𝕯𝖎𝖆𝖇𝖔𝖑𝖎𝖐 𝕷𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖘: 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖐 𝕱𝖆𝖙𝖊

Chapter 26

Ruki sat in the abandoned church, his hands holding an incense stick, waving its vapours around to mix them into the surrounding air. His boots brushed up against a fallen banner, and he gently pushed it aside. Moss and vines crawled on the walls around him, snaking up in patterns that felt vaguely familiar yet unrecognisable. The smell of incense settled deep inside his lungs, comforting him in some weird way he didn't yet understand. His blazer had been soiled with greyish soot settled beneath him, but he didn't seem to care. The sun started to descend down beyond the horizon, its last rays catching Ruki's hair as he watched the sky turn into a dull red shade from an old Victorian window beside him.

"You said it was going to be safe for her," Seiji emerged from the wings of the altar, his prayer book in snug against his chest, his rosary dangling from his right hand. Ruki looked at him, as a smile broke onto his face. "Ayato would not hurt Eve, as far as I know."

"Your knowledge has a very narrow spectrum." Father Komori was blunt as ever.

"It is your opinion, and I can do little to convince you otherwise, Father."

"Why am I not allowed to meet my daughter?" He sat down beside Ruki, his eyes wrought with worry and confusion. Ruki watched him as the man stifled his sobs, and an epiphany occurred to Ruki. Why did he leave her in the first place if he wanted to protect her?

"Reiji and his brothers are more powerful than all of us combined." Ruki flicked a lighter in his hands, observing the flame as the sun sank lower into the horizon. "No doubt you can take one of them with your unparalleled skill, but we have other problems to think about. There's the Tsukinami brothers who would kill everyone if we dared to harm Eve. There's Karlheinz who wants Eve alive for the Project Eden. The stakes are higher than they seem to be, Father. I hope you understand my concern."

Father Komori laughed. "God has forsaken me for what I have done," he said, his voice low, "Soliciting and taking help from vampires."

"Apparently you left your adoptive daughter for His sake as well," Ruki said, sounding ingenuous. It was rare for Ruki to sound so disinteresting.

Father Komori didn't answer back. Ruki wouldn't have understood his motives even if he had been a human. Desperation led people astray from basic decency. Ruki had himself fallen in that trap, but it wasn't like he had sacrificed his own blood for some unattainable goal. What good was this faith of Komori that he was willing to let his innocent daughter fall prey to one of his kind? Months ago, Ruki would be ashamed of himself thinking about the well-being of a livestock such as her. But now, now he understood, that such things had to have been written in fate. There was nothing him and Father Komori could change about the course that fate took them towards. Even though right now Eve had to have been claimed by Ayato, he couldn't have any control on his affection towards her.

"There are things that we do out of love, Ruki kun," Komori finally admitted, "And there are things that we do for fear."

Ruki saw the black limousine roll out of the mansion gates, the scent hitting him hard. It was Yui, no doubt, but something was changed. She smelled a bit more... alive. He could practically smell the joy oozing out of her, and another faint spice of Ayato's musk.

The realisation dawned upon him as everything fell into place.

He stood up, his palms sweaty and his heart kicking into motion. He wondered how cruel somebody could be to make her go through this right on this day. When he knew the chances of her surviving were thin.

Father Komori saw him get up hastily, picking up his father's keepsake, the book he always kept close to him, and rush outside. Father Komori asked, his voice urgent, "What happened? Is everything alright?"