*Spoilers for other fics of the series in this chapter.
Zero felt a pain in his chest and took in a deep breath, holding a hand up over his tie. Yuuki heard him and turned around. As she did, Zero quickly regained himself, not wanting her to notice.
"Zero?" she asked. "Are you ok?" It was just the two of them in the dark, duty close to being over.
"I'm fine," he spat, but she could tell he was clearly not, despite his best efforts.
"You can talk to me, you know," she said hopefully.
"There's nothing to talk about," Zero grumbled, turning away. "Duty is over, I'm going to bed."
"Well, goodnight!" Yuuki called after him. She held a closed hand up to her chest, a little worried about Zero, but also slightly hurt that he insisted on being so distant with her. As he walked away, Yuuki turned back to look at Kaname again, standing by the window and attentive to the lesson.
Zero made it back to his room, stumbling through the door and continuing to hold onto the knob for support. He brought his other hand up to cover his face, then he separated his fingers and peered out with glowing red eyes. He saw Jemmea on his bed, sleeping on her side as she usually did. He closed the door.
Before he had always tried to hold back, but he remembered back to the first time he bit her, the only time. She had not minded, and it did not seem to really affect her. He remembered how she had been more concerned about him, how she did not seem to suffer when he bit her, but rather did seem to suffer from emotional distress when she saw him in pain. His chest throbbed again. Though he did not want to do this, the previous experience made it that much harder to resist.
He slowly walked towards her, considering it. When he finally stood beside her, he looked down, her neck exposed and right there. He would have been able to fight it more if he had more negative consequences to sway him, but he was finding it hard to come up with many since he knew what her argument would be. There wasn't enough to keep him back. He slowly leaned down, climbing over her.
He put one of his knees behind hers, then one hand on her arm. With the other hand, he brushed her hair up off her neck, then held his hand against the side of her head.
She woke up as he took his position. "Zero...?" she asked groggily. She tried to turn her head to see him, but she couldn't, his hand holding her back. She could not see that it was really him as his teeth sank into her neck. She gasped at the pain and as a reflex tried to push him away with her arm, not being able to know it was him and still a little disoriented as she had just woken up.
But Zero only held her down, overwhelmed by the sweet taste of blood. The bite did not last long, and he stopped soon after, easily appeased. He slowly rose above her, licking his lips and looking down at her. As he rose, his hold on her lessened, and she was able to turn her head and look up at him. She saw him, still looking down at her, his eyes still glowing as he slowly pulled off her.
Meanwhile, the night class was suddenly very attentive. One by one they started to look up, then at each other. "I smell blood," one said.
"I do, too," another confirmed. Some eyes started to glow as the night class started to get worked up, hungry and deprived of human blood for so long. Kaname also smelled the blood. A few of his elite aristocrats noticed there was something different about it, but only Kaname knew what it was.
He raised his head, then directed to two of his nearby loyal followers, "Seiren, Ruka, go close the doors. Now." Without a word they obliged. Kaname turned to Ichijou, then said more loudly so others could hear, "I want a full attendance of the night class taken right this minute."
"Of course, Lord Kaname," replied Ichijou before turning to the crowd.
"Settle down, everyone," Kaname commanded, and they were quick to heed his words.
After a few minutes, Ichijou reported, "Everyone is here and accounted for."
This was just as Kaname suspected. "Good," he said. "A day class student must have cut themselves." This was the reason he gave, but he knew better. As the night class students settled back in, Kaname turned to look over his shoulder.
With his keen vision, he was able to see Zero walking her across the courtyard of the Sun Dorm as she pressed a hand to her neck. Kaname now knew that Zero had not only made a friend, but found a source of blood, and not just any blood: dragon's blood. That arrangement ultimately put Yuuki in a great deal of danger. Kaname now had no choice but to do something about it.
When class was over, Kaname went to the headmaster's office alone. The headmaster was asleep in his room as Kaname pulled Jemmea's file. Sitting down at the headmaster's desk, he leaned back as he opened the file. He crossed his legs and leaned to one side, his hand supporting his head. Once he saw the number, he reached out and dialed.
"Yes, who is this?" Pegasus demanded groggily.
"Is this Jemmea's father?" Kaname asked.
"Yes, who is this?" Pegasus asked again, now with more fervor.
"I regret to be the one to inform you that Cross Academy is not how it may seem. Your daughter is in a great deal of danger." This was all Kaname had to say before he hung up, not giving Pegasus the opportunity to ask for more information. Kaname sat back, leaning to one side of the chair. Now it was only a matter of time before this took care of itself.