Chapter 20

Mary locked the cabinet where she had placed that container; her hands were still trembling and her face was pale and sweaty. Reiji watched her carefully, adjusting his glasses, before asking if the Miriandola Bluetta was so terrifying. The witch had never expressed such much fear in their home; even with him, Reiji, had not shown signs of pliability and had courageously stood up to him! And the coldness which she reacted against Kanato's bites and screams with? It was so strange to see her in that state...

- A witchdiscovered and cultivated it centuries ago; she used it to revive her husband, who had recently died. The funny thing is that she let the parasite infect her and, even more hilarious fact, failed to resurrect his companion, since she knew nothing of the Demonic Essence - the girl giggled nervously, leaning her forehead against the cabinet that had kindly borrowed from the vampire - The parasite extracted from the dust will contaminate you, let's say it taked control of your body by killing you and makes it just a mass of living flesh without a soul. The parasite injected by the plant... that slowly gnaws on you; it's an horrible feeling. You feel it devouring you as if it was chewing crackers and the pain is so intense that it causes you to have convulsions. And when it touches your nerves... you go crazy.

Reiji's eyes widened: for a split second, he had seen a mad light in Mary's eyes; she definitely didn't have a good experience and he pitied her a bit, because he would have never wanted to face a similar condition. No, certainly: he preferred to see others suffer.

She sighed and took a doubtful expression, giving him a pair of bewildered eyes; she asked him where he had found that dust and found out that Karlheinz's room, which was periodically cleaned by the six brothers with great joy, contained very interesting stuff; she didn't hear the vampire adding with a terrified whisper that in that room were even infernal beings.

- Reiji-san, you said you still had to test the Miriandola Bluetta... who did you want to resurrect? - she asked, avoiding to question who did he wanted to use as a victim to feed the parasite, since she already imagined the answer. The vampire cleared his throat, peering grimly at her with a nervous tic and headed for the table where he was conducting other experiments.

- It is not in your interest to know.

- But I'm curious.

- Curiosity killed the cat.

- It killed the witch, it's better. Reiji-san? Who did you want to resurrect?

- I repeat that it is not in your interest to know.

- But I'm curious.

- Curiosity killed the witc... - the vampire paused, feeling a nerve throbbing violently on his forehead and slowly turned to the girl who stood behind his shoulders, her eyes fixed on him curious. He gave her a venomous look.

- Could. You. Kindly. Get. Out. – He articulated with a voice next to a hysterical attack. Mary puckered her lips, disappointed and sullen, and walked away towards the door.

When she disappeared outside, Reiji fixed his hair while sighing of relief and removed his glasses, he massaged his nose's bridge, amazed that he had not yet attempted to massacre her too. He stared among his books and his phials at a card withMr Ari's address and phone number; his shop had really caught his attention. He jumped when he heard the witch's voice call out again, suddenly standing beside the door frame.

- Reiji-san, be careful: Ayato-kun and Laito-kun shall not put their hands on that container! - she exclaimed, quickly disappearing from his sight before being knock out to the floor by the chair that the vampire had intended to throw at her. He took deep breaths to calm his irritation, then he snorted, amused: that girl knew them better than he imagined.

It almost seemed she had become... part of the family? At this thought he shook his head, pulling an annoyed sigh, and rejected that absurd supposition: their family had never been a real one from the beginning.

Mary quickly wrote some important notes in her diary, occasionally pausing for reflection and focusing on her memories, allowing them to re-emerge in her head for once.

She recalled her senpai (not the one who had been her boyfriend for two weeks), when she was admitted to the hospital after that bad experience, and his encouragements given with great difficulty. In a way, he reminded her of Ayato, a bit too proud to express deeper feelings, and chuckled. Another person who came to her to have the same vampire's arrogance in common was her kouhai: she had met her by chance, finding out she was her best friend's classmate. From that time on they had often clashed, because the kouhai found her curiosity irritating, and she... she just ignored her, making her even more nervous.

She chuckled: that girl was hospitalized in the same room as her at the hospital and later they had inexplicably become close friends; she had felt a bit sad when the other one was discharged first, as she had received less damage.

After all, Mary was saved from the Miriandola Bluetta by her kouhai...

- Aaa-choo!

A pretty short girl gasped, grabbing both her shoulder-lenght brown tails with her hands, and turned to her senpai, much taller than her and with a long blond braid.

- Anna-senpai, did you catch a cold? – she asked, with a crystalline voice, staring at her with her amber eyes from under her bangs. The senpai glared at her with her stone coloured irises and took on an annoyed expression, curling her lips.

- No, Isa, I didn't catch a cold... I sneeze only for one reason: someone is thinking about me! And I know who it is - she muttered, taking a look at her kouhai's homeworks which she was doing under her supervision.

- Are you talking about Mary-senpai? - the youngest asked, breaking in cold sweat at her friend's umpteenth glare.

- Yes, I'm talking about that one... Argh... - she said, irritated, and then cracked a slightly rueful smile: after all, she had saved her senpai's life...

- ISA. Redo this problem immediately, before I slaughter you alive.

- Ok... - the other one whispered, discouraged.

Deep in thought, she suddenly went cold.

- Kanato... kun? - she called, turning to look at him: he was behind her, his teddy bear hold to his chest as usual and his eyes indecipherable on his pale-as-a-corpse face; his dark bags, however, seemed slightly thinner than usual.

- Mary-san, last night you saved Teddy – he uttered at last, cracking a tired smile. The girl stared at him a little surprised, before cracking herself a slight smile.

- I know that you care, so... – she muttered, placing her hands on the edge of the seatback and hiding part of her face behind it, feeling embarrassed all of a sudden. Kanato tilted his head watching her intently and leaned toward her ear, whispering and making her shiver.

- Ne, as a reward, you won't mind my forgiveness, right? I also promise to feed on you "normally", as you said.

Damn Sakamaki pride, Mary thought, raising an eyebrow and nodding: not having him hostile towards her was already enough, considering his bad temper... She turned to her diary, asking him if he still needed something, when she felt her neck being bitten. She groaned in pain.

And here is another chapter~ I hope you enjoyed it!
Please review if you like this story so far, I'd like to know your opinions about it an please, it's my first time writing in English, that is not my first language, so let me know about any mistake you find!
See you next week~