Yamato rolled onto his side and caressed Saeko's bare stomach. They were in the middle of an afternoon rendezvous at a love hotel, enjoying their post-orgasm haze. "You have absolutely no idea how good it feels to have such a brilliant and successful woman beg me like that. I feel like a much younger, virile man around you."
She smirked at him and said, "You forget that I've been with younger men. You're infinitely better than that. You just don't know how talented you are."
He leaned down, pleased with her praise, and nipped at her breast, "You're going to inflate my ego."
"Your ego should be inflated," she countered. Then, completely changing the subject, she said, "I really do see the difference now."
Yamato raised his head and looked up at her. "I'm a bit lost. Do you mean between me and other men? You didn't see that before?" He wasn't angry, just confused.
Shaking her head, she said, "No! I mean, with them being vampires and the killing. I had some help. Artemis slipped me the files on all the people Usagi killed —even the undiscovered ones. I'm finding that my world isn't as black and white as I thought, and that's all right. I'm clear on who the bad guys are, and it's not any of our people."
While Yamato was glad to hear that, he knew there was one more pressing reason for her to accept Vampires as a whole —her daughter was a vampire. That fact alone would have eventually won her over. He knew she wasn't a great mother, that her career had come first before anyone else, including Ami, but he also knew that she loved her daughter the best she could and that no one else in this world could impact her as much.
He watched her steady gaze meet his eyes and nodded slightly at her in response. "When do you want to become one," he asked, fully believing he would shock her.
Instead, she shocked him by saying, "As soon as this mess with Beryl is over. I don't want to try for reincarnation. I don't have anyone to be reborn for like Satoru has with Rei and Jadeite. He wants her to experience being his mother and for himself to have loving parents. I, however, have zero desire to be raised by my daughter or be younger than her."
"And you worked too hard to build up the knowledge and the career you have now," he added, understanding her viewpoint.
She nodded and then said, "And there's you. You're like a father to Mamoru, and he needs one. It means too much to both of you. No —I don't want to start this life over."
Yamato found it interesting that Saeko didn't even consider the other option of them growing old and not being reincarnated. To him, it showed him how much she accepted the vampires, especially as it seemed inevitable that she would become one.
He gently brushed a strand of hair away from her face and said, "Can you be a vampire and a surgeon?"
"Yes," she said, smiling softly. "I have my inner circle all picked out at work. In fact, I've already asked for their permanent assignments to be with me, along with a big raise for each of them. Everyone in that surgery suite knew Minako was a vampire, and not one of them has let that slip."
"That must have been a surprise," Yamato commented.
"You should have seen my shock when they came to me and told me," Saeko confirmed. "My secretary later told me that he knew too."
"Your hot secretary," he asked, grumbling.
She laughed lightly at him and said, "Be jealous. It's cute."
Yamato propped himself up to lean over and fake scowled. "Once I'm a vampire, I'll compel him to think you're ugly."
"He's not interested in me silly. I'm too… thin for his particular taste," Saeko replied, trying to enlighten him.
"You're thin, but…." He then trailed off as he watched her shake her head.
Saeko, eyes full of amusement at him, said, "No. He's into much curvier women."
"Oh…" Yamato replied, thinking hard. "You're not his type?"
Playfully rolling her eyes, she said, "It's darling that you can't process someone not finding me attractive."
He nipped at her shoulder and whispered, "You're the sexiest woman I ever met. I can't process others not thinking of you in the same way. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he's not into you."
"Speaking of sexy," she said. "I think I will enjoy the biting when we're vampires."
Yamato bit her shoulder hard, and he loved the sound of her moaning in response. "Why wait?"
Saeko arched her neck, bearing it to him, and said, "You're right, we don't have to be vampires to bite."
The next day, she wore a turtleneck top to hide the bite marks he had left all over her neck.
Andrei bowed before Lucy and held out a letter with a blood-red wax seal on it. Stamped in the wax was a rose. She took it from him, thanked him, and broke the seal.
After reading the beautiful scrawling handwriting, she smiled and looked up at Andrei. "Please get Dracula. Things between Yuki and Kaname are about to get interesting."
Walking in, having heard Lucy ask for him, Dracula said, "What's new with them?"
"Kaname still thinks that he has Lucy 'in hand.'" She then handed Dracula the letter. "She's gotten a backbone."
"She's always had one," he commented as he quickly read the letter. "She just normally suppresses it to please him. Apparently, that is no longer the case." Dracula folded the letter and said, "I told him he shouldn't fake involve her. That has come back to bite him."
"Not that he knows," Lucy amended. "Should we tell him?"
Dracula shook his head, "I will assign a vampire to keep an eye on her and tell Kaname if it gets too dangerous."
"She's going after information on the Order of Van Helsing," Lucy said, stressing the name at the end. "It is dangerous."
"She is an extremely powerful vampire. It's time Kaname learns that," Dracula replied. "Don't you agree, Andrei?"
The man laughed a bit and said, "You well know that I would give my life for you, sir —without hesitation. I just won't go as far as to get involved in a disagreement between the two of you."
"Chicken," Dracula teased, implying that Andrei was afraid of Lucy.
"Guilty," the man quickly admitted.
"Be nice!" Lucy playfully scolded. "And she better not get hurt if we know of it. You know Kaname is insanely protective of her."
"That's the problem," Dracula replied.
Lucy rolled her eyes, "You have the exact same problem. You're overprotective of me, too."
"Overprotective but not stifling," he corrected. "There is a difference between us."
Yuki was glad she didn't have to breathe since her surroundings were so quiet that she felt absolutely any noise would alert people to the fact that she was there.
Working to calm her mind, she thought about how glad she was that she had written to Lucy. She knew very well how her friends would react. They wouldn't tell Kaname, but they would send someone to keep an eye on her to protect her.
Right now, that thought was supremely comforting.
Hiding behind the thick curtain in the drawing room, almost fifteen feet up, she listened for the sound of anyone approaching.
Her research had shown that the Inquisitor's family had cocktails at five o'clock every day, and it was four fifty-six right now. One minute later, the doors were pushed abruptly open, and a woman in her late twenties marched in with someone who looked like her mother following.
"Those absolute lunatics!" the woman in her twenties yelled. Then, flopping on the light blue upholstered couch, she said, "They can't admit Dad to the psych ward, right? Can't we get them fired for that?!"
The older woman replied, "We will, but not yet. At least he's not sitting in prison while the lawyers work to get him released. Once he gets his bail set, we'll get him out of there."
Yuki had a long hour before their dinner was served, listening to the two women complain and curse out the police for their arrest of the Inquisitor. The only interesting fact she learned from them was that the daughter was delighted that her cheating husband was murdered.
Five minutes after they left the room for dinner, Yuki got out of her hiding spot and began going through the drawers on the desk. It was the sixth desk she had searched, and it all started feeling fruitless.
"She bought us this house," Artemis said in surprise.
Luna nodded and squeezed his hand in her. "I get that it's too big of a gift, and it's probably not right to accept it."
"But?" He asked, knowing something was coming.
"When I was a little girl, I used to walk past this house and think that it was the most beautiful house ever. That hasn't changed. It's perfect."
Artemis shrugged and said, "Then take it."
"That's okay with you? It's not emasculating to have someone else buy the house our child will grow up in?" Luna asked, wide-eyed.
"It wasn't before!" He jokingly objected. Then, growing serious, he said, "I'm used to her doing insane things. Usagi buying you the house you love makes me thankful. Let's be honest too. This house is huge. I couldn't afford it on my salary."
Luna laughed, "A doctor would struggle to afford this house on his salary. She's very generous."
Struck by the humor of the situation, he said, "She said this was a baby shower gift."
"She did," Luna replied.
Hatori threw a dart at the dartboard in his office. When it landed dead center in the bullseye, he felt that it was fitting. He now had the name of the policeman who was a mole for the Order of Van Helsing. When Akai's gun that he had been caught with was logged into evidence, Hatori had set up an internal sting.
He allowed the gun to be stolen. He wasn't interested in small fish like Akai. He wanted the mole caught red-handed, and he had him. The man just didn't know it yet.
Luna helped set the trap he had sprung. Once Hatori was sure of his identity, he downloaded the untraceable tracking and surveillance software she had prepared onto the man's computer.
Now, he just had to wait and let the man run. As Hatori waited patiently, the man would be tracked and given just enough leeway to expose his connections and implicate anyone working with him.