A/N: If you're curious the song Cora played on her panflute was the song The Lonely Shepherd by George Zamfir! You can find it on youtube!

It did not come as a surprise to Cora when Reiji had a long list of rules for her to abide by while residing in their home. No messes, no loud noises, keep yourself presentable and no foul language to name a few. She was quite convinced that her very existence broke half of them. And on top of that, she was explicitly banned from burning sage within the house. Cora scowled sorting through her supplies, crinkling her nose in irritation at the thought.

'I'm sure he wants to keep me from cleansing this joint. The whole damn mansion oozes entropic, negative energy. I need a death witch to take care of this shit.'

For as long as she could remember, the Sakamakis were always handed brides for their own sick pleasure and it's disgusted Cora since she was old enough to realize just what that entailed. The witch found herself wondering just how many girls died within these halls. It made her feel off knowing that she, a young woman, was relatively safe in this house for the time being. But those girls…they came here to die. When all of this was over, that was one thing she wanted to do away with.

Cora knew that vampires had to have their food but there could have been other ways of doing that. More ethical means. And not sending off young girls who had no one to miss them to die at the hands of such cruel beasts. Lambs lead to the slaughter house. But she promised herself that the brothers would learn that she was no lamb. And she had teeth too.

'I wonder how angry they would be if I anointed random object in the house with holy water.' She wondered with a wicked smirk, 'Maybe I could even anoint someone's door knob so they'll be locked out.'

The thought brought her petty satisfaction but she dismissed the idea. As much as she hated them, she was here for the negotiations. And while she had next to no bearing on how they went positively, Cora knew that she could negatively impact the proceedings if she wasn't careful. It was far better for her to pick her battles. The witch looked outside and a wide grin split across her face. The night was filled with scattered with cirrocumulus clouds, casting a scaled appearing veil over the waxing gibbous. That meant that a storm was brewing soon.

'Reiji doesn't want me to cleanse the manor with burning sage, huh? That's fine. I'll cleanse it with the storm that I'm about to help along.'

Cora snatched up some of her blue and grey pillar candles and started shoving them into a messenger bag. She also squeezed in her bamboo rainmaker, incense, salt, spray bottle of holy water and her pan flute. She hoisted the bag up onto her shoulder, grabbed her wooden drum and left the mansion. Music was not required to work her magic, many found other ways without it. But for Cora, she found that her storm calling was always much more effective with it. It had more soul, power, heart.

A sigh escaped her when she stepped out into the balmy night air. The moon was full enough to light her way and she wandered around the grounds searching for the perfect spot to set up. She settled on this large courtyard growing beautiful white roses. There was no one else around that she could see so she set her bag to the ground and pulled out her candles and set them up in a circle on the stone. The area inside was very large, giving her plenty of room to work and as she drew a line of salt connecting the candles, Cora could feel excitement bubbling within her.

"Oi! What the hell do you think you're doing here?" snapped an angry voice from behind her.

The rosette whipped around to see a silver-haired man glaring at her. His eyes were a piercing red and they bore into her dark ones with a simmering rage. He was casually dressed, jeans a black shirt with a leather jacket over it and a key hanging around his neck. Cora wondered why he wore that but pushed down her curiosity. She didn't recognize this vampire so she knew this must have been one of the two that Reiji told her about.

"There are two of this household that did not see fit to grace us with their presence. The oldest is Shuu and he is a useless lump that you will likely find sleeping out in the house somewhere instead of his own room. I feel like he befouls the furniture by laying on it. The youngest son is Subaru. He will likely be breaking something so do please try to encourage him to not put another hole in my walls."

'Well,' Cora thought, 'He's not sleeping but he's not breaking anything either. But I'm going to assume that this is Subaru based on that angry glare.'

She sighed and placed her hands on her hips, "I'm the witch."

The vampire gave her a blank look, "Tch, is that supposed to mean something to me?"

"You serious? I know Reiji had to have told you about me coming."

"You think I give a shit about what that guy says? You are even more stupid than you look."

Cora glared back, "Listen fang-face, maybe no one told you, but it's pretty stupid to start insulting the witch."

"Haa?!" Subaru advanced forward, "Watch yourself, little girl."

She snatched up her bottle of holy water and pointed it at him, warningly, "You watch it. Unless you want a bath in holy water."

The vampire stopped in his tracks, eyes widening for a moment before narrowing them sharply. His lip curled in a feral snarl and he clenched his fists by his side. Cora could see the line of his shoulders shaking finely. Yeah, this definitely had to be Subaru.

"Let's get something straight for you here. You guys can't kill me. Orders straight from your father, for one."

"I don't give a shit about his orders!" Subaru roared.

"Secondly," Cora continued firmly, ignoring his outburst, "If you DO break his order and kill me you will have the entirety of a very powerful and very angry coven bearing down on you. Possibly more. Even if you haven't experienced a curse first hand, you must have heard tales about what happens when someone becomes the target of an entire coven."

"Tch…"

She relaxed then, not even realizing she that she was tense in the first place. The witch was still a bit wary but most of his anger seemed to be diverted so she slowly set down the spray bottle. Cora found herself wishing she had waited until she came up with a barrier that could repel vampires. She had heard of one but apparently it was really hard to cast.

"Now that we have that settled, you might want to go inside." She flashed him a bright smile then, "It's about to storm."

"What? You really are stupid, aren't you? There aren't any storm clouds."

Cora ignored his insult, "Not yet."

The witch finished completing the circle with salt, expecting him to leave her alone given how averse he had been to her presence.

"Why do you have to do that shit here? Just go somewhere else!"

"A little late to do that now that I've set up everything, doncha think?" Cora asked dryly, sitting down cross-legged in the center and lighting her stick of incense, "Besides, the salt will kill the grass and nothing will grow there for years."

"Whatever, just hurry up!" He growled.

"Why?" She snapped back, pulling out her rain maker and pan flute, "You have an entire set of grounds and mansion to wander and be by yourself!"

"Because I want to be here!"

Cora made a noise of disgust, "Fine, just sit there and watch then! Just be quiet!"

Subaru grumbled under his breath but he didn't say anything else. The rosette turned back to face in front of her, pointed north and took a deep breath, closing her eyes. Slowly she let it out and took in another. Smoke from her burning incense, a fragrant ocean scent, curled upwards in a steady tendril. She felt her agitation melt away and she took another deep breath, slowly exhaling. A soft breeze filtered through the courtyard and Cora took another deep breath in.

This time she let out a long, low whistle, summoning up her magic. The wind picked up then, briskly dancing through her hair and the surrounding rose bushes. She smiled then, feeling a moment of contented bliss settle into her bones. Her magic continued to well up inside of her, eager to call its next tempest.

Cora snapped her eyes open then, brought her hands before her and snapped her fingers. The candles sparked to life in a burst of flame when she shot out her energy to the circle she had made, reinforcing it with her magic. With her circle set, she picked up her pan flute and began to play, every breath out meant to make the winds ebb and flow in the wild dance that came with a storm.

Power seeped into the stones, the candles, the air and brewed in the sky. The scattered cirrocumulus clouds swelled to bursting with rain and overshadowed the moon. The night grew darker and soon the large swollen flames of Cora's candles and the light streaming out from the mansion were the only sources of illumination in the courtyard. Subaru was still watching silently although his red eyes were no longer burning as intensely as when he first entered the courtyard. Instead he was watching with a feigned disinterest but his eyes never came off the circle.

The clouds continued to grow and swell the more Cora played her pan flute. The winds began to grow to a steady low howl but the flames of her candles would not die under the fuel of her magic. Energy channeled through the witch, crackling beneath her skin as the storm grew above her head but still no thunder, lighting or rain came. She finished her song and stood up, having completely forgotten that Subaru was there.

That is until he started laughing hysterically, "Hahahahaha! You look so ridiculous!"

Cora whipped around to glare at the vampire, "I thought I said to be quiet! And what's so damn funny!?"

Subaru snickered, "Hehehe, your hair…Hahahaha you look like you stuck your finger in a circuit outlet! You look hahaha so stupid!"

The witch shot her hands up to feel her hair as if she had never experienced it before. But it was normal after she first summoned up a storm since she would build up so much static electric energy within her. The rosette's cheeks puffed out in anger and she glowered, setting her flute down and snatched up her drum and rested it under her arm against her hip.

Cora began to beat against her drum, gradually building up in speed. The vampire was still laughing at her and she felt the electric energy grow with her anger at him. Faster and faster she beat on her drum until she slapped down her hand, channeling forth her energy into the blow. A loud crash of thunder rumbled through the courtyard and into the sky from her drum. The laughter died from Subaru's throat and his face twisted into one of surprise.

Cora smirked smugly, "Now who looks stupid?"

A flush crossed the tops of his cheeks and he growled at her, "S-shut up, little girl!"

"This little girl has a name!" she corrected sharply, "It's Cora."

"Heh. And why should I call you by anything? You're nothing but prey."

"First off, I'm not here as prey. I am here as an emissary for these peace talks. Second…" She gave him a saccharine smile then, "If you refuse to call me by my name I'll just keep calling you things like 'fang face' or 'leech' or 'mosquito'. You know…" She slapped her drum again and summoned up more thunder to tear through the air, "I think I like 'mosquito'. You also steal blood and you are annoying as hell."

Subaru snarled and stepped into her circle, smearing part of the salt ring. Cora was still beating on her drum, and backed away when he reached for her, "Hey wait don't touch-!"

Too late. The moment the vampire brushed his fingers against her arm, electricity shot out and knocked him back a few feet although he remained on standing.

"What the fuck?!" he spat.

"I tried to warn you!" Cora shot back defensively, "I have too much…built up…..Pffffffft!"

The witch fell into uncontrollable laughter after getting one look at the angry vampire. Subaru's hair was completely standing up from the electricity of touching her, resembling a silver puffy cloud. She began to snort unattractively as a blush crossed his face and he glared at her.

"Now what?!"

"N-now look-hahahaha- now look who looks ridiculous!"

"Ha?!"

Subaru shot his hands up to feel his head to find that his hair was standing on end. Cora didn't think it was possible but he flushed even redder but did not approach again, instead clenching his fists tightly. Tears were rolling down her face, gasping desperately for air.

"Hahahahaha! You look like-hahaha- an angry poofball!"

"Tch! Shut up!" he snapped, "God you piss me off!"

Cora gasped for air, finally starting to regain her composure. She wiped away the tears from her eyes and straightened, picking up her drumming again. Subaru's expression was one of sour anger and still the static had his hair standing up. The witch fell into snickers again so she turned around so she couldn't see him and went back to focusing on her thunder calls.

It didn't take long to fall back into the rhythm and she pounded on the drums, alternating between regular playing and summoning up powerful shakes of thunder. Then a flash of lightning cut across the sky from the clouds and she set her drum down outside of the circle along with her pan flute. The clouds shook with their own thunder this time and another bolt of lightning flashed across the sky.

"Are you done yet?!" Subaru demanded in a growl.

"No." Cora shot back angrily, "Now get out of my circle."

"Heh. I don't think so. I go where I want to."

"You- you are just-! UGH! Fine! Just stay out of my way!"

Cora turned her back on Subaru, an angry flush across her cheeks when she walked back to the center and moved her still burning incense off to the side of the circle. Then she picked up her rainmaker and turned it over. The sound of the small pebbles inside tinkling against the bamboo trickled up to her ears before she turned it over again. Then she began to dance.

It was not an organized, choreographed display, such a thing was not meant to work a storm. Her dance was wild, erratic, almost clumsy but it held a tremendous power like tempest brewing in the sky above them. The roses snapped around in the rising winds, a few weeping some loose white petals as if to add to her dance. Cora twirled with the rain maker, reaching up for the sky, shaking around the pebbles within the bamboo.

She let go of all the power that had welled up within her and released it into her dance, making uncoordinated pulling motions with her hands. It was as if she were trying to pull the clouds lower. And lower they did sink until at last they burst. Rain gushed down with another roll of thunder and extinguished all of her candles. The warm water soaked her hair and plastered her tank top to her skin, making her loose flowing skirt heavy with moisture. The salt lines began to lump up beneath the rain and then steadily dissolve as it continued to gush downwards.

Cora felt exhilarated as the storm howled around her. With a joyous laugh she tilted her head back and let the rain pelt her face, water rolling down her neck. But her magic wasn't over yet. She called the storm to cleanse the mansion and that was what she had to do. The witch resumed her dance, directing her motions towards the manor, channeling the energy around her. It wasn't a thing anyone could see but anyone with a decent sixth sense could feel it. Cora directed that power through the manor, chasing away the entropic energy that had built up like a cast of mold.

Lightning arced through the clouds again, flashing white light across her skin and still she danced, soaked to the brim but feeling connected to the storm that lashed at the manor. The power coursed through her and purged the mansion of the rank prickling of death that hung over the place until at last she was done. Feeling tired but elated from her ritual, Cora dropped her arms and smiled, enjoying the rain rolling over her skin in rivulets.

"You can't dance for shit." Subaru sneered.

"It wasn't meant to be organized." She told him easily, still feeling content from her ritual, "It's a storm, a choreographed dance isn't as effective. It's meant to be wild."

Thunder rumbled over head for emphasis. Cora began to gather up her candles and the rest of her supplies, shoving them back into her bag.

"You changed the energy of the house…" the vampire observed after he looked back to the mansion.

"Your damn right I did. I don't know how you all lived in that cesspool. It had so much nasty death build up from years worth of negativity and murders. Like your brides."

When Cora turned back to face Subaru, she noticed through the rain that he was smirking now and advancing towards her. She had already discharged all of the electric energy that had build up within her so now she was back to her ordinary self. And the holy water was in her bag. In a moment of panic she fumbled for it but Subaru grabbed her wrist and tugged her closer to him. Her other hand was occupied, holding up her drum so she quickly released it so she could take a swing at him.

Her speed may have been faster than a humans but it was still no match for a vampire. Cora quickly found herself with both wrists in a crushing grip and she came to the stunning realization that Subaru could easily snap the bones within easily if he wanted to. He got in her face, his eyes still holding their angry glare but his mouth was curled in a wicked smirk.

"Hehehe. That's a nice face. This side suits you better."

Cora snarled, "H-hey! Let go of me or I'm gonna blast you again!"

Subaru was not convinced, "You would have done it already."

"I'm trying to give you a chance here."

"Hehe or you don't have as much power as you say. You know I wanted to have this place to myself tonight and you ruined that. I think you owe me something…"

Unbelievable. Cora wondered if all vampires were as insufferable as Subaru was. The witch growled and squirmed in his hold but he dropped his smirk and growled, tightening his grip. Ayato, Laito and Kanato had been strong but Subaru's strength completely eclipsed theirs.

"If you don't keep still, I'll snap your wrists." He threatened lowly.

That stilled her struggles as she swallowed the lump in her throat. She was tired from her ritual so the only lightning she would be able to call down was what was in the clouds above. Would that kill him? Was she really prepared to take that risk and potentially jeopardize their peace efforts? Maybe if she played along, he would let her go?

The smirk appeared back on his face, the rain plastering his hair to his skin, "Good girl."

Cora glared at him but wisely kept still. Subaru tugged her even closer to him so she was almost pressed against his soaking form. A blush dusted her cheeks but she gritted her teeth to keep from squirming. The vampire ducked his head towards her ear and inhaled deeply, taking in her scent.

"You're showing a lot of skin, aren't you? Hmmm maybe you wanted to be bitten." He laughed softly, "Well if that's what you want, I'll give you my fangs…After all, you're prey just like the brides were…"

His hair brushed her cheek as he dropped his face down towards her neck. Oh no. Cora could feel the trap closing in. She couldn't let this happen! Throwing her coven's rules to the wind, she called to the storm brewing above her. Lightning pulled down and she channeled it through herself and straight into Subaru. In a powerful burst he was thrown off of her and sent skidding across courtyard. The force of the strike also knocked Cora off her feet and to the ground.

Her heart was hammering in her chest from how close he had been to biting her. She was beginning to wonder if there would be a day at all where one of the brothers didn't try to bite her. Deciding it was best not to still be on the ground and vulnerable, the witch scrambled to her feet and snatched up her drum and bag. But this time she fished out her holy water and kept her bag hanging on the same side she held her drum.

Subaru was furious when he rose to his feet. If it wasn't for the fact that she held her holy water in front of her in a silent promise, she was sure that he would have ripped her throat out. The idea of never leaving her room in this mansion was beginning to sound like an attractive idea. She'd have to look into that as a viable option.

"Next time it won't be a warning shot." She promised him, "Now I'm going inside so you can have your damn garden in peace."

The wind howled around them when he scoffed, "Do whatever you want, little girl." He then gave her an angry smirk, "Reiji is gonna be pissed."

It was Cora's turn to scoff, "Why because I blasted your ass to kingdom come? Well he can get over it because you tried to bite me."

"No you stupid girl. Because you cleansed the mansion without his permission."

For a brief moment, her heart seemed to stop beating, her mind going blank with panic. When it finally started working again she realized just what kind of trouble she was probably in. Was that in one of his rules? Cora couldn't remember because he had given so many. But she knew she did not want an angry Reiji bearing down upon her.

'Yep, that's it: I'm never leaving my room again.'