Tantalizing Secrets (1) - 10

"Have you ever been weak before, so weak that you could never protect yourself, much less, the ones that you love?"

"No, why do you ask?"

"Ah, you won't get it then. I was just curious."

Continuing to trade blows with her, once again, doubts crept up in my heart.

I needed to get these worries expounded as soon as possible if I was to have the courage to go forward with the operation.

"If I was no longer human, would you still stay by my side?"

"Of course! Why are you even asking?"

Stopping our spar for a moment, she looked at me angrily as mana gathered around her body and sword.

"I just wanted to know. It's a hypothetical, just forget what I said."

Looking at the city walls, I couldn't help but think about the future.

'Do I really have no choice?'

Putting away my practice sword as Yukina did the same on the other side of the field, we both headed into the Ranch to shower and get ready for our entrance back into the main city.

Taking one last look at the grey world inside Wall Yahweh, I walked into the ranch with Yuki.

Later that day, I would submit myself to the people in black.

And one year later, I would be dead.

...

"Huuuuuuuuhhhhhh!"

Gasping wildly, my eyes snapped open, feeling my body covered in a cold sweat, shaking, heart pounding, my eyes darting around the room, suspicious and paranoid that the horror of broken promises may have followed me here.

I got up cautiously, shivering, rubbing my head and eyes, trying to fully awaken.

Stumbling into the bathroom, I looks in the mirror slowly, cautiously, as if not sure of what I'd see. The sun tired to shine through the blinds, washing away the vestiges of the horror, leaving me relieved to have returned to this version of reality.

This was just one reminder of what I had faced, what I had done to get more powerful, all to protect the ones I loved.

Why could nobody see that?

Even her...

Shaking my head feverishly, I turned on the running tap and put it on the coldest setting before splashing it all over my face and hair, trying to make myself forget the hurtfulness I had been forced to remember.

'Unkindness...'

What an ironic name...

Looking at myself in the mirror with bloodshot eyes, I realized that my fangs has started to show, and so I quickly put them back in.

'Blood...'

Scrambling towards a secret drawer I had made in my desk, I quickly got out a small pill and put it in my mouth, crunching down on it as soon as it entered.

Feeling the warm, iron-rich liquid coating my mouth, I sighed in satisfaction.

Being a member of the second highest level of vampires, I didn't need to drink that much blood, about once every half year, but situations like this definitely called for the use of my stockpile.

Otherwise, I probably would have done something that I would definitely regret.

Also, if you were wonder where I had gotten the blood, it was simply from cutting my 8th Brother ever so slightly during our first and final spar, extracting some blood secretly from him before putting them in these little pills for future use.

"Ahhhh..."

Inadvertently letting out another groan in satisfaction, I leaned back in the chair behind my desk.

I stayed there for a while, letting the tranquil silence calm my distorted mind.

...

"Brother?"

I was currently clinging onto my sister like there was no tomorrow.

"I need to train."

"..."

"Will you let go if I allow you to train with me?"

Only nodding my head to this statement, I immediately released her and we both started running laps around the field.

Now you might be wondering, why was I acting like this?

It was because, with my background supposedly being that of a kid shunned all his life, it would be normal if I stuck to the one person that didn't look at me with disgust as their first emotion.

Of course, in my previous life, I hadn't acted like this, being a loner, gritting my teeth and wanting to gain power myself, but in this life, I had already learned from my past mistakes.

It was better to create a connection much earlier on, so that when the time came, betrayal would be much, much harder.

And if she still went through with the betrayal...

...the emotional damage I could inflict would be enough to make her commit suicide on the spot.

Yet, I already knew that I could never take it that far.

'Goddamn heart.'

"Earth to Chione!"

Startling me out of my thoughts, I looked beside me, to see the face of the person that I had been thinking about.

"Hmm?"

"Don't "Hmm?" me! I've been trying to talk to you for the past 5 minutes!"

'Wait, was Yuki always like this?'

She had been an ice queen when we had first met, and we had only gotten closer after struggling together during a certain test in Halcyon.

Sure, I had been clinging to her, but now that I thought about it, shouldn't she have just ignored me?

And now she was even trying to talk to me!

This was certainly suspicious, but I could think of a few explanations.

'Either her opinion of me is different this time because of the reports our father gave her, which is unlikely because that's just not her personality, at least at this point in time, or it was that...'

'Shit! Why didn't I notice this earlier?'

It was obvious why I hadn't figured this out earlier though, because this was the version of Yukina that I had been most used to, so I had been extremely comfortable with her not being an ice queen.

You see, she was acting like she had in the time between when we had gotten close and the time leading up to her betrayal.

'That means...'

I suddenly stopped running, causing Yuki to stop too.

"Yuki my dear, did you happen to regress too?"

"Ah, you finally noticed."

We stared each other down...