Mr. Sandman seemed a little too busy to let her sleep early that night so she tossed and turned in her bed. In the silence of the night, she heard a faint knock coming from the window.
"Selene..."
It was a woman's voice. A familiar one. In fact that voice kept bugging her for two nights now. She realized she was no longer thinking about their meeting tonight because she got consumed that Zero went home for her and even brought her her favorite chocolate-coated strawberries and assuring her that nothing will change even if he's already proceeding with his training. But as Anja's voice disappeared from her imagination, she had to materialize on her window.
She jumped out of her bed to open the window to let the woman in. She was wearing her big black hood as per usual.
"What are you doing here?" She asked her in a low voice because her parents were very sensitive people.
"I had to see you again." Anja said and smiled at her looking like she's really glad to see her and making Selene guilty for not feeling the same.
She shook her head, avoiding the woman's touch when she reached out to her. She had been thinking about this idea since that fateful day they met and Selene wanted a confirmation. "Are you a vampire?"
Anja's eyes widened for a moment, there was fear reflected there when she answered. "I'm a pureblood."
Selene's heartbeat quickened and fear crept in her. "I already told you. My parents are hunters. If you're really a vampire, they will sense you."
"Are you afraid I'll hurt them? Or that they'll hurt me?" She asked.
Selene averted her gaze by looking down. "Both." She whispered, frowning.
Anja kneeled to level with her and see her eyes. Selene saw her dark as the night eyes and the sadness that is showing there. "You're a very kind person, Selene. Your innocence and purity is the reason why I'm here. I want to protect you."
Selene scowled. "I don't understand."
The woman smiled at her again. "There is a reason why there are hunters like your parents. The world is a beautiful place, it provides us all that is necessary for us to live. But it isn't only the humans that dwell on Earth. For so long, our races cohabit this land. And it's a been struggle."
Selene nodded because she agree but she still doesn't understand why the woman can't leave her alone and it seems like she can see the confusion in her as she goes on."Earth has become a battlefield for two races who fight for dominance. I do not want someone like you to be tainted... And hurt."
"Someone like me?" She repeated. The woman is talking in riddles and she's in knots right now trying to solve it. She remembered her calling her a blueblood. "I am a human. I'm not a vampire." She recited.
Anja nodded, trying to appease her. "Yes you are. But you are a special kind of human. You have the ability to bring forth a new vampire lineage, you-"
Selene doesn't like what she is hearing, but before she opened her mouth to speak again the door swung open and revealed her mother in her sleeping dress who immediately jumped to hug her and shield her daughter with her body and her father who appeared right after and pointed one of his bigger anti-vampire guns on the stranger in their daughter's room.
"Vampire!"
Before Ryusuke pulled the trigger, Anja was quicker to move. She came in close to the hunter and kicked the gun. Being a seasoned hunter, he had a fail-safe action of course. As quick as a fox, he distanced just enough to throw four knives which the woman managed to avoid except the fourth one that landed on her chest very much near her heart.
Anja groaned in pain. "Please. I came in peace." She pulled the knife out and Selene flinched.
"Papa, don't hurt her." Selene told her father but he didn't acknowledge her.
"What does a bloodsucker like you know about peace?" Her father spat. He has more knives on his hands and very ready to throw them to the injured vampire.
"It was my blood that was used to wield the anti-vampire weapons. I'm with the Midnight Society." Anja said all the while putting pressure on her injury to stop the blood from seeping. "I am Anja Von Duerre. The oldest Ancestor living."
Selene noticed the shock on her father and mother's faces. They know about what Anja was talking about.
"You're lying." Ryusuke couldn't believe it.
"You'll see." She said as she placed her hand over the knife she just pulled out. It was the hand that has her blood from her injury and blood was dripping from it to the knife. A moment after, the knife lit up and absorbed the blood. "I detest fighting as much as you do."
Selene knew that the anti-vampire weapons are lethal to the vampires, even to the purebloods, but she didn't know that it was actually wielded from a vampire's blood.
It seemed like her father believed Anja, "Then why are you here? Do you plan to turn my daughter?" He said accusingly.
Anja shook her head. "I have never turned anybody. I sensed her while I was following the aura of the level E that I detected in this area. I found her being attacked by that level E."
Ryusuke turned to Selene then he remembered what happened the other day when she went home with blood on her clothes that wasn't hers. "You saved her." He said as his stance relaxed and he lowers his weapons.
Nodding, Anja continued. "I sensed her, Mr. Daidouji." She placed emphasis on the word 'sensed'. "I thought she was a pureblood at first but when I found her... I knew then that she is a blueblood."
"No! She's a hunter's daughter, that cannot be!" He reasoned.
"I can't be mistaken. She's a child of the moon." Anja insisted.
Selene felt her mother shaking as her arms were around her body. "She's 'my' daughter. She can't be-" Megumi stopped.
"Mama... What am I?" Selene asked, looking into her mother's eyes.
It was Anja who answered. "You're a blueblood, Selene. The mother of vampires."
0-0
Zero parked the car on the street. In front of the Kiryuu house. Right across the Daidouji's too. This is the first time he's come back since Ichiru's burial. But then he never really got this close to the house, only on the graveyard. He never really planned on coming back any sooner. This place stinks of murder, betrayal and painful memories of that fateful day that haunted him and giving him nightmares every night after.
Shaking his head to let go of the memories, he turned to Selene who was looking at the space that used to be her home. The organization did a good job at cleaning the area. After seven years, the place looked like a vacant lot now. There's barely any trace of a house, except maybe under the very thick grasses and flowers that had sprouted in the soil bed.
It was never the same in the Kiryuu household after the fire. Which they thought before was 'just' a fire. They lost three members of their family. But before they even fully recovered, their own share of mishap happened at the cost of their own lives too.
Selene felt her chest constricting, but her eyes were too dry for tears. She never really got the chance to mourn over her loss because it all happened so fast and one after the other. She pushed the car door open and got out of it. She walked towards the lot where her home was standing proud before. Now there's only the grasses and some daisies adorning the land.
She's never really the emotional type. Her parents raised her as a happy and very positive child, showering her with words of wisdom and hope. That is why she always believed that there is a reason why things happen and that every difficult situation has a silver lining. But she lost all her positivity after waking up and finding there's no more family she could go back to. It was a very scary and painful thing to remember, having no more reason to fight. That's another secret she hasn't told the hunter yet, because she doesn't know how. How to tell him that the dark side of her heart took over once and almost destroyed her.
Because of her long slumber, it seems like it was just last year... So fresh and so painful. But even so, she won't cry. When she found out that Zero was alive, she found her reason.
But her tears have a mind of their own. They were suddenly there; ready to fall when she felt strong arms around her from behind, giving her solace and protection at the same time. And then she felt something from deep within surfacing and sheathing her making her stronger. She knows it was because of Zero. Knowing he's with her makes everything else easier.
She placed her arms over the hunters around her. His chin was on her head. "I won't have a house to go home to anymore when all of this is over." She shook her head. "I have to work so I can save up. Do you think the association will hire me?" She jested.
"No." He simply said.
"Hey! I had trainings with Papa even before you started yours, remember?" She reminded him.
Zero chuckled. He remembers it so. He always gets his ass on the ground whenever she demonstrates what she learned. But he would never allow her to put her life in any kind of danger. She might be a blueblood; whatever the hell being one gives her advantage of, he just can't let her. He wants her to live a normal life. As much as possible. He will fight for it. It has become his mission, to create a world where Selene can live peacefully and safely.
"Hmm, I thought you're not touching me ag-" Zero cut her off by putting his hand over her mouth.
"Just shut up!" He let go of her as he turn around.
"Yeah yeah yeah," She said rolling her eyes as she turned to the hunter who suddenly went silent. She found him staring at the house across the street. She reached for his hand, "You don't have to do this. If you're not ready yet, I can wait. I will still tell-"
Determined and emotional lavender orbs stared at her and she felt his hold on her hand tightening. "I need this." He uttered and pulled her towards the house. As they walk closer, her own heart-beating started accelerating. The faces of Zero's parents and Ichiru appeared to her so vivid and fresh and she felt scared for the hunter and for herself. They all mean so much for her too and she just...
"Z." She called him when they stopped on the doorstep. When Zero reached for the knob to open the door, she noticed his trembling hand. He squeezed and pushed the door so fast she didn't have the time to take a deep breath and prepare for what they were about to see. Maybe it's his way of acting faster than his mind, so he won't have the time to think.
Zero released the air that got stuck in his chest when he held his breath. Gone was the blood stains on the floor, the once clean and tidy house is now dusty and empty except for some furnitures that are all covered in white cloth. He started to see images of bodies on the floor drowning on their own blood oozing not only from their wounds on their necks but from other parts of their bodies that was attacked by the-
"They're together now, Z" Selene whispered so softly that surprisingly was enough to knock him out of his bloody thoughts. He looked down on her when she leaned her head on his shoulder and she looked up to him. Her dark orbs glistening with tears threatening to fall. "Your mom, dad and Ichiru and my mama and papa too. They're together now. They're at home with the Lord." Then her tears started falling now and he couldn't stand seeing her cry so he pulled her to an embrace.
She had always been so hopeful and forgiving. She would always tell him to seek first his peace of mind, because if you want to be able to sleep peacefully each night you will endeavour to do good things, think positively and learn understanding and acceptance. He realized that Selene is his guiding light, and when he thought she died years ago, he got stuck in the darkness. Now that she is back, he felt invincible, like he can do anything.
"I don't want you to be sad anymore." She said as she gently pulled away to look at him in the eyes. "There's nothing that we can change from the past except how we feel about it." She caressed his face, "It's natural to be angry, sad and vengeful..." Selene clenched her little fist, her expression hardened. "But to stay that way for the rest of our lives, to live in the shadow of the darkness of our past is like depriving ourselves of a happy life, of a future that both our families fought to give us."
Zero knew it's time to tell her. Tell her everything. It's now or never. He looked around once more and gone are the bloodstains. It was then he realized he has already accepted his past and suddenly being here is not so bad anymore. He was already about to start his piece when Selene dragged him to the stairs.
"Let's go to your room." She said. Her hair dancing in the air and bouncing on her back and shoulders as she excitedly took the stairs, going ahead of him.
The hunter hurried behind her and found her pushing the door open on his room. Zero gasped when he saw his old room. The place where he spent the first eleven years of his life. Nostalgia crept through him. His posters of Iron Man and all other Superheroes are reminders of what his dreams were as a child. To be a hero. Until Shizuka came and made him a monster instead. Monsters are villains, not heroes.
Zero shook his head. He's not going to entertain the bad memories for now. He tried to focus his attention on Selene who was smiling ear to ear as she surveys the room. "This feels surreal." She turned to him afterwards. "I remembered something." She walked towards the silver-haired hunter. "Where was the necklace that I gave you?"
The hunter gulped. "In the graveyard." He looked away.
"You buried it on Anja's grave?" She asked accusingly.
"Technically, I thought it was yours."
Glaring at the hunter, Selene huffed and puffed. "I told you to wear it all the time for your protection." She crossed her arms over her chest.
"I only did it after mom, dad and Ichiru was buried a year after." Zero uttered and then he looked away from the girl's sympathetic dark orbs. "It reminds me of you. Of how I didn't get to save you." His fists clenched. "I had to bury it."
Selene crossed the distance between them and reached for the hunter's face. "I forgive you." She beamed at him. "So forgive yourself okay?"
The hunter looked away at the window and beyond he saw something. He grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her out of the house through the back door. Selene asked him where he was taking her but he didn't answer, he wants her to see it for herself.
They had to go through the forest to the clearing where the small stream is. This is where they usually play when they were young. On the right side of the clearing before the stream-bed is, lay six humps of grass clothed land and adorned with wild flowers. On the end of each humps are nameplates made of marble.
When Selene realized what those are, she walked so fast towards the graves as if she's on a race with someone else. Her heart pounding. The first two were Zero's parents, then there's Ichiru's, and then there's here parents' and lastly it says, Selene Daidouji. It should be Anja Marie Von Duerre. The people resting here are one of the few that truly cared for her and to finally see the proof of their passing is just too much.
Unable to contain her emotions, Selene fell on her knees. Her tears pouring hard as she wailed with pain. Her uncontrollable sobs continued on and on. Zero kneeled beside her and pulled her to lean on him as he wraps his arms around the girl, caressing her at the same time. His own emotions suffocating him, making him want to howl like a helpless deer caught on a trap that's slowly killing him.
It was a while before the raven-haired girl calmed down. He felt her wrap her arms around him and pressing her face on his neck. He could still hear her gasping. He had never seen her like this and he doesn't know what to do to make her feel better when she always does know how to handle him.
A longer moment of silence passed and they never let go of each other. Selene felt a significant amount of pain and sorrow escaped her chest. Her words to Zero coming back to her. There's nothing that they can change about the past, but there's still something they can do for the future.
Selene pulled away slightly from the hunter, just enough for her to freely look at their family's graves as he joined her.
"We made them happy." She said.
Zero looked at her with perplexity in his deep lavender orbs. She smiled at him, her sweet smile that he thought would be impossible to see just minutes after her earlier condition. But then again, this is Selene.
"I know they wanted us to find each other." She added as her dark orbs locked with his. "Because together, we're stronger."
The corner of Zero's mouth twisted in an almost smile. He agrees.
"Feeling better?" The hunter asked. She nodded and instantly remembered why they were here in the first place.
"Just to let you know, whatever your shared experience with Kaname and Yuuki is... Would not change anything between us." She squeezed his hand. "I just want to understand where your anger is coming from." She pulled her to him with her hands on his shirt and attempted to kiss him when he turned his face away and she saw his face slowly turning red. "What's wrong?"
"Not here." He uttered. Back is the shy little Zero.
"What?" Selene scowled at him. She doesn't like it when he rejects her. But she followed his eyes and they were looking awkwardly at her and then on the graves afterwards. Then it dawned on her that the boy was feeling shy in front of their family. She giggled nonstop that only worsened the tint on the boy's face. An idea struck her. "Hey! Mama, Papa, Mr. & Mrs. K... And you too Ichiru... Zero and I like each other. He likes to kiss me and I like to kiss him too."
Zero winced at the girl. He could imagine all of them glaring at him. "Stop that."
Selene climbed on the hunter's lap and wrapped her arms around his neck as strong as she could because the boy was resisting pretty hard. "What is your problem?"
"Just not here, okay?" He told her.
"What's the difference? Do you think they don't want us for each other?"
Zero looked away. "What... What if, they want us to remain like siblings or friends?"
Just the thought of that made Selene cringe. Finally realizing that if they are to remain friends, she'd rather...
"But I don't want that." She whispered. Slowly the hunter turned to her, meeting her gaze. "I don't love you like that." There! She said it.
The silver-haired hunter's eyes widened and he just stared at her like a fool.
"I couldn't understand why you kissed me the first time. Before that, I was sure you're just like a brother to me. I couldn't understand why I like it despite my confusion. But now I do." She ran her fingers on his lips, tracing the contours. "I don't want to go back."
The shade of the hunter's eyes darkened when he finally wrapped his arms around her. "There's no going back." He only said before he crushed his lips to hers in a searing kiss which she replied with much intensity. Her soft lips, her taste and her sweet sweet smell is too consuming. He likes how his heart beats whenever they kiss, it's very life affirming. He forgot the last time he ever wanted to live this much.
She won't hold back anymore. Life is too unpredictable to let a moment pass without making the hunter feel how he means to her. She accepted his intrusion, danced along with his little devil and whimpered when he sucked her tongue. Something inside her ignited, her body is now blazing with a familiar passion much more intense than the last time. She wants to feel more of him, his body... Kiss more and if possible to become one with him.
Zero groaned when the girl tugged on his shirt to remove it. As much as he likes it, this is not the place to be doing this. Not in front of their families at-least. He pulled away from her.
"Selene..." He called. She knew he wanted them to stop and reluctantly she did, but she was shaking for some reason.
Zero recognized her wanting and knows that she doesn't understand what was happening to her. She's reacting to him and vice versa. He kissed her hand without looking away from her dark as the night orbs.
"I will posses you. I will do things to you. I will know what it feels like being inside you." He uttered, "When you're ready."
Those words affected her like a real fire that's burning her skin from the inside. "I am ready."
Shaking his head, Zero kissed her once more. "We're not here for that." He reminded her. She blushed a little and nodded.
"Okay."
Then Zero told her of what happened that fateful night of the attack. How he was rescued by the Hunter's Association and how Kaien Cross offered to take him and take care of him. "Yuuki reminded me so much of you until I decided to let go of your memories." He said. One night they had a visitor, and to his surprise it was a vampire. But Yuuki and the chairman was so fond of the said vampire, they even invited him for dinner. It was Kaname. He told her that he hurt the pureblood that night, he stabbed him because to him all of them are the same. At some point he believes they will hurt him. "I was so angry at the chairman for wanting to put up a Night Class." But he wasn't able to stop the chairman. Some more vampires came to the Cross Academy to study. The Day Class were so blinded by their beauty and they would sneak into the Moon Dorm just to get a glimpse of the Night Class. He and Yuuki was chosen to become guardians or prefects of the school, imposing rules and making sure they are being followed, one of which is to never get too close to the Night Class.
"I don't understand. Why would the chairman put the Night Class in the same school as the Day Class if he worries about their safety?" Selene asked.
"He's a pacifist, he wanted to prove that the two kinds can co-exist without incidents." Zero winced. "He only trusts one vampire. Kaname. He believes they have the same goal." He uttered 'my ass' after that. "When one of the Night Class breaks his rules, he disciplines them. The chairman was appeased." He told her that the effects of Shizuka Hio's bite was starting to consume him, so he started to distance from everyone else. That got Yuuki worried and the more he push her the more she wanted to be nearer. He was so afraid of the monster, and know that eventually he will become one. He wasn't able to stop himself once and he bit Yuuki. Kaname warned him off. "I was so guilty to the extent that I wanted to kill myself to forgive myself." He said.
Selene reached for his hand and squeezed it.
He told her that Yuuki convinced her that if ever he gets out of hand, she will kill him herself. Yuuki believed there is still a way to save him. "Kaname doesn't like me being with Yuuki. He knows I've been feeding on her." He said. He just couldn't touch him because Yuuki would hate him if he did. "He wanted her to be his lover."
Confused, Selene asked "But they're siblings right?"
"We didn't know at that time except for him and maybe the chairman." He said 'the bastard' under his breath. "Their pure lineage means so much to them and if marrying your sibling would mean to continue their pure bloodline, they do that."
Selene winced. The Kaname she knew was so different from the one that Zero knows.
A girl named Maria Kurenai joined the Night Class. Her arrival caused a stir to the academy. She wanted to play. Zero thought she was too bored. Then they found out that she was being used by Shizuka Hio like a puppet to do her willing. "Ichiru appeared in the academy."
Selene gasped, she can now finally get the answers about that. The missing pieces of the stories she heard makes her head ache.
"I thought he was dead. But he didn't. He..." His throat constricted. "He said was jealous of me. Of the attention I was getting, of my health... He wanted someone to recognize him." He took a deep breath. He said Ichiru was there to help Shizuka fulfill her mission. But her mission was to see him and make him his follower too. Ichiru couldn't accept that Shizuka still preferred Zero over him. Ichiru loved Shizuka and Zero understood at-least that part clearly. Knowing that Shizuka is in the academy, he planned to kill her but Yuuki convinced him that he can drink her blood to be fully turned but he never thought of a life after he kills her. "But I couldn't find her, I couldn't feel her anymore. I know she was dead and I know it was Kaname who killed her." He uttered. He said Kaname knew that Shizuka will end up hurting Yuuki since she keeps interfering thinking she can save Zero who only lived to kill the pureblood girl. Yuuki thought Zero was too weak to beat Shizuka.
Selene doesn't know what to think.
Zero continued, telling her that Ichiru conspired with Rido Kuran who promised him to help him avenge Shizuka. But Ichiru knew Rido was behind all that plan because he wanted to get rid of Shizuka himself. Ichiru attempted to kill Rido but he failed and ended being hurt badly. He returned to where Zero was held and offered himself, knowing about the prophecy he wanted to make it up to Zero and knowing he doesn't have enough reason to continue anymore. Zero took his blood and eventually leading his brother to his death.
Kaname approached him afterwards and told him that he had everything planned. Kaname only let Zero live because it will make Yuuki sad if he died. The pureblood allowed Zero to take some of his blood to regain his strength from the monster inside her consuming him and making him weaker faster. He wanted him to protect Yuuki for the coming danger. "It was disgusting, I hated myself for following him but I have to become stronger... Strong enough to protect Yuuki and strong enough to kill Kaname and avenge Ichiru."
The raven-haired girl was on the edge. The story is too painful and complicated, it's full of anger.
Zero continued, telling her that Kaname's uncle, Rido Kuran was awaken with a mission to devour the remaining Kurans, he found out that though Kaname wanted to kill the man, he couldn't because he was the one who awakened him. That is why Kaname gave him his blood, for him to finish the deed.
Rido Kuran threatened the safety of the Day Class as well and Zero knew he had to stop him. With Yuuki's questions about her past, she had become so obsessed of finding out about it. He didn't know how, but Kaname awakened the Vampire Yuuki and by doing so her memory was also regained. "I felt betrayed and used." He said to emotionally. "I was so angry." He added. Then he continued telling her that he still went to fight Rido Kuran, that because of Ichiru's blood inside him he's gained incredible strength and since Ichiru claimed to have taken Shizuka's blood, it had turned him and fully following the prophecy. Even his anti-vampire gun Bloody Rose morphed and is now part of his body. With those newly acquired strength, he was able to defeat Rido Kuran. After the fight, so much damage was caused to the Academy and good thing that the Day Class was no longer in the school and all of their memories were altered.
"What happened after the fight?" Selene asked.
"Yuuki confronted me. She told me that the human Yuuki that I know is gone." He said. Selene nodded, fully understanding his feelings. "To me, the Yuuki that I know died... And the Vampire Yuuki killed her. I told her that the next time I see her, I will kill her."
Gulping, Selene wondered how he felt seeing her again. "But she's back."
Zero sighed. "That promise I made was two years ago. So many things had happened. I continued my work with the Hunters Association. They sent me to different countries to track down Level Es. I've seen how big the world is, and I never looked forward to seeing them again."
"You no longer want to kill her?"
The hunter reached for the girl's cheek. "I knew beforehand that going back here means seeing them again. I have the names of all the pureblood set to be admitted here. To be honest, I came back because I wanted to see them suffer, to see them tremble in fear."
"That's not very... Nice." Selene said.
"I'm not nice." He answered. "I have doubts." He nodded as if only accepting it now. "I have always doubted if I can really kill her. Maybe I have matured, or I've seen the worst kinds of vampires.. And know that she's different..."
"But Kaname..."
"They were never responsible for the attack."
Selene smiled at the hunter. "You're a good person, Z."
0-0
Yagari and Kaien Cross was in deep conversation inside the latter's office when they heard the sound of car engine from the outside. Deciding to discontinue their talk, both went downstairs to see who's arrived.
A black limousine was parked in front of them as they stood on the doorway and as soon as the door has opened. The two men was surprised of their visitor.
"Master Li!" Kaien cried as he rushed towards the vehicle and to the old man getting out of it. "Oh! This is such a surprise! A good surprise!"
"Still sounds like a baby, Cross!" Ludwig Li told the blonde ex-hunter turned school chairman.
A woman wearing a maroon hanfu; a chinese traditional dress, stepped out of the car that caused Toga Yagari to stand straight. "Your stick, uncle." The woman said and handed a walking stick to the older man.
"Maude! You're here too?" Kaien moved over to the elegant woman and gave her a quick hug. "If only Kiryuu and Daidouji was here, we could have a reunion!" He excitedly jumped like a kid with his hands clasped together.
"You never changed, Kaien." Maude said smiling but as she turns to the other hunter still standing awkwardly on the doorsteps, her smile disappeared. "Hello there, Yagari."
The other hunter only nodded as he walked towards them and bows in front of his Ludwig Li. "Welcome, master."
Ludwig tapped Yagari's shoulder with his stick very lightly. "Always so serious." He said and moved to get inside the chairman's house. "But we're not here for you two." He said, looking around. "Where's our princess? It's time to leave."
Kaien and Yagari looked at each other. The two separated from their group in town and they have no idea where they are.
"T-they're out doing some chores for me." Kaien answered.
Ludwig raised his brow at the blonde beside him. "Out with who?"
"Kiryuu's boy." Yagari said.
The expression on the man's face became unreadable.
0-0
A/N: Been a long time... I got into an accident and my head probably got shaken I lost it for a while lol... But now I'm back, please review :)