I can't run anymore. I'm so tired. My legs hurt so badly. Is it even worth it? Why am I even here? How did I get here? Who would have just left a defenseless little girl in the middle of a blizzard? My toes hurt so bad, they are so cold. They were probably black from frost bite. I can't breathe. I want too stop running. My whole body hurts so bad. But I don't want too die! Not this way! I don't want too be eaten! It's gonna get me! It's gonna eat me! It's-
"Cross-san! Cross! Are you even listening!"
I turned away from the window-away from my wondering thoughts- away from the nightmare from the night before, of being eaten alive by a terrible monster, a creeping demon. It was always the same, the snow, the ice, the fear, and the vampire. There was always blood, so much blood. And I never got away whole.
Now I was sitting here in an empty classroom, getting supplementary lessons from the Day Class's very own class president, Kasumi Kageyama.
Detention.
I hadn't been to detention in quite awhile. I had become a much better student...sort of.
Kasumi was a nerd, bookish with thick rimmed glasses and an annoying voice. He was always bossing everyone around, telling them to get to class on time, study for this and that. Telling us we needed to get better grades, even if our grades were just fine. But he didn't want anyone getting better grades then him. If you scored higher on a test you instantly jumped to the top of his shit list. He always wanted to be at the top. He always seemed to know if your grades were slipping and what you got on your past test. I was actually surprised he hadn't gotten beat up yet for how annoying and nosy he was. But he was handsome in his own way, though. He had some good qualities too. The way his brown hair curled around his ears. He was very tall. He wasn't muscular, but he was thin and well proportioned. He had these light little freckles that speckled his nose which I found to be rather adorable.
It wasn't like I had bad grades. I actually had very good grades. Usually I was battling with this nerd Kasumi for top of the class, when I actually put in the effort to study. That was the reason why Kasumi didn't like me very much. He was usually glaring at me from the other end of the room, just daring me to do better then him during a test.
But today I got into trouble with the history teacher for sleeping during class and he gave me detention. And since Kasumi had a secret grudge against me, he volunteered to see my punishment through. Since apparently Sensei had a prior agenda-I'm pretty sure it involved fucking the school nurse-but that wasn't any of my business...the school nurse was such a whore.
Kasumi slammed his fist against my desk-right on top of my forgotten text book, trying to assert his authority. "Sensei put me in charge, Cross-san. So pay attention to me! I'm going to quiz you on all of this after!" he warned.
I smiled sweetly up at him. "Oh come on, Kasumi-kun." I reached out to touch his hand. I've honestly never flirted with a boy before, and I've never had a boyfriend, but all I did was touch his hand and there was color rising and Kasumi's cheeks. "You really are so smart, Kasumi-kun, so good at teaching. And I do so appreciate you staying so late after hours to help me study all this extra material. I don't know anyone else as dedicated as you." I gestured to the window, to the darkening sky. "By now I bet the Night Class is already here, in their assorted classrooms, having their own lessons."
He fidgeted and began to stutter something unintelligible before he composed himself and pulled away from my touch, clearing his throat. "What are you getting at?" he asked nervously, adjusting his necktie.
"Oh I don't know." I stood up on the long bench, flipping my legs over and seating myself on the desk before him, skirt riding up high on my thighs, not bothering to fix it. "Doesn't it make you feel kind of...rebellious?" Why didn't I ever make an effort to get a boyfriend? I knew I was pretty. I could do my makeup a certain way, wear my hair different, change my perfume-and guys turn their heads. Why was I so set on being alone? Obviously, straddling a desk wasn't a very appropriate way to get boys to notice me. But it wasn't like I made a constant habit of it.
He stared down incredulously at me. "Have you lost your wits, Cross-san? That doesn't make the least bit of sense. How does us being in an empty classroom after hours seem at all rebellious to you?"
I rolled my eyes dramatically. Wasn't he supposed to be smart? Reaching out and grabbing onto the lapels of his jacket, I pulled him forward, trapping him between my thighs, trying to accentuate my point. "Kasumi-kun." I said sweetly. "Use your imagination." it's not like I had a crush on him, I didn't, he could be such a jerk and he was always on my case about my tests. I just wanted to pass the time here. I wanted something else on my mind that wasn't such a horrible nightmare, that conversation with Yori, how Kaname will never want me.
"Yu-Yuyuuki, this is completely inappropriate!" His cheeks flushed the deepest red. "Release me th-this instant!"
"Shhh." I pressed my finger lightly to his lips, silencing his weak protests. He froze under my light touch, slowly meeting my eyes. I could tell he was actually curious-underneath his embarrassment-that he wanted this-he wanted to know what I was going to do to him. To tell the truth, I was pretty curious to see what I was going to do to him too.
And I could feel a rather firm hardness against my thigh that told me he was definitely interested.
I reached up, removing his glasses and tucked them into his breast pocket-wanting them out of the way-before pulling him to me and-
The classroom door slammed open then, making us both jump. Zero stood in it's opening, glaring at both of us-looking menacing and completely pissed off. I met his glare with one of my own. Kasumi awkwardly cleared his throat before removing himself from my grasp, readjusting his uniform and putting his glasses back in their place. Zero spoke first, marching into the room to stand before me.
"I've been looking for you." he stated. From the tone of his voice I could tell he was in a seriously bad mood.
"I'm in the middle of my supplementary lessons at the moment, Kiryuu-kun. Maybe you could try coming back again later." I turned away from him. "Or you could try texting me, maybe. If you're lucky, I might actually answer you. I wouldn't count on it though. I'm not really in a texting kind of mood." If Zero was going to be mean to me all the time then I was going to be just as mean to him. He wasn't going to push me around anymore either. But he didn't give me any more of a chance to protest. Wrapping his hand around my forearm-fingers overlapping, he all but dragged me from the classroom. I had to almost run to keep up with his much longer strides and to keep him from literally dragging me along behind him.
His grip was too tight. "Let go of me." I protested, trying to tug my arm out of his iron grip, struggling to get away from him. He was always so much stronger than I was, even when we were kids. "I don't want to go with you, Zero. Just let me go!" I grabbed onto the banister as he tried to pull me down the stairs, intent on taking me with him, though I had no idea where we were going. I assumed he was just fed up with me slacking, as he put it, on my duties as a prefect and leaving all the work to him, but he did that to me so often. He had no room to complain. He did the exact same thing to me all the time, more times than I could count. All it took was a little tug from him-being so much stronger than me-and I released my hold from the banister, unwillingly, cutting my palm on an unpolished spot on the banister.
"Ouch!" but he had already let go-so quickly that I stumbled back. It didn't actually hurt, but the suddenness had surprised me. I looked up from the very small cut in my palm to see Zero's back facing me. It was so small, insignificant; like getting a paper cut, or a splinter. You could hardly see any blood. "What the hell, Zero?! Dragging me along like that! You could have dislocated my shoulder, or my wrist or something! You were being too rough!" I turned around and began heading back up the stairs, wanting to be far away from him. "And you can't just ignore me all the time and then come and get me whenever it suits you best! That's not how it works! Start considering my feelings for a change!" But like I so often do, I tripped over my own shoelace; falling backwards on the stairs.
A large, calloused hand covered my mouth, cutting off my screaming before any sound could even escape my throat. Zero's arm wrapped around the front of my body, holding my arms down at my sides, caging me against his solid body. My heart thundered against my ribcage. All I knew was that I had almost fallen back and Zero had saved me, probably from cracking my head open against the stairs. But he was breathing so hard and his whole body was shaking, and he hadn't let go of me yet. The hand that was covering my mouth fell to my right shoulder, grabbing the collar of my shirt in a closed, tight fist, yanking it aside, popping a few buttons and sending them flying. I heard them clatter against the floor.
"Zero," I breathed. "What are you doing? You're hurting me." he was squeezing my body too tightly against his own, I could barley get enough air into me. But it was like I hadn't even spoken. He wasn't hearing me. His breath was rasping out of him now and I felt something warm and wet slid quickly across the column of my throat. I gasped, completely shocked by his actions. My eyes about shot out of my skull. Was he playing a trick on me? No. That wasn't it. Zero didn't seem like himself at all, and he never played tricks. He would never go this far with me even if he was just trying to be funny, not after what Aidou had done to me last summer. Zero knew I was afraid of vampires so why was he..."Zero, what are you-" something razor sharp impaled my throat then-clamping down hard, impossibly hard-cutting off all manner of coherency, so suddenly that I couldn't even scream. The pain was indescribable, the worst I had ever felt in all my life; a burning, throbbing ache that spread out across the expanse of my throat. It took all of the air out of my lungs. Black flooded my vision and my legs gave out underneath me. But I didn't move, didn't fall in a boneless heap to the floor-I couldn't, still upright, my back flush against Zero's front. He was holding me so tightly against him, sure to leave deep bruises in my skin. I could feel warmth, wetness running down in-between my breast, soaking into my blouse.
My body knew what was happening. I've been around vampires for years to understand what it was that was going on. But my brain couldn't catch up, didn't want to believe it. My eyes rolled back in my head and unconsciousness was creeping in fast, threatening to overtake me. I wanted to scream, to call out for help, to beg for someone to come and help me, to save me from this madness. The Night Classes had to have started by now. Surely someone would hear me if I were to kick up a fuss and come to check on all of the commotion. But the Night Class was full of vampires, and vampires drank blood. Surely the sent of my blood would send them all into a frenzy. My overactive imagination couldn't help but picture a scenario where they all partook in a piece of me, took turns drinking from my body-passing me between them, draining me completely of life. No, they're good people. They wouldn't attack me, right? They're here to work towards coexistence, a peaceful existence between humans and vampires. But that hadn't stopped Aidou from biting me that time last summer, stealing a taste of my blood. No, I couldn't scream, I wouldn't take that chance. But my mind was telling me that if I didn't at least try something, this would end so terribly, for me.
This had to stop, now. I had to at least try and stop this.
I could hear it now, the sound of my blood being sucked out of my body-gulping down his throat in deep, quick drags, draining my life away so quickly, as if it were something so insignificant. Maybe it was, to him. It sounded strange in my ears, almost peaceful in a way, soothing, like a child's breathing when it sleeps-but also terrifying and erratic. Zero's grip on my body tightened further still, pulling me even closer, even harder against his frame-burry his face further into my neck, tearing into the skin there. He was so thirsty, impossibly thirsty-gulping it down the way he was-like a man that had been trapped in a scorched desert for days without water, and finally getting some, crisp and ice cool, he just gulps it down as quickly as he could, like he's afraid that finally, now that he has what he needs, someone might take it away from him. So starved for it, needing it more than anything else to survive, to live.
But Zero wasn't a vampire.
-is gonna eat me-
My eyes shot open and I began to struggle against him, realization dawning on me-at last-that I was going to die if I didn't get away from him now. "No!" I shouted, shoving him away from me-pushing an elbow into his chest hard-somehow finding the strength in my limps-fighting to get away from him. I felt the horrible burning sensation of tearing flesh as his fangs ripped from my throat. I stumbled back, catching the stair with my boot and falling back against the staircase, hard. The impact took the air out of me, jarring, knocking my teeth together painfully, ripping the nails on my left hand when I tried to grab onto the banister, bruising my right elbow when I fell against it, catching myself. I had lost too much blood, so much blood. I was so dizzy. I could barley see straight. My vision shook and I saw black spots.
I looked up at Zero, not even seeing him for the person I thought he was. My head spun violently and I fought to not be sick, stomach rolling. He was covered in blood, my blood. I reached up with a shaking hand, covering the gaping wound at my throat, trying to stop the blood flow, trying to protect it from another bite. I pulled my hands away to see the damage and my stomach lurched. That was my blood, and it was on Zero. It was all over his face, soaking into his shirt, smeared across his hands, dripping from his mouth. But that wasn't what truly disturbed me. It was his eyes. They were the deepest shade of crimson red. I couldn't look away from them. They pulled me in, called to me.
But we lived together...in the same house...for four years. Why didn't I know? How could I not have seen it?
I reached up and touched my throat. It was raw and felt torn, blood was gushing from the open wound. I cried out, truly frightened now at seeing my life gushing from my neck. It was just like in my reoccurring nightmare and suddenly I felt ice in my veins, my whole body became cold. The same dream that I had always had since I was a little girl. My hand came away red. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes.
Black began too creep its way around the corners of my eyes again. I couldn't pass out, though. I didn't want to take my eyes off of him. I was afraid of what would happen if I did.
I was afraid.
