The Week of Four Thursdays

by madmaenad

Humans don't have dynamics. Level D vampires only present as Betas. Vampires mature around age 50. Only one of these things applies to Kiryuu Zero. Now Yuuki, Kaname and Zero will have to learn to live with the aftermath (A/B/O AU. In nature, the most dangerous animal is a mother with her young, and a vampire is a predator at its core. Kaname/Zero/Yuuki, Omega!Zero)

8. A Covenant Sealed in Blood: Crescendo

Thank you all for being patient for this chapter. I hope an extra large update is a good enough reward. It's almost four thousand words longer than anything I've ever posted before!

I was not kidding in the warnings from the first chapter. Weird vampire genitals everywhere.

I know some of my reviewers have mentioned that they don't like Yuuki. However, Yuuki is the only thing connecting Zero and Kaname in canon, and any relationship between them that sticks even loosely to canon events has to acknowledge that she is an important person to both of them. I really can't avoid that fact while writing this story as a hypothetical continuation of the anime if A/B/O dynamics existed in-universe. She has a bigger role in upcoming chapters than she has so far, but much of the focus remains on the K/Z developing relationship. I hope that I have written her in a way that corrects some of the flaws of the source material while also remaining true to her character in canon. If you would like to leave me some feedback on how I did, I'd appreciate that very much.

---

VIII. A Covenant Sealed in Blood: Crescendo

Yuuki rises at five in the evening, an hour late enough she can finally stop lying awake, pretending to sleep, when she's really listing all the tasks she needs to check on to make sure tonight's ceremony will go perfectly.

She feels like a shaken soda pop can, bubbles of excitement and worry all mixed up in her chest like she'll explore any minute. In her own bedroom tonight, rather than the master suite with Kaname, Yuuki doesn't put on her wedding clothes just yet, but something she can move freely in while remaining appropriate to greet any early guests. Sliding open the door to her room, Yuuki tries to stay quiet, taking off her shoes and tiptoeing across the wooden floors as she passes Kaname's door.

Onii-sama. He made love to her last night with more desperation than usual and twice the care. She left when they finished; they always sleep apart, and Yuuki thinks he won't want to see her get up tonight anyway, off to finish preparing the arrival of someone he hates. He is unhappy, and she hates and blames herself for causing it when she owes him so much. But she won't go back on her promise to protect Zero.

Yuuki finds Steward Inukai, head of the palace staff, directing the final adjustments to the decoration of the Ceremonial Hall in the state palace, after avoiding the house servants and slipping out a side door to cross the gardens.

"Kuran-hime." The ancient white-haired noble offers a bow, his monocle glinting in the evening light.

Every time one of the ex-Night Class, or servants, or nobles calls her that, Yuuki feels like she ought to look over her shoulder for the real Kuran-hime. Yuuki is just plain Yuuki; sometimes she wonders when all of these people will realize the princess they bow to is just a girl playing pretend.

"I'm here to check on the preparations," she says instead, concentrating on staying collected and projecting the authority expected of a pureblood.

(This is Kaname's beautiful house, and his servants, and his world. Yuuki knows she could never hope to meet everyone's expectations, a second-rate pureblood beside her brother's effortless embodiment of the ideal. Worse, she isn't sure she wants to.)

"Shouto-sama and the wedding party departed three and a half hours ago to bring Kiryuu-sama to Rosehill; they will arrive around eight, and we have already prepared the facilities in the main building for him. His wedding outfit has been laid out, and the relevant staff assigned. You and Kuran-sama will be needed for the greeting ritual then."

"And the guests?"

Yuuki already knows every detail of the wedding events; she planned it herself, after all, down to the last tablecloth (red linen), cutlery pattern (heirloom, gold-plated) and flower arrangement (roses, of course). She didn't want to impose on Kaname-sama any more, after needing him to carry out the negotiations, so Yuuki took up the responsibility for the wedding arrangements herself, and her brother had not cared to inquire further, except to approve whatever expenses were incurred.

Right now, Zero is hurting, and angry, and neither he nor Kaname-sempai wants to be here, but Yuuki hopes someday they will look back on today as an important memory. So in the hope that the three of them will find happiness, and that such a day will come, she's worked her hardest to make today meaningful, and beautiful, and worthy of the two men she loves.

It had been tricky, balancing the demanding traditions of a pureblood wedding to an omega with the Hunters' customs, but she hopes her choices match Zero and Kaname-sempai's tastes.

"The guests will begin arriving at ten; the ballroom where they will refresh themselves and wait will be open. The Hunters have a different receiving room, as you suggested. At eleven, I will announce the opening of the ceremonial hall, and request they seat themselves."

"We will be waiting in the Hall's anteroom," confirms Yuuki, "and after a Hunter ritual, the wedding ceremony will begin at midnight."

The next hours pass in a blur of last minute panics, corrections and sudden changes of plan, with Steward Inukai and Yuuki fixing and adapting as they go, until he politely suggests she return to the family quarters and change to welcome Zero.

Yuuki does, but not before she checks that Zero's new suite in the residential palace has been cleaned and readied for his arrival; she thought Zero might want a private space to himself, and she knows he won't want to sleep in the same room as two pureblood vampires, even if he is married to them. Even if the Hunter once slept with his head resting on her shoulder, Yuuki remembers with a pain in her chest.

Zero will occupy the omega's suite, built as a wedding present for Consort Aileya and empty since her death, which is tucked near Kaname's master suite and Yuuki's rooms. Yuuki already knows he won't like it. There's nothing she can do; there isn't a single room in this building he would feel comfortable in or would feel like anywhere he's lived before.

Living in Rosehill is an adjustment, she knows from experience. It reminds her of living in a museum, surrounded by priceless artifacts, trying to be careful all the time not to break anything, and pretending that you belong here - that you have always belonged here - and fit in effortlessly among them. Even her own room looks like some picture in a magazine, the kind of perfect, managed, balanced decor she would never have created on her own. Zero would never recognize it, compared to his last memory of Yuuki's mismatched, disordered childhood bedroom at Cross' house.

Knowing she's expected back in the state palace soon, Yuuki hurries to get dressed. Her first set of clothes tonight is an unrelieved black, plain except for the black lace at her wrists and neck, lacking even a speck of another color, and her matching necklace and brooch is carved from jet.

Stripping off her clothes, Yuuki slows for a moment in the bathroom. What would Zero think when he saw her? He knows she's an alpha, because she's a pureblood. Just like male omegas, when female alphas presented their bodies transformed to fulfill their new role. Would he be disgusted by the cock underneath her skirt?

It doesn't feel strange anymore - to look and see her body like this, changed from when she was a child. When she presented, it felt right, like this was how she was meant to be all along. Kaname took her to bed for the first time that night, and showed her just how much he appreciated her, whatever was in her panties. And it pleased Yuuki to know for certain her husband enjoyed it when she did the same things to him.

But Zero was born human, and a Hunter, and he was new to vampire dynamics. What if he….but no, she's forgetting that it's Zero. Zero has never been a cruel person, even to people he hates. If he feels disgusted, he will try to hide it to spare her feelings. But Zero will only need to sleep with her until they bond, and then if he wants she'll never touch him again, Yuuki promises.

What is she doing? The pureblood smacks her cheeks with her hands, trying to shock herself back into the present and dislodge these thoughts. She can worry later. Right now she needs to hurry, because Zero will be here soon!

(Yuuki's mind is like the ocean. Near the surface, the sun warms the shallow water, brightly-colored fish dart between the corals that grow there, and seals and dolphins sport playfully. But down, down, deeper, in the cold black depths, lurk thoughts with teeth and memories with strangling coils.)

Yuuki hums to herself as she finishes dressing, and ignores her dignity as a pureblood to rush through the lavish halls of the palace, following the tug of the bloodbond to Kaname-sama.

Vampires performed a bloodbond when two alphas married, to reconcile their instincts to one another as partners rather than rivals. Yuuki rarely found it useful, except for times like this; after the ritual, she can always sense which direction to find Kaname, no matter where he is. Sometimes she can feel echoes of his emotions too, but Kaname hides those from her as much as he can. Being shut out of their link always hurts, but Yuuki tries to respect his desire for privacy.

She finds him waiting by the door, attired similarly in all black. He offers his arm with the gentle smile reserved only for her, and together they stroll through the gardens, enjoying the last bit of peace they will get this evening.

They make it to the courtyard just in time; with her pureblood sight, she can spy the distant line of cars winding up the road to Rosehill. Zero is down there, Yuuki thinks, and soon I will be able to see him, and this time he will be himself and he will look back and see me too. She sneaks a glance at Kaname's neutral expression; he's always so careful to hide what he really feels from the world, but his eyes always give it away.

"Thank you, onii-sama," she says sincerely, as the cars come to a stop.

"Anything for you," her husband says, and Yuuki knows he means it, and she must never, ever take it for granted or be careless with her desires. If he will not think of himself, Yuuki must bear it in mind for him.

The wedding party, led by Shouto-san, shouts joyously in welcome, leading three identical hooded, cloaked figures up to the stairs to the Kurans waiting on the landing, surrounded at a respectful distance by the entire palace staff and others hired to work on the preparations.

"Kuran-san, Kuran-hime," calls Shouto, "why do you wear black, and bear such a gloomy air?"

"Our nights are pleasant, dear and dark, but we dreamed and saw the light of myriad stars, and we cannot forget that desire," Kaname answers.

"It is well then, dear cousins; we have searched, and brought you a starlit night."

The first cloaked figure comes forward, and pulls down their hood to reveal a mischievous Aido Madoka.

Shaking her head, Yuuki says, "You have brought me a fair night, but it belongs to another, and I do not see my stars."

The second cloaked omega approaches, and underneath this hood is Ichijo Takuma, smiling like he has a secret.

This time Kaname responds, "This night is lovely, and they have bright eyes, but it is not my night, with the stars I yearn to see."

There is only one person left, and as he slowly ascends the stairs, his train spreads out behind him on the steps, tiny gold beads on dark blue unfurling like the night sky.

Yuuki's breath catches in her throat, and her heart feels like it's going to beat right out of her chest.

He raises his shaking hands, takes the fabric of his fur-lined hood, and slowly lowers it, revealing Zero's silver hair and familiar face, diamond Hoseki glittering like a fallen star on his forehead.

"This is my night, and these are my stars," Yuuki completes the formula, mouth dry; she cannot tear her eyes away from his face. "You have found the dream we longed for, our hearts' desire, who has fallen from the skies above, and gathered up the starlight in his eyes."

Yuuki and Kaname link hands, and each hold out their other empty hand toward Zero, who eyes them and steps forward, hesitantly completing the circle.

Yuuki clasps Zero's hand tightly as everyone claps and cheers.

Zero. Oh, Zero. You're here now. I won't let go again.

---

It meant nothing. The words are traditional. I don't really matter at all to her, not like that, Zero convinces himself, pacing afterwards in the room they have given him to bathe and change in.

It's very nice, a pleasant mixture of traditional and western styles, with the high ceilings every room in the palace seems to have, but Zero appreciates none of it, too caught in his heart's turmoil.

Yuuki had looked every inch the pureblood she was, strikingly beautiful as a vampire, with her eyes more red now than brown, and a new maturity to her bearing. She hadn't faltered at all underneath the attention, and - (Yuuki's eyes are a vampire's, but her gaze when she looked at Zero was as kind and tender as always).

The door knob clicks; Zero whips around, expecting another one of Kuran's servants, but it's Master Yagari instead, closing the door behind him.

"Master?" Zero questions tentatively. He struggles with the train of his clothes, trying to slide past the furniture. Yagari huffs a laugh and gathers up an armful of the filmy material, then tows Zero over to a fainting couch and presses him down, carefully arranging the folds until they fall properly over the side.

Yagari plunks himself down on the couch's backless side, hatless and looking unusually dapper in his suit the same iron grey as his hair.

"I'm bad at this sensitive stuff. I want to tell you that you look good," his Master says, running his hand through his hair like he'd rather be fiddling with his missing hat instead, "but I don't know if I call you handsome or beautiful now, and if you don't like wearing the dress would telling you that you look nice in it fuck the compliment up?"

Zero almost smiles; Master Yagari claims he's an insensitive man, but his heart is always in the right place.

"Vampire consensus is that you can describe anything better with florid poetry, but in a pinch call an omega beautiful. And I don't mind the dress, Master. I've worn things like this before. Heck, I even crossdressed once."

Joking like this with Yagari comforts Zero; it's familiar and relaxing, which is probably why Master came. Yagari's salt-and-pepper eyebrows rise and his deep forehead wrinkles bunch. "What? When have you done this before?"

"Well, the first time I lost my luggage during a river crossing when I was Hunting in the Pacific Islands, so I wore a sarong for two weeks until the job was finished and I could buy pants. And then again, by choice, on the worst Hunt of my life - a pair of level Ds skulking around the fringes of the largest bloody desert on Earth. The sun was awful, even though I'm more resistant than a born vampire; my skin was a burned, cracked mess, so I bought a robe and a turban off the desert nomads and I've never been more grateful to have any piece of clothing.

His Master's eye narrows. "Don't give me the run around, boy. When have you cross-dressed before?"

Zero flushes red, and tries to prevaricate. "Ah, it was Ichiru's fault. We were young so it doesn't count…"

Yagari gives him the warning look that means 'spit it out, my patience is dead.'

"We were ten, and Ichiru had his first girlfriend. He wanted to practice taking a girl out on a date, so…he convinced me to help."

"Be glad I'm not that brat Kaito, or you'd never hear the end of it."

Zero nods furiously. Kaito must never find out, or the blackmail material will last forever.

"You're not wearing your earrings," Yagari remarks offhandedly. Master is studying his face with a contemplative expression.

"No, they had me remove them," Zero says softly.

"Sometimes I forget how old you really are," Master says nostalgically. "After fifty years, you still don't look any older than a teenager, even though you'll be getting married today."

"Zero," Yagari reaches out to cup the back of his neck, telegraphing the movement so Zero isn't startled, and guides Zero close, bending down until their foreheads nearly touch. "If you do this, if I must hand you over to the world of darkness, then you must do something for me in exchange."

Zero nods, and Yagari searches Zero's face.

"Do what you have to do, and never feel guilty about the things you will do to survive. We all have our ways of living with the choices we make, but you won't have as many choices now. Don't be hard on yourself for that. And if you find an arrangement you can live with, don't question it. Don't ask yourself if I or anyone else would approve. Take it, and don't look back."

"Truth be told," his Master confesses, letting go to cover the back of Zero's hands with his own gnarled fingers, "I'm a little relieved. I've always been afraid of what would happen to you when we're gone - who would protect you, who would watch over you. I don't want you to be lonely like Cross, living among us short lived humans, getting attached only to watch us get old and die. I didn't realize until I was old, but there's a comfort in being known, and in being understood without having to explain yourself. And that goes beyond friends or enemies. That's the companionship of memory. Like going to a foreign country, and finding someone else who speaks your language. You don't have to like them, you just want to hear another voice who speaks the same words."

"This isn't the solution I wanted for you at all. Never, Zero. But I believe Cross' daughter will protect you, and that's more than I can promise you anymore."

"And I want you to know something." Master Yagari reaches forward again, big, callused palms coming to rest on Zero's cheeks. He tilts his apprentice's head so Zero meets his misty eyes.

"I've never had any children, but I never needed them. You and Kaito are my sons, in every way that matters."

"Master…" Zero chokes on a sob.

"And I know," the older man continues, stroking Zero's face with his thumbs, "I've always known, that whether they were human or vampire, yours or not, any child you raised would have your good heart. My grandchildren will be so beautiful."

Zero collapses into his Master's arms, burying his face in Yagari's shoulder like he's a child again, and his Master softly strokes his hair as Zero's tears soak his jacket.

---

"They're ready for you, Kuran-sama."

Yuuki wants to fidget, lick her lips in nervousness, anything to bolster her calm facade, inferior beside Kaname's cool stoniness nearby.

"Thank you, Steward."

Side by side, the Kuran couple steps forward; Kaname looks at Yuuki one last time, as though asking if she's certain she wants what they are about to do. Yuuki nods firmly; the servants open the heavy wooden double doors, and together they enter the Ceremonial Hall.

The Hall is one of the largest rooms in either of Rosehill's palaces, cavernous and bare, except for rings of concentric seats surrounding a central raised dais. The Kurans pass through one of the two walkways through the room, their steps silent on the carpets laid out for them. Above, one can see the moonless night sky and the stars through the glass roof, mirrored below their feet in the floor of shining black stone flecked with quartz and gold. In the shadows cast by lampflame, the obsidian walls make the edges of the room disappear into darkness, like the occupants stand in a fragile pool of light encircled by endless blackness.

But Yuuki appreciates none of this. No, her gaze is drawn to the dais like a lodestone pointing north. Keeping her pace regal and steady is all she can manage.

Because Zero is up there, ahead. The man who holds the other half of her heart.

And he is so incredibly magnificent.

He stands with all the pride of the heritage he represents, shoulders strong and spine straight, chin raised high. His blank features show a stoic indifference, but there's a hint of his old defiance in his direct gaze. Standing alone on the central platform with all these people watching him, Zero reminds Yuuki of the fairy tale heroines of her childhood, princesses chained to altars as sacrifices to terrible monsters, brave and unafraid; Zero certainly looks like ancient royalty in his wedding robes.

The Hunters and vampires had fought over every aspect of today's ceremony, but none more than Zero's outfit for the wedding. The trouble came from conflicting traditions. Hunters wore white for weddings - but for vampires, pale colors reminded them of ash, what remained of their bodies when they died. White was worn during funerary services; white for a wedding was an insult, implying that the wearer saw their wedding as their funeral.

Bright red was the auspicious color for a vampire's marriage, just like the robes Yuuki and Kaname are wearing, embroidered in gold thread with shimmering Kuran crests and rose vines. This was equally unacceptable to the Hunters, since red was the quintessential vampire color; one of their own, however tainted by vampirism, couldn't marry dressed in it.

Their compromise yielded wonderful results; Zero could wear white, as long as another color balanced out its inauspicious nature. So Zero's heavy, many-layered silk wedding robes are also lined, edged and patterned in violet, the same color worn by royals, appropriate for the marriage of vampire ex-royalty. The design, its only other ornament a single strand of amethyst and silver beads, is simpler than typical vampire style, reflecting Hunter aesthetics instead. The colors suit him, as does the amethyst teardrop Hoseki he's wearing. Zero often hides behind his bangs, but an omega has to part the hair on their forehead to wear a Hoseki, which exposes the Hunter's lovely lavender eyes.

Yuuki's only felt like this once before, on the day she married Kaname - awed, and blessed, and full of wonder. How can this be? Surely nothing she has done could earn this. But there Zero stands, and Kaname is at her side.

Zero bows his head to his intended spouses, and all three of them take their places on the dais, after Kaname helps her carefully step up. Zero is in the middle, with Kaname on his right, and herself on his left. Yuuki spies Zero out of the corner of her eye, but his expression stays impassive, and he doesn't look at her.

"We thank those of you gathered here today for attending, both our guests who are vampires and those who are Hunters. It has not always been an easy road to achieve coexistence, but I hope that through today's ceremony, our two races will create one more tie between them, and take another step down the path to our goal." Kaname's voice rings out in the silent room, and Yuuki takes pride in his dedication.

"Because Kiryuu-san is a Hunter, before we begin our ceremony the Hunters will first perform their own rituals to prepare for a marriage. Cross-san, Yagari-san, I ask you to continue."

Just as they'd practiced, Kaname and Yuuki take a seat on the cushions prepared for them, while Zero steps off the ledge to the ground. He cannot remain standing on the same surface where they are seated, because he would appear to loom over his pureblood spouses, which could not be allowed given the difference in rank.

"Thank you, Kuran-san," Cross says. "We also wish to express our dedication to improved relations and peace between the Association and the vampire nation. Tonight we celebrate the union of the Kurans and Kiryuu Zero, but we Hunters also mourn the loss of one of our own. Kiryuu-san is the last living Hunter to carry that name; when he marries, the name Kiryuu dies out among the Hunters."

"I wish those vampires with us tonight to understand both what that means to us, and the depth of our loss. Kiryuu Zero possesses a Thousand Red Peony Bloodline, meaning he carries the name of one of the original Hunters; for ten thousand years, it has been passed down in a direct line from parent to child, from him to his father to his grandmother, and beyond. They are almost as rare now as your pureblood lines. Kiryuu-san's purity of blood is also unquestionable; for over three hundred generations, his ancestors have married Hunter to Hunter. We tell you this to demonstrate our sincerity, and the esteem that we feel for the Kurans, that we entrust such a precious person into their hands."

"For all these reasons, but most of all for his strength, integrity and loyalty, we wish to honor him before he passes out of our ranks forever."

The President gestures, and from the doors comes a line of Hunters, led by Yagari, their arms full of large round flowers with rows of clustered, lush petals - a thousand red peonies to mourn the death of a bloodline. They lay them at Zero's feet, a glorious heap of cut flowers, and the sweet smell rises in the air.

Zero bows deeply at the waist. "Thank you for your kindness and the honor paid to my line. But it would grieve me if our bloodline would end along with our name. Is there nothing that can be done?"

Cross is handed a leather portfolio of papers by an adjutant Hunter. Yagari answers, "You have inherited the rights to the Kiryuu germline. At this time, the storage vaults contain genetic materials from the last four generations of the Kiryuu, excepting you and your late brother, who were too young for collection. It is your right, if you wish, to alter your family's agreements with the Association and allow their use to create future generations of Hunters who carry your family's blood."

Zero inclines his head to Yagari, and his Hoseki sways. "It is my wish. I request only that my father's samples never be used, and that future descendents do not carry the Kiryuu coloring mutation."

"We can comply with those requests."

Cross interjects with an explanation for the vampires watching, "Hunters maintain gene banks of cryogenically frozen samples - eggs and sperm - to ensure the preservation and quality of our bloodlines. Those materials undergo extensive genetic screening to select for desirable traits before being used. Over half of all Hunters are born from stored materials by means of assisted reproductive technologies - often through surrogate mothers."

"Have you chosen a name for the successor of the Kiryuu?"

"I have, President Yagari. As the Kiryuu fall, the Kiryuuin rise."

"Let it be done," intones Yagari, and Zero signs the papers Cross offers him. The Hunters take the portfolio and tuck it away carefully, treating it as though it holds sheets of gold instead of paper.

"There remains one final formality before the ceremony can begin," announces Cross. "For the last ritual, we ask that all of our vampire guests consume at least one blood tablet before we begin. It requires the shedding of blood, and it would be a shame to ruin Kuran-san's wedding with any incidents."

Hunters circulate through the room carrying trays with tiny individual cups the size of shot glasses, each holding a blood tablet dissolved in water. Four more Hunters descend on the open space before the dais, seemingly left unused just for this purpose, and remove the carpet covering the black stone floor. Then they produce calligraphy brushes and canisters of ink mixed with blood, and begin to draw out complex patterns and figures, with a quick, efficient air suggesting familiarity. The completed design has three large interlocked rings surrounded by triangles and squares holding the working together with borders of runes. As the Hunters create the ritual outlines, the vampires consume the requested tablets, Yagari overseeing the distribution and freely using his glare to intimidate holdouts.

Cross, even now a teacher, explains to the audience what they can expect. "We are about to perform a affinity test between Kiryuu-san and the Kurans. We do not intend this as an insult to anyone; this is legally required before a Hunter can marry someone who is not another Hunter. We aren't testing the compatibility of personalities; an affinity ritual only tests the compatibility of two bloodlines, because most humans can't have children with Hunters. Their bodies reject the trace of vampire DNA in our blood. As our history says, 'Ten thousand humans drank of the night, and relinquished their humanity, passing down into darkness, but only two thousand Hunters lived to see the dawn."

"We're ready for you, Kiryuu-san, and your intended spouses," interjects a female Hunter with brown skin and coiled, closely shorn hair who is kneeling at one of the compass points of the square enclosing the entire ritual area. "Please stand in one of the circles, with Kiryuu-san in the center."

The vampires take their places, replicating their earlier arrangement with Kaname on the right and Yuuki on the left. She hopes again that Zero will look at her, but the Hunter focuses intently on the steps of the ritual and ignores both of the vampires beside him.

"Normally, you will feel a moment of warmth and the Hunter participating in the ritual will hear a woman's voice who answers if the partners are compatible. Occasionally the phenomena will manifest differently, so do not be alarmed if the ritual changes form. Are you ready to begin?"

"We are," Kaname answers, studying the ritual warding patterns with a keen interest. Yuuki cannot make heads or tails of the drawings; onii-sama always seems to know so much, she thinks with a familiar resignation at the reminder of her inadequacy.

Each of the four Hunters at the compass points has a shining anti-vampire weapon laid across their thighs - a spear, a rifle, a crossbow, and lastly a sword for the ritual leader - and at the leader's signal, they draw another dagger across the palm of their hands, allowing blood to drip through their fingers and splash onto the metal. Some of the vampires in the crowd have reddened eyes, but the blood tablets do their work, and none of them do anything but shift restlessly, fixed on the bleeding Hunters.

"Now the three of you, starting with Kiryuu-san," instructs the Hunter woman leading the ritual. In their turn, the vampires prick a finger with their claws, and let the blood fall; it darkens to look black as the ink drawn on the pitch stone floor. The scent of pure blood fills the room, though little was shed; now it's the the Hunters who watch uneasily, the vampires agitated and predatory with desire.

"She needs more," Zero says suddenly, as though listening to a speaker no one else can hear, and opens the vein of his wrist. Blood pours out, but Zero is careful to keep his sleeve rolled up, and the white silk unstained.

The air presses down and turns hot as the Hunter weapons consume the blood offering of their wielders; an invisible string tied to Yuuki's breastbone is being pulled taut, drawing her gently toward Zero at her left. By Yuuki's feet, the blood-infused ink writhes and rewrites itself into new glyphs and figures, the three circles joining into one great ring enfolding the three vampires.

Zero's blood does not fall; each crimson droplet quivers suspended in mid-air, defying gravity. Then the beads rise and draw together, forming a shimmering outline, vaguely humanoid, but becoming clearer and clearer every moment. Yuuki looks at Zero for some clue; he looks surprised, but not shocked. He wasn't expecting this, but he knew it could happen. Yuuki relaxes; if Zero isn't panicking, then everything is fine.

Yuuki settles down and marvels as the blood mist takes the shape of a woman in a hooded cloak, with the perfect beauty of a pureblood in her face and her braided hair thrown over her shoulder. There is a sudden jerking movement from Kaname, before he stiffens and goes still, eyes a touch too wide. The vampires in the audience are completely silent, thrown by this turn of events, and begin to murmur.

Yuuki is shocked when proud, unbreakable Zero gets down on his knees and bows in a graceful obeisance. She has never, ever seen him kneel to anyone; Zero's respect was earned, and few received it. But this kneel to this pureblood - who was she?

"Ten thousand years of blessing on you, honored grandmother, and on your children also ten thousand years."

"Please rise, cherished grandson," the hooded woman smiles and gestures upward quickly. "It is good to see you, and to see all of my other grandchildren gathered here tonight." Here she surveys the room, still wearing a fond smile; the Hunters all bow as her gaze falls on them. They act as though they are celebrating: crowding closer in excitement, straining on their toes to see from the back, shooting each other animated glances and gesturing energetically.

Yuuki is even more befuddled. Grandson? But the Hunters are human; they can't be related to a pureblood, or they'd be vampires. What is going on?

"I have wished for many ages to speak with a Kiryuu again. It is a shame, Kiryuu Zero, that I can achieve my wish once, and never again. I will miss you and your ancestors. No line has shown greater dedication to my goals and desires. I was especially fond of your progenitor, the first Hunter of your line."

The blood mist morphs from the image of the hooded woman, to show a scene in a grubby, worn camp with the ground churned to mud - a memory belonging to the pureblood. The hooded woman, seated on a pile of empty wooden crates as though they were a throne, looks down on a filthy, barefoot human child with black hair and eyes, perhaps eight or nine.

The child studies the vampire with an unnervingly direct stare. "You're the vampire. The one in the main tent, where people go in and mostly die. The adults say you're going to save humanity. I heard you're really an old lady even though you look young. Are you?"

The hooded woman raises an eyebrow, bemused. "I'm older than any person in this camp. Where are your parents?"

"Who knows," says the child with a shrug of their thin shoulders.

"What's your name, boy?" she asks.

"Kiryuu," he answers. "Maybe. I showed up here like the stray scavenger dogs do. Nobody brought me or knew my name. But the tag in my clothes" - he pats the dirty, adult-sized coat he wears - "says Kiryuu. Might not belong to me though."

"If you give it to me," offers the vampire, "I can tell you."

The boy hands her the garment, stiff with sweat and dirt, and the hooded woman holds it for a moment in her hands with a distant look in her eyes. "No," she whispers softly, "it's not yours."

"Huh. Guess that answers it then." The boy seems unperturbed, while the vampire's sadness spills over her tears.

The blood mist shimmers; now the hooded woman sits on a stool in a stained tent, and the boy leans against a table of medical equipment.

"Why are you helping humans. You eat us right?" the boy asks, as unconcerned as if he asks about the fate of cattle or birds.

"I do. But I think it's wrong to kill you, and it would be wrong to enslave you and rule over you. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. To have a healthy society, the vampires need a force that can counter and mediate their power. My research has all been focused on finding a solution to that problem. This - the creation of pseudo-vampires through consuming pure blood to near poisoning levels - is the best I have so far. But it isn't enough. I can't make you strong enough without killing you. And I can't figure out how to threaten the purebloods' invulnerability." She runs a hand through her hair. "I don't know how to complete the scenario yet."

"Hey," says the boy, looking up, "why can't you just stab one?"

"Normal weapons don't work; only a pureblood can harm a pureblood. I would have to stab a pureblood with a weapon made of another pureblood - " the hooded woman freezes, thinking intently, and some realization spreads through her face.

The boy wanders over to where the hooded woman is lost in thought. "Old lady vampire. I've decided. I want you to give me your blood."

"You could die," she objects.

"All humans die. No 'could' about it. If it's today or tomorrow, the worms will be at my corpse either way. Just a bit faster or slower. Not like I have anybody to make a fuss anyway."

"The authorities will be angry that I chose a child."

"Don't worry. I'll probably die, and nobody cares about one more body for the grave pits."

"Tell me why you want it, and I'll consider it."

"Humans die easy. To you, we must be like bugs crawling on the ground. We're weak, we're everywhere, we get squashed underfoot. I may be a maggot, but I want to be more than nothing. Give me the power to bite the hand that crushes me before I die."

"Alright, if that's what you want," she finally agrees, fetching a knife and rolling up her sleeve. "If you die, I, at least, will miss you."

The boy grins. "Thanks. I'd return the feelings but you're kinda immortal. And I have a request. I saw you bleed for a human once. You fed him until he started screaming. When you do it for me, don't stop until I'm not screaming anymore."

The hooded woman of the present comes back into focus. "He lived, of course. Did you know he was the first Hunter to kill a pureblood? I was gone by then, but my spirit lives on in the blood of the Hunters and I still watch over all my descendents."

The first Kiryuu is older now, in his early teens, and he carries a slightly curved sword with a rounded guard. His one odd, noticeable feature is his hair; he's gown it out into a long ponytail, but the color at the roots is silver now, with a shock of black at the end, like a paintbrush dipped in ink.

The young Hunter stands with his back to rows of fluid-filled cylindrical tubes, each with a fetus floating inside the liquid, reaching as far as the eye can see in a massive, windowless concrete bunker. Zero's ancestor has a mulish expression on his face Yuuki instantly recognizes.

"We can't fight a pureblood!"

"We're not abandoning the lab. There are ten thousand half-grown Hunters here, and these are the last uterine replicators in the entire world. We need to produce at least two hundred thousand fighters to have the slightest chance at winning, and we're not leaving before then. We'll send off the nonessential personnel and the newborns to the nursery camps just in case, and we'll move the lab to a new hiding place if we survive, but we aren't going anywhere yet."

"This is madness! Do you have a plan?"

"Do you know what kills the biggest number of people? Not vampires. Not war. It's disease. A bunch of tiny animals, all banding together to kill a bigger one. That's what we'll do now - take them by surprise, overwhelm them with numbers. They don't expect us to fight. They've never fought humans who could fight back."

The Kiryuu steps back and addresses the other Hunters, "Do you know what humans are really good at? Fucking shit up. We fucked up a whole planet, and hung on when most other species died off because we're tenacious and clever and there are lots of us. We can win, if we're willing to sacrifice enough."

Shivering, the mist clouds, then clears, and the first Kiryuu buries his sword deep in the heart of a half-burned pureblood, who stares up with a confused, horrified face at the Hunter with the eyes of a madman.

"Do you like my fang?" he asks playfully, grinning like a shark, but the pureblood's body breaks up into crystals before any reply comes. Throwing his head back and thrusting his arms in the air, the Hunter laughs, high and howling, his dancing feet kicking up glittering dust. The light of the moon illuminates the shards of lavender in his irises, and with his shining uncanny hair flying out behind him, the first Kiryuu looks more like a vampire than a human.

"I hope you can see this, old lady. This is the first link in your chain. Parent and child, all wrapped up in it. It'll just take disciplining a few bratty children first."

"You really aren't similar," observes the hooded woman, "except perhaps your stubbornness. The vampires know him best as the signer of the first accords between our races."

Another scene rises from the mist. The first Kiryuu is older now; his hair grown so long he's coiled it on top of his head like a silver crown, with the splash of black at the end left to hang loose. A single, enormous raven with eyes like dried blood caws beside his feet.

"President, are you sure about this?" asks an anxious young Hunter. "This could be a trap."

"Nah. He's not like the purebloods we've faced before. If he wanted to kill us, we'd already be dead. All of us, without him even breaking a sweat. There's a reason the vampires call him king."

The silver-haired Hunter gestures across the plain to a vortex of ravens circling a distant figure. The wind unfurls their black coat and ruffles dark hair, the red-brown color just barely recognizable at this distance.

"We don't need to make peace with them! We won't be safe until we wipe them out!" shouts another Hunter.

The first Kiryuu pins the speaker with a flat look. "It's humanity's fault they exist in the first place. It's not very fair to kill a parasite for being itself, you know. Everybody's gotta eat."

"If we're finished complaining, I'm going to go see what our guest has to say." The Hunter grins with his hands in his pockets, and turns away, sword at his side, facing the vampire who must be the Original King, the Ancestor of the Kurans - her ancestor. "If I don't die, I'll see you later, brats."

The hooded woman solidifies, looking nostalgic. "Yes. It grieves me to lose the Kiryuu most of all. But your blood will live on, and my memory does not fade. And you have never passed from my thoughts, Kiryuu Zero, nor has any Hunter who is Turned."

"Forgive my digression - the wanderings of an old mind. You may have already guessed, but your blood is more than compatible with Kuran Yuuki and Kaname. If you have children, there will be no conflict of bloodlines."

"Will my children be Hunters?" Zero questions hesitantly, a fragile look in his eyes.

The hooded woman's sad expression makes no words necessary, but she still answers Zero. "Your womb is a vampire's womb, Kiryuu Zero. The children carried in that womb will belong wholly to the night."

Zero bows his head. "I see. Thank you, grandmother."

"Now, my time grows short, but I wish to speak with the three of you before I go."

"Of course, grandmother," replies Zero. The hooded woman comes as close as she can to Zero without her ephemeral, misty shape touching him, and brings her mouth up to his ear, whispering quietly. With her lips hidden behind her hood, Yuuki can't read her words, or hear them with her vampire's hearing; the Ancestor speaks to Zero for a few minutes, then straightens, leaving Zero with a pensive, confused look.

A shadow passes over Kaname's face as the hooded woman comes next to him; she speaks to Yuuki's brother for a short time, and then the traces of some inner turmoil are swept behind his normal mask as the hooded woman approaches Yuuki last.

Her gentle face smiles, as if reassuring Yuuki that she means no harm, then she lowers her head.

"Thank you for caring for my dear Zero all those years. But if you want to protect both the people you love, you must ask the questions you've held silently in your heart. Kaname confuses ignorance and innocence, and keeps you away from his affairs. Neither of you recognize how much you have grown. You are stronger than you think you are, Kuran Yuuki. You only need to discover that strength."

The pureblood woman, Ancestor of the Hunters, returns to the center of the circle, the edges of her form already thinning and dimming.

"You will never pass out of my protection and my thoughts, Kiryuu Zero. Do as thou wilt, with my good will. I bless your union."

And then she goes, her power flickering out like a candle; droplets of Zero's blood fall to the ground and the Ceremonial Hall feels suddenly cooler.

---

Only her brother's insistence that his wedding proceed as scheduled resettles the gathered vampires and Hunters after such a shocking visitor. After a brief intermission to clean the floor, all participants stand in their allotted places at the stroke of midnight.

For her part, Yuuki's thoughts keep turning to the words the Ancestress of the Hunters spoke to her. It's no mystery to her what they mean, but she is afraid to overturn the fragile balance of her relationship with her husband. She married a man she loves, but hardly knows. If she pushes him to reveal the secrets he keeps from her, what will she find? Will she drive him away from her?

For now, Yuuki pushes down those thoughts into the darkness; today is for Zero, tomorrow she will consider her choices.

Tonight's wedding ceremony follows an obscure, rarely used formulation for two married purebloods taking a third, omega partner and forming a trinity. It is a marriage of a social inferior to their superiors, and every aspect acknowledges the inherent power differential. By completing the ceremony, in theory, the omega hands himself over into the care of his pureblood alphas in an act of profound trust and surrender, and the alphas accept that submission and return such absolute trust with complete devotion.

Yuuki's first wedding to Kaname-sama used an entirely different ceremony very similar to normal vampire weddings. Vampires follow no gods, and hold only vague spiritual beliefs, so the wedding ceremony functions as a publicly witnessed contract between adult spouses who enter into the marriage of their own free will. Romance was absent from the standard ceremony; vampires considered marriage a rational friendship and partnership, rather than a bond of love. Fickle emotions changed and faded, but vampire spouses would spend centuries and millennia beside one another; divorce was socially damaging and almost never sought. Nobles in particular married to maintain blood purity or to cement a business arrangement, though love matches often happened alongside practical agreements.

There is no officiant; the three of them will conduct the ceremony themselves, kneeling beside one another on thick red cushions before a brazier burning incense.

Yuuki catches Zero casting a glance at her for the first time as they kneel, and has to hide her triumphant smile in her sleeve at his surprised blinking when he finds her head comes higher up his shoulder than he remembers. She's taller than when she last saw him, undoubtedly her favorite side effect of unlocking her vampire blood. Not even close to Zero's height, but every centimeter counts.

"Kiryuu Zero," her brother begins, using his resonant public voice, "You have come here today in full knowledge of what will occur, and without the use of force or compulsion?"

"I affirm I am present out of my own free will, without coercion, and enter into this union according to the terms we have agreed upon," replies Zero.

"Then we shall begin, with those gathered here today to stand as our witness."

There are three cups of wine placed on the dais, one in front of each of them. Yuuki takes the carved bloodstone cup in front of her, filled to the brim with rich dark wine, and raises it, before speaking the first blessing and taking a sip of the dry, full-bodied vintage. "Let our union be blessed with longevity."

With the taste of wine still lingering on her tongue, Yuuki passes her cup to Zero, who raises it, repeats the blessing and also drinks. Then he hands the cup to Kaname, who recites the blessing for the third time, consumes the wine, then returns the cup to Yuuki.

Next Zero raises his cup of rock crystal, and offers the next response. "Let us be blessed by the birth of many children." After he drinks, the three of them repeat the same sequence of passing the cup and echoing the blessing.

The third blessing comes from her brother, raising another bloodstone cup. "Let our aspirations be united, so we act as each other's strength when fulfilling our responsibilities."

The three of them repeat the same sequence nine times, passing and drinking from each other's cups while seeking the same blessing.

"Let us love and cherish each other."

"Let us receive companionship and faithfulness."

"Let us give one another comfort and place of rest from our burdens."

"Let us enjoy prosperity and good luck."

"Let us have ten thousand years of joy and harmony together."

"Let us remain beside each other to the end," Kaname finishes, and then each of them raises their cup one final time and empties it to the last drop.

For a moment, with Zero and Kaname beside her, Yuuki can feel nothing but an intense, overwhelming sensation of guilt. It is her fault that the two of them are here today, making promises they don't want to give. It was only her desires, and her brother's want to fulfill her wishes, that produced this marriage.

It has always been this way. Standing beside these two people dearest to her, Yuuki's mind and heart are torn in two; every step she takes toward one of them only causes the other pain. Yuuki often wondered what was wrong with her, that she could do nothing else, and why people kept believing she was worth their sacrifice and pain. But as long as they wanted her to stay, she would, unable to deny them anything she could give. She sees the good in both Zero and Kaname, and the loneliness, and she loves them equally. Perhaps it is selfish, but she cannot choose, and she cannot let them go. They remain in her heart forever.

Please, let it come true, if nothing else, let me stay with them.

They put aside the empty stone cups; next is the exchange of tokens. Vampires do not traditionally use rings; rather, it is the choice of the couple what form their tokens will take, often objects of personal significance. Yuuki and Kaname's rings were the tokens they chose. For a pureblood's marriage with an omega, the symbols of that binding are more strictly set down.

Kaname brings forward a large bowl of beautiful reddish-brown wood, marbled with black spider lines, and a smaller bowl carved of ebony which is filled with water. The contents of the larger bowl he sprinkles with water using a graceful twist of his wrist.

It's made of rosewood, Yuuki realizes, when the bowl comes to her; it has a recognizable floral fragrance, reminiscent of roses with a distinctive sweetness. How like Kaname-sama! He must sense her fondness through the bloodbond, because he breaks his serious mien to glance softly at her.

Placed flat inside the bowl are four carved hardstone bracelets, two each in the shape of a dragon or a phoenix, curled so the head just touches the tail. Symbolizing blissful relations between husband and wife, the dragon and the phoenix are pre-Cataclysm symbols representing the union of two complementary powers. Yuuki repeats Kaname's gesture, dipping her fingers in the ebony bowl and flicking them over each bracelet.

Zero takes the bowl when Yuuki offers it to him, and carefully dries all four tokens with a linen cloth. Then Kaname-sempai reaches over Zero's folded legs and takes the rightmost dragon bracelet, formed from almost pure black onyx. Pricking his forefinger with his thumb, he anoints the head of the black dragon with the sanguine bead that wells up from the wound.

Water to purify and blood to bind the couple; for vampires, blood is a person's essence, so the person who shed that blood always remains symbolically nearby.

"I pledge you will always find shelter under my roof, and protection underneath my hand. I pledge my steadfast faithfulness and support to you and your children. I will cherish and honor you always. Take this token as a sign of my devotion and my care for you," her brother says, and slips the bangle over Zero's extended right wrist.

Yuuki picks up the leftmost dragon bracelet; the carving is beautifully rendered, so detailed she can run her finger over individual scales and claws, and vibrant with a sense of movement, as though the mythical creature would writhe awake at any moment. The tiny garnet eyes glitter like fire in the lamplight as she paints her blood on the stone.

"I pledge you will always find shelter under my roof, and protection underneath my hand. I pledge my steadfast faithfulness and support to you and your children. I will cherish and honor you always. Take this token as a sign of my devotion and my care for you," Yuuki vows with all the sincerity and strength she has, and slips the bangle over Zero's left wrist.

Zero meets her gaze for the first time, and the pureblood tries to convey her intentions through her eyes, giving a meaningful weight to their held gaze.

Zero returns her look for long seconds, searching her face, before his eyes drop back to the two remaining phoenix bracelets. The bloody phoenix the Hunter offers her is made of pure white jade, skillfully fashioned down to the last feather with lifelike vitality.

"I pledge my unfailing loyalty to you. I pledge to conceive and give birth to our children, and to nurture them with gentleness and love. I take you into my heart and my affection. Take this token as a sign of my devotion and my care for you," Zero promises with his eyes lowered and his face carefully impassive.

Yuuki runs her thumb over the phoenix's amethyst eyes, struck by the urge to cry - in happiness or sadness?

Her alpha pipes up, Is this mate?

Yes. We have promised to protect him. I love him.

He is the one whose scent we keep?

Yes, says Yuuki. She has hidden away the cloth Seiren soaked with Zero's blood, wrapped protectively in plastic so the scent does not fade. Yuuki takes it out sometimes, just to have a piece of Zero nearby. But only when she knows her husband is gone, because she cannot bear to wash Zero's scent away, and Kaname-sama gets a crease between his brows if he catches the smell.

The alpha is searching her memories, rising up and looking out from the back of her mind at Zero, who has his back turned and is presenting Kaname with another bloodied phoenix bracelet.

He was our companion before alpha-mate. Faithful. Strong. Caring for him drew us out of our own darkness. And we sustained him, let him feed from us, long ago, it says, then suddenly its focus sharpens.

It is his blood we have hungered for, ceaselessly, endlessly, torturously, never sated, the first we drank, the taste we cannot forget.

Yes, affirms Yuuki, and her fangs ache.

The alpha surges restlessly, fixing on the white neck beneath silver hair, want turning liquid, sinking lower. We have seen him half-clothed before? He is lovely. He will be lovelier now he is omega, with nice wide hips for us to clutch as we mate him, remarks the alpha with pleasure. We must keep our omega well-guarded until he is fat with child and everyone can see how he belongs to us, and Yuuki fights to keep her cheeks from flushing.

When Zero, still stoic, finishes his last pledge to Kaname, the two pureblood alphas rise, and lead their omega by the hand in a clockwise circle three times around the dais.

They remain standing in the open space as Zero takes the braided red wedding cord that symbolizes their binding, and ties their hands together, the alphas' palms above and below, enfolding the omega's hand in the center. The ceremony is completed while their hands are tied, Yuuki and Kaname-sama speaking the last words together.

"We are bound together with a tie that cannot be severed. Kiryuu Zero, you are as essential to me now as my own life. May you live happily with us for ten thousand years."

Zero bows his head. "I am sealed in marriage unto you, for all the days of my life."

The full feeling in her chest wells up like her heart's blood. They are complete.

---

Kaname's past and his present were never meant to intersect; the sight of her, the woman who became the Ancestor of the Hunters, here, after all this time rocks the foundations of his psyche. Her words will return to him often in the coming days, intruding into his thoughts during moments of stillness and silence. He has a little time to compose himself after the ceremony, while the servants prepare the banquet hall, but he lacks privacy, still wearing his public mask with the effortless calm and control demanded by his position.

Kiryuu leaves to change his costume, and returns with his wedding robe's sleeves replaced, identical to the first ones, except now he wears the full length, wider sleeves of a bonded omega. The outfit was designed with this change in mind, the detachable sleeves cleverly held together by threads that could be pulled and removed. He looks unhappy, and Kaname is spitefully glad that he isn't the only one.

Yuuki's poorly hidden, conflicted joy is gratifying, and spreads among the three of them, easing the atmosphere. She has a way of getting anyone to see the bright side of things, and just being near her improves Kaname's mood at any time.

The wedding feast, all five hours and ten courses of it, Kaname finds more difficult to navigate than normal. He ought to be in his element; this is an unmatchable opportunity to survey the state of the board: what the servants overhear, who talks to who, how long, about what. Hundreds of guests - far more vampires than Hunters - and all the most powerful players of both societies have attended tonight to witness the historic event. The heavily political nature of the marriage means the air is thick with intrigue and dealmaking, both inter-factional and between the Hunters and the vampires. Less of the latter; the Hunters are still smarting from being burned the last time one of their own got too friendly with their nemesis.

Everything is decorated in red and gold, all the way down to the flowers, tablecloths and silverware. For Kaname, the exquisite food provided by the palace kitchens makes the meal worth attending, other than seeing Yuuki beautiful and radiant in wedding colors, recalling Kaname's happy memories of their true wedding.

Other than eating and drinking - much drinking, the wine and alcohol freely flowing all night - the entertainment comes from speeches by important figures on both sides, and performances by musicians, dancers and other artists.

Kaname and the newlywed spouses are otherwise occupied. Sitting at their private table raised on a platform above the crowd, the entire evening is one long performance; everyone can watch the three of them interact, and even the tiniest gesture or change of expression will be measured and weighed. Vampire society still has many questions about the Kurans' marriage and its circumstances they want answered.

The Hunters have done their part, and other than Kiryuu's guardians, Kaname needs to spend little thought on their reactions. Kiryuu Zero, not the treaty, was his objective, and now that Kaname has the Hunter, the rest of his kind may do as they like so long as they don't interfere with his plans.

Before the wedding feast is over, the three newlyweds must greet and speak with every single guest, which will be Kaname's opportunity to make small talk and advance his pieces in the ongoing games. Seiren and Steward Inukai will be present, one for each of his spouses, to feed them names and relevant facts for each guest; Kaname wants no insults to come of this evening.

After the third course - whole roast peacock, presented in its feathers - the first guests approach the high table, in a predetermined order by seating arrangement, and present the wedding gifts they've brought in return for wedding favors handed out by the omega. The gifts are small, but of high quality, and deliberately lack intimacy, a multitude of trinkets and other rarities. Seeing the members of his inner circle lets the purebloods relax a touch, and Kaname doesn't need to feign being pleased to see them.

All of the guests barely hide their curiosity over the Kuran's new consort. They politely use his new title when they address him, but many of them - monarchists and senate supporters alike - show their disapproval below the surface, snubbing him in discreet, nearly imperceptible ways: a shift in tone, a slight turn away, facing the purebloods instead of when Kiryuu they address him. A deep current of bad feeling exists regarding a Hunter marrying two purebloods, and Kaname has not cared enough to counteract it, as long as the disapproval was aimed at Kiryuu alone.

The Hunter fulfills his given role, though Kaname can see through his frozen impassiveness the boy's increasing emotional and physical exhaustion. Duty and pride, he guesses, are what's keeping Kiryuu afloat. As the hours pass, the Hunter grows paler and paler, eating little and leaving his wineglass untouched. He has his hands clasped together in his lap and speaks little beyond what is enough to seem interested and polite. Only when Takuma and Isaya offer their congratulations does Kiryuu perk up and take a genuine interest.

The guests may revel and drink as they wish, but the main players have not finished their roles. One long, final round of toasts when the last guest has been received, and the last course finished - to their happy future, and more children than can fit in a palace - and the two alphas and their new omega can take their leave for the evening. The guests throw handfuls of tiny white flowers on Kiryuu as they leave the banquet for their wedding night, a fertility symbol more ancient than the vampire race.

Kiryuu casts one last look at the party of Hunters, Cross blowing his nose loudly, Yagari standing beside him with heavy glance and a nod to his apprentice, and then the three of them leave for the residential palace.

The proper name for it is 'The Palace of Prosperity," but even the servants call it by its purpose. The household palace's exterior draws heavier influence from traditional sources than the state palace, built with more wood than stone, painted wood pillars holding up the traditional tiled roof, and covered, raised verandas surrounding the small courtyards enclosed inside the building. Tonight a red banner hangs across the doors of the house to celebrate its masters' wedding, and the entire household staffs bows and welcomes Consort Kiryuu to his new home.

The Hunter hesitates when the maids lead him ahead to the wedding suite, prepared just for this occasion, but goes without looking at either of the Kurans.

"I expect the morning briefing at the usual time," Kaname informs Steward Inukai, who shows surprised uncertainty, but he has served the Kuran family long enough to know better than to question his orders. Kaname has work to do, and he is not wasting time in bed with Kiryuu; the pureblood would rather not bed Kiryuu at all, frankly.

With lanterns and drums, the servants form a wedding procession for the two alphas, escorting them all the way to the guest wing; the household staff depart with respectful goodbyes when the Kurans stand before the double doors of the wedding suite. Yuuki and Kaname don't move from the hallway until their footsteps are gone. Yuuki stares at the golden door handle shaped like a lion's head; neither of them speak, and the moment stretches.

"Thank you, onii-sama," she finally says. "For giving this a chance. For giving us a chance."

"We shouldn't keep Kiryuu waiting," he reminds both of them.

The maids arranged Kiryuu on the edge of the enormous, canopied bed, made up with brand new red bedsheets. He is dwarfed by his wedding robes - the longer sleeves make him look as though he's a child dressing in a parent's clothes, his hands lost in the pool of fabric. On a side table, little light dishes of nuts and fruits, and pitchers of wine and water have been arranged; a bowl piled high with pomegranates has pride of place in the center. A pair of bedside lamps are lit to symbolize the addition of children to the family, the only lighting in the windowless suite.

The omega doesn't look at them; he keeps staring straight at the opposite wall, even as the purebloods approach the bed. He is barely breathing by the faint, shallow rise and fall of his chest. The tendons of his jaw stretch tight with the clench of his teeth the closer the Kuran siblings come.

"Zero?" Yuuki says hopefully.

"Kuran-hime," he responds, voice dull and distant. "How may I serve you?"

Yuuki wavers, tries again. "You don't need to call me that, Zero. You always have permission to call me Yuuki."

"I should not address you so informally, Kuran-hime."

"Zero," she says, coming close enough to stand beside him, "are you okay?"

Zero's shoulders jerk when she tries to touch him, and he turns his face away. His breathing picks up, quick and fast; both purebloods can hear the rapid tattoo of his heartbeat. "I know what my duties are, Kuran-hime. I'm fine."

Yuuki's expression is upset. "Zero, it's alright if you're not okay. What's wrong?"

Kiryuu's detachment is starting to show cracks, some emotional storm battering down his defenses as Yuuki's gentle concern taps on them from the other side.

"It's been made clear to me what I'm supposed to do," he says stiffly. "I won't cause any problems.

His wife keeps trying to suss out the problem, and forgetting their current circumstances, sits down on the bed next to Kiryuu, a familiar scene from their shared past.

Kiryuu jumps, and looks as though a viper has sat next to him instead, inching backwards on the mattress away from her, with the whites of his eyes showing as he stares at the two purebloods.

"Please," he says raggedly, breaths coming faster and faster. "Please. You don't have to pretend. You've bought and paid for me. Just take what you want already, I can't -"

Kiryuu doubles over, trying to take in air as he hyperventilates, his whole body shaking with the force of his fear; his body topples over backwards, still trying to get away from them.

"Don't touch him!" Kaname orders, as a terrified Yuuki tries to reach out and help the Hunter.

"- not trying to break the agreement, I just, I can, in a moment -" but then Kiryuu chokes again without breath, and dry heaves - once, twice, three times.

The sight of Kiryuu, pitiful again in Yuuki's sight, is not as sweet as it once was. Kaname cannot pin down why. Probably because Kiryuu's misery feeds Yuuki's alarm.

The scent of an omega's distress makes the alpha whine and fret. Mate is upset, afraid. Why do we not comfort him?

"Kiryuu, listen to my voice," Kaname says, hardly believing what he is doing. "Concentrate on your breathing. Breathe in, slowly. Hold it - and breathe out." It's for Yuuki's sake, he reminds himself. She cares for the Hunter.

Slowly, Kiryuu calms, and his breathing evens out. But he's still shaking, curled in on himself, robes crumpled and face turned into the duvet, as if blocking the sight of his new spouses will make them go away.

"Kaname," Yuuki states, hands half-raised like she doesn't know what to do with them, "we can't do this."

"The marriage seals the treaty. It has to be consummated," Kaname argues. He hardens his heart against his instincts; they can be overcome, if he wishes.

On the bed, Kiryuu shrinks further into himself, away from Yuuki.

"Zero, we would never, ever make you do anything you didn't want to do," she pleads with the Hunter, and the tender, loving expression on her face sends ice down his back.

Yuuki turns to her husband, completely serious. "I promised I would protect him. I won't hurt him, even for the treaty. Can't you feel it's wrong?"

Kaname weighs his options. He is not opposed to what she wants - he doesn't want to watch his wife sleep with someone else, in front of him. He can pass up the opportunity to torment Kiryuu to keep Yuuki to himself a little longer. And just by itself, without those considerations, the idea isn't appealing to him; Kaname is not one of those disgusting alphas who enjoys breaking an omega. He has seen the aftermath of that too many times, and wrote the laws demanding the offender's execution himself.

"There is an alternative. But given Kiryuu's history, I assumed he would prefer the traditional method. The Hunter treaty doesn't demand the marriage be consummated at all. And for vampires, there is only one thing considered more intimate than sex."

Yuuki gives him a questioning look. The pureblood watches Kiryuu's shoulders tighten; he's already guessed the answer. "Blood, of course. Blood is life. Our lifeblood contains our essence."

Watching Kiryuu struggle between two fears gives Kaname a shot of sadistic pleasure. The violation he knows and fears, or the yet-to-be-experienced defilement, perhaps even worse.

"The blood," he choses, voice soft and tired. Kiryuu neither moves nor turns toward them.

"It will have to be both of us," Kaname tells him. "From the throat."

"Fine," Kiryuu agrees without inflection.

On the bed, Yuuki watches Kiryuu's back; it is painfully apparent she wishes to reach out and comfort him, but isn't sure of his response.

"Yuuki, you go first," Kaname allows. "I understand you've fed from him before." Before she had drank from Kaname, even, a fact that Kaname holds a grudge over to this day.

"Zero, is that okay?"

"If you would like, Kuran-hime."

"Is it alright if I touch you, Zero?" Yuuki asks, getting on her hands and knees on the duvet; the golden pendant earrings she wears sway with the motion.

"I don't have the right to tell you what to do with me, Kuran-hime."

Yuuki makes a pained face. It's completely true, at least in this situation. Sexually satisfying his spouses was one of his duties; Zero could not refuse either of them his body. "That may be true, but I still want to know if it's okay with you first."

"...you can touch me."

As though she's handling a wounded bird, all fragile bones and feathers, Yuuki reaches out to place her hand on Kiryuu's shoulder; he tenses, but he lets her turn him over onto his back.

They lock eyes for a moment; with the promise of blood, hot from the vein, both of the purebloods reveal the sharp alertness of a predator sensing a meal. The Hunter, by contrast, is limply yielding as Yuuki curls an arm around his waist and lifts him up, supporting his head with her other hand; he has the exhausted acceptance of a prey animal underneath a large carnivore, waiting for the deathblow.

She releases his waist to open his collar wider, exposing the pale base of Kiryuu's throat to their hungry eyes, and tips his head back so every ridge and valley, every vein and tendon stands out in relief, displayed for their pleasure. Yuuki groans, fangs already descended and nakedly eager, the barest sliver of her soul-deep hunger visible in her complete absorption with the figure in her arms. She bends her head to prepare the place she will pierce on the right side of his neck, scenting his skin first, slowly, just to take it in, and bathing her chosen spot in small swipes, leaving the anesthetic in her saliva to dull the coming pain, lingering to wring every drop of pleasure she can from this visceral act.

Kiryuu's heartbeat hums like a rabbit's, and the whites of his eyes show again around the edges; he must be exerting every part of his will to keep from struggling. The ex-human watches Yuuki without blinking, as though he's trying to remind himself of who she is not.

"Zero, I'm going to do it now. Don't tense up, or it will hurt you more, okay?"

Resting the tips of her fangs on his throat, Yuuki slowly bears down, breaking through the thin barrier of the Hunter's skin. Kiryuu arches his back, but Yuuki's grip is iron, instinctually refusing to let her prey escape. At that first taste, Yuuki's pupils are completely dilated, and she shakes with the struggle for control, panting open mouthed. She lets not a single drop escape, withdrawing to lap at the trails dripping from the wound, before returning to sink back into his neck, deeper than before.

Gripped by the hard focus of bloodlust, it's the only thing in the room Kaname can see - Yuuki, his beloved wife, feeding so voraciously, eagerly embracing her nature. Even the jealousy of watching her fangs inside another's neck isn't enough to ruin the image. Kaname values the gentle human part of her the most, but the vampire with her mouth smeared with blood is Yuuki too, and Kaname loves every part of her, even the ones that exist because of his failure to protect her precious humanity so many years ago.

Yuuki draws away after drinking deep and long, cleaning away the last specks of blood with her tongue; she's not sated, but Kaname also must drink from the Hunter tonight. Petting Kiryuu's silver hair and murmuring nonsense into his ear, she lowers him gently to the bed, and feels the holes left by her fangs to make sure they've clotted.

"You did so well Zero," she praises, smoothing his bangs. "Do you feel okay? I didn't hurt you did I?"

"No. It can hurt much worse. You're gotten even more gentle," he says softly, colored with surprise.

"Are you ready to let Kaname-sama have his turn now, or do you want to let your body recover a little first?"

"...now," Kiryuu answers, and Yuuki gestures for Kaname to join them on the bed.

As she cleans her mouth with her fingers, licking up the last bits, Kaname kneels on Kiryuu's other side, and looks down on the Hunter sprawled there, studying the pureblood right back, eyes half-lidded. He's calmer than Kaname expected, all things considered, but he has done this before with Yuuki, from both positions. Kaname expects his turn to go less easily.

"Just do it already," mutters Kiryuu, blinking irritably up and him.

Well, if the ex-human insists. Curling his arms around Kiryuu, Kaname levers the warm weight of him up to a comfortable height. It helps that Kiryuu is taller than Yuuki; Kaname doesn't have to bend over as far. But Kaname intends to drink from Kiryuu no more than necessary to bond him, and never again, so that fact barely matters.

Holding Kiryuu using one hand, casually displaying their difference in strength, Kaname feels the right side of his neck, pressing down with the sensitive pads of his fingers. The Hunter tattoo on this side is invisible now, Kiryuu's neck snowy pure and once more unmarred - to the eye. Kaname can feel the spells dormant underneath, and he marks out the shape of the brand, searching for one particular spot.

Kiryuu has gone still and stiff, and his heartbeat increases despite his blood loss. The ex-human swallows, and Kaname feels the ripple of it against his hand.

"Are you ready, Zero?" Yuuki questions; she can hear Kiryuu's shallow breathing too, see the fine tremors, read the shadow of fear in his face.

"Do it," the ex-human manages through his dry throat.

So Kaname does. It means nothing, at any rate. He desires only Yuuki's blood; he's not in love with the Hunter like she is, and the thin blood of a level D is even less appetizing than a human.

He swipes his tongue across Kiryuu's white skin, and nearly chokes; Kaname has just ingested a mouthful of omega pheromones, and his instincts rear up from his subconscious, sharpening his anticipation and bringing his predatory instincts to bear. He is aware now - of the prey in his arms, their movements, their weight, the sound of their heartbeat, pressed into his chest.

Sinking his fingers more deeply into Kiryuu's hair, and tucking his body more firmly against Kaname's own, the pureblood finishes preparing the bite area, letting the chemicals laced in his saliva do their work.

As he sets his teeth into skin, Kaname feels Kiryuu inhale with shock. His fangs are pressed right into the center of the taming mark - right above the punctures where Hio Shizuka pierced his flesh, guided into the exact spot by the placement of the brand. Kiryuu opens his mouth to protest, but Kaname doesn't let him.

One swift movement, just the right pressure, a pop of tension, and Kaname is sheathed in Kiryuu's neck up to his gums. Hio's mark on the ex-human's flesh is gone, overwritten by Kaname's fangs. Kiryuu cries out and tries abortively to thrash, but Kaname's grip is sure, and inescapable.

Then the blood wells up from the wound, pumped out by the Hunter's heartbeat, and Kaname feels as though he has taken a blow to the stomach, all the air forced out of his chest as it flows down his throat.

The corporeal taste of blood, physically tangible to the tongue - thick, wet and coppery - stayed the same no matter who a vampire drank from. Everyone's blood served the same purpose in the body, after all. Tiny chemical differences in the blood's composition meant one could discern the difference between human and vampire, or between different ranks of ancestral purity.

Layered overtop was the true sustenance: the power contained in the blood, the ghostly imprint of another mind, and the rush of emotions and memories sometimes granted when taken straight from the vein. A vampire drank the quintessence of another being, another lifetime distilled down into the vital liquid that nourished them and kept them alive; the ancients were right when they believed that blood was power.

When vampires spoke of desiring a certain flavor of blood, it was that quintessence they hungered for, that meant no other blood would do. Satisfying the hunger of the body was simple; the hunger of the spirit was another thing entirely.

Flayed open and defenseless, it was Kiryuu's essential nature that Kaname drank down, searing its taste into his senses. Drinking another pureblood was like swallowing liquid lightning, or like consuming the liquid mantle of the sun; the power burned all the way down to your belly. Humans were more like comfort food: soothing, substantial, nutritious, filling, but simple, plain and easily digested.

The Ancestor of the Kurans has never blooded a Hunter before. By law, it was forbidden, and among the greatest violations of the ancient treaties. Most Hunters who lived before the treaties existed committed suicide rather than be captured by a pureblood. It was the deepest cultural fear they had, to turn from friend to enemy in one moment, one press of fangs. Did they all taste like this, or was it just Kiryuu?

Kaname takes deep pulls, trying to puzzle out the complex balance of flavors. It's like drinking autumn, the pureblood finally decides. It doesn't burn; every mouthful spreads a slow warmth through his chest and limbs. There's a spiciness he's never tasted before in any blood, the same spice in the Hunter's scent. The omega pheromones leave an undertaste of sweetness, but the natural sweetness of fruit instead of syrupy cane sugar. It reminds him of mulled wine and spiced cider, or drinking sips of anise liqueur. And the power laced through his blood is like sparks on his tongue; they burn just a little, but the feeling heightens and complements the taste of spicy sweetness, like enjoying dark chocolate with chilies.

He pulls at Kiryuu's hair, ordering him to bend his head back and display his throat more prominently. Left no other choice with the vampire's fangs in his vulnerable neck, Kiryuu obeys.

Kaname drinks and drinks, greedily gulps the liquid down, but the taste is never enough. And now he's deep enough in Kiryuu that a connection between them forms, forged by exchange of blood, emotion flowing out along with his blood. Fear, he realizes. Terror - the Hunter is terrified. The image of Hio Shizuka comes into his mind, her red eyes and cruel smile, bent over and above him as though he was smaller, and weaker. Flashes of blood on snow, blood on white skin, blood stained white kimono - these are Kiryuu's memories of his turning, called up by Kaname's actions.

Kaname feels the tiniest shred of conscience; sharing blood often leads to unwanted empathy while the connection is open between the donor and the drinker. Even so, the pureblood gentles his grip in soft silver locks, kneading at the Hunter's scalp in a way he hopes is reassuring. The fear wanes just a fraction. Dead, empty lavender eyes - brother, or father? - is the next memory.

Kaname realizes that Kiryuu's heartbeat is slowing, his skin feels cool, and the Hunter stopped fighting long ago. The pureblood forces himself away from the Hunter's throat, drawing back after lapping at the closing wounds one last time. Kaname drank far more than he thought he would. He has left Kiryuu precariously balanced between awareness and unconsciousness, suffering the effects of blood loss; Kiryuu may not be feeding enough.

As dazed lavender eyes look into Kaname's own red, burning with bloodlust, the alpha speaks up.

This is fate. From the moment he tasted our blood, he was ours. He has always been ours. It was our hands that shaped his hate. Our hands that fashioned his purpose. We set the wheels of his destiny spinning into motion. We made him into what he is today. It was our blood that woke this part of him, the soft omega, sleeping quiescently in his breast. We could never have let another touch him, see him like this.

"Onii-sama, what did you do?" demands Yuuki, holding Kiryuu's lax hand in her own. Kaname licks into the corners of his mouth, over his incisors and teeth for more of that warm taste. There are tear marks on the boy's cheeks; his eyelashes flutter as he slips quietly into senselessness.

"He will be fine, with sleep and a few blood tablets. Put him to bed; we can sleep on the other side tonight."

He has made a mistake, the Ancestor of the Kurans realizes, letting Kiryuu's body drop. Kaname had lost control the moment the first taste of Kiryuu passed his lips. No blood except Yuuki's should affect him so strongly; Hio's pure blood, with all its power, had not enthralled him half so much.

Omega - Kiryuu is an omega. An omega his instincts consider his mate. What a fool he has been! Kaname has set this trap for himself, he realizes. His own actions dismantled his defenses - the feeding, the caretaking, the closeness, the long association, the courtship - and the alpha had let Kiryuu right into his head, led him right to where he was most vulnerable. Kiryuu's entire body is a lure for any alpha, pumping out chemicals to intoxicate and ensnare, his blood his most potent weapon of all. And Kaname is not just an alpha, but a pureblood, and an Ancestor; no living vampire has deeper, strong instincts than his own. Kiryuu is designed, like a key to a lock, to fit the shape of Kaname's weakness.

That night, with a belly full of sweet, addicting omega blood, Kaname vows that such a slip will not happen again. Until he can be certain his self-discipline is iron, he will keep away from Kiryuu, and make sure Yuuki does to.

---

Please don't lynch me - I didn't promise any sex right? Believe me, you didn't want it. Zero would have had a horrifying time. He's too frightened for his body to cooperate and become aroused, and the Kurans would have ended up hurting him unintentionally. Even Kaname would've been scarred by having an unresponsive partner in pain who cried silently the whole time. Everyone would've felt soiled by the whole experience, and you'd have to wait even longer for them to do it again.

I tried to make up for it with the most suggestive blood sucking I could possibly write. Drinking blood is a metaphor for sex, yes?

Current situation, a summary -

Zero: freaking out, Not Okay

Yuuki: I love them, I want to help them

Kaname: I'm definitely not interested in that stupid Hunter

Yuuki & Kaname's alpha instincts: We're definitely Very Interested, yes. That ass. Woah. I claim this territory in the name of the Kuran family.

Steward Inukai is based on that unnamed old vampire who shows up teaching the night class in episode one and we never see again.