A\N: I'mma be honest. I'm not too sure about this chapter, but I knew I had to get something out because it's been a mean minute and I know you guys are waiting for an update, sooo~ With that being said, I sincerely apologize for the lack of consistency. Homelife's a mess and I'm just trying to stay afloat, yEET. Haha nah but, I hope you enjoy and I'll try to get the next one out asap. :) As always, thanks for the support! x

10; And so it goes.

Days went by.

Weeks followed.

Before he realized it, Shiro had spent nearly two months in that godforsaken dump of a vampiric plagued school, barely holding his sanity together. It was difficult, at first. Forcing himself to ignore their insufferable presence and biting his tongue whenever the Sakamaki manhandled that human girl of theirs. And then when he caught a whiff of her scent that bombarded his senses and made him lose all train of thought...

Shiro sighed for what felt like the hundredth time just that night, inserting a bill into the vending machine and hitting the necessary buttons for a soda. Anything to distract himself, really.

They were there... He could sense them in the room around the corner. He could smell it, too. Her scent, stronger than it had been before. He tried desperately to ignore it, clenching and unclenching his jaw.

"Who else will protect that poor, poor girl from those awful vampires bleeding her dry?"

Balling his hands at his side as his soda fell to the bottom of the vending machine and his change dropped out into the receiving bin.

"What could I possibly do for her?!"

Ignore it.

A whimper.

A sob.

Shiro stared directly ahead, his face mirrored in the glass of the vending machine.

His jaw ached. His eyes flashing.

Control yourself. Don't let it affect you.

You don't care. You don't.

There was a click and then a body walking his way as he bent to retrieve his beverage. A confident stride, an air of superiority. He felt it approaching just as he straightened his posture and looked up.

A mischievous smirk and a hideous fedora caught his attention, but the other party said nothing as he stuffed his hands into his pockets and knocked shoulders with him as he passed by.

Her scent was all over him.

And his blood boiled.

Against his better judgment, Shiro followed the overwhelming scent to the door he was sure the revolting vampire had come out of. He paused, however, his hand hovering over the doorknob as he felt a presence approach from his left.

Another one, huh?

Shiro glanced at the white-haired vampire from the corner of his eye. Though unlike the others he's faced, this one didn't seem as interested in him and merely continued to bypass him with an air of indifference.

But-

When he rounded the corner and he was once more alone with his thoughts and the one beyond this door, he exhaled through his mouth and gripped the doorknob.

"Take care of her."

She had begged, begged to be released. She pleaded and promised anything to his desire to be left alone. She still hadn't been recovering well, even with Reiji's teas and the tablets to replenish what blood she's lost. It didn't help much. If, at all.

But Laito wasn't listening to her. And after the rough morning she had with Ayato, who had since taken up residency in her bed, Yui couldn't quite catch a break.

"You'll do anything for me?" He cooed, his fedora tipped back and his teeth flashing at her as he smiled.

Anything, she confirmed. She didn't think. How could she?

He was laughing at her now. She must have missed the joke. She was inching back now, as much as possible anyway, but he had slammed her into the door of the vacant classroom and had his fangs so deep into her throat, she didn't even have time to scream.

She wasn't sure how long he'd been drinking from her. Her sobbing had quieted down and she was left whimpering as he continued to feast on her, taking huge gulps and reducing her to nothing.

Am I...

Going to...

...Die?

Just as she felt her eyes close and her body sag against his, Laito pulled away, none too gently. Gravity was quick to catch her as Laito dropped her to the floor, her head hitting the ground that left a ringing in her ears.

"Aw, bitch-chan~" Laito smirked down at her, fixing his hat and leaning down. "I didn't take too much, did I?"

Whether she refused to answer or she just couldn't, Laito chuckled to himself before standing to his full height and pushing her body out of the way with his foot to leave the room.

"Don't stay in here too long, dear-y, everyone will worry~"

She felt frozen in time. Frozen, completely weightless, wrapped in a huge shard of glass that cut into every part of her cruelly.

She was going to die.

And maybe... Maybe that wasn't so bad.

Shiro flew threw every curse word he knew as he bent down to check her pulse. Rage rippling through him at the sight of the broken girl before him. She couldn't even open her eyes when he called to her. The wound at her neck was still oozing blood and when he checked her further, he noticed more old and new wounds alike on her body. The anger was potent, he could taste it on his tongue, feel it coursing through his veins.

He would have burnt this whole school to the ground, every single person here, crying in anguish as the flames ate at their bodies at a pace so grueling, even the devil himself would shudder.

He would have hunted them down one by one if the slight twitch of her fingers didn't tether himself to her.

She was dying.

Biting the inside of his cheek so hard it drew blood, Shiro quickly went to work.

"Juzo," He snapped, having yanked his phone out of his pocket and was hissing through clenched teeth. "Bring the car around now."