Chapter Five

Haru had skipped third and last period, and I hoped it wasn't because of me. He seemed pissed during swimming class, and I guess it was for a good reason. I couldn't tell him the truth either way, though. It probably wasn't worth thinking about anymore, but I couldn't help it. I had been about to tell him that I liked him, and he knew it. He knew what I'd been about to say before the Sagamaki brothers interrupted. I wondered if he thought there was still some chance that we could…

I shoved those thoughts aside. No. Absolutely not. I did not want to be involved with Haru right now. In fact, I really didn't want to be involved with anyone, including the vampire brothers. There was a time and place for everything, and now was not the time to be thinking about long-term relationships.

Last period ended in a drag, like every hour was really more like three hours, and watching the clock really did make time move slower. But when the limo finally pulled up to the front of the school, Haru came running outside. I thought he'd gone home, but he really had just been avoiding me. I turned away, expecting him to keep running, but then his hand was on my shoulder, spinning me around.

"Hey," he said. His voice was firm and a little angry, but his expression made it seem like he was trying to be civil.

"Hey."

"What's your deal? Do you hate me now or something?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, please." He rolled his eyes and then looked at me, angrier. His civility had gone. "You run off with those rich assholes and then never want to talk to me again? I'm not stupid. They said something to you."

They certainly did. They said a lot…

"Did they say I'm bad for you? They're psychopaths, Yui! They told me… they're just fucking weird, okay?! And I really think you need to get away from them! I want to help! That's all I want, Yui! I just want to help you!"

"Back off," Ayato growled, walking up behind him. I saw him coming, but I didn't have the emotional strength to stop Haru from talking. He sounded so sincere… It was heartbreaking.

Haru turned and scowled. "You're hurting her, you know that?"

"Yea, yea. Come on, Pancake. We've got plans."

"What?" What plans? I didn't know about anything.

"I'll tell you in the car. Come on."

The last thing I saw when I turned around was Haru eyeing up the back of Ayato's head like he was contemplating murder.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Dinner?"

We pulled up to a large building made of red bricks and a wooden roof. I didn't know that vampires liked Italian. Their meals were always prepared by Reiji and I didn't remember him ever making pasta with red sauce and garlic bread with Chianti. And I couldn't even picture the brothers eating that kind of food. It just seemed too… messy. And red. Vampires eating red sauce just seemed like a really bad joke. I could picture it dripping down their chins… Ayato's chin.

I glanced over at him and he smirked when he saw me.

"Hungry?" he asked, and then he parted his lips and stuck out just the pink tip of his tongue, brushing it over his upper lip. I caught a quick, purposeful flash of his fangs. I looked away before I could blush.

It was probably close to one in the morning. The sky was cloudy, too, so when I stepped out of the limo and looked up, I couldn't find the moon. The stars wouldn't give any light through the clouds, either. It was dark—perfect for creatures who flourished in the nighttime.

"Is this place even open this late?" I asked. There were only a few cars parked in the lot, and I knew it was a stupid question because I could see that there were lights on inside. But I felt like asking anyway just to say something.

"You'd be surprised which places are open late, Bitch-chan," Laito whispered, leaning towards me. I involuntarily shivered. "The night is when all the fun happens, after all." He shrugged and walked ahead of everyone, heading for the big mahogany doors. The rest followed him and I made sure to keep up with Shuu so I wasn't behind everyone. Nighttime might be when all the fun happened, but it was also the time when a girl like me had to look over her shoulder every few seconds.

Of course, that was an exaggeration when I was surrounded by the Sagamaki brothers. As menacing as they were, they still had some protective tendencies towards me, and I doubted that they would let some random stranger just come up to me, for whatever reason.

"Ayato-kun?" I said softly, hoping the other brothers wouldn't hear. It was a silly hope, but I couldn't help but be part-human anyway.

I watched Ayato's eyes as he turned to me, a flash of yellow-green and his trademark smirk. He slowed down so that he was beside me and Shuu walked past me to give us some privacy.

"Ayato…" I started, but trailed off. I knew what I wanted to say. I wanted to tell him that I wasn't going to tolerate him biting people at the school, but… Why? For all I knew, he did it anyway. Vampire had to feed, and because they hadn't been biting me recently, that probably meant that they were getting blood elsewhere. And they never talked about it with me. Why would they? And it just felt weird to ask them about that.

"Hmm?" He lifted an eyebrow when I didn't continue.

"I guess I just wanted to say…" I trailed off again. I wanted to say… what? Ayato, don't bite the new girl at school? Ayato, don't act like such a vampire all the time? It's okay to have human friends? I didn't even know what I was trying to say. And what was that look he was giving me? "I don't want you to hurt anyone…"

He narrowed his eyes and then just walked ahead, leaving me in everyone's dust.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

We sat around a large table in the back. Apparently, this is the kind of thing that Reiji spent their money on. They own the back part of the restaurant and had a curtained-off section away from the rest of the people. It was very fancy—its own separate room with a large fountain in the corner and carved emerald decorations lining the shelves on the walls. They served our meals almost fifteen minutes ago, and I was right—vampires eating red sauce was like a bad joke. Thankfully, under Reiji's careful watch, everyone was using their napkins. I couldn't help but picture things in my mind anyway.

I ordered a miniature calzone, a side salad and a small bowl of tortellini with melted cheese. I wanted ice cream, but I knew I wasn't going to ask for it, especially since they were paying.

It was much different from a few days ago, when we all sat at the dining room table in the mansion in silence. Here, in their private room, it was much more pleasant than before. Laito kept harassing Kanato, pretending to drip wine on Teddy and laughing when the smaller vampire seethed with anger. Reiji was trying to strike up a conversation with Shuu, who was actually nodding and such instead of ignoring everyone. Subaru seemed calm, and for a few moments I just watched him slowly twirl his pasta on a fork and spoon—very proper-like—and gently bring it to his mouth. Ayato had been talking to me for a little while, but his attention had soon been diverted towards Laito's joking and Kanato's mild shouting. He joined in with them, laughing every so often.

It was the same in the fact that I was practically ignored, but it was still nice to see everyone in good spirits again.

The only downfall was that now I knew the secret—the secret about me. And I still had plenty of questions to ask Reiji. Was it a bad time to talk about those kinds of things here? I wasn't sure. I wanted to talk about it, and this was one of few times where they were all together in one place, and none of them were in a bad mood, either. That was rare, from what I'd seen.

"Could you pass the salt, please?" I asked, looking for maybe a different flow of attention around the table. Ayato sat to my right, and Subaru to my left. I watched as Ayato turned and eyed up my plate. His attention diverting to me drew Laito and Kanato's gaze as well. Reiji looked over, too. My gaze fell back on Ayato.

"Salt? For what?"

"My salad."

He looked at my plate like it had done something wrong.

"You've eaten almost all of it without salt already."

"Ayato," Reiji scowled. "Just give her what she asked for. That's bad manners."

"She doesn't even need it." He smirked. "Pancake just wants a little attention."

I flushed a bright shade of pink and look down at my lap. Was I really that easy to read? And now they all thought I was some little girl who needed to have some attention. I really just wanted to talk to them. Not even about my questions. Just… about anything.

I realized it had gone silent, and they were all looking at me.

"Well… why are all of you always ignoring me?" I asked, my voice coming out small and weak. I was still looking down.

There was a long pause before Reiji broke the silence.

"I thought I explained to you the position you're in. And you should understand the position we're all in, as well."

I finally looked up. What was he talking about? What position?

"I don't understand."

"You can be extremely dense sometimes. Do you know that? It's a miracle you can even feed and clothe yourself."

I know I'd just been insulted, but I wanted to talk about this. I couldn't let his usual insults scare me away from trying to talk to them.

"What position am I in?" I asked, and I was very aware of all the eyes on me.

"I've explained this to you more than two times now, Yui…" Reiji pushed his glasses up his nose in his impatience.

"No… I understand that I'm… part vampire and all that… well, the part about… having children. Is that what you're talking about?"

Reiji let out an aggravated sigh. "And now you're ruining our dinner…"

"Why can't you just explain it to m—"

"I'd rather not waste my breath, seeing as you don't listen to me the first ten times I try and explain things to you."

"She doesn't understand," Subaru said, and I looked over at him. "She doesn't know how these things work according to us. It's only natural that she would think like a human. In all your knowledge, Reiji, and you still don't understand that about her?"

"And she's curious," Ayato said, with a smirk. "You can explain something to her, sure, but she'll probably want to hear more. Especially because this is new to her."

Reiji spat. "You two defend her as if you've already bonded. And you speak like human filth. She's making you soft. All of you." He narrowed his eyes and I could only sit there in silence. Subaru had already gone back to eating, although he was tenser now. Ayato was glaring at Reiji, but then he turned back to me.

"Sorry, Pancake," he said with a light laugh. "It's just that you're with us and it's a little awkward that you don't want any of us. There's no reason male vampires would spend so much time with a female unless they were mated. It's only because you were human that everything is like this."

"It's not normal to just… be friends?"

A collective, low hiss echoed around the table and I jumped.

"It's already embarrassing for us," Reiji said, "Please don't try to make things better with your disgusting human concepts."

"I was just saying tha—"

"If a male vampire saw you in here with us, he would assume that we were all mated to you. But we aren't, so anyone of our kind would see our sharing living space with you as desperation. We would be seen as pathetic vampires. First of all, we are all nobles. We are purebloods from wealthy families and excellent backgrounds. Second of all, we can have our choice of female if we so desired, to an extent. You aren't even as physically capable as one of our infants. It's demeaning of you to assume that we enjoy spending this time with you as if we were some kind of human obscenity. You are no longer human, Yui. And it would be considerate of you to at least understand the position you've put us all in."

I gulped down a lot of shock and a little sadness. Reiji almost made it seem like they all wanted me to leave if I wasn't going to…

"What can I do to help?" I asked. It was the only thing I could think of to say.

"You could start by acting a little more like a vampire, now that you are one. Stop clinging so helplessly to your old life. It's despicable."

I looked around the table. No one was looking at me and it was solemn again. Did they all feel the same way? Did everyone just want me to… leave? But that's so cruel…

And Reiji was being extra unpleasant today. Before, he'd seemed so set on answering my questions and helping me figure out what I wanted to do. Now… He just seemed like he was angry, and it was all directed at me. And the silence made me feel like he spoke for everyone. Were they all mad? At me?

"I'm sorry." I quickly said. "May I ask a question?"

Reiji rolled his eyes and tore through his pasta with his fangs.

"Uhm… I'm sorry I can't help but think like a human, but I will try to consider how you do things now that I'm a vampire… But… if I don't… mate? If I don't mate with any of you… would you want me to leave—?"

"Yes—"

"No."

I looked over at Subaru when he cut off Reiji. He wasn't looking at me, though. Instead, he glared across the oblong table at the other man. He narrowed his eyes.

"Once again, you speak as if you've already bonded. But we all know you haven't."

"I do not believe that in Yui's case we have to force her to mate with us to be bonded. Because she was once human, she acts as if she's bonded to us, even now. She reacts to what we say. She feels emotions based on what we do."

"Well that side of her is wrong. She needs to learn to be a vampire now."

"And if she doesn't?" Ayato asked, lifting an eyebrow. "Would you not want her to mate with you if she stayed this way? Even if she wanted to?"

Reiji opened his mouth to answer, but then paused and thought about his next words. "The two of you are attached to her because of all the blood you've taken from her. You are not bonded. If you don't drink from her within the week, what you feel now will be gone. And then you will share my thoughts on this matter."

There was a long moment of silence. Subaru and Ayato looked like they were thinking about what Reiji said, but he was the one to break the silence.

"I believe that this should not go on longer than it needs to. Yui." He looked over at me. "If your intention is not to bond with any of us, then you are restricting us in a very private and immoral way. You should consider taking up residence in another location."

"What?" Ayato said, almost jumping up from his seat. "You're kidding? What if a male sniffed her out? If she's not within our property lines, they wouldn't care about going after her. If anyone does pick up her scent, the reason we haven't seen anyone else is because our property is marked. They can smell us, too. If she was by herself—"

"Then maybe she'll finally learn her lesson."

Ayato let out a sharp hiss and bared his fangs. Subaru let out a low growl as well, and to my surprise, Shuu shot a little snarl at the calculating vampire. Laito and Kanato stared at everyone, probably as surprised as I was.

"You will not kick her from the house," Shuu said, his voice calm and slow, despite his low growl. "The deed is in my name now. You have no authority."

"And your pride? Do you even have any?"

"Pride… isn't vanity. If you're so concerned about how you look to others of our kind, then go find what you deem a proper mate. For those of us who disagree… we will not follow."

"You do realize what you're saying?"

Ayato snarled again, but Reiji ignored him.

"You're all ignorant. Yui probably doesn't have our immortality. You would waste years upon years following after a female that refuses to have you? Only to have her eventually die of old age and leave you to your wretched, miserable selves?"

"Who are you to say what I want, anyway?" I jumped in, and suddenly, it got quiet again. The only thought in my head in that moment had been my attachment to Ayato, and how before, I was considering trying to… well, start a relationship with him. It would have to be partly as if we were both human, not just vampire, but I was still willing to give it a shot. But how was I supposed to let that one out of the bag? I doubted I could just ask Ayato out to a movie or something…

"I've done a lot of thinking, Yui, and I've come to the conclusion that you may, eventually, end up choosing one of us. But then that will be all. Your human past will not allow you to take more than one of us. I have seen that you are incapable of many things that are custom to vampires and I am trying to protect my brothers' integrity."

"Well, you can stop," Subaru spat. "You're probably just upset because you know that if you're right, the last person she'd choose is you."

The table erupted into shouting on all ends. Everyone had something to say, and all I could do was look away. I glanced down at the table and tried to figure out if the pain I was feeling was emotional, or if it was the awful stinging behind my eyes. I didn't want to be here, at this table. I didn't want the brothers all fighting because of me. All of their problems were because of me…

I stood and quickly headed for the exit. I quickly pushed the curtains aside and walked out onto the floor. I made my way to the restaurant's exit and pushed open the doors. I was hit was a cool breeze, but as soon as the doors closed behind me, Ayato was in front of me and he took a step forward, pinning me against the doors.

"Aya—"

He leaned forward and bit into my neck. I flinched, but he only bit down with the tips of his fangs and then removed them. It stung, but it wasn't that bad. He drank only a little, but he kept his mouth against my skin. It made me shiver. Every few moments he would suck a little at the holes, drawing only meager amounts of blood—nothing he would bother with if he was feeding from hunger.

And then I remembered something Reiji had told me before and I wanted to try it. I reached down and took Ayato's hand with both of mine and he lifted his head from my shoulder. I slowly reached up and put his wrist to his lips. He blinked a few times, and then slowly bit down with only one fang. He closed his eyes as he began to take his own blood.

"No," I whispered, and he paused, opening his eyes. I pulled his arm a little and he let it go limp for me. Without a word or warning, I pulled his wrist to my mouth and sucked for a second. I heard Ayato hiss and pull away, but it wasn't before I took a little into my mouth and swallowed. It was awful. The taste was disgusting, and for a moment I thought I was going to wretch.

"Why would you do that?" Ayato asked, his breathing in pants. He cradled his forearm in his free hand. His eyes were wide and he was watching my face frantically, his gaze darting around like he was looking for something.

"I don't know…"

"Do you know what you've done?" he shouted, and then lowered his voice. He hissed under his breath.

"I thought it was just…" Well, the way Reiji had described it was the human equivalent to pleasure… I flushed. For a vampire… did Ayato take that as something like having sex in public? Somehow I doubted that. The look on his face made it seem more like I wounded him. I suddenly felt a strong rush of embarrassment—

"No, don't do that!" He dropped to his knees, still cradling his arm.

"Ayato!" I got on my knees as well and placed a firm hand on his shoulder. He was panting like he's just run a marathon. "Do what? What's wrong?"

"You're… so…"

He looked like he was about to collapse. His eyes lidded and he swayed back and forth.

"What happened?"

I jumped—and Ayato hissed—when Subaru appeared over us.

"I… I don't know—"

"She took my blood," Ayato whispered through clenched teeth.

Subaru's face went white and then I saw a faint blush hit his high cheekbones. What did it even mean? I didn't think they would react this way. He looked down at me.

"Why would you do that here?"

"She doesn't know what it does," Reiji said snottily, exiting the restaurant. The others were behind him, and then they weren't; they probably went back to the limousine.

"Go with the others. I'll get Ayato," Subaru said. He was purposefully not looking at me. Were they mad? Oh, god. What did I just do? Did I hurt him?

Ayato let out a pained moan and Subaru cursed under his breath, trying to hold the other brother upright.

"Try not to feel anything. He'll feel it, too, but… on a different level," he said to me and I turned to him. "How much blood did you take?"

"Uh… Barely anything."

"It should ware off in a few minutes then." He turned to Ayato, who was moaning as he dragged him across the parking lot to their vehicle. "Oh, give it a rest. It can't be that bad."

"Is he in pain?" I paused for a second so that I could walk next to the two of them, but as soon as the question left my lips, Ayato let out a sardonic laugh.

"No, Yui," Subaru said quietly. "He's not in pain."

"But he sounded like he was."

"First of all, it's very strange that his would happen to begin with… You're not bonded."

"Why does everyone keep saying that? How do you even know?"

"We would smell it. Vampires give off a certain scent when they've mated and bonded. You can't have one without the other."

We entered the limo and Subaru placed Ayato down on the longer side of the car so he could lie down. He was still making noises and his head was rolling back and forth, almost as if he was incoherent, even though his eyes were open and he kept grinding his teeth,

"Unless she different," Shuu added.

"Our little Bitch-chan certainly is special."

"It could only be because of her human history," Subaru said.

"So she can bond without mating…?"

"Which would make sense regarding why some of you have been acting like bonded males. She gives off a scent like she's mated with Ayato because she's bonded with him…"

"That's impossible."

"So was a Prospective Bride successfully changing into a vampire who could have pureblooded children."

"Has she bonded with anyone else?" Laito asked.

"I don't know," Subaru said, "Why don't we feed her our blood and find out?"

I jumped at that and Ayato groaned in response.

"I believe it's obvious she's bonded with you," Reiji said to Subaru, "And possibly Shuu."

"Definitely not you, though."

Reiji snarled at Subaru.

"What? So now you like her?"

"Will you guys stop it?" I said, and they turned to me, eyebrows raised.

"You're just one surprise after another, Bitch-chan. After all, most bonded covens get along, but you're causing all sorts of waves. Although I can't say I don't wish you'd bond with me…"

Laito crawled across the seats in the back of the car until he was almost on top of me. He put his face close to mine and I jumped when his hand ran down my side. Ayato let out a loud hiss, and then his moan made my face heat up. That moan definitely wasn't one of pain…

"Now this is something…" Laito said curiously. He leaned closer to me so his face was next to mine and he brushed his hand down my neck. I froze, but I shivered, and Ayato let out another long moan. Laito chuckled and glanced over at Ayato. "Feel good, brother?"

"I'm gonna kill you," Ayato breathed, baring his fangs.

"How about this?" He angled his head down and I felt his sharp teeth brushing against my skin. Ayato clenched his teeth and grunted loudly.

"That's enough, Laito," Reiji said. "Not when Ayato's like this. Have some decency." He turned to me when Laito backed off and sat back down in his seat. "And you… it would be… proper of you to take care of him. Seeing as you made him like this." And then he turned and looked out the window. Everyone else looked away as well. "And for next time… you don't share blood unless you're in private. I hope you know how this makes the rest of us feel."

I slid over and gently placed a hand on Ayato's shoulder, unaware of what they all expected me to do for him.

"I don't know…"Laito said with a smirk. "I kinda like it."