*Author's Note: Here's chapter 18! Please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight.
I was in the bathroom of the headmaster's house. I was planning to shower, but as they often did, my thoughts wandered, and I found myself again thinking of Yuki. Yesterday when I had accused her of wishing Kaname had been the one to bite her, she had reacted strangely, almost defensively. I could not fathom what that girl was thinking or how she felt. In some ways she was the epitome of an open book, and in others her thoughts completely eluded me.
Exasperated, I ran my hand through my hair. The last couple days had been hell. I had gone from being able to keep all my secrets from Yuki and just being normal around her to practically killing her (and myself), getting an earful or two from my childhood mentor, and then being forcibly persuaded to drink Yuki's blood. This entire week had been so frustrating.
As if on cue, Yuki, the cause of almost every frustration I had, came walking up to the door, ignoring the towel I had put on it, and opened it. "Will you learn to knock?" I said irritably.
"Oh come on, like you're one to say something! You're the one that never knocks! You know the lock is broken, so hang a towel on the door. Maybe if you would've done that then—" she ended abruptly, having just seen the towel I put on the door.
Thinking out loud, I said quietly, "I wonder what Kaname Kuran has in mind for you?" I had been pondering lately why the Pureblood was so interested in a mere human girl.
"Huh?" she said, having overheard my mumbled words.
"Nothing, never mind," I told her, hiding my eyes so she wouldn't see the lie in them. Turning around, I began to unbutton my shirt. "Just leave already," I told her, my bad mood worsening.
"I just…" she started, and I turned around to hear what she had to say. "You're wrong. You said that I would've preferred to give my blood to Kaname but I never wished for that at all."
"Is that right," I said sarcastically.
"That all you have to say? You're the one who brought it up in the first place! Listen! My responsibility is to make sure that I give you blood. That's what I intend to do forever!" she ranted at me. As I listened to her, I became more and more angry. I didn't want to be her "responsibility". I was starting to realize more and more that what I truly wanted from her was her love. It was becoming harder and harder to be in love with a girl who thought she loved someone else.
"Are you listening?! And this time you had better not turn me down, all right?! Hey…you are prepared for this…we both decided—" she was cut off by me as I snapped, swiftly turning around, securing her small wrists in my hands and forcibly pushing her back against the bathroom wall.
"R-right now?" she breathed. However the longings I felt now were not for her blood. Caught up in the moment I closed my eyes as a wave of desire flooded over me. I wanted her. I wanted her to need me, to show me that she cared about me. However, I quickly snapped out of it, hearing her rapid breathing. Of course, she was afraid of me. I was no better than a beast after all, a vampire. She didn't realize it was not her blood I was pining after at the moment.
Quickly letting go and trying to hide the signs of my arousal, I chastised her. "You're an idiot. You're the one who's not prepared. That's obvious," I said, knowing I needed to let her believe this was about her blood. I turned away before I finished speaking, not wanting to see her face when she inevitably became hurt and angry at me. "Just go," I told her, taking off my shirt as I did.
"I thought you were serious!" she yelled at me, throwing a bundle of clothes and a towel at my head. Reaching back to pick up whatever had looped around my forehead, I realized it was her bra. Immediately she snatched it out of my hand, continuing, "you try to test me like that again and I'll really let you have it!" she told me angrily, slamming the door as she left.
Why did I always do this? Now she was angry and hurt again, and it was my fault. All the frustration of the past couple days came rushing back, and all I wanted to do was get into the shower and stand there in the scalding water. Unfortunately for me, the headmaster chose that moment to barge into the bathroom, saying something about Yuki being angry and him needing to talk to me. I mumbled that I would come when I was done showering, and he left me. I stepped into the shower, letting out all my frustration and relieving myself of my arousal.
I looked up, staring at the dilapidated building in front of me. This had to be it. Sighing, I continued into the darkness, my inhuman eyes adjusting quickly to the lower light.
I was skipping class in order to do this. Yuki would probably be worried when she realized I wasn't in class; she always did. But I really didn't have a choice. The headmaster had given me a letter this morning, an order from the Hunter's Association. It was an order to hunt down and kill a level E in town who had killed a number of teenage girls over the past couple days. If I didn't take it, the Hunter's Association would likely come after me, especially since they knew that I was in fact a vampire. I had to do this.
Coming to a set of stairs, I walked quietly up to the next floor, looking and listening for signs of a struggle. There were rusty colored stains on some of the walls, accompanied by the smell of dried blood. I listened intently and heard soft moans coming from a couple rooms down. Silently, I walked into the room and found myself standing in front of the level E, feasting on a young girl. I took out the Bloody Rose, ready to shoot him at any moment.
"Who are you?" the level E asked me, lazily opening his eyes and momentarily separating his lips from the neck of the girl lying unconscious on his lap.
"Four teenage girls have wound up dead. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that?" I taunted him.
"Come on, you're supposed to shoot me with no questions asked, Hunter. But still, I'm in a good mood so I'll answer your question. Yes! I did it! I couldn't help myself…it felt so good…one just wasn't enough!" he said gleefully, insanity tugging at the edges of his voice. Disgusted, I clenched my teeth, glaring at him now.
"You have no idea how good it feels when your fangs pierce the skin of a young girl's neck. Then…you bite down hard…losing yourself in a trance…and then…climax!" he yelled, and as he did he advanced towards me, swiping at me with his hands. When I backed up, he laughed hysterically, escaping through the door. I shot at him, but missed, the gunshot echoing through the old building.
Leaning against the wall, I put my hand over my face, laughing humorlessly. I didn't understand. Why were vampires like this? Each and every one of them. All they ever seemed to do was let their desires rule them; blood and sex seemed to be the only things on their minds. I thought of the night class students, prowling the grounds at night to prey on students, and some of them like Hanabusa would gladly take more than blood from his victims if the disciplinary committee or one of the other vampires didn't stop him.
But what I hated the most is that I was one of them. I could barely keep my mind from straying towards bloodlust anymore. I was slowly becoming the very being that I hated most in this world. That was the true reason I had taken this mission. Though I was a vampire, at least I could help rid the world of other vampires. They didn't deserve any sympathy.
"I will end this," I said to myself, heading off after the level E again.
From a floor down, I heard the disturbing sound of concrete cracking, and heard a familiar scream. Yuki. She must've seen me skipping class and followed me here. Running as fast as I could, I found a set of stairs and ran towards the crazed laughter of the level E.
"My luck keeps getting better! You're number two today! No, now, don't be scared! I promise I'll do my best to be gentle," I heard him say right before I shot him in the shoulder. He fell to the floor, yelling, but Yuki's ankle was still in his grasp.
"Get your filthy hands off of her now," I warned, enraged that he had tried to hurt Yuki.
"Zero!" she said, sounding both relieved at my presence and scared for my safety as I walked towards the unstable level E.
"How dare you!" the level E growled at me, but I stepped on his chest, holding him in place with the gun pointing directly at him.
"This ridiculous chase ends here," I told him.
"Zero…what are you…?" Yuki asked me, not knowing what to make of my being here.
"I'm carrying out an order as a Vampire Hunter," I told her, knowing I couldn't keep it from her and also having no desire to. Turning back to the level E, I read his charges from the letter the Hunter's Association had sent me.
"Your desire for blood has turned you into a serial killer. I will purge you of your sin."
"So then…it's over, huh?" the level E said, sounding somehow relieved. "I guess…this means I will finally stop killing people," he said, closing his eyes as I pulled the trigger to end his cursed life.
After a couple moments of stunned silence, Yuki looked to me. "Zero…" she said, her voice filled with sadness for me. Before she could finish however, two night class students walked over to where we were standing, the male carrying the girl from earlier over his shoulder. I recognized Senri, and remembered the girl who always seemed to be with him was Rima.
"Hey Disciplinary Committee, we picked up a girl in another room. You want her? She's still alive," Rima told us, pointing to the human hoisted over Senri's shoulder.
"That's great Zero! You hear that? She's still alive! You rescued me as well," she said, looking up at me gratefully. "So thank you."
I looked down at her, thinking how lucky it was that I had been able to save her. All I said was, "You're welcome."
*Thanks for reading, and be sure to tell me your thoughts!