DFA: Welcome back!
LB: Zzz.... Zzz...
DFA: Shh... Don't wake Bells! She's... extremely tired... right? (Author Dawn kicks Author Bells)... whoops.
(Author Bells rises up with dangerous look on her face)
LB: What the heck are you doing??
DFA: Heh.
Kaname: (Under his breath) Dawny's in trouble, Dawny's in trouble! (sing-song voice)
BA: Aw, shaddup!
DFA: While Bells murderizes me, let's go on with the next chapter!
Chapter Five: To Finish What Had Been Started
So this is what it feels like to be hunted instead of being the hunter.
That was his only thought as she lunged for him. He had pulled out the Bloody Rose, but somehow, he couldn't use it on her. No, it would be better if he died, than see her crumpled on the floor, never taking another breath.
His hands tightened on the gun.
Her mind still was open, and he could feel the terror, the anger, the lust that she felt. He was amazed that she could hold back for so long.
And there was another feeling. Love.
That feeling was overpowering, but still not strong enough; it was unable to hold against the feeling of bloodlust. He was amazed at the fact that this... this demon angel was actually in love with him. Him, a lowly life form compared to this... being so beautiful that she was almost unreal.
Somehow, a saner part of his mind told him to defend himself, told him that she wouldn't want to see him dead because of her as well. His feelings fought for each other, and the love for her was much more than a life without her. He wouldn't want her to be upset, as if what hurt her would hurt him. Like... they were just two halves of a whole.
He raised the gun and aimed it for her heart.
A gunshot rang across the lands, echoing loudly as blue liquid spattered across his body. He sniffed deeply, and grimaced.
It was blood.
In front of him, the silver-haired angel's eyes fluttered shut, and she collapsed, a smile on her face. The blood pooled around her, staining her ivory dress and her hair.
Nakano Kanaye stood behind her, smoke hissing out of the gun. His eyes, too, were blood red, and his beauty was astounding. He was almost as beautiful as his sister, and far more beautiful than Takuma himself. His longish silver hair waved gently in the light wind.
Takuma couldn't tear his eyes from the look in the older vampire's eyes. It was hard, cold, filled with no sympathy or sadness for his sister's death.
Kanaye tucked the gun back into a holster he hid carefully in his jacket before stepping forward to lift his sister's corpse up. Her head lolled around his arm as he did.
"Don't touch her!" Takuma yelled hoarsely, his heart thumping as Kanaye turned to look at him with his deadly eyes. What monster was this man?
"No. Don't you ever go near her again," Kanaye said in a tone filled with authority and fury. "Your existence puts her life in danger. You cannot ignore that." With that, he whirled around and carried his sister away, away from him.
--
-Ayumi's POV-
I woke up with an aching body and with no memory of what happened after I changed. I recalled Takuma… he had been amazed… by me...
Memories of the night before ran through my head, and I gasped, shocked as always at what happened when my saner self was unconscious.
I sat up, and bit my lip to muffle the cry to the pain that sliced down my back and settled in one burning point.
Kanaye stroked my cheek, and his arms encircled my waist. "How're you feeling?" he asked, releasing my waist to stroke the part where I was shot with one finger, tenderly. His cool temperature was soothing to the burn.
"Like I've been electrocuted at one place," I admitted. "It hurts." But not as much as how my heart feels now. Fortunately, I had shielded my head, so Kanaye heard not what I thought. But, he could sense my feelings, and I sensed disapproval in his.
"Don't worry. It'll pass."
"I know," I murmured, then asked, "Where's Takuma now?"
He tensed.
"It's okay, I'm just curious."
He sighed. "I guess... that's something that won't ever pass, will it?"
His voice was a soft melody, and the obvious pain in his tone pained me as well. I automatically reached back with one hand and cupped his face, then hesitating as Takuma's face flashed in my mind.
"What's wrong?" he queried, his hand closing over mine.
"It's just... oh, never mind." I blushed. "It's not important."
"It is to me, if you're blushing." His mind breached my defences, but I held strong. He sighed. "It's him, isn't it?" he asked softly, his fingers trailing the skin on my arm. I shivered.
"Tell me something," Kanaye said after a moment, his eyes faraway.
"Yes?"
"Do you feel more for him... than you do for me?" he murmured, his lips against the skin of my neck. I shivered.
"No," I immediately said, then wondered if it was a lie or the truth. I knew not such things these days.
He kissed my neck. "Please don't lie to me, my love," he whispered, more pain in his voice. "Tell the truth, and you may live your life however you wish."
The hand on the bed sheets tensed, and ripped five holes in the mattress. The tearing sound made the both of us jump, and I automatically smoothed it over with my hand, murmuring a word of repair to fix it.
Well, we had to learn a few spells from an old Vampire Mage, whom my brother killed after a time of apprenticeship. We knew how to heal, to repair, and to do various other spells that help us stay concealed and safe from the public eye.
So why did I show myself to Takuma? Why did I risk our lives, and our mission, to chase away the boy who heightened my feelings, who smells so wonderful that I can barely keep my hands to myself when I'm around him? His blood yesterday... I was going to kill him. There was no denying it.
And there was no denying my feelings for him now. They were too strong, too unpredictable.
"I..." I swallowed, and whispered, "Yes, I love him."
"And you wish to spend your life with him? Give him immortality as well? Or do you wish to join him in death when he goes? Maybe become one of his kind?"
My eyes fluttered shut. "I do not know."
"Ayumi, I need your answer."
I shivered again.
"Give me time to think," I pleaded.
He sighed. "I give you one week. You may do as you wish, and you must think about it. I want your answer in one week. If you choose me... we will finish our mission and we will be wed. If you choose him..." his voice trailed off, and he took a deep breath.
"I will finish what we have started. Alone."