Chapter 50
With only the shield of darkness on their side, the vampires fled desperately into the night. The frozen dew sitting upon the grass stung the bottoms of Yui's feet as she huffed and puffed, barely able to keep up with Kou who was still dragging her along by the hood of her cloak. Noah screams echoed among the fields as long as they ran; only stopping once the protective trees surrounded them and the twigs underneath their feed forced them to stop. The four stood in a circle attempting to catch their breath, aside from Azusa who was past breathless and instead panicking to quiet the baby. "Shut him up now!" Yuma hissed between the cries, causing Azusa to only further panic and bounce the baby faster. His screams only becoming worse, Yuma attempted to snatch the baby before Yui leapt between them to shield Noah with a strong arm and closed fist. Looking completely feral, she bared her canines at him before quickly tending to the crying infant. "Sh…" she whispered through the fog, wiping Azusa's sweat from Noah's forehead and stroking him lovingly. He continued to weep, but quieter when Azusa placed him into her arms. "Let's go," Kou said sternly, "all we can do now is wait."
The walk home felt hours longer than the trip to the Church. Perhaps it was the sting of the foliage upon their raw feet, or the deafening thoughts of what had just transpired. The face of the pathetic man on his knees below her shook Yui to her core, but not nearly to the point of what the memory of her father did to her. She wouldn't allow herself to think of his betrayal, or even acknowledge it was a betrayal to begin with. But what couldn't leave her mind was that comfort of knowing someday, maybe she would be away from this world. The world of vampires and blood and death and despair. She felt guilt over still wanting that despite holding the now quiet vampire offspring in her arms, with his vampire father walking close beside her. She could never have that life though, even without them in the picture. Because now that same blood and death and despair lived inside of her. She was now the monster she so desperately wanted to escape.
The relief brought on by the sight of the mansion was short lived when all four vampires set their eyes upon the dark figure in the window. "It's father," Kou breathed uneasily. He stopped in his tracks, not knowing whether to be excited or frightened, and Yui and Azusa stopped along either side of him. Yuma smacked him lightly in the ribs and growled, "You don't know that, baka. Whoever it is clearly isn't trying to hide himself so why should we?" His strides were confident, though the footsteps following behind him were sheepish as could be.
"The bears didn't get you!" Kou cheered as he shoved past Yuma to hug his eldest brother, who was standing umoving like a statue in the doorway. He welcomed Kou's hug and paid it back with a gentle pat on the back, a weak smile playing on his lips. "I was left for the bears, wasn't I." He lifted his head from his brother's shoulder and rested his blue eyes onto Yui's, who quickly broke their gaze. She was guilt ridden and her cheeks were hot. A familiar sick feeling was burning in the pit of her belly, a mix of admitted excitement and dread. She had felt it the last time they were together. The time they had touched - oh god, they had touched! With all the business of caring for Noah, she had nearly forgotten what had happened and suddenly Ruki's gaze was that much more contagious! His hug had ended with Kou yet his eyes remained on her, even when Azusa hissed "What.. happened exactly…" A moment passed before the estranged brothers finally looked eye to eye. Both boys were cold to touch yet a warmer smile remained on Ruki's usual expressionless face, a smug expression that only drove Azusa crazier. He clearly remembered better than Yui had. "Whatever your beloved told you, I'm sure."
Lust. Sex. Blood. These thoughts plagued Yui's mind as she lay in bed next to her lover, both who were pretending to sleep through the deafening tension that clouded the room. The feeling still searing in her belly bounced between pleasurable excitement and dirty, sickening guilt at the thought of her actions only days before. It was the same thing she felt as her thighs were locked around Ruki while she ravaged his flesh helplessly, his breathless groans filling her up with animalistic hunger and ecstacy! And the feeling was close to how she felt when she had told Azusa and then sucked him dry… How could she possibly share these extremes for both brothers? Both who had done her wrong in one way or another, ways totally unforgivable and that had scarred both her skin and heart. And in a way, they had both given her a gift… a gift of a son. She didn't know who exactly it had been, though deep down she suspected it to be Ruki. Maybe because whenever she stared into his daring eyes, all she saw was the gentle eyes of Noah looking back at her; pools of kindness and innocence, somehow even with blood smeared across his rose cheeks. Yui sensed that it was wrong to be laying next to Azusa but she also knew that it would feel even more wrong in Ruki's bed. Then why did she even think about sleeping in bed next to him? How could she? She needed to leave, but just couldn't go without Noah. She could never give him the tools he needed to thrive in this vampire world without the help of the brothers. She couldn't leave forever, but she couldn't stay in that bed any longer either.
The cold air stung her flesh and caused it to pucker, though it was still more comforting than the silk bed sheets that she had been laying in minutes before. She inhaled the intoxication aroma of the garden that surrounded her, flowers and vegetables alike, and allowed the sensations of the Earth around her to swallow her whole. The ground was soft, gentle against her skin as she laid in it and curled into herself. She breathed in the sweet scent of the grass and exhaled a gentle cry. Suddenly being alone didn't seem so bad afterall. Not if being alone could be like this forever.
Tonight she revisited a dream she thought was long gone. The same apple, the same clouds, the same boys surrounding her. Or so it appeared to be in the beginning. Instead of one by one, the vampires approached her one by one slowly. But instead of taking her hand and whispering the sweet nothings they had before, they suddenly fell to their knees and started contorting their backs toward the sky in writhing agony. Yui screamed silently into the void and lunged forward in attempt to help them, to save them, to do anything but it was no use! The invisible chains had her bound and she watched in horror and disgust as their spines twisted and the family she had come to love screamed out in agony. Stop it! She cried but the horror of what was infront of her was too far to stop now. A literal shell of what they once were, rats cracked open through their glass skin and left what was once her loved ones in shards on the ground. Rats, hundreds of them, flooded Yui's feed and began to scratch up her legs; crawling underneath her clothes, into her hair, gradually shoving into agape mouth. She felt their tiny claws digging into her flesh, the sounds of their breathy snouts filling inside of her. Unable to stand, she collapsed to the ground; attempting to catch a breath but only inhaling more and more of the rodents. Through the shards of glass emerged a new man. He was smiling a sinister grin with a mouth full of jagged teeth, blood stained lips lining them. His hair was jet black, his skin pale as ice. But despite his horroring demeanor, the thing that scared Yui most was the softest part about him. She looked up into his eyes and recognized them to be the oceans she saw in her son's eyes.