The attic was cold in contrast to the warm bedroom Yuri had known once. Lying in the silent bliss of the night, she continued to examine the crucifix hanging aloft the door. She couldn't understand in the slightest bit, and, examining the other girls crowding about the room, Yuri sat up and smoothed out her nightdress.

"New girl...why're are you still awake..?" A voice called in the subtle darkness. Yuri glanced around until she saw a young woman with brown streaks in her hair.

"I'm sorry I can't sleep..." Yuri replied, hugging her knees. The other girl, who Yuri hadn't formerly met until this point, stretched her arms out.

"Ah, well you could blow out that candle of yours at least; some of us can't sleep with it on." She retorted and Yuri sighed in reply.

"I...I'm really scared of the dark," she tried explaining. "I used to keep my closet light on while I was asleep," Yuri tried to explain, though she sort of knew it wouldn't do her much good.

The girl clicked her tongue out and sighed. "Okay well look, just pretend like it's one big giant sleepover and you'll be just fine. M'kay?"

Yuri squinted her eyes, adjusting to the shadow in the corner where the girl was sat up. She looked older, at least in her late teens compared to Yuri. Giving a little nod, she blew out the candle and relied on the moonlight beaming down from the window onto her itchy woolen blankets.

"I'm Hikari, by the way. And if I catch that light of yours on again, I'll throw your candle out the window. I swear on my life," her voice replied in annoyance.

Yuri fumbled with the blankets, trying to get comfy as she watched Hikari lay back down in the corner of her eye. "Oh...I'm Yuri," she replied softy, though part of her was sure this Hikari lady wouldn't exactly care what her name was.

"Yuri? Lilies? I see," she replied, shaking her head with a sigh. After a minute, Hikari sat up again, pulling her hair back in a ponytail. "Listen, Yuri, I've been here as long as I can remember. Just stay low and quiet and try to stay out of trouble and you'll be okay."

Yuri heard her whispers and sat up again, fumbling with her hair with a sharp sigh. "Hikari...if you don't mind me asking, why are there so many crosses above the doors?" She said softly.

Hikari glanced at Yuri and back to her bed before stumbling up and tip toeing her way over to her. She sat at the foot of her bed and tucked her knees into her nightdress. "You have to promise you won't tell anyone I told you," she warned before Yuri nodded.

"Yakimura is an extremely superstitious woman; her parents were religious fanatics and believed in ghosts and vampires and things like that." Hikari began to explain as Yuri hugged her knees with a nod. "She says that one year when she was a kid, a lunar eclipse occurred. Now she thinks hell is empty and all the souls of people are here. Ghosts, ghouls, vampires and witches. I personally think she's just making it up to scare us from escaping into the woods,"

Yuri widened her eyes in fascination as her eyes lingered back to the crucifix. "Ghosts...? Vampires..?" Yuri's voice seemed a bit scared at this but Hikari shook her head.

"Listen Yuri, you don't have to worry about all of that. She's just trying to scare us." Hikari reassured as Yuri sighed and glanced out the window again.

Her fingers were shaking as she adjusted her socks a bit. "My family...they were kind of religious later in life...but my grandmother, she didn't believe in things like that." Yuri explained among their whispering. "She just thought things like Heaven and Hell were real, and she prayed, too."

Hikari huffed sharply and flopped backwards on Yuri's bed, her hands behind her head. "I see, your family were probably Christians, right?" She said as Yuri nodded a bit. "My parents were Shintoists. They used to take me to the shrine in our town and we'd pray there a lot, especially when my mam's health started getting pretty bad." She explained as Yuri tilted her head a bit.

"I'm...I'm sorry," Yuri sputtered out, looking at Hikari with a gentle expression.

"Nah, don't sweat it. I'm okay. My pa wasn't exactly the most understanding man so I ended up running away from home. A few more months and I'll be free from this hell.." She said quietly.

Yuri coughed a bit from the dust floating around the room, some rustling coming from the beds towards the front. A girl, her hair as black as night, lifted up her head and groaned loudly. "Hikari...shut up I can hear you!" She shouted, throwing her pillow across the room. Hikari stuck out her tongue, catching it with her hands.

"And you! You little bitch shut up!" She whined before yanking the pillow out from beneath her neighbor.

"Alright alright! Chikai be quiet!" Hikari sighed, shaking her head. "Let's just all get some sleep, okay?" Hikari patted Yuri's head and stumbled back up. She reached inside the drawer and pulled out a set of matches, relighting up the candle on Yuri's nightstand.

"Thank you," Yuri smiled a bit as Hikari nodded and retreated back to her bed, taking the noisy girl's pillow with her.

It was a long night after that. Even after all the others found themselves back asleep, Yuri lied awake with her bed drenched in candlelight. She watched the wax fall before the sun came dripping over the clouds. Her eyes were weary at the sight and the sounds of a sharp bell ringing from the hallway.

Just like that, Yuri began a new chapter in her life. Throughout the day, her mind lingered back and forth to what Hikari had said to her the night before. Yet, Yuri was completely oblivious to the painstaking reality awaiting her fate.

Twenty-seven years ago in her world seemed like an eternity. However, Yakimura's words weren't all a falsehood. What her parents sensed was true in its entirety, for on the day when Miss Yakimura was but a child of thirteen years old, a lunar eclipse occurred. To the human world, it seemed like the most beautiful and fascinating occurrence in all of time. However, what she could not see is what suffered.

Karlheinz recalled it most intimately. High atop his throne he received the news of the escaping Founders, the sons of Giesbach and Krone Tsukinami.

"My seal was not enough?" His voice pounded like nails to a coffin. The vampire delivering the news, known only to Karlheinz as Yazoo, nodded at the king's response. He was bowed before the man with a sorrowful expression as Karlheinz rose and ran his fingers across the seat.

"We must act quickly then. Their powers will be at full peak at this time," Karlheinz replied, walking across the center aisle.

"Yes, but your majesty, you must take this time to rest. Lunar eclipses are especially dangerous for you and your family," Yazoo replied, following behind Karlheinz.

"My dear Yazoo, a loyal henchman to my every so desire, since when have you given orders to your king?" Karlheinz's eyes shot an unnerving glare towards him, and, utterly perplexed and ashamed, Yazoo bowed again.

"I'm sorry, your majesty." He responded.

Karlheinz walked about the throne room down a corridor and from the exit. A woman dressed in red was awaiting him, her hair tied up in a knot.

"Karlheinz!" She called, racing after him and Yazoo with a worried expression. "You mustn't hide your ailments from me, dear husband!" She pleaded.

"Beatrix, return and wait among the maids. This is a very serious matter," he instructed as the woman shook her head.

"I would rather die a thousand deaths than have you hide this from me," the woman responded. The man narrowed his eyes at the woman and turned around to her. His hand lashed out aggressively, striking her across the face.

"My order is final. Return and leave not in tears," he ordered. "Yazoo, take her back." Yazoo bowed at the man's wishes and took the woman by the arm, pulling her along.

"You will not succeed with hiding this!" She shouted. "They are going to come and kill you! Kill you the same way they slaughtered Vinzer!"

Her voices trailed off the farther Yazoo pulled her, and, in repose for the delay, Karlheinz ventured through the castle and to the library where he snuck about into one of the many secret corridors hidden amuck. He spent many days down there in research; slowly but surely, he began to understand a great deal of many things. Karlheinz's reading was intense, and his wives waited many moons for the man to return.

Surely, fate would take its stage. He eventually emerged, and, in agony, began to search intensely for an answer to his predicament.

Of course, Yakimura knew none of these things. An attack in the forrest the days following the lunar eclipse would leave her parents confining her to a bedroom in a pathetic attempt to protect her. Even as she stared out the window in her office the day after Yuri had arrived, she could still feel the scars against her breasts.

The first day was hell for Yuri; she had been under the impression Hikari would be as though a sister to her. The unfortunate truth was that Hikari, like many other of the girls there, did not understand Yuri. She had been kind enough to answer her questions from the night before, but withdrew to her chores throughout the day. Subsequently, Yuri was left to figure most things out by herself.

For instance, Yuri found that Yakimura preferred lavender tea over green tea. She also discovered an infamous fellow who walked the halls while the girls did about their duties was titled "the mustached man." She learned that she was not allowed outside after certain hours of the day, and was scolded upon by the gatekeeper for doing so. By the time dusk fell, her palms were aching in raw skin and her knees were painted black and blue.

Her voice was silent for most of the entire day, probably because of a lack of water. Either way, her dehydrated mouth never distracted her from the thought of what Hikari said to her. She wondered deeply if Yakamura's superstition was justified or not.

"Cara mia, my dear wife...fair white skin, four green eyes," Yuri hummed quietly to herself as her body felt ready to collapse at the foot of the stairs. "What do I know about you dear? Other than you long to leave me here?" She sang. Standing at the top of the stairs, her eyes lingered about before she sank into the floor. Her body wasn't entirely used to this kind of work. What Dr. Hojo had said the day before was true, and Yuri came to realize it. She was unsuited for manual work, and subsequently, the found herself panting on the floor.

"Mama..." She said quietly, staring above at the floors and spiraling stairs. "Where are you..?"