𝕯𝖎𝖆𝖇𝖔𝖑𝖎𝖐 𝕷𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖘: 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖐 𝕱𝖆𝖙𝖊

Chapter 1

Fear is unknown to vampires. What the mortals feel as the goosebumps on their skin, the thumping of their hearts, the stillness of their bodies. But that night of eclipse, the vampires of the Sakamaki household felt fear for the first time. Each one of them felt an unspeakable fear settle inside their chests. The blood moon stood imposing in the inky black night sky, slowly being devoured by the shadow of the earth. The hue of the moon reminded all of them of a certain girl, now hiding in a corner of the mansion, with bated breaths as each one of them scoured everywhere for her. And the dread that she felt was not so different from what they felt in their long dead hearts.

Ayato sat down in front of the steps of the winding staircase, humming to himself. His tie still torn from the struggle with the wolves. His hair messed up. The lapel on his shir torn. Tch, he thought, What a horrible night.

Well, his disheveled appearance aside, he felt a sense of relief as his Yui was back. He was too possessive about her, and this time, he swore he wouldn't let that bastard Ruki drink her blood. Hell, he would claim her as his. Yui seemed to forget every time that she was his. This time, there would be no mistakes. He would not allow any room for excuses. There was an unfamiliar sense of insecurity, that stemmed from the fact that he had to share his Pancake with five of his brothers. He could deal with Laito now and then, he just didn't like how all the others were capable of snapping her neck on the most trivial of things.

"Ayato?" Reiji called out, and Ayato felt a heavy feeling settle in his stomach. What? He was already thirsty? He rubbed his throat and coughed a little. Maybe because of this Eve thing. He didn't believe in that old wives' tale, but after witnessing the effects of Yui's blood after the kidnapping, he started to believe some of it. He winced when he remembered what had happened to him when she was gone. He had instructed everyone not to talk about it, but in hushed voices, sometimes he had heard Laito talk about it. There were the Mukamis, in their mansion, sitting with rapt attention to uncover why Ayato bothered to rush the sacrificial bride out of their house.

"Reiji," Ayato said, looking up at the bespectacled boy, "Where's Pancake?"

"Sleeping," Reiji said, obviously lying, and held out a vial of blood for Ayato. He'd also gotten his fair share of distress from messing with the wolves of those Tsukinami bastards. His spectacles were resting on his nose at an awkward angle. The new blood staining his shirt meant that he'd been preying on Pancake. Ayato felt a bitter taste in his mouth, as he pushed his hurt ego aside. Ayato reached out and examined. "What is this?"

"Something I believe will curb your thirst for now," he said and adjusted his spectacles. "The eclipse will be starting soon. Try not to clash into another wolf, please." Contrary to what Ayato thought, Reiji did have a sense of humor, although it was so dry Ayato could never comprehend it. Growing up in the same household with different mothers, they had never been close to begin with, but Reiji's role of the head of the house made sure he was aware of each of his brother's likes and dislikes, needs and wants, desires and despises.

"Okay," Ayato said, rolling his eyes, not really understanding why Reiji was being so concerned about him. He didn't actually hate Reiji, but he certainly wasn't so chummy with him. Reiji was too uptight and proud to consider people his friends. He was perhaps closer to the other kids than to his own blood brother Shu, but that was because of jealousy. Was Ayato jealous of the other triplets? He wasn't sure. Kanato and Laito had their own issues to deal with. Unlike Reiji's mother, Cordelia insisted on showering her attention equally on the three of his children. Although the way she gave them attention was far more traumatising than what Beatrix could ever do.

A moment of silence passed before Reiji spoke up. "You didn't tease me by my nickname," he noted. Was that really Reiji? He wasn't the type to bother about such petty things. That stuck up bastard always thought of the triplets as less than able, pitiful creatures. He never voiced that opinion though. If you thought about it, Reiji was the only peacekeeper in the house, otherwise everybody would be at each others throats all the time.