Sympathy for the Diva

by Perentie Fan

What if Diva chose not to make Riku forever hers by killing him? What if he became a new kind of influence on her life? Can someone with a mind so twisted by her past ever be redeemed? Main Pairings: Riku x Diva, Saya x Haji, Kai x Irene

5. Chapter 5: Paved With Good Intentions

Sympathy for the Diva Sympathy for the Diva

Disclaimer: Don't own so don't sue

We're past the halfway point with this story now as far as chapters are concerned. Time to start setting up for the epic climax. Fair warning to those who find me long-winded at times, I have Julia's thesis on chiropteran's extended quite a bit compared to the anime version.

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Part 5: Paved With Good Intentions

--

It was odd, Riku thought to himself, that he could be in another country, on another continent for that matter, and feel as if little had changed. For him his days were much the same. Play with Diva, satisfy Diva, read and study while she was away, worry about his family, and cuddle with Diva at night. Coming to the United States hadn't really changed any of that.

There was a sense of foreboding though, he couldn't deny that. He still didn't know just what the concert Diva was preparing for was really about, and even if he found out he doubted he could do anything about it. In turn his chances of saving Diva from herself seemed to become less likely every passing day.

This time though, the day would not go quite like he expected. He looked up at the sound of a brief knock at the door, which surprised him as he had not sensed Diva approaching, not to mention Diva never knocked. Before Riku could consider how best to reply the door proceeded to open. The identity of the man who was revealed, however, left Riku briefly speechless. Of all who might come visit him, Amshel was certainly not one he would expect. He had basically ignored him until now.

"I trust your quarters are comfortable," the lead chevalier stated more than asked. Riku got the impression that the remark was merely a formality and that the intimidating man was not at all interested in how comfortable he was. Even so he nodded in reply.

Amshell noted the response with his own brief nod before he somehow grew even more serious in appearance. "You have spent a good deal of time among us, so I feel it is about time that I speak with you frankly regarding some matters that you should be aware of. I had thought for a good while that you were simply a indulgence that she would grow tired of, but as she has yet to it has come to this."

"W-wha-" Riku struggled not to let how intimidated he was show through in his voice, but to no avail, "what do you mean?"

Amshel looked down on Riku, literally and figuratively. "It is obvious that Diva has taken quite a liking to you, and through you she is achieving her greatest wish. For that you have my sincere thanks." Riku thought he somehow didn't look very thankful.

"However," he continued in a tone that was not to be ignored, "I think it is time I made sure you understand your situation here. I suspect that after all that has happened, and despite your forced abduction from Saya, that you have felt yourself growing increasingly attached to Diva."

Riku nodded ever so slightly. He didn't really want Amshel to know about those feelings but they had confused him so much that now that it was out in the open he was willing to hear anything the man had to say about them.

"You may even believe that she has fallen in love with you and that you have fallen in love with her," Amshell continued, now sounding almost as if he pitied Riku. "The reason of course is that your affection and desire for her is a product of your chevalier blood. She chose you as the one she would mate with and sire offspring through and your blood revels in accomplishing this purpose. All chevalier are subject to those feelings, toward both their queen and her sister to varying degrees and for varying purposes."

Riku felt the urge to blush over the topic. It seemed that Diva had at some point let Amshel know about her suspected pregnancy.

"To serve Diva's desires, to give her pleasure and happiness, that is the highest calling anyone can accomplish. To do such and to live for her is our greatest joy as chevalier and as the one of Saya's whom she chose, you now share in that joy." His tone darkened. "Yet do not allow yourself to be naïve enough to fall under false assumptions and delusions concerning your position here. You will only be disappointed."

"The fact is you are not irreplaceable to Diva. No one and nothing is irreplaceable here aside from Diva herself. Because of this do not venture to think you can gain Diva's love. Diva is capable only of loving herself and living for herself, that is all that she understands and desires. It is what we live for as well, to accomplish her will. If we seek more, even at the behest of our blood, there will be consequences," his voice now sounded rather ominous, even threatening.

"You know of Karl do you not? As her chevalier he once sought love from Diva, only to face the harsh truth that he would never receive it. He then turned his desires to their one other target, Saya, to an unhealthy degree I might add. His unchecked desire for Diva and then Saya drove him completely mad and was ultimately the end of him. Regrettably, it would seem that now my brother Solomon is falling prey to the desire for Saya in his blood as well," he said the latter in a disgusted tone, as though to himself.

He focused on Riku again. "As chevalier we should devote our existences to one queen above all else. Should those desires conflict we are to kill the lesser ones, even if one is the desire for the sister queen. Given you are Saya's chevalier your first alliance should be to her. If you waver in that then it means you are subject to your bloods' whims as much as my weaker brother is. It is thus my view that even if you pledge yourself to Diva, even if I never see you waver in loyalty, I will never be able to trust you. In any event our roles as chevalier have nothing to do with any selfish desire to gain love from our queen. To give her all she desires and protect her are the only expressions of love we are permitted."

Riku had a hard time believing all of this. He wasn't sure if Haji and Saya loved each other like lovers but he was sure that Saya loved Haji as a friend if not more and that Haji saw Saya as more than just his queen. Maybe this was how Amshell thought Diva should be treated but that didn't make it true. He frowned at the man. "You sound kind of like a dad, but I was taught that if a parent gives their kids everything they want they end up spoiled and selfish and it only hurts them in the end."

"Are you implying that I am hurting Diva?" his tone was eerily calm.

I'm implying that you aren't as selfless as you make yourself out to be, was what Riku wanted to say, but he was smart enough to only think it. His only visible answer to Amshel was a glare.

Amshel closed his eyes and sighed. "It does not matter. I merely am advising you to not act outside your role and cloud Diva's mind with your personal desires. She cannot afford to be distracted or for her will to waver in these crucial times. Follow that advice, and I can guarantee you a good future. However, should you now follow my words, consequences may well occur-"

"Amshel?"

Amshel turned and Riku's eyes widened. They had been so focused on each other that they hadn't noticed that Diva was approaching. She was now in the doorway, her expression oddly amused.

She strode over to stand between them and proceeded to wrap her arms around Riku before looking back at Amshel. "Did you need me for something?"

"No, no my dear," he bowed. "I was just leaving actually. But Riku, you and I should speak again at some point, should you be available."

By now Diva was holding Riku possessively to her chest and using her fingers to play with his hair. She didn't even bother to look back at Amshel now. "Not likely," she remarked sweetly. "All of Riku's time is reserved for me. You should just run along now and do those boring things you're always doing."

Amshel's expression didn't falter in the least. He merely bowed again. "Then I shall take my leave."

Once Amshell was gone Diva's expression darkened slightly. "So annoying, thinking he can come here and do as he pleases," she said in an annoyed tone. She cupped Riku's face in her hands. "He didn't do anything to you, did he Riku?"

"Oh, uh, no," the boy replied unevenly, already getting caught up in the spell her eyes seemed to cast.

"Good!" Diva beamed him a bright smile and quick kiss before her expression turned more alluring. "Well I think I'll go relax in a nice hot bath. That meanie Nathan had me working so hard again on my voice, I think it's about time I felt something… nicer…" she finished with a suggestive tone as she walked away.

Riku was left to his thoughts, his mind so occupied that he had missed Diva's not so subtle verbal and mental cues. He knew many of Amshel's words were at least partially true. And yet, if Diva really did only understand loving herself, and desired to only love herself, then why did she want a family so badly? She already had a group of servants who doted on her every whim, but she had claimed they were not really family to her and that he was closer to that. That meant she wanted people who would not see her only as a master or adore her only for her blood. Plus she wanted to raise her children in a manner different from how she had been raised. Surely there was something in all that that wasn't about just loving herself.

He knew he would need to test her and his own feelings if he was ever to get anywhere. When the opportunity came he would have to risk everything to try to reach her, with no guarantee of success. The question was what would he say.

"Riku…" came Diva's sultry voice from the bathroom, snapping Riku out of his inner dialogue. "You are going to join me… aren't you?" she finished in a tone that made him envision her pouting.

Riku at this point became unable to any longer ignore the pheromones wafting from Diva's location, and he could feel his thoughts starting to cloud with desire.

He soon gave in and headed for the bath. Worrying about the future would just have to wait for now…

-- time skip

It was disconcerting to say the least for Julia to observe them. In the other room there appeared to be two Rikus, one male, one female, the latter in actuality being Diva. As professional as she prided herself on being she was still not used to the revelation that the boy had been living with Diva all of this time. In comparison she thought Riku had taken finding out she was working with the enemy surprisingly well. She had felt the need to explain herself once she had managed to get him briefly alone, though she knew not what to say. Riku had simply assured her that he trusted she had her reasons and was happy to be able to see someone he knew from before Diva took him. He always was mature for his age and quite adaptable to new situations and both of those qualities seemed to have grown considerably even while his body had remained about the same. Julia regretted not knowing the answers to his questions about his family and Red Shield, only being able to confirm that David and Joel were still alive.

She had just finished their extensive physicals and the compiled results of her scans and samples had been, in short, mind blowing. Many of the tests, particularly on Riku, had some time to finish and get results for but now Amshel was here and wanted a full accounting of what she had found out.

"She is pregnant with twin girls," she stated, "just as her mother in Joel's diary. It seems at least some of the theories on chevalier were right."

Amshel nodded. "Splendid indeed. Diva has tried many times to become pregnant through her own chevalier as well as normal humans, all to no avail. I had long suspected a chevalier of Saya was the key to her fertility. However, chevalier from her sister numbered only one until recently, and Diva had no interest in him."

"There is more though," she added, "on the tests I ran on Riku, it's truly unprecedented."

Amshel raised an eyebrow. "What of the boy?"

Julia took a moment to consider her words before continuing. "It sounds impossible, but samples from his body and blood tests show that Diva's blood no longer has the effect on Riku that it did before. Or rather, the effect is the same but he has acquired some kind of defense. In the samples I took of his blood I found it to contain formerly unknown elements that I still can't truly identify. I hypothesize that they are produced by his body and then spread in his blood to counteract the crystallizing effect of Diva's blood."

She proceeded to demonstrate with two droppers of blood and a small dish where she combined them, the blood mirroring her description as she spoke. "When I introduce Diva's blood to Riku's the crystallizing fails to occur. Looking at it under a microscope reveals that the unidentified elements in Riku's blood have surrounded Diva's blood cells and somehow created a buffering effect so that they do not cause the violent chain reaction that results in crystallization of the body. Presumably this development is designed to protect him in his new role for her."

"New role? What are you implying by that?" he inquired.

"I'm saying that he's no longer Saya's chevalier, at least not like he was. He's become something new, something we've never encountered before."

"And how could this have happened?"

"Well am I correct in assuming she has been… uh," she tried her best to hide her unease on the subject, "copulating with him on a regular basis?" She tried not to cast any judgement on what was going on but couldn't help but express some disgust at the idea of the spoiled and unstable queen forcing herself on such a sweet boy.

"Yes, Diva has become extremely fond of him," Amshel replied with barely veiled distaste of his own.

"Well," she continued, hoping she wasn't blushing, "many fluids can be exchanged during intercourse. It would seem that due to this Riku and Diva have swapped so much DNA that over time the exposure has enabled his body to create this defense system. Alternatively his body could have possessed this ability the whole time and merely needed the stimulation of multiple matings with Diva to 'switch' it on. No chevalier in the past that we know of has ever had a relationship like this with the sister queen, due of course to the war between the sisters. It may well be that for their kind this transformation into a mate was normal and we simply have never had the chance to observe it before."

"And what of transferring this type of immunity?" Amshel voiced, the idea intriguing him. "Would it be possible to render Diva's chevalier immune to Saya's blood with it?"

"I don't see how," she proceeded to put another drop of Diva's blood on Riku's blood sample and it promptly crystallized. "There's a finite amount of this substance in any sample of his blood. Indeed, its actually an inadequate amount to counter Diva's blood unless the amount introduced is very small. It would appear that this ever-present part of the defense is made merely to keep him from being harmed for the short time needed for his body to respond by making far more of the unknown element.

"But without his body to make it once that initial defense has been used up the blood becomes as toxic to him as ever and if not used I doubt the elements can exist for long before falling apart on their own. Basically the defense is useless without Riku's body prepared to add to the supply. Since I have yet to even understand what this substance he is producing is, I can't imagine synthesizing it."

"However, there is more to it than just his blood. Samples of his saliva and biopsies show higher concentrations of these unknown elements than in his blood, suggesting that it is produced by glands in his mouth, the lining of his esophagus, stomach and perhaps the rest of his digestive system, spreading to his blood from there. Indeed, there is so much of it there that he would be able to consume Diva's blood without any ill effect. Given that feeding on each other's blood serves a function in social bonding between queens and their chevalier, could it be that this substance is a adaptation to facilitate mutual feeding between a queen and her mate?" she seemed to ask herself, her mind wandering.

"This theory is supported by the fact that his immunity comes at a cost. I am not sure how it is done yet, but the activation of this buffering system corresponds to the deactivation of his ability to regenerate for the duration of the time his body is dealing with her blood. This time is not long but still a vulnerability. For without his regenerative powers any injury that would kill a normal human would kill him as well." She did not like disclosing this weakness of the boy but knew Amshel would have asked her if she hadn't and that he had an uncanny knack for seeing through the smallest deception.

"It is all logical to some degree if you consider the role chevalier play in balancing power between two queens. It wouldn't make sense for one chevalier to become essentially invincible and so while he is unharmed directly by Diva's blood, it also makes him vulnerable to her blood by taking his healing abilities away."

She took a breath to again collect her thoughts. "Also, Diva's test results indicate that despite her libido not diminishing, her actual ability to reproduce has ended, effectively sterilizing her. This goes beyond how the body normally shuts down reproductive abilities while pregnant and in a way it makes sense that this would occur. After all, a species as long-lived as chiropterans would not want to produce many young due to risks of overpopulation. If each queen managed to have just two daughters in a lifetime then it would be more than enough to maintain the species. It could also be that after first becoming pregnant her body turns off its reproductive abilities until after the thirty year sleep is completed, but there is no data to support such a notion. Indeed, I have yet to understand why precisely the dormant period occurs."

"Then what of her desire for the boy?" Amshel began. "If he has given her children then why does she still wish to devote her body to him so much?

Julia paused for a moment at the new line of questioning. "Her libido has probably remained so high either due to it being genetic or psychological, or some combination. More than that it seems to serve a purpose even if she is no longer fertile, in that it helps maintain her pair bond with her chosen chevalier."

"Pair bond?" Amshel questioned. "Just how is this different from any other chevalier and their queen?"

"Several ways actually. In addition to what I mentioned earlier, Diva and Riku's bodies seem to have adapted to encourage they stay together and stabilize each other. Both of their bodies can produce something like a pheromone when they are near each other. This pheromone stimulates the production of endorphins and directly effects the pleasure centers of their brains. And it is not merely sexual desire. In particular Riku's pheromones seem to have a calming, pacifying effect on Diva if she becomes overly agitated. That is not to say they control each other with these chemicals, but the influence is definitely there and combined with physical intimacy makes their pair bond very strong."

"I still understand very little of the mechanisms behind all this. I could study it my entire life and not find all the answers. Even so, over time, using the information I've gathered on Saya and Diva's behavior, the behavior that does not seem to have been influenced by Joel's treatment of them that is, I've been able to form a hypothesis about just what the chiropteran species is."

"Really," Amshel remarked, "I am curious to hear just how you might summarize that. Do continue."

Julia nodded, it was easy enough to talk about her research even when around someone who so unnerved her. "To begin with I can't speculate much on their origin. They are very similar to humans but it's hard to see how they could have evolved naturally from us or any other known species. I might think they were all the results of scientific experiments gone wrong were it not for how long ago their mother apparently lived."

"Regardless, it can be said that to the best of our knowledge all natural born chiropterans are female twins. These sisters form the basis of the chiropteran society and are the two leading individuals known as queens. These queens grow as humans do for a number of years but cease aging physically in their mid teens. After this also begins their poorly understood periods of dormancy, wherein they lie inside cocoons for decades at a time, normally around thirty years in all. I personally wonder if this is some way of extending their life span, although chevalier remaining awake would appear to disprove that.

"Continuing on, these sister queens can feed on most human foods, though if they feed only on that they will be weaker and suffer anemia. If they receive no blood at all they can risk dying through injuries they could normally survive, but it is not known if lack of blood alone can kill them." She recalled when she heard how Kai, David and Lewis had discovered an artificial chiropteran imprisoned deep under a warehouse in Russia. The creature had apparently been kept there for many years and had become emaciated and weak, yet had survived and regained its strength quickly after taking in only a relatively small amount of blood.

"They also consume more human food than their size would indicate, apparently due to their higher metabolism. Of greater interest though is the desire and capacity to subsist on blood, preferably human blood. Through processes we don't currently understand fully, chiropterans can use this blood to fuel incredible superhuman abilities. Unbelievable strength, speed, enhanced vision, almost limitless regenerative powers and even the ability to morph their physical appearance. In addition they gain a second form far more powerful and less human in appearance. The queens appear to lack this form, despite seeming to be capable of being more powerful than any chevalier.

"On that note there is one ability unique to chiropteran queens, and that is the ability to create chevalier. As natural born chiropterans are all female, they have evolved a method of adapting human males to serve their needs for reproduction and protection. However, although human females can also presumably be changed into chevalier it seems to rarely, if ever, be done, at least for the sisters we know of. To create a chevalier the queen simply transfers some of her own blood into the human she has deemed worthy of receiving it. Her blood then aggressively interacts with the human's body, taking it over and transforming it. The human retains his or her memories and personality, as well as their physical appearance. However they gain incredible new abilities that make them technically no longer human. It should also be noted that the experiments conducted by your group do not transform humans in the same way, and result in the monstrosities referred to as 'mice.'"

"As for the chevalier, they appear to play an important role in regulating the two queens power, as do the queen's themselves. The queens are mutually dependant on one another for the survival of their respective genes and at the same time are the greatest threat to each other. One sister's blood is lethal to the other sister's and to her chevaliers and vice versa. At the same time, however, each queen can only be impregnated by a chevalier of the sister queen. Thus they are encouraged from a biological standpoint to depend upon one another, at least usually.

"For in addition to their new abilities, the transformed blood of the chevalier imbues them with an intense devotion and affection for the queen who turned them, even a sexual attraction. At the same time they may feel a strong sexual attraction to the sister queen. The queens themselves it seems are free to choose lovers among the chevalier as they please, selecting one or perhaps more that appeal to them most and rejecting all others. On the other hand chevalier clearly have some control over those urges and can even outright reject them. There is no simple way of describing it."

"Just how new queens come to power and how they interact with old queens I've failed to theorize on. Nor is it known if queens and their chevaliers actually can live indefinitely or if they can eventually die of natural causes. Clearly Saya and Diva's mother died of something and yet her body was not crystallized. We also don't understand the purpose of the thirty year hibernation period followed by three or so years of activity, or if it stops at some point. It may be to help keep them fertile over great lengths of time. A relation of some sort to fertility does seem most likely given they did not enter into these dormant states until after reaching puberty. On the other hand, if that is not true or not the whole truth then it could be to keep too many queens from being active at any one time and thus reduce competition for space and food."

"It's difficult to form a hypothesis given the current situation we have has skewed what information can be gathered. Obviously things did not go as they were supposed to with the current sister queens and the balance was horribly twisted. Not only were they isolated from one another but they were raised so differently that they ended up as opposites rather than counterparts. Saya spent her early life raised exclusively a spoiled human while Diva was treated as less than an animal, isolated and given only the very lowest amount of care needed for her to survive. This doubtless damaged her mind and warped her thinking and she came to despise not only Joel but her sister for having the life she didn't. In turn Saya hates Diva for, among other things, destroying her fantasy of being a ordinary human and taking away her ideal, predictable life."

"As a result this war began between the sisters and has continued to this day. Saya rejects her chiropteran heritage and clings to her human aspects while Diva rejects her human side to a similar degree and indulges in violence to sate the emptiness her upbringing created within her. This has resulted in Diva becoming a good deal more powerful than Saya, when the sister's should be more or less equal in strength and balance each other out. What's more Saya does not allow herself to deal with issues like reproducing and Diva has enough of an edge in ability to simply take what she wants from Saya to reproduce without anything up."

Amshel smiled slightly, seeming both amused and interested. "I cannot say just how true all your theories are doctor but I do appreciate hearing them. I am especially impressed in how you so quickly adapted the theories in your research papers to the information you gained from these tests. Your mind is sharper than most."

--

Across the glass wall Riku jumped in surprise upon feeling Diva's breath on his neck. "You were spacing out for a while there," she whispered in his ear, her arms wrapping around him from the back. "You can hear them, can't you," she remarked, indicating to Julia and Amshel.

Riku nodded and tried to keep himself from getting too excited. Now was not the time for this. It didn't help that he could feel Diva had transformed back into her more shapely true form, her curves pressing against him and her lips mind-numbingly soft as she gave his ear a nibble. He also knew from personal experience that Diva was far from shy about showing her affection in front of others. Indeed, unless she wanted something she tended to disregard the presence of other people.

Luckily Diva seemed to be more curious than amorous for once and she let him go just before Riku would have had to release the moan he was holding in. She gave a contemplative "hmm" then continued speaking. "Makes sense that you could. Amshel soundproofed these rooms to my ears and the ears of my chevalier, but he wouldn't have known how to soundproof it against a creature as different as one of my sister's chevalier. So, what are they saying?"

"Well… you were right, you are pregnant," Riku said, feeling very awkward. "And with two girls, which seems to be what all chiropteran mothers have."

He blushed as she let out a happy squeal and hugged his face in her chest. As sure as she had been of it she was still pleased to have her pregnancy confirmed. "What else?" she asked excitedly as she released him.

"Um, well it seems that your blood isn't poisonous to me any more. I mean, it is still poisonous but they said my body has changed from being with you." He paused, wondering about mentioning the other part, but knew he was awful at lies and could never get Diva to fall for them. The way her eyes were boring into him now confirmed she knew he was leaving something out so he decided to just tell it all. "Because of that they said I could drink your blood without even getting sick and that to kill me your blood would have to be in me at the same time I got a bad injury like a pierced lung. Basically, your blood turns off my ability to heal for a little while instead of making me crystallize."

Diva's smile grew brighter but less innocent, "now that is some very nice news. I'll have to give you a taste when we get back to our room…"

Riku gulped, conflicted again between trepidation and expectation, made worse/better with the knowledge that once things got started he wouldn't refuse her. His thoughts also drifted to other things he had overheard Julia say, many of which had given him a clearer understanding of what he was now. Moreover, it had suddenly become so much more real to him, the fact that he was going to be a father.

--

Back in the other room Julia could no longer maintain her cool demeanor. Not with the way Amshel had begun to speak of the distant past in such a familiar tone.

"I still remember the day I first laid eyes on her mother," he remarked, nostalgic. "The thrill of seeing this incredible form of life that I knew nothing about. The opportunity to discover something that would change the world. Of course, that was a long time ago."

Julia's eyes widened in shock and fear. As Amshel was speaking both his body and clothing had seamlessly morphed into the form of a woman she had known from Red Shield. Lisa… "Then you are-"

"A chiropteran," he finished, the female body and male voice thoroughly disturbing Julia.

Julia couldn't believe it. This meant Amshel had known all along that she wasn't simply a member of Red Shield but worked closely with Saya. "Weren't you at all concerned that I would try to kill Diva?"

"That was never a possibility," Amshel stated with certainty. "You are like me doctor, a scientist in pursuit of the truth. Even if the fate of the entire human race is to be supplanted and replaced by chiropterans, you will not seek to stop it but see it through to its conclusion. Otherwise, your questions will never be answered, and that is not something that people like us can accept."

Julia had no reply as she wondered just how true his assertion was. Yes she wanted to learn everything she could about chiropterans, but at the expense of the human race? She didn't think she could go that far… Regardless, there was also the fact that even if she had wanted to kill Diva herself she wasn't at all sure she possessed the means to. It was times like these when she wondered just how far deeply over her head she had gotten herself in this whole mess.

A few minutes later she was alone. Julia sighed in relief, the stress of her meeting with the chiropterans having finally gotten to her. 'Was her life always this stressful?' she wondered to herself. No… not so long ago she was surrounded with friends and though it was often dangerous, even depressing work she was glad to do it. There were all the little joys in it too, like making every effort to get David to acknowledge her fancy for him by showing off her more-than attractive figure. She never had gotten passed teasing him though and that made her feel oddly sadder than she was already.

She sat down and put a hand to her forehead, Amshel's earlier words continuing to play over and over again in her mind. Her hands tensed and she clenched her teeth angrily. 'People like us?' It was true she had chosen to work here, but only because she felt she had no other choice. Perhaps that was just an excuse though as the fact remained she was helping the enemy. But even so… even so…

"Don't label me as the same as you…"

--

"Riku…" she pulled the long tresses of her hair aside, exposing her lovely neck, which he noticed somehow looked very enticing now. "Come on, I want you to try it. I've tasted you so much, its about time you taste me. I've wanted to give you my blood ever since our first night together."

The two were back in her room, Diva sprawled out invitingly on the bed and Riku sitting nearby. Riku had been right to expect her not to forget about what he had said concerning her blood and his. Her attention span always seemed less fickle when it came to him.

Which meant he now had to confront this, and he was finding knowing her blood wouldn't kill him to be less reassuring than Diva did. What if it was all some elaborate trick and he really would die? That seemed unlikely though. After all, if Diva wanted him dead she could kill him as any time she pleased. Yet that also didn't seem to be enough to alleviate his nervousness.

However, once Diva managed to catch his eye with hers it wasn't long before she wordlessly enticed him to crawl on top of her, the boy blushing the whole time. Her trap sprung, she promptly rolled him over and pinned him to the bed with her body to keep him from escaping. With a smile that seemed to promise a host of pleasures in the near future she undid the top buttons to her night gown, further exposing her neck as well as the rest of her alluring form. Riku's heart had long since started to beat faster.

She bent to his ear and moved his face with one hand so that his lips pressed against her neck.

"Taste me, eat me up," she ordered in a breathy tone.

Riku was surprised at how strongly the urge to do just that surged within him, but managed to restrain himself. "A-are you s-sure? I mean… I don't want to hurt you…"

Diva giggled, her amusement sending pulses of pleasure that left his whole body tingling. "Just do it silly. We both know you can't hurt me and won't hurt me, my delicious little Riku… hurry up before I decide to eat you instead."

He had no choice didn't he? Plus he had to admit his chiropteran side was very curious about Diva's blood. Still, he moved hesitantly, pressing his lips against her skin and nibbling gently in what amounted more to necking than biting.

Diva laughed at the ticklish sensations. "Come on Riku," she giggled, "that's not enough, hurry up and bite me for real."

"I don't want it like that," Riku replied as he briefly stopped kissing her neck, hoping he was succeeding in making his voice sound, for lack of a better word, sexier. "Please, let me do this my way." He wanted to communicate all the tenderness he could toward her.

"Heh-" she breathed in a more aroused tone as Riku intensified his efforts, "that is- just like you… it's rude to tease a girl like this- ah!"

He could feel Diva's body shiver in pleasure and excitement, her coos and moans accompanying it. They seemed to spur him on to stronger, fiercer kissing and he started to lick her delicious skin even as Diva began to kiss his neck while undoing his clothes.

He could feel his fangs forming and lengthening, the urge for blood growing. He had only ever fed directly on a person once before, his own brother Kai, and he had only been semi-conscious at the time. This was different. Very different. His eyes flashing red he finally, slowly and softly bit down and sucked at her neck, eliciting a moan from Diva not quite like any he had heard from her before.

An instant later the taste of her blood registered as it filled his mouth and flowed down his throat, and all thought seemed to come to an end. Her taste was mind blowing, she was at once the sweetest and most satisfying thing he had ever consumed, so rich in flavor that all the other foods in the world seemed to suddenly pale in comparison. She was so good… he no longer cared if her blood killed him or not.

Riku suckled like this for some time, barely noticing when Diva lost the will to hold back and bit into his neck, the two lovers lustfully feeding as they continued their amorous writhing together.

--

Some time later the two, now very sated, chiropterans continued to lay in bed together, resting in the afterglow of their coupled feeding. Riku couldn't keep a small smile off his face, the feeling of intimacy and satisfaction was just so strong, that a part of Diva was inside him now, her blood flowing with his. He understood better now why she had wanted him to feel this.

Diva meanwhile beamed at him with half-closed eyes as she lay across from him. "I like that face you make," she said in a soft voice, reaching over to caress his cheek. Riku's expression turned to a bit confused even as she continued. "That face… those funny noises… the way you touch me… I like them all… You see Riku? I told you I would help you see that I'm right. You don't need Saya, you can be happy with me. You, me, our babies… we'll be together and happy forever."

With that the chiropteran queen fell into a blissful slumber. Riku, however, was no longer on cloud nine as he considered her words. This was nice, what they had, he could admit that much. However, it was also a lie, a fantasy, one they would both wake up from soon. He needed to reach Diva before this all ended in blood and tears, and as he lay in bed that night thinking of how to do this, an idea slowly formed. It was based on a memory of one way his adoptive father had used a situation to help Saya reach out to them when her heart was closed. It had all started with that book on insects hadn't it? The situation may be different, but he believed he could make it work. It was an idea at least, one he would enact tomorrow if possible.

--

Diva was bored.

The truth was that when not practicing her singing, indulging in her hunger for blood or feeding her libido, there was precious little Diva found worthwhile doing in Nathan's large house. Lazing around in bed for hours on end got old after a while, as did ripping apart her stuffed animals. She doubted anything of interest was on TV either. Getting a pet to play with was also out of the question given that animals tended to sense that she wasn't human and regarded her with the same fear they would show toward a large predator.

Normally at times like this she'd opt for playing with Riku. There were after all so many fun things she could do to or with him and even mundane things could be made interesting if he was there to explain them or help her. Alas, Riku was at the moment ignoring her. Or at least that was how she interpreted it.

Getting up, she stepped toward the boy lying on the end of the bed and snatched the book he was reading from his hands. "Just what is so interesting about this that you can keep your eyes on it instead of me for so long?"

"It's a book on ants," Riku explained as he attempted to grab the book back, Diva enjoying the abrupt game of keep-away as she continually maneuvered to keep it just out of reach. "It's from Nathan's library, he's got books on just about anything."

"So why this book?" she asked, keeping Riku at a distance with her foot. "They're just bugs."

"I think they're interesting," Riku frowned while trying to not get flustered at the view Diva was giving him up her long skirt via the lifted leg whose foot she was currently pressing against his face. "Give it!"

"Not yet," she smirked as he tried to grab it only to end up falling off the bed. "Tell me, what is interesting about it?" she asked while casually flipping through a few pages.

Riku sighed as he climbed back up, doubting he'd ever get used to Diva's sense of fun. At least she was interested in the subject now. "Well, for starters they have queens just like chiropterans do."

Diva raised an eyebrow a bit but otherwise appeared uninterested. "Oh, I don't suppose they have chevalier and drink blood too?"

"Okay, maybe not just like chiropterans," Riku admitted. "They live in big colonies, the queen laying the eggs and the other ants helping to raise them and protect the nest. They eat all kinds of things depending on what kind of ant they are. Plus, all the other ants in the colony are sisters, daughters of the queen."

"What about the boy ants?" Diva was finding this to be a nice diversion from her routine, she was not often encouraged by Amshel to learn new things.

"Oh, the boys are just used for mating with the queens."

"Just like you!" she beamed.

Riku reddened and frowned, the comparison was not exactly flattering, especially considering male ants, having served their purpose in life, die shortly after mating. Maybe he should have gone with termites as an example, they were more equal when it came to the roles of males and females. "Well the neat thing is how they all work together with each other to survive. In some kinds a bunch of queens will even share land to make a really gigantic nest. It's like the biggest family in the world and they all work together in harmony. I know we can't be just like ants, but don't you think things would be better if our family didn't fight with each other?"

"Family… sisters who work together…" Diva seemed to mull these words over in her head for a time only for her expression to harden to a caustic glare. Riku had no time to react as in the next instant she struck him hard and knocked him to the ground before crawling on top of him and holding him down. Riku for once met her maddened gaze with his own calm intensity, the ache in his jaw from her punch fading as he healed. At least she had seemed to hold back, or her strike would have done a lot more damage to him.

"Do you think I'm stupid? I know what this is about," she said with deadly seriousness. "You're thinking about her again, about them! Why can't you just forget about them? I'm your family now! I'm am all you need, their blood shouldn't matter to you!"

Riku remained calm, having learned by now this was the best way to react to Diva's fits. He had indeed been trying to give her another point of view on Saya, though he hadn't expected her reaction to be quite this violent. Something more was bothering her, she seemed most upset that he thought about his siblings at all. To get to the heart of the matter he knew he needed to be truthful but careful with his words.

"It was never about blood," he replied softly. "Me, Kai, Saya, we were all adopted. Dad worked really hard to help us understand each other and together we became a family, even if it was only for a little while. I might be Saya's chevalier but I'm her brother first, just like I'm still Kai's brother even if he's your chevalier now. That's what they'll always be to me."

Diva's grip on his wrists tightened painfully at his words. No! Riku should only think about me, I want him to only think about me! She raged in her thoughts, her words leading to a question she both wanted and did not want answered. "And me?" she implored, "what am I to you?"

Riku knew he could answer that question in many ways and the answer would still be true. Diva was the mentally unbalanced blood sibling of his adopted sister, she was his captor, his lover, and a great threat to Saya. Such details seemed to lose meaning somehow, as after all he was still not entirely sure of everything Diva was to him. So he gave the best answer he could.

"You're Diva…" he trailed off, staring up at her, his soft eyes seeming to calm the queen's nerves, her grip on him loosening. "You're… special to me… important to me. I care about you Diva, I don't want you to be left all alone again. If I didn't feel that way for you, I'd probably have gone insane by this point. I don't know if I can explain it any better than that right now."

She looked away and got off of him before sitting cross-legged and appearing to pout a bit. "But I'm not important or special enough for you to forget your old life, is that it?" Why I am not enough?

Riku touched her shoulder and turned her to face him better as he moved closer. He wanted to see her eyes, to know his message was getting through and not simply being ignored. "How could I forget them Diva? Life doesn't work that way."

"It has for my chevalier," she replied with no emotion.

"Has it?" he asked in a skeptical tone. "Would you even care enough to notice if it hadn't?"

"And what is that supposed to mean?" she shot back, her anger rising again.

"You've said yourself that your chevalier don't matter very much to you. Did you ever even notice how much you made Karl suffer, or how lonely Solomon was? Even if you act like the past didn't happen, like they didn't ever exist as anything but your chevalier, it doesn't change the fact that it did happen. A person's past is a part of them, that's true for everyone including you."

"Me?" she asked, growing angrier.

"You most of all," he stated with conviction. "You want someone to blame for your past so you blame Saya. You hurt others because someone hurt you, and you want to control other people like they're your toys because someone once treated you like you were their toy."

The air was shattered by the sound of Diva's fist crashing into Riku's face again, harder this time.

He got up on his hands and knees and spat blood, glaring back at her, his anger overcoming his fear. "And hitting me won't change what happened back then anymore than it will change what's happening now, anymore than it will change the fact that you're still being used like an experiment, that you're still being controlled!"

"Controlled?" she repeated caustically. "The only one trying to tell me what to do right now is you Riku." She grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him off his feet. "So I'll hit you as much as I want, since it seems you need to be disciplined."

His glare turned soft again. "Do you really think that way solves anything or makes anything better? All you'll be doing is hurting someone again." Riku held back the fear he now felt growing in the pit of his stomach. Being the object of Diva's destructive rage was not what he wanted.

Diva didn't answer at first, but then sighed as she threw Riku to the floor and looked down on him. "As I told Solomon when he left me for her, I really would like to live with Saya, but I would like even more to kill her. Besides which, you have me now. What does it matter if Saya dies?"

"Just because someone's important to you doesn't mean they can take the place of other people you care about! Saya's my sister too, siblings are supposed to protect each other!" Riku was getting desperate, his words just didn't seem to be reaching her.

Diva's voice didn't waver as she replied. "She was my sister a long time before she was yours, and by blood even. As for protecting each other… Saya lived her own perfect, carefree life throughout our childhood while I remained locked away, alone and in the dark. She was a naïve, spoiled brat who only cared about herself. Even when she freed me it was only to indulge her own whimsy. She didn't even wait to see me after she unlocked the door, just ran off to her precious Haji. And yet… how I envied her and her life… I wanted it. I still want it. But I can't have it as long as she is still breathing."

"But what if it didn't have to be that way?" Riku pleaded. "If you and Saya just gave each other a chance and honestly tried to understand each other, I'm sure you could-"

"Riku."

Riku was stunned by his own sudden silence. Diva's interruption had not been loud or sharp, but had nonetheless carried in its tone a violent intent so strong that it struck him to his very core. His body was frozen with fear, fear he had not experienced again in all the time since that night over a year ago in the minutes before Diva seduced him.

"Don't make me wish I had killed you."

Neither her face nor her voice held any emotion as she spoke. Her gaze was vacant and Rikku felt as though to her he was no longer even there. The casual indifference she wore was scaring him more than anything else as it meant he had no idea just what she was feelings or what she would do.

What came next was so swift that Rikku only registered it after it had happened. Diva backhanded him in a slap to the face so forceful that he was sent flying halfway across the room, crashing into a table and landing in a daze. He could feel the stinging and throbbing as his torn cheek mended itself. By the time he looked up, Diva had left the room, slamming the door so hard he was surprised it hadn't broken apart.

To say he was frightened would have been an understatement, but at the same time he didn't regret what he had done. He had proven to himself that whatever hold Diva and his chiropteran blood had over him, deep down he could still think and speak for himself. He knew now that Diva would never be able to enchant him to the point that he would hurt someone he cared about, or cease to care if they were hurt by someone else. For Rikku, this was a small bit of positive he had managed to find in what was a very negative situation.

--

Diva walked stiffly, still ever so near breaking into one of her infamous frenzies. It was just as well no one encountered her as she wandered the large house aimlessly, she would have probably killed them on sight. In addition, the only thing that kept her from tearing her surroundings to shreds was a nagging confusion that had wormed its way into her anger. Why hadn't she killed Riku? She had often killed for far less of an offense than what he had given her.

After all, how could he be so ungrateful?! Here she had given him so much! Fleshly pleasures most men could only dream of, the honor of her company, every material need or want he could ask for. She was making him a part of her long dreamt of family. She had even abstained from killing humans for their blood, all for him! She had given him more than she had any of her chevaliers and yet he still had the nerve to stick up for Saya!?

What had Riku done to her? Yes, she should have killed him back on the ship, right after seducing and making love with him, should have left him eternally hers as a statue whose eyes had last beheld her face. That way she could have avoided whatever horrid hold Riku had managed to get over her now. To have made her doubt herself and her ways, even for a moment… No one was allowed to do that. Never again. That was what she had promised herself all those years ago. Never again would anyone be in control of her, never again would anyone hold a place above her will.

Was it love? The idea intrigued and disturbed Diva. She had never given or felt love for her chevaliers, at most she was fond of them. In this way she could treat them as she saw fit, ignore whatever desires they had for her, and be little effected should one of them die or betray her. From what she had heard over the years, to love someone would require her to submit herself, to view their life, their wants, their needs as more important than her own. It was as inconceivable a concept now as it was when she had first heard of it, even after hearing various simple versions of the explanation from Riku. And yet she had just now rejected her personal desire to kill him in favor of leaving before her anger got the better of her.

What's more, another horrible feeling was growing inside her, distinct from the anger. She couldn't identify it as anything more than a strange mix of disappointment and sadness, themselves feelings she had rarely experienced after being freed from her tower. Whatever it was, it made her feel sick and weak and she hated it.

Was it the look he had given her that caused this feeling? She expected fear, maybe anger, in his eyes. She could deal with that. She was used to that. Yet Riku did not give her those things. His expression only showed a strange sadness. Pity? Sympathy? She didn't know what it was, only that it was a face she had never seen anyone else direct at her, and the more she thought about it the more it made her feel these things she neither liked, or could really identify.

These feelings… this pain… could it be guilt? It would explain why it felt so foreign to her. To Diva guilt was little more than a word. She knew what it meant but she had never felt it to her recollection. To have felt guilty she would have needed to first believe she was capable of doing wrong and to put it bluntly she didn't.

Diva was very much a person who thought in terms of black and white, albeit in a way that few others did. For in her view she was always right and therefore whatever she wanted at any given moment was also right. That meant that anyone who sought to get in her way was wrong and that was all there was to it. To believe otherwise would complicate things far too much.

Even if she allowed herself to consider that her views were not 'right' she certainly wouldn't take that as any reason to change. Even if she was wrong she was in the right for she was a victim. It was all Joel's fault after all! She was who he molded her to be. If she was flawed in any way it was because of him and therefore it was not her fault. Joel had long ago received his punishment but she was entitled to live as long as she wanted, however she wanted. The world that had produced Joel owed it to her and no one in it had a right to complain.

Yes… she never felt guilt because she was guiltless. She was perfect. She was Diva.

And yet… no matter how often she repeated that mantra… the strange pain inside her remained. Indeed, it seemed to get worse.

--

In her brooding Diva lost all sense of time, and next thing she knew Nathan and Amshel were standing before her inquiring as to what was going on.

"Diva my dear," Nathan cooed, "whatever is the matter? Earlier you said you were going to spend all this time off from your voice lessons playing with Riku. Shouldn't you go to him?"

"No," she replied flatly. "He's not being fun right now."

"Ah, I see… your first lover's spat," Nathan remarked dramatically. "I was wondering when it would happen."

Both Diva and Amshel seemed to ignore Nathan's reply. "With your permission," Amshel began, "I will have the boy removed from here at once."

In an instant Diva had whirled around and grabbed Amshel by his neck, her eyes blazing.

"Di-va?!" he choked. He was certainly capable of defending himself, but to strike back at Diva now could ruin whatever influence he still held over her. Plus he was far from certain he could win if Diva went all out and more than that he could not risk harming her or her babies, the first new purely natural chiropterans in over a century. He also doubted he could count on Nathan to assist him.

"You will do no such thing," she said in a voice that indicated any attempt to argue would have a violent consequence. "Riku belongs to me. You will not so much as touch him without my permission. If I wish him dead, I will kill him myself. No one else."

By now she was squeezing too hard for Amshel to even reply beyond a few strained breaths. Then, without altering her expression, she simply let go and walked away without another word. Nathan smirked at the whole display and continued to watch as Amshel crumpled to the floor coughing and gasping while trying to retain some of his pride.

"That's our Diva," Nathan mused. "Such a wonderful spitfire of a girl. Still, I haven't seen her this angry in a long time…"

Amshel spoke with a bit of pain and strain but by now seemed largely recovered. "Then… do you still maintain that the boy is a.… 'calming' influence on Diva?"

Nathan studied Diva as she left the hallway, his eyebrow cocked in curiosity and a hand to his chin. "I suppose we shall have to wait and see…"

--

Just out of sight of her chevalier Diva's image of rage gave way to despair as she slid to the floor against the wall and curled up, hugging her legs to chest. Those horrible feelings would just not go away. She wanted to see Riku so badly yet at the same time she was afraid of seeing him. She didn't know what to say or do, she had never been in a situation like this before.

"Riku…" she whimpered, remembering how he would hold her after her nightmares, how peaceful it would make her feel, how everything just seemed better when she saw him smile. It was only now that she realized, or at least admitted to realizing, that she didn't simply choose not to kill Riku earlier. She couldn't kill him, he was too precious to her to ever lose now. In all her life her babies had been the only other things she had ever felt that way about. How? How was it possible for her to feel these things and, even though it hurt so much to feel them, why did she not want to lose those feelings for Riku and her babies? Was this truly what it meant to love someone?

"Riku… Riku…" she repeated in a pained tone as her trauma-laden mind continued to wrestle with its newfound emotional growth. She lay on the floor in a fetal position, whimpering a myriad of desires and emotions, trying to make sense of them. It seemed as if it was all she could do.

--

Hours passed and Riku found himself wishing he was still able to fall asleep. If he could then maybe he'd escape his current worries for a while. Instead he was stuck waiting to see just how Diva would ultimately react to his recent behavior. Would she kill him, torture him, act like it never happened? He needed to know, if only for the sake of finding some kindness and humanity in her. But in her current state her mind was closed to him, he couldn't even tell if she was still in the mansion.

It was late at night when he finally sensed her approach. She opened the door without her usual enthusiasm and instead of dashing over to kiss him she stood still in the dark room, the door shutting behind her. He could feel her eyes on him as for what seemed an eternity she simply stared at him. Riku couldn't take it. If she was going to punish him somehow then get it over with! The waiting and the not knowing seemed worse. He took a tentative step toward her to utter words to that effect but only managed a trembling "Diva" before he found himself being rocketed back onto the bed by a flying tackle from the girl.

He lay there thoroughly stunned, trying to get his breath back from Diva ramming into his chest. As for Diva she had again become still. She lay over him unmoving, though he could feel she had grasped the fabric of his pajamas over his shoulders and seemed to be holding on for dear life. Her head was buried in his chest, her hair down and splayed about, hiding what he might have been able to glimpse of her expression.

He waited, his heart slowing down then speeding up as he alternated between confused and fearful. Just what was she going to do, what was going through her head? It was true he could sometimes sense her presence and at times even her mood and mind when she dreamed but at the moment he had lost all focus. What did Diva's actions mean?

Then, gradually, he began to feel something. Diva was shaking, truly quivering, as she clung to him and he could hear muffled sounds escaping from her smothered face. They seemed to be a weak sniffling intermixed with a deeper sound. He felt a warm dampness forming on his shirt under her face. Then, an unmistakable sob whacked her body.

Diva was crying.

"Don't show me that face…" She whimpered into his chest, then looked at him directly, her eyes wet with tears. "Don't h-ate me… d-on't be afraid of me… it m-akes me feel things I don't understa-and… it makes me h-urt inside… please- please Riku…"

It was as though the Diva he had seen in the tortured dreams of her childhood had returned. She sounded so fragile and sad. It was as if the broken aspects of her that he had so long knew were there had finally come out in the open, revealing the desperate, lonely girl she was deep down.

She's crying… she said she couldn't but she's really crying… and she's doing it because of me…

And so Riku did the only thing he could think of to be a comfort, what his father had done so many times when he was sad, confused and afraid. He sat up, put his arms around her, and held her in a tight hug. Diva froze as she often did when Riku hugged her, her expression confused, but she was soon unable to hold back the wrenching sobs and grasped him more tightly, now weeping openly for the first time since the days she had cried alone in Joel's tower.

It was not as though Diva had never been held or hugged before Riku came along. Yet the touches of her chevalier were often mixed with reverence, awe, and sometimes fear. She was their queen, their goddess. Yet she did not feel that way under Riku's embrace. He held her as though he were her equal in some way. Somehow, that gave the simple gesture so much more meaning.

Diva cuddled into him, nestling her head in his lap and sighing with contentment even as she continued to sniffle and tears continued to bead the corners of her eyes. Riku was so warm, she felt so much comfort under his touch. Even more so as she felt him begin carefully, tenderly wiping her tears from her face with strokes of his fingers.

With little hesitation he then drew her up closer to him, putting his arms around her and letting the queen finish crying out her frustrations on his shoulder, holding and stroking her tenderly until she fell asleep. I don't want to fight with you either. I just wish… I wish you could understand…

But as she drifted to sleep, Riku could not have known that Diva had come to her own conclusion regarding the argument. If he can't forget all of his past, maybe bringing a piece of it here will be enough. You'll see the truth Riku, once I get Kai for our family. He is mine too after all, and its time he realized it. When Saya is dead you'll all see that I am enough for you, that none of us need her.

-- Time skip

Standing in front of a mirror in her trailer, Diva smiled as her senses alerted her to a person she had been hoping to see here. Better yet she had enough time before this test of her song's abilities to have a good chat with the boy.

Nathan had stopped waxing eloquent about Diva's beauty the instant he noticed the girl's lips curl into a smile, and Amshel was just as alert.

"He's here. Riku's blood is telling me Kai is nearby," she stated, not even looking back at them.

The chevalier needed no orders, they already knew what Diva wanted thanks to a fit she had thrown earlier in which she had trashed a room in Nathan's home and even smashed a vase she had been fond of. All to make the point of how serious she was about this. Amshel turned and without a word left the trailer before vanishing in a blur of speed.

--

For Kai this had not been an enjoyable evening. Images of Diva seemed to be everywhere and it didn't help at all that she had donned an appearance so similar to that of Riku. Knowing that she, and possibly Riku, were within walking distance but being ordered by David not to attack on his own made it even worse. At least Irene was with him, albeit shadowing him as a lookout, or his nerves would have been completely fried by now. He focused his senses, trying to see if he could pick out her presence in the surrounding area and smiled as he realized how well she had hidden herself, he could barely feel her at all, let alone point her out. He snapped to attention though as a form suddenly blurred into focus in front of him.

"Here you are," Amshel remarked in an aloof tone, "the stray."

Kai's eyes narrowed into a glare of recognition and he fought to keep his fangs from forming. So much for being undercover... "You… why would you be looking for me?"

"Diva wishes to meet with you. That is all the reason needed."

He glanced to the side. "And as for that defective product shadowing you, it will cease to do so immediately. My orders only pertain to not harming you. The creature will remain here or die."

Damn it! He detected her straight way! Just how skilled is this guy? Kai clenched his jaw, he wanted so badly to simply pummel the man who stood before him, but he couldn't. Nor could he put Irene at risk. "Irene!"

His call was answered immediately as the blond vampire shot out of nowhere and blurred into position next to him, her sword drawn. She glanced at him, trying to discern what he wanted them to do and gasped when he at last spoke. "Stay here."

"What?!" she replied in shock. "Kai you can't go alone-"

"Irene please!" he cried back, then took a breath to calm himself, placing his hands on her shoulders. "As my friend, you have to understand this is something I've got to do. Besides, I doubt she'd arrange all this just to kill me. Just go to the concert as planned and I'll meet up with you, alright?"

"It's not alright," Irene replied, taking a moment to glare at Amshel.

"Please," Kai repeated, taking her chin in his hand to meet her eyes with his. When she failed to reply he bent forward, putting his mouth to her ear. "You know I love you, right?" he whispered, Irene feeling a warm tingle spread through her at his words. "Please, trust me."

She sighed and gave Kai a quick hug, "I love you too," she whispered into his ear in reply. "So please, be careful." Kai nodded back, then turned to follow Amshel.

--

"Thank you for meeting with me Kai."

As if I had a choice, he spat back in his thoughts, glaring at the girl who had taken on the form of his brother and now was smiling at him as if they were old friends meeting in her trailer. It took every ounce of self-control Kai had learned over the past year and a half to keep from simply attacking Diva on sight. This was his chance to get answers, he needed to stay calm and see what he could find out. "What do you want with me?"

Diva beamed at him, seemingly unaware of his hostility. "Simply to give you an invitation to truly join my new family. You are my chevalier, so unless you're having babies with Saya you should want to come and be with me. We are family after all."

Kai clenched his fists and ground his teeth. "Even if you are Saya's sister you're no family to me! You're just the psycho who kidnapped my brother and forced me to become a chiropteran."

Diva gave him a mock pout. "Is that any way to speak to the one who granted you such a gift, who become your mother?"

Kai's left eye twitched. "You are not my mother either!"

"I gave you a new life through my blood. In that sense, I very much am your mother now. And also, because of my gift you are among the few who can give my sister babies now, though you may have to fight Solomon for her" she said, giggling at her little joke.

He sighed in exasperation. "What is with you and all this talk about babies? Next you'll start saying that crap about how you're my lover too, like I heard Solomon has said about Saya."

"I'm afraid you're out of luck there," she laughed, "my bed is reserved for only one lover now… but what of you? Surely some part of you wants to be with me? Chevalier are servants who live to pleasure one or both queens. It's in your nature, you should want me."

Kai would never admit it to her, but he had struggled with odd urges to be with Diva, to adore her and serve her. By now he could silence them easily by simply thinking of Irene or Saya. Yet even so he felt a part of himself finding Diva's offer surprisingly tempting.

"Obviously, you've managed to focus yourself elsewhere and overcome your blood somehow. Since it seems you aren't trying to have babies with Saya I wonder… perhaps you've gotten infatuated with that doll Amshel made? According to him she's been seen with you quite a bit."

Kai's eyes narrowed at her. "Irene is not a doll."

That confirmed that theory as far as Diva was concerned, so she prodded him a bit more. "She was produced, just as dolls are, and made to not last forever, just as dolls are."

"She's more real than you. It certainly doesn't matter how she was made. It never did, and thanks to Saya she'll live as long as any of us. She deserves it too. She was a victim and an experiment from the very start just like you, but she never liked killing people."

"Don't compare that doll's life to mine!" Diva snapped back, her voice rising and her eyes blazing blue for a moment as Kai shrank back in shock She took a deep breath and paused to calm down. "Regardless of what you may or may not have found with her, you may want to consider how happy you could be as one of mine. I could even let you take the doll along, you'll never have babies with her, but you could still have fun together. All you could want would be provided."

"What I want is to see Riku."

"In that case, you need look no further than in front of your eyes."

"Don't give me that crap!" Kai shouted back, no longer able to restrain his emotions. "You might look like Riku but you aren't him!"

Diva turned her head, appearing somehow bashful as she smiled and ran a hand through her hair. "Not entirely perhaps, but he and I have become as one." She stepped toward him. "His blood runs through me just as my blood runs through him, and more than that," she took Kai's hand and held it to her stomach before he could try to pull away, "two lives now exist inside me, each a half of him."

Kai was shaking, no longer just enraged but utterly shocked as he felt the slight movements in Diva's still small belly. She and Riku had… the implications were too much for the young man to take. He had at times wondered if Diva had taken Riku away out of some twisted attraction to him, but he never imagined this. It had to be some kind of sick joke.

Noticing his disbelief Diva turned away with a knowing smile and continued speaking, glad to have Kai hanging on her every word. "That is why I want you to be with me Kai. Someone will need to look after my babies when Riku and I need some time alone," her smile turned to a wry smirk and she even blushed a bit. Then her expression turned more serious as she looked him in the eye. "There is no one who I could trust more with them than a chevalier of mine who is also Riku's brother. After all there is the thirty year sleep to deal with too when I won't be able to protect them…" she added as an idle thought.

Kai shook his head, trying to clear his mind of what Diva was talking about. He knew one thing needed answering before anything else. "Then Riku, you're saying he's still alive?" he asked in realization. "Tell me what you did to him you bitch!"

Diva didn't flinch from the outburst, she simply kept smiling in a manner that had Kai wanting to tear her head off. "Of course he is alive, Riku is far too much fun for me not to keep around. As for what I did to him..." again she turned oddly coy, "only what came naturally. Riku was so nice, he was a bit shy at first but he couldn't resist me for long and we've been having fun ever since. I'm sure you've experienced similar things, with that doll of yours."

Kai was shaking now… remembering the frightened words Riku had stated about protecting Kai as Diva walked toward him that night seemingly so long ago. Protect me… the worthless kid who was unconscious while you got kidnapped and raped, the failure who let you live with her for over a year?! His self-hatred didn't last long though, he couldn't afford to dwell on that when Diva was right in front of him.

"You know, he really misses you."

This gave Kai pause. Perhaps he could still get some useful information. "Riku?"

"Yes, he talks about you all the time." She rolled her eyes as her voice suddenly started to eerily mimic Riku's, "it's always 'Kai once did this' or 'Kai used to say that.'"

"Yeah right," Kai scoffed once he got over the shock of hearing Riku's voice from her mouth, "and I suppose you expect me to believe Riku asked for me to join you as well?"

Diva giggled, "of course not silly. My Riku doesn't know I'm meeting with you. He doesn't even know where you are. I try to keep him away from things like this, he's a stronger boy than he was but I don't want him getting hurt."

Referring to Riku as hers had only added fuel to Kai's anger and he could feel his palms starting to bleed as he clenched his fists ever tighter.

Diva had turned oddly serious again. "I'll make it simple for you. This is the reality Kai. Saya will die, that is not going to change. However, you need not share her fate. I would like to give my Riku something of his old life back and I don't see you as an enemy like I do Saya. Do you not see what a wonderful opportunity this is? You will get to be part of my family, you will be with Riku again, surely that is worth leaving Saya for?"

Before Kai could answer there came a knock at the door followed by the entrance of Nathan and Amshel. Diva regarded them for a moment. It seemed it was time. She then turned to Kai again. "Don't answer yet Kai. For now, just come with me. I want you to see something. After that, perhaps you will understand how pointless it is for you to stay with Saya."

-- time skip to end of concert

Behind the stage where she had just sang Diva regarded Kai with an eerie degree of calm, even as chaos reigned in the audience nearby.

"That was a glimpse of the new world that will replace this one," she stated as the frightened screams of audience members and newly-created chiropterans filled the air alongside army helicopters and the Corpse Corps that had been put in place earlier for the planned rescue. "Now that you've seen it wouldn't you want to be on the winning side? I'm going to ask you again Kai, truly become my chevalier. Serve me and my babies beside Riku."

On impulse he pulled out the gun he had long carried but had little use for now and leveled it at Diva. But to Kai's shock she continued forward until the barrel of his gun pressed against her chest.

"Do it," she stated casually. Upon noting his shock she continued. "You hate me, don't you? I understand, so get rid of your hate by killing me. I'll only be dead for a few seconds, and then you can pledge yourself to me. Drink my blood as an oath to me Kai and the three of us can be happy together with my babies."

"You think I'm going to shoot you because you say its okay?!" It was tempting though, and Kai's anger was getting the better of him. He was Diva's chevalier, therefore her blood couldn't kill him. Maybe that could give him an edge? Maybe he could actually stand a chance of at least hurting her and getting out of this? Even so, the gun would be pretty useless here and he quickly put it back in his pants.

"I know you want to," Diva replied, her tone disturbingly calm. "Though I will have to ask that you not shoot my belly. We wouldn't want your nieces getting hurt would we?" She noticed Kai tense at those words and gave him a wicked smirk as she goaded him on. "Who do you think they'll look more like, me or Riku?"

"You bitch…" his voice distorted into a deep growling tone and his eyes blazed red, "I'm going to KILL YOU!"

But nothing came of it, Kai's transformed fist stopping inches in front of her face, Diva not flinching even as the force of the mock punch caused her hair to flail about as if it was in a strong wind. He breathed hard, his face still etched in rage. "I won't ever do what you say, I won't ever join you. Riku wouldn't want that for me, I'm sure of it." The hand that had transformed reverted back to human form as he regained his calm. "My place is with Saya and Irene, helping them stop you."

"That's a horrible thing to say!" Diva exclaimed in mild shock. "I thought you loved Riku!"

"I do love Riku you bitch!" Kai yelled back. "Don't you get it?"

"I think I do," she replied, her voice losing emotion. "Even though he is your own brother, Riku doesn't mean enough to you to leave my sister. I even offered to let you shoot me to apologize and you refuse. If that's how you feel then you don't deserve to be with him."

Her eyes gleamed with sudden ill intent. "Riku doesn't need a brother like you, so I'll just eat you. Then at least your blood and Riku's can mingle within me." She took a step toward him, her eyes glowing. "And I won't even be breaking my promise not to eat living humans, since you aren't human anymore…"

"Not if I can help it." Kai gave an audible growl as his fangs lengthened and now both his hands transformed to the brutal shield fists of his chiropteran form.

-- time skip

"Well Riku, did you see the show?" Diva asked as she abandoned her boyish disguise for her alluring true form.

He nodded, his expression saddening. Diva hadn't allowed him to watch it in person as she didn't want to risk Saya finding him, but he'd been able to watch the events on a view screen in his secured room on the base. "Those people… your singing changed them, made them into those monsters?"

"That, and some special ingredients. People should learn ice cream isn't good for them" she joked only to frown as she noticed his expression. "Oh come now Riku, how could you feel sorry for any of them? What do they matter?"

Riku's eyes watered as he tried to hold back his tears. Here he had thought he was getting through to Diva, but manipulated or not, she was still doing terrible things and it was tearing him up inside. "It doesn't matter I guess… what do I know about anything…" he muttered, his voice breaking. "It's just… those people, so many of them are dead now… and they probably all had someone out there who cared about them as much as you care about your babies…"

"Ridiculous," Diva retorted with a mocking laugh. "Worthless feelings from worthless lives. Here at least they died for something. Most death has no reason at all in this world."

Riku's expression remained dour and Diva felt herself losing patience with him when a thought suddenly struck her. "Oh, by the way," she remarked with a smirk, "I met with Kai today." Riku raised his head at the mention of his brother's name. Diva walked over and wrapped her arms around him possessively from behind as she spoke into his ear, pressing her body up against him. "Your blood let me know he was near. You might be able to feel things like that too as your abilities grow."

Satisfied that she had flustered Riku a bit she released him and stepped away, her arms behind her back as she related the rest of the story. "Anyway, we had a nice talk, I even told him he could come see you after the show, provided he swore his loyalty as my chevalier. But you know how stubborn he is. Then Saya had to come and get in the way, then Solomon showed up and really ruined things by taking off with Saya."

She sighed, "it could have gone so much better, but Saya seemed different. I thought she seemed to have gotten better when I saw her fight against James but now I'm sure that she's a lot stronger than she was when we last fought. I thought I might actually have to try while fighting her until Amshel managed to knock her out, and I doubt he could have done that so quickly if sister wasn't so sleepy. Kai's gotten stronger too, but he's still way too slow to hit Amshel or Nathan if they see him coming."

Riku was silent as he processed the news but Diva paid no attention as she now put her arms around him and stared down into his eyes, fingering his chest teasingly. "You know Riku, we do still have a while before we go back to Nathan's place. How about you help me relax a bit and I help you take your mind off Saya and that stupid Kai."

Riku was about to stand up for his brother and argue further but his words caught in his throat as Diva suddenly spun him around, pressing her breasts against his back and sucking on his right earlobe while her fingers roamed south of his stomach. "Diva," he gasped, trying to choke back the moan he felt coming from the dazzling sensations, "please… I'm really not in the mood for this right now…"

"I know," she purred back in a sympathetic tone but didn't let up as she moved to his neck, "neither am I… but we both know how easy it is to get in the mood, and I want to get my mind off this whole awful night…"

"Diva- ah! …ah!" he gasped again, his body bucking and trembling with pleasure as Diva now whispered bits of her haunting song into his ear. It was one of the benefits of all her practice that she could use her voice like this now, a siren call that could melt away Riku's resistance faster than her body and scent alone could.

Faced with the choice of either agonizing over the carnage Diva had helped cause or forgetting all his worries in the pleasurable haze of Diva's influence, Riku chose the latter with no small amount of guilt. Still, he renewed his resolve to show Diva the value of real love, to reach and nurture the vestiges of true humanity and sanity that remained in her tortured soul. He held onto the memory of that night she had shown him her tears and his confidence rose that there was still something in Diva that was worth saving.

Notes:

Believe it or not this chapter could have taken even longer to get out but I decided this was a better stopping point than the later one I had initially planned on.

Many apologies to those who have waited so long for this. Writing fast has never been my strongpoint and this story proves to me again that in the future I shouldn't post a story until most of the chapters are finished. Even so, be assured I do fully plan on finishing this, I just can't say how long it may take.

Also note I had to add a bit to chapter 4 as I had initially forgotten to have Solomon tell Saya about Diva being on Christina Island (or rather he thought she would be on it).