AN: Hey everyone how is it going time to enjoy the next chapter of Knighted by Blood. Thank you to my super wonderful Beta Amanda for the sick work that she has been doing. As For the negative reviewers and my faithful reviewers that have been sticking up for me thank you, as for you haters there's a warning I put up for a reason. Also i'm not mad at you for hating you know this story is great that why you hate also if you don't like sex take your ass to the rated T section.
Disclaimer: I do not own Mai-Hime
Warnings: Futanari story Vampire-Demon story with smut-like references.
"Talking"
"Thinking or P.O.V"
Sometimes I would ask myself how I got into these situations, the kind which only served to annoy me, suffocating me under the weight of irritation. But then I looked over to Alyssa and her beaming face and I remembered exactly how I'd gotten there, as she delightedly went from booth to booth, trying everything out like an excited puppy who greeted the world with a fresh, enthusiastic outlook. Right now we were in the very heart of rush week where everything was colorful, and it reminded me of my old high school festivals. However, unlike those festivals, everyone smelled like stagnant beer and cheap, knockoff perfume or cologne. In my eyes, the whole atmosphere of rush week seemed very forced as everyone tried their best to make his- or herself fit into the ideal fraternity or sorority, and the smiling faces on each face did nothing to lift my spirits. Quite the opposite, actually. I looked around to see eight booths set up, sprinkled across a small pathway, leading up to the science building beside another group of booths that were set up for campus-related clubs. Just then, simply getting through the huge mass of people swarming around me presented itself as my main objective, however seemingly impossible it may have been, but my mind once again wandered to my obligation of attending my nine o'clock class. I knew I had to make this quick.
"Hey!" Alyssa exclaimed, jumping in front of me. I had forgotten that she was there for a moment, and as I watched her smile spread across her face once again, I couldn't help but roll my eyes.
"Don't act like that Natsuki. It's not as bad as you think."
"I woke up early for this, but I swear that if one more jock 'accidentally' bumps into me, I'm feeding him ground glass!"
"I enjoy that kind of thing. It lets me know that they are interested. You know, there's this foreign exchange student named Brad, and he is so yummy."
"Really Alyssa…"
"Yeah, really. I think I saw him pledge with Omega Brothers. Oh by the way, come on - the line to Alpha Gamma is open!"
Before I could speak up, I found myself being dragged by Alyssa, and my beat up, old converse scraped along the ground roughly as if they meant to voice my protest for me. As I approached the table, my dreaded expectations were fulfilled as I noticed four girls, very similar in demeanor and dress to Alyssa, sitting in chairs and greeting inquisitive visitors at their booth. As they spotted us, all four beamed in adoration at my dormmate and friend. I immediately attempted to ignore them, quickly shoving earbuds into my ears and pressing play on my device as to drown out their annoying voices which I likened to the sound of nails on a chalkboard. My volume was not loud enough, apparently. Still, I pretended not to hear them.
"Hi and welcome to Alpha-Gamma. You are?" asked the first girl, whose hair was every bit of blonde as Alyssa's.
Noticing her pink shirt whose bold, black letters read 'PRESIDENT,' my mind needed no further explanation as to what kind of role she played in this orgy of stupidity.
"I'm Alyssa Sears. This is Natsuki Kuga and I'm totally interested in Alpha-Gamma!"
I watched their faces carefully as they looked at each other, exchanging knowing glances before staring me down with obvious expressions of disapproval. It was apparent to me that these girls did not want me around since, unlike Alyssa, I hadn't a famous family name to get my foot in the door. However, my friend was far too caught up in the moment and blissfully unaware of their dislike toward me.
"You're the Alyssa Sears?" the Alpha-Gamma president gasped.
"Guilty…" Alyssa smirked as she replied.
"Oh my goodness - my mother is sisters with your mother! Do you remember me?"
"Oh my god! Is that you Becky?"
Upon realizing their connection, the two stood up and hugged each other with a delightful squeal, and I suddenly felt in that moment that I would throw up everything that I had ever eaten. The inorganic atmosphere to this entire scene left my stomach feeling very unsettled, and the only thought that kept me from retching was the remembrance that this was Alyssa's life, not my own. As I watched the president introduce Alyssa to the rest of her sorority sisters, I took advantage of the opportunity to slip away. I really needed to get to class, I thought to myself, but I also knew that I was not being honest with myself if I continued to pretend that was my only intention. I knew where I truly wanted to go.
As I discretely escaped the bleach-blondes' brainwash marathon, I faded into the crowd and took another look around, still not quite admitting to myself that I was truly in search of a particular booth. Then I saw a single desk with only one girl attending to it. There was no giant, eye-catching banner or fancy frills about the table. It simply had a small sign on it reading 'Alpha-Beta' in Greek lettering - a stark contrast to the rather elaborate and mysterious invitation I'd received last night in my dorm room. Once again, I felt a surge of hate flood my being, inexplicable in its origins or the direction it would take me. I'd never before felt hatred toward a single, solitary soul in my life. It was true that I may have disliked my circumstances in which I'd found myself at certain times throughout my life, but to blindly feel the emotion directed at some mysterious group left me puzzled and beyond unsettled. I had always managed to keep a strong handle on my emotions, understanding them to be the cause of chemical reactions in the brain. Even when my mother left me, I rationalized the action on a logical basis which I weighed through a series of pros and cons from what I believed to be her perspective. I still believed human emotion could be explained through science in the end, and that is where my major came into play.
For all that was within me, I could not remember a time when I saw any sign of depression in my father's behavior, even leading up to the very day of his death. I knew in my bones something was amiss and that people did not just kill themselves without some kind of reasoning behind their actions. When I grew older, I searched every library I could find until I stumbled upon one containing the newspaper articles published the day after his suicide. I learned that on the day of his death, six other people also committed suicide, the cited reason being the downsizing of many local jobs and a struggling world economy. I decided I would find the answer to all my questions in biochemistry, and that there would be a scientific answer to all of it. Facts were facts, and there was no changing them.
Tearing my thoughts away from my pensive reflections, I looked on in horror as I watched the girl fold up her chair and begin disassembling her desk. I ran up to the booth, trying not to appear too anxious, and got a better look at the girl running it. Her red hair was cut shoulder length, and her sharp facial features were narrow and slender, complimented by a bright red shirt that read 'Alpha-Beta.' Her jeans hugged her waist tightly, and she appeared almost similar to the mystery woman in the library, yet my instincts told me that I was going to get something completely different from her than a swift kiss on the back of my palm. Upon realizing that she was clearly ignoring me as she packed up, my face curled itself into an apparently annoyed expression, the evidence of her mirrored, equally irritated countenance speaking for itself.
"Whoever you are, we aren't accepting pledges. Feel free to look at our website. Now shove off," snapped the red-haired woman without looking up or breaking away from what she was doing.
Taking the invitation out of my textbook, I held it out in my hand, forcing it into her view and raised one finely pointed eye brow. I must have grabbed her attention.
"Look, we already have all of our members."
"Who said I was joining? I just came back to give you this card and my answer."
"Tch…and I just came here to dye my hair blonde like the rest of the Alpha-Gamma sluts. I don't know where you got that card from, I'm sure it's a fake."
Her voice as drenched in sarcasm, and even her gum popping was so obnoxious that I felt a strong urge to punch her in the throat.
"Look I could do without the smartass comments, OK? I've had a long morning, and being dragged to this shit isn't exactly my idea of a good time!"
I knew I was projecting toward her some of my frustration which stemmed from my mysterious experiences of yesterday, still reeling from unsure emotions and unanswered questions. People skills were not exactly my forte. Even when I had attempted to step out of my shell and get closer to someone, it backfired on me. My thoughts drifted to my first and only boyfriend Akira Hiroshi. We dated for a day only for it to end with violated breasts from clumsy teen hands and a smart slap on the cheek. Never again. I decided to withdraw from people even more after that day. Even still, it wasn't enough distance apparently. I had never felt such a strong, interpersonal pull toward a stranger such as the one I felt drawing me to the chestnut blonde with enigmatic eyes in the library.
Snapping out of my emotional recollection, I realized that I needed to get to class, and every minute counted towards my GPA. I needed to redirect my attention to the cocky red-haired girl in front of me.
"Well no one's forcing you to join! Besides, we don't even know who invited you."
"How the hell should I know? Maybe it was a prank, although the gothic scene is really a joke in itself. Heh, if you're going to pledge to people, try not to make your invitations look like a 90's rip off."
"Why you-"
"Is there a problem here?" inquired a new presence on the scene.
Turning around, I saw a busty, orange-haired woman and suddenly my anger dissipated, seemingly simmering down far below the threshold that it threatened to flow past just moments earlier. Her demeanor was that of a motherly figure, and her aura was simple, reliable, and non-threatening. Straightening myself out, I felt a slight twinge of regret over the circumstance at hand, knowing full well that causing a ruckus with my seniors was something not to be taken lightly. Looking over at her, I noticed the redhead appeared to feel just as guilty as me, if I was correctly in judging the expression on her face, and I felt perhaps I had misjudged her character a bit. Feeling that it was up to me to break the ice, I took it upon myself to speak first as I could tell my debate partner was shit scared.
"I'm sorry. I was explaining to her that I'm not interested in your sorority," I said.
"I see. We have all of our members. Do you mind if I see that card? We have a lot of other sororities that have…" she paused, "more than competitive attitudes towards us."
As I handed her the card, she ran her eyes over it, skillfully examining and deciphering the legitimacy. She then looked over at the redhead, meeting her eyes in a knowing look of excitement. She handed the card back to me.
"It's legit."
"What the hell - how is that card legit?!" asked the red-haired woman, apparently angry at the very idea of it all.
"I just know, Nao."
She turned to me.
"On behalf of Alpha-Beta, I'm sorry for our vice president's outburst. I guess Nao's outspoken nature can get the better of her. I suppose all law majors tend to develop a sense of speech to the injustices and justices of the world, even outside the court room," she explained with a smile.
"I get what you mean. I tend to get into bio-chemistry mode during some situations, but no worries. Not like I'm going to join anyway. I have a lot on my plate this semester."
"Well, you got a card so at least come to opening night and see what we do! Despite the impression Nao may have projected just now, we actually have a cozy little set up. Hey, if you don't like it, you can give back the card with no questions asked, and we won't hound you afterwards."
Upon hearing the kind words, I let down my defenses. Something about this whole experience was new breaking into my usually bleak, morbid style of thinking.
"You said I can leave any time if I don't like it?" I asked.
"Anytime," supplied busty woman.
"Got a pen?"
Nao begrudgingly produced a pen and a sign-in sheet placed atop a clipboard and handed them both to me, and before I thought further about where this all could lead, I signed my life away. I was officially going to attend a sorority meeting.
"You did what?! No way!" Alyssa exclaimed.
"Hey! Keep it down in there!" a voice from next door screamed, the loudness of Alyssa's voice triggering the banging of the wall from our next-door neighbor. The walls were very thin.
Watching her expression of surprise and giddiness was the climax of my day. After getting out of my classes, I knew that I would need to eventually break to Alyssa the news of my slight interest in Alpha-Beta. All I was waiting for now was the string of 'I told you so's from her.
"I knew it!"
"Not this shit again. Look, I'm just going to the meeting to see what they're about. I'm still not joining."
"Sure, whatever. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be Alpha-Beta's bitch in no time," Alyssa joked with a grin, seeing well past my front.
"Speaking of bitches, how was Alpha-Gamma?"
"It was great. Becky said I have to pledge, but really I'm a shoo-in for the spot!"
"Wow, and the hypocrisy turns once again on the thin line of college bimbo life."
"They aren't like that. They are sweet, but you wouldn't know that since you disappeared on me," commented Alyssa with a perfectly prim smile.
"If they are so sweet, how come they looked at me like the plague?"
"What was that?"
"Nothing…"
Alyssa laid on her stomach on the floor, resting her elbows on a pillow as she supported her chin on her palm heels and looked up at me. I took my usual seat at my desk, mulling over my chemistry assignment that I was bound to complete, as well as Sunday's reading material.
"So, are you going to find out who gave you the card?"
"Maybe. I was hoping you could guide me with some of this crap so I won't look too lost."
"Hmm…well I don't know much about Alpha-Beta, but they follow the rules like the rest of the sororities. I'm sure you'll meet the person that called for you. Afterward, if you attend the next meeting, they will discuss fees and things like that. Then after that, it's pledge time. That's when you sell your soul and guard the secrets along with your sisters."
"There's a fee?"
"Yep!"
"Sounds like extortion."
"From what I heard, it's taken out of your financial aid and it's only up to a semester. I heard Alpha-Beta's fee is the cheapest one."
"Well, that's a relief. Is that why they limit everyone? Because of the fees?"
"Everyone assumes that, but I don't have the answer to that really."
"So much for finding out the big secret. Well it doesn't matter to me. Hell, it's not like I'm going to join anyway."
"Yeah right, I'm sure you're going to be one of those hardcore, Alpha-Beta enforcers."
"Yea right…"
Just then I got an email from an unknown source. As I read it, my eyes widened with shock.
I know about your father. If you want to discover the mystery to his death, meet me in the next ten minutes by the school fountain.
AN: That is it for this chapter now I leave the rest to my beta thanks Amanda.