"Left a bit."

"Right a bit."

"No, you've gone too far. Left a bit."

"Are you even listening to me? Right at least another inch."

"Yes, Kaname-sama," Nancy replied through gritted fangs, keeping a pleasant smile on her face with a herculean effort. "As you say, Kaname-sama."

"Left a quarter-inch."

With a grunt of effort, the beleaguered level C shoved the far-too-ornate and far-too-heavy desk over a quarter inch.

"I said a quarter inch, not half."

She took a deep breath then opened her eyes and examined the blasted desk once more. Hauling it up the winding stone staircase hadn't been easy. Destroying it now would be a waste of her effort no matter how frustrated she was. Counting backwards from ten, she straightened, walked back to the other side and pushed the dratted thing a quarter inch to the right.

"Finally," Kaname huffed, swinging his legs impatiently as he sat on yet another desk 'supervising'.

"Will that be all, Kaname-sama?" It had bloody well better be all, went unsaid. She'd worked to the bone this week, refurnishing this one room to extremely precise specification.

"That shelf is at an angle. You'll have to rehang it." Kaname yawned, huddled in a blanket on his impromptu throne and steadily eating his way through a huge bowl of chocolate-dipped fruit. Why he'd insisted on renovating this tower, Nancy couldn't fathom. Nevertheless, he had, and so she had to be here too. Even if she'd much rather -

"We do have maintenance staff, Kaname-sama. Young, fit and strong vampires who are trained to do this."

"You're already here."

She didn't risk trying to persuade him any further. Kaname-sama had already… well, he'd shown what he'd do when he didn't get his way. Not that she minded. It was his right, of course. But… but… Nancy shut that dangerous trail of thought down the instant she thought of it. Who knew if purebloods could tell that she was thinking such treasonous thoughts?

She bent to open the toolbox, feeling the weight of Kaname-sama's gaze on her and starting to sweat slightly with nervous tension as she located the spirit level and the screwdriver.

"I did fix you."

Nancy hesitated, and then doggedly continued with her work. That hadn't been a question and didn't require an answer. The pureblood was seeing things. The spirit measure was perfectly level. Perhaps he meant one of the other shelves? There were dozens up here.

"It's not normally like that."

If the shelf was level, what was she supposed to do? Rehang it anyway? Would Kaname-sama know if she just messed about a bit before pronouncing it done? What did someone of his status know about DIY anyway? A week ago, she'd have just told him it was level and to stop being such a perfectionist, but a week was a long time. Did she take the risk?

There was a heavy silence behind her, but she was very good at ignoring these things.

Kaname sighed as Nancy took the shelf down and began unscrewing the fittings. He'd woken full of vim and vigour only to discover that in his delirium he'd been rather …rough in his Command.

He hadn't meant to override her body and mind like that. He'd lifted the Command instantly, of course he had, and Nancy had immediately dropped into a healing sleep much like his own and he'd spent the next two hours carefully healing the brain damage he'd inflicted.

She'd woken up fully cognizant of what he'd done, what she'd done under his orders and, well, this was the result. Nancy was back to being a demure and meek level C, obedient, submissive, and constantly radiating an aura of absolute dread.

It was… annoying. It felt very much like he'd lost a friend. There was also the strange feeling of guilt, which Kaname really didn't like. Guilt was a cloying, uncomfortable creeping sensation and he wasn't used to feeling it, and he certainly wasn't used to it being justified. He shifted awkwardly as the emotion slithered around him again. He did not like this at all.

He could make her forgive him, but that was the entirety of the problem.

It was one thing, as a lower vampire, to know intellectually that he or any other passing pureblood could Command them any which way and when. It was another to experience it. It didn't help that Kaname had destroyed her self-preservation instinct in favour of his own. Nancy hadn't been able to sleep, she hadn't been able to eat or drink, let alone leave. The fact that Kaname had been able to control the way she thought was more disturbing to her than the fact it had caused her so much pain. It wouldn't have been half so bad if Nancy had known what he'd done, but until he'd lifted it, she hadn't, and now she was afraid her thoughts weren't her own, even now.

Considering Haruka – Kaname could empathise, and that didn't lessen his feelings of guilt in the slightest. It made them so much worse. He wasn't Haruka. He wasn't anything like that bloodtraitor.

On the other hand though, vampires were, well, vampires. Humans might trick themselves into thinking autonomy was a natural, inviolable, right they all enjoyed, but vampires couldn't.

The fact of the matter was that Kaname had been entirely within his rights to use Nancy that way and they both knew it. She had absolutely no right to complain, and if Kaname had been another pureblood he wouldn't have been disturbed to feel her fear of him – if anything fear normally aroused him.

"There you go, Kaname-sama, perfectly level."

She never called him Young Master anymore either.

Kaname examined the shelf, feeling his enthusiasm for refurbishing his old workshop wane with every second of exposure to her perfectly polite demeanour and every second he had to endure scenting her dread.

"I made a mistake," Kaname admitted, hating the weakness and her for making him admit it. "I was suffering from brain damage. It is instinct to ensure my own survival. If I'd been coherent I wouldn't have needed you like that and I wouldn't have shoved so much power into it."

"Is there anything else I can help you with tonight, Kaname-sama?"

"Talk to me," he ordered bluntly. She paled. "If you want to, I mean. That wasn't a Command, which you should already be able to tell else you'd be talking to me already. It's not like I use them all the time, even though I could. I have no need to when our culture revolves around obedience."

"Of course, Kaname-sama."

"Then why are you afraid of me?" Kaname shouted, throwing a handful of screws in frustration. "I'm not going to apologise. I didn't do anything wrong."

The Council could hate and fear it all they liked. It was Kaname's right to Command those lesser to him. He protected them; they served him. That was the way it worked. The way it always had worked and the way it always would. Vampires were a predatory species; they needed a strict social hierarchy in order to survive. It was a biological imperative. The night vampires didn't feel compelled to obey a pureblood was the night they could no longer call themselves part of the same species.

"I know."

That was all she intended to say on the subject apparently. Whilst Kaname remained silent waiting more, Nancy seemed content to stare out the tower window at a passing owl.

"I can smell your dread, you know." Kaname told her, feeling very spiteful and childish even as he wrapped himself together in his layer of blankets. It was very cold this far up, and he wasn't back to full strength yet, damn Haruka to the sun.

Nancy shrugged, which he supposed was at least some sort of improvement. "I can't do anything about that, Kaname-sama, and I can't change the way I feel, although I suppose you could, if it bothers you that much."

Now that was defensive. Apparently, he wasn't the only one feeling horribly insecure right now.

Silence.

"I'll make you a ring."

"Of course – wait what?"

"I'll make you a ring."

"I don't need any jewellery thank you Kaname-sama."

"It will burn when it detects any form of compulsion."

Kaname stared out the narrow slit window himself. The moon was much more interesting than looking at Nancy's expressive face. Emotions were so awkward.

"I, er, that would be, you can do that?" She sounded honestly surprised.

"Yes." Kaname said shortly. There wasn't much he couldn't do, given proper preparation and planning.

"I'd appreciate it." Nancy cleared her throat. "Young Master."

Kaname whipped his head around, a broad grin breaking out when he met her eyes and realised the scent of dread had vanished.

Then he saw the shelf and his eyes narrowed. "That's not balanced! It's tilted the other way now."

"Kaname! There you are."

Kaname spun around, a wide easy grin on his face as he abandoned his fire truck.

"Daddy!"

He ran over into Haruka's waiting arms, bubbling with laughter as he felt himself being lifted up and swung about.

"Hey there squirt," Haruka replied, one hand ruffling Kaname's chocolate locks. "I just popped in for a quick visit."

"Kuran-sama," Nancy deferred, rising much slower from the playroom's floor and curtseying deeply as the elder pureblood entered.

Haruka glanced over her before returning most of his attention to his son. Kaname could feel Haruka's will wash over him, and burrowing gently inside. Contact made a lot of their powers easier to use. Skin to skin wasn't as intimate as blood, but as long as Kaname's acting fooled Haruka, the stronger pureblood would have no need to delve any further than the false mind he had covering his own.

"Any problems?"

Kaname's skills were hard pressed to hide the spike of alarm racing through him as Haruka's attention turned to Nancy. He hadn't even considered how Nancy wove into his plans to combat Haruka.

Kaname didn't bother acting like a real child around his nanny. Until recently, he hadn't needed to be that cautious. She had to suspect something even if she wasn't sure what. Perhaps he could play it off as normal pureblood behaviour? Was it a feasible solution? What did C's expect of pureblood children anyway? His thoughts were racing and they led nowhere good.

Bugger bugger bugger. If she said anything - Kaname wasn't strong enough – they were already skin to skin – defences were lower – still not recovered – a sneak attack – pre-emptive -

"None, Kuran-sama," Nancy replied softly. Kaname would have breathed out a sigh of relief, except that would be giving something away, so he continued hugging Haruka and babbling nonsense softly. Nothing strange here. You won. Just a mentally broken child. Whose memories you wiped. You're lucky I'm not pissing on you right now in fact since I wouldn't remember that thing called bladder control. Oh yippe daddy visited. How nice. Yes, what a wonderful evening. Oh I want to play more with the fire truck. Then destroy another castle. Normal child. Normal, normal normal.

"We've had no security breaches and no injuries. Kaname-sama's lessons are ahead of schedule and he acquits himself excellently in every field."

"Naturally. I'll see you later, alright Kaname? Daddy's got to work now."

"Play with me!" Kaname demanded gesturing to the brightly coloured toys scattered all over the floor.

"Later," Haruka deferred, setting Kaname down, kissing his forehead and vanishing.

Kaname hid a smirk. Once again, proper preparation won out against power. Brain over brawn always won.

Smiling again, Kaname returned to playing.

"Eee-oo, eee-ooo," he mimicked the sounds of the siren as he raced the truck around the floor in wide sweeps of his arms. "Eee-ooo, eee-ooo."

Five minutes later, he judged it was safe and casually threw the toy aside, not caring as it shattered into pieces.

"Idiot," he scoffed in Haruka's general direction, quietly but needing to fume.

Nancy coughed, abruptly reminding Kaname of her presence. He gave her a suspicious glance but she studiously avoided his gaze.

She knew many of his secrets, sometimes Kaname wondered what she must think of him; she never asked the questions he half expected, but she had to realise something was wrong.

He'd considered this problem before, but Haruka's visit had prompted it again, for as many secrets as she knew, Kaname hadn't taken steps to protect Nancy. Now, those steps had just shot to the top of his priority list.

He smiled; depressing as it was, at least he was no longer bored.

Kaname double-checked the nursery. The spots on the wall where he'd anchored a few basic security charms showed that he was still in the clear. If anyone approached, Kaname's new bracelet would heat with warning. His cover as a normal child could have no room for doubt, not even to the servants who might see them leave these rooms.

"Let's go to my workshop, nanny," Kaname said, raising his arms to indicate he wanted his usual lift. He really should have thought of this earlier. It was a much quicker form of transport than he could manage on his own and the indignity he suffered being carried was far less than his failure to walk normally.

"Again? Very well," Nancy said, bending to pick him up without waiting for a reply. Kaname had been in his workshop near constantly since he'd made her renovate it. If he was there, then she didn't have to chase him all over the castle while he practiced his 'hunting' skills on her. Of course, when he was there he insisted on playing with a wide variety of dangerous chemicals and hazardous objects for his 'experiments' but she'd take what she could get. He was a pureblood; he'd probably survive.

They took one of the passages up a few levels, so that no one would see them leave the nursery, and then walked in the main corridors from there. Servants rarely came up this far, not when both Haruka and Juuri lived further below. That and neither Kaname nor his descendants had bothered making a passage to his tower.

His workshop was coming along nicely, Kaname thought, eyeing the tower room carefully. He still needed to lay in a good many raw materials, but the tiny forge had been restored, and the place was clean.

He had the entire tower to himself. It was only three floors since the rest of the tower had been built just for height and separation it gave. He needed excellent ventilation with little chance of accidently poisoning the rest of the household, and it was a safety measure. If something went disastrously wrong, better that his experiments exploded up high where the only danger would be falling debris rather than in a dungeon where he could hurt the foundations.

"What do you want doing today then Young Master?"

"The rings," Kaname said decisively. "Did you find the vault alright?"

"Yes, it was…very well hidden."

Kaname chuckled at her annoyed expression. The supply of mithril was much diminished in the usual caches; accessible to all of his descendants, but the secret stash he kept had been untouched; as he'd hoped for when he'd first hidden the precious ingots in the sewers. Purebloods had delicate noses.

"Thank you for fetching it," Kaname replied sweetly. He could have gone himself – but his nose was just as delicate as his kin.

Nancy gave him a tight smile as she took her usual seat by the door, to keep watch.

Ignoring her ire, she'd forgive him eventually, she always did, Kaname gleefully turned all of his attention to his latest project. He'd always been much more of a scientist for all that he'd become a king and he liked working with blood magic far more than politicking.

Nancy's protection would require a mithril base that much was certain. A common vampire like her had little intrinsic strength to draw upon, and her protection would have to be strong enough to withstand a pureblood's determined, prolonged assault, and sly enough not to invite an assault in the first place. Mithril would hold the power he imbued it with, it was a metal made from blood after all so that was it's natural property, elsewise Kaname's blood would not be so desirable in the first place.

But how to avoid notice? Kaname frowned as he mulled the problem over, idly fiddling with one blue-silver ingot. If he had spotted anyone other than a pureblood wearing mithril, Kaname would have known that the target vampire was carrying important information and he'd have gone after him or her like a wolf hunting a three-legged lamb.

Jewellery was the usual disguise of course, a pureblood would have to look to see and most of them would never condescend to examine a low blood's jewellery unless to dismiss it as inferior.

And yet… if Kaname made an enemy, when he mentally corrected; he knew his faults, that enemy would have reason to examine those in his Court.

Inspiration came in a flash. Humans inserted bits of metal and plastic under their skin all the time. Yes, yes that could work.

Nancy would need persuading he was sure, and Kaname would have to insert it himself. He paused. The ability of mithril to take and hold his enchantments was fairly quantifiable. The quality of the metal, the purity, the size one used, the expertise of the caster would all effect the efficiency, but nothing could alter the fact that the amount needed to defend a C from an A was going to be big.

Sub dermal implants were small. Where was he supposed to hide a huge chunk of metal in the body? The thigh? But what about clothes, even if Nancy stuck to skirts for the rest of her life there'd be no hiding it whenever the fabric pulled, and would she be able to walk with something like that in her?

So, Kaname wondered, was it possible to separate the mithril after the enchantment was set? If he inserted it in pieces… but that would weaken the protection. Blood magic was as much symbolic as it was psychics. Cut the physical side up and you cut the metaphysical too.

Multiple enchantments? A minor mental protection could be set in a nugget the size of a pea. What if he layered the enchantments, pea by pea? If one bit were discovered then its destruction wouldn't ruin the whole piece, and at that size they'd be easier to hide too.

He could even make a few for himself now that he thought about it. Enhancing's one strength with charms was a bit of a faux-pas for a pureblood, it made you look like you needed charms to be equal with the rest, but Kaname didn't care about social expectations; he cared about victory.

Oh yes, Kaname thought as he set about melting a few ingots of mithril in a blood glazed and rune worked crucible made of dragon bone for strength, he was definitely no longer bored.

The assistant chef was apparently called Hilda.

Spying from his position crouched in the eaves, Kaname watched the woman carefully. She was pretty, most vampires were, and seemed a cheerful, hardworking sort.

She wasn't very cheerful now.

The other servants were jealous of her luck in landing both their Lady and their Lord and they had no compunction with letting Hilda know it, now that Haruka and Juuri were sleeping together again and Hilda was presumably out of favour and a target.

Hunched over a stolen bottle of wine in one of the unused parlours, Hilda was sobbing her heart out and telling her tale of woe to the bottle.

"And then Mara told me to get over it! But how can I, no one is letting me forget!"

Kaname watched dispassionately. He didn't have to wait very long. Less than a minute later, Hilda set the bottle of wine down to roll over and cry more fervently into a silk cushion.

Carefully, oh so carefully, Kaname levitated three small vials down and tipped them one by one into the bottleneck. Two liquids and one powder – all flowed easily down the neck of the bottle to mix with the stolen wine.

Silently, Kaname 'pulled' the vials back up to him, and then 'picked' the bottle up to give it a good shake. His mixtures were undetectable to him, but Kaname didn't believe in taking chances either, who knew what low-blood might develop into a sniffer or even something new.

Silently, Kaname slipped away, leaving the vampire to cry herself out.

"New perfume, Hilda?" Haruka asked as the vampire in question brought a fresh cup of tea up to his office.

She smelled good, he thought with increasing interest as she set out the service. He had been bored of her… but one last taste before she got ideas… why not.

"New diet," Hilda replied, an easy smile on her face. "It's meant to cleanse the blood."

"It's working," Haruka declared, tugging her down onto his lap. Paperwork could wait.

Listening to the enemy rut was not a new experience for Kaname. His plans often required blackmail or a moment of weakness and post coital was as vulnerable as most purebloods ever got.

Haruka could overpower Kaname, but he wouldn't whilst he was confident of his success in the mind wipe. Kaname's counterattack would be carried out with all the subtly he'd honed over many, many feuds.

Drugging a pureblood required either massive quantities or a Hunter-natured component both of which Haruka would detect, leading to Kaname's eventual discovery.

Drugging a blood source was far, far easier. Hilda lacked the senses both external and internal to detect the drug, or its effects on her, better yet she lacked the experience to be aware of such attacks in the first place. Kaname smiled as he remembered fondly how many such attempts had faired against him. Ah, the look on their faces… but now was not the time for reminiscence, even if the memories were far more entertaining than watching Haruka's arse clench and unclench, bouncing up and down, with each thrust.

The drug had enhanced Hilda's appeal of course, it was essential that Haruka blood her and fuck her. Now he was distracted with sex, and contaminated with blood and sexual fluids both. When Kaname set out to destroy someone, he did it very thoroughly indeed.

Haruka would sleep very, very, deeply today.

"My lord," Hilda gasped, shivering as she came with Haruka's fangs buried in her neck.

Haruka grunted over her, collapsing onto the bed with a low, satisfied groan, blood speckling his chin.

"Thank you, sweetness," he said, "you can go."

Not even Haruka would let an untrusted vampire near them whilst they slept. Excellent, Kaname had planned for it that way, but he wouldn't have been unsurprised if Haruka neglected that too.

The girl, dressed and left without complaint, and Kaname only had to wait another five minutes, standing calmly inside one of the shielded passageways, watching through the peephole before his descendant was unconscious.

Haruka's body would metabolise the drugs quickly, but it would take longer asleep – just as Kaname had planned.

He double-checked his rings. Re-inventing the external aura-shield hadn't been easy and it still wasn't perfect. Kaname had had to compromise time with surety. His attempts might flicker in and out, or they might work perfectly for ten minutes and ten minutes only but he didn't have long to waste. Haruka would figure out Kaname's ruse eventually, or so Kaname had to assume.

As a compromise, Kaname wore all eighteen of his imperfect attempts.

They were working; his aura was neither present nor suspicious by its absence, the same consistency and visibility as the air. It was time.

Kaname nudged open the passage - oiled with scentless oil two nights ago in Haruka's absence - and slipped into the room on rubber-soled shoes.

Purebloods really were ridiculously vulnerable if you caught them in the right moment, Kaname mused. He almost felt badly about compelling Haruka like this. Almost. Kaname had lived long enough to see humanities' definition of morality change a hundred times, a thousand. It had been a long time since he truly felt 'bad' about anything at all by other people's standards.

Drugged to the gills, Haruka was utterly helpless when Kaname peeled his eyelids open with gloved hands and projected his mind forward without a smidgen of regret into the eyes so like his own. The eyes were the windows to the soul, and the eye contact meant he didn't have to waste power trying to get into Haruka's head without a door.

The mental defences were exactly the same as before, Kaname slid under them and went to work. He'd planned his attack in detail before setting out. He knew what he was going to use and how to use it. Unlike Haruka, he wasn't going to use the brute force approach. It might work short term, but as Kaname had proven, purebloods just didn't work like that.

Kaname could order Haruka to perform an action – if he wanted to get killed next week. That was so obvious Haruka would feel that something was wrong. No, Kaname knew what methods worked even if he preferred not to use them.

Nevertheless, Haruka had set the standard for this enmity. If he was willing to use mind control, so would Kaname. He'd just do it better.

Haruka didn't really understand children, Kaname saw, Haruka knew they were necessary he even felt affection for them, but they weren't useful until they were older. Kaname examined that feeling, he pulled it up, puffed it out, and filled it, twisting the addition in and setting it back into place in the space of a second.

Ignore your children. Wait for them to grow up. Let Kaname raise them in the meantime. They are necessary though, the more the better.

Haruka was very conscious of appearances. He wanted the 'perfect' family. Kaname could work with that too.

Your son is the perfect heir. He's smart and savvy. Perfect. Trust him, and protect him, protect all of your children. That is expected, that is right.

Haruka liked pretty things.

Pretty things cost money. More money means more pretty things. Start teaching Kaname about the family fortune. The perfect heir must know his economics. This is expected. Haven't you done well? You've taught him all he knows. He can be trusted. He's family.

Haruka hated anyone telling him what to do. That would be useful; he could twist anything into that with a bit of creativity.

The Council are a bothersome lot aren't they? A dozen communiqués a night? Ridiculous! They need to know their place.

Haruka liked flattery.

Your Court are so polite aren't they? So obedient, so kind, you like them. They have children don't they? Kaname needs playmates. He needs people to flatter him too.

Most of all, Haruka like power, the reality or the illusion, he didn't care.

Lots of old families, purebloods even, have fallen. Their libraries, their archives, and their artefacts – they're out in vampire society. In shops, on the markets, the black-markets even the Council's hands. That's not right. They belong to you! Why should low-bloods have that power? That information? You need it, you need it all.

Haruka loved Juuri – or thought he did.

Let her do as she wishes, she can do no wrong. Kaname wound the thought in with exquisite care. She loves you too; you need never be suspicious, or jealous. Your relationship is perfect everybody says so. You love all your family. You love Kaname, who is your son. Your son. Your son.

It was done. Kaname drew back; weary in heart if not in body. Haruka wasn't enthralled – but he was defanged, and after Kaname's precision strike, he would never know it, not even on the night he died.

Aching, Kaname quickly checked the room for any disturbance. He'd worn gloves so that his scent wouldn't linger on Haruka's skin, he'd brushed his hair thoroughly before tying it back so no loose strand could give his presence away. He'd washed in Hilda's shower gel and shampoo too, so that whatever scent he left would be dismissed as hers. He had no aura; no passing maid would remark on his presence on an inconvenient later date.

No one had seen him enter; no one would see him leave.

Haruka was still asleep, the drugs would have metabolised by the time he woke, and falling asleep after sex wasn't suspicious either. There was no evidence and no absence of it to give him away.

With a single nod of satisfaction in a job well done, Kaname slid into the passage and was gone just as silently as he arrived.

A/N - With this, I pass the 40k mark! What do you all think so far? I've edited the formatting more with this chapter so I hope it's easier to read. Thank you for all your feedback, I really appreciate it. Do drop a line to let me know how I've done :)