part one: how could you become new, if you had not first become ashes?

or

Saya, and life with the Sakamaki Brothers pre-Yui.

Take me I'm alive
Never was a girl with a wicked mind
But everything looks better when the sun goes down
I had everything
Opportunities for eternity
And I could belong to the night

'Make Me Wanna Die', The Pretty Reckless

Kisaragi Saya, for the few short months she lived as such, had been a seventeen-year-old girl attending Sanbara High School. She had been – at least, by her beliefs – normal.

Saya, with memories of pain-filled immortality returned and far older than seventeen, could not pull it off as easily.

Karlheinz – Reinhart at the school as a doctor of all things – however, insisted.

"Otherwise, how will you protect Eve?" he said whimsically, adjusting his disguise. It was hardly a disguise, Saya thought. There was almost no effort made to disguise his face, made to distract the senses of those who were prey. He was like the rest of those that walked the night, a carnivorous flower, drawing in its food with pretty colors and scents until it was too late for the prey to escape.

The inhumane were so often beautiful, enough to draw in poor, unfortunate souls to their demise.

"No, milady, you must attend the academy. Oh, don't be so quick to protest!" He smiled, a soft pull of the lips and a gentle curve of the eyes that gave him a mysterious, almost melancholic air.

It was the kind Fumito used to wear, and on Karlheinz Saya hated it.

"Ryoutei Academy will be good for you," he promised when she refused. "It is a fine institution, one that will help prepare you for anything you may need in the future. It is always good to keep one's options open, after all."

Because a vampire could not create false identities that would let her be an adult instead of a minor needing legal protection. She pointed out to him that if he was acting as a school doctor, he could very well make up an adult's identity for her without needing this ridiculous, childish farce.

Karlheinz protested to her accusations of fraud.

"I will have you know, my dear lady, that I am fully qualified to be called by the title of 'doctor'," he said indignantly. "More than qualified. One cannot have accomplished nothing at my age lest he be considered useless. I have doctorates in many fields of studies. Under different names, but the education is very much there and properly earned."

Saya gave up, and another Kisaragi Saya entered high school, this time as a nineteen-year-old who had been severely ill for a long time and was attending for her final year. She was to attend this one school in particular at night because her cousins attended it in the same period of time, and she could use all the help she could get.

She refused to become Sakamaki Saya, because as her father she would only accept Kisaragi Tadayoshi. It was one of the few things she would not give up on, no matter the falsehoods or the pointlessness of it all at this point. Karlheinz did not protest at her insisting on it – and made the false identities and background stories for it, proving her point but remaining firm on the farce.

"Take care of yourself, Kisaragi-chan," 'Doctor Reinhart' simpered.

Saya frowned. "You're not coming with me?"

Not even introducing her to his sons himself?

He grinned, eyes twinkling with mirth, and leaned in like he wanted to share a secret with her.

"I'm afraid my sons don't like me very much," he whispered, and pulled back to allow the demon familiar to shut the door of the limousine.

She took his words at face value at the time, but after her arrival Saya felt the urge to stab him with one of the many swords he had provided her with.

The Vampire King was cut from the same cloth as Fumito, which meant that he plotted and kept all his plans to himself. It was a strict need-to-know basis he worked with, where every last thing needed to be under his control.

Case in point, he did not see anyone 'needing to know' of Saya's presence until the day of her arrival at the manor where his sons lived under the name of 'Sakamaki'.

'My sons can be a little rough,' Karlheinz had said, the bastard. Had Saya been a regular girl, she likely would have been killed in the first few minutes of her arrival.

As it was, she made for quite the entrance instead, destroying parts of the manor and leaving three of the six boys in craters, dazed and beaten.

While the redheaded one – the first one to jump at her – swore, Saya dusted off her hands and made an assessment of what she had seen so far. The other redhead and the silver-haired one both appeared a little concussed, but still intact. No broken bones or skin – but only because she had held back, not because of any skill in fighting on their part.

Her conclusion was that she could have killed them. Despite their human appearance they were still very much not covered by her vow to protect. She could have slit their throats and drunken their blood, fed from them until they were drained dry.

She could have.

'I'd prefer it if they were alive, but losing one or two is alright,' Karlheinz had told her. 'So long as I get an Adam from one of them. Do as you will with my sons, my dear lady.'

Shady business partners were never the best to work with. He hadn't even told all his sons that she would be living with them, likely expecting for her to run into this kind of 'welcome' and thinking it to be more beneficial in the long run.

How troublesome.

Saya nearly sighed, and let her eyes, still red and ready for battle, for blood, roll to meet the gaze of the dark-haired one standing at the top of the stairs. Like all those that lived in the sparsely lit embrace of the night as hunters, he was pale and beautiful, but unlike his brothers his hair was the shade of dark charcoal and he was dressed impeccably down to the last crease of his uniform. His sternness reflected not just in his way of dress but also his face, hard as if they were carved out of ice, or marble.

"You must be Kisaragi Saya," he said coolly, as if having three of his brothers defeated by her was nothing but a minor inconvenience. "I have been told you would arrive. Please, make yourself at home."

There was nothing warm or welcoming about his voice, and his words were just that, words with no significant meaning or genuine emotion behind them. Nothing but lip service.

She preferred it that way, devoid of emotional warmth, for what was to happen. It was easier to deal with someone who drew clear lines and didn't try to approach her on a more personal level, and with what was planned one last betrayal was hardly something she would appreciate.

While the brighter-colored brothers she had knocked down protested and questioned her presence, she merely nodded and gathered her things, a suitcase of clothes Karlheinz had picked out for her and the swords he had given her. All three of them, plus the one she had from before.

Really, a blade was all she needed. The clothes were just Karlheinz having fun dressing her up like a doll, insisting that she was fashionably prepared for every occasion.

"I am Reiji," he introduced himself as he led her down the hall and to a room like the ideal butler. Furnished in a luxurious western style, it had a large bed, a grand window, thickly carpeted floors and a desk. Far more than what she had needed, but with no personal touches or warmth. "The ones that welcomed you were my half-brothers, Ayato, Laito and Subaru."

Saya nodded and mentally took note of how his lips curled into a slight sneer at the mention of his brothers. Or was it the 'welcome' part?

"Dinner will be served at the hall in two hours," he informed her. "I have been alerted of your dietary preferences. Please do attend."

While phrased as one it was hardly a request, but Saya would acquiesce to it. She still had the others to scope out, and a first impression to decide on.