𝕯𝖎𝖆𝖇𝖔𝖑𝖎𝖐 𝕷𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖘: 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖐 𝕱𝖆𝖙𝖊

Chapter 27

Ruki threw open the door, his footsteps heavy and his breaths loud against the pitch silence. Ayato leaned back on the couch in the hallway, his chin resting in the palm of his hand, his hair a bit messier than it usually was. Ruki felt his chest collapse as he realised the obvious truth in Ayato's eyes.

"You did it because you were positive that she wouldn't survive," Ruki said, his knees buckled under his weight as he proclaimed his deduction. Ayato shifted a bit, making himself comfortable. Thoughts passed through Ruki's mind. Some of them unbelievable, some of them cruel. But each little though begged the question of why?

Was Yui so dispensable?

"I only did what you told me to," Ayato said, his voice lacking any emotion, his face devoid of any empathy. "You told me to use her to my advantage by utilising her emotions towards me."

Ruki stared at the monster he had thought had been tamed by his Eve. Instead, the monster had tamed her instead. He made her care for him; in the same way he had gathered Ruki's trust. Ruki did tell him on the night of the eclipse that he should make Yui fall in love with him, but he was using that in order to save Yui from the obvious violence she would have faced after the eclipse at the hands of Ayato. Instead, Ayato had flipped that logic out of the window, making her compliant and docile with each day that passed. He'd lured her into the bed so that he could have the last of her firsts, and after that Yui would have been left to her own devices, either to be molested and killed by Shu or sacrificed at the altar by Reiji.

Reiji...

"Today is the day they summon Beatrix." Ruki gulped. Ayato stood up from his couch, stepping into the full moon's light, his hands clutching his blazer lapels, his head cocked to his side, as he said in a sardonic voice, "Today I set her free, Ruki. Today we both witness her serve her crimes in hell."

"How can you say such a thing, Ayato." Ruki stood up, his anger boiling, "She saved you from damnation! It was for her sake that you are still alive! Otherwise you would have been cast out like a cur by your father, just like the disposable experiment that you are!"

Ruki felt the knee slam into his face a bit too late. His emotions overflowed, as he wiped his bleeding nose on the cuff of his coat, looking at Ayato, his eyes now bloodshot as the effect of the full moon took off. Ayato's eyes turned into a solid crimson colour, as he said, "Well, tonight is the night I exact my revenge. You committed a grave mistake by taking what was essentially MINE!"

The punch connected with Ruki's ribcage, as he felt his bones snap. A pained scream escaped Ruki's lungs, his hands clutching his shattered ribcage, protecting it from Ayato's wrath.

"Why did you take her back, huh?" Ruki said, his voice punctuated by sobs as Ayato whistled, his hands reaching to grab a poker from the fireplace, dipping it long enough into the fire so that it glowed red hot. Ruki's eyes glared at Ayato, his face losing colour when he realised what he was about to do.

"No, Ayato," Ruki gasped, stumbling backwards. "Keep it away from me."

Ayato smiled, as he left the poker in the fire, his hands brushing of the soot that settled on him. "You are getting the wrong idea, Ruki." He walked towards him, his hands crossed on his chest, observing the half-blood writhing in pain and agony. Ruki wondered if torturing an immortal would be as enjoyable to Ayato as torturing a human. Did Ayato like inflicting pain on everybody? Was he so devoid of emotion that he wouldn't think twice about the girl he had saved from the Founders? Had he forgotten that he was saved by the very girl he had tricked into his trap?

"You asked me why I took her back, did you?" Ayato said, getting down on his knees, to Ruki's level. Ruki coughed up blood, staining his white shirt a dull red. Ayato tutted in fake sympathy. "I was expecting to save this secret for the grave, but I think you deserve a bit of pity from my side. I just didn't like the fact that my bitch mother's heart was inside her body. I decided that her very existence should be wiped from the face of the earth." Ayato whispered to Ruki, "But don't tell Pancake, for I will be the one to swipe her heart from the altar when Reiji finally beheads her to raise his mother."