Blood Runs Deeper
Chapter 25 – New Vampires, Old Habits
"So that's how it is," Reiji was the first to speak after Yui gave the six brothers her explanation.
She told them the situation involving her and Mari's adoptive father and how he gradually lost his sanity, leading Yui to complete the unfinished job set by KarlHeinz - the Vampire King. Even so, Yui squirmed in her seat at the hostile looks they gave her. She knew that they wouldn't forgive her for her betrayal with the Mukami's… but she hoped that eventually, if they worked together, she could gain their trust.
"Why am I beginning to think Pancake's life is getting more messed up than ours?" said Ayato, who still had his feet kicked up onto the table. Yui scolded him earlier, after all, he was in public! He responded that he would if she made him some takoyaki. She reluctantly obliged, but to no avail; he didn't remove his feet. Yui sighed hopelessly. She supposed that this wasn't the time to aggravate them further.
"I can't fucking believe that you would cut yourself on purpose…!" Subaru yelled as he stood and slammed his fist down onto the table. "E-Even if it was to see if she was a vampire! You really are an idiot. She… she could have killed you! She ain't in full control of that yet! That idiot has already lost it or we wouldn't be here! Just imagine if she killed someone else, huh? She would be like a ripper!"
"Isn't Subaru-kun being dramatic?" Laito said with a small laugh. "Imagine, Bitch-chan, a ripper! It would be a gruesome sight. Wouldn't suit her in my opinion. She's far too innocent for that."
"Yes," Kanato agreed. "She would look ridiculous! I offered to turn her into a cute doll… she would be so quiet and peaceful… and none of this NONSENSE would be happening!" Suddenly, he turned and glared daggers at Shu who leaned against the wall with his eyes closed. "It's all HIS fault! If Shu let me finish the process that day, THIS WOULDN'T BE HAPPENING! Don't you agree, Teddy? Isn't this all SHU'S FAULT?!" The vampire in question opened his eyes and scoffed.
"You have enough of those… monstrosities. She isn't any different than the rest of you. You've all had your own problems and she has hers. Though, it would be helpful if she dealt with them… differently." Shu sighed. "Better than all of you, who are constantly at each other's throats. It's troublesome, you know…"
"Really? 'Troublesome' for you, you say?" Reiji sarcastically commented. "I would like to see you deal with the triplets' daily antics. Just for one day. Outstanding. What a hard life you lead, sleeping and achieving nothing. You should be ashamed."
"Ouch!" exclaimed Ayato, who fought back a smile. "That tableware freak can be mean, huh. What is it, Reiji? Having withdrawal symptoms from your tea cups?" Everyone bar Reiji tried to stifle their laughter.
"Honestly, what children…" Reiji sighed and fixed his composure.
Yui felt awkward in the room that had now grown quiet. She really did want to help, but she knew that they didn't trust her yet; not that she blamed them at all… but she had to do something! She had to make things right again!
"Oi… you, come here," she was startled by Shu's voice and looked at him with fear. "I'm not going to do anything… come here, or do I have to drag you?"
"I-I'm coming…!" Yui hurried over and sat down beside him. Unexpectedly, he grabbed both of her hands. She found that she still held onto Mari's pink phone and her own. She expected him to grab Mari's, but instead, he took hers.
"I wanted this, is all," Shu smirked at Yui's red face. Suddenly, she heard a low growl sound from the other table. She looked over and saw Ayato, stood, with an expression of irritation.
"Chichinashi! Yours Truly is done with the takoyaki, make me some more!" Without waiting to hear her next words, Ayato grabbed her by the arm and tugged her into the kitchen.
"I'm glad to see that Ayato-kun has his priorities sorted~" Laito commented as he rested his feet on the newly vacant chair. "But Shu… I don't think that this is the time to be getting Bitch-Chan Two's number…"
"That's… obviously not what I'm doing," Shu replied as he began to flick through the phone. "Here we are, that girl has these Mukami people's number saved..."
"Damn it, why didn't I think of that!" Subaru grumbled as he leaned over to get a better view of the screen. "Shit… She said that they are vampires or something, right?"
"Half-vampires, stupid," Kanato corrected.
"Tch. Whatever," Subaru got out through gritted teeth, trying his best to control his anger. "Well, ain't she stronger than 'em? Isn't she the same as the triplets?"
"I don't know… She's not exactly weak, even if she does look it…" Shu's lips upturned.
"Even so," Reiji intervened. "It's an outnumbered match. The girl clearly stated that there are four of them whereas there is only one of her. It would be very slim that she could take them all, especially when she is already in such poor health."
"If she doesn't get there first, I'll rip their hearts out when I find them." Subaru threatened, cracking his knuckles.
"So gory, little brother! Are you sure Bitch-Chan is the ripper here? That threat sounded like something a ripper would say~"
"Shut it!" he yelled. "You all would do the same! Tch. You're sicker than me."
"All of you… quiet," Shu hissed. "It's ringing."
I was still sat in the car.
It was a long journey and I estimated that I'd been sat here for over an hour. Sometimes I swore that we were going around in circles. I could just about see out of the window opposite me; everything looked the same. Not that I trusted my judgement. Being dangerously sleep deprived, concussion from hitting my head and being drugged wasn't the best combination.
But on the bright side, I felt the paralysis potion wearing off due to the tingling sensation that washed over my body. Despite that, I still needed to find an opportunity to escape; but due to the situation of being trapped inside of a locked car and that I was barely in any condition to take on one of them, never mind four…
Perhaps if I had recently fed, was well rested and crossing off all the other reasons I might have stood a chance against two. Still, not four. What was I going to do? I mean, I'd handled worse. The Sakamaki's were a handful at the beginning; it couldn't be as bad as that. Back then I was still a weak human… or should I have said a different person all together?
All of a sudden, I heard the sound of a phone, signalling an incoming call. Each individual in the car snapped their attention to Ruki, who looked far less than thrilled at the disturbance. Nevertheless, he scooped the phone out of his jacket pocket and stared at the screen. He didn't answer immediately.
"Who's that?" Yuma asked as he leaned forwards in his seat. "Is it boss?"
"No…" Ruki replied indifferently. "It seems Yui Komori is in need of something else." He sighed before he flipped open the phone and pressed it against his ear. "I hope that this is an important matter. Get on with it, quickly," but not before long, his eyes widened, a smirk creeping onto his lips. He focused directly on me as he spoke his next words.
"Shu Sakamaki, I didn't expect you to be making this call. Where is the girl? I hope you haven't killed her. KarlHeinz-sama will want to deal with it himself given all of the information she has carelessly shared."
"SHU!" I screamed and immediately clasped my hands over my mouth. I was finally myself again! I could sit up and speak! However; this didn't go unnoticed. Ruki nodded towards Yuma and Kou and both of them pounced on me, pinning my arms and legs to the seat. I struggled and fought underneath them as I desperately tried to brake free and to grab onto my last hope of freedom – Ruki's phone.
"I assure you, Livestock is perfectly fine," Ruki continued. "Don't believe me?" he held the phone away from his ear and turned towards Azusa. "Azusa, if you would."
Azusa slid from the seat and crouched on the floor in front of me. Unexpectedly, he pulled out a long, jagged knife which remained surprisingly unseen in his pocket. He ripped the fabric of my leggings from above my knee and continued to tear upwards. Instinctively, I struggled further.
"G-Get that thing away from me!" I yelled, Yuma and Kou gripping tighter onto my arms. I felt their nails as they dug into my skin, drawing blood; but I didn't care. There was a knife in front of me! And judging by the amount of blood stained bandages donned by Azusa, he really knew how to use that knife. Or he could just be very careless…
"Please don't struggle… Eve… I know you like… pain… you have scars… like me, see…?" he said as he eyed the one on my neck with a strange, sweet sort of smile that completely opposed the situation.
"T-That doesn't mean I-I like pain…!" If I had any other words they were soon drowned out by my scream. The blade was stabbed vertically into my flesh and dragged upwards, creating an extremely deep cut. Rivers of blood ran down my leg and onto the floor.
"Like I said," Ruki began as he returned the phone to his ear, smirk wider. "Livestock is perfectly fine. Her wounds will make an expeditious recovery. What's this protest I hear? I assume she should be familiar with this treatment, no? Be reassured, Sakamaki's. She will not die by our hand." He was silent for a moment before he chuckled, clearly listening to what the person on the other end had to say. "I'm afraid I cannot 'put her on the phone' as you say."
"L-Let me speak to them!" I protested.
"Tch. Sow! Just shuddap, would ya?!" Yuma growled and smothered my face with his hand to keep me silent.
"Ah, Neko-Chan needs to keep her tongue in check or we might just have to bite it off~" Taking Kou's words into account, I sunk my fangs into Yuma's hand and he jerked it away immediately, along with his other hand that pinned me down.
"F-Fuck…!" Yuma cursed as he clutched his bleeding hand. I made the most out of the opportunity and tried to shake myself out of Kou's grasp.
"Eve… stop that… please… be still…" Azusa pleaded, sat beside Ruki. Ruki still had the phone to his ear, muttering minimal responses as he eyed the situation in front of him with indifference.
"Neko-chan is proving to be a pain," Kou clicked his tongue as he moved his arms to tightly circle my waist for a better grip. While Yuma was out of the picture, I used my last remaining strength to push Kou's arms away. "You want me to let go, hm? Your wish is my command~" I didn't expect him to release me so suddenly, so I ended up falling flat on my face.
Typical.
I rolled onto my back and my eyes met all four of them glaring down at me, trying to intimidate. Ruki finally removed the phone from his ear and snapped it shut, placing it back into his pocket. I narrowed my eyes, more annoyed at myself for losing such an opportunity.
"I-If you're trying to scare me… it w-won't work…" I forced my voice to surpass a whisper. "W-Whatever you're planning on doing with me… it won't affect me… I've been through worse… and I'm willing to go through with worse… willing to commit worse… don't… forget that."
"Interesting," Ruki smirked. "How wild she is. KarlHeinz-Sama was right… no matter. Soon enough she will learn to obey. Every Livestock has to obey their Master."
I saw a flash of brown and felt something suddenly hit my head, but I didn't experience the pain; just the clouded sight in front of me that eventually transformed into darkness.
Everyone was gathered around the small table in The Sakura Cafe, all eyes and ears on Shu who was still on the phone. He would flinch now and again, or his eyes would dart to the floor, but he never lost his cool. After a while, he had grown quiet and seemed to be listening intently to what was happening on the other end. All of a sudden, a scream could be heard through the speaker. His eyes grew wide, his knuckles turning white from his tightened grip on the phone; luckily, it didn't break.
"Do that again and we will show no mercy when we find you," he finally said, softening his words to not worry the others. If they knew what was actually happening to her, there would be no telling what some of them would do.
"Oi, Shu! What the fuck is happening to her?!" Subaru yelled, eye brows furrowed and fists clenched.
"Put her on the phone," Shu ignored him and demanded. A few minutes passed before Shu spoke again, but everyone heard the hum that spilled out of the object, signalling a commotion. "What's… happening now? Obviously you won't kill her… I know that man is up to something… And he is using you all like pawn… H-Hey…! Do not–" Shu sighed as he removed the phone from his ear and snapped it shut, using all the strength within in him not to crush it and throw it at the wall.
"What's happening with Bitch-Chan?" Laito asked, tone uncharacteristically serious.
"If there is one scratch on sister… I will burn them to ashes… still, when I find them they will meet the same fate…" Kanato said as he clutched Teddy tighter.
"What did they say?" Reiji asked. "What of her condition?"
"She's… fine," Shu lied, averting his gaze from their intense stares. Instead, he focused on the clock directly in his line of sight.
"Bullshit!" Subaru yelled as he slammed his fist down onto the table once more. "I-I heard her scream! What the fuck are they doing to her?!"
"Subaru," he gave him a warning glare, as if to say, 'calm down, I'll explain it later.' Subaru's eyes widened, but they soon darted to the floor, his jaw tense as he clenched his teeth together to hold his tongue.
"Someone get the girl…" Shu added, surprising them all. "She will surely die if she's left... unattended…"
"You honestly cannot expect me to look after somebody else…!" Reiji argued. He was appalled at what his brother was demanding. "At such short notice! I haven't had the chance to sort out a room… it would be improper!"
"Fine… put her in Mari's room. I don't mind sharing my bed for a while…" Subaru, Laito and Kanato wore identical expressions of horror and disgust. "Just as I thought… It's not a big deal, Reiji... I'll be waiting in the car when any of you decide to help me look for your sister," he glared at Laito and Kanato. "Subaru," is all he said before he walked out of the café doors. Each vampire stared in his wake, baffled at his uncharacteristic behaviour.
Subaru clenched his fists together and mumbled a curse before he followed his eldest brother. Reiji still stared with his mouth parted at the door, unable to believe what he had witnessed. Soon enough however, he pushed up his glasses and turned towards Laito and Kanato who still seemed puzzled at what to do.
"You two," Reiji grabbed their attention. "Go and fetch Ayato and the… girl and tell them that we are leaving. Take too long and you will be forced to make your own way home. Now go." They both sighed and slumped their way into the kitchen, but before they could open the door, it swung open, revealing the red-headed culprit.
"Chichinashi is comin' with us?" asked Ayato who had obviously heard their conversation. Blood dripped down from his chin and an unconscious Yui was flung over his shoulder. "Her blood ain't half bad either!" He emphasised at his brothers' disgusted faces.
"Priorities, brother," Laito said as he hit Ayato's shoulder; hard.
"How disgusting," added Kanato, whose expression mirrored his words. "Our sister is missing and he is too busy drinking filthy blood. He deserves to die."
"Hey…! Don't give me that shit…!" Ayato retorted who nearly dropped Yui with fury. "I ain't the one who regretted missing the chance to turn her into a doll!"
"Now, now, little brothers," Laito began in a voice clearly intended to break up the budding fight. "Seeing as I am the most mature, and the oldest, you all need to do as I say~" Both of them refrained from their next insults and looked at Laito like he was the stupidest person on earth.
"What a stupid thing to say," Kanato stated. "You are older than me by one day. Can you believe this?"
"And Yours Truly is younger than you by two damn days! And I'm still the best…!" proclaimed Ayato, who stormed out of the café, supposedly making his way to the car.
"I've had enough of this," Reiji muttered as he rubbed his temples. "I am sick of looking at the place. Outside, now."
"I hope we find sister tonight," Kanato said as the three of them stepped into the night. "The thought of those filthy half-bloods touching her makes me sick."
"Ah, me too, me too," Laito agreed. "Don't worry, they will get what they deserve when we get our hands on them~"
"Teddy and I will tear them limb from limb. Ne, won't we, Teddy?" Laito and Reiji exchanged a look before the three of them climbed into the car, ready to start their search for Mari and the Mukami's. They believed luck to be on their side, but how lucky could they be when their only witness was a unconscious anemic girl?