Chapter 12: The Mukami brothers

I was slapped across the face and sent out of the club with instructions to collect Shu from the North Pole. So, I prepared to do just that, but as I did so, I got a call from Daiki.

"What news do you have for me?" I asked, as I packed my bag.

"The hotel's construction is going ahead of schedule, sir," he reported, "Your graduation was only a week ago, but the hotel is being erected at a break-neck pace! The workers are alternating between night and day shifts, but surely they shouldn't be this quick?"

I grinned, the familiars were working well among the construction company, "Maybe the company is just extremely efficient?"

"Yes, sir, but the inspectors will be extra thorough to see if it is structurally sound since it's going up so fast," he continued, "especially since the design is so ornate. It looks beautiful, sir, what inspired such a design?"

"It just came to me," I replied vaguely, remembering Ruka's face.

"I'll be out of the country for a few days to visit one of my brothers, I trust you can handle the situation while I'm gone?"

"Yes, sir," he replied, "Oh, by the way, the jewellers called, your customised order is being handled as we speak."

I smiled, "Good, and the restaurant reviews?"

"Positive so far, sir," he answered, "The profits are modest but steady, it should increase once word of mouth gets around and the chefs have undergone their training. You'll be a very rich man independent of your family name soon enough, I'm sure of it!"

I played with the metallic ring on my finger once more, "Don't jinx it."

"My apologies, sir, have a good trip," he replied, "Oh, and sir; happy birthday."

I hung up and grabbed my bag, heading to the car that would take me to the family private jet. Time to collect Shu…

Ruka's P.O.V.

I took a deep breath and stepped onto the Mukami brother's property a few days later. The air rippled with my aura, informing them a stranger was on the property. I could feel them shifting about the house, preparing for the worst from their unexpected guest. I smiled and walked towards their parlour to wait for them. They hunted around the property, trying to find me; the turned aren't as good at locating as purebloods are, only with their own kind are they accurate. I made some tea and sat waiting for them. I sipped from my cup delicately as I waited.

Ruki Mukami was the first to arrive, Kou, Azusa and Yuma soon followed.

"Who the hell are you?" Yuma barked.

"Now, now, is that anyway to great a guest?" I smirked.

"What do you want Miss Nikorov?" Ruki asked, sceptical.

"I came to strike a deal with you lovely gentleman," I smiled, gesturing for them to sit, "tea?"

They turned down my offer for tea, but sat down anyway.

"What kind of deal?" Kou asked immediately.

"One that involves the death of Karlheinz and the founders, once and for all," I replied honestly.

"What?!" Yuma snapped, "Why would we help you do that? That man saved us, we owe him our lives!"

"You owe him nothing and you are disposable pawns to him," I replied, setting down my cup.

"You take that back…" Azusa growled.

I smiled, "If it weren't true…why hasn't he contacted you since the Adam and Eve experiment failed?"

They fell silent and looked to the floor. I sighed heavily and looked at them with sympathetic eyes, "He saved you all so he could use you. All of us; even his own sons, are just his guinea pigs for his sick biology experiment. Now he plans to do…something, I'm not certain what, that will eliminate us all because our usefulness has run dry."

" 'Us'?" Ruki asked, "What has he done to you?"

I paused and looked away, my jaw set, "He released my mother from where she was trapped, and forced her to demonstrate what I was capable of doing, but couldn't at the time. He now intends to begin his experiments afresh, using my mother as a catalyst."

"So…is your mother going to help us?" Azusa asked.

I threw my head back and laughed, "Even if she was, I'd slaughter that bitch on sight."

They looked at me in shock and I smiled, "Am I to take it that you're on board?"

They looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

"Good," I replied, standing up, "I'll be back tomorrow night to help during the blood moon, should anything happen. The founders are likely to strike."

"Why don't you just stay over? We can prepare a guest room," Kou offered.

I smiled, "That's sweet of you, my dear, but I have business with the Sakamaki's to take care of before the evening is out."

"You're putting us in alliance with the Sakamaki's?!" Yuma snapped, jumping to his feet, "No fucking way!"

I sighed, turned to him and put a hand on his cheek and moved a strand of hair from his face, "Yuma darling, this is a war that's coming," and then looking him in the eye, "none of us really have a choice."

He looked taken aback and I removed my hand, "There will be benefits to you all once this is over; independence from the finances of the Sakamaki, permanent ownership of this manor; no strings attached of course. I've already seen to it that this is the case. There will be other things too, but most importantly; you get you lives back."

They looked at me in amazement, and Ruki spoke, "How do we know that you're just not another Karlheinz?"

I smiled at him, "Then feel free to kill me."

They looked at me in utter shock, "Ta-ta!" I breathed, disappearing in the black mist I was now accustomed too.

I teleported to the mansion and Laito was waiting for me, along with Shu and the other brothers except for Reiji.

"Good to see you back with us Shu," I smiled.

"So, you're the one causing Reiji to keep his distance?" he asked.

"Well, I do scare him quite a bit these days," I chuckled, then looking at them all, "the Mukami's have agreed to help with the founder's situation, I'll be going over there tomorrow to help them should they try to pick them off."

"Why bring them into this?" Kanato asked, "One of them hurt teddy…"

"They're inside information about your fathers last movements and what he was intending to do after the Adam and Eve project will be invaluable," I replied, "plus, the additional numbers won't hurt in dealing with them, especially since my mother is on the scene."

"Why not just bring them here so that we're all together?" Yui asked.

"Can you honestly see these guys being willing to live under the same roof as them?" I pointed out.

She looked down in thought and I looked back at Shu, "I know you've only just arrived back, but we honestly need you here. And, if what I've heard about you through the grapevine is true, you'll be valuable in the fight." Then to all of them, "Tomorrow is the blood moon, when we're at our weakest and they're at their strongest, rest up. You'll need your strength."

"Are you going back to them?" Laito demanded as I turned to leave.

I looked over my shoulder at him, "What I do with my life, is none of your damn business."

I walked out of the manor and he chased after me once I was in the garden, "I won't allow it!"

"Allow what?" I sighed, rolling my eyes.

"Yui's vision to come true," he said, grabbing my wrist roughly, "they've gone from seeing the past to seeing the future too. If I let you go to them…" his grip tightened, "they'll fall in love with you too."

"You don't love me Laito, you love the idea of me," I replied, trying to free myself from his grasp, "a child in love with the idea of love, just like everyone else."

"Then if this isn't love I'm feeling, what is love?" he pleaded, looking at me with a pained expression.

I looked at him wide eyed. I couldn't answer him, because I didn't know either. So, all I said in return was, "Let me go, now, Laito." In barely a whisper.

He loosened his grip on my wrist and I turned away and he continued, "I'd kill for you, you're the only one who makes me feel complete. It doesn't matter what I've done in the past or currently, you've been there to see or know most of it, often doing something madder than I could imagine, or enduring something I could never imagine. I love you, Ruka, I really do."

Silence. I teleported away. I returned to my empty crypt. I'd never felt as alone as I did right then. My 'brothers' were dead, the man I had loved was gone from my life and all that was left was Laito, standing on the other side of my life thinking he loved me. I pitied him. I was a few centuries older than him, but the way he acted, you would never have thought it. I crawled into my cold empty coffin, and, for the first time since I was a small child, I cried myself to sleep…

The next evening, I returned to the Mukami mansion. I was getting weaker as the blood moon loomed overhead. The brothers were minding their own business respectively, and I made my way to the library to entertain myself. I loved literature, it was an old forgotten hobby of mine. I browsed around the shelves at a leisurely pace until I stumbled across an old favourite of mine; 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall'. An original too, this one was still printed under Anne Bronte's pen name 'Acton Bell'.

I'd been sat for a while undisturbed, when Yuma burst into the room…

Yuma's P.O.V.

She was lounging on the couch in jeans and a white t-shirt smoking a cigarette, but somehow, she made it look…elegant. She looked at me curiously over the edge of her book.

"You don't strike me as the type to leisurely read a book, Yuma," she chuckled in that sultry voice of hers, "am I right to assume you needed me for something?"

I scowled and said, "You're awfully relaxed considering the situation we're all in."

"No point in panicking," she shrugged, taking a drag of her cigarette and setting the book down, "may as well enjoy the peace while it lasts."

I scoffed, "Why are purebloods so cavalier in nature?"

She teleported closer to me and looked me straight in the eyes with a serious expression then, she smiled gently, "I thought I recognised you from somewhere, Edgar."

I was shocked. How did she…?

"Know your name?" she chuckled, "I met you once, a long time ago when you were still a child, and human at that."

I stared at her and she continued, "I'm sorry about what happened to your home. No one deserves that. I met you one day by pure chance, I'd managed to escape my home that day and I was singing by the stream. You followed the noise and caught me. You surprised me and I ran away."

"I remember now!" I cried, "That young girl, was you?"

"Yeah, I believe I ran into Kou or 'Emelio', as he was known back then, not too long afterwards," she continued, smiling sadly.

"You said you escaped your home, what did you have to escape from? A dinner party with the finest?" I sneered.

Her face darkened and before she could answer a loud crash resounded from the entrance. They were here. We looked at each other and nodded, teleporting to the entrance. Dozens of angry, snarling wolves filled the entry way. Azusa was already injured, but he was still able to fight. Kou and Ruki were trying to defend themselves against the onslaught of wolves.

"On your left!" she cried, allowing me time to dodge, "I'll help Azusa!"

I nodded and she ran over to help him as I wrestled with one of the wolves. I managed to throw it at the wall and crush its skull. Another one launched itself at me and I narrowly dodged. Ruki and Kou were starting to get over-whelmed by the sheer number of them on the other side of the room. Ruki was about to have one land right on top of him when it was suddenly enveloped in purple and black flames.

We all looked at Ruka who was stood in the centre of the room, surrounded by the remaining wolves. There was a dark purple aura around her and she stared them all down as they snarled and snapped at her. She sent a wave of the aura towards them all that invaded the entire room and caused my chest to constrict. Their snarling immediately ceased and they started to whimper like puppies, rather than wolves. They faded away and she removed the aura and proceeded to help Azusa up onto his feet.

"What was that?" Kou asked, bewildered.

"A scouting force, they'll not bother us now that they have something to report," she answered, "they wanted to see how strong we were. I bet they're doing the same to the Sakamaki's."

"That's not what I was talking about," Kou explained, "what was that power?!"

"Shadow magic, it runs in my family," she answered, "the only drawback is…it uses…a lot of energy…"

She collapsed after finishing her sentence and I caught her before she hit her head on the floor.

"The blood moon's effect must be harsh on her when she uses her abilities," Ruki observed, "let's put her in a guest room so she can recover. She saved us tonight."