"You look oftly lonely."

The voice came from behind me and launched me off the couch with a loud cry. It shouldn't have. I had been waiting like an anxious wreck for some bullshit like this already. I should have been better prepared. Running from vampires was exhausting when they were everywhere. I could throw a ball in this house and hit a Sakamaki. I could trip over one running down a hall, because he was pretending to be sleeping, but was really some sort of weird vampire-trap-door spider. This house was ridiculous, and I think it was starting to settle in just how bad it was for the mind to spend days on end afraid for your life. It was starting to make me feel a little crazy.

When I turned around, Laito was laughing behind his hand. He'd changed out of his uniform for the night. His dark, blue vest was left open and the top two buttons on his crisp, white shirt were undone. I could see the curve of his pale neck and the peek of his collarbones, so I quickly averted my eyes up to his face. It was best to look them in the eyes, I think. If I didn't look away they wouldn't pounce on the show of weakness, like staring down a wolf. Or was it that you shouldn't stare down the wolf? I couldn't remember.

"You certainly are jumpy today." Laito popped out of existence right in front of my eyes and reappeared standing next to me. He continued talking to me like I wouldn't be completely freaked out by that. "Are you hiding away from something in here?"

"Yes," I nodded backing up a couple steps to put distance between us. "All of you. I'm trying this new thing called alone time."

He scoffed at that, rolling his eyes. "That sounds boring. You do that when you sleep. Why not play a game with me instead?"

I laughed at him, waving my hands in a slashing motion. "Oh no, I've heard this song before. It ends with lots of yelling."

Laito's mouth twisted into a smirk, like he was trying not to laugh too. His sharp, green eyes were tracking me as I backed away from him, but he hadn't moved to stop me. Maybe he was satisfied with just scaring me, like his devil child brother. Maybe I could leave if I made it to the door.

"There doesn't have to be yelling," Laito shrugged and took off his hat, setting it down on the small table beside the couch. "If you like we can continue what you're doing. Hide and Seek. I haven't played this in a while."

"No thanks." I shook my head firmly. "I never liked that game."

As I turned to leave, the vampire was already standing between me and the door. He smirked when he saw the flash of shock on my face and bent down to speak to me at eye level. I found it oddly condescending.

"I promise you'll like my version. When I catch you, I'll give you a treat."

"Are you turned on by literally everything?" My outburst was born mostly out of frustration. I was really starting to hate vampires. My younger self would be sick to hear it, but she didn't know how annoying they were. "Get some counseling, dude. Talk to a vampire therapist or something."

"I'm talking to you," he grinned. "Would you like to pretend you're my therapist? I'm not opposed to role play. I'll tell you all about the naughty things I want to do to that body and you can tell me when it starts to get under your skin." He leaned forward, his voice softening beside my ear. "In this scenario, the patient is going to seduce the therapist. You're a terribly unprofessional doctor, so you don't mind."

"Jesus," I breathed out, taking a step back away from him. "You just spend all day thinking up these weird ways to freak me out, don't you?"

Laito shrugged one shoulder. "They come in the spur of the moment actually. I'm quick on my feet."

He closed the space between us again and I was once more forced to retreat. I was quickly running out of space to escape though. The smile on his face said he knew that too, he was just getting a kick out of herding me to the couch.

"So doctor, do you want to play?" He chuckled. "Come on, find out what makes me tick. Let's see who cracks the other first."

"No thanks, I'm not good at games."

He took another step towards me and I fell back onto the couch with a sharp breath. I didn't like that I was looking up at him, nor the wicked curve at the corner of his mouth at my new position.

"Don't worry. I'll carry us through. You just chime in whenever you feel more relaxed."

I pressed myself back into the couch when he bent to brace his hand beside my head and invade my space. My eyes shifted for an escape route, but there was not much I could do now that I wasn't on my feet anymore. I licked my lips nervously, but his bright, green eyes followed the motion too closely. It made every muscle in my body tense at once. There was too much heat behind those green eyes.

"I'm pretty sure the patient is supposed to be the one on the couch." It came out more from nerves than anything, trying to derail his little game, but he didn't miss a beat.

"So you do want to play." He gave a soft chuckle and leaned in to murmur against my jaw despite my stiff attempt to turn away. This was escalating far too quickly. "I don't mind if you'd rather be on top. Show me your favorite position and I'll show you mine."

"Oh my god, enough." My hands went up to shove at his chest, but he didn't even budge. I sucked in a breath when his lips drifted along my jaw to the hollow behind my ear. His cool breath sent shivers down my spine. "You can't actually be this horny all the time! Nymphomania is a serious problem. You need, I don't know...medication!"

"See?" He chuckled softly into my neck. "You're already getting into character."

I froze when he nipped at my flesh. He didn't break the skin, but the pricks of his fangs made my heart skip a beat.

"Come on doctor," he murmured into the side of my neck, grazing me again with his teeth. "Tell me what I can do to get better. I just can't seem to help myself."

"Stop it!" I shoved at him again, my voice breathless. "Don't call me doctor!"

Laito grabbed my wrist and pinned it against the seat of the couch beside me. He leaned down onto the couch with a knee between my thighs. I'm sure the placement was strategic as he leaned in to suck at the skin of my neck with his lips. The tingling pressure made me gasp down a breath

"Do you want to be the patient then?" He asked with a chuckle. "In that case I've got a few suggestions for your treatment."

I cried out when he suddenly tugged my arm. One moment he was pinning me to the back of the couch, and in the next I was sprawled out along it. Laito smirked down at me. His knee was still between my legs as he leaned down above me, his other foot planted on the floor.

"It's my professional opinion that you struggle with personal intimacy. The only course of action is exposure therapy."

"Get off of me."

"See?" He laughed softly and braced himself with his forearm to lean down over me. "These little outbursts will only stop once you've given yourself over to the treatment. I promise you'll enjoy the process."

"Absolutely not, I'm not playing this game with you." I shoved at his chest again, trying to wiggle out from under him. He grabbed my hip in one hand and dragged me back down beneath him, squeezing it afterwards.

"Fighting you're treatment will only delay your therapy." The thigh he'd tucked between my legs pressed up against me and he leaned down to kiss the corner of my mouth before I turned away. "Don't worry. I'm a professional, and this is a safe space." He chuckled at his little joke. "You're in good hands."

I could have laughed at how untrue that was but he shocked me into a yelp instead. Turning my head away had only exposed my neck to him, and he didn't waste the opportunity to bite me. My hands clenched against his shirt at the sharp flash of pain, then remained tensed when he extracted his fangs to draw his tongue up along the side of my neck to catch the blood he'd drawn. A tingling fluttered through my abdomen, but it was gone again when he pulled back to search my face with a satisfied smile.

"Oh my," he teased. "You're blushing. Could it be the therapy is working?"

"Enough!" I snapped, though my voice was a little shakier than I would have liked. "Just get off of me. You're not supposed to do this in the public rooms anyway. Reiji-"

"Reiji isn't here to ruin the game tonight. No dark, dashing knight for you. But more importantly, are you asking me to take you to your bedroom?" His smile was far too sharp. His fingers curled around my jaw to force my head up and his lips brushed my own as he spoke softly. "What a brazen little bitch you are tonight."

When he kissed me it made my head spin. This was all just too much. He was too close, the scent of him invading me with every breath. My eyes squeezed closed, my lips firmly shut until he drew back and chuckled.

"Relax Cara, there's no need to be nervous. Let your doctor take care of you." His thumb brushed along my bottom lip. "Open your mouth for me."

"Go fu-"

He cut me off with another kiss. I slapped at him, but he caught it. He quickly gathered my hands and pinned them to the arm of the couch above me. Shifting to hold them both in one hand, his other went back to my face as I tried to snatch my mouth away and turn from him. He cupped one side of my jaw in his palm. His thumb pressed up beneath my chin to tilt up my face to him. I stared up into his mischievous, green eyes, and wondered, yet again, how they could be so monstrously strong. Why was this fair? Weren't all the weird powers enough?

"I'm not sure why you're putting up such a fight." His voice changed as he spoke. The playful lilt went flat and hard, and his eyes seemed to do the same. The shift in his tone filled me with cold dread, warning bells sounding in my mind.

Get away. They screamed. He's dangerous when he stops playing. The only problem was I couldn't even move to fight him. His grip on my wrists was painfully tight.

"We both know you enjoy the things that have happened to you. Just a couple of days here and you were already seeking them out. You prance around, acting out for attention, goading us, because you like what we do in return."

"You're so full of shit." I glared back up at him.

"Really?" He laughed, but the sound was hollow. The hand on my jaw slipped down to the neck of my blouse to work a button free. When I struggled to twist away from him, he leaned in to pin me with his hips, all the while popping open buttons.

"I don't think I'm the liar here, little bitch." His smile returned, a cruel, mocking twist that made my heart thump in my chest. "If you could just see yourself right now. Cheeks flushed, breasts heaving, practically breathless. You shiver every time I touch you." As if to prove this he peeled open my shirt, brushing a kiss against my collarbone. My traitorous body responded. I felt him chuckle into my skin before he kissed lower. "You talk back, and make these feeble little attempts at escaping, even when you know they will fail. You do it because you know we'll have to punish you for it." I went still when he kissed the top of my breast and his teeth scraped the soft skin.

"See?" He smirked up at me. "Your heart thumps away like a little rabbit when you think I might bite you. Even though you know it will hurt, you just can't help yourself, you're aching for it."

"Stop it!" I shouted, tugging at my wrists. I tried to knee him in the side, but he caught my leg and bent it up against his hip, pressing down into me.

"Oh, I get it." Laito laughed and squeezed my thigh. "This is the game you wanted to play all along. Really, you're such a wicked thing. A force fetish? How deliciously depraved."

"Stop it!" I didn't really know what else to say. Panic was making my head spin. That and his wandering hand as it skimmed up the back of my thigh and underneath my skirt. When I felt his fingers hook into the top of my underwear, I let out a cry. The only range of motion I had left was to arch my back in an attempt to twist away from him. It did little more than press our bodies together which only made him laugh.

"You're already rubbing yourself against me? My word, you must really want it. What a shameless little bitch you turned out to be."

I felt him sliding my panties down my bottom despite my attempted thrashing.

"No!" I cried. "Don't...just stop it, please!"

"But we haven't even gotten to the best part." He had my panties down around my thighs. He couldn't strip them off completely because he was still bracing his knee between my legs, but it was enough that I was exposed to him. His hand skimmed back up my thigh to cup my bare bottom, squeezing it a little roughly.

"Get off of me you crazy pervert! Just fucking stop!"

"You know, if you keep arguing like this, even I might lose my temper." His voice went flat again just before he bent down to snap his teeth into the top of my breast. I arched at the pain and he used the opportunity to slip his arm underneath my leg to bend my knee up over his shoulder. My heart skipped a beat and I immediately pulled it back down, but his hand was already between us. When his fingers brushed up along the sensitive flesh at my core I nearly thrashed him off the couch.

"Laito!" I said breathlessly, eyes going wide. "Stop!"

"Why would you want that, when I can see how excited you're getting?" He grinned into my shoulder.

"I don't...I'm not-" It was hard to speak while he was rubbing my most sensitive area in those slow, teasing circles.

"Ah ah, little, western bitch. No more lies. Just tell me what you'd like me to do to you. It doesn't matter if it's depraved, I won't mind. Unlike my brothers, I enjoy making you feel good."

My entire body was trembling, my breath coming quick and shallow. I couldn't even think straight after all this panic and confusing arousal. Of course it felt good. He was teasing my clit, stroking the sensitive folds between my thighs, brushing his lips across my shoulder with little nips of his sharp teeth. All of it was too much. I didn't want him to be right. I didn't want to respond to the ways they all toyed with my body, but that didn't stop it from happening. Maybe I was weak, or maybe they were messing with my mind, forcing my body to respond to the horrible things they did to it. That would certainly have made me feel a little better, knowing it wasn't my fault. If I could blame all of this confusion and guilt on them, I might not have to hate myself so much for giving in. I bit down on my bottom lip to stop the soft sounds that wanted to spill out, but that was ruined when he pushed a finger inside of me. My mouth flew open, a startled sound of pleasure echoing out into the large room. It made the vampire laugh softly, shifting to smirk down at me while he continued the wicked teasing.

"There you go, you pretty, little slut. Just let it out."

"Don't..." I turned my face away as if that might hide anything at this point. Why did he make it so hard to form a coherent thought? "Don't call me that."

"What else should I call the sinful, wanton thing writhing beneath me? Look at you. You're sweating, you're so excited. Tsk tsk."

"Oh god, stop it. Please just..."

"There's no point calling on him. It not like he'll step in and save you." He pushed another finger inside of me, working them slowly in and out while his thumb brushed against my clit. "Go ahead. Try praying. We'll see if God comes to stop me."

"Fu-uck!" The word came out as a groan, my eyes squeezing shut. It didn't block out the tantalizing, stretching sensation of his fingers, or the way my stomach fluttered and tightened every time he teased my clit. My hips were shifting without my meaning to. He was right, the bastard, I was writhing under him like I was in heat. God there was something wrong with me. What the hell had these monsters done to me? I didn't want to be this person. I didn't want to be his mewling toy.

"My word," Laito chuckled above me. He was watching me with a wicked amusement, his bright, green eyes practically glittering with it. "Such language. Is that another thing you're into? Should I talk dirty to get you in the mood?"

I opened my mouth to curse him but he'd already leaned down to murmur into my ear. His words froze mine in my throat.

"I'm not sure you need it at this point Cara, you're already soaking wet. You've been tightening around my fingers like you want to keep them inside of you. What a hungry little body you have."

I wasn't prepared for his words, or the way they shot down my spine to stab into my lower belly, like a hot, electrified needle. The bluntness was jarring, but a part of me liked it. He made simple words into a naughty thrill. His brazen pillow talk was just another nail in my coffin. I couldn't pretend it didn't excite me. Maybe I was just as twisted as he claimed. Maybe coming to this awful place had simply woken up a part of me I didn't know existed. That wasn't exactly comforting, seeing as this vampire seemed determined to drag me down into his depraved little world, and humiliate me every step of the way.

"Do you want more, little bitch?" He asked as he nipped the curve of flesh between my neck and shoulder. The brief flash of pain made me shiver and suck in a shuttering breath. "Do you want me to fuck you right on this couch, so everyone else can hear those wicked, little moans for themself?"

"What?" I squeaked. "Absolutely not!"

"Really?" He scoffed. "Then why did your heart skip a beat when I asked? You really do like dirty talk, don't you? I like that about you. I can certainly oblige."

Laito sat suddenly straight above me, releasing my arms and pulling his fingers from between my thighs with a soft, slick sound that made my cheeks flood with heat. I had about half a second to be relieved by the small freedoms before he'd taken my panties with both hands and dragged them the rest of the way off. I fell back against the couch, dragged down against his planted knee while my legs straightened in the air between us. He laughed at my yelp of surprise and quickly spread my knees to settle back between them over me. He pinned my legs up over his shoulders as he leaned into me, pressing me down into the couch cushions with a smirk.

"Now let's see. Ayato was right, you are a bit of a brat, so that must mean you want me to take you roughly. You want it to hurt just a little bit." He turned his head to nip at the skin just above my knee. The sharp tease of his teeth made my heart race even faster. "Don't worry, little bitch. I'll make you scream."

"Wait-"

"Oh, it's too late for that Cara. Not after we've come this far." His hand disappeared between us. I heard the tinkling of his belt and zipper just before something soft and firm pressed up against my entrance. It slid up and down my slick folds with steadily increasing pressure until my brain decided that was the last straw and went into a meltdown. My body shuttered, my mouth working without meaning to.

"Oh fuck oh fuck ohfuck..." The breathless mantra started softly, as he rubbed my entrance with the head of his cock, rising into a full on cry when he pushed just the tip inside. My hands gripped at his shirt sleeve and the side of the couch, squeezing until my fingers were numb. The stretching sensation was so much more intense than his fingers. He slowly pressed deeper, filling me up until my back arched and my thighs trembled between us with the building pressure in my core. Laito smirked down at the moan I couldn't contain, drawing back his hips to start the slow, torturous process again.

"You're so tight, little bitch. I'm kind of surprised since you've been throwing yourself at all of us. We already knew you weren't a virgin."

My eyes narrowed. "Fuck you," I managed to growl out. It made something flash across his eyes as he watched me, something dark that melted away his smile. I didn't like this look. His humor hid the hollowness behind his demeanor, the hunger. It was a peek into the person beneath all the smiles and games, the monster lurking under the surface. He frightened me when he looked like this.

"That's right," he intoned in a voice that was void of emotion. "I almost forgot. You like it rough, don't you?"

Laito sat suddenly up, clamping my knees to his shoulders and lifting my hips up off the couch. He thrust into me with such force it pushed the air from my lungs. For a moment I could only stare back at him in shock. He returned my gaze steadily and his hips snapped back against me in another sharp thrust, moving into a brutal rhythm. He pounded into me, shocking my body with the harshness. It hurt, but my skin was flushing with heat at the dizzying push and pull of him. He was punishing me for cursing at him, but I'm not sure the only intention was my pain. The way he watched me, like he was analyzing every twich and shift of my expression, made me feel like he could see right through me. He knew that it hurt, but he knew I liked it all the same. He knew it made me hate myself that I did. He was punishing me with the betrayal of my own body to savage carnality. All I could do was make loud, shameless noises into the sitting room and clutch at the cushions for support.

"Wai...ah! Please! T-too...mu...too..." The jostling of my whole body each time he slammed into me made it nearly impossible to form a sentence. The steam piston that was my heart, and the lungs that couldn't keep air, were another. "Laito...please. It hu-"

The vampire bent over me suddenly, folding me in half between the couch and his chest. My knees were up around my head and I wasn't actually sure how I felt about it. I knew for a fact, I didn't like the hand that snapped down over my mouth.

"Be quiet." His smile was back, but it didn't reach his eyes. Those were cold as they gazed back at me. "I'm done letting the others listen to your moans. Lovely as they are, those are only for me. Geez." He laughed. "Seems I accidently made myself a little jealous."

This man's brain must be like an angry bag of cats. I was having sex with a crazy person, and I was enjoying it way more than I had any right to. This probably meant I was going to Hell. I doubt the pearly gates were meant for people getting off to murderers. Fuck, what was wrong with me?

Laito dropped my left leg off his shoulder, but kept the other pinned against his chest. When he braced himself against the arm of the couch above me with his other hand, I found myself stretched out against him like a lewd gymnast. Frankly I didn't know I was this flexible. He slid back inside of me, but thankfully the punishing rhythm was replaced by a slow easing into my body. I breathed long and deep, letting the tension I'd been locked in ease away, except it didn't want to leave. After the roughness he'd treated me with, the sudden shift felt strange, almost jarring. It wasn't enough anymore, and I had been getting so close. The bastard was teasing me again.

"How about we play a new game?" I didn't like the mischievous grin spreading over his face. "You do your best not to make a sound. If you do, I get to punish you for it, Kay?"

"Wha-" He cut off the word with a hard thrust that pushed me into the cushions.

"Quiet, little bitch. Follow the rules." His green eyes flashed as he bent to kiss me, murmuring against my lips between words. "If you don't, I'll take you up to your room and we can play with the needles you liked so much."

I froze and the vampire let out a laugh. "Oh, Cara. That face is perfect. Absolutely adorable."

He sat back and gave my thigh a squeeze before he rocked down into me so hard I let out an unintentional cry of alarm. Laito chuckled and clicked his tongue.

"Not off to a great start, are you slut?"

My eyes narrowed, but when he rocked into me again, I managed to keep my lips pressed together. He smirked at my effort and used the couch arm he was bracing against for leverage. This time even my seeled lips couldn't keep back the whining moan that bubbled out of me. It was all too jarring, deliciously rough. My skin was hot, sheened in sweat, my body tense as piano wire as that all too familiar hum of pleasure built within me. Any moment I would burst and I wasn't sure there would be any helping the sounds that escaped me then. My hand shot up to close around his wrist above me, squeezing tightly as his next thrust drove me further up the couch. It took everything in me not to scream in delight. I think I was losing my mind.

"That good?" Laito teased above me, turning his head to sink his teeth into my arm, just above the elbow. The flash of pain sent a ripple of electricity through my skin and with that I unraveled.

I curled up against him, biting down on his shoulder. I didn't want to return his love bite, I was just muffling the cry that tried to explode out of me with my orgasm. My head was spinning, my breath ragged. I'm not even sure if he came too. I was too lost in the violent swell of pleasure to notice. Nothing else really existed for those crashing moments. I'm not even sure I existed. As I slowly came back to my senses, I could feel the tickle of his red hair against my cheek. He hadn't moved to push me away, so I was still clinging to him. He'd dropped my leg from his shoulder to let it dangle beside us off the couch next to his. It was tough work to pry my fingers from his shirt and wrist, but once I did, I melted back against the couch. My breath was an uneven rattle as I blinked up at him, trying to tell what he was thinking. His expression was a sort of hollow amusement, a static, unreadable mask. I would have thought he was lost in his head if not for his eyes, locked down on me. They were sharp and so bright it was eery. I was caught in them the moment I looked up, almost as if he'd frozen me in place. The only sound in the vast room was my ragged breathing.

"You look anxious," he said softly. "Surely after all that, you should feel more relaxed, or at the very least, exhausted." He was right on the last one.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Laito snickered and bent to kiss the tip of my nose. "Like what?"

"Like..." I couldn't find the words to describe it, or the strange, hollow ache it gave me to see it. "I don't know."

"I think you're still a little loopy, you're speaking gibberish." Laito giggled, the life returning to his face as if it had never left. He leaned down to brush my lips with a soft kiss. "You should be happy. You hardly made a sound. Such a good girl. I suppose we won't have to use the needles after all."

"Stop teasing me about that," I grumbled, not sure if he was serious. "It was horrible."

"Then I guess we made our point, didn't we?"

I was struggling to formulate a response to how messed up it was for him to dismiss actual torture when he pushed himself off the couch. The vampire straightened his shirt, though there was no saving the wrinkles I'd put into it. Somehow he was fully dressed again, though I have no idea when he'd done that, he even found his hat. I watched him run his fingers back through his hair to tame it and plop the hat on while I struggled to sit up on the cushion and smooth down my skirt. The pleats were as ruined as his shirt. He tipped his hat at me with a finger and winked.

"Don't you make a pretty sight, all rumpled and doe eyed. You should hurry up and get dressed though, before Reiji gets home and blows a gasket. He doesn't like women of loose moral character lounging around the house."

I frowned up at him, buttoning up my brouse with shaking fingers. He was complementing me and insulting me in the same breath. Something hovered just below the surface of his playful demeanor. Something sharp and a little menacing. I'm not sure if he was teasing me, or if now that he'd had me, the fleeting bits of interest he showed before were finished. Was that a good thing? I wasn't sure anymore.

"Aw, pretty, silly thing," he cooed, leaning down to take my hand. "Don't give me that look. You got what you wanted, didn't you?"

When I shot him a heated glare, Laito laughed and tugged me up to my feet. His arm wrapped around my back and he leaned in to kiss my cheek.

"We had fun, didn't we? Don't be so greedy." He kissed me, slowly working my lips apart with his own. I eased into the kiss, it still felt nice, but there was a cold pit growing in my stomach. A feeling of dread and sadness. I didn't like the way he was treating me now, the subtle cruelty behind his words. He was still playing with me. All of this was just a game, and I hated that I could know that and still feel the smallest ache at his dismissal. Something was definitely wrong with me, and he was far too good at pushing my buttons.

"Get yourself cleaned up." He tacked on, as if he could read my thoughts. Before I could respond, he held up a small bit of cloth between two fingers. When I realized it was my discarded panties, I snatched at them, but he held them back out of reach. "I'm going to hold on to these for you, so you just have fun walking back to your room in that tiny, little skirt."

"Are you seriously trying to walk of shame me right now?"

Laito laughed, tucking my panties into his back pocket. "My my, so grumpy after all that I just did for you. It's almost ungrateful. You're a bit of a fickle bitch, aren't you?"

I grit my teeth and tried to reach around him to grab my underwear. "Give me my damn panties back." When he disappeared right in front of me, I nearly stumbled forward into the floor. By the time I steadied myself, Laito was leaning against the open doorframe. He tipped his hat with a wicked smile and winked as I clenched my fists.

"Catch you later Cara."

In the silence that followed his final disappearance, I wasn't sure if I wanted to scream in rage, or fall into tears. My emotions were too conflicting, too erratic. I wondered if that was part of his game, making me doubt myself, keeping me off balance. He was bittersweet, like some kind of poison, like he would kill me slowly. Maybe he wanted to drive me mad along the way.

I regretted what I'd just done, but not because I didn't enjoy it. I wish I could convince myself I didn't, it made everything infinity more complicated. I regretted it because I'd let myself fall into a trap I'd been aware of from the jump. I let him mess with my head, making tiny pricks at my ego and self worth. I should have remembered the fan club. This guy was like an evil psychologist, like Hannibal Lector with fangs. Was it any wonder I felt like absolute garbage? I needed to get him out of my head before any of his poison took root.

If I didn't get out of this house, it wouldn't matter. Laito would wear me down, or Ayato would kill me for some perceived slight. Hell, Reiji might decide the sound of my breathing offended him and snap my neck like a twig. There was no way this could go on much longer.

My best bet still seemed like the school, but they were spread out through it like sentries. I needed to find a subtle way to slip out. Hell maybe it was time to try the old, slip a note to a student thing. It couldn't be worse than anything I'd attempted. Though to be honest, I didn't really believe that.