Chapter 13

Back from school, Mary dived into her bed without changing; math lessons were superfluous to her, since she already knew everything, and listening to them had done nothing but tiring her from boredom. She remembered her best friend, Moron Face, asking her to tutor him... she smiled at the nostalgic image of that boy a bit taller than her who would ran into her, shaking her by the shoulders and begging with tears in his eyes to help him, arguing that it was a matter of life or death; she chuckled slightly, wondering how he managed to keep that so-stupid smile even while crying. After all, it was him: a cheerful guy, funny and... really, really dumb.

Before Reiji went and asked her to help him cooking for dinner, she quickly got up and took some clean clothes, her blue towel and darted towards the bathroom. When she knocked and received no reply, she felt an unpleasant sensation behind her shoulders and shivered. She whirled and met two purple eyes that chained her back to the door and Kanato smiled wistful, clutching his teddy bear.

- Mary-san.

The witch swallowed. Since she had arrived in that house, they had exchanged a few words only on the first night; then she had met him during meals and a couple of times in the corridors between the mansion and school, without speaking to him and indeed ignoring, that time in the billiard room, his insistent glances.

She had labelled him as a psychopath (and cared about hermental health!), so she was quite fearful of what could have happened from that moment on.

- The day after tomorrow will be my turn... I wanted to ask if you would not mind baking a cake to eat together and to celebrate the moment.

Had Reiji inspired him? Mary didn't said aloud her thoughts and continued to listen.

- Your biscuits were very delicious, Mary-san ... I'd like you to cook sweets more often... Neh, tell me, do you even know how to bake cakes?

It was a feeling of hers or Kanato was getting closer and closer to her face without moving his legs, watching her intently from ... a few centimetres below her eyes? Only at that moment they both noticed the actual height difference between them, for the benefit of her, that was about four centimetres. He did not like this very much, and walked away narrowing his eyes, irritated. Mary responded immediately to his previous question, in order to distract him from that unwelcomed observation.

- Yes, yes... I can also bake cakes... do you have any preference, Kanato-kun? - she asked nervously. She wanted him to leave as soon as possible, and urgently needed the hot water's relaxing effect. Kanato pondered and then approached her ear with an eerie smile.

- What about filling it with your blood? I wouldn't mind some little pieces of your flesh, too... pff... aha... ahahahahahahaha!

His laughter echoed along the hallway, even after leaving Mary against the bathroom door. She was pale as a corpse and went in quickly, breathing slowly to placate a panic attack.

She told herself to stay calm, and possibly in the future, not to get angry.

If she had lost her temper, she couldn't have used her powers properly and therefore it would have been arduous to stand up to the Sakamaki brothers. If she had got angry ... she would have been able to kill them. And she hated reaching that point, becoming overwhelmed by that anger which already laid carefully locked in a chest in the depths of her soul.

Plus, she wanted to get to know them better, those brothers...

The room where they were was very wide and empty, except for the three ancient sofa lined with a white-dotted blue cloth, located in front of the windows. The glass was a composition of colourful tiles as in a mosaic, so that it created a spectacle of colours within the large room with the morning light. At the moment Mary's skin was blue and orange; and she was standing straight and...

- Mattaku... Be firm! Stop shaking, and DO NOT bend your back, good grief! - Mary asked mentally apologized to her mother for having compared her with Reiji: the vampire was far worse, a discipline and etiquette maniac, and he didn't hesitate one second to criticize and correct her several mistakes, while she tried to walk composed with three books on her head. It was impossible: just as she raised her foot to move one step forward, the tomes lost balance; it was already enough she managed to sit still without dropping them, though while trembling because of the effort.

Reiji's voice, as he continued to blame her, it became intolerable after a while and she (badly) thought about taking revenge. Farewell to the good intentions of changing character and restrained herself...

She should have never done that: as she suddenly tilted her head and saw the books sliding into the vampire's face, causing him to lose his glasses, she sensed the atmosphere getting tense and him freezing and reducing his eyes to slits, giving her a look of fire before gritting his teeth in a sneer.

Uh oh, the witch broke out in a cold sweat.

- So, you did it on purpose, huh... did you think I wouldn't have noticed? - he uttered with an amused tone, taking a step forward; Mary moved backwards with two.

- You know, before you, we had other sacrificial brides... and all of them reacted similarly: those who committed suicide, those who cried desperately, those who bled to death, those who rebelled or fled foolishly, those who has endured more but died in the process of awakening as a vampire. Except... her...

Silence followed afterwards and Mary narrowed her eyes, staring at him intently. He had lowered his head, suddenly gloomy and mulling over some past event. Curious and intuitive as she was, she would have liked to ask him to tell her more, but she was preceded by him.

- With you, a witch, things are getting more interesting... not to mention the fact that you are here of your own will. You must be somewhat masochistic for agreeing to become our blood supply. Unless, there's another reason behind it, right?

Mary had become a statue: expressionless, cold and silent. No, Reiji thought: he believed her face to be more impenetrable than impassive. Probably, although it wasn't his goal, he had touched a sore spot. The girl kept on not replying back nor reacting in any way and her behaviour strongly altered him, losing his patience.

- ANSWER ME! - he shouted, picking up his whip.

Mary noticed it in time before he attacked her. A couch moved between them, stopping Reiji. The vampire let out a sardonic snort and put the object in his pocket, and then turned to the girl an ironic gaze: a second later he is teleported in front of her, very close... and she suddenly became very serious.

- Oya? What a wonderful look. I've never seen it on your face! Usually you're always so quiet, steady... at most, you get slightly upset, become sour or cold, but I've never seen you smile, get angry or cry. What's wrong? Witches doesn't have any feelings? I wonder how they felt in the Middle Ages, when they were condemned to the stake... do you think they remained indifferent to their burning flesh? - she said while standing fixed in the same place even when the vampire was a breath away from her face, his breath itching her forehead. She stared at him from below, strong-willed, with a frown and a hostile light in her silver eyes. Reiji laughed heartily at that look and took her chin between his fingers, lifting her face to approach it more to his. Mary didn't flinch even at that gesture.

- You amuse me – he whispered with a sadistic grin on his lips; finally, he bit her neck.