Pugnacious: inclined to fight

Chapter 12

"So this is it? That's your warning to them." Thana stepped before the brothers after their speech.

"Ah, so the conniving whore wishes to approach the bench?" Laito smiled mischievously.

Thana looked to Laito strangely, confused by his statement and then looked to Ayato. She bit her lip. That damn snake. Flashbacks etched into her mind. "I won't touch her...I can't...but if we all fall to them...is every vampire's sanity worth her life?"

"Perhaps it's not everyone's sanity just those that put her life in question." Reiji adjusted his glasses looking at the girl.

"So you are on their side?"

"We're merely stating you got what you asked for." Ayato looked at her darkly. "Now excuse me, I'm going to meet up with Yui now for class." Rolling his eyes he turned away.

Thana bit her lip, holding back her rage. "We're the noble type are we now? Funny I thought we didn't fight flowers with fire."

They watched as she walked away.

"As docile as flowers seem I'm not one to subject judgement on appearance alone." Reiji turned away.

"Is it true that a snake demon came in through the girls bathroom?"

Laito overheard first. "Yes, so don't go unattended...or perhaps use the men's? Or bring one of us with you, they simply would never screw with us." He flashed a fang-filled grin with his teasing laugh.

Subaru rolled his eyes and left.

"So is it going to work?" Shu looked to Reiji.

"When has anything I have done not worked out."

Shu held his mouth shut. He knew a part of him wished to comment on Reiji's terrible cravings to be favourite, to be King, to take on the chosen path, but he simply walked away to find a place to relax.

Yui sat down in class and Ayato pulled up a chair beside her.

"What are you doing?"

"I just got this feeling lately." Ayato said and moved his desk closer, putting his arm around the back of her chair. "Reiji thinks this will work, but I'm not leaving your side Pancake."

She nodded. She wasn't against this. Somehow after this morning's speech everyone else seemed a bit more threatening. For the first time in a while it felt like she was sitting in a class of predators.

And something she'd begun to almost forget now: she was one too.


"So did everyone else have a snake free day?" Kanato asked on the way to the limousine.

"Not quite a full patrol done but I saw no signs of the damn pests. I don't mean to relay false hope though." Reiji admitted.

"That would be terrible wouldn't it."

The group turned to see Sepsei standing there with Savide passively staring them down just before the gates.

"Well we didn't have any infestation problems, today did we?" Subaru scoffed.

"Likely not, however I didn't check all the abandoned classrooms myself this time." Laito tipped his hat and looked on to Savide.

"Well Darling I would have visited you today however it seems I was a little isolated. Perhaps I should have brought you some flowers? Roses? Or perhaps you prefer something gold?" Sepsei took a flower from the garden and shook the pollen enticing small burns to singe on his skin, as he bowed to present it to Yui.

She gasped a little, but noticed that as the blood dried, the wounds healed quickly.

"Gold is not our vice, but a small thorn from a rose." Savide admitted, in his deep voice.

"Enough thorns and you have a thorn bush." Shu added passively.

Sepsei smirked. "It could have been easy, hand the girl to us, and I could have bled out a hundred humans just as a gift of repayment. We could work together, as our King Burai lead once, allied with the Bat Demons."

"That is against what we stand as, spilling uneeded blood. Humans are prey, but we are not about to make ourselves known to humans." Reiji crossed his arms. "Do not play this game as if you have something to offer, crimson snake."

A few nearby students, who knew the terms gasped a bit.

"We are vampires, pure blood bat demons, with Founder in us. We're not weak. Burai feared our father. You're not going to play Yui like a bargaining chip. I have my Seraphim Blade. We will kill you if need be." Ayato sneered, a small part of the student body rose a bit as if they were empowered by this.

"So, the war begins." Sepsei smiled. "We'll see you again, soon."