Yikes, I really need to work on my time management skills, don't I? I'm sorry the chapter took so long, but I think it turned out really nice, and the next chapter of Justine is also close to being done. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

While Reiji prided himself in his excellent manners and flawless decorum, he had to begrudgingly admit to himself that he was not the most patient person in the world. Of course, if he was given a predetermined wait time of three hours, he would have no problems waiting for that long. Make him wait five minutes after those three hours, however, and there were going to be some problems.

The second Sakamaki son's life revolved around efficiency and punctuality, virtues that none of his bothersome brothers ever managed to learn, especially not that lazy, good-for-nothing Shuu.

Now, as usual, his brothers' complete lack of etiquette was causing him no end of headaches.

"Hm… Where's Ayato? He's usually ready to leave by now…" Laito wondered aloud, lounging on the green couch in the entrance hall. Despite his words, he did not look or sound very concerned at all for his brother's whereabouts, his face and body language radiating boredom.

Reiji readjusted his glasses in frustration.

Ayato never cared in the slightest about arriving on time for anything. He would claim, in the irritatingly self-important manner of his, that he was "never late or early, he arrived exactly when he wanted to." Still, Laito was right (which was something he never liked admitting). Ayato had never made them all wait this long for school before.

Taking his watch out of his coat pocket, his eyes narrowed in annoyance as he looked at the time. 6:08 p.m., it read. They should have been in the limo on their way to Ryoutei Academy almost eight minutes ago, and yet here they were, sitting around the entrance hall like imbeciles.

His eyes scanned the large, specious room, making sure that Ayato had not decided to teleport in unannounced. Laito was draped over the couch, slouching in a way that nearly made Reiji pop a blood vessel, Kanato was sitting next to his triplet brother on the armrest and murmuring to that stuffed bear of his. That lowlife deadbeat Shuu was sitting with his back against the wall, his eyes closed in apparent slumber, while Subaru was standing a few meters away from the rest of them with his back turned and his arms crossed against his chest. If Reiji could see his youngest brother's face, he would probably be scowling like he usually did. Looking over at the window, he felt him grip on his pocket watch tighten when he laid eyes on… her.

Honestly, he felt embarrassed for Ayato at that point. Even that absolutely infuriating Yui Komori had managed to be ready to go to school on time, though he supposed that "ready" was not quite the correct term to use in her case. She still refused to wear her uniform properly, completely discarding the ribbon tie and leaving her jacket unbuttoned, revealing her white undershirt. Still, he supposed, at least she was wearing shoes for a change, even if she had thrown away the knee-high black socks that came with the rest of the uniform.

Almost as if she could feel his gaze on her, she lifted her head to look him directly in the eye, dull hazel meeting pinkish red. Her expression showed no fear or hesitance as she faced him; she just regarded him with those eyes of hers that Reiji was beginning to truly despise.

No, it was not just her eyes, he thought to himself, he was beginning to hate pretty much everything about her. Her lack of even the most basic manners, her slovenly appearance, her complete disregard for him and his authority, even the way she dressed was starting to grate on him. While he had yet to feed from the girl, he was half expecting her blood to taste as filthy as the rest of her. Honestly, had the Church's standards fallen so low that this was the stock of human they had sent to the sons of the Vampire King? Reiji had come to expect a certain level of quality from them, and this dirty, disrespectful girl definitely did not make the cut.

They were all, however, under strict orders from their father not to kill her, so Reiji would unfortunately not be rid of her for quite some time. Shuu and Subaru personally knew what the consequences of angering Karlheinz were.

"Excuse me, Young Masters." Came a voice from down the hall.

Reiji was pulled out of his thoughts at the sound of the Sakamaki household's head butler speaking, his stance poised and professional. All of them, except for Yui, turned to face him.

"What is it now?" he asked, not bothering to hide the irritation in his voice. The butler placed his hand over his heart and bowed at the princes.

"Master Ayato has sent me to inform you all that he is not feeling very well, and with therefore not be attending classes tonight." This caused all five vampires to raise a collective, metaphorical eyebrow.

"What? Ayato's sick?" asked Laito, sounding genuinely confused this time.

"Well, Ayato didn't look very good last night, did he, Teddy?" Kanato said to his stuffed companion, looking down at its soulless, button eyes.

"Is that why he's been acting like such a fucking spaz lately?" Subaru piped up, his blood beginning to boil at the memory of his older half-brother practically throwing his dinner plate directly at his head.

Shuu could not be bothered to respond, as usual, though he did open one of his sapphire blue eyes and look at the butler, before his gaze fell on Yui, who gave no reaction to the unusual declaration.

While the butler's announcement caught Reiji off guard and definitely raised some questions, there were more important matter to attend to first.

"That's enough, all of you. If Ayato will not be attending class, then there's no need to wait here any longer. Let's go, we're already running late as it is." He commanded, already making his way towards the front door, the others following his lead.

"My apologies, Master Reiji, but…" the butler spoke up, a hint of trepidation in his voice. Reiji said nothing, he only turned to look at the servant with angry eyes. The butler seemed to flinch ever so slightly from the second Sakamaki son's merciless gaze before his eyes shifted away to look at Yui.

"Master Ayato… has ordered for Miss Komori to stay home with him…" Before he could say anything else, Reiji's harsh, commanding voice cut him off.

"Absolutely not. We're already behind schedule and I will not be explaining two absences to the Headmaster. If Ayato has a problem with this, then he is free to throw a tantrum when we all get back. Now, if that is all, we are leaving." His voice left no room for argument as he turned around and continued his way out of the mansion.

"O-Of course, Master Reiji. Please accept my sincerest apologies." Reiji resisted the urge to roll his eyes. After the events of the past few nights, that servant was on paper thin ice, he thought.

Once everyone was packed into the limousine and finally on their way to Ryoutei Academy, Reiji could finally feel himself begin to relax. They were going to arrive at school a few minutes behind schedule, but if everyone hurried to their classes none of them would miss rollcall. Of course, he would have to go to the Headmaster and tell him that Ayato was absent due to illness, as opposed to him skipping school simply because he did not feel like attending, like he normally did.

"It's so strange, Ayato doesn't get sick. He's never gotten sick…" Kanato spoke to his teddy, though Reiji was so engrossed in his own thoughts that he completely ignored him.

Laito shifted in his seat to get closer to Yui, who had taken her usual spot beside the limousine window. He wrapped one of his arms around her shoulder, holding her in his cold vice grip.

"Wasn't Creepy-chan the last one with Ayato last night? He dragged you away with him after dinner, didn't he?" Laito's smirk grew wider, even though Yui continued to stare out of the car window, acting as though he was not even there.

"I bet that you two had a lot of fun together. Maybe Ayato's just all tired out, after all of those things he must have done with you. To you…" Laito's face became flush with excitement, a devious glint forming in his green eyes. Kanato did not share his triplet brother's amusement, glaring at Yui with wide, angry violet eyes.

"I bet she gave him some sort of disease. She's such a disgusting human, I wouldn't be surprised." He grumbled. He hugged Teddy tightly against his chest, almost to the point of making its black button eyes pop right out.

So focused on her he was, that he did not notice Subaru giving him a dirty look from across the car.

"Shut up… all of you. I can't hear my music…" Shuu grumbled, not bothering to open his eyes to speak to his brothers. Laito completely ignored his eldest brother, green eyes still looking down at Yui.

"Hey, since Ayato's out of commission for now, how about we have some fun of our own, Creepy-chan?" he purred, using his free arm to sensually run his hand down her left leg.

Honestly, Reiji thought, did any of his brothers possess even the slightest bit of shame?

"Laito, now is not the time for such things. Take your activities to-"

"'-To your private room.' Honestly Reiji, you're such a broken record sometimes. Why don't you join in? You could stand to have some fun for a change, plus you know that I don't mind sharing~." Laito cut him off, sending a sly, infuriating smirk his way. Reiji snapped his pocket watch shut and narrowed his eyes at the fifth Sakamaki son in anger.

"I do not appreciate the suggestion that I would ever stoop to your level of depravity. The very thought sickens me. Now, for once in your life, keep your hands to yourself and be quiet until we arrive." He said sternly, leaving no room for argument. Laito, still smirking, simply shrugged and pulled away from Yui, evidently not at all upset by what his brother had said.

Reiji almost felt as though he wanted to pull his hair out. This car ride could not be over soon enough…

Yui Komori was quickly becoming, in Kanato's opinion, the worst bride he had ever had to deal with. She never listened to them, never did what she was told, and had a terrible habit of wandering off to do whatever she wanted. Did she not realize that she no longer had any free will? She belonged to them now; she was theirs to do with as they wished. She had no right to defy them, and yet she did it anyway. She had no respect for her superiors, she had no fear for them.

It made no sense. She made no sense.

No matter, he thought. Soon enough, she would be dead, killed by either himself or one of his brothers (hopefully it would be him; she still needed to suffer for trying to touch Teddy). After that, she would be completely forgotten, just another worthless mortal that died to sate their thirst.

"I'm bored now, Teddy. Let's go find something fun to do." He said to his stuffed companion, wandering the halls of Ryoutei Academy in search of entertainment.

Perhaps he could visit the cafeteria and see what kinds of desserts were available? The kitchen staff always allowed him to do so, given who his father was. Kanato hated the old bastard just as much as his brothers did, but not even he could deny that there were perks to being the son of both Karlheinz and Tougo Sakamaki.

"Do you think there will be any shortcake tonight, Teddy? There had better not be any coffee cake, though, or else those idiotic kitchen staff will pay dearly." He shared his thoughts to Teddy, turning a corner. "Really, whose idea was it to make a cake that you have to eat with something as bitter and disgusting as coffee? Those stupid-"

"… Did you really think that it would be that easy?"

Kanato's conversation with Teddy was cut short by the sound of an irritatingly familiar, deep voice. Turning his head to the source of the sound, he saw Yui, standing by the wall and talking into a telephone. Kanato's anger came back almost instantly at the sight of her.

"All I did was answer your questions, I didn't tell you to do anything about it. As long as you deliver on your end of the bargain, I will do the same. Fail to do so, however, and the deal is off. Do not cross me, priest." She continued, her voice turning grave at the last part of her sentence.

Wait, what? What on earth was she talking about, and to who?

What did she think she was doing, talking to someone over the phone like it was nothing? Was she trying to call someone for help, like the Church? A whole lot of good that would do her, seeing as it was the Church who gave her to him and his brothers in the first place. Still, she thought that she could just talk to anyone she wanted? Her sheer arrogance never ceased to get his blood boiling, and he was not going to stand for it any longer.

Marching over to where she was, he glared at her, his violet eyes wide with anger as he tightened his hold on Teddy.

"What do you think you're doing?" he barked at her, his voice more than loud enough to get her attention. Upon noticing him standing there, only her hazel eyes turned to him, the rest of her remained unmoving. Slowly, she placed the phone back on the receiver and hung up, despite the panicked protests of whoever was on the other end. She turned her head to face him, though as usual, she said nothing.

"Well? Explain yourself. Who were you talking to?" he questioned her, his frown deepening at her lack of cooperation. Even at his prodding, she did not say anything, looking almost annoyed with him.

Kanato grit his teeth with rage. What was wrong with her? How could she treat him like this? Why did she not understand that he was above her and that she must obey him?

"Why are you looking at me like that, you worthless human?! Answer my question! Say something!" he screamed furiously, tears of frustration beginning to well up in his wide eyes. This horrible, awful girl. He had half a mind of kill her right then and there, to make her pay for her grievous actions against him.

Staring at him with an unreadable expression on her face, she still refused to say anything to him.

"What, are you so stupid that you can't talk? I suppose that it just goes to show you have completely idiotic mortals are." He took a step closer.

"You've spoken to Reiji and Ayato, so why not me? What did I do to you to deserve such treatment from you?!" He shrieked, his voice so loud that it echoed in the long hallway.

Both of them were silent for a few moments, one completely calm and the other bursting at the seams with fury. Then, something strange happened.

Yui tilted her head towards her left, her face scrunching up slightly in concentration. Her eyes were focused, almost as though she were listening intently to… something. Kanato, though still furious, raised his eyebrows at her.

"He did what, you say…?" he heard her murmur to herself. As soon as the words left her lips, her eyes grew wide and full of rage, all directed towards him. The feeling of unrelenting hatred that radiated from her almost made him shudder. He unconsciously took a step back, having no idea what he did to make her look at him so maliciously.

"Honestly… Aren't you a little too old to still be playing with dolls?" she practically sneered, her eyes narrowed on him. Kanato was too shocked at her blatant display of hostility to reply, so she continued.

"Last night, I told your brother that a person reaps what they sow. It seems that this is a lesson that you will need to learn as well…" she said ominously, the faintest hint of a smirk beginning to show.

Kanato was speechless. How on earth could she know about his dolls? Had one of his brothers told her? No, that was not how he had planned this! He had wanted to be the one to show her his collection, to watch with sadistic glee as her face contorted in fear when he revealed to her that his "wax figurines" were actually corpses. Then he would swiftly descend upon the wretched girl, pinning her against the wall as his fangs sank deep into her jugular vein, her screams of agony gradually beginning to grow fainter as he drank and drank until there was no more blood left in her. She would crumple to the floor, a lifeless husk, and he would simply turn around and leave her there. She was not nearly pretty enough to become a doll herself, so the best she could hope for was to rot away into nothing, surrounded by their everlasting, soulless beauty.

That had been his plan, anyway. But now (thanks to one of his idiot brothers, most likely), he would have to come up with another way of torturing her.

Before he could do anything, however, she suddenly turned on her heel in the opposite direction, her long brown hair fluttering behind her as she quickly ran to the right and out of his line of sight.

"Hey! Get back here, you stupid mortal! I'm not done talking to you!" he shouted after her. He wasted no time chasing after her, turning the same corner that she did, only to be greeted by a completely empty hallway, the irritating girl nowhere to be seen. In an instant, Kanato's rage turned into confusion as he looked around, trying to figure out where she could have gone to in such a short amount of time.

"Where did she go, Teddy? No mortal is that fast, she has to be around here somewhere…" he grumbled, holding his stuffed bear to his chest so tightly that his black, button eyes threatened to pop right out.

His violet eyes scanned the area, only to fall upon the wall-mounted telephone that she had been using earlier. Taking a few steps towards it, Kanato looked at the device curiously.

"That's so strange, Teddy. Hasn't this phone been broken for almost two weeks?" he wondered to his best friend. Moving closer, he picked up the phone and inspected it, turning it around in his hand looking for anything unusual. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, he looked back down at Teddy.

"It seems fine. But she was definitely talking to someone, right Teddy? From what I could make out, it sounded like a man." He furrowed his brow in thought, trying to make sense of it all.

That was when the smell hit him.

It was a truly revolting stench. It smelled of decay and rot, and was so pungent that it made his eyes water.

It smelled like death.

Gagging, he looked at the phone, the source of the smell, only to see a viscous, black bile ooze out of the speaker holes. He had been so distracted by his conversation with Teddy that he must not have seen the strange substance begin to leak from the handset. He watched with disgust as the bile began to drip onto the table, and before he could react, one drop landed on…

"Teddy!" he screamed in horror as he saw his best friend's synthetic fur blacken with the strange liquid. He dropped the phone as if it were on fire and furiously rubbed his sleeve against the stuffed bear in an attempt to wipe away the bile, though this did little but spread the black substance even more.

"No! Teddy!" Tears freely running down his face at that point, he rushed to the nearest bathroom, not caring that he knocked down several students as he barreled down the hallways. They were worthless mortals, anyway. Getting that disgusting bile off of Teddy was far more important, he thought.

The bathroom door loudly burst open as Kanato ran directly to the sink. Running the hot water on full blast, he ripped a handful of paper towels from the dispenser, held them under the water to get them wet, and used them to scrub the blackened area of Teddy. At first, it seemed to be doing nothing, the damned black spot remaining in place, but before long, it disappeared surprisingly quickly, not even leaving a trace.

"There, you're all better now, aren't you Teddy?" Kanato's voice quivered slightly with relief as he crushed his best friend tightly against his chest. As he hugged the bear close, his nose wrinkled in disgust. The stench of that foul liquid still lingered on Teddy's fur, making the violet-haired vampire's stomach lurch a bit. It would be fine though, since the stain was gone the smell would soon fade as well. Still, he would make sure to give Teddy a more thorough wash at home, just for good measure.

"What was wrong with that phone? The staff at this school are completely incompetent; they can't even keep things clean around here!" he grumbled, his voice muffled by the stuffed animal pressed against his face.

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter now. Come one, Teddy, let's not bother looking for Yui-san. I think we could both use something sweet right about now, wouldn't you agree?" With his beloved companion securely in his arms, Kanato left the bathroom to head to the cafeteria, leaving behind the wet, still completely white, paper towel discarded in the basin of the sink.

Streets of Waterford, Ireland

The pub that Father Fujioka walked into was a disgusting cesspool of misery and sin. The place was filthy, the staff haggard and miserable, and the patrons were both. The destitute men and women that sat in the booths and barstools bore long, drawn faces that told stories of despair and hardship that could only be dealt with by crawling into a bottle and never coming out.

Fujioka furrowed his brow. Admittedly this pub was not located in a very nice part of Waterford, with crime and drug use being an unfortunate reality for the people living in this area, but he knew that he would this is where he would find that man. It was not like the lowlife could afford to drink anywhere else.

Scanning the bar, the priest eventually laid eyes on the one he was looking for, a thin, pale, scraggily-looking man with long, greasy brown hair and listless blue eyes. Fujioka knew that he was only around 25 years old, but the wrinkles on his face and the dark circles underneath his eyes made him look more than twice his age. He sat alone in a booth tucked away in the back, away from the other equally miserable people in the pub. He was downing his third beer mug, the first two strewn carelessly on the table.

This man, Ian Byrne, was a pathetic waste of a human being, but he needed to speak with him, if it meant getting closer to finding the Witch.

Without a word, Fujioka made his way to the back of the pub and sat down at Ian's booth. The man did not even look up from his glass, merely muttering,

"Piss off, ya gobshite. Don't wanna be bothered…" Fujioka brushed off the insult, not taking the insults of a drunk seriously.

"You know who I am, Mr. Byrne. We need to talk-"

"I don' needa talk to some fuckin' priest 'bout anything! Piss off!" Ian cut off Fujioka, slamming his fist against the table. The priest did not even flinch at his outburst, completely focused on the task at hand.

"It's about her, Mr. Byrne. About Violet."

In an instant, Ian's already pale face turned paper white.

"That is the name you knew her by, correct? The Elm-" Ian forcefully stood up from his seat, making the table shake and knocking his glass of beer over, soaking the surface with stale alcohol. He marched past Fujioka and right out the door. The pub's staff and other patrons were so wrapped up in their own misery and self-pity that they did not even notice him leave, their heads remaining hung low.

Mentally cursing to himself for being so careless about mentioning the Witch, Fujioka got up from the booth and ran after him. Exiting that den of hopelessness, he saw Ian stumble as quickly as he could down the street. Fujioka gave chase, his sobriety making it easy to catch up to the intoxicated Mr. Byrne. Roughly grabbing the terrified man by the shoulder, he dragged him into a nearby alleyway and pushed him up against a grimy brick wall.

"All I need is information, Mr. Byrne. I just need to know if-" He was once again interrupted, this time by a wad of spit hitting his cheek. Turning to look directly at Ian, he saw that the young man's face had turned beet red with rage, his nostrils flaring angrily as he bared his yellow teeth in a snarl.

"You fecker! You stupid fecker! You said that she'd be gone, dammit! That I'd never worry 'bout her again! You-" Now it was Ian's turned to be cut off by a swift punch to the abdomen, sending the man toppling to the ground. Fujioka stood over him, his eye as cold as steel.

"If you would let me finish, Mr. Byrne…" The priest took Ian's pained groans as permission to continue. "… I merely came here to search the area and ask you if you had seen or heard from her, nothing more. You really didn't make to make things so difficult for yourself, Ian."

"Go to Hell!" Ian managed to croak, still on the ground clutching his stomach. Fujioka rolled his eyes in annoyance at the man's refusal to cooperate. Getting down on one knee to, the man of God grabbed Ian by his long, greasy hair and pulled back, forcing him to look him in the eye.

"Remind me again, Mr. Byrne, who was it that came to your aid all those months ago? You went to the police and begging them to save you, but they just laughed at you, didn't they? They laughed at the drunken lunatic, ranting and raving about a witch being after him. No one believed you, Mr. Byrne. Not your friends, not your family, not the authorities. No one."

Fujioka clutched Ian's hair even harder, causing him to emit a whimper of pain.

"You then went before the Church, where you should have gone to in the first place, as a desperate last resort. Even though you've been a sinful degenerate all your life, you still expected God to take pity on you and save your pathetic life. And perhaps He did, Mr. Byrne, because when the local priest heard your description of this witch that was trying to kill you, he knew to call me right away. Most know that I've pursued the Elm Witch for quite some time, of course. I came to your aid, and you helped us finally capture her."

Ian was openly sobbing now, memories of the months he lived in fear of Violet's wrath came flooding back. He would jump at every sound, every shadow, every person he came across, fearing it could be her, coming to end his life for trying to cheat his way out of his end of their agreement. Fujioka felt no sympathy, his gaze as cold and merciless as he was.

"And now that I've come back here to ask you a few questions, this is how I'm treated? Whether or not you like it, Mr. Byrne, you owe me. Just like you owed her, come to think of it. I hope you haven't made a habit of worming your way out of your debts." Fujioka sneered, letting go of Ian's greasy hair and letting his head fall to the hard pavement, eliciting another cry of pain from the disheveled young man. The priest wiped his hand on his jacket, his lips curled in disgust.

"Now, I will ask you again. Have you seen her at all lately?" Ian shakily shook his head.

"Has she tried to contact you?" Another head shake.

"Have you seen or heard anything strange lately?" No, Ian silently answered.

"There, that wasn't so difficult, was it? If you had just cooperated from the beginning, I wouldn't have needed to use force. Although, I suppose that's how you ended up in such a sorry state in the first place." Fujioka said, standing over Ian and regarding him as one would regard an insect. Ian glared up at him, the fire having returned to his eyes. The priest paid him no mind, turning around and beginning to leave the alleyway.

"Don't act all high and mighty, ya prick!" Ian called out in anger. This stopped Fujioka in his tracks, who turned back around to face the younger man.

"Excuse me?" he said, his voice carrying an underlying sense of indignation. Ian clumsily got back onto his feet, standing there in the alley, burning hatred etched onto his red face.

"You fuckin' walk around, actin' like some kind of martyr, but it's all crap! Ya didn't help me outta the kindness of yer heart, you fecker! So stop actin' like yer a goddamn saint!" he bellowed, angry spittle flying from his mouth. Fujioka's eyes narrowed darkly.

"Care to explain what you mean, Mr. Byrne?" he asked, his voice dangerously calm. This seemed to go unnoticed by Ian, who continued with his rant.

"Ya know damn well what I mean, ya piss-ant! I know why ya hate Violet so damn much, what she did to yer granddad!"

"You are out of line, Mr. Byrne." Fujioka warned, his eyes narrowing intensely at Ian as his voice became low and grave.

"He was just like me! Some damn fool that thought her magic could solve all his problems! Well, it didn't, did it? She fucked his life just like she did mine!" At the mention of his grandfather, Fujioka's demeanour took a dark turn. His breathing became shallow, his nostrils flared, his hands clenched into fists so tight his knuckled turned white, and his eyes burned bright with his barely suppressed rage. Ian, for his part, either did not notice or did not care as he stumbled angrily towards the priest.

"All that lookin' and searchin' for Violet, it's not for God, is it? It's for your stupid fuckin' revenge! So stop walkin' around like-" Ian's rant was cut short by Fujioka's hand wrapping around his neck and slamming the back of his head against the brick wall. Ian was about to cry out in pain, only to be silenced by Fujioka tightening his grip around his throat.

"Once again, Mr. Byrne, you slur and flap your diseased gums about matters you know nothing about." The priest growled, causing all of Ian's anger-induced bravado to leave him. Even if he wanted to retort he could not, as Fujioka's hold on his neck pressed down on his vocal cords.

"The Elm Witch is a cursed blight upon the world. All witches are, of course, but she is by far the worst of the worst. The fact that my grandfather once consorted with her has nothing to do with why she must be destroyed." Ian was barely even listening at that point, the lack of oxygen making him feel weak and lightheaded.

"You and my grandfather are not the only people whose lives she has ruined. So, Mr. Byrne, what I aim to achieve with her death is justice, not vengeance. You would do well to remember that." The priest let go of Ian's neck, causing him fall to his knees onto the ground, watching the younger man cough and gasp desperately for air. As sweet, life-giving oxygen filled his lungs, Ian saw Fujioka crouch down to his level, a sadistic glint in his dark brown eyes.

"You were right about one thing, you know. My grandfather was indeed a damned fool. He turned to the Elm Witch and her black magic, he asked her to help him get what he wanted, and she did, for a time." The priest's eyes burned even brighter, a hint of pain showing through his rage.

"But a witch never does anything for free. They always demand something in return. Eventually she came to collect, and when he wasn't able to deliver his on end, she destroyed him and everything he held dear. And then…"

Fujioka grabbed Ian's chin, lifting the younger man's face to look at him straight in the eye.

"… when he had nothing and no one, when he was reduced to an even more miserable wretch than you are now, she killed him. It was not a slow death, either. She made him suffer for hours, every second that passed feeling like an eternity. In the end, when she finally ended his life, it was more of a mercy than a punishment. He was nothing, and by killing him she made him less than nothing." A cold, sinister grin grew on Fujioka's face.

"All he did was break his word, Mr. Byrne. So, can you even imagine what she will do to you, someone who actively wronged her? Who had her captured and chained, left to rot for three whole months? Even I shudder at the thought." Ian's eyes grew as wide as dinner plates at the priest's words, who stood up and dusted off his pants. The younger man remained on the ground, paralyzed with fear and dread.

"She… Violet…" he managed to sputter, his body beginning to shake as he imagined all of the gruesome, horrific ways she would exact her revenge on him. In the short time he had known her, she had proven herself to be an "arm and leg for an eye" kind of person, showing no mercy for those that slighted her.

As Fujioka looked down at the man trembling in fear, he almost felt sorry for him. Almost. He still chose to turn to witchcraft to fulfill his desires, and for that he deserved everything he was about to get. Of course, he did embellish the story of his grandfather's demise a bit. He did not actually know if the man suffered for hours on end before he met his end, as he himself was only a young boy at the time, but based on the photographs he had seen of Satoshi Fujioka's mangled, blackened corpse, it had not likely been a painless death.

As Fujioka turned to leave, Ian bolted past him, scurrying away like the rat that he was. He paid the man little mind, his business with him concluded. By the time he exited the alley and was on his way back to his hotel, he saw a small crowd of about six people gathered around one of the nearby buildings.

"For God's sake man, don't do it!" A man yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Please, just come down and we can talk!" A woman desperately pleaded.

Wondering what all the commotion was about, Fujioka turned to look at the direction the people were yelling at, only to see Ian Byrne, teetering over the edge on the roof of the five-story building, a manic half-smile on his sweaty face.

"Well, who knew rats could run so fast?" he muttered to himself, stopping to watch how this would play out.

Ian, for his part, did not even seem to hear the people down below begging and pleading for him not to jump. His eyes were glazed over and distant, as though he thought he were in a different place all together. After a few moments, he started to faintly chuckle, which evolved into a full-blown deranged laughter.

"Fuck you, Violet! You won't get me, you goddamn bitch! You won't get me! I won't fucking let you!" he bellowed, the look on his face almost euphoric as he took a step over the edge, causing his body to tip over and fall off the roof of the building, landing on the pavement with a sickening crunch as the crowd screamed and cried in shock and horror. From what Fujioka could see, Ian had landed headfirst on the concrete, causing his skull to cave in from the impact and blood to pool on the ground at an alarming rate. He saw several bystanders pull out their phones to call an ambulance, but the priest knew that it was too late. The man had almost certainly died the second he hit the ground.

Fujioka watched the terrible scene unfold, completely indifferent and unmoved. He turned around and walked away from the horrid spectacle, desperately needing a shower from having to touch that filthy -now deceased- man. Still, he decided to die on his own terms rather than let the Witch make him into her plaything, which he could almost respect.

Of course, that did not change the fact that the man was certainly burning in the fiery pits of Hell where he belonged.

Ian Byrne was cut from the same cloth as his grandfather. They were both fools who always thought they could weasel their way out of their responsibilities, and paid the price.

Taro Fujioka, however, was no fool.

Yeah, if it wasn't obvious already, Kanato is my least favourite Sakamaki. I don't know, nothing about him is really appealing to me. Sorry to all you Kanato fans, but he's just not my idea of a husbando. :(

Fujioka really hates Yui/Angela/Violet, doesn't he? Yeah, he definitely has legit reasons to hate her, but he's still kind of a douche. To be honest, the Elm Witch is a bit evil, but he definitely paints her out to be much worse than she actually is.

On another note, some of you may know that a few months ago, I edited and rewrote all of the chapters of my other story, Justine. Well, looking back at the previous chapters of this story, I've decided that I'm going to do the same with Elm Witch. Now, it won't be anything major, the mains story will still be the same, I'm just cleaning stuff up, adding a few things, correcting spelling and grammatical errors, filling in plot holes, etc. The story will definitely still be the same in spirit. I hope to have the rewritten chapters posted within the next few weeks.

Thanks for reading! I hope the wait was worth it!

MA