Chapter Seven: Night Party
Yagari P.O.V
There are those who exist in the darkness...Vampires, those beasts in human form who drink the blood from living humans...and...Vampire Hunters...those who are fated to hunt vampires.
Walking into the alley, I stepped on the dust. Kneeling down, I ran my fingers through it and it slipped through my fingers. "Huh?"
Kaname P.O.V
"Stir fried liver and leeks, my style. A melt-in-your-mouth stew of bok choy and filet, my style. Bonito, lightly grilled, with chopped celery and perilla sauce, my style. And so much more. How is it? Good?" asked the headmistress.
Me and Zero didn't say anything and started eating because of the silence. "It's beem a while since the family has had dinner together. I tried so hard to cook good food!" Katrina said, crying.
"I keep telling you that your 'my style' cooking is a bit off." I said.
"I keep telling you not to consider me as part of your family." said Zero.
We kept eating and Katrina looked at us and smiled. "Well, it's all right...you're eating it..." She sighed. "Did something...happen while you were in town? Kaname, you were injured, right?" She asked, suddenly serious.
I thought back to what Takuma Ichijo said earlier. "The reason why we killed that vampire? If you want to know, come to the back of the Moon dorm at midnight. Don't you want to know why?"
"I got it from..." I trailed off. Is it all right to tell...the headmistress? Zero hasn't said anything about what happened.
"Oh!" The headmistress took something out of her apron. "I'd forgotten all about it. Here, Zero. You'll be running out of them soon, right?" She asked and handed them to her. "Blood tablets.
Zero took them and looked up as I stared at them. "Don't look so shocked. This is going to be the norm for me."
"Yeah..." I said. But Zero must be feeling shocked, too...
"Why are you two looking so down?" The headmistress smiled and waved her hand. "The tablets restrain the urge to drink blood...but it's also just like having a meal!"
Zero stood up, a dark aura surrounding her as she snap her chopsticks in half. "Calm down! Be more positive, Kiryu!" Katrina said and backed away from her.
What is with the Headmistress's boldness? Stirring her up... Is it becuase she knows everything...about Zero? I want to understand more...about Zero...and about vampires. So tonight...
"Wait, Zero! Don't go to the Night class dorm when you're dying to shoot someone!" I grabbed her shoulder as she unlocked the safety on the Bloody Rose. "I'm glad you're worried about me, Zero...but I'm okay on my own. Go back."
She looked over at me. "If you really looked like you felt okay...then I wouldn't have to bother with this." She said.
"Geez you're mean. We're on the grounds of the Moon dorm. It does have it's own atmosphere...especially at night..." I said, creeped out.
Once we passed through the gate, we took out our weapons as Hanna Aido and Takatsuki Kain appeared.
"Did you come out to welcome us...vampires?" Zero asked, pointing the gun at Kain's head.
"Yeah...only because Ichijo asked us to." Hanna said.
Takatsuki held up her hands. "She told us to guard you so that our guys don't mess with you. Unfortunately, tonight...almost all of the Night class students...are here on the Moon dorm grounds."
A few students from the Night class turend around and watched us as Hanna and Takatsuki escorted us past them.
"Hmph, they came?" Serena said.
"What for?" asked Roman.
One student held three knives between her fingers. "I wouldn't if I were you. You'll go down first." her roommate said.
"Look who is with them." said one of the students. "Hanna Aido...and Takatsuki Kain. Lady Yuki's right hand women."
They look different than when they're at school...the ones who've changed out of their uniforms tonight...this is what vampires really look like.
I looked over and stared at Hanna. "What?" She asked.
"...Nothing." She looks the same as always.
"This way." Kain said and turned away from us. "Here they are, Vice President Ichijo."
"Oh!" Takuma said and turned around, smiling. "Welcome, Kaname and Kiryu!" She held her arms wide, gesturing to the table that had a cake and glasses of red liquid that appeared to be water with blood tablets in them. "Tonight is my birthday party! Please enjoy yourselves!"
"H-how old are you?" I asked. He's too much like a human and not enough like a vampire...
"How old in human years or vampire years?" Takuma asked.
"V-vampire years?" I asked, not wanting to know how old she was in human years.
"I'm eighteen. I'm a grown-up now! Oh...I want you to kiss me for my birthday present, Kaname!"
"Um! We came here on business. As members of the Disciplinary Committee, we want to know what happened today."
"Oh, that." Takumah muttered.
"I can't look the other way. Leaving school grounds without permission is against school rules...and...more over...that vampire..."
"Sure. Ask me anything." She leaned back. "Everyone here knows about it."
"There's no way we could allow a dangerous vampire like that to roam freely in the town...but you two went to the trouble of killing it. Why that vampire?" I demanded.
"That vampire used to be human. Filthy things." Aido said from behind me.
"Aido!" Ichijo said. "Kaname, vampires...are ruled by a few Purebloods and a handful of aristocrats. Every student in the Night class is an aristocrat or higher...To use a pyramid as an example...former humans are lower than common vampires. To tell truth, they aren't treated very well. The vampire I killed...was a Level E vampire-a vampire who's fallen outside the pyramid."
"Level E?" I asked.
"'Level: End' to be exact. Kiryu is a member of a vampire hunter family...so she should know all this." said Kain.
"Former humans...eventually fall into the Level E category, Kaname. They gradually lose their sanity, reaching the 'End'-their destruction." Zero explained.
"Yes...in their endless thirst for blood...they start attacking people indiscriminately. That is why former humans are managed by the aristocrats and above." Takuma said.
"M-managed?" I stuttered.
"But accidents do occur. A mad vampire may flee from an aristocrat...and wander into human society." Takuma said.
"There was a report that a Level E vampire would appear in town today." said a familiar voice. We all looked up to see a beautiful girl in a long sleeve, knee length dress come out from behind the curtain. "Ichijo and Shiki hunted it down...under my orders."
"It's Lady Yuki."
"Lady Yuki is here..."
"Yuki!" I said.
"Lady Yuki is attending the soiree!"
"How unusual..."
I stayed where I was and looked at her. "You ordered...that vampire to be..."
"Kaname. Why didn't you inform the headmistress?" Yuki asked. "You're a member of the Disciplinary Committee, yet when Ichijo invited you, you came here...to a dangerous place like this."
"But! I didn't think it was something I should report...and I wanted to know the truth firsthand." I said.
"Firsthand, huh?" She asked and ran a hand through her hair. "Kaname, Kiryu...come over here." She sat down on the down and we walked up the steps. "Kaname...sit beside me."
"Huh?" I blushed. "...No, thanks." I snuck a look at Zero and saw that she was looking the other way. "I'm fine."
"Kaname." Yuki said.
"...Okay..." I sat next to her and she put her arm around my shoulders, pulling me against her.
"This is the safest place for you to be..." She said.
"Yuki...um..."
"I'm sorry about today. I didn't think...you would be there when the hunting took place..."
"It was fine." I felt my face become warm and my heart started racing.
"But..." She grasped my arm. "...It was your fault, too, for wandering around there." Her hand slid down my arm and I jumped when she touched the wound. "Did you injure your arm because of that vampire? It must hurt."
"No, it was because I was careless." I told her.
"Humans should never...be turned into vampires. But in the old days, hidden from history...when the war between vampires and vampire hunters was at its peak...vampires turned many humans into vampires to use in battle." She rolled up my sleeve.
I didn't know the Night class was doing such things. "Yuki..."
"And now the aristocrats have the duty to manage those survivors. Sometimes we have to kill them off..." Yuki said, unwrapping the bandage on my arm.
"It is the vampire hunter's duty to kill vampires." Zero said.
Yuki looked at her from the corner of her eye. "Then why didn't you kill him first?" She turned back to me. "I'll ease your pain." She said and pressed her lips against the wound.
"Y-yuki...!"
"Perhaps, Kiryu...you sympathized with her?" Yuki asked and Zero pointed her gun at Yuki's head. Some of the Night class students drew their weapons and I saw blood drip from Zero's throat. "Seiren...it's all right. I said something I shouldn't have." Yuki said and Seiren drew her hand back,
"Zero..." I looked up at her and she put Bloody Rose away.
"That was scary." Ichijo said.
"Kiryu pointed that gun at Lady Yuki...tearing her into shreds right here wouldn't be enough." Hanna said.
"Now, now, Aido...don't really do it." said Ichijo.
"Yeah...I will try not to while I'm at this school...I don't want to hinder the Headmistress's pacifist don't you forget...the reason we're here. We're at Cross Academy solely because...Lady Yuki, the Pureblood vampire, is here." Aido said, putting her hand on her hip.
I looked at her in disbelief. "Yuki is a Pureblood vampire..." She's the same kind of vampire who attacked Zero's family...
"You didn't know that about me, Kaname?" Yuki asked. "Are you afraid?"
I looked over at her. "Ever since we've known each other I've been a little afraid of you...Yuki. Even now, I'm a bit...afraid..."
"Hey!" Ichijo shouted. "Don't forget, everyone! This is my birthday party! You've all gotta celebrate! Kaname and Kiryu are my precious guests, too!"
Yagari P.O.V
I held the photo between two of my fingers. "What a stern face. A rebellious stage?" I asked.
"Kiryu isn't a kid. Have it if you want." Cross said.
"I can have Zero?"
"No, the photo. I made some extra prints when I was going through them." She said. "The boy in the photo is my Kaname! He would've been one grade lower than Zero, but he's a dependable son. On his first day of high school, he hit Kiryu to get her to go again."
"What?! 'Again'?!" I turned to face her. "You mean she repeated a year?!"
"Yeah. It's all right. She stands out in the crowd, but she's doing fine. She repeated a year in junior high."
"Well, I can see why she hesitated about going to high school. The Night class attends the same school. She'd have to see the Pureblood often." I said.
"I asked Kiryu...to be a threat to the Night class, which consists of problem students." Cross smiled.
"What happened to your so-called pacifism? You don't trust the Night class?" I asked her.
"I do. But they're a hotheaded bunch."
"It may have been a mistake to leave her in your care." I turned around.
"What are you saying? You had no other choice." said Cross.
"I haven't seen her...for four years. I didn't think I'd be able to see her again." I paused for a minute. "Today...a Level E wandered into town."
"Oh really?" Cross didn't seem surprised. "Did you do your 'work'?"
"Don't pretend like you don't know." I glared over my shoulder at her. "They turned it to ashes first. The Night class must have snatched it. They're the only aristocrats who can do anything around here."
"HA HA HA!" Katrina laughed. "Well, there is a school rule forbidding the Night class to leave school grounds without permission."
"They won't follow such rules!"
"Well! I wonder who it was? Saving our town like that! They're like knights who secretly protect people..."
"Stop joking around! You give me the creeps." I snapped. "They call it their duty...but they simply enjoy hunting." I took out a cigarette. "We vampire hunters...kill vapires."
"But it is forbidden to kill them without reason! Why are you here, anyway?"
"I didn't come to see you. I'm here to see Zero. I made a serious vow with her." I said and walked towards the door.
"A vow, huh. Be nice to her, like you used to."
Kaname P.O.V
I watched Zero from where I was sitting and became uneasy. This atmosphere is... "Yuki. I'm leaving now." I said and stood up.
"What a huge cake...you're eating it by yourself?" Serena asked.
"This is for everyone. You want to cut it, Shiki?" Takuma asked, holding the knife handle out to her.
"Of course. Hold the cake for me, Ichijo." Shiki said, and took the knife from Takuma, slicing her finger as she pulled it back.
"Oh...you cut me." Takuma said.
"Sorry." Shiki apologized. "Don't waste it." She said and licked the blood from Takuma's finger.
"You cut me on purpose, didn't you...Shiki?"
"Hmm?" Shiki said.
I bolted down the stairs and ran after Zero as she left. "Huh? Zero?!"
"Oops. They probably found it gross." I heard Takuma say.
"ZERO!" I pushed past some of the students to get to her.
Zero P.O.V
I ran through the back gate of the moon dorm, taking off the school jacket and dropping it on the ground as the tattoo began to throb. Reaching for the box, I pulled out my blood tablets.
Yuki P.O.V
Takuma put two blood tablets in a wine glass full of water and they dissolved and gave it to Serena. "Here. Shiki? Drink this instead. I have no intention of serving myself to you."
"This is boring to drink." Shiki said and Takuma gripped her hand, letting the wound heal.
Kain stood beside me and asked, "Should you have let him go like that?"
"It's all right...for now..."
"You don't seem too concerned..." She said and I chuckled.
I moved my bangs out of my eyes. "Kaname...will eventually come to me..."
Kaname P.O.V
"Zero!" I kept running, looking around for her. I didn't like that atmosphere...Zero probably felt that way, too. I remembered the wound I recieved earlier and put my hand over it. It's not hurting anymore! That means... I blushed as remembered what Yuki had done. She took away physical pain...vampires have this power, too.
I felt something move against my shoe and I looked down, seeing the small box lying on the ground. Blood tablets? I knelt down and picked them up. Is this Zero's? I looked up and saw Zero holding herself up against the railing by the pool. "Zero...?" She looked up and I could sweat on her face as two tablets fell from her hand. She doubled over and started coughing up blood. "Zero?!" I ran over to her and dropped down beside her. "What is it?" Are you all right?"
She coughed again and looked up. "Kaname..." She gripped my shoulders and lowered her head. "After I attacked you...I took them every night...but...they always made me feel sick..."
The blood tablets haven't helped her since then? "You're hurting me...Zero." I said, wincing. Then Zero is...
She grabbed my arms and licked my neck. I will stop you, Zero. "Zero..." You heard it, too? The sound of your blood being sucked in by me. You can't act as if nothing has changed. I have to stop her. I pushed my foot off the edge of the pool and we both fell under. I HAVE TO STOP HER! Zero looked at me, her eyes red and she seemed to regain her sanity as we broke the surface. The barrel of a shot gun appeared next to my head and went off. I could feel blood on my face.
"I never thought I'd be killing my dear student with this gun." said a woman with long black hair and a pale blue eye. "Curse me with your last breath and die...vampire."
Zero looked over her shoulder, covering the bullet wound. "Mas...ter..."