I'm ba-ack! I mean it's only been forever since I last updated but, who cares right?

I'M SORRY! PLEASE DON'T PELT ME WITH ROCKS AND ROTTEN FOOD! DON'T HATE MEEEEEE!

Anyway, thank you again to my fanfic buddy, EternalNosebleed for always taking her time to check out and proofread my chapters. You are lovely, and awesome and there aren't enough words to describe your awesomeness.

Thank you to another fanfic buddy, Be Happy, Be Healthy, 4Ever for always making me laugh in PMs despite the 5 hour time difference.

And thank you all of you lovely people who somehow enjoy this random thing I decided to do. You're awesome. Be sure to vote for your favourite Sakamaki for me to ship Eliza with!

Chapter 16

Answers That Were Not Expected

Walking around the Sakamaki grounds, I come across a bed of red roses. But something seems odd about it. I venture carefully towards it, wondering as to why I'm drawn to it.

As I stand over the roses, I gasp in horror.

Blood is speckling her face and heavily caking her chest. Her porcelain skin was paler than ever and her lilac hair fanned out beneath her.

With a bed of roses and thorns for her resting place; Cordelia lies dead.

.o0o.

I wake up with another horrified gasp. Breathing heavily as I try to get the image out of my head. I know where that rose bush is. The lady was murdered in her very own house. Brutally.

I check the time and see that my alarm would've been going off in a couple of minutes if it wasn't for the dream I had. Although I'm not sure if it was a dream. I've gone into the past before, who knows if it happened again.

Knowing that I have to start getting ready for school, I get out of bed, hoping to find some answers later.

.o0o.

After school I make my way to the rose bush that I saw in my dream. Thankfully, they've moved the body a long time ago. And any bruised roses that were once there have either been replenished with time or replaced.

I sigh. I'm not sure what to do. Pay my respects? Try to get more answers? The more answers I get, the more questions arise.

Suddenly, I hear the faint sound of music. A piano.

With my interest piqued. I follow the melody to a room where I see Laito playing.

Of all of the people who had to be able to play piano…

I have to admit though, he's pretty skilled.

"Why, hello, Little Bitch. I'm thrilled that we ran into each other here."

"That makes one of us." I sigh as I walk over to him. "Laito, who is the woman with a black dress and purple hair?" I ask, wanting to confirm my suspicions.

He stops playing the piano.

"Why do you want to know that?" Kanato asks. I look up to see both him and Ayato standing in previously unoccupied spaces. "What are you doing here?"

"Ayato, Kanato…What's your Mother's name?" I asks the two of them, wanting to get some answers.

Laito and Kanato refuse to look at me. But Ayato stares me in the eye as he utters a single word.

"Cordelia."

As soon as the word left his lips, I hunch over in pain.

"God dammit!" I seethe, as another chest pain hits.

"Eliza!" The triplets gasp in shock.

The next thing I know, everything is black.

.o0o.

I observe my surroundings to find that I'm outside the mansion.

A blood red moon shines ominously above, and I jump as a scream rings across the grounds.

Before I know it, I find myself on the staircase inside.

I gasp in horror.

Cordelia is standing on the lit staircase clutching her bloodied chest. A frightened face is plastered on with a trickle of blood showing on one corner of her mouth.

"Ayato." She gasps.

I follow the trail of blood ruining the carpet to a discarded knife at the feet of Ayato at the bottom of the stairs.

His shirt is coated with blood, along with his hands.

Ayato smirks. "What a shame. This shirt is ruined."

I'll say.

"I really liked this shirt too. It's soaked in your blood Mother."

"Oh, my God." I want to throw up.

He stabbed his mother.

He simply smirks once more at his mother's pitiful state and licks his left hand. "Your blood tastes so sweet."

He continues licking his hand. Seemingly not getting enough. "It's so delicious."

He gives her the stare of a predator.

"I want more."

Cordelia gasps at the prospect and starts stumbling away from him.

He laughs at her, delighted at her suffering.

I follow after the woman, wanting to know what happens to her.

She drags herself through a long corridor, leaving pools of blood behind her. Not able to make anywhere else without support, she stumbles and leans on the wall as she makes her way, painting the walls red.

I follow behind her as she bursts through a pair of doors, and instantly I recognise the room. I was in this room with the triplets' mere minutes ago.

Laito plays the piano without a care in the world. I have to give props to him. He's playing with his eyes closed.

He doesn't have a hat!

Really, of all the things in the world, I had to think of that first.

"Laito…" Cordelia stumbles weakly towards the playing teen.

"Oh no. What's the matter?" He asks. I notice a ghost of a smile cross his features, although I think that Cordelia is too stressed to care.

"It's Ayato. He's torturing me!"

"Wow, really? Well, I knew this was going to happen sooner or later."

Ouch. Harsh much?

"Laito, I command you to help me!" She stretches out a hand in pain.

Laito stops playing the piano. And I jump at the sound of a sudden crash.

"It's Ayato. He's come to kill me!" The lilac-haired lady panics.

Something outside catches my eyes and I see tree branches bash against the window. The cause being the violent wind that picked up outside.

"That isn't Ayato. That's just the wind. Relax, I'll keep you safe." He reassures her as he walks out of the room.

Cordelia stumbles towards the balcony. I don't blame her honestly. After all that she's been through, some fresh air should do her good.

We wait there for a while before Laito approaches.

"Have you driven Ayato away?" Cordelia asks with a fearful expression.

"Yup. He's gone." He answers.

She sighs in relief. "I knew I could depend on you, Laito."

"Do you love me more than anyone else?" He asks her.

"Yes." She answers as she stretches out a blood-stained hand.

"Hmm." Laito laughs scornfully to himself. "You never change, do you?" He asks with an almost sympathetic look as he walks up to her.

"Laito, I love you. I mean that."

"…No you don't."

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. With a single, strong hand, Laito pushes his mother over the balcony. Leaving her to fall onto a bed of red roses.

"Now, you are mine for the rest of eternity."

I stare at him as he walks away when I suddenly remember words he once said to me.

"Murder is very special to us vampires. The ultimate way for you to confess your love is to kill us."

Laito loves his mother that much? But…this seems wrong.

In the blink of an eyes I'm transported to another location once again.

This time I'm standing over Cordelia's body; just like how I was in my dream only there's something not right…

There's a gaping hole in her chest where her heart should be.

"But, no-one cut out her heart." I say to myself.

I turn sharply at the sound of footsteps overriding the sound of pouring rain.

Thank God I somehow don't get wet over here.

Kanato walks past, obviously not seeing me, and approaches his mother. His prized Teddy in one hand and a candelabra flickering with purple flames in the other.

"Mother, what's wrong?" He asks. "There's a hole in your chest, Mother." He remarks as he sets down the candelabra and gently touches her hair.

"Wake up, Mother." He encourages.

Oh, poor thing.

"I wonder where your heart went." He wonders aloud as he looks around. "Help me look for it."

Ok, that was a pretty stupid thing to say.

"C'mon. Are you dead, Mother?"

And the penny finally drops. I think as he leans close to her head.

"You're so cold, and so wet." He observes as he strokes her head. "Mother, you must be freezing."

His eyes brighten at an idea. "Hold on, let me warm you up."

Dude, she's dead.

I give a small gasp in realisation.

Wait. He said that he killed his mother. But…

My thoughts are cut off as I witness how he warms his mother up. He sets down the flames over her body, and burns her.

"Now, doesn't that feel warm, Mother? C'mon, tell me you're getting warmer."

I watch in horror as the flames consume her, not even sparing her bones…

.o0o.

I sit up straight as I violently wake up.

The first thing I register is the triplets crouching over me.

"Oi, Choco-Pan. What the hell just happened?" Ayato asks.

I stare at them, then bring my face close to my chest.

"You…you all killed your mother…" I whimper, mainly to myself than to them.

All of the brothers show an expression of shock. Apart from Ayato. He looks like I've just hit a painful nerve. "How did you…"

"Shut up!" I yell harshly.

"YOU'RE ALL FUCKING MONSTERS!" I bring my head up with a scream and run out of the room.

.o0o.

I run as fast as I can, not having a destination in mind.

White roses become a blur due to my speed until I trip up and fall to the paved ground.

"This sucks." I sob silently. "I can't stand it anymore."

"You should've ran when you had the chance." I look up to see snowy white hair contrasting with ruby-red eyes.

"You think that I don't know that, Subaru?" I sigh. "You know about it, don't you? What the triplets did to their mother."

"And if I do?" He calls over his shoulder as he walks away.

Good answer.

"Subaru, why did you give me that knife?" I ask as I stand up and reach out to him.

"Stay away from me!" He turns around violently. "Come one step closer and I'll destroy you! I won't only break your body, but your mind as well!"

He thrashes a hand over a delicate white rose and a memory hits me.

"The woman in the tower…"

It all makes sense, the white hair and red eyes.

"She's your mother, isn't she?" I ask softly.

Subaru's mother has been kept away from him since he was a little kid.

"What do you know?!" He demands as he clutches my wrist tightly.

"Subaru, let go! You're hurting me!" I yell as I try to release myself from his grip. Our eyes meet and his expression softens from anger.

"What do you want from me?" He asks. "What do you expect from someone as powerless, hideous, and polluted as I am?"

I stare at him in disbelief. This boy, this vampire. Despite all of his power, he has no confidence in himself at all.

He pulls me close and hugs me.

"Subaru, what are you doing?"

"…This." He bites my neck, but his bite contains some sort of sweet tenderness underneath the pain.

"You asked me why I gave you the silver knife." He says as he withdraws his fangs from my neck momentarily.

"I gave it to you so you can stab me with it, should I want you to."

I look at him in horror, then anger.

What's with everyone wanting to be killed in this house?

"What part of, 'I don't kill' do you not seem to understand?"

"If you can't kill me, then use it to end yourself."

I open my mouth to protest once again before he cuts me off.

"You have no right to refuse me. In the same way, you can't deny me your blood."

I look at him in sadness. That childish light of wanting to be loved has faded and all that's left is wrath.

"Good. Just be quiet and allow my fangs to enter you. Always."

I close my eyes as he bites me once more, this time with no tenderness beneath the act.

.o0o.

Although dawn is breaking, I lie in bed unable to get to sleep easily. I've been through so much tonight. It's something that I'll need time to get over. Sort of like when…my mother died.

I feel my bed shift behind me and I sit up to see which of the brothers decided to have an early morning snack before they go to bed.

"Ayato, I swear to God, if that's you then I'll-"

The sight I see tugs at my heartstrings. Ayato lies on the bed, his face concealed by pillows. He doesn't look like himself at all. Almost consumed by guilt.

"Ayato…" I whisper softly, all of my previous anger fading away.

"Don't look at me." He demands, although there is no intimidation behind it.

"But-"

"Be quiet." He stretches out one arm and pulls me down, not letting go. "Don't disobey me."

I stay silent for a moment before talking again.

"Come under the covers. It gets cold in here sometimes."

I'm still angry at him, obviously. But I can't let him freeze. This doesn't mean I like him.

"I'm a vampire, Eliza. We don't get cold." My heart pulses even more at the sound of my name.

Why...Why do I feel like this?

"Get under the covers, Ayato." I ask firmly, trying to disguise my fluster.

He does nothing, and I leave it at that.

I don't care, he can freeze due to his stubbornness.

I feel him shifting under the covers.

I take his hand in mine and cuddle closer to him. Anger, fear, and defiance melting away to…I don't know what.

"I'm only doing this so I don't have to go far for breakfast tomorrow night." He says.

"I'm not beating you up because I'm tired." I retaliate.

"Fine then, good night." He adjusts himself one final time before surrendering to sleep.

"Good night." I close my eyes and try to fall asleep with one final thought.

I don't like him. I'm just letting this happen because I'm too tired to kick him out.

But then, why am I falling asleep with a smile on my face?

Aww. I'm not a complete Schadenfreude...or am I? (Search up 14 untranslatable words to find out what that means.) ;P

Hopefully, you lovely people don't have to wait too long for the next chapter. But once again, this is me we're talking about.

Review if you want to!

-Cat