Chapter 14

"Do you believe in the occult?"

Yuuki nearly chocked on the cookie she was nibbling on.

After Zero returned home from school all of them had gathered around the table in the dinning room where they could have a "family meeting", as Kaien called it. The only problem was that after they had taken their seats, no one had said a word for 20 minuets. At some point Zero had gotten up and left the room before returning moments later.

"Yuuki?"

"What do you mean by the occult?" She wondered. "Witchcraft? Sacrifice?" Vampires?

Kaien bit his bottom lip. "More like... things that go bump in the night."

"Huh?"

"Vampires." His voice had taken on a weird serious tone. "The undead. Bloodsucking-"

"Monsters." Zero inserted.

"Creatures." Kaien corrected sternly. "There are a lot of things in this world that we don't know about, or more accurately what the public do not know about. Vampire being being one of many things."

Yuuki's jaw hit the floor. "One of many? How many? What else?"

He side stepped her questions. "The only problem is that the media has... let's say misinterpreted some of the information and over the centuries a lot of rumors have been created that simply are not true."

Yuuki still had a hard time processing this information, but what bothered her more then anything was the fact that both of them knew of this, and she did not.

"For instance..." He continued. "It is not true that you become a vampire if one bites you. That's a false rumor. The transformation is a bit more complicated than that."

Zero pushed away from the table and got up to get a glass of water. From the corner of her eye Yuuki thought she saw him take some kind of a pill, but she did not question him about. Not now at least.

"W-What does it take to become one?" She subconsciously touched the tattoo on her neck and had flashbacks to the night when Kaname had crept into her room and feed off of her? She still did not know what to make of that. Sometimes she had this weird sensation that she was dreaming.

"Well, all you need to know for now is that drinking your blood is not enough."

She sighed in relief, and suddenly an uncomfortable tension was built up between them.

Zero crossed the distance in three easy steps and roughly took her by the arms.

"What did he do?" He shouted in her face.

Pain shot up and down her arms, and it took Kaien to pry them apart.

"He bit you, didn't he? Tell me the truth!"

"That is not important." Kaien said, although he did burn with curiosity himself. "We have bigger fish to catch. You still have your story to tell."

"What story?" Yuuki was fairly certain that his grip had left bruises on her upper arms and she had to rub the spot to lessen the pain. Guilt flashed in Zero's eyes, but he did not apologize.

"Perhaps this is not the time." He told Kaien, who simply pointed at a chair and waited patiently until the boy did as he was told.

"We do this now."

"Maybe Zero is right. We can do this some other time." Even with his attitude and the not-so-happy personality, Zero had never truly scared her. But right now she felt the need to put some distance between them.

Kaien took her hand in his as if he understood her concerns. "Although, he can seem troubled at times, Zero truly is a good boy." He smiled at his daughter. "But there is something you should know."

"I'm a monster." Zero whispered.

Kaien sighed. "He is a bloodguard. A lesser vampire, if you believe that."

Yuuki stared at the person she had thought she knew. Suddenly she was in a room full of strangers. "What do they do?"

"Kill those who step over the line."

"Vampire's follow by strict guide lines. The major one is that they are not allowed to kill innocents. The are allowed to feed, but not kill. And what bloodguards do are that they stop those who give in to their inner beasts. But," Zero groaned. Kaien ignored him. "they also protect those who play nice."

"So basically they are... guards?" She still had trouble following this, but did her best to at least try and understand.

This time Zero did leave the room for good and no one tried to stop him.

She sat there in silence with her father for a short moment, before escaping to the privacy of her bedroom.

It had gotten dark outside and Yuuki had opened up every window to let the night air in. She felt that it cleansed her.

Maybe I should start using make-up? Or at least some nightcream?, Usually she did not place much care into the way she looked, but lately she found herself really self conscious. Perhaps it would not hurt for her to doll herself up every morning?

She picked up all her hair in one hand and struck a pose in front of the mirror.

This was the time her father choose to enter carrying a tray.

"What are you doing?" He asked with a chuckle. "Is my little girl playing model?"

She said nothing.

"I just came by to give you something that would make you feel better."

"What is it?" She wondered.

"Medicine." He said after a pause. Then left.

Yuuki inspected the drink that he had left behind. It kinda reminded her of champagne, not that she had ever tried it, but occasionally Kaien would have champagne or wine with dinner.

There were two glasses. Probably one for the morning. She sniffed the liquid, but was not able to detect was was in it.

Instead of drinking the contents, she poured it out on a plant by the window. For all she knew it could be poison. She did not believe that her family would kill or try to harm her, but there were a lot of stuff that she had not believed before today.

The next morning Zero had left for school and Kaien had left to tend to some "personal businesses" so she was left alone. Instead of spending the day trying to make sense of what they had told her the day before, Yuuki decided to catch up on some of her homework. She was already close to failing two classes and did not have the desire to go to summer school.

"Need help?"

Yuuki let out a high pitched scream as she jumped out of her chair and faced the intruder.

"My apologizes. I did not mean to frighten you." Kaname said. He was leaning against the counter and had in truth been watching her for some time, but been reluctant to make his presence know.

"W-Why are you here?" Her heart was still beating irregularity.

He approached her. "I was worried."

She took a step back. "Why?"

"I heard what happened to you." He sat down where her books were spread out and took a bite out of her omelet.

"You eat food?" The question was out of her mouth before she could stop herself and she fled from the room before embarrassing herself even more.

Halfway down the hallway, she abruptly turned back around and returned to where he was seated. He had taken some snacks out of their cabinets and was enjoying a piece of chocolate, and all she could do was stare. He is so beautiful,

He turned to look at her.

"I-" Her throat was dry. "What did you do to me?"

"Sit."

She remained standing. "What is this thing?" She showed him the tattoo. The rules they had at school were pretty strict and she was uncertain how people would react to it. Not to mention that she did not like the look of it. "Can it be removed?"

"No, but do not be alarmed. It is meant to protect. Like it did two nights ago."

"What do you mean?"

"If you had not had that mark on you then you symptoms would have been much worse."

She leaned against the door frame. "But I feel fine."

He smirked. "You can thank me later."

Her cellphone vibrated in her pocket and she pulled it out to see who was calling. Yuri,

Soft lips touched her forehead and before she knew it, she was alone.

To be continued...