that constantly causes her trouble.'' Hidden out of sight, Reika watched Rido harshly petting her brother's head. ''If you want to be a good son, then you better become the silent little doll she needs, otherwise you might end up being redundant in the future.''
She should have interfered. Should have said something or at least tried to comfort her little brother, whose eyes were already leaking tears, but she didn't.
Reika couldn't because no matter how much she might have loved her brother, she feared Rido even more.
Thus she watched wordlessly how her father destroyed a part of her little brother's innocence.
LIII.
After that day Shiki Senri was never the same again.
He changed from a happy child into a reserved young boy that rarely spoke unless directly asked a question. Never again did Reika hear his running footsteps in the hallway and neither did he ever again call her 'Nee-chan' by accident.
Their father had stolen something from him and Reika hated herself for not doing anything against it.
LIV.
It took a her a long while to realize what Rido was doing. That he was trying to isolate her from everyone else. Trying to make her dependent on him.
And with that startling realization Reika saw that he already started separating her from Senri, the only person that truly cared about her in this new life.
Had Kuran Reika been a good sister, then she would have let go of her younger brother.
But Reika had never been good. Neither did she have to be good.
Kuran Reika was a pureblood and as such she deserved to have whatever she wanted.
Shiki Senri just happened to be the unlucky one whom ended up being loved by a pureblood.
LV.
That night she crawled into Senri's bed.
Rido had visited them just a day ago and so Reika knew that they had at least a week without another visit from him. When she entered the young boy's room his eyes widened in surprise and something akin to apprehension. Looking at her with slightly hooded eyes, Senri raised himself. ''What are you doing here, Onee-sama?''
On bare feet, Reika walked to him and then crawled onto his bed. Her tiny hands grasped his own and she smiled a little uncertainly. ''I'm hungry, Otouto.''
Fear entered his eyes and he bit his lip. ''Should I call one of the servants?''
''No.'' A trembling hand tilted his head to the right. ''I told them not to disturb us.''
Resignation. Seeing such an emotion almost made her stop. However, Reika knew that this was one of her only chances. In this new life she had no one but her brother and she could not bear the thought of losing him because of their father.
Grasping the last threads of her resolve, Reika lowered her head and gently sunk her teeth into her brother's skin. Through his blood she could feel all his emotions. The fear, the resignation and a slight need to please her. Happiness that she was there with him and even the terror he felt at the thought of their father.
Reika retracted her teeth before she took too much from him, her tongue lapping the residue blood up from the closing wounds.
Instead of leaving the room as her brother would have probably preferred, she changed her position so that she was kneeing in front of her brother. Her eyes glowed red as she whispered her next statement.
''Now it's your turn.''
LVI.
It took her a lot of convincing for Senri to even dare to come near her.
At the end she used her own nails to cut a small part of her throat and practically forced her brother to drink her blood. His arms moved around her waist and she poured all of her feelings into him.
Reika knew that it was unfair of her. To force such a burden upon such a young child.
That did not stop her from making her brother feel her worst fears, her loneliness and longing for companionship.
After Senri retracted his fangs from her throat, he made her a promise Reika would never forget.
''Don't worry, Onee-sama. I'll never leave you.''
LVII.
That wasn't the only time she would give him her blood.
LVIII.
Senri's uncle came to live with them a few weeks before her fourth birthday. By then Hiromi's sanity was completely gone and his presence more than appreciated.
That did not mean that Reika liked or trusted him.
The man had some secret business with Rido and that alone made him highly dangerous.
LIX.
Reika was nineteen and celebrating her fourth birthday. Every single person in the Shiki mansion bought her a present. One more extravagant than the other.
She did not need any of them.
The only present Reika did appreciate was the small box of strawberry poky her brother gave her.
LX.
Rido was spending more and more time with the council. Such an act was disconcerting, yet highly welcome.
After all, the more time he spent with the council, the less time he had for his children.
LXI.
Was she a bad person? Should she do something or already have done something? How much would this new life change her?
What did her birth change? Would Kuran Kaname sacrifice her in his future plans? Why did not anyone do something against Rido? What would happen when he was finally gone? How could she protect Senri and herself? When would all this finally be over?
Would everything still happen as it once had in that accursed story? How much was she allowed to change?
Those were just some of the questions Kuran Reika frequently asked herself.
LXII.
Her lips brushed against Rido's throat and fangs extended. He was holding her tightly and awaiting her next move.
Moving slightly forward, Reika's fangs pierced her father's skin.
She had never tasted blood as divine as his was.
LXIII.
''Reika-sama, you already ate one package of poky today. Takehiko-sama forbade us giving you or Senri-sama too many sweets.'' The servant smiled kindly at the small girl. The auburn haired woman did not like denying the young pureblood anything, however, the children could not be allowed to eat only sweets for the whole day.
Senri tugged at his sister's hand. ''Come, Onee-sama, maybe uncle will give us some more, if we ask him nicely.''
Feeling relieved that the pureblood's unreadable gaze had been steered away from her, the servant considered herself dismissed and tried to silently leave the room. The woman should have known better than to turn her back on a pureblood.
''But I want some poky now.'' The Kuran princesses' voice was slightly deeper than normal, almost purring. ''You will give it to me, won't you, Noriko?''
Unbidden, the servant's feet moved back into the kitchen and towards one of the shelves. She took out the sweets and handed them over to the children.
Takizawa Noriko never stood a chance.
LXIV.
Enhanced senses, strength and speed. The ability to remember most things rather easily. Telekinesis. Control over lesser vampires. The possibility of being able to wield an anti-vampire weapon. And perhaps one of her parent's special abilities.
Only blood mattered in their world and Kuran Reika had the best blood of all.
LXV.
Kuran Reika had changed a lot. Being trapped in a mansion for more than five years and living in constant fear of a man that was supposed to be her father could do that to a person.
Her only consolation was that she managed to convince Rido into expanding her prison. The garden and the surrounding forest had been made a part of her golden-gilded cage during her last birthday.
Reika feared what might have happened had he not done it.
Would she have ended up like Shiki Hiromi?
LXVI.
Cienna Donati. She had once been Cienna Donati.
LXVII.
Looking into the mirror was always a peculiar experience. Sometimes Reika still expected a completely different person to look back at her.
Oftentimes her own soft features managed to surprise her.
Unblemished pale skin. Mahogany brown hair. Rosy eyes.
The chubby features of a child.
Reika doubted that she would ever get completely used to them.
LXVIII.
Rido was late. He had been gone for more than a month and Reika was slowly starting to worry.
Not about him, of course, but about the shit the madman could have gotten their small family into. It was when she began considering to just go and ask Takehiko if he knew what her father was doing that she felt it happen.
There weren't any words that could describe what she was feeling. But suddenly, something in the world seemed to be missing, only a huge gaping hole was left in its stead.
That day most of the vampire population did not sleep.
LXIX.
''Kuran Haruka and Kuran Juri are dead. They were murdered last night.''
LXX.
The message of her uncle's and aunt's death should not have made her feel relieved. Sadly, it did.
After all, because of their death Rido had been incapacitated. Now he could hurt neither Senri nor her.
They were save.
Or so she thought.
LXXI.
Reika could feel him coming. His presence undoubtedly one of a predator.
It felt as if someone was trying to contain the sea inside a small pickle jar. His presence seemed to overflow in all directions and felt like the calm before a storm. Menacing and awe-inspiring like a tiger ready to pounce on you.
For a moment Reika wondered how someone could not feel it. That thrashing and barely contained danger following him wherever he went.
Though most probably thought that it had to do with him being a pureblood, Reika knew better. She could feel the waves of nostalgia and, for lack of better words, age rolling off of him and never before had the girl felt so apprehensive.
This apprehension turned to dread when she noticed that he was aware of her presence. The air seemed to be prodding her and for a moment she couldn't breathe.
Then she pushed with all of her might and felt the power reeling back in slight surprise. There was no chance of getting away anymore. The only thing left to do was to face Kuran Kaname and hope that he would not kill her.
LXXII.
Even though the servants feared Rido, they still stayed fiercely loyal to him and his children. When Kuran Kaname knocked on the Shiki mansion's door the brave head maid opened it and kindly asked him to fuck off.
Alright, she formulated it way more polite and along the lines of Takehiko not being home and him coming back to visit later. She tried it over and over again, coming up with additional reasons for why he could not enter the mansion. Her loyalty warmed Reika's heart, yet she was aware of the fact that it was completely undeserved.
Unfortunately, Reika knew that her supposed cousin would not leave no matter what they said. In hopes of salvaging the situation, she left her room and slowly walked in the direction of the foreign voice. Moving as fast as she could, Reika stopped a few meters behind the servant. ''He may come in, Chinatsu.''
The maid bit her lip and turned to look at her. ''Are you sure, Reika-sama?''
''Hai.''
Chinatsu swung the door open and the seemingly young pureblood entered the only home Reika had known in this new life.
Kuran Kaname's gazed racked over her form, assessed her, judged her. It wandered up and down her body till it finally reached her rosy orbs.
Reika clenched her fists.
LXXIII.
This was how it all started, with the first meeting of their eyes.
Important!: Only the first chapter will be written like this (in drabbles). It's a prologue and I decided to write it like this because I did not want to spend the next few months describing my protagonist's early childhood. However, I did not want to completely leave it out as well, so I decided to write this prologue. The next chapter will be a 'normal' one (2k-3k long) that will deal with Reika's and Kaname's first meeting.