𝕯𝖎𝖆𝖇𝖔𝖑𝖎𝖐 𝕷𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖘: 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖐 𝕱𝖆𝖙𝖊

Chapter 23

It was evening when Yui had finally been a bit relaxed, and since it wasn't a working day she had little to worry about. Ever since she had woken up, Ayato had insisted her to avoid interacting with the others, and Yui didn't see any good trying to talk to them either. Maybe Subaru would help her in determining what was going to happen to her, why everybody was so anxious around her in the house.

The moon loomed outside her bedroom window, just a day shy from being full. She had never known a thing as a gentle vampire, but they tend to get a bit more... persuasive with the full moon's influence. She placed her hands in her lap, as she sat cross legged on her bed, having arranged all her stuff in her bedroom awfully calm and collected, even when the memories flooded her with the bites, the touches, the pain of her experience. She decided to quit moping around and look for Ruki, who had insisted on being in the house for her sake.

Ruki and Ayato had managed to form a tumultuous but fair relationship with each other now. Despite Ruki's past actions, he managed to redeem himself from his past and got along pretty well with Ayato now. Yui hated that she missed them bonding over, but she was happy that at least they were not fight over every damn thing possible in the universe.

Her nightmares were manageable, to say the least. Ayato's room was far from Yui's, and he did insist her to sleep with him in his coffin, but she hated to break to him that the iron maiden he slept in was uncomfortable and claustrophobic to her. She knew vampires and humans had different tastes, but she didn't want to shine light on that fact. He'd insisted enough that they were different, but she didn't want to grow that divide between them.

She found Ruki in the garden, as he sat down on the grass, his palms on the ground, watching the moon with certain sadness. Yui sat down on the grass beside him, patting her shorts down.

For a moment, they both sat there, without saying anything. Then he dropped the bomb with, "Have you kissed Ayato yet?"

What sort of a question was that?

Yui blushed, her hands involuntarily cupping her cheeks, as she breathed softly. "Ruki kun, I think that's personal."

Ruki nodded, without making eye contact. "I guess that's fair."

Yui was silent for a long time, before Ruki interjected yet again. "I think you did."

Yui was flabbergasted. "I... Even if I did do it, Ruki kun, what would you gain from it?"

"So you did?" Ruki said, raising an eyebrow.

"That's beside the whole point!" Yui objected, feeling a bit worked up.

Ruki laughed, his head tilting back and his hand clutching his stomach. Yui had never watched Ruki behave so... brazen before. She couldn't help but smile as he rolled over the ground, her heart melting at the boy's happiness, albeit it was at her expense. Ruki held his chin in his palms, his elbows on the ground. His bluish grey eyes were a bit watery, his hair messed up on his forehead. Yui lifted her hand, and unwittingly, pushed his bangs behind her ear.

The minuscule touch seemed to drive him on the edge of frenzy. He closed his eyes, and Yui felt the silence weigh down upon them like a ton of bricks. She wasn't supposed to feel this way for Ruki, but in deep corners of her heart, she felt a certain way for Ruki, the vampire who had provided her a choice before sinking his fangs into her shoulder. She didn't know what to expect from immortals at this point.

The tension was apparently too much for Ruki, as he got up on his feet, leaving Yui to stare blankly at the palm of her hand, that had been in contact with Ruki's cheek for long stretched moments. Ruki cleared his throat, and offered Yui a hand. She took it, and he pulled her up, on her feet. She didn't understand much in the ways of vampires even after more than six months in their captivity. One moment they were happy and cheerful, the other they were hysterical and on the verge of snapping your neck off. It wasn't an experience she longed for, it left her more confused than ever.

But that allure of being around one... it was exhilarating for her primal sensations. It gave her inexplicable pleasure in seeing one of them, tamed by her, her hand within reach, their fangs brushing her skin, only to leave kisses behind. The image of Ayato popped in her mind, and she blushed furiously.

"Why do you appear so red all of a sudden?" he asked simply, and she hid her cheeks in her hands.

"I'm not," she insisted, as she proceeded to climb up the stairs, leaving a bewildered Ruki behind, as the skies opened and the rain fell down on him. He smiled, looking up at the heavens. Did an Eden exist? He didn't know, perhaps. Perhaps he was not worthy of heaven, but while he was on earth, he intended to make amends. He was soaking wet when he entered the mansion.

***

Subaru rested back on the window, his legs scooted over the edge, as he stared at his mother, who hummed a forgotten lullaby. He had somehow fed her a few bags of blood with persistence, before she went back to starving herself in order to attract attention. He asked her, his voice soft and barely heard by his insane mother. "Why are you like this?"

His mother stopped humming. She'd usually go into panic modes, depending upon the time of the day and the people in her vicinity. Usually it was something along the lines of where is my husband, I demand to see him now. Subaru was, as always, bound by fate and the tiniest amount of love he had for his mother. If he had been as ruthless as Reiji or the triplets, he would have stabbed his mother long ago.

There were times when Christa shouted at the top of her lungs, begging him to kill her. He contemplated that a lot. Seeing her go away, disintegrate right in front of his eyes... The thought had him riling. He knew it was wrong. He knew it would be lauded in the demon world. He knew about the twisted way fate worked.But he wouldn't give up on the last hope, that maybe his bastard of a father will take up responsibility and decide to visit his mother one last time as she breathed her last. Seasons changed, time changed, but what didn't was his mother's insanity, and he was sure that it would lead him into his grave.

There were times when his mother would have lucid intervals as well, and she often asked about the girl who lived with them. What was she like? Was she a mortal like the rest? Why did she survive so well amongst them? Did Subaru like her? Did she like him back?

Among the slew of questions thrown at him, she would often complain of the grey haired boy that would visit her often, and she went on and on about how his eyes matched Subaru's father's. He didn't pay heed to her complaints though. Even though she cried about his cold demeanour and commanding presence. Even though she said he did things to her. Even when she complained of him making her drowsy and weary. Subaru had heard enough stories of his older brothers from her.

She'd never actually met them in person. He used to relate his experiences about his brothers to her, since he was an only child and never actually got to play with them. Cordelia actually used to tell Ayato and Laito that Subaru had cursed his mother with lunacy. Kanato and Subaru never actually got along well enough. There wasn't much to talk about among them. So Subaru started to tell his mother about the eccentric half brothers of his. She used to add her own versions of the his stories, often retelling them in a totally different light. In most of her stories, Subaru was the monster who ate them all alive.

"Where is the girl?" she asked, coming closer to the bars, her fingers wrapping themselves around the iron. "Tell me, where is Yui?"

Subaru got up, his back straightening in surprise. "How do you know that name?"

Christa looked at him, her eyes losing focus. She looked back at the ground, as if ashamed of herself. Subaru got up on his feet, wrapping his fingers on top of hers, staring into her eyes. "Where did you learn that?" Subaru's voice edged over cruelty and concern. His mother shook her head, ignoring his question. "You must bring her to me tomorrow!"

"Why?" Subaru shouted at her, as she cowered back into a corner. He started hyperventilating, unable to control his rage.

"Why do you want her here?" His voice boomed in the tower. A crow perched up on the windowsill, cawing loudly, drowning out Christa's sobs. She was certainly having a lucid interval at this moment. She hadn't called him an abomination yet. Neither had she addressed him by his father's name. She was relatively normal right now.

"Mother," Subaru said, his head knocking softly against the iron bars. He thought about lying to her yet again, but held back against it. "All right, I'd get her here tomorrow. Are you happy now?"

Christa smiled solemnly at him, as she tilted her head towards him. "Good boy."