Chapter 4 l Hate

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Stronger than lovers' love is lovers' hate. Incurable, in each, the wounds they make."

- Euripides, Medea

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Months flew by, like seagulls when threatened by Yuma and a dagger with lethal edges.

A dreadfully crepuscular sky laid above them, the purple, glimmering galaxy, in his usual form of a fairy mist, was painted by a skilful hand and sparkled with hordes of silver lights. The moon, in his most magnificent and deferential stage, was hoisted with pride and glowed its mesmerising shafts of mystical blue and imposing amber. Never before in her life, had this lithe girl ever witnessed such a magical full moon.

Ruki had succeeded in persuading the King to permit Yui's stay on the vessel, and everything was flowing smoothly since then. She was though mildly stupified and scared at the sight of salacious pirates that had whistled suggestively her way on the day of her arrival, only for their fearful captain to punish them later for indecent behaviour towards a young damsel.

Yet, this young damsel had her freedom taken away from her once again, as under his orders she was told to remain locked in the captain's private chamber, "the deck is not an appropriate place for virgin, little girls" one of them had snickered, Yuma his name.

The rupture between her and the half-blood prince remained wide, nonetheless. He often ordered her to croon for him, dedicate all her incantations to him; this had confounded her at first, but she had complied in the end. She thought that perhaps she was quick to judge him, as Ruki would later treat her kindly and would gently beckon for her to approach him and nestle together in their bed. He would whisper her sweet poems and would press his lips upon her roseate cheeks. And with a content smile, she would give into lethargy, only to be woken up by the harsh noise of a door being locked. And then, he would avoid her as the tone of his voice would become cold. And how her heart would crack and crack, causing the vial of a sparkling, teal liquid that was an offer from the King on her bosom to jump, startled by the skipping beats. She had attempted many nights to console herself, yet she always reached the same conclusion: he only treasured her for her tears and her voice; she deemed her beguiling serenades were the reason behind the swings in his demeanour, the reason behind his loving caresses.

Her palms were pressed against the glass of the balcony's door as her breath collided with the transparent surface, forming moisture. Her presence, as ethereal and mesmerising as that same light, was being secretly admired by a silhouette swallowed by the shadows, only a pair of cold, blue eyes evident in the darkness that gazed at her with feral intensity.

The hinges of the door clicked shut, as his boots creaked loudly with each slow step he took. His figure entered the alight area, just beside her, yet the girl didn't seem to have acknowledged him. He removed the gloves from his hands and let them fall to the ground as he pounced on her from behind.

Yui exclaimed a cry of surprise, fear rising within her, as a cool hand touched her neck and parted her hair on the other side.

"R-Ruki?" whispered she, as his reflection appeared on the glass, a dazed expression on his face.

Steel blue examined meticulously her flesh, pure white and paler than the moon. His chin descended, his dilating nostrils tickling the sensitive skin with each breath he haled and blew. His hand ascended to the soft fabric of her dress' strap and forcefully gripped it lower, another cry leaving the girl's red lips.

"Wh-what do you want?" she stammered, as his other hand wandered her stomach and pressed her against his own body.

"You are mine. I won't allow anyone else be close to you." he declared sotto voce, his lips kissing her exposed shoulder.

"Ruki what are- Ah!" his cuspids punctured deep within her veins, sucking her blood with massive gulps in order to stem the thirst of his dry throat. His tongue poked between his teeth and licked the holes he pierced, while his hand travelled upwards to her diaphragm and kept pulling her body against his.

He licked the wound one last time, Yui feeling his lashes caressing her neck softly, then the vampire shifted to place tender kisses.

Courage rose within her and she stomped her heel on his foot with great strength, effectively making the vampire emit a cry of pain, then letting her go. His eyes slanted, his glare perilous and menacing but the girl remained unaffected, her chest heaving rapidly and her shoulder bleeding uncontrollably. In return, she knitted her brows, the once curvy blonde, lines turning deadly straight, as she clenched her jaw tightly, her hand pressing on the aching area.

"I'm so sick of you... I'm so sick of all of you! I'm chained here, doing nothing! I'm so sick and tired of everything!" she exclaimed, the lilac of her pupils turning venomous and monopolising the sweeter, rosy hue.

"You asked to come with us! If anything, you should be-"

"I know, it's all my fault! And to think I only wanted to get to know you! Perhaps even forgive you!" she huffed, hot tears burning her cheeks, making them look a feverish shade of red. Her white knuckles wiped them away and cradled the precious crystals within her palm. She shook her clenched fist and when she sensed the liquid becoming creamy. Afterwards, she applied it to the wounded flesh and drew soft, circling patterns.

"Forgive me?" he sneered, the grimace on his attractive face coveying a dreadful disgust with a drop of mirth towards her displeasure. "Have you seen the sky outside? Have you seen the moon?" he grasped her wrist with one hand, forcefully making her collide with his abdomen, while the other pointed skywards, to the moon and stars she was admiring earlier.

"Don't tou-" she attempted to protest in the name of her wrist but the blood-thirsty vampire wouldn't listen.

"The full moon... Don't you think it's lovely tonight, Yui? Doesn't it captivate you? I bet you have seen many other moons like these. Do you think it's mundane, then? Horrible even?" his nails pierced her chin and guided her face to the window.

The wind outside wasn't a light, summer breeze; its coolness howled and bellowed, it whistled names and words and phrases. The sea witches beneath them were having a party it seemed, down below the black depths of the raging ocean.

He pressed her scalp to the glass, forcing her to look at the sky, whilst his hand was preoccupied with unlocking the glass shutters. As the burst open, Yui fell forward, scraping her knees in the process.

The underwater incantations rose in volume and resembled the eerie psalms of Catholic priests, the very same chants that the raven-haired man was so accustomed to listening as a young cherub.

Clouds, huge and grey and leaden bedimmed the purple galaxy yet the luminous disc remained proud and unperturbed by the pouring rain. The once tranquil waters, or as calm they could have been during the night, were now wrathful with their presence. The waves were rising and rising until their coolness had either brushed the metal of their vessel or contacted with the whistling wind or had splayed on the poor girl's frail shoulders.

Ruki stood dazed above her shivering form, his fist curled tightly as the tail of his cobalt coat floated behind him. He gazed at her with angry, slanted pupils that were demi-shadowed by his dark strands. Beneath him, although she shook and trembled and her skin had turned a sickly pale blue tone and was sprawled on the balcony's floor in a seemingly pathetic position, as if she was a beggar pleading to be shown mercy, Yui's eyes held an unyielding, iridescent pink colour that remained rooted to their fury.

In the meantime, the ship was being abused by the fierce ocean. The young tars and mates that were either celebrating or indulging in the night's pleasure at the time, had all been forced out of their rooms in order to dust off their sorcery and spells and 'unfurl' the vessel's imaginary sails -vampires were quite the intellectual beings contrary to humans and had pioneered significantly in the field of science by choosing to exploit magic and not utilise any earthen sources. Investing trust on his instinct, Yuma, the Captain's Fists Mate cursed his exit out of his chamber with drops of golden ale hanging from his lips and prepared himself into navigating 'Eve' through the darkness and the raging waves. No human with a healthy mind would dare to plough throughout such a storm.

Back to the Captain's balcony, Ruki's boots generated a sinister, creaking sound against the polished wood as he approached closer. In the blink of an eye, he had hoisted her lithe body with his hands gripping her bare shoulders and pressed her on the oak railing with the carvings of plump putti.

"Say, the moon likes playing with us as if we were the mere pawns of its sick game", his voice was unnaturally calm, "wouldn't you agree, Yui? It arises the beast inside me and I desire nothing but to rip your flesh and devour you", his face was perilously close to hers, his eyes searching for a reaction,"what does the moon do to you, Yui?"

"I hate you..."

"Now, now little girl...", he chuckled humourlessly,"do you hate for what I've done to your so-called family? Admit it; your 'sisters' deserved every bit of it. Or, is it that you hate what I am now?", he snickered dryly, "please, Yui, don't tell me you thought I would stay the same little, human boy, you had met back then!"

"And why's that?" she arched a brow as her cheeks reddened slightly when she caught his eyes studying salaciously her lips as they uttered her question. "What made you change?"

Her voice was melodious, so soft and kind as if he was hearkening to the pristine waters of a cascade that streamed down a river during spring. She herself was quite the delicate sprite, a heavenly spirit that danced along with the waves and sang with the water nymphs, the naive Psyche and her hypnotising chirp only managed to challenge him rather than calm him with her soothing music.

"You've seen them, humans I mean..." he pressed his knees against the railing due to his heavy, shaking knees. It wasn't a commodity for him, or for anyone of his species, to appear so vulnerable in front of the already meek. Yet, her innocent, pinkish jewels compelled him to reach his lowest. "You were lucky, for the sirens had kept you hidden away from all the prying eyes. You may hate it now, but you were safe from all those earthlings. Their happiness, or most precisely, what you interpreted as such, was satisfied with sadistic acts, treacherous crimes..." he drawled. "There was nothing I could do back then; until I met him, Karlheinz. He offered me the opportunity of rebirth and as a vampire, I am now capable of seeking revenge."

"He's horrible... He didn't even listen to me, never asked for permission to turn me into... into this! So cruel and ruthless... I suppose is what these humans say, "like father like son". You're no better than him. What did my sisters ever do to you?! What did I ever do to you?!"

"Cruel? For slaying those monsters you called family? You were there, you could have saved them. Admit it, you know they deserved every last bit of it. At last, the two of us have something alike."

"How dare you... You monster! Have you no soul?! I would've done anything for them! You... bastard, if only my mother-"

"You mother what? If she had been there?" his eyelids slanted and his brows furrowed, his mouth emitting a hearty laugh, "what will come forth? That she loved you? Do you even know what love is, little girl?"

"She cared about me..." a futile attempt to reassure herself of her mother's love. He snickered in response and grasped the porcelain column of her neck.

"She wanted to turn into one of her grotesque kind. You were an experiment and-"

"And that's anything I'll ever be..." she muttered, inaudibly.

"What did you say?"

"I said, that's anything I'll ever be! Look at me! I'm in no different position than before! My mother hated me, your father wants me for his sick plans and you, the only person I thought I could trust, is a mindless monster who obeys his father's orders!"

"Yui, be careful-" he warned through gritted teeth, a curtain of raven strands that were littered with shimmering droplets of the tempest darkening his face with menacing shadows

"Don't tell me what to do, Ruki! You're so wrong, the two of us have nothing alike! My mother hid my identity from me and perhaps she despised me, but I had freedom. You said I don't know what love is but Ruki, do you know what freedom is?"

Darkness still dominated the sharp edges of his face, the only gleam stemming from the blue of his irises. His chin descended and he removed himself from her, taking a step backwards.

It was eerie scene; should it was an act of a play, the audience would have exited the theatre at the single peek of Ruki's murderous costume. He stood with his fists clenched so tight his knuckles had turned chalk-white, his cobalt coat laying on the floor. The rain cascaded like a waterfall down his head, the black hair sticking to his face like a second skin. The water streamed and streamed with no remorse and with deadly slow movements his head arched upwards to meet her fierce gaze.

His jaw was clenched as well, the tendons on his throat popping along with his veins; he was like a bull being mocked by the torero's scarlet flag. He approached her, the terror rising but her face daren't admit it. She too was tormented by the heavy rainstorm, grey drops flowing down her cheeks and mingling with her platinum threads. Her brows were a straight line, her lips mirroring their wrath as she stared intensely at him.

"How careless of you... Fool... speaking such naive words when you have no idea... You know nothing!", his hand found her neck and grasped the skin tightly, searing it, "You hear me? You know nothing!"

"Then teach me!", her voice was only a muffled and pained echo in contrast to the roar of the skies, "Show me! Show me what I don't know! That's all I ever wanted from you, Ruki!" cried she, whilst trying to break free from his hand.

Yui fell to the floor with deafening 'thud'. With her trembling limbs supporting the rest of her body, she breathed rapidly and loudly, trying to regain her strength until she finally decided to look at him. Fresh tears leapt out of her eyes and staining her lashes, yet by the moment she arched her head, Ruki was already gone. Standing by the door and wearing a dry seat of clothing, the Captain conversed with a certain, maize-haired vampire. The girl crawled near the balcony's glass doors and attempted to distinguish their expressions through the dim lighting of the room, but instead received nothing but the chamber's door sealing shut.

The waters seemed to have ceased their earlier ferocity by that time and the wind had turned into a light, cool breeze. She collected the cobalt coat and wet as it was, she decorated her shivering form with it.


Yui hadn't seen Ruki for days; after the tempestuous evening nights before, she didn't bear the courage to look at him again with a straight face.

Thus, in order to turn her loneliness into a merry solitude, she had busied herself with the books within Ruki's private library. Oh, the treasures it held: of determined knights whose armours were decorated with emblems of hardihood*, of mourning kings that desired immortality* and of intelligent travellers that had braved the seas to return to their homeland*.

No one bothered her there and she felt safe, although a tad lonely, inside her haven. It was an enormous room with polished, mahogany floors shrouded with crimson carpets and ebony-framed shelves with luride writings of Greek philosophers, works of art as ancient as the epic of Gilgamesh and yellowed treatises of laureate scholars. She discovered books, records of the very first beings that had walked the Underworld as well as all the diverse species that roamed the nether lands and the human realm.

Mermaids, she learned, were products of the innocent affair between the King of the Serpents, Marco and the most powerful Sea-Witch, Toraya. They were two mighty rulers, the greatest Royals of yore and they found themselves entangled in a fairy-like love that was pure and true. The two had two daughters of magnificent beauty, Alloria and Rayanna. They were endowed with the fairiest faces, the hypnotising glow of their father's that tested the morals of men. From their mother, the maidens had inherited her beguiling chanting and youthful physiques.

They lived near the shore and dwelled their daydream in peace. Yet, it wouldn't last forever, as a war sparked in the Human World and the demons were called to partake. The Wolves had decided instead of fighting on their own as they used to, they had allied with the Hawks, the two realms against Queen Petra's Vampires and King Giesbach's Founders. King Marco's people quickly found themselves separated, as a part wanted to remain uninvolved, whilst the other chased after bloody battles. As the dilemma continued, the King feared for the safety of his family; so, he sent them to live beneath the sea where nothing could ever hurt them.

Two kingdoms revolted at the time. The peoples slew their rulers, King Marco of the Serpents and Queen Petra of the Vampires. The first assassination was committed by his once trusted Council; they knew he didn't want the war, even though it would benefit them. The second was underlaid - rumour has it- by the Queen's son, Karlheinz who had secretly allied with the Demon Lord, ruler of all, whose eldest daughter he had wedded, and the Founder's princes, Carla and Shin.

Toraya, after casting a spell on her daughters, ensuring their security, she travelled the ocean until she reached her birthplace, Mesopotamia*, where all her magic stemmed from. She invested all her strength and predicted her beloved's fate before it was sealed. She mourned by screaming, the waters trembling and carrying her cries, the tears falling in dangerous amounts, the sea level rising, as vicious and humongous waves, tsunamis were generated. They say, her howls had also caused horrifying earthquakes, the loss of inhabited lands following soon after. Some believe that the temple above her had shaken and fell and met her body, crashing her, but not killing her entirely; Sea-Witches can't die, their soul is immortal, but their bodies turn to foam.

The daughters never saw their mother again. They could only hear her voice as she crooned for them. Their mother's mother, Olea, raised them instead under the sea, away from the shore, somewhere deep in the ocean where pirate ships don't sink. And as there were no ships to be sunk, there were no sirens, the horrendous children of the Gorgons.

Alloria and Rayanna grew into two beautiful and remarkable maidens. As the years went by, their species, the Mermaids grew as well. They were wondrous entities, their charismatic beauty being envied by many other beings underwater. Although they were the most innocent of all, mermaids were intelligent and wise, as most of them had inherited their magical abilities from their mother, Toraya, whom they worshiped as a Goddess for she was the first to give birth to the mermaid kind. Her daughters were crowned Queens and they ruled together their kingdom for years. They were unbreakable and always remained by each other's side. Until tragedy stroke. Alloria had-

"Miss Yui?"

Yui let out a loud gasp as the short, dark-haired intruder called her name. She was so entranced by the story that she didn't hear Azusa walk in.

"Yes, um, Azusa? Is everything alright?"

"Come with me... Ruki wishes your presence."


A/N: Gosh. I did it. Please, congratulate me for finally updating. Also, anyone interested in a fanart collaboration with me?

of determined knights whose armours were decorated with emblems of hardihood: Reference to the Redcross Knight from Edmund Spencer's The Faerie Queene.

of mourning kings that desired immortality: Reference to King Admetus from Euripides' Alcestis.

intelligent travellers that had braved the seas to return to their homeland: Reference to Odysseus from Homer's Odyssey.

Mesopotamia*: I chose Mesopotamia because the first known story about mermaids is found in Assyria.