Moka watched Tsukune carefully apply a bandage to Shade's neck.
Shade played her part well, appearing as the helpless victim in need of rescue. It pierced through Tsukune's anger and into his heart; as usual he was putting his own worries on the back burner in order to help someone else. Though his face, especially his eyes, were grim he never stopped doing what needed to be done to clean and treat Shade's wound.
Inner Moka saw through this little charade instantly, though. She noticed the little things that Tsukune missed. Shade's back was arched a little more than what would be natural; that was to offer him a better view of her cleavage. Her lips were parted just so; as if to invite a kiss. Her breath came out in just the right kind of purr to sound wounded, yet feminine. Even the way her exposed thighs were closed in a demure way as if embarrassed to offer a glimpse up her smooth legs and the delicate feminine treasure that was not concealed with underpants. That the girl wasn't wearing underwear proved to her that Moka knew that this succubus wasn't big on modesty, and given what Shade had done in the Ladies' room she didn't really believe the woman had any shame. Her choker with its little silver chain and opened lock dangling, glittering between her breasts offered a nice point to lure the eyes.
Oh yes, she was good, Moka thought sourly.
Tsukune had hurried over to help without bothering to put his shirt back on. Shade's half lidded eyes trailed up the masculine sinewy arms, Tsukune's flexed neck, broad shoulders, and chiseled chest. His scent was, indeed, delicious. She could smell the musky aroma of his sweat. She could feel the hostility that was still there just beneath the surface. His anger remained quite strong even as he tended to her with those gentle hands. He was in so much conflict that Shade knew it was only going to take a slight push one way or the other to make him either truly sympathetic or openly hostile.
She would have to be much more subtle with him then she had been with Moka. In a way that excited her, normally men reacted to any slight hint that she was available. It was the few men like Tsukune (and Lord Akashiya) who made things interesting.
"How do you feel?" He asked through once he had finished bandaging her. His tone was polite enough but his eyes were cool and suspicious.
She touched her neck where the bandage was. "It's a little loose, but I think it will do. Thank you."
"I'll tighten it for you," Moka hissed. Her hands were twitching, eager to put both of them around her neck again. Tsukune casually stepped in front of her so that he was between her and her intended target.
"Why are you protecting her?" Moka demanded. "You were angry enough about this situation this morning."
He didn't flinch, but remained calm. "She is wounded and she's not trying to hurt anyone. She's not a threat right now. If anything you're the one who grabbed her by the neck and reopened her wound. So you would be the only dangerous one at the moment."
"What?!" Moka almost roared at Tsukune. "You said it yourself; she attacked me at the reception! You heard it from Ria and I confirmed it. You stomped out of this house because you were upset at what she did."
Tsukune watched his vampire wife look ready to chew steel and spit nails at him, but he calmly replied, "You're wrong, Moka-chan. I was upset that you didn't tell me. You decided to keep secrets from me like you did back when we were in high school."
The long silver haired vampiress could only stare mutely at her husband. This was not an unfamiliar road she's crossed with him. If only he could accept that the things she hid from him were for his own good. It would seem there was some residual resentment for it and this was not the time or the place to rehash those reasons, in Moka's eyes.
"You said over breakfast that you didn't want her here." Moka growled between clenched teeth, bringing up another issue.
"But, for some reason, you choose to openly invite her here in front of our friends and myself. I assume you did so 'after' she touched you in the ladies room?"
"Yes, she did." Shade called out from the couch, shifting to a more comfortable position.
"Shut up!" Moka snapped at her, earning an amused smirk from their guest.
"If that was the case, then why did you invite her, Moka-chan? Why did you give her the address to our little cottage and suggest she join us on our honeymoon? Why would you do that when she did something so horrible to you?"
He tried to approach her, touch her, but at the moment she was so angry she wanted distance and time to rethink her current position. She tried to keep her expression calm and just slightly aloof, but the slight color on her cheek and neck, and the way she narrowed her eyes at Shade indicated she was anything but calm. She looked ready to pounce like a hungry wolf set to devour a rabbit. That she held back at all was only due to Tsukune.
"May I speak, Tsukune-sama?" Shade asked quietly, wincing as she moved to get up from her prone position on the couch to a seated one. She tucked her legs under her and lounged against the arm and back cushions to get comfortable. She did not appear worried in the least about having an angry vampire not ten feet from her.
He turned dark eyes towards Shade, nodding slowly. It was obvious his wife wasn't going to tell him her reasons, so it was up to Shade to tell him something of what was really going on here.
"Thank you, Tsukune-sama." She touched her hand over her heart and bowed her head just the tiniest bit. "The reason I'm here is not just to teach you about how to become better lovers, but to give you back what Ria took from you."
Tsukune frowned at that bit of information, looking at his wife for some kind of denial or objection.
Moka remained silent; still looking furious but unwilling to reply or add anything.
"And what did she take from me." He squared his shoulders, ready to defend himself against any kind of wild accusation.
"Your pride, Tsukune-sama." She whispered the word with sincerity.
"My what?" He blinked, a little confused at the direction she was going. "You assaulted my wife and forced your way into our honeymoon so that you could rebuild my pride? Are you fucking crazy?" His fists trembled at his sides, his eyes large and angry; she was in serious danger of being attacked by two angry vampires.
"Am I?" Shade considered, rolling her eyes up and then tapping her tapered nails of her fingers at her temple before returning Tsukune's outraged look with a calm one of her own. "That's debatable. However, it is true that Ria took your pride isn't it?"
"This is so stupid I can't even believe it." He began, but noticed that Moka was looking less angry and more uncomfortable.
"You don't think that, do you?" Tsukune asked his wife with a bit of heat. It was ridiculous! "Tell me, you don't really think…"
"Watch your tone with me, Tsukune!" Moka snapped, glowering her viper red slitted eyes at him, she directed some of her anger at him too. "It didn't happen to me in the bathroom, Tsukune, but to my other Outer self. Had this woman approached me like she did we would not be suffering this conversation. I would have put her through a wall in the next building just for assuming she could."
Shade agreed with the silver hair vampire with a nod, but added with her own amused lilt that only stoked Moka's quiet rage, "But does that really have anything to do with the reason I was invited in the first place? The two of you are the same person right? You both think and feel the same way even if one is meeker than the other."
Tsukune could hear Inner Moka's claws start to lengthen as did her fangs. She looked animalistic and just on the brink of frenzy; however she had no verbal response to offer. She didn't try to deny it.
Shade turned her head to Tsukune, who was focused wholly on his wife. He knew it was just a matter of time before he would have to step in to keep her from physically attacking Shade. Whatever she had done she had been invited here and was already wounded, attacking her now could not be justified.
"Why did you do this to us?" Tsukune almost choked on the words, frustration and anger in his voice. He couldn't believe what he was being subjected on the first day of his marriage with the girl he had dreamed about, longed for, lived for, and almost died for. Somehow or other he was about to protect the woman who instigated all this from the person who was more precious to him than anything in the world.
Wincing, she got herself back on her feet and fearlessly stood between Moka and Tsukune. She had her back to Moka and looked deeply, intimately into Tsukune's chocolate brown eyes. "Why else do any of us in our world do what we do, Tsukune-sama? Because we are monsters, it's who we are. It's what I am."
Now it was Tsukune who growled angrily, pulling off his own rosario at his wrist and soaked up the crimson youkai energy that Moka's blood infused him with. His dark brown hair faded to purest silver, his eyes a scarlet crimson with serpent vertical slits. His skin paled to almost translucent and his young boy's visage became that of a regal immortal.
He was utterly breathtaking to Shade and she was not ashamed to grow weak in the knees at his presence. He was the same beauty as Moka's father and she almost wept at the privilege of being granted this pleasure.
However, it did not come without a cost.
CHOMP!
Tsukune latched his deadly fangs into the unwounded side of her neck, gripping her cheek with one hand and ripping off the bandage he had placed just a moment ago with the other.
"AAaah!" Shade groaned, but not in agony. She wobbled unsteadily in his grip, but felt him tremble with visible weakness. He wasn't drinking her blood, but giving her a bit of his.
"Tsukune, what the hell are you doing?!" Moka shrieked in outrage, dashing over to him and shoving them both apart till he fell onto the floor and Shade back onto the couch.
He panted a little, weakened by the exchange, but still strong enough to bring himself back to his feet and stare unapologetically at Moka. For a vampire to give their blood was considered the highest honor, the greatest gift one could offer. That, however, was not the reason why he gave the small bit to Shade.
Like some kind of grotesque wound reversal, her skin knitted over itself and healed, showing off a flawless delicate neck that had only two small puncture wounds remaining where Ria had left her mark. After a few minutes those too would vanish completely.
"You are healed now, succubus." Tsukune's voice caught deep in his chest, pained and angry at the very person who did this to him, to them. "I want to fight you. I want you to be in perfect health when we go outside and I put a pain into your heart that you put between Moka-chan and I."
Shade rubbed her neck, amused and almost lightheaded with the burst of energy flowing through her, like a sampling of lava that released a chaotic energy she could barely contain within herself. The succubus felt significantly better after that little infusion. It wasn't enough to attempt to change her or hurt her succubus youkai, but enough to bring about a small bit of accelerated healing and strength that she did not mind in the least.
"So you want to take this to the 'parking lot' and punch it out like a man with me?" Shade sounded amused, even going as far as mocking him a little with a 'put up your dukes' playful rolling of her fists in front of her face. "Tsukune, you should know by now that as a succubus, I'm a lover not a fighter. Do you think physically beating me will fix anything? Hardly."
She turned her gaze to the smoldering glower of the silver haired Moka, "I can see why you covet your blood. It's positively sinful, like the perfect lover that can fill you from the inside out. If this is what you've felt every time you've had your way with Tsukune, I can see why you sought him out so often."
"You talk way to much, Caro Shade." Her voice trembled with longing to hurt her. Also, the mere mention that she had desired for his blood in the beginning of their relationship was a fact that had, in part, held some truth she couldn't deny. Still, that was old news and Tsukune had been more then accepting of it.
She stood up and stretched languidly, eventually, walking to the door and holding it open for the two of the other occupants. "However, since this is your wish, I will not deny you. Come; let us put this part of our relationship behind us so we can get on with things."
"We do not have a relationship!" Moka hissed, stomping right past her, eager to get her claws into the Succubus.
Tsukune was just walking past her when Shade called out, "Oh, trust me, we are bound just as deeply as any family, Aono Moka and Tsukune."
The male vampire stood under the door frame, looking down at the beautiful succubus. She was unafraid of him but clearly enamored with his dark beauty. "What do you mean?"
"My niece, my little Mumu-chan. You are her destined one and therefore it's just a matter of time before you give her your child. In return, you have accepted her as your mistress and all the dark secrets you have shared with her as a lover. You are indebted to her and I am in the bloodline that your child will share one day."
"And should that tie be severed?" Tsukune asked quietly, his angry posture just a little more cautious with the mention of 'dark secrets.' There were things between him and Kurumu he did not want revealed. Did she really tell her aunt the things I trusted her with? If she had then he and Kurumu would need to seriously reevaluate where things stood between them. He wasn't sure he could have a relationship with her if he couldn't trust her.
She gave him a friendly smile. "Then I would no longer have any reason to keep those secrets, would I? Though that is not what I want, it would break my little Mumu-chan's heart."
Tsukune did not miss the subtle threat.
Moka did not miss the 'dark secrets' exchange and turned her anger from Shade to her husband. He had been so upset by her trying to protect him by keeping silent about her family and other tender subjects. Had he been keeping things from her as well?
"And what bond do you share with me?" Moka asked changing the subject.
"Since your sister, Ria attempted to kill me and your father saved me, that bound us in more than one way. Wouldn't you agree, daughter of Lord Akashiya?"
"No I would not."
Shade's back straightened. "When I met your father after his rescue, we talked. One thing led into another and he told me he is going to ask you if I am suited to be one of his personal lovers."
The Aonos both blinked at the same time. Things were starting to get really complicated.
"F-father is going to take you as...as..." Inner Moka sounded downright flustered. Her father had taken several lovers that bore him children. All of her sisters were birthed from different mothers, but the idea that Moka would potentially have a half sister through this woman was inconceivable.
"With your blessing, of course." Shade said with a slight nod.
Moka's hand went to her face, confused to the point of feeling her first headache in her vampire form. For her father to accept someone on this level was more than just a passing fling or interest. This had ramifications for her that Tsukune could not begin to comprehend. This really would bring this woman into her family and, what was worse, she considered her on the same par as her cunning and scheming sister Ria.
She could potentially be Moka's step mother, however unlikely that might be. She knew her father had a taste for strong willed woman and her mother had been one of those. She also knew her mother as a person of confidence and power, but also one of grace, regal gentleness, and a strong sense of justice. It was all that as much as her physical beauty that had lured her father, the Lord of Hades to her and not the other way around. No, this 'woman' couldn't begin to compare to her mother. At best she was just a vulgar distraction… a play thing.
She could probably tolerate Shade's presence until her father grew bored with her, but that could take decades.
What made the headache even worse was that nothing about Shade indicated she was lying. So far as Moka's vampiric senses could tell she was telling the truth.
"I forbid it." She hissed, her chin raised high and eyes glowing a scarlet red.
"I can see where Lord Akashiya finds so much pride in you." She glanced at her nails, muttering something about needing a manicure. "I'm sure those are the same words he spoke when you told him you wanted Tsukune as a mate, hmm? You are starting to sound just like him. Like father like daughter, eh?"
Moka froze, unable to deny that she had, at that moment, sound just like her father. It sickened her a little more that this woman had picked on that. How could she have gotten to know him so well in such a short period of time?
"We still have to have our lessons first," Shade remarked smoothly. "Your father insists upon it."
"My father doesn't control me!" Moka barked, clearly enraged at the insinuation.
"He is your father and the man of your family. His is master of his kingdom, an Elder Lord of the Vampires and a Hades Lord of the Youkai. I think his word and expectations hold sway, dear Moka." Shade lectured in a polite tone that irritated her. "No matter how strong you are he can make things difficult for you, can he not?" Shade placed just a little bit of warning into her tone.
Moka had no answer for that.
"Why did Ria try to kill you?" Tsukune asked suddenly. It was obvious that more was being revealed by talking with the succubus then pounding the living hell out of her. She was offering no resistance and had not threatened or attacked them, at least not openly. So far, she has been nothing but polite and open.
"Oh, that silly girl," Shade chuckled, touching where her neck was still tender. "Some people just don't see how lucky they are to have an arch succubus offer themselves so freely in the middle of the night. How was I supposed to know when she said, 'No one enters my bed without my permission' she was being serious? Do you have any idea how many men have said something like that to me? All the while hoping and praying I'd ignore their words. They never complained upon my visit. Quite the opposite, really. They were quite determined to not let me go and even going as far as claiming they'd leave their wives for me. So, as I was saying, I took it as an invitation. Most succubi would. I'm sure you know that all too well, don't you, Tsu-ku-ne-kun?"
Moka shot her head over to her husband and noticed the succubus had hit another point with him.
He blushed a dusty rose and his wife didn't even have to try to seek his guilt.
"Tsukune?" She raised a sliver thin eyebrow at him. "Would you mind explaining what she means by that?"
He rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Kurumu-chan would often visit me in my dorm late at night after I would tell her I couldn't have any visitors or that I only had eyes for you, Moka-chan. No matter how many times I told her that you were the only one for me and that I could not be her destined one, she would...still end up in bed with me somehow."
Now both of her eyes narrowed low on the bridge of her nose.
"I didn't do anything with her, I swear! But, she would always come to my room every now and then. You know how she is, Moka-chan," Tsukune tried to ease his wife's worry with an apologetic smile. "It was her way of expressing herself. I can promise you, on my love for you, Moka-chan, that I never did anything with her that did not involve your permission."
Sensing his sincerity, she nodded her acceptance. "I believe you, Tsukune."
She turned her eyes back to their problem at hand. "Now, as you were saying about my sister?"
"I think she was worried about how much she enjoyed my touch after our first kiss. If I'd had just a few more minutes, I think she would have been completely under my spell. If not, at least she would have been thanking me for the experience."
"You obviously don't know my sister," Moka said dryly. "Vampires, especially her, can't be dominated like that," Moka grinned, amused that her sister had been 'molested' by this atrocious woman in her own bedroom. She was actually impressed that Shade had survived the encounter at all. Her sister was the cruelest of monsters, and not inclined to mercy.
"You take some awful risks for the sake of pleasure," Tsukune folded his arms over his sculpted chest, "How did you survive?"
Before Shade could answer, Moka spoke in her stead.
"She released her seal, didn't she?" Moka offered quietly.
Shade nodded. "For a second I really did think she was going to kill me. I was a guest in your lovely home, and maybe that was part of why she spared me. She did stop of her own volition; I certainly wasn't able to stop her. The next morning, though, your father was not pleased."
Moka flinched at that, even going so far as to mutter 'stupid' loud enough for them to hear. "Did you attack her in any way?"
"I was too busy enjoying the feel of her lips on my nipples and her body on me to attack her, Moka-dear, so she wasn't exactly resisting at the time. Besides, I didn't intrude onto her bed to hurt her, you should know that."
Moka's claws twitch at her sides. She really did want to skewer this woman. It was obvious her idea of 'attack' differed from her own.
"For me to find someone whose figure and skill is different but just as magnificent as my own is a rather distracting and enjoyable feat. I would have gladly seen things to a climax and found out just what our bodies could do together." She sighed dreamily, but turned serious and lucid eyes to the silver haired Moka. "No, I did not attack her. I never intended to harm, just the opposite."
Moka did not miss the blush and almost embarrassed look on Tsukune's face when Shade mentioned Ria's body and skill, especially the part about lips on her nipples. She didn't care for that one bit.
Not. One. Bit.
"What does that mean, Moka-chan?" Tsukune turned to her curiously.
"When we're near humans we need to keep our seals on so as not to attract their attention. We were told to keep them on, especially when in father's home so as to keep our location secret and our presence discreet unless it is a dire emergency. That she did that while father was home without actually being attacked is a blatant violation of that rule. Father will severely punish anyone who breaks that particular rule."
Moka even went as far as gripping her shoulders, hugging herself at the thought of her father punishing her for such an offense.
"He let her go with a warning," Shade announced airily, primping her hair a little, then pulling it over her shoulder.
Moka blinked at her. "He warned her?"
Shade nodded simply.
Tsukune was a little confused. "Isn't that a good thing, Moka-chan?"
She shook her head, silver locks rippling with her movements. "My father is a very strict and unforgiving man, Tsukune." She gave him a meaningful look. "You know that."
Tsukune could only nod.
"The last time someone removed a seal inside his home, it drew a lot of attention from some nearby humans. He was forced to exterminate an entire village just to maintain our secrecy."
"That's horrible," Shade offered in sympathy. She really didn't believe in killing if she didn't have to. She was a monster, yes, but not a killer.
"What happened?" Tsukune asked softly. It was obvious that this was a reminder of just how dangerous Moka's family could be. Slaughtering a whole village just to keep the location of his castle a secret? Sadly he had no trouble believing Moka's father capable of it.
"Khalua," She responded quietly. "Khalua did it in a fit. She threw a tantrum and pulled her rosario off in the middle of a market. My father was outraged that she caused him so much trouble and punished her accordingly."
"What did he do?" Tsukune could see Moka's eyes fighting back tears to the memory.
"He took her away for a year and punished her. What he did, I can't honestly tell you, but when she came back she is how you see her now, Tsukune. Whatever happened to her, she has blocked it out because her mind can't accept it. She reverted to her childlike persona and cannot seem to really grow out of it. When she cries, it's not because she's really upset at anyone, but it's because she's remembering."
Shade couldn't see the lovely, sweet, yet simple daughter of Lord Akashiya as anything else but a loving child. This did put a sliver of fear and more respect for Moka's father into her. What a scary family, she thought. It was true, then, that her father did indeed know how to be cruel, even to his own flesh and blood.
"So when you say he just gave her a warning," Moka brought their attention back to her. "I find that almost impossible to believe."
Shade narrowed her eyes challenging. "Talk to your sister if you don't believe me. She hasn't been taken away or locked in a box."
Moka nodded, acknowledging that she would.
"I think the time to talk is at an end," Tsukune growled, cracking his knuckles.
His wife grinned, pleased that talk and debate were finished. This was something she was much more comfortable dealing with. What better way to express one's place, one's strength then on the field of battle? In the end this was always the way she settled her problems.
"Thank you, my husband. I have been waiting for this." She beckoned for Shade to get out from under the door frame.
"Fine, fine," Shade sighed in annoyance. "Fighting is so troublesome, but if this is what you want to do, then who am I do deny you?" She simpered past them both. "Tell me where you want to meet. I'll assume it's nowhere near your pretty home or the surrounding environs. This is such a lovely place. It would be a shame to destroy it."
"Follow the brick path till its end. There is a clearing in the middle of the forest. We'll meet you there." Tsukune felt Moka's approving hands trace his arm.
Shade nodded, but spun on her heel towards the two of them. "Since we're heading in the same direction, mind if I'm escorted by the two lovely vampires Aono? It's not often I get to be in such beautiful company."
Without a lick of fear or shame she nudged herself between husband and wife, hooking her hands between theirs playfully, as if they were going to enjoy a nice stroll to a picnic and not a bloody fight.
Moka growled, "Get your hands off me." She ripped her hand from Shade's grip.
Tsukune was more gentle as he too let go of her. "I don't think it would be a good idea to continue like this, Shade-san. I don't want you to get mixed signals as to what we're about to do."
Shade rolled her eyes and flicked her fingers at him disarmingly. "I know, I know, we're going to try and beat each other bloody. It's all just a waste of time, if you ask me. I am not blind as to what you really want."
As she continued to walk she put her hands about Tsukune's arm and leaned close to him. It was similar to how Kurumu liked to walk with him.
"I have one request, if you wouldn't mind granting it. Just a little something till we get to your 'battleground'." Shade tilted her head to the side demurely, offering a pleasant smile. The fact she had her breasts pressed against his arm did not go unnoticed by either him or Moka. Kurumu could get away with that but Shade was putting herself in real danger of having Moka start beating on her immediately.
He had to admit this was not at all what he'd expected from Shade after hearing what she had done. This woman hardly seemed even remotely dangerous having gone so far as being blatantly truthful and almost submissive in their presence. He still had a hard time accepting that she had assaulted Moka at the reception.
"What do you have in mind?" He tried to pull his arm away from her grip, but noticed something a little startling that reminded him, in fact, that she was a woman of power that had nothing to do with her build, grace, or generous figure.
Even in his vampire form, he couldn't pull his arm free from her this time without getting violent.
Her smile was still as suggestive, still alluring and offering as ever. He could see that her beauty and her dazzling eyes hid an almost playful disregard for his and Moka's threats. She wasn't even a little bit afraid at the prospect of having to fight two vampires.
Why was that? Didn't she all but crumble under Moka's grip before?
Then he realized something he should have earlier: Ria had probably drained her to near death when she sucked her blood and was probably at her weakest. Giving her some of his blood probably not only healed her of her ugly wound, but refilled her own vital power to near double her ability.
He had no idea what her base power was to begin with and that worried him a little.
Still, what monster could be the equivalent to two vampires unsealed? Moka and Kurumu had gone to ends with each other several times and Moka could easily wipe the floor with the succubus without even breaking a sweat. This would be the same, wouldn't it?
That was something he would soon find out, but at the moment he could tell she was still politely waiting for his attention so she could answer.
"A truce, from here to there. I want you to listen what I have to say. I will tell you what I did and what I mentioned to your pretty pinked haired Moka that led to this whole situation. Afterwards, once we are at your fighting grounds, the truce will end and we shall begin our little battle. Deal?"
He knew she was going to try and talk her way out of trouble. It was obvious She was good at getting her way with words and with her charming personality. He wondered if she really understood though how angry her actions had made not only his wife but him as well. Anything she had to say couldn't possibly turn those facts into something favorable, and he was curious to at least hear more of exactly what had happened and why.
She hadn't told a lie yet. Even her enemy, his wife, had agreed that what she had revealed so far had been true.
What would it hurt? Besides, he was curious as to what 'dark secrets' she was privy to that involved Kurumu.
She hadn't told her aunt 'everything', had she?
If she had, his trust in Kurumu would be destroyed. Their relationship would be permanently damaged and maybe even ruined for good. He had trusted her completely and revealed things that might lose him Moka's trust and love.
Kurumu had always wanted Moka's place as his wife, that was no secret, but would she be willing to hurt him to try and get it? She had sworn to him that she was all right with whatever time he could give her, just so long as she received some of his love and attention. She had promised him that whatever he shared with her would be their secret alone, that no one else would ever know what was said and done between her and her destined one. If all that had been a lie he didn't know that he could forgive her.
He needed to know if Kurumu had betrayed him.
"Fine, you have till we get there. After that, prepare to defend yourself."
