When Elizabeth woke up, she didn't know where she was. She was in a tiny, dingy, dirty room. She was lying on old, worn floor boards. She could smell blood and she had the familiar feeling in her neck when somebody had bitten her: a dull ache. She sat up and saw that she was chained by her ankle to the wall. She looked down at herself, noticing the slight grey colour of her uniform, noting that it used to a crisp white. There were even spots of blood from when she had been bitten. She looked around and saw Kuro curled up next to her. His right hind leg was also chained, the chain attached to her chain. She ran a hand through her matted, disheveled hair. There was also dried blood in it, making her feel sick to the stomach. In addition to that, Elizabeth had dried blood around her neck. She shivered violently, "Where am I?" she poked her vampire-turned-cat in the back. The startled cry, he woke up.
"RIJI-SAMA!" he cried. With a loud 'shhh' from Elizabeth, he was silenced.
"Look, I don't know where we are, but you must keep your voice down!" she said in a hushed, furious whisper. She stood up shakily and tried to make out what was on the outside through a dirty, grungy old window. She was going try and clean it with her sleeve, but thought better of it as there could have been years of old dirt and grime on it. Elizabeth growled a little.
"Don't get frustrated Riji-sama, it will only make things worse." Kuro place a paw on Elizabeth's knee as she slid down the wall onto her behind. Elizabeth sighed sadly.
"So what do you propose I do, huh? I am practically powerless here. There are no animals to speak of except you but you're chained up. What a fat load of good you are." Elizabeth growled. Kuro sat down, a sad expression on his feline face, "Who do you think did this to us? Do you think that it could have been that Level E? I wouldn't rule him out too quickly." She suggested. Kuro cleared his throat, "What?"
"It was that Level E. He ambushed you; knocked you unconscious; drank from you; he then slung you over his shoulder but he noticed that I was watching him and he knocked me over the head...that's all I remember..." Kuro said regretfully, "If I had been able to escape, I would have been able to alert Kisetsu-sama since she can understand me now."
"I suppose that would have been a good idea..." she pondered. She then glared at the cat sitting next to her, "Like I said, a fat lot of good you are." Kuro did nothing to hide his hurt. Elizabeth sighed, "I'm sorry, I'm just really angry that we let ourselves get captured."
Suddenly, the lock in the door clicked. Elizabeth gathered her cat into her arms, tucking his head underneath her chin. The door burst open a man of strong build stood in the doorway, his eyes were glowing bright crimson. He staggered ominously into the room with only one thing on his mind. Elizabeth cowered in the corner and the Level E licked his lips hungrily, "'Ello, darlin'," he said patronisingly, "Gonna give me some of that delicious blood of yours?" Elizabeth's eyes flickered over to a rather large spider sitting on the wall. She hated spiders, but this one seemed to be a necessity. She let her eyes turn crimson and tried to gain a link with the spider. She telepathically told it to crawl up the Level E's leg to distract him. The spider slowly crawled down the wall. Kuro sat perfectly still, resisting the urged to kill the spider and the Level E all at the same time. As the spider made it's way across the room, Elizabeth, in the meantime, was cowering against the wall. She was utterly defenceless until the spider had made it to it's target. Kuro jumped in front of his mistress and hissed at the Level E, trying to scare it off. But it wasn't working. The Level E grabbed Kuro by the scruff of his neck and throwing him against the wall, knocking him unconscious. Elizabeth gasped as the Level E crushed the spider under his foot. Elizabeth was now utterly alone, with no hope of help as the Level E closed in on her.
A few days later, while Elizabeth was being held hostage, Kisetsu was snuggling up on the couch with Takuma. She wasn't even aware of Elizabeth's absence. Takuma gently stroked her hair, loving the silky feel of it.
"Kisetsu, I haven't seen Riji-chan today. Do you know where she has gone?" Takuma asked.
"I haven't seen her, no. I do hope she's all right," Kisetsu said. Takuma leaned forward.
"Maybe we should look for her?" Takuma said, standing up. Kisetsu nodded and they walk out of Kisetsu's room. As they walked down the corridor, they came across Kaname.
"Kaname, have you seen Riji-chan?" Kisetsu asked. Kaname frowned.
"What do you mean? Has she gone missing?" Kaname asked calmly. Kisetsu and Takuma both nodded. Kaname thought for a moment, "Let's go." he said turning on his heel. Kisetsu was surprised to say the least that Kaname was even taking an interest. Perhaps it was just to appear noble and be a good Night Class President, but she didn't know. They dressed in suitable clothing and then made their way out of the school.
Searching for Elizabeth was like trying to search for a needle in a hay stack, even for them (two purebloods and a powerful aristocrat). Her scent wasn't easy find either. It was incredibly frustrating, especially for Kisetsu. She worried for her friend, the friend she had come to love and know. Takuma was worried as well. He thought that she was cute in her own little way and found her unwillingness to conform to their society admirable, yet a little foolish. Kaname didn't know what to make of Elizabeth. He felt a little nostalgic around her and every time her caught a glimpse of her grey-blue eyes, something stared within him and it was something that even he couldn't explain.
As the sky grew darker, so did everyone's moods. There was no sign of her, "Maybe we should turn back," Takuma said tiredly. Kisetsu looked up at, her eyes wide.
"What do you mean by that? We have to keep looking."
"Kisetsu, it's a lost cause." Kaname said blandly, "We've been searching all day." Kisetsu glared at him fiercely and resisted the urge to slap him.
"Don't you dare say that! She would do anything for you and not because of your status as a pureblood. She has adored you from the moment she set eyes on you. You're all she talks about." Kisetsu said passionately. Kaname regarded her coolly but he didn't answer her. Takuma placed a hand on her shoulder.
"All right, Kisetsu," Takuma said gently, "We'll carry on." he turned to Kaname and gave him a pleading look. Kaname gave him an unreadable expression before nodding stiffly. They continued to search the town. Yet they still found nothing. This was turning into an impossible task. However, as they walked to the edge of town, there was an intoxicating smell of blood. Kisetsu, having already drank Elizabeth's blood, immediately knew that was her friend's blood.
"Kaname, Takuma, do you smell that? It's Riji-chan's blood." Kisetsu cried and she ran in the direction of the bloody scent. Takuma and Kaname followed after her. They came to a large, rundown, old mansion. It wasn't inhabited by humans anymore, but there were a few vampire auras, including Elizabeth's, "She's in there!" she was about to run forward but Kaname grabbed her shoulder.
"Don't just go barging in, Kisetsu," He said coolly, "There are Level Es in there. It will be dangerous."
"I know that, but we cannot just stand here! We have to do something," she cried. Suddenly the large front door squeaked open. The three vampires hid behind a large boulder. Kisetsu swallowed and took a peek at who had opened the door.
It was a Level E.
Kisetsu tugged on Kaname's sleeve. Kaname looked down at her and looked up to see what was happening. The Level E appeared to still have some humanity left in him. That made it all the more terrifying. Kisetsu knew that the Level E had probably sensed them and that was probably why they should have started moving. Kaname and Kisetsu quietly yet quickly crept around to the back. Takuma stayed to take on this Level E. He unsheathed his katana and ran forward. The Level E jumped in the air as Takuma swung his sword and landed on the roof. Takuma growled in frustration. The Level E cackled evilly, jeering at him. Takuma gathered all his strength and leapt up to the roof. He had a devilish smirk on his beautiful face, "You won't escape for long." he purred. Level E back himself against the chimney as Takuma cornered him, making it nearly impossible for the Level E to escape. With a flash of silver, the Level E was dust.
Meanwhile, Kisetsu and Kaname crept into the house, trying to be as quiet as they possibly could. The discovered a room were there were lots of Level D and Es. They were all languishing in the dirty room, bloodlust on everyone's minds. The tallest of all the vampires stood up, drawing both purebloods' attention. He had Elizabeth's scent all over him. Kisetsu looked up at Kaname with a horrified expression, "We have to find her!" Kisetsu said in a hushed, furious whisper. Kaname nodded stiffly.
"Kisetsu, you take on these, and I will go and find Erisabesu." Kaname said blandly. Kisetsu looked up at him.
"Are you sure, Kaname?"
Kaname replied with stiff nod. Kisetsu nodded as well. She opened the door a little more and slipped inside. All the lesser vampires looked up, "Hello, boys," she said seductively. She sauntered into the room with a devious gleam in her eye. The lesser vampires were a gripped with fear. Her eyes took on that iconic crimson glow. The lesser vampires tried to ambush her but they all turned to dust, one by one; except for one vampire, who was making a break for it out of the back door and it was the vampire who had Elizabeth's scent all over him. She growled and ran after him.
During this time, Kaname made his way down the dark, dirty corridor. He could faintly smell Elizabeth's scent but her aura was just as faint. He searched all the rooms and when her came to the room where Elizabeth was, he was horrified to see her limp body slung over the shoulder of the Level E. He gave Kaname a devilish smirk before jumping out of the open window. Kaname ran forward to the window and growled in frustration. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kuro sitting in the corner.
"Your that cat..." Kaname whispered. He raised his hand and the shackle around Kuro's hind leg, "Come on." he lightly patted his leg and he threw himself out of the window, landing nimbly on his feet. Kuro followed suit and they both ran after the Level E. Both Takuma and Kisetsu followed in the chase through the forest. They had to admit that this Level E was quick. Kisetsu ran around to trap the Level E. Takuma ran to the side, further trapping him in. The Level E growled and stopped running. He propped Elizabeth's body up against his and pulled out a knife.
"Take one more step and I will slit her throat." he said menacingly. Takuma was behind the Level E. Kisetsu silently signalled to him to strike with his katana. Kaname stepped forward.
"Put her down or we will use force." Kaname said, equally as menacingly. The Level E pressed the knife further into her neck, allowing a small bead of crimson, oxygenated blood to appear against Elizabeth's deathly white skin. Kaname's eyes glowed crimson, "Put. Her. Down," Kaname punctuated every word. He saw Takuma slowly advancing from behind.
"She's mine! All mine!" he cackled. Kisetsu gave a quick nod and Takuma dealt a fatal blow of his sword, chopping off the Level E's head. Elizabeth dropped to the floor as her captor crumbled to dust.
"Riji-chan!" Kisetsu ran over to the near unconscious girl. She felt her pulse and it was extremely weak, "She needs blood or she's going to die!" She looked up at Kaname, "Would you give her some?"
"Why can't you do it?" he asked defensively. Kisetsu glared at him.
"It's better done mouth to mouth, Kaname, it's the best way." an then a smirk curled at her lips, "Plus I wanna see you kiss her. Maybe she'll kiss you back and she can sweep her off her feet and be her prince." she said dreamily. Kuro tentatively walked up to his mistress nuzzled her face. Initially hesitant, Kaname knelt beside Elizabeth and pulled her into his arms. He bit into his wrist and allowed his blood to rush into his mouth. Before he could even think of swallowing, he pushed Elizabeth up to his lips, he cradled against his chest while he parted her lips with his tongue, allowing the blood to trickle into her mouth. Kaname felt Elizabeth's cold body warming up and the hand that was resting on ground twitched. The colour came back to her cheeks and her eyes fluttered open. Her eyes widened as she felt Kaname's lips on hers. She tasted the blood in her mouth and automatically moaned softly. Kaname then turned it into a proper kiss, much to his own surprise. Elizabeth weakly rest her hand on his shoulder and her eyes fluttered closed, returning his kiss.
Once back at the academy, Elizabeth had been given a long bath and given clean pyjamas being sent to bed for a good long rest. Kisetsu had nothing less than a smug smirk on her face when she looked at Kaname. He'd said nothing since they returned. She decided to go to his office and gloat a little.
"Well, well, well, Kaname, you finally kissed her. How does it feel?" Kaname glared at her.
"The kiss meant nothing. I was merely saving her life."
"It certainly didn't seem that way from where I was standing, when you were passionately kissed her as she woke up. She seemed to definitely enjoy it."
"Well, I hope she doesn't get her hopes up, Kisetsu," Kaname drawled.
"You're a proud young man, Kaname and that will be your downfall."
"If I need romance advice Kisetsu, I'll ask for it," Kaname said, "I'm in love with Yuuki."
Kisetsu sighed and nodded, "I don't think your love for that girl is the same as it one was, not anymore. Ever since Riji-chan set foot onto this academy, you've acted strangely and if you don't buck your ideas up, you'll lose Erisabesu and something tells me that you don't want that." with that said, Kisetsu marched from the room, angry at his stubborness.
Kaname reclined back in his chair. He had to admit that the kiss was...somewhat pleasurable and he couldn't deny that he felt a connection with her. But what about Yuuki? The girl he had saved that day in the snow from a blood thirsty vampire. He knew that he couldn't abandon her, but if he had feelings for Elizabeth, he didn't know what he'd do.