The blood scene is at the end, so keep reading fellas. It's a long chapter with lots of reveals lol. Let me know if anything was unclear!

CHAPTER 17:

► Vampire Voyage: Pt 2

The fool among us

After

The day had come to an end. The sun had long set and while it was expected that the island would be put asleep, it was quite the opposite. The moon was nearly at its fullest this night, and provided the island of a gentle light that woke every nocturnal creature present. The trees surrounding the hotel cast large, dark shadows over the courtyard, making place for a chilling eeriness. Although even this side of the Island was beautiful. If not for entirely different reasons.

In those shadows, if you looked closely enough, a man was to be seen. Soon after his walk over the hotel's courtyard, the push of a balcony door marked his entrance into the girl's bathroom on the second floor.

The night was calm, or so it seemed.

Before

The rafts were ready, and the teams already clumsily getting the hang of peddling and balancing their self-made boats. To start the activities, there was of course a raft race. On their "do it yourself" boats, each team tried to reach the finish first. Everyone in Masami's team seemed not to care about winning. They just peddled steadily, keeping their feet neatly within the raft. Turnip's team won the race, and the redhead made sure that everyone knew.

However, it was the second game that was going to be a real challenge. Everyone gathered around in the center of the lake and every team picked one person who was supposed to be good at keeping their balance. That person would stand in the middle of the raft. If that person fell, the team was out.

Kou already started urging Cretin to be the one standing, but Masami volunteered instead. She was still wet from earlier, so it didn't matter if she was going to get wet again.

The wind was strong and left a sharp, cold feeling on Masami's skin. It was now even harder to balance the rafts as the waves got more intense, which made standing on the constantly moving garbage boat not any easier. Masami was barefoot as well, which wasn't ideal since the tires were incredibly slippery. She tried to position herself as best as she could, almost slipping while doing so. Immediately, Kou steadied her by grabbing her by her leg. "Don't worry. I got you, Mi-chan," he said, smiling as usual while holding his peddle defensively in his other hand. At this, Ruki eyed Kou, but he didn't make a comment about it.

The game began.

As expected Ruki came up with a tactic to minimize their damage. Instead of battling along the other teams, they peddled away, safely watching the others from a distance until there were less threats to deal with.

And good that they did. After not more than five minutes, half the participants were already in the water. Everyone figured out that if the other teammates ended up in the water, the standing one would fall eventually as well. So, they pushed and pulled, the rafts dangerously tilting from one side to the other.

Shoe's team lost first. Instead of trying to protect the standing person in his team, Shoe had allowed the other team to reach for the student and pull them off the boat, leading to immediate disqualification. His team now lounged on the bridge, watching the other teams fight it out. Shoe, however, was nowhere to be found.

More importantly, Masami saw a certain redhead from afar in the water, along with Fedora. Yui was standing in the middle of their boat. She was obviously frightened and barely holding her balance, even though Fedora was holding her leg; his hand placed far up her thigh. Masami frowned at the sight, but at the same time, could not keep looking. Those two still made her feel uncomfortable.

To her far right Masami spotted Bandage's team. And of course, her nemesis, Ponytail. The guy who had swung her over the bridge like it was nothing.

Getting friendly with him is going to be impossible.

I'll have to avoid him.

Unsurprisingly enough, it was Ponytail who had made the most victims. People were too scared to attack his boat, and so, one by one he slammed people off their rafts with his peddle. It didn't even look like he was trying. Bandage, his teammate, sat there quietly and out in the open, seemingly inviting people to hit him due to the lack of defense. No one attacked him though, since Ponytail was doing a marvelous job at keeping them at bay.

Not too much time passed until there were only three teams left. Team Masami, team Ponytail and team Turnip.

Masami's team had only lasted thanks to Ruki's tactic of staying out of sight. But once Turnip noticed Masami, his eyes grew larger. For a second a frown appeared on his face, though this quickly faded into an amused expression.

"Hey you, corpse!" he called out, while peddling towards her raft. Irritated he turned around, nudging the normal, but terrified student on his team with his peddle. "You bastard, peddle faster!"

Kou's grip around Masami's leg tightened, painfully so.

"Kou," Masami said, twice. Only when she started pulling away her leg, he relaxed his grip. His eyes, however, were still shooting daggers at the Sakamaki brothers in front of them.

For a third time, Masami called out his name.

"You shouldn't move away like that, Mi-chan. Or else you'll fall and all my effort here will go to waste."

With Turnip and Fedora racing towards them, Masami decided it was best to listen to Kou, though the coldness in his voice bothered her. But she had no time to dwell on it. Instead, Masami positioned herself closer to Kou, leaving enough room for Ruki to peddle. So far, Ruki hadn't said much at all, and was more focused on steering the raft away from Turnip. The cretin girl hadn't said much, either. She sat behind Masami quietly, after Kou had promptly told her to shut up right before the game had started.

The chase didn't seem to end, though now, Turnip was peddling even faster. Mainly because Ponytail was chasing him as well. A split second later, Turnip was close enough to hit Masami with his peddle. Luckily, Kou as well as Ruki defended her as well as they could. Kou was at the disadvantage though, since he was still holding Masami by her leg, not being able to use both hands to defend the raft.

"You half-blood bastard! Ore-sama is going to win this!"

Smack.

Kou replied with a laugh, and a fierce hit with his own peddle. Turnip's raft shot back, almost making all its passengers lose their balance. Before Kou could triumph in any way, Turnip extended his peddle as far as he could, and smacked Kou across the face. The sound of a loud splash followed. By some miracle, Kou had let go of Masami before he had fallen off the boat, so she was still standing upright, if not barely.

The water bubbled and horrified gasps came from a few disqualified female spectators on the bridge. Finally, to their relief, a head of bright, blond hair resurfaced. From above the bridge, the girls could only see a mermaid-esque scene of their handsome idol. From below, however, you could see his eyes spitting fire.

"Kou," Ruki said as he extended a hand towards the blonde in the water. Kou looked up at Masami in that moment. Before looking away, his expression twisted into something grimmer than the usual bubbly expression that he sold so easily. His eyes now focused on the hand that was offered to him. A moment of hesitation passed, before Kou grasped Ruki's hand, and boarded the raft.

Cretin gasped, desperately hoovering her hands over the dripping wet boy. "I can't believe he did that to you! Are you okay…?"

Though, before she could even finish, she was hit in the stomach with Kou's peddle. A splash followed with a clumsy 'whoops' from Kou's side.

Masami was completely taken aback by his action. Ruki seemed not to be fazed by this, and instead, just told Kou to behave himself.

"Why did you do that?" Masami asked while trying to keep her voice flat. She was getting angry again.

Kou seemed to be lost for a second, before he turned to Masami again, his cheek already developing a bruise. "Why don't we focus on the game?" he said breezily, again grabbing Masami by her leg, ignoring Cretin who climbed back onto the boat.

Masami glanced into her direction, and felt bad for the girl, even though she'd been nothing but unkind to Masami so far. It still felt wrong. Masami knew what it felt like to be ridiculed, and it must've been even more painful for Cretin, as she admired the boy that had just mercilessly thrown her away. He had made it clear that Cretin was nothing more than a nuisance to him.

Then, the girls' eyes met, though not for long. Immediately, Cretin turned her head away. Masami noticed the peddle being clutched tighter, while the human girl kept her head as low as she could.

Masami was about to say something, but as Kou had said, the game was still ongoing.

And Turnip reminded her of that.

"Oi, don't even bother getting comfortable! You'll end up in the water again!" Turnip shouted. He peddled closer, but he didn't get far, as another peddle hit the student on Turnip's team off their raft, followed by another hit right on Turnip's back. With a big splash, he landed in the water. It was Ponytail who'd hit them. Yui was still standing, thanks to Fedora holding her. But that didn't last long, as another hit from Ponytail onto the raft itself, made the raft unstable enough for Fedora to lose his balance as well. He fell in the water, pulling Yui with him.

"Wait 'till I get to you, you bastard!" Turnip cursed at Yuma after he'd resurfaced. His bright hair stuck to his face, his expression was several times more barbaric and pissed off than it was before. Masami knew that look and she instinctively looked away.

Fedora resurfaced as well, though less angry and seemingly unsurprised by the outcome. Casually, he pushed his wet auburn hair out of his face, earning a few fangirl screams from the disqualified students. A handsome face was what they saw, but Masami knew better. Even thinking about it made her uneasy. She loathed the fact that she still felt uneasy around Turnip and Fedora. The worst was that she didn't know how to get rid of this feeling; the constant reminder of their treats, their grip, their breath on her skin. Masami imagined that this was what Yui had been through ever since she'd been sent there. No, the girl had been through worse, Masami could tell. Humiliation, pain and loneliness. And yet she was so kind and patient. Masami didn't understand it.

Then, her mind went blank. Masami was hit by a thought quite similar to the sensation of being hit by a train.

Where's Yui?

Yui was the only one who hadn't resurfaced yet. She was one of many that wasn't wearing a safety vest, so Masami had assumed that she could swim.

Frantically, Masami started looking for the girl by peering into the water. The panic hit her hard. She couldn't let something happen to her. Not after how much she'd helped Masami. How she had taken care of her after Turnip had bitten and injured her and how Fedora had cut her. She wouldn't allow anything to happen to her friend.

And so, before even Ruki got the chance to ask where Eve was, Masami had already jumped off the boat.

Alexa was guarding students of her group while they did their activities. Her eyes were sharp and quite unfriendly, and because of that, in combination with her height and her everlasting frown, the students were quite intimidated.

All of them. That of course, included the scum.

Most of the scum had ended up in that kid's group. Of course, Alexa ended up supervising another group of students, but it was what it was. So far, she could only see one with glasses, an awfully childlike sucker with a bear, and one with white hair and a frown to match her own.

They were visibly uncomfortable with her being there, feelings that reflected Alexa's. The one with the glasses, Reiji Sakamaki Alexa knew, had even approached her. He'd asked if she was here because of their father's orders. Alexa had grimaced, obviously insulted. She'd only replied with a stern 'go back to your activities, or your grades will suffer'. Childish, she knew, but effective. The other two were far more hostile and annoyed by her presence, but also seemed to realize that keeping distance was the smartest option.

During her break, Alexa received a call from a number she did not recognize. Only a handful of people had her number, so she naturally assumed it was a call from that kid. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't.

The man on the other side of the line was awfully cheery. His voice was pleasant to listen to, and he picked his words carefully, Alexa could tell. It annoyed her to bits. It was how he hid that ugly side of his. Alexa wasn't going to allow him to waste her time, and instead immediately wanted him to get to the point.

"Why did you send her to my house? Who do you think you are, dragging me into your schemes, Facilier? And of all things, vampires."

"Interesting girl, right? Reminded me of someone. Plus, I know you really love kids," the voice said, seemingly smiling from the other side of the line. "Plus, you're pretty much the only person fit for the job."

Instantly the image of her deceased son smiling cheerfully flashed before her eyes. Alexa gritted her teeth, but remained calm. She naturally sounded angry whenever she spoke, so there was no real need to raise her voice. "A job? Taking care of a half this, half that girl? No, thanks."

"Oh! You already know about her…condition. I didn't expect that, but really, miss Williams, bravo, brava! My respect. May I ask exactly how...?"

"She didn't die eating my soup," Alexa deadpanned. "Now, you idiot, what is it you want from me?"

"That's harsh, what if she died?" Facilier half whined, half laughed. "Anyways, right. You just need to be there for her! She needs a mother figure, honestly. Alexa, you might be the most hostile person on this planet, but all in all, you were a good mother."

Were.

Past tense.

Alexa dug her nails into the palms of her hands, but other than that, she did not flinch. "No. Something like her shouldn't be stable enough to be alive. Besides, she suffers from memory loss."

"Ah, yes forgot about that! Help her with that too, will you?" he said.

"No, I'm going to hang up. Do it yourself. I'm not a delinquent foster mom."

"I'll tell you all about her condition, and what needs to be done. Just please, Alexa, I beg you. Protect her. She's not safe where she is, and it's too dangerous for me to get her out of there. I'll provide you with a generous compensation, all I'm asking for is your time."

Alexa raised a brow. "Who is she to you?"

There was a short silence, before the man chuckled softly. "Ha… it doesn't even matter. Don't worry about that. I'll transfer the money to you tomorrow, and I'll tell you about her condition right now if you take the job. Will you do it?"

Alexa glanced around, feeling like she already took the job the day she let that kid into her house. She already stepped with one foot into this mess, and now this guy was trying to get her other foot in there as well. She sighed deeply. "I'll see what I can do."

"So that's a yes?" the voice beamed.

"It's not a yes."

"But it's not a no either, is it?" he laughed and was seemingly happy with the outcome. "Thank you, Alexa."

"I'll need some information and clarifications."

"Right, right!" the voice said. A short silence followed, before he continued. "You were close, but she's not a half this, half that."

"Then what? Is she a human or vampire?"

"This is going to be difficult to explain, but she's neither."

"Neither?" Alexa pulled up a brow. "Bullshit."

"I suppose you are familiar with how a human is turned into a vampire right? Either they keep getting their blood sucked until they turn into a leech themselves, or the fast way; they die with vampire blood in their system."

"I know all that shit already. Get to the point."

"Well the safest way is the first way. The second method isn't always successful. In many cases human bodies cannot accept the vampire blood, so they start rejecting it. After they die, these people never wake up. She's one of the extreme rare cases that did wake up, even though her body rejected the blood. Essentially, her body constantly fights the vampirism inside her. It's like she's standing on the edge between being a human and a vampire. She's not quite either. Humans can't consider her to be human, as she doesn't age at all and needs to consume blood. Vampires can't consider her one of them, because for her lack of strength, her weak health, her need for food and her minimal need for blood."

"Weak health…" Alexa said, while thinking everything over. It made sense, but what were the odds this could happen? "Is the human side winning?"

"Yes, that's why she's constantly sick, and extremely unstable. Her human side wants her to die, the vampire side wants for her to live. Unfortunately, her human side is stronger than her vampire side, and her heart is getting weaker and weaker. Feeding her vampire blood would help lift some of the symptoms, but it won't be long-"

The connection cut off.

Alexa pulled her thick, brick phone away from her ear and saw that the device had turned itself off. Low battery, probably. She cursed out loud, and refrained herself from crushing the device with her foot.

In the course of the day, her annoyance didn't fade. She went over everything she'd heard, stuck with a million questions in her mind for which she tried to figure out the answers. Again and again, she asked herself why she was here. Why did she have to care, anyway? She didn't know the girl, and dealing with Facilier was always dangerous. He was involved with very dark and dangerous magic and he was without question up to no good. She could just leave. Leave and never turn back.

However, at the thought of leaving, she was again reminded of her son, who smiled so stupidly at her. Alexa thought of what her son would do, and was reminded that he always wanted to help those in need.

It was stupid, naïve, and exactly what she was going to do.

The rest of the day everyone only seemed to talk about two things. Both of those topics were centered around the school's very own hobo girl.

Firstly, the fight between that one new humongous student and said hobo girl. Next, the unexpected heroic side of hobo girl, who saved a girl from drowning even before anyone else knew what was going on.

People gushed over Masami like never before; strangers even randomly patted her on the shoulder for what she'd done. Unexpectedly, her reputation had gone from total zero to hero.

Masami pondered about this for a while. As usual, she couldn't fall asleep. Everything had been so stressful so far, but she was proud that she'd been able to make the best of it. She'd befriended Kou, even Ruki. She'd worsened her already disastrous relationship with Ponytail. She'd saved Yui from drowning, and had earned a rather reserved thank you nod from Glasses afterwards. She even got to see him scolding Turnip and Fedora, which was immensely satisfying.

More importantly, Yui had been okay. Together with Masami she spent lunch in the infirmary, resting and thanking Masami continuously. Masami had been quite flustered. It was very unlike her, but she'd felt happy nonetheless.

Masami kept running over today's events in her head, until finally, the whirlwind of thoughts put her to sleep.

A drop of sweat hit the waxy tiles of the kitchen floor. An exhausted sigh followed.

Her skinny arm wiped off any excess sweat from her forehead, and continued scrubbing the floor. Her arms ached, yet she didn't stop. She had to keep working. She had to make sure everything was clean, or else… No, nothing was going to happen. Because she was sure she'd finish in time. She had to work to survive, there was no other choice, no other way out.

And so, she scrubbed. Even when a guard had walked in, she continued scrubbing, her eyes lowered to the floor.

She only stopped when she got kicked in the side by the guard, making her bump into the table next to her. The cutlery she had yet to clean clattered onto the floor. She didn't dare to glance up, so she kept her eyes down like an orphan was supposed to do.

The guard knelt in front of her, a hand grabbing her by the chin. He said something which she did not understand. Then the guard balled his fist and landed it onto her cheek, while holding her head. She gasped and bled, and after he let go of her face, she dropped onto the floor she had been cleaning so vigorously.

He waited for a moment, still down on his knees, until he lifted her by her collar. He pulled her closer to him, which was ultimately his biggest mistake.

A butter knife was put through his right eye.

The girl freed herself from his grip and grabbed another knife from the floor. He wasn't paying attention to her anymore, he was too busy screaming and cursing while desperately trying to remove the small, silver knife. Before she realized what she'd done –what type of trouble she'd put herself in –she'd already slit his throat. She didn't even know where the strength to do this came from. The man fell backwards and grabbed his throat in vain. The pool of blood only became bigger and bigger.

The floor was dirty again. Her trembling hands were colored crimson. She'd killed someone. The flood of panic reached its peak when she turned around and saw a child. Another orphan. The child had walked in and stared at the scene before them, and then shot a look at the girl with the knife in her hands.

"I'm going to tell!" the child said. "You murderer!"

The girl started to plea not to, pulling the child by their arms, struggling to tell them it was all just an accident, it was a mistake she'd made. There was no way she was a murderer. The two kids fought until the girl managed to push the child down.

"Murderer! Murderer! Murderer!" the child screamed.

"Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. You are wrong!" the girl cried, as she put her hands over the child's mouth, the knife still in her hand. The child scratched and pulled the girl's arms, but the girl couldn't bear to hear those words.

After a while, the child stopped yelling.

The child had stopped moving altogether.

The girl didn't realize what she'd done until she tried to wake the child. They didn't blink. They didn't speak. Saliva dripped from the corners of the child's mouth, their gaze set on the ceiling.

The girl gripped the knife even tighter now, crying uncontrollably. When two arms gripped her by the shoulders, her mind went blank. She fought and struggled and swung her knife, until finally, the knife clattered onto the floor. In turn, the girl herself was pushed down.

The floor felt so cold. The hands that pinned her down, even more so.

"What have you done!" the voice howled. "You killed them!"

The girl continued to cry, apologizing in between sobs. "I'm so sorry" was all she could say. She repeated those words over and over again.

A drop of blood fell onto the girl's forehead.

Everything went into a blur, until the sight changed completely.

A girl with purple hair and a slash across her nose and cheek peered down, eyes wet with tears. Blood continued to drip onto the crying girl below while two hands moved towards her throat and squeezed. The girl did not resist. She deserved it more than anyone else did.

"It's all your fault."

Silently, in her head, the girl agreed.

She was a murderer after all.

Flush.

Masami fell back with her back against the bathroom stall door, her head hitting the door with a soft thud. She listened to the water washing away whatever gunk she had thrown up.

Gunk, and something more concerning. Blood.

"Shit," Masami said. She wiped her mouth with her sleeve, and surely, she saw traces of red on the grey of the fabric. "Quadruple shit."

Masami felt sick and dizzy, not only because of the dream. If that was what you could call it. Because, she had had this dream before. The sight of being so small, fragile and childlike, while scrubbing those floors, all the way to the point where she had pushed those small hands with all her might onto an even smaller child. This was the dream that had disturbed her enough to leave the Sakamaki mansion. The reason why she wanted to get out, if not just for one day. But this time, the dream had continued. Masami hadn't even been aware that there was a continuation to this dream.

The scar Ayano had was because of her. She had killed them, Ayano had said. Who was them?

The answer popped up almost immediately: the old picture Masami had hidden in her backpack, came to mind. The people on that picture. That little girl and the man.

Masami choked. Desperately she tried to haul herself up, try to get a grip of herself – before she'd fall into complete insanity –but she fell back on her knees. Nausea hit her almost instantly, she was just in time to crawl back to the toilet before she vomited. Again, she emptied her stomach. Though now, there was nothing more than white slime and blood. No gunk, not really. She wanted to flush it away, but didn't –couldn't.

Her head started pounding. Her shoulder started hurting again. Masami tried to push herself up, but in vain, as she lost any strength left in her arms. Her heart thumped so loudly in her chest, the sensation going way up her throat. She felt numb and in pain all at once, and so desperately, wanted this feeling to stop.

Masami finally got some clues as to what happened to her in the past. And that, in the most unpleasant way. In the end, it was all for nothing. Because her head felt heavier, the pain in her shoulder went away, and instead her vision went hazy. Somewhere, Masami knew this feeling. She had felt like this before. In another dream, or perhaps, a flashback. Because she couldn't differentiate one from another anymore.

Masami lay down on the tiles, imagining grass and mud beneath her. She saw trees above her, and webs of light peeking through the leaves.

She felt at peace somehow, though even then, in the distance of it all, she heard a voice calling her name.

No matter what he tried to tell himself, he couldn't keep twisting the truth. Not after seeing those scars with his very own eyes. He wished that they managed to fool him, but his brothers had seen them too, and their reaction only confirmed that one piece of truth he so desperately wished was true, even though he didn't want to admit this to himself.

Masami was alive. She was alive and right in front of them, after all these years.

And then again, the flash of a cursed image hit him. A girl on her knees, blood on her dress. A faint smile before she dropped onto the ground, where the puddle of blood grew in size.

Yuma stopped walking and balled his fist. Frustration and anger boiled up in him again. He was unable to understand what had happened; who had brought her back? Surely not Him… He would've told them if she was alive. No, it had to be that purple girl. Oh, how he despised her.

"If only I could get my hands on her," Yuma said to himself. He'd just have to force every answer to every question he had out of her. He knew well enough she wouldn't spill anything willingly. "I would…"

Yuma paused. He heard a noise coming from the building. The girls' floor. Yuma felt frustrated, and the itching in his throat was not making the situation any better. He carefully listened and located the sound. Then, despite his size, he swiftly jumped up, clutched the railing and swung himself safely onto a balcony.

Yuma figured that feeding would at least make him forget, if not only for a while.

The balcony door was not locked so he easily let himself in. At this hour, everyone was asleep, and Yuma didn't want to create more trouble or Ruki would damn sure bite his head off.

The first thing he heard were very slow, almost silent breaths. Then, the sharp smell of vomit.

"Tch," Yuma sneered as he walked towards the source of the smell. He'd hoped for an easy and pleasant meal. Even so, food was food, and Yuma wasn't going to be picky. His past and the war he'd been through –the hunger he had to bear –taught him this lesson. Whatever lay behind that door, they were at his mercy now.

Yuma tugged on the handle of one of the cabins to announce his presence. "Open the door."

No response, only shallow breathing.

Patience wasn't his strongest suit, as was compassion. So, with another fierce tug, he opened the door. He regretted this action almost immediately. For a split second, he saw that vision again: the girl in the forest with blood on her dress. Unconsciously, he called her name and before he knew it he had dropped on his knees beside her. He saw blood in the toilet, slowly collecting in the pool of water. There was blood dripping from her mouth, on the front of her shirt, on her sleeves, on the ground.

She was alive, then dead, then alive, then dead again.

It's my fault.

It's my fault.

Yuma shook the girl by her shoulders, her head lifelessly tipping from one side to the other.

"Wake up, bastard, WAKE UP!"

A voice in the back of his head was telling him to get himself together, to drop the girl and to walk away. What did she mean to him, anyway? Insulting him left and right, disrespecting him whenever she opened her mouth. But that voice of reason, was completely ignored. Instinct took over instead. His instinct wanted her to live.

"What did you do to her?"

The voice came from behind him. The sound was deep, feminine and threatening in the calmest way possible. It was as if this person had nothing to fear from him. "Let go of her, you walking tree."

Yuma's head snapped towards this intruder, but he did not let go of Masami. He wouldn't.

A tall, dark-skinned woman stood behind him. He saw blue braids, and a gaze that looked down upon him, as if he was no level higher than the dirt on the ground. He wasn't used to being looked at like that. He was the one who looked down upon others. It has really been a while, since he'd received this kind of treatment.

Then Yuma realized that this was the person Ruki had talked about.

The witch.

"It's best to step away right now," she paused, still assessing him with that vile look of hers, "or I'll have to make you, and that will be unpleasant, vampire."

Yuma realized he had been gaping, and quickly resorted to balling his fist and yelling in his own defense. However, before he even got the chance to get a word out, the girl in his arms coughed loudly. It was a raspy, wet cough that covered Yuma's white shirt with specks of blood.

"Masami!"

Again.

Again he had called her name.

Yuma gritted his teeth. She didn't answer him at all. Yuma snapped his head towards the witch, his eyes glaring. "Did you do this to her?! Don't even think about lying to me," he said, his fist already balled, "I'll rip you apart if you do."

"Trying to put the blame on me? Revered psychology won't work on me, scum." The witch casually put her hands on her hips, but the deep frown on her face did not disappear. "I came to check because I sensed your bloodthirst. Your will to harm. Then I see you with this girl in your arms, covered in blood. Do you really expect me to believe that you weren't the one that harmed her?"

Again, the girl coughed, though her eyes stayed shut. At least she was alive, Yuma thought. "Ha?! I didn't do this to her, I found her like this." Another cough followed, and again Yuma couldn't hide his concern. The witch saw right through him, he knew this. Why was he stupid enough to show weakness, right in front of an enemy like this?

Then, a thought came to Yuma. He remembered what Ruki had said about the hate that witches had for vampires. Natural enemies, he had called them.

Yuma bared his sharp teeth in a menacing smile. He turned the girl and held her in front of him, holding her head up by her throat. She didn't wince or move. "Why would you give a shit about what happens to her, or what I do to her? Aren't witches supposed to hate vampires?" Yuma moved his hand towards her jaw, and parted the girl's lips with his other hand, baring her fangs. "She doesn't have much of a smell, but she's a vampire too."

The woman scoffed. "Not really."

Yuma was caught off guard by this. This was not the reaction he had expected. "What? 'Not really'…Stop fucking around."

"She's not really a vampire, nor a human. Something in between. Or neither. But that's not for me to tell you," she explained.

Yuma stared at the witch, then back at the girl in his arms. All this blood and he hadn't smelled any of it. What had pulled him in this room was noise, not a scent. It made sense, but at the same time, it didn't. She could be fooling him. "Don't fuck with me," Yuma growled with impatience, already fed up with all the questions that were left unanswered. "Just get to the point."

"Regarding her, I won't give you any information. I said this already, and I won't repeat myself."

"Wha—"

"I have a question for you, vampire," the witch said. "Do you want her to feel better?"

Again, the witch caught him off guard. Yuma couldn't help but lower his eyes, his grip on the girl loosening.

Fool.

Don't let it get to you.

You don't care about her.

"Tch…Why would I want that?"

"All right." The witch rubbed her chin, assessing his answer as if he were a criminal being interrogated. "Don't you feel guilty, then? For letting her down that day?"

For a second, Yuma's limbs went stiff, his voice stuck in his throat. Again, he saw a flash of that vision. The sound of gunshots. So, so much blood. Yuma clenched his jaws, his arms wrapped around the lifeless girl before him.

She was here, right within his reach. She wasn't gone, not yet. He wouldn't allow her to die because of his incompetence and weakness. He was stronger now.

First, there was Lucks and his gang.

Then there was Masami.

Yuma pulled the girl closer to his chest.

She was here. She was alive.

"Well, do you want to make her feel better, or not?"

She can't die.

"Yes." Yuma's grip tightened, barely getting the word out of his mouth. He didn't know how to save her, but this woman did. Yuma didn't trust her, and didn't want to take risks, but despair had taken over, and he didn't want to see her die again. He wouldn't forgive himself if she did. "Save her, if you know how."

The witch's eyes were closed and focused. She was hoovering her hands over Masami, who was lying down by the basins. The witch had checked her breathing and her pulse. Only the current hand movements, Yuma didn't understand.

Yuma watched her work from across the room. A rule the witch had set. If he were to take one step, she'd kill him on the spot, she'd said rather casually. And so, he listened and stood there watching, no matter how much he despised it.

"Hmm, I see." The witch leaned back, her face sterner than before.

"What?" Yuma simply asked, trying to refrain himself from growing more impatient. He didn't trust her at all.

"I don't know what triggered this state. She's sick for real, and has been for a while. However, I know how to at least keep the symptoms down, even if it's just a temporary measurement."

Yuma clacked his tongue. Enough of this already, just get to the point. "So, then. Do whatever you have to do."

The witch opened her mouth, but then paused when hearing a sound coming from the hallway. Someone was awake. It would be troublesome if they were to find a teacher, a male student and an unconscious girl covered in blood in the girls' bathroom.

The witch turned her attention back to Yuma. "It's not something I can do. Even though she's something in between a vampire and human, she still needs to feed. She needs nutrition from food and blood, though I don't think she has the same disgusting craving as your kind has. So, what she needs is blood, vampire blood preferably, which you can give her."

Yuma looked in bewilderment at the witch, as she started walking towards the door to check the hallway.

"Leave her once you're done, and then go back to your room before I hex you."

"Wha—"

"Make yourself useful, for once." With those words, she left the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Yuma glanced at the door, then at the girl on the ground.

He had gone into the bathroom to feed himself, not to provide blood for someone else.

Masami awoke, feeling sweaty and exhausted. She was sitting up, against something soft, while a hand clenched her jaws wide open and tilted her head back. A cool liquid filled her mouth, and Masami immediately felt more awake due to the taste spreading in her mouth.

She spat everything out.

"Tch, look at the mess you made. Sit still," a hoarse voice commanded. Her head was tilted back again, the grip on her jaw even stronger than before. Now her sight was less hazy, she saw another hand hovering over her open mouth, blood dripping from ripped skin on the wrist of the hand. "Bite into it," the voice then said, as he brought the blood-covered wrist towards her mouth, moving her jaw with his other hand, much against her own will.

Masami shook her head, but before she could even object, he made her bite into the flesh, the already there wound leaking into her mouth. Blood seeped in and the taste brought her on the verge of gagging. But she couldn't spit it out, so involuntary she swallowed.

Masami was able to distinguish honey-colored hair and when she was finally able to make herself think straight, she realized whose voice had been speaking to her.

Ponytail.

She didn't know why but she bit hard into his wrist as a defense mechanism, instantly wanting to push him away, but she realized that she didn't have the energy to fight him. She could barely lift her arms.

She did however, hear him groan loudly at her bite, even hearing him curse. "Fuck, that hurts," she heard him mutter, but he didn't remove his wrist. Instead he pulled her even closer to him now that he realized she was fully awake.

Masami's mouth filled again, and again she had no choice but to swallow.

"Good girl," she heard him say. If it weren't for the wrist on her mouth, she'd have cursed him to hell and back. Instead, she frowned as deeply as she could and bit even harder into his wrist.

He gave her another groan. Then, she felt his breath near her ear, and heard him curse as she bit again, this time even harder.

"You bite like that again," he said, with his lips too close to her ear, "and I'll bite you back just as hard." His voice was deep and threatening, but somehow, she felt like he was smiling.

Is this bastard enjoying this?

Again Masami's mouth had filled up until she couldn't hold it anymore, and again she swallowed.

Pristine timing, really.

She felt his chilling breath once more until he finally pulled away. "I hope that's enough. You can pull away now," he said as he tried to pry her jaws back open with his hand. He didn't have to, because Masami instantly released his wrist from her bite. She then fell over to her side. He managed to catch her before she hit the floor.

She expected some form of insult, or remark, and anticipated the worst. She was completely defenseless and he could do anything he wanted now. He had every reason to, after the way she'd treated him. But much to her surprise, he put her down onto her back, and walked away. He was surprisingly gentle.

He then walked back, and crouched down next to her head. Masami frowned once more.

"Don't look at me like that," he said before he started wiping the blood on her face with toilet paper. Masami's frown disappeared and her eyes grew in shock.

What the hell was he thinking? Why is he doing all of this?

He scrubbed her face like he was scrubbing a floor, and then moved down her neck to clean up that area as well. Masami stared at his face. His brows were knotted together and his eyes were completely focused on the task he had given himself. He looked so determined. Masami didn't know what to think of it.

Once he was done he threw the toilet paper into the sink and sighed. A moment later he locked eyes with Masami, and he couldn't look away.

She too, felt so strange looking at him like this. For once she didn't feel anger. She only felt puzzled, and even though she wasn't sure, she thought he felt the same way about her.

When she broke eye contact, she noticed his wrist was still bleeding. The ragged wound across his wrist along with her very prominent bite marks were bleeding heavily. He didn't seem to care much though. Again surprising her, he simply stood up, and walked towards the balcony door.

"Take care of your wounds," she said with the little energy she had.

Yuma's hand was about to turn the handle but he stopped. His grip on the handle tightened for a moment, his shoulders feeling tense. But then, he relaxed, as he repeated those words in his head.

He didn't turn around to look at her, and left without saying a word back. As he walked over the courtyard, after jumping off the balcony, he stared at the mark her teeth had left on his wrist. He traced it with a finger, knowing it would heal in mere hours. Once more he heard her voice in his head. No sarcasm, no insulting undertones. Just sincerity.

"It'll be alright," he thought, and reminded himself that she'd been right about him back in the day. He really was a fool.

NOTES:

- So, just to be clear, I didn't make Cretin girl to be some kind of "competition" for Masami. She was a bit of a jackass, but all in all, still a kid that fangirls a bit too much. Anyway, in this house, we do not hate on female characters lmfaoo

- Facilier? Remember the drunk guy that lead Masami to Blue's house? The total cryptic guy? Yeah that's him. He's one shady mofo.

- The dream: So she had had this particular dream before, only she didn't get to see the part with Ayano. The first time she had this dream was during her house arrest with the Sakamakis. The day after the dream she escaped the mansion (Shu was her guardian at that moment). Now she had the dream again, but along with the picture proof and the part with Ayano hovering over her, Masami realizes that that wasn't a dream but a memory. Basically: she hallucinated the orphanage part - mistook ayano's husband and kid for the guard and the child - killed them - Ayano goes beast mode

- The "him" Yuma spoke of = Karl Heinz

- Bloodsucking, but not like you expected it. Okay man idk how I managed to write a fanfic about vampires and still didn't have any bloodsucking after 16 chapters? The worst lol. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the scene, I struggled a bit keeping Yuma in character while at the same time, considering how he'd act towards Masami as a person. Plus hola to yourself if you recognize that last "fool" reference from the previous chapter.

I realize this chapter might be a bit more difficult to follow, but if you have any questions, or need any clarifications, don't hesitate to ask!

Hope y'all have a great day! Reviews/Follows are sexy ;)