𝕯𝖎𝖆𝖇𝖔𝖑𝖎𝖐 𝕷𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖘: 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖐 𝕱𝖆𝖙𝖊

Chapter 6

Pain, pain, pain.

Azuza chanted a solemn hymn as he slowly undressed his wounds, revealing pinkish raw flesh and angry red scars underneath. As much as he wanted to see the scabs, he needed to refresh them yet again, the beautiful scars of his childhood: Justin, Christina, Melissa.

A sweet scent wafted in the air as he reopened his wounds yet again, and let them drip into the bath tub. The water turned a scarlet red almost instantly. Vampire blood was much less viscous than human blood, but it was nevertheless much more difficult to keep vampire skin wounds open for a longer time. His favorite knife dug deeper into his skin, dripping magnificent blood onto the bath, and staining the silver edge a pale pink.

"Why don't you just die already?" He heard Kanato's voice, laced with poison, taunting him.

Azuza giggled as he turned towards the little kid. Disheveled hair, restless appearance and torn clothes. Kanato's presence looked oddly familiar to him.

"Eve is ultimately going to be ours," Azuza said lazily, drained by the loss of blood. "I need the taste of her blood when she does become ours."

Kanato's anger must have flared, as he said, "How dare you take her name like that!"

Azuza looked at the red water, as he washed his wounds and started dressing his wounds up again. "You know, in order to become Adam, you need to feel kindness and love, to be closer to humans in an emotional way."

Kanato smirked, his hand forming into a fist. "It's not possible for you guys to become Adam, right?"

Azuza said, his tone morbid, "No but, I doubt we were ever going to be one."

Kanato leaned against the bathroom counter. "How?"

"Even though we were born humans, no one really experienced human emotions from the start amongst ourselves." He lifted his shirt to tuck his knife into a knife holder strapped across his chest. "Yuma was almost always a brawn over brain kind of a person. Kou never felt that he deserved much in this world because he had been blessed with beauty. Ruki was always a bitter aristocrat who enjoyed torturing people." Taking a brief moment to swirl the bathwater with his fingers, he looked up at Kanato with a wild smile. "Who knows why Karlheinz thought one of us demons could become an Adam."

Kanato suddenly felt uncomfortable. "What's your big idea about this?"

Azuza looked at the tiles, wondering whether this manchild had finally grown out of his sweets and his teddy bears. "Perhaps he still held onto the hope that one of you guys would become Adam, but he wanted a specific trigger to kickstart the whole process. Perhaps the way to achieve love was through hatred, and we were the ones who could instill it deep enough inside you."

Kanato stared at him, dumbstruck. how did this masochist idiot know so much about his father's plans? And how could he conceal that shrewd nature inside himself for so long?

"Don't feel threatened, Kanato," Azuza said, calmly soaking himself inside the tub, spilling water onto the floor as he slid himself inside, his shoulders sinking below the water level. "The only reason I care about all this is because I care about Yuma and the others. I don't think I can ever compete with you guys."

Kanato paused, watching the boy drown himself, slipping into a dreamless state almost instantaneously. Bubbles escaped the water as Azuza slept in what Kanato assumed was his makeshift coffin.

Kanato exited the bathroom in confusion. So was the only reason for the Mukamis' existence was to serve as a catalyst in this Adam and Eve thing?

Only time will tell.

***

Ayato flicked the dart in his hand, tearing into his flesh.

He'd come back into the mansion's playroom. He'd had so much of Yui's blood that it made him dizzy. He pulled his hand back, and leisurely threw a dart at the target.

"Ayato kun~" Kou entered the playroom as the dart hit right at the target. Laito stretched lazily on his bench, yawning. "Did you do it?"

"I was about to, but Mr. Fairyface interrupted me." Ayato threw the darts on the floor in disgust. "This will never work with these sons of whores lying around like asses while we devise a plan."

Kou appeared to be interested. "Oh, now the stakes have gone so high that you purebloods have to resort to planning and strategy instead of whining like puppies?"

"You bloody-" Ayato slowly gathered his wits. "If you dare to open your mouth in my presence, I will rip the other eye out as well."

"Come on," Kou said, exasperated. "What's the plan?"

Laito looked at Kou, a smirk on his face. "First we stake your heart, then we chop your head off."

Kou crossed his arms over his chest, obviously not pleased.

Ayato looked over at Laito, flicking another blood soaked dart over at the board. "I doubt it will work."

"Even if it doesn't work, it will definitely buy us time," Laito said, grabbing a ziploc bag from his pocket. Pretty pastel macarons were badly squished in his bag, and he threw it in the trash. "Poor little bitch. She'd have to do for tonight."

Ayato turned towards Laito, his eyes burning in fury. "Don't touch her."

"Just a little snack for me, Ayato kun." He pouted at Ayato, who seemed to have been tired of his charades.

"No snacks, not even a drop of her blood will touch your filthy mouth unless we keep them at the gates." Ayato saw the sky getting brighter by the moment. "We might have only a day left."

Kou sat down on a stool, declaring, "If it's about kitten, I want to be a part of it as well."

Ayato and Laito looked at each other, and said in unison. "No."

Kou held a hand over his heart, feigning disappointment. "I'm trustworthy as well."

"Um, no?" Ayato said, remembering all the things they had done to Yui. Kept her caged like an animal, treated her like cattle, sucked her dry and left their marks on her. "I don't know about Laito, but I don't trust you."

Laito paused, as he sat up. "I think Kou kun's talents will help us a bit." He looked at Kou, a false smile plastered on his face, as he spoke, "Hey Kou kun, I think you might like this idea, after all."

Kou looked a bit disturbed by Laito's openness, but said, "Okay, I'm all ears."