𝕯𝖎𝖆𝖇𝖔𝖑𝖎𝖐 𝕷𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖘: 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖐 𝕱𝖆𝖙𝖊

Chapter 9

Blurry vision coupled with hazy sensation. Yui could feel a numbness inside her body, as though she were rapidly losing existence, bordering over the mortal world and the supernatural realm. Her hands ached to feel someone's touch, as she tried to lift them in a futile attempt. Her hair fell on her forehead, messed up with the little encounter she had with Yuma. Her chest felt exposed to the warm night, sweat beads rolling down either side of her torso. A dull pain made her aware of the presence of Reiji, unclear, vague, incomplete, hanging over her like a scavenger bird feeding off the entrails from a rejected prey. She barely heard her sternum being cracked open, blood spraying over the grey haired vampire, as he ignored it and started to cut her lower ribs with a bone cutter. That was when she became a little more clear about what was happening. Reiji noticed the feeble attempts she tried to make, to show that she was aware. His edges blended into the surrounding, like an old impressionist painting. Her body started to shiver, as Reiji's needle entered her skin.

Subaru's impatient voice shattered her thoughts. "She's moving."

"I've already wasted my monthly anesthetics supply on her," Reiji said, nonchalantly. "If she does need to survive she better bite down on it. I refuse to give her any more of my inventory."

Subaru moved into the center of Yui's vision. Clenching his fists, he growled at him, "What do you use anesthetics for anyway?"

"I won't use use those for selfish purposes, Subaru." Reiji said, cutting across Yui's heart. His expression was unreadable as he muttered, "It's only to ease her pain while I carry out my experiments on her."

"What?" Subaru said, as Reiji started to sew the incision shut with a surgical needle. First heart, then bone, then onto the muscle, and finally the skin. Ragged stitches marred across the left side of her chest, bleeding to a minimum. She barely had any blood running in her body anyway. Reiji looked outside, worried. His fingers were fidgeting with the blood bag as he handed it to Subaru. The tsundere looked confused, as Reiji said, "Hold the bag above her heart level."

"Didn't Ayato finish all the bags of blood while she wasn't here?" That caught Yui's attention. Ayato hated drinking bagged blood. To think he'd resort to spoiling his tongue was ridiculous. "Hey Reiji, is this even the right blood group?"

"I appreciate your concern, Subaru, but there's a really thin chance of her surviving this even if I apply all my aptitude to it," Reiji said, calmly.

"Oi," Subaru breathed, and suddenly, Yui felt his hand brush her bangs past her ear, as though in a tender gesture of love. She had learned not to misread the brothers' feeling over the months of her staying with them under the same roof. She knew that the vampires didn't know much other than their need for blood, and their joy in simply seeing her humiliated. The many times she had heard Laito confess his undying love for her, how the brothers had not just been sated with just her blood, but her body and soul as well. She felt like love in itself was a cheap emotion for these heathens to play her around.

She started to lose consciousness even before he uttered the next words.

***

"Don't die on us," Subaru said, taking off his torn jacket and covering her with it. As he moved towards her, the moonlight caught a glint of his locket, a bronze key that dangled on a black thread, wrapped twice around his neck. Her chest rose and fell in desperate attempts to preserve her life, as a dull sound came from the outside. Reiji inserted a needle into her arm, hooking her up to the blood bag. A sneer crept up the boy's face as he proceeded to ask Subaru, "By the way, Subaru, have you taken a fancy on her?"

Subaru turned in rage. "Ha? What did you say? I do not care about her!" He stared at the dying girl on the makeshift operating table, covered with Subaru's jacket. "She's a nuisance, a trouble to look out for. I bet she was exhilarated when those Mukami bastards took her away. Fucking wench." Subaru didn't seem sincere when he spoke out those words, but Reiji wasn't a fan of making the emo kid turn against him, perhaps.