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『 your p.o.v 』

Memories are a fickle thing, aren't they? One second they're there and the next, they're gone. It's unsettling to think about.

Taking a sip from the small tea cup, I smiled some to myself as I leaned on the railing of my rooms balcony that overlooks the Sakamaki's large rose garden. My memories might not ever fully return and it's time I come to accept that. I won't regain everything because not everything needs to be regained. I don't need to remember everything that happened in the orphanage or at the church. The past is the past. But there are memories from a time even before then that I can't seem to unlock, ones pertaining to where I originally come from.

There has to be some way for me to get to the Demon World on my own if these vampires won't take me. The First Bloods that are still alive, the Tsukinami siblings, they can help me. They had to have known who my father was or at the very least have an idea of what happened to me. Maybe I was friends with them and just can't remember it right now. I'm not sure. All I do know is that I need to get to their castle and unlock my full potential.

"Do you have to go there?" Yui asked, her voice soft as a chilled gust of wind blows passed.

I nodded. "Once I go to that castle and speak with the Tsukinami's, I'm sure my memories will come back. Maybe I'll even learn how to use my powers, whatever they might be." I murmured. "For their sake, I must go."

"But Kino is still after you." My guardian angel then said. "He'll kill you if he manages to find you."

"And he'll kill me here if I stay with these vampires. The outcome is the same no matter what I do unless I figure out just what's going on here with both my memories and my body."

"I guess you're right, it's just, I don't want to see you get hurt."

Absentmindedly, I shrugged as I took another sip from my cup of tea. Reiji had brought this to my room earlier just as I was waking up, saying something about there being some medicine mixed in with the tea to help the aches and pains I've been experiencing since I died in that world Kino made a few nights ago at school. Since that night, I've been working through different plans in my head that will put an end to all of this needless fighting.

I mean, there has to be a way to kill Kino considering I highly doubt he'll just have a sudden change of heart and not continue to try and end mine and these vampires lives. The only other option is to kill him before he kills us. That's easier said than done, I know, but that's all I got. I have no weapons, no real powers, not enough memories to piece things together once and for all, so all I can confidently say is that we need to kill him as soon as possible to save us from the most amount of harm. It's not the best of plans but that's all I have.

I'm sure both the Mukami's and the Sakamaki's have come to the same conclusion by now and are just as stuck as I myself am. None of us are strong enough to take on Kino. Even together, from the sound of it, he'd still manage to best us. The fedora wearing vampire had brought up as well how one of the Tsukinami's is realistically the only one that could stand a fighting chance against Kino, but he's dying from some virus so there won't be much help coming from him any time soon.

A virus...

Turning on my heels, I walked back inside my room and carefully placed my tea cup down on my dresser before walking out into the hallway. As usual, the mansion is quiet, eerily so. I pay that no mind and continue walking. "Wasn't Reiji's room somewhere in this direction?" I asked.

"He'd most probably be in his lab right now." Yui spoke up. "Take a left up here and continue down that hallway. His lab should be the fifth door on the right if I remember correctly."

Nodding slightly, I followed her directions. Reiji know's a fair deal of what happened to my race and I'm sure he'll finally talk to me about it. Considering everything that's been happening as of late, he can't simply hide things from me as easily anymore. If any of us want to understand what's going on here, he needs to be honest and tell me everything he knows so far.

With three soft knocks, I waited for a response as I stood in front of the door that would lead me to Reiji's lab. And, luckily for myself, he responded. "Come in."

A light click rung out as I opened and closed the door behind me as I looked around the large room. On the right side, there are bookshelves lining the wall filled with books and journals, a small little coffee table with two chairs on either side of it placed just in front of the bookshelves. And to the left, there are two large lab tables with different beakers and chemicals and the such littering them, Reiji standing near one of the bubbling beakers while flipping through a book with his free hand. He never spared me even a glance as I hesitantly walked further into his lab and towards the bookshelves.

"Reiji, tell me about the virus that killed my race." I said as I lazily brushed my fingers over the many spines of the old and aging books.

The black haired vampire didn't say anything for a moment as I continued to look at his vast collection of books. "Why is it you want to know about that now?" He asked.

Glancing over my shoulder, I wasn't all that surprised to see that he wasn't looking at me at all and instead was focusing heavily on his experiment at hand. "Whatever it is that killed the First Bloods is important for me to know, is it not? If we know about this virus, there might still be time to save the infected Tsukinami."

"Carla is going to die no matter what." Reiji said plainly, flicking those crimson red eyes up to look at me from over the top rim of his glasses. "There's no cure for something like that."

I frowned. "Are you sure? There must be something you could create to help him."

"Do you take me for some sort of scientist?"

"You've been creating medicine for me so why can't you do the same for Carla?"

Reiji sighed, placing the beaker in his hand back down onto it's little stand as he stood back up to really look at me now. "You don't understand this virus, ___. It's not something as simple as muscle pains. It attacks the nervous system, essentially killing it's victim from the inside out until they become so weak they collapse and die within minutes." He explained with a serious expression as I moved to look out the large windows overlooking the back of the Sakamaki's estate. "To save Carla would mean making a cure to something that no one else could. I would need months if not years to create that cure and Carla doesn't have that much time to live and that's if he's still alive today."

A frown tugged at the corners of my lips. "I need to help him somehow..." I muttered just loud enough for the vampire to hear. "There must be something I can do to prolong his life and possibly cure him of this disease."

"As of this point in time, it's unknown if the virus is still alive in the Demon World so I won't be allowing you to travel there unless it's absolutely necessary for you to go to your home. Memories be damned, you'll die if that virus enters your body." Reiji said, returning to his experiment and once again consulting the large book he has open beside his work. "But if you're going to be so adamant on saving that First Bloods life, then, I shall look into a cure for him."

My eyes widened some at that as I stared at the crimson eyed vampire. "You really mean that?" I asked. "You're willing to help?"

"Must I repeat myself?" Reiji asked lamely.

Quickly, I shook my head. "No! Thank you so much Reiji, I don't want to see any of you die if I don't have to. Thank you."

The black haired vampire looked at me and smiled just ever so slightly. "If you're so grateful, then just how will you possibly repay me, hm?"

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as his eyes narrowed some, his smirk remaining. "I-I don't know."

"I'm sure you have an idea of what I could want from you." Reiji mused, placing the beaker down onto it's stand before taking off his white gloves, placing them on the metal lab table. "The last time I helped you, you rejected me." He said as he slowly began taking steps towards where I stood next to the large windows within his laboratory. "What will you do this time?"

"I don't believe you kissing me is appropriate for you offering to help create a cure." I said, taking a step back only for the backs of my knees to lightly hit the small cabinets lining the wall just under the window.

Reiji scoffed, no more than a few feet in front of me now. "Would you rather I suck your blood until you faint? One little kiss won't be the end of the world for you." He reasoned.

Weighing the options in my mind, he has a point. Getting my blood sucked is inevitable and a rather painful experience that leaves me feeling lightheaded and faint. Now as for getting kissed by this vampire, well, I've never experienced that before...

"You're quiet now." Reiji muttered as he gently placed one of his hands on my hip, the other lifting my chin upwards so that we were looking directly into each others eyes. Almost instinctively, I raised my arms up to wrap around his neck, his hand tightening on my hip ever so slightly. "Would you look at that, it's not all that hard choosing between the two now is it?"

I couldn't help but laugh some. "It's just one kiss."

"One kiss." He repeated under his breath. "Who knows, maybe one kiss will turn into more later on."

"We'll just have to wait and see now won't we?"

"I guess so."

Leaning down, Reiji smirked as his lips met my own. The kiss was surprisingly gentle, something I wasn't expecting from a vampire such as this. He didn't rush a thing and instead took his time pulling me closer to his chest, not caring one bit about the howls of wolves sounding off in the distance.

By the time we pulled back from on another, my head was spinning. His kiss is absolutely intoxicating, and by the dazed look behind those crimson red eyes of his, I'd say Reiji feels the same way about myself.

"And on that note," I said as I easily slipped out of the vampires grasp and began walking towards the door to his lab, "I think it's time I take my leave."

Reiji adjusted his glasses some as he glanced to me from over his shoulder. "It feels as though every time I get you right where I want you, you manage to escape at the last possible second."

I couldn't help but laugh at his words, the door now open. "It'll take more than a kiss to entrap me Reiji, surely you would have guessed that by now."

Closing the door behind me, I once again began walking down the hallway, this time with no destination in mind. The smile gracing my lips wouldn't go away either, my heart beating just ever so slightly faster than normal.

"You just kissed Reiji." Yui said, her voice giddy.

I rolled my eyes at that. "I did."

"And you liked it didn't you?"

"Oh shush, you know nothing."

Yui laughed but said no more on the subject, my smile only widening. Okay, maybe I did like the kiss. It was nice. What more can I say?

Without realizing it, I soon came to the main foyer of the Sakamaki's mansion. I glanced around some, my eyes lingering on the painting of the white haired man with golden eyes for a second before I made my decent down the large staircase. The rest of the Sakamaki's were no where in sight as I wandered towards the back of their large mansion. It didn't take me long at all to leave the mansion all together and make my way into the back courtyard of the estate.

Rose bushes lined the pathways of the back courtyard, each and every plant well looked after and cut to perfection. I didn't particularly care where I walked as long as it gave me something to do.

Not going to school anymore is, weird. Granted I couldn't remember what I did after a couple of nights had passed, but it kept me busy. Now that I'm stuck here within the confines of this mansion, I find myself growing restless and wanting to go and do something- anything to take my mind off of the fact I'm useless right now.

Sighing, I walked down the paths until I was the furthest away from the mansion as I could get, just at the edge of the forest surrounding this old manor. I took a seat on a nearby bench and looked out into the dark woods before myself. A few animals could be seen moving about, deer, rabbit, even a couple of butterflies fluttered about in the air. I'm sure if I looked hard enough I could find some snakes as well. It would be fitting for a place such as this.

"It's not safe for you to be out here all on your own." A sickeningly familiar voice said from somewhere out in the woods.

My body refused to move, almost as if it was petrified with fear. "What do you want, Kino?"

The black haired vampire stepped out from the shadows with his cellphone in hand, tapping away with his free hand without ever once sparring me a glance. "I came to talk to you."

I scoffed some at that. "Really? No longer hell bent on murdering me in cold blood?"

"No, not tonight." He admitted with an absentminded shrug of his shoulders. "If anything, I wanted to make you an offer."

"An offer." I repeated.

Flicking his attention up from his phone, Kino's bright red eyes narrowed some at the mansion behind me. "Shit, they already know I'm here." He sighed. "Alright, I guess we'll have to do this the hard way once again."

In an instant, where we were suddenly changed entirely. I found myself sitting under a large apple tree in the middle of a field, the surrounding forest circling the perimeter of the field with the sun shining down from between the clouds that rolled by. My eyes widened ever so slightly as I noticed that instead of standing in front of me as he had previously been, Kino now leaned against the tree beside me, the Sakamaki's mansion no where in sight.

"Where are we?" I asked, cautiously standing up and walking around some. There's not another soul in sight whatsoever. It's just Kino and myself here meaning if he really wanted to, he could kill me with no one interfering.

"I created this place, pretty cool right?" He asked.

Slowly, I nodded. "It was unexpected to say the least."

Kino slipped his phone into his pocket and smiled wickedly. "As I was saying before we were about to be rudely interrupted, I want to make you an offer."

"And what type of an offer could you possibly have for someone you've been trying to kill for the last few weeks now?" I asked as I looked back to the black haired vampire.

"It's simple really," he said as he jumped up and easily grabbed an apple off the tree, taking a bite out of it once he landed back on the lush green grass, "come be my queen and I'll spare those disgusting vampires you're so determined to protect."

I blinked a couple times, not sure if I heard him correctly. "Come be your queen?" I asked in disbelief.

Kino laughed at my expression. "Yes, I killed the Vampire King, my father Karlheinz, meaning I'm next in line to become king. I already killed my uncle as well so it's not like Richter can try and overtake me now."

That name, Karlheinz, it sounds so familiar. And Richter does as well. Why do those names sound so familiar..?

A sudden sharp pain spiked through my head and I flinched some in response. Okay, I'll try to remember why those two names sound so familiar later. I can't let myself get distracted with Kino right here. I don't need to be murdered when my guard is down.

"Why would you kill your own father..?" I asked, placing a hand onto the large trunk of the tree as to keep myself from fainting right then and there. These headaches are only getting worse...

"Why? Because I needed his power just as I needed Richter's." Kino said without a care in the world, something like this obviously trivial to him by now. "With me having their power, I can kill the vampire race as a whole and create something new, something better. No one will have to feel the same betrayal I've been put through since I was abandoned. The ghouls will help me with this plan, they'll help me create a promise land for all of the beings within the Demon World. And you, my dear ___, could be my queen if you leave these pathetic creatures behind."

Looking to the black haired vampire, it took me a moment to respond, too shocked to say anything initially. "I can't leave them..." I murmured.

Kino scoffed. "You say that, but give them time and their nice facades will crack and you'll witness their true nature. My brothers are ruthless as are the Mukami's and the Tsukinami's. You'll long to be with me in time." He said confidently. "They won't be able to hold onto you when I can offer you so much more."

"Brothers..? You don't mean-"

"That those dreadful Sakamaki's are my siblings? That's exactly what I mean." Kino cut me off with a smile. "Hard to believe that we're related, don't you agree? It pains me knowing we share half of the same blood."

I didn't say anything more, my mind a jumbled mess at this point. How could him and the Sakamaki's be siblings? They've never spoken about him as a family member gone rogue but rather a nuisance they're forced to deal with. There must be something I'm missing... But wait, if Kino is supposedly their siblings and he killed his father, the Vampire King, then that would make the Sakamaki's also heirs to the throne.

"I'll give you one month to decide whether or not you'll become my queen and rule over all of the Demon World by my side. If you decline, well, must I explain?" Kino asked with his smile softening. "As someone who possesses a unique mix of human and Founders blood, I'd rather not kill you. Our blood would make the ultimate demon race and it would be a pity to simply kill you off when no one like you will ever exist again. But if you defy me, then I won't have any other choice." He said, walking around the large apple tree to stand directly in front of me now, reaching up and lightly brushing through my hair some. "Don't push me to that point and I'm sure we'll get along just fine. Be happy I'm even giving you a choice. I like you ___ and want you to choose me. Choose anyone else and your fate will be set in stone and I won't hesitate in murdering all that you love and finally ending your life as well."

In an instant, Kino disappeared, the sun going along with him. The tree lost all of it's leaves and the apples shriveled up and rotted as they fell from their branches and landed on the dead grassy ground at my feet. With the moon high up above and the howls of the wolves now louder than ever before, I glanced around some.

"I can't feel Kino's magic anymore. He returned you to our world." Yui said softly. "Are you alright ___?"

"I'm fine. That was just a lot to take in is all." I responded at nothing above a whisper, a few wolves making their ways out from the darkness of the surrounding forest and into the moonlit field I find myself in the center of. "Any idea where we are..?"

Yui stayed quiet for a moment as the wolves cautiously approached, five of them in total with striking golden eyes and a reddish smoke coming off of their dark bodies. "I don't remember this area of the forest. And these wolves, they're not the same ones from the attack of my fathers church." She said thoughtfully.

Crouching down, one of the wolves walked up to me and curiously sniffed the palm of my hand as I held it out to him as a peace offering. "No, they're not."

With a single howl, the wolf in front of me looked me dead in the eye before licking my palm just once and taking a step back. I smiled. These wolves are the ones that have been following me around over these last couple of months.

Standing back up, I looked out to the forest only to find even more wolves watching me from the darkness of the trees, their golden eyes glowing as they watch my every movement. "You wolves have been keeping tabs on me," I said as if they could understand what I'm saying, "you wouldn't happen to know where the Sakamaki's mansion is would, you?"

The wolf in front of me howled lowly and then turned away, walking a few steps before glancing back at me. "Oh, you want me to follow you?" I murmured, not taking a moment to second guess myself as I began following the wolf into the dark, moonlit forest.

"Is it really okay to be doing this?" Yui asked as I wandered deeper and deeper into the forest, the sounds of other wolves following close by, their paws snapping twigs and crunching leaves ringing out.

I shrugged. "I don't have much of a choice. These wolves have been watching over me just like you have so I doubt they want me to die out here otherwise they would have already attacked. And, if they've been following me, then they know the way back to the Sakamaki's mansion. I disappeared in the back courtyard so they had to have followed my scent from the mansion to make it here." I explained. "If anyone could take me from here back to my home, it would be these wolves."

Yui sighed. "I guess you're right. It's just, after the attack on my fathers church, it's scary thinking there are wolves that have been sent to look after you."

"Sent to look after me..." I repeated before coming to a sudden realization. "Didn't you say the Tsukinami's could control wolf familiars?" I then asked.

"You think these wolves belong to the Tsukinami's? I don't understand why they'd be watching you from afar instead of just coming here themselves." Yui said.

I shook my head. "There must be something preventing them from coming here themselves. Carla is sick, remember? Maybe his condition is so unstable the two of them couldn't risk leaving the Demon World?"

"That could be it."

"It has to be."

The walk back to the mansion was a long one. The wolves stayed close to me and growled whenever they sensed another animal getting a little too close for their liking, many times it being a rabbit that was just trying to enjoy a late night snack but was forced to hop away or risk being eaten by these predators. It was only when I vaguely heard my name being called out from somewhere up ahead that the wolves went on high alert, their fur rising as they began to growl.

"Don't attack them." I ordered. "They'll fight if you make a move to attack and I don't want either them nor you guys getting hurt so please, stand down." I pleaded with the wolves.

The one walking directly beside me looked up at me for a moment before howling once into the night, the rest of the wolves immediately stopping in their growling. Though the hair on their necks never went down, showing that they're still ready to attack if anyone threatens them, or possibly myself for that matter.

Making our way out of the forest, the Sakamaki's mansion came into view as I approached the back courtyard. Each of the six brothers had been searching it seems, all of them standing at different points within this large courtyard. The first to notice me was the red headed triplet, his eyes widening when he saw the wolf standing beside me, even more of them lurking in the forest with only their golden eyes being seen.

"___," he said my name, "get away from that beast."

I shook my head. "Don't fear them. These are the wolves that have been following me. They showed me the way back to your mansion." I explained, hoping none of the Sakamaki's would try anything stupid.

The wolf beside myself howled once more before turning around, walking back into the forest and disappearing from our sights. I glanced over my shoulder and watched as the golden eyes peeking through the dark forest began vanishing as well, all of the wolves once again going into hiding, nothing but the occasional howl off in the distance assuring us that they're never too far away.

"You owe us an explanation after disappearing like that." Kanato said, his voice gravely low as I walked passed him and towards the large glass doors to the Sakamaki's mansion.

"Kino wanted to talk," I responded, "I'm tired so I'll be going to bed a little early tonight. I'll explain everything we discussed tomorrow."

The fedora wearing vampire laughed some as he followed after me. "Look at Bitch-chan here calling the shots." He mused.

Subaru clicked his tongue. "She knows we won't hurt her."

"We've been too easy on her." Shu murmured.

Chuckling, Reiji pushed up his glasses. "We have." He agreed.

A hand wrapped tightly around my wrist, pulling me back into someone's broad chest. "Well, it's about dinner time so let's eat." The red head said, already biting harshly into the side of my neck.

I cried out as his fangs punctured my skin, his brothers all joining in on the midnight activity. It wasn't long after the six of them began drinking from me that I lost consciousness, falling into the darkness and succumbing to the intoxicating feeling of having their fangs embedded deeply under the surface of my skin.

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Don't mind me just writing cuteness for Reiji because he's my true vampire love <3333 don't worry, more cute scenes for the other vampys will be coming up soon enough so don't hate me!

Question of the Chapter: With Kino now making his intentions clear, do you think he's evil or just misunderstood? Honestly I think he's very misunderstood- especially in this fanfic lol but such is life when you're determined to wipe out an entire race.~

Gosh I have no regrets with the direction this fanfic is going in <3 This and my "Idols Race for Love" Utapri fic are like my babies right now. It's funny looking back at my first ever "Heroine Oneshots" and seeing how much my writing has improved over these last few years. Hopefully some of you long time readers of mine can see my progression and like where I'm at now <3 I always try to better my writing for you guys after all! Without you, writing would be a little boring lol

As always my lovelies, thanks for reading and I hope everyone has a nice day/night/evening/life :')

~ Love, Kat ♡