𝕯𝖎𝖆𝖇𝖔𝖑𝖎𝖐 𝕷𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖘: 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖐 𝕱𝖆𝖙𝖊

Chapter 42

Seiji sighed, his hand trailing across his amputated limb. His fingers felt the coarse gauze beneath his touch barely. He knew something was wrong with him, it didn't cross his mind whether it could be a numbing effect of the medicines he was being administered or the things he had seen in the past few days. His daughter being submissive and acting upon the whims of that egomaniac Ayato and letting her blood out only for him had him deeply disturbed. Perhaps the church had been wrong after all, perhaps he should have thought before being forced to leave his daughter in the clutches of these evil beings.

He heard a soft knock on the door, and straightened up. "Come in, Yui."

She pushed the door with her shoulder, her hands holding a silver tray with a pair of teacups, a pot and some snacks on it. She smiled at him, trying her best to appear calm and collected while he knew all the while the questions that occupied her mind, leaving her restless. Maybe he had been too strict towards her. He'd always ordered her issues and problems to herself, and maybe today she would never be able to communicate to her father how she felt about him abandoning her. Regardless of the reason being the duty he had to uphold. What did a seventeen year old innocent girl know about religious duties? She would only know of a father who filed to protect his only daughter from her doom.

"Are you feeling well, dad?" she asked in a hushed voice, as he felt a presence behind the door, a blur of lavender over the edge of his vision.

"Somebody's listening in on us."

Yui sat down beside him, continuing her hushed conversation with him. "Don't worry, that's Kanato kun. He'd leave very soon when he gets bored of it."

Seiji furrowed his eyebrows. That was weird. He never thought he would get to see his daughter acting so casually amongst such animals, as though she knew them intimately. His concern shot through the roof as he realised she might have been bitten several times during her stay. The demons he had seen during his hunting years were anything but gentle at the time of their thirst. He knew not much about how they behaved or what they thought about humans as people, but he knew enough about their raging hunger for blood.

"Do they..." Seiji found himself at a loss of words, as he heard something shuffle behind the door, the presence leaving them finally. His senses were wired enough to leave him bothered about their safety at the moment. "Do they bite you."

Yui's expression changed for a brief moment, before she pulled a blank face, hiding all her emotions behind a thin smile. "Not much."

"Not much?" he questioned, concerned. "Have they ever done something you didn't like?"

Yui huffed. "You need to drink some tea, father," she poured out some sweet smelling concoction of tea and herbs, pouring it on carefully into the teacups. Her hands were shaking violently as she performed her task, and he recognised these to be her nervous jitters whenever she was frightened by something.

"Are you feeling unsafe in this place, Yui?" the priest was at his wits' end. He had been promised no harm would come to her if he only left her without question. What if he had been wrong? What if he had overestimated the aristocracy of these vampires and they were just as brutal as the rest of their species? Doubts ran through his mind as he sought answers to his questions, his sight landing upon her wrist, curious bluish purple marks imprinted upon her skin.

She quickly noticed his gaze burning into her skin, as she sought to cover herself with her long sleeve, stating in a babbling manner, trivialising it. "I got hurt while preparing the tea, father. I was anxious... Here, have some, Reiji san prepared this formula a few days ago."

Seiji looked at her outstretched hand, accepting her cup of tea with an unwavering glare. "This Reiji is the one that tried to sacrifice me, right?"