"Hello, Suzuki-san," Luce greeted but didn't move from her rocking chair. She was still knitting a light-orange sweater.
Adelheid flinched. "How did you...?"
"Pffft." Luce laughed. "Your footsteps are always unique." Adelheid blushed at the comment.
Chapter 13: Covenants and Blood Spells.
Her name is Luce Chen, though she kept her maiden name of Giglio Nero on some occasions. She was the Giglio Nero Ottavo before her daughter, Aria, who succeeded that position as Giglio Nero Nono.
She lived in Venice, the romantic capital of Italy with her husband.
Her covenant name is Teeon, the wisest and the oldest. She's the only covenant vessel to be able to control her Blood Spells. Her partner is Xion, the gold-feathered falcon and her squirrel, Chay-Lu.
"For what matter are you here, my dear Suzuki-san?" She puts down her knitting tools and gestured her squirrel to come. "It is such a long ride from Sicily to Venice; you must be tired, are you not? Please, help yourself." She pointed to a tea set she had prepared.
"I didn't come here for chatters," Adel began, trembling.
Luce smiled and got up from her chair. "I insist," she said and poured tea to both cups. It seemed to agitate the Phlegm further.
"Why won't you call me Adelle like you used to? Even Master stopped calling me that! Luce-sama, could it be that you and the Master don't consider me your... daughter anymore?" She regretted that her voice came out louder than she intended. She was never good in holding things she wanted to say, especially in front of her foster parents.
Luce didn't say a thing, but kept staring at her foster child. "Is it because I... I..." Adel gulped nervously.
"Your life is your choice, Suzuki-san. Both your father and I thought about it way before you decided what you wanted." Luce puts a cup of tea in front of Adel; the smell of Jasmine tea invaded her sense of smell brutally. It was her favourite tea.
"I never had Jasmine tea ever since I left this house..." she forced herself to say it.
Luce smiled sadly. "Yes, I know."
That word made Adel move around uncomfortably. "So, why are you here, Suzuki-san?"
"Adelle."
"I can still remember how you blushed whenever Cozart-san said that name," a man's voice interrupted.
"Dear!" Luce stands and greets the man, earning her a kiss on the lips.
"Please sit down, Luce-san. Don't force yourself." Both of them sat down on the sofa.
"F-father..." Adel stammered at seeing the man he considered her father for years.
"Suzuki-chan, for what reason are you here?" He asked, his tone calmer than a summer breeze.
"Why won't you... even you..." Adel closed her eyes in pain.
"Cozart-san called you that and you are happier when he does. You had chosen your life, Suzuki-chan." His words made her jolt.
"The reason I came here, is to pursue Lady Teeon to go to Japan... It is about the Sawada Prince," said Adel softly.
The couple held each other's hands more tightly. "That boy is just a little child. What he knows of the Covenants and Blood Spells are much more limited than I." The man said.
"The Prince is a close acquaintance of Daemon Spade... knowledge is not the matter here." Adelheid insisted.
"Daemon... Spade...?" the soft voice changed.
"Luce-san..."
"Why... Why is it that the Sawada Prince has connection to Daemon Spade?" Her eyes changed from the typical blue sky into auburn-red.
"Didn't you know that Sawada Prince's current legitimate guardian is Daemon Spade?" Adel asked, looking surprised.
"It can't be... I'm sure that I gave the guardian appointment letter to Neena," Teeon seethed.
Adel smirked. "How did you send it?"
"Via Blood... Spell..." Teeon widens her eyes in surprise.
"True..." Adel smiled mysteriously. "Daemon Spade had hacked them."
Teeon's eyes flutttered. "D-dear..." Luce leaned to her husband, asking for support.
"Luce-san..."
Luce was pale as the implications hit her. "I have to go... I have to go to Japan... It's my fault for sending such important letter via Blood Spell."
The man hugged his wife as he asked to his daughter. "Is it safe to assume that Daniela Vongola had began to move?"
"Yes. She has. Also, one more thing..." Adel drank her now cold tea in one sip and head to the door. "Vindince, Shimon, and Millefiore are in one stance and goal, making Sawada Prince a Phlegm."
"You know that making him a Phlegm will destroy balance of the three races which I, Neena, and Ceevo hold," Teeon seethed.
"I know, Luce-sama." Adel smiled. She bowed to both of them and headed out. 'I did it, Cozart-sama...'
Inside the house, Luce tidied the place, her husband watching her sadly. "We should go as fast as possible, Luce-san," he said.
"Thank you for your attention, Fong-san," said Luce as both of them shared a kiss.
"It's been such a long time, little Carlo!" Daniela waved, throwing the body of a man she sucked blood on just a moment ago. "You've grown taller!"
Her voice didn't change at all... that same gentle yet childish voice with hidden tone of mischief. A voice that made Ricardo never assume to get married... as he shall protect his sister forever.
"Piccolino?" That name again. 'Little one' doesn't suit him anymore. Yet when Daniela is the one saying it, everything does.
Ricardo didn't move nor say a thing. Daniela laughed and whispered the word Ricardo yearned, and yearned for so long. "Ti amo, Ricardo," she smiled and sniffed around Ricardo's neck.
"Uncle!" Giotto ran through the corpses. It snapped Ricardo back to reality.
The appearance of the blond man shocked Daniela. She let go of Ricardo's cheeks and staggered. "G... Gio..?" she muttered as tears fell down her face.
Giotto examined the woman in front of him. She was a little shorter than him, with that cute flower pattern on her face. A pattern that he felt he saw somewhere before.
"It's you... You've grown... Just like your father..." Daniela stammered and hugged him.
Giotto was bewildered. Everyone had told him that he looked like his father in a cold, expecting tone. But this woman, she said it with a joyous tone. Like she really felt that it was something fortunate.
Giotto had never been happier.
"Giotto, you're... you're-!"
"Aaaargh!"
Daniela sank her fang on Giotto's neck, ripping his clothes apart. Unlike Sawada Tsunayoshi who cried during process of taking blood, Daniela did it with no hesitation.
"Mmmm tasty..." Daniela murmured.
"GIOTTOOOOO!" Ricardo shouted. He lit the flame of rage on his hands and punched Daniela's hip.
"Ugh!" She rubbed her hip and backed away after they were forced to the wall.
"AGHHH! ARRRRGH!" Giotto cried in frustration, and pain. Ricardo panicked and tended to him roughly.
"Neena can await another time, right now, I have another place I need to be there for." Daniela grunted and willed herself to disappear.
"Enough!" A voice interrupts.
The Vongola siblings eyed the door in different expressions. "Aria! You fool, she wants you!" Ricardo shouted desperately.
"It's not that time yet, she can only take the Blood Spell within me on a new moon," Aria said as she rushed to Giotto.
"Her real goal is no doubt, making Giotto-kun a Phlegm!" Aria accused. Ricardo was torn in agony. He never expected his nephew to be targeted, plus the fact that a Phlegm had bitten him. Giotto's screams echoed through the Hunter's association.
Daniela smirked. "Awesome, or rather, as expected of Lady Neena," she clapped in amusement. "To figure out my real goal just by walking to the room," she bit her own thumb and spoke.
"Obey your dominion, o spells of the heaven. Under the blood pact I stand, under the blood pact you serve. Give me power; to protect the world's secret!"
Blazing orange flames came from her dripping blood. "Make: 'Path'!" The flame freezes and provided Daniela an escape. "Gio will come, he seeks power, and he wants 'him' as well. Sawada... Tsunayoshi."
She ran through the unlimited ice path and disappeared.
"I'm sorry, Ricardo-san. I know I shouldn't have come here," said Aria as she continued to use her Blood Spell to tend the hysteric Giotto.
"No, it's fine." He gritted his teeth. "Why... why would they want Giotto?" Ricardo asked.
Aria closed her eyes answered with her own question. "Could it be... Daemon Spade?"
"This place reeks of human scent," The blue-haired man smirked. "Are you doing what I think you're doing?" He asked.
"Don't joke a-about that, Daemon-san..." Tsuna replied, locking his door to make sure nobody stepped inside without his permission.
"Nufufu~ I'm not joking, nor am I lying. Not to my beloved godson." He gestured Tsuna to sit on his lap.
"Why are you here a-anyways?" The brunette asked while sitting on the latter's lap.
"Oya? Is my presence here unwanted, Tsunayoshi..." Daemon licked Tsuna's neck.
Tsuna flinched and shook his head abruptly. "N-no, o-of course not!" He felt ticklish. Being around Daemon Spade, his godfather, made him know and feel how to be so... so... powerless and vulnerable. "I-I have school..."
Daemon hugged the vampire's waist tighter. "I don't care, my cute godson." He buried his head on Tsuna's neck. His eyes were red from restraining the urge to bite the Prince.
"Funny, isn't it?" He asked, indulging himself further on the smell of Sky Blood. "You're a vampire, and I'm a Phlegm, but here we are, together." Daemon smiled as Tsuna shifted uncomfortably. "Godson?" He asked, sounding so playful and deadly at the same time.
"Stop it, Daemon-san." His voice sounding stiffer and hoarse from controlling his urges.
"Nufufufu..." Daemon laughed. "Ceevo and Teeon will be here any time."
Tsuna tensed. "Wh-what?" He asked, sounding absolutely unsure.
"The Covenants are assembling, Tsunayoshi. I hope you'll be more careful. The only wolves I can count on are Nuvola and Fulmine, since the first one is strong and the second is a Protector..."
Tsuna gulped and nodded. "Covenants are dangerous; they'll do everything it takes to kill you... And they'll let you die by thirst, a dreadful way to die for a vampire or Phlegm..."
Daemon smirked while Tsuna jolted. "You know this, yes?" Tsuna shivered and nod. "If you do, you know who to side with, yes?" Daemon sat in front of the shivering vampire.
Tsuna hugged the man in front of him while shivering. "Y-yes, Daemon-san..."
Daemon smiled and hugged the brunette back. "I'm happy, Tsunayoshi... Nufufufu."
After that, Daemon left the vampire alone, leaving with a kiss on Tsuna's forehead. After fifteen solitary minutes, his best friend knocked. "Good morning, Tenth!"
Tsuna abruptly stands and pushed a nearby chair to block the door. He shook his head a few times and checked his apartment. Even though he felt no threat, he still panicked.
He opened the window and ran towards the misty sky. "Tsuna!" That's... Yamamoto's voice, isn't it? 'Don't catch me, don't... Let me... Die...'
But Yamamoto did catch him. He abruptly let go and shivered. He can see Gokudera's figure running to them. "Tenth, are you..?" When he approached to touch Tsuna's shoulder, the brunette jerked away.
"Don't... touch me..."
From afar, a man named Katou Julie smirked in victory.
Beta's Notes: Wew. Solera here. RanLei sure does make more and more plot twists XD
Even I don't know what comes to me for beta-ing lol.
Author notes: Lol thanks Solera! And thanks for beta-ing XD
C'mon guys, don't let me feel so unappreciated by not reviewing :( if you don't like how the plot progressed or you like it so much to be so spechless right after reading (;D), say so! Or if you have suggestions or questions or anything, I'll do my best to answer it through the story. Yeay for Daemon Spade to be sooo hot and to be the inspirational character for me to make this story!
Please review! ;D