Hi, I'm Lalalu. This is a try at a vampire story, and as usual when I write it's asucaga ).

I've borrowed a little from another fanfiction I read long ago which I, frankly, hardly remember at all. In any case, it's the idea that the vampires are bound to one human at a time that I borrowed. I thought it was an interesting (and quite evil) idea. Other than that it will be my own story mostly (especially since I don't remember any more of it). Usually I'm not into the horror genre (I'm not going to call this horror), and I don't know a lot about vampire myths so I'm just going to do as I please.

As for the contents, Athrun is a vampire and Cagalli is human. There will be violence and hints of sexual situations are possible but I haven't decided yet. Also poor Cagalli will suffer again… I think there is a risk of this getting pretty dark.

It's not set in any country that actually exists (which goes for all my fics.) Much more freedom for me that way.

Cruellest Most Beautiful You

01. Beautiful Prey

The night was chilly and the air was damp, autumn had clearly come. It was Friday and the city quarters were bustling with people, some of them were on their way home others were on their way to a new drinking place. Most of them were drunk. The air was full of noises from cars, cats fighting, people shouting, laughing, arguing.

Athrun quite liked this time, when the atmosphere was filled with a kind of madness that almost made him shiver with delight. Peoples emotions were at their extremes, happiness, love of course but also desire, anger, distain, bitterness, fear… emotions he was more interested in. It made his heart beat faster, and he got terribly thirsty.

He walked down the street enjoying the atmosphere ignoring the offers from the prostitutes, even if he liked their "ki" they did not have exactly what he was looking for. He had been searching for months now for the right one, because it was not a choice to be taken lightly. Honestly he was getting a little impatient since it was so long since the last time he fed. But it was not the first time he had been without under a long period of time, there was no need to rush, the right prey would surely appear if he just wandered these streets long enough. And as if to say his patience had paid off, he felt a strong scent and whirlwind of ki that hit him like a brick wall.

He felt his blood started boiling, his whole being was in uproar. His fangs that he had kept hidden were trying to grow out on their own. What a wonderful scent, possibly the best he ever had felt and that was coming from someone who had lived for several hundred years. Even though every hair on his body was standing he made himself calm down, it was too early to tell. It was very promising but he had to see his prey first, if there was one thing he could not stand ugly feed, it spoiled his appetite completely.

The scent came from an alley, he left the busy street and steadily moved his feet into the dark backstreet. He could sense four humans, three men that were not interesting at all, in fact they smelled nasty, but the last one was different. Oddly he could not at first determine if it was a man or a woman, not that it mattered, he had kept both men and women before. Some vampires had special preferences when it came to gender but to Athrun it was more important that the feed didn't offend his aesthetic sense. In other words he much rather kept a handsome man than an ugly woman.

He could hear their voices and apparently they hindered his possible prey from speaking with a hand or a gag perhaps?

'You can struggle all you want, you little bitch, but it won't get you anywhere.' He heard a voice say and two others that sniggered.

He quickened his pace and around the corner he could see the three men and his prey. Two of them were pinning it down and one of them was forcing its legs apart. His expectations proved correct, this was what the humans called rape. So what to do… He calmly looked at his prey and it was obvious it was a woman, and well they had called it "bitch". The skirt she was wearing was pulled up to her hips. He looked at the slender milk white legs and he was not disappointed, but still there was the face… He tried to get a look when the woman suddenly looked up, she apparently noticed him and looked at him with wide open pleading but scared eyes. And he knew he had found what he wanted, he had never such an eye colour before, they looked almost golden even in this shady light. What was more, behind those eyes there was a hint of resistance and strong will despite the situation it was in and he liked it. He shivered a little with delight just thinking what she would taste like, in the situation it was in now most probably bitter…

Well, well, when that was settled he had to deal with the riff-raff, he could not very well let them contaminate his prey now could he?

'Who the fuck are you?' The others had finally noticed him.

'Who, me? My name is Athrun Zala, don't mind me I was just watching. Please do continue.' Athrun smiled calmly back at them.

The perpetrators dropped their chins simultaneously, it looked quite amusing. But he did not have room to appreciate it at the moment because at the same time the woman's face was filled with despair. Probably she realised that he would not help her. And it made it almost impossible for Athrun to keep his composure, wave of lust washed over him. But he managed somehow to control himself, there was no need to rush, soon he would have what he wanted.

'Wh- what are you some kind of pervert?!' One of the men screamed angrily.

'It's funny you should call me that considering what you're doing now.' Athrun chuckled a little.

'You fuckin' poof, you'll regret this!' the man screamed and they came running at him

'Oh, you're attacking me? Then it's only self defence if I, for example, break your neck?' Athrun said and with one fast, elegant movement broke the first attacker's neck with a snap and threw it with one arm into the wall like it was a little doll. The impact was so hard the body was crushed and blood and insides ran out making a spectacular scene. Immediately he regretted doing so, the foul stench from that beast was irritating his sensitive sense of smell, and what was worse, it messed with the exquisite smell from his prey.

The other two attackers looked at him shocked for a short moment before they started running, trying to get away, 'It's a monster!!'

'Hey now that's quite rude of you.' Athrun moved so quickly that it seemed like he suddenly just appeared out of thin air before the terrified men.

'Please! Don't kill me!' One of them pleaded.

'I'm terribly sorry, but now that you've seen me, I can't let you go.' Athrun said calmly still smiling.

'I won't tell no one! I promise!'

'Unfortunately I don't trust anyone.' he said and the next second the two of them lay lifeless on the ground. 'Especially not vermin like you.' He added and turned his eyes to his prey, 'Now when that's settled, let's get down to business.'

For every step he took she seemed to shrink away, but she did not take her eyes off him.

'Y- you killed them…' She said. She was shaking and her eyes were filled with fear. He felt like shouting, soon he would taste the blood that was giving off this wonderful smell.

'Hmm, yes, as you can see. What of it?'

'Are you going to kill me too?'

Athrun broke out in a mischievous smile, 'What do you think?'

'You said you couldn't let them go because they had seen you…'

'Oh, that. Well it's true I won't let you leave.'

'No!' the woman screamed and tried to run away but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

'I think someone needs to learn how to behave. It's not very polite to leave in the middle of a conversation.'

'…' She did not answer but grimaced slightly, probably the grip he had on her hurt. It was hard to know how much force to use, but he lessened it a little. He had preferred not to leave any marks on that perfect skin but now well, it would go away soon he reckoned.

'I did say I won't let you leave, but that doesn't mean I'm going to kill you.'

'…You won't?'

'No, you're far too important for that.'

'Then what are you planning to do?' she looked at him with doubt mixed with fear.

'You'll know soon enough. But first let me introduce myself anew: I'm Athrun Zala, you are…?'

'…'

Athrun chuckled, she apparently did not want to tell him her name, like that would change anything.

'Must I remind you of your current situation? Now tell me your name and don't even think about lying, I'll notice immediately.' He changed his tone of voice just a little making it sterner.

'C- Cagalli'

'C- Cagalli?' he repeated mockingly, 'and the rest?'

'Attha… Cagalli Yula Attha.'

'Hmm, Cagalli Yula Attha, I look forward to seeing you again.' He said and sniggered.

I

Cagalli woke up with a start, her heart was racing and the sheets were damp from sweat. It felt incredibly disgusting, she threw them off her and sat up at the edge of the bed and tried to calm her breath. She understood she must have had a bad dream, but she could not remember what it was about. She did not really want to remember anyway, the way it made her feel was already more than enough so she did not try to.

She locked at the alarm clock, it showed 05:30. She waited a little trying to adjust her eyes to the dark of the room, outside the curtains it was dark too. At this time of the day, on a Saturday, there was probably no one walking on the streets except the occasional drunk trying to get home after a late wet night. Everybody was sleeping and normally she would too but today was different. She decided to go up and take a shower, there was no way she would be able to fall asleep again anyway.

She took her time in the shower and let the warm water pour over her, and it felt like she could calm down a little. When she came out and dried herself with a towel she noticed strange bruises around her left wrist. How could that have happened, when did she get this? She searched her memory but she could not remember anything out of the ordinary.

She had been at Lacus' together with Miriallia hanging out watching video, and by the time she left for home it had gotten pretty late. And since she did not want to worry her parents and her overprotective brother she decided to take a shortcut in order to save some time… After that she could not remember anything.

It was alright to forget a dream, but memory loss was different. She started to feel really uneasy and at the same time she felt a throbbing pain from her neck. She ran to the bathroom mirror to check but there was nothing there. There were no bruises nor cut nor scar, but the pulsation would not stop. The feeling of discomfort only grew stronger and now she was seriously scared. She started shaking, her feet gave away and she fell to the floor.

'What's wrong with me?' she asked herself and suddenly it got very hard to breathe. She fell on her back gasped for air. Desperately she stretched out her hands trying to grab hold of something that was not there. This was it, she was going to die. The worst thing was that the revelation did not give her peace to just give up, she was only filled with fear.

Green eyes, hard like precious stone, flashed before her eyes. They were beautiful but cold, twisted in a sneer.

At that moment she heard knocks on the door, 'Cagalli? Are you alright?' It was Kira, and as if by a stroke of magic everything turned to normal again.

'Cagalli?!'

Her pulse was still sky high and it was not like she could breathe freely but she managed to get enough air to answer him, "I'm okay, you don't have to worry."

'Are you sure?' Kira said doubtingly.

"I'm fine, I had a nightmare but it's alright now. You can go back to bed, don't worry."

'…Okay, if you say so…' Kira said and when she heard his footsteps as he went back to his room she sighed of relief. She did not want to make him worry unnecessarily, it was probably just stress anyway. She had worked herself up for nothing, if she could calm down and think about something else everything would be normal again.

She got up from the floor and picked up the towel. She looked in the mirror again and she was surprised that she looked totally normal. The skin tone looked healthy like it usually did, she tried a smile and it was hard to believe that the happily smiling person who was looking back at her really was her. She decided she would not think about it any more and continued with doing the she usually did, face cream, body lotion, deodorant, cutting her toe nails, blow-drying her hair. When she was finished she wrapped the towel around her again and hurriedly went back to her room.

She looked at the clock, it was now 06:50. She really did not feel like getting back to bed again so she got dressed and went downstairs and turned on the TV. As could be expected there was nothing good on so she flipped aimlessly through the channels.

At nine o'clock she heard someone moving upstairs and soon footsteps coming down the stairs, 'Cagalli? What are you doing up this early?' It was her mother who probably heard the sound from the TV on her way to the kitchen. The question was not unwarranted, usually both Cagalli and Kira seldom got up before twelve on weekends except when Cagalli had to get to her part-time work.

'Mm, I woke up from a nightmare and couldn't fall asleep again after that.'

'My poor baby.' her mother said, and Cagalli was amazed she could say something like that without irony.

'I'm not a baby anymore mom.'

'To me you will always be my little baby.' This time Via said it a little teasingly and Cagalli noticed the provocation but could not help to protest, 'Mom!'

'But it's still true. Anyway, you'll feel better when you've had breakfast. I'm sure that Uzumi will be as glad as me to be able to eat breakfast together. It never ceases to amaze me how long you teenagers can sleep, I can't remember the last we had breakfast together on a weekend." Via said and smiled.

'Well sorry for being a lazy teenager.' Cagalli muttered sulkily.

'Oh, but I didn't say anything about lazy? …You know, we should make a real breakfast you and I and surprise the others.'

'Real breakfast?'

'Like scrambled eggs or pancakes for example.'

'Hmm, I want pancakes, maybe fruit salad…'

'That's a good idea, oooh this will be fun.'

Via made the pancake batter, while Cagalli was started to peel and cut the fruit.

'Good morning, Cagalli, I'm surprised to see you up this early.' Uzumi who just came into the kitchen said.

'Morning dad.'

'Good morning honey.'

'…Are you making pancakes?'

'Yeah we thought it would be nice something different.'

'I like pancakes but I've never had them in the morning before, well I'm looking forward to it. By the way did anyone bring in the paper?'

'No.'

When Uzumi went to fetch the newspaper a more unexpected person came had dragged his feet down the stairs and was now coming into the kitchen.

'Morning...'

'Good morning, ah Kira aren't you up early?'

'Yeah… Pancakes?!'

'Well don't just stand there, help your sister with the fruit.'

'Eh, why do I have to? It wasn't my idea to start cooking in the morning, this is too early for me.'

'Then I guess you don't want to eat any of if either?' Via threatened.

'I get it, I get, I only have to help her right?'

Cagalli had not said a word since Kira came, normally she would protest loudly when Kira tried to escape from his chores. It was the number one reason to their fights, often like just now, Kira only did it to provoke Cagalli. It made him concerned, and there was the incident earlier this morning too.

'Are you okay, Cagalli?' he asked.

'Eh, what? Yeah, I'm fine.´

'You'll tell me if something's wrong, right?'

'…'

'I know this sounds strange but I woke up with this feeling you were going away from us. I can't explain it very well but I felt so… well sad. And then I heard you scream.' Kira said seriously.

'Truthfully I felt a little strange when I woke up, but now it's totally fine. I was probably only stressed because of the nightmare.'

'It must've been one hell of a nightmare.'

'Probably.'

'Probably?'

'Actually I don't remember it.'

'…Anyway I'm glad it's nothing more serious. How was yesterday? Did you have fun?'

'Mm, it was fun. What, did you want to come?

'Not particularly…'

'We talked a lot about you, especially Lacus…'

'What?! What did she say?'

'It's a secret.'

'Come on Cagalli!'

'Why don't you ask Lacus?'

'That's mean, you know I can't ask her.'

'You like her don't you? Why don't you ask her out?'

'It's not that easy, what if she says no?'

'If you wait too long someone else might ask her.'

'Know that… Cagalli could you do me a favour?'

'…What?'

'Could you ask Lacus what she thinks about me, you're her best friend and all, you talk about everything, right?'

'No way! Ask her yourself!'

'Please? I promise I'll do all your chores for a month if you ask her.'

'…tempting but no. If you don't have the guts to ask her yourself you don't deserve her. You're a guy right? Please get a spine.'

'Mean.'

'Shut up, looser.'

'Evil witch.'

'Pathetic jerk.'

'Ok, that's it you two. Stop fighting, and start cutting. I'm almost finished and you're not half-done.'

'Ok mom.' the twins answered in unison.

Uzumi made coffee and they had breakfast as a family for the first time in months.

Cagalli felt relieved it had only been a temporary thing, now she felt better. It was funny how it could be so different during one day but the memory of how she had felt in the morning paled.

She looked up at the clear blue autumn sky and breathed in the cool fresh air. The leaves in their colours were so distinct and the still green grass was covered with frost, making silvery lines.

She felt fine, but she was a little worried. Would it last?