"Get out!!"
Zero's broken cry echoed in Yuuki's ears long after she left the room he was in behind. Even when he scolded her, even when he chided her, even when he told her to leave him alone after she said that her Vampire side ate his best friend, he never yelled at her. Not like that. Not sounding so broken and angry and sad. All Yuuki wanted to do was what she had always done. She wanted to wipe the blood and tears and fight away all the monsters. And if she could not do that she wanted to be with him in the darkness. As long as Zero was by her side, Yuuki was never afraid. But Zero had just pushed her away and he had meant it this time. Usually when he did it there was an underlying, desperate plea for her not to go. But this time there had been none of that.
"Kuran," she heard the concern in Yagari's voice, even as he addressed her as Kuran.
Yuuki Kuran, the Pureblood Princess.
Yuuki felt her eyes fill. Suddenly the world was a bright, scary place. She was a Vampire, a Pureblood Vampire. Reaching up she gripped her hair, hair that was suddenly impossibly heavy. She had always kept her hair short. It was practical and easy and, as Yori told her, it made her eyes look bigger. But now her hair was long, almost past her waist in length. It seemed silly to care that much about something like hair but somehow it seemed like hair was just the last thing that sent her tumbling over the edge. She was Yuuki Kuran. She had long, waist length hair and untold powers and her best friend hated her guts. She was engaged, she was a different species and all one of the boys she loved wanted to do was rip her to shreds.
Zero wanted to kill her.
Zero who had always held her close. Who scolded her for drinking his blood. Zero who she had just kept alive against his will. Who she had just kissed to keep alive against his will. One of her hands shakily touched her lips, the taste of her blood and his mingling on her tongue. He had tasted her before but she had never tasted his blood. It was different than Kaname's and yet, somehow it held both hers and Kaname's taste on it. But under that, under that was Zero. Against her will Yuuki felt her fangs ache. She wanted more. She shut her eyes tightly. What a horrible time to be hit with blood lust. She looked over at Yagari.
"Ichiru is dead. Zero drained him."
Yuuki's eyes widened. The gunshot, the blood, it all made sense now. Ichiru Kiryuu was dead. Zero had Shizuka's blood now by proxy. He was no longer in any danger of becoming a Level E. Even if he hated her now she was thrilled for him. Then, it hit her that Zero's twin was dead. Zero's brother, his other half, he too was dead. Zero had pushed her away, had wanted to separate from her forever, she had agreed to it ignoring the voice that screamed that this was not Zero. Not the Zero she knew. And then Kaname had--Kaname had-- Her feet moved automatically to the door. She had to talk to Zero. She had to tell him that she was still Yuuki, even if she was a Vampire just as he was still Zero though he was one as well.
"Don't," Yagari's hand grabbed her wrist before she could go in the room.
"Why not?" she demanded.
"Because what's being said in there is for Kiryuu and Cross alone," he said.
Inside the room Zero stared, his eyes going from the photograph to Kaien. Without his glasses, with his hair down, the similarities were unmistakable. Zero and his brother had always been the spitting image of their father. Same twilight eyes, same silver hair. Their mother used to joke that she was the only one with any warm coloring in their little family.
He had been young and his family's murder had left a raw, agonizing wound. He had been unable to think of Ichiru without being physically sick for months. His parents had always been Mommy and Daddy, Mommy and Daddy who hunted the bad Vampires. Things like maiden names were not mentioned. In fact, things like extended family were not mentioned at all. He had never even heard about any Uncles or Aunts or Cousins. The only mention of any kind of family was their linage.
Linage of someone related to a Vampire Hunter like that of Kaien Cross.
"She never mentioned you," he said looking up at Kaien. Raw pain showed in is eyes, "no one ever mentioned you!"
"Nor would she have," he said, "your mother and I had a falling out when you and Ichiru were just babies."
At the mention of his twin pain seared across Zero's chest. He dropped the photograph as his fingers dug into the skin over his heart. It landed up, the smiling faces of his mother and Kaien looking back at him. He remembered feeling Ichiru's breath on his neck and then it stopped, his twin going cold in his arms. He had bit him, just as Ichiru had asked but it was harder than any other time to take blood. He had been crying, crying hard enough that it was difficult to swallow each mouthful of blood that filled his mouth. But he had done it, he had taken the power of his twin, the power of the Vampire that bit him, he had taken it all. Nausea surged through him as he dropped to all fours, his hand swatting the photograph away.
"Drink."
His eyes widened but all that was in his field of vision was a glass of perfectly normal water. He wanted to swat Kaien's hand away but something told him this time it would not be that easy. With shaking fingers he took the glass and took a sip of water. It felt wonderful going down his throat, even if by all accounts his body shouldn't still require the nourishment of food or water. He was Vampire now, fully a Vampire without the threat of being a Level E hanging over his head. He was not enslaved by the beast inside him anymore. But somehow he was more enslaved than he had ever been before.
"What happened?" Zero demanded.
"That's a long story," Kaien said with a faint, bitter smile that looked strange on his face, "we have all had long days and the Day Class is very confused at the moment."
"Are you going to tell them?" he demanded.
"Yes," he said, "hopefully the fact that their lives were just saved by the Night Class will be enough to make them see that not all Vampires are monsters."
Kaname Kuran had come back into the dorms and locked himself in his room, making it very clear that he wanted to be left alone.
Of course that sent the entire Night Class into a virtual frenzy of confusion. Even if he did not control them they all were usually acutely aware of Kaname's emotions. Especially when he was upset. This was not his usual brand of upset. This bordered on murderous in anger and suicidal in depression. How he could feel those two so acutely was anyone's guess but they were tempted to put someone on suicide watch for the Pure Blood.
Unfortunately being overwhelmed by the Pure Blood's murderous rage and being drained from excessive use of their powers seemed to render the Blood Tablets quite useless. It seemed whatever nourishment was to be gained from them was lost in the black pit of hunger that had overcome the Night Class. No one was stupid enough to try for human blood, not when Kaname was just looking for a reason to show them how disgustingly powerful he was. After practically bottles of the tablets had disappeared to very little effect, it became clear that the Night Class was going to have to do something drastic to satiate the Blood Lust.
Up in his room Kain was doing everything he could to distract himself. His side of the room was looking more and more like his cousins thanks to the fact that he knew if he set one foot outside the room there was one place he was going. If he had less pride he wouldn't mind being a replacement for the Pure Blood but as it was he couldn't stand the thought of acting like a rebound. Even if the only thing on his mind was the thought of what Ruka's blood would do to him. He felt his fangs lengthen at the prospect and groaned, burying his face in his pillow. Bloodlust was bad. Unrequited Bloodlust was worse.
"Kain?"
Oh dear sweet God this was not what he needed.
Miserably he turned his head to see an equally disheveled Ruka standing in the doorway. He tried to keep his mouth shut and his body curled to hid the obvious evidence of his desire but it was useless. Her smell was mixed perfectly with whatever perfume she wore. It slipped through his defenses like a caress, sending his Bloodlust soaring as he fought the urge to groan outright. His hand fisted in the pillow as she continued to stand there. If he opened his mouth she was going to see the evidence of his desire.
What Kain failed to see was that Ruka was in just the same state he was. She had tried to sleep, tried not to think about running to Kaname even if there was a risk he'd rip her throat out. The problem was that every time she thought of Kaname the only image in her mind was that of the ember eyed Kain. Kain who she had fought alongside, who had saved her, who had always always been there even when she threw herself at another. Humiliation had welled in her at the memories of her attempts on Kaname. Even if she still cared about him hindsight made her ill at the thought of her begging for him. For some horrible reason all she could think of was Kain. Kain and his ember eyes, the fire that flew from his fingertips--would his blood be hotter because of it? Knowing he would do nothing, knowing he would see himself as a replacement through her eyes, she had staggered to his room.
"Kain," she repeated his name, her voice no longer questioning but softer somehow, as if she was asking for what they both wanted.
"Ruka," he shook his head, "Get out."
"No," she refused his request, stepping forward. Without the aide of the wall desire made her knees weak.
Despite everything that said he shouldn't Kain appeared next to her, his arm wrapping around her as her knees buckled and she sagged in his embrace. Her scent was a thousand times more potent this close and he was drowning in it. He could see her pulse in her neck as her head fell to the side. The arm that was not wrapped around her shoulders reached out and swept her hair aside, exposing he column of her throat. His fangs lengthened in anticipation as his body tightened at the fact she was in his arms.
Her own body reacted both to the strong arm at his back and the scent that clung to him. He felt hot, physically hot and where his skin touched hers she was on fire. By far the worst was that his teeth had left a cut in his lip. Ruka was hyperaware of everything, especially of the faintest tease of blood that she could smell.
"Kain," her voice was a breath moan, "please," she gasped, "Akatsuki--"
At the calling of his first name his resolve snapped like a rubber band as he buried his teeth in her neck. Ruka cried out as the pleasure and pain of the act overwhelmed her, one of her hands burying in his hair, pushing his mouth even closer. His hand left her hair and wrapped around her waist, pulling her even closer to him. It was not just that she would feed next, it was the fact that he was feeding on her that sent her pulse racing. When he pulled back, she turned her face to his and kissed him. The taste of their blood mixing together, it was intoxicating as she pushed him backwards onto his bed. Her weight was warm and welcome on top of him as she turned his head and tore her lips away, bending down and puncturing his throat. The same taste of their blood hit her tongue and all Ruka wanted to do was drink more. The Blood Tablets, though unsatisfying, had provided their basic nourishment. But what they were doing now was fulfilling their desires.
She heard Kain gasp raggedly above her as her hands dug into the skin of his shoulders. She had always liked the fact that he had a penchant for being shirtless but never had she liked it this much. Finally she pulled back, her lips still stained with their blood. Before she could look at him he did the exact thing she did turned his head, kissing her deeply. His tongue swiped the blood from her lips before deepening the kiss. She was so lost she didn't even feel it when her back hit the expanse of his bed, his weight on her chest. Ruka wrapped her arms around him, desperate to feel more of the Vampire. He dragged his lips to the faint mark on her neck and bent his head, teasing the skin with a feather caresses of his lips and tongue.
Ruka barely recognized her voice when she moaned his name. He clearly heard and it clearly did something to him because his lips were suddenly much hotter on her neck. She felt something cold at the crook of her neck and realized it was his earring. She had forgotten about that. Between the heat of his lips and the cool of his earring Ruka couldn't think, she couldn't do anything but press herself closer to him.
"Man I'm so--" Aido froze.
His cousin was making out with Ruka.
The smell of blood and an entirely different kind of lust was heavy on the air. Aido's eyes widened and he slammed the door, throwing himself backwards as he desperately tried to control his reaction to the smell. Possibly the last thing the Night Dorms needed was an all out feeding orgy. He could practically smell the blood in the hallway. He inhaled sharply, no, he could definitely smell the blood in the hallway. Even if he froze the door now there was nothing to be done about the smell. It was only a matter of time before the scent reached--he heard a commotion below his feet and realized that the scent had reached downstairs. Not everyone had a lovely fellow Vampire willing to share blood with them. Not everyone would remember that Kaname Kuran was begging for an excuse to murder someone.
Though walking down the hallway to his room felt like walking to his own execution Aido knew that the consequences would be far worse if someone did not tell him what was going. Arriving at the door was like standing on the edge of a cliff. A cliff jutting over a pit of molten lava. Wincing Aido took breath and jumped off the edge as he knocked on the door.
"Kaname?" he looked inside.
Kaname looked horrible. He was lying on the couch, one hand behind his head and the other held in front of his face. The blood that dripped down his fingers was obviously Kiryuu's. From the look in his eyes, something had happened between Cross Academy's favorite masochistic love triangle. At his entry Kaname turned his gaze briefly to him and then back to his bloody hand. Just as Aido opened his mouth to tell him what was going on, Kaname spoke.
"I am a fool."
"K-Kaname?" he stared.
"I swore to her that I would protect Yuuki," he said, "I felt so incredibly guilty for what happened. I would have sworn anything. I would have taken the sword for Juran. But even if I'm not him, I still wear the face of the son they lost to me," he looked almost pensive for a moment, "they never treated me any different. Even if I was technically ages older than them, I still had a mother and a father," he sighed, "strange, my real parents abandoned me because they thought I was a monster."
"My deepest apologies, Kaname but Ruka and Kain are--uh--well there's blood in the air and the Night Class is acting up."
Kaname sighed and stood up, walking over to the rarely used sink and washing his hand clean of the blood that clung to his fingers. He turned and walked out of the room, brushing past Aido, still lost in his own miserable thoughts. Aido cursed himself for going to get him. If Kaname needed to be lost in his thoughts he should be able to be. It seemed rather unfair to put everything on him. But he was their leader. The world did not end because--Aido stopped, his eyes widening. Because somehow the love triangle had broken. It couldn't be. She couldn't have chosen Kiryuu over him. But all the signs he saw pointed towards that.
As Kaname swept down the hallway to stop the bloodlust all Aido could think was that suddenly the prospect of feeding was the least of their problems.
