Internecine: mutually destructive; no way to avoid devastation


Chapter 48

"Sulking won't do a thing." Reiji entered the room.

"Don't tell me what I can or cannot do... you have no right." Ayato got off the bed. "Yours truly will do what I want."

"I'm not about to... but I am warning you. In the last hour, I've been...nearly... alone, I have found out that there have been some cases of demons creating places between spaces...rumor has it since the Founders died a few have been uprising to challenge the status quo of demon hierarchy."

"So? We got rebels? What does that have to do with Yui?" Ayato stretched and looked outside. Perhaps they left something behind.

"Out of speculation alone I'd say, for one, taking vampires like us down. But I suspect there's more too."

"Well congratulations. I can see why father wants you to succeed him."

"Don't take what Shu made me reveal to be such a simple thing. I didn't mention earlier what else I got with that letter and I'll only say it once to you."

"What?" Ayato looked to Reiji confused.

"A bitten and rotting apple." Reiji shook his head. "Frankly I am keen to considering what our dear father's past with the demons of the latter world might be because I don't doubt he is involved..."

"Why an apple? Is it because she is Eve?" Ayato looked conflicted. "What kind of fight is he trying to pick here?!"

"Perhaps...yes it seems to be a symbol of her status as Eve. I don't doubt he's testing her. Testing us. I also think this might be advantageous for him somehow. But he'd corrupted it. Taking bites for himself and lets the rest of it rot before our eyes. His grand metaphors disgust me really." Reiji massaged his forehead slightly.

"Damn I just wish we knew. If they want her blood there's nothing to say she wouldn't be sucked dry by the time we found her..." Ayato traced his tongue on his fangs. What he would do if he got a hold of that damn arrogant demon man...to think he could take Yui and get away with it?

"I'd hope not. But therein lies another puzzle." Reiji looked agitated by this. "Perhaps your brother will find something in the texts I've provided him."

"Laito is reading?"

"Yes... strange as well." Reiji nodded. "Perhaps you ought to speak to him?"

"Yeah, I will."

Ayato left the room without a second glance to Reiji. He felt himself nearly brush by him, and sensed the feeling of a stare that came from Reiji as he watched him leave. Laito was reading and Reiji was attempting to keep peace with him? Was this the effect of Yui? Or some game?

He opened up the door to Reiji's room.

"So you read now?"

"Oh dear brother I only wish to help..."

"What have you found then?"

"I'm afraid nothing yet. You know I was thinking... If I had the chance to save someone from father's tyranny after all I've seen..."

"If she can be saved." Ayato looked up to the moon. He wanted to just damn leave this place and find her, but he had nothing. Nothing to go off. And he hated that Reiji seemed to be the most involved in being able to find clues...he needed to find something...

"Oh come now, we will tear demons from their insides out if that's what it takes." Laito placed down his book and sat his chin in his hand, his elbow resting off the table. His green eyes still seemed to remain this subdued calm that Ayato questioned. How could his brother stay so damn flamboyantly composed?

"Why do you care?"

"Frankly I lost one good love to our father and I perhaps gained a two lifetimes worth of regrettable acts from it... but I suppose I'd hate to see Yui lost to it..."

"So you think it's father's doing too?"

"Well no doubt his actions encouraged talk. Even if his hand isn't quite in the jar, I still think the reason Yui is how she is and is spoken of as an Eve no doubt is because of him? Rumors start at our school and spread from there. I guess we can't keep her locked away from that." Laito shrugged. "Another thing I noticed... you do know we're getting low on stock, don't you? If we plan on doing this we're going to have to do our rounds of hunting...blood banks don't sprout on trees..."

"Hunt? Fuck that, I'm going to see if that damn chartreuse-eyed moggy left anything behind out front." Ayato motioned to the window with his head slightly.

"Ah, fancy words. I suppose we know our alcohols well though... But brother I knew you not to be so celibate!" Laito laughed playfully before he returned to serious talk again, after Ayato seemed to be rather bitter. His plays to lighten the mood were not working. "Ah, I was merely joking. The rest of us will hunt the blood-banks and you can hunt for cats?"

"It amazes me you have any mood for that." Ayato looked away. Laito's taste for blood and sex was an ever-going train, no matter the moment, no matter how drastic, he seemed to be enticed by its lure.

"Frankly brother, you must agree I'm not the straightest of lines nor was I raised in such a fashion but...you can't deny you made yourself weak by neglecting what we live by. I fear Lady Bitch the same fate now that she is gone."

Ayato grunted slightly in agreeance. He'd neglected his own strength to protect her by choosing not to feed and so had she in neglecting the way of life she'd chosen. Not hunting. Death or vampirism and she chose vampirism. She chose to survive. If she continued to exist with them she must choose to eat or die. There was no escaping death if not for blood.

"I'm going outside." He turned to leave.

"Perhaps I will join... I need a break from the stuffy books... demon lore is no doubt a fun subject but I don't feel as if we've uncovered enough answers...hunting can wait a bit longer I suppose..."

"Fine." Ayato got up to leave. For some reason he decided not to teleport and escape his brother...perhaps two eyes were better than one.

"I suppose we could ask the others to join? Who knows, if they are Nekomata, we might want to be in packs if a black cat passes us by..."


Yui groaned. She felt her head spin. If they'd taken a lot of her blood who knows how long she'd been out for? Even her blood cursed her like this.

She blinked and saw she'd returned to the room she was first in. She was laying on a bed on the floor. She looked to see a black kimono with pink sakura flowers designed it as if waiting for her to wear. She noticed she'd healed...but not as quickly as she'd assumed.

Fang marks disappeared quickly with the others...faint bruises still tarnished her skin.

Her dress was in shambles now as well. Perhaps it wasn't a bad idea...

She attempted to stand when she suddenly saw a body on the floor. She had to stop herself from yelping.

A young man. He seemed to have a bite mark on his neck, and was dazed...passed out or something on the floor...

Did she do this? She couldn't remember what happened?

The scent of his blood filled the room. She was hungry. There was no way she did this... she blacked out for so long though...

They had consumed too much of her blood. They hadn't cared, had they? For some reason, they wanted the Sakamaki brothers dead too...and they seemed to hate Karlheinz...

And they were vampires? Neko-vampires?

She looked to the man. He was young. Generic. A john doe.

She felt an overwhelming primal urge to bite him.

So, she did.

He didn't wake up either. Drugged? Hunted? How did Nekomata hunt anyway? The gash whomever had left his neck was less graceful a mark than she originally thought. A small chunk of his flesh was missing there.

He didn't taste like Ayato. Or the brothers.

But he fulfilled her thirst. However, at the sound of his lulled breath she hesitated to drink much longer.

He was alive. He didn't deserve to die.

She noticed a divider and changed behind it.

It was then the door opened.

"So, did you enjoy dinner?"

The one named Osamu had entered. He leaned against the door frame. He seemed all too confident...more than perhaps any Sakamaki brother did... if possible...

She hesitantly crept out from behind the divider, now wearing the Kimono.

"Lovely. Really... black suits you. Delicate cherry blossoms...perhaps what remains of your humanity? Mixed in with the darkness of vampirism... you seem too delicate and yet I don't feel like I should be fooled by that..."

She bit her lip. It was so opposite to the way the vampires seemed to dress and act. They appeared much less traditional...however these demons...

"Why did you leave him here?" She motioned to the man on the floor.

"I keep my followers...some pure Nekomata demons outside...the same ones who you saw earlier. They attract passersby's... men and women... and they come in. It's like what humans call delivery service... I'm surprised he's not dry..."

"He doesn't deserve to die. He has a family...someone I'm sure..."

"A man who walks into a demon run whore house is concerned with his family? A vampire who cares more for a human life than her own? Dear, you really are a different one aren't you? To think the big man wants something this delicate in his wake..."

"I just...I know the feeling..." She couldn't help but feel a bit for the man.

"Victim turned culprit?" He took a step forward. His eyes were sly. Cat eyes. Predator playing a game. "You'd be surprised how many of us are ready to usurp the pure blood vampire hot heads of this world like those brothers. Now...with blood like that, tell me why you would ever put yourself in a family like the Sakamaki's?"

"I had no control...but they are not all bad...I-"

"Oh you are entertaining." He laughed. "Falling in love with your captors? A little Stockholm syndrome perhaps...so if I kept you here long enough would you trade sides with us?" Osamu walked closer and put his arm beside her trapping her between him and the wall. She noticed how forward he was, large and pushy. His keen and handsome smile was diluted by those amber gold eyes that peered down at her with a dangerous look. She noticed the blonde in his hair, the way it faded out, in parts, it even looked gold.

"I'm not. They've saved me and I-"

"They turned you into a vampire...take you in as a blood bank just to woo you to make sure they have an eternal access to your blood? Are you really just a pretty face?" He took her chin with his other hand and lifted it as if he was examining her.

"No... it's more. I didn't use blood lust...I fell for Ayato on my own and-"

"Ah, so his name is Ayato? Son of a founder and a rat bastard vampire. And blood lust? My lady you are not as innocent as you look, are you? "

She looked surprised and felt her face get red. She was upset with herself for saying Ayato's name, and more so revealing she knew anything about blood lust...he seemed too interested. And it was not Stockholm syndrome... she didn't fall for the Mukami's ...and she just... found something... they formed a friendship... they saved her... even if it looked otherwise.

"I must say I've never entertained a woman so docile... so fragile... and yet here you are, with a following of vampires and demons alike who would kill for you... dangerous, perhaps more dangerous than the average vixen..."

Her eyes lit up. She tried to move to the right, but he put up his other hand against the wall to stop her.

"Do yourself a favor and don't fight it. I did you a favor by giving you dinner... the least you can do is finish your plate."

"But I-" She looked horrified.

"Pick a side wisely... If we do decide to keep you around when it's all well and done you might want to consider being at least a bit formidable as a Mistress of the New Demon world." He smirked. "Because it seems to me that I can take what I please with you and it's no fun without a fight."

She moved to attempt to push him away but instead he caught both of her hands and pinned them up above her head against the wall and took a daring bite at her neck.

There was no way to win. No way to escape.

Yui would have to play their game.