Walking A Fine Line

"Er, listen!" I said, my brain doing backflips inside my skull. "Ayato, I really haven't—"

"Oi. How did ya know my name?"

Shit. Shit. Shit.

"...do you want to hear the real answer, or do you just want to draw a conclusion on your own like you're so fond of doing?" I was on death row anyway; I might as well show a little sass.

"Oh, I wanna hear this," he replied, his grin bordering on insanity.

"Let me go, and I'll tell you."

"Nice try. You're not in the position to bargain." To emphasize his point, he tightened his grip on my wrist, and I winced. It felt like it was going to break.

"...it's hard to talk... when you're destroying... my carpal bones," I replied in a strained voice, and he obligingly loosened his grip just enough.

"Speak. Yours truly won't be so generous again."

"What if I told you that in an alternate universe, you're in an anime tormenting a girl named Yui Komori?"

"Anime?" For a moment, I thought I was going to have to explain my vocabulary before his eyes lit with absolute glee. "An anime! I must be the main character, right?!"

"Um... actually..." I was about to say "no", since he shared the screen time with his brothers before I reconsidered. "Well, yeah, come to think of it." You're the main male lead anyway, as far as I'm concerned. "At the very least, you're the only one that got anything even resembling character development."

"Oh yeah? C'mere and tell me all about it!"

Well, I thought as Ayato pulled me onto the bed with him, at least my life is saved. For the next few minutes.

"What do you mean it didn't get a good reception?" Ayato asked dangerously, and I swallowed, a little terrified to tell the truth, and I rubbed the back of my neck. "Yours truly was in it, wasn't I?"

"Well, yes," I said, nervously clearing my throat. "But, um, DL—Diabolik Lovers, that is—has a lot of things that people aren't okay with. Like the lack of consent... and um... actual character. I-I mean, your brothers are all just like... I'm a scary vampire! Fear me! for the entire series." At Ayato's face, I quickly added: "But, I think you're the saving grace, like I said!"

"Hm... that was an interesting story," he hummed, smirking. Thank god for his ego. Or rather Cordelia, I guess. "Then, as a reward, I'll let you leave here alive." You will?

"Holy shit, really?" Ayato started laughing, and I wondered if he'd just been trying to get a rise out of me.

"I'll let you leave alive if you do one more thing for me."

"Please don't say torture, please don't say torture, please don't say torture."

"Hah? Don't get full of yourself. I have better things to do today than waste my time torturin' ya. But," Ayato grinned. "Seeing as how you still broke into this room, you're gonna hafta make it up to me. I'm feelin' pretty damn thirsty."

"...you could just say you want to kill me then," I grumbled.

"I told ya I wouldn't kill ya. Do ya take me for a guy that doesn't keep his word? Me?"

I groaned, laying my hand over my face.

"...Fine. I know I don't have a choice. Have at it."

I bared my neck to Ayato, hoping it would be like getting a shot. If I looked away, wistfully, I thought that I wouldn't feel it as much. I knew it was going to hurt. DL was marketed towards masochists after all.

"Uh... what are you doing?" I had to ask, because rather than getting on with it, Ayato was licking my neck. "A-Ayato?" In the next instant, Ayato had me flat on my back, his body above mine.

"Ayato-sama," he growled in my ear. "That's how you'll refer to me."

Now he sunk his teeth in. Two needle pricks in my throat, sharp and stinging. Almost immediately, I started to feel woozy at the thought of the blood leaving my body, and it took every ounce of my willpower not to faint as he sucked.

"What the hell?" His voice actually helped keep me in reality. My neck felt blazing, even as he feverishly licked at the wound he'd just made in my flesh. "That's... the best blood I've ever tasted."

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked, even as I closed my eyes tight as he bit me again. "Ow. Ayato." So this is really how I'm going to die, huh? "Ayato...sama, please stop."

And... he did stop.

I panted, holding my head up with my hand as dizziness overcame me. How much did he take? I counted eight swallows. What was that, like two pints?

"You... I like you." He was grinning again. Shit. That was what he said to Yui, and where did that get her?!