Admin Mawile: (ノ*゜▽゜*) And the second chapter of Laito’s route is done!

I mentioned this in this post, but the chapters from now on will be decided by a Ko-Fi vote! Please vote if you’d like to, and help me write nice stuff about our favorite awful boys~

The warnings for this chapter include minor violence, minor blood, non-sexual choking, one scene that resembles sexual assault, and just a lot of Laito being Laito and making questionable decisions. Seriously, this boy needs to be stopped. If any of this bothers you, read carefully. 

Questions and comments will always be appreciated, and thank you so much for reading! ❤ (∩´∀`)∩

Fic below the cut!!!

The next night comes. You wake up to an uneasy feeling and a suspicious weight on your bed, somewhere around your knees.

You feel yourself sigh more than you hear it; you already have a feeling you know what’s there, and you don’t want to open your eyes and find out. Against your better judgement, you do so anyway.

It’s Laito, dressed in casual clothes and leering at you like you’re his personal plaything. You wonder if you could get away with hitting him.

Remembering that he liked it, you decide against it.

“Good evening, Bitch-chan~ Did you dream about me?” he asks, sounding disgustingly smug. Laito is lounging on your bed like he owns it, stretched out as comfortable as can be. If you weren’t pretty sure it’d end badly for you, you’d shove him off just to see his face when he fell.

“Why are you in my room?” you reply, resisting the urge to glare. You don’t want to give him the satisfaction of reacting to what he does.

Laito laughs. “You’re always so cold, Bitch-chan. Don’t you know that we’re already like lovers? You were so passionate yesterday, telling me how much you hated me… Ah, it’s your fault that I’m feeling like this~”

Nothing that comes out of this boy’s mouth is ever going to make sense, you realize. You want to snap at him, but you’re afraid it would just encourage the nightmare that is dealing with Laito. Instead, you level a blank look, staring at him like you think he’s crazy. You kind of do.

Cheeks flushed, Laito leans towards you, cornering you with his body. He’s thin, you note, slender figured and almost slight. It’s strange to think that someone as strong as him could be so small.

He takes your hand in his, and you don’t do anything to resist. When he tugs you to your feet, gracefully sliding off the bed, you follow.

You’ve figured out that he likes it too much when you fight back.

When you’re on your feet, Laito pulls you close to him, looping an arm around your shoulders and keeping you close to his chest. He’s cold like something dead, and smells of some strange, heavy perfume.

It’s disgusting, and you’re reminded all over again that what you’re dealing with is far from human.

You’re walked out of the room, Laito pulling you along by the arm over your shoulders. He’s smiling and chatting all the while, going on and on about how cute and pretty you are when you play nice, and you wish that you could just hit him, if only you thought it would shut him up.

The reason why you’re not fighting him is mostly because you don’t want to encourage him. He liked it far too much when you got violent, and the last thing you want is for him to think that he has any ground with you.

You don’t know where he’s taking you, but you have a feeling that it’ll end in being bitten again. He’s probably just trying to get control.

Why a vampire that could overpower you in a second feels the need to establish dominance is beyond you. You’re starting to think that they’re all more insecure than they let on, for all they try to act tough.

Laito leads you through the hallways of the mansion, down a path that you don’t recognize. You’ve explored a fair amount of the house by yourself, but wherever he’s taking you is somewhere new. You don’t like it. Laito is probably trying to get you somewhere where you feel off balance, and the idea of dealing with whatever he’s plotting makes your head hurt.

Contemplating if you could get away with kicking him and walking away, you hold back a shudder when Laito kisses your cheek.

And then something occurs to you.

For all of this morning, he’s been affectionate, weirdly so. You’ve already established that he’s the sort to act like you love him if you show him the slightest bit of attention, positive or negative, and the fact that he’s treating you like some kind of lover is suddenly deeply worrying.

You’re starting to realize that lashing out at him the other day might have been seen as some kind of invitation, some kind of admittance.

Or, you hope, it’s just a case of Laito being himself. It seems in character for him to try some weird “romantic” routine in order to catch you off guard. You’ve already established that he’s a manipulator.

Eventually, Laito drags you into a room. It’s an outdoor balcony on what appears to be the far end of the mansion, overlooking a garden. It’s on the upper floor of the mansion, you note, looking down on the grounds, and in all honesty, it’s a rather pretty place. You’re immediately suspicious.

Laito’s arm is still around you, heavy and cold, and you’re increasingly filled with the urge to remove it from your shoulders and take a step away.

Quiet, for once, he leads you to the edge of the balcony, closing his eyes for a moment. On the surface, it looks like he’s just enjoying the fresh air. You’re hit with the sudden feeling that it’s something much darker.

“Hey, Bitch-chan. I love places like this, did you know?” He’s smiling, but it somehow doesn’t reach his eyes. There’s a glassy look in them that makes you feel vaguely chilled, unsettled.  “I had a wonderful moment with a very special woman on a balcony, a long time ago~ Wouldn’t it be nice if we could love each other so much someday too?”

You don’t answer, and Laito tugs you closer, cold body pressing into your space. It’s uncomfortable, and you resist the urge to pull away.

He laughs again, and the sound has a hollow tone to it. You shiver. There’s something very wrong here, and you have the feeling you’re going to find out what it is. Laito’s hand strokes at your shoulder.

“Anyway, there’s a reason why I brought you here, Bitch-chan.” His voice is fake-serious, low and hushed. It’s beyond annoying.

“I had an idea, after our moment yesterday…” He sounds almost amused. “You’re a tough girl; even though your blood’s so sweet and nice, you want to fight back when I bite you. So~ I was thinking; I’ve never met a girl as brave as you, Bitch-chan, so how about I let you do things your way, hmm? I always want to make pretty girls happy, you know?”

“What do you mean by that?” you reply, suspicion heavy in your tone. For all you know, this is some kind of stupid trap. You don’t trust what Laito says for a second, especially not while he looks so happy about it.

Laito’s cheeks go redder, a slimy grin working its way across his face. He takes his arm away from you, grabs you by both shoulders instead, leaning in much too close and forcing you to look at him.

“I mean, Bitch-chan, that I want to let you fight back more. You hate me so much, don’t you? Why not show me? Why not let me know exactly how filthy you think I am? I promise I’ll love it. I’ll love you.” He’s looking at you with open arousal, open excitement at what he’s suggesting.

No. Ordering. You already know that he’s not leaving you a choice.

You think of blood dripping down his chin, the way he looked at you when you refused to back down. You think of how badly you want to knock the stupid grin off his face. You think of fangs in your stomach, forcing.

“What are you saying that I do? Hurt you? Are you really going to let me get away with that?” You tone is cold, unyielding.

The way Laito’s eyes light up makes you feel almost sick. He’s enjoying this already, you think, getting some sick enjoyment from thinking that he’s bending you to his will. You wonder what he’d do if you refuse.

“Whatever you want, Bitch-chan. I love cute girls like you, so strong and cold. You’ll like it better if you get your way. You’ll love me more when you’re making me bleed. I just want to see you fall down to pleasure with me, nfu~” There’s something arrogant in the way he speaks.

He’s expecting you to play his little game.

You don’t know what it is that makes you respond, what reason you possibly have to not just walk away and forget that this ever happened.

You want nothing to do with Laito’s idea of fun. You can tell already that he’s trying to manipulate you, get something out of you that you just don’t know yet. Maybe he’s just selfishly seeking his own pleasure.

Maybe that’s the same reason you choose to open your mouth.

“Alright. So I get to hurt you, huh? I wonder why you’d want to let me get away with something like that,” you say, words spilling out.  

Laito’s face lights up. “Exactly, Bitch-chan. You hate me. You hate me with everything you have, and I’ll love you in return~ Sounds fun, doesn’t it? I’ll make you feel so good,” he moans, and your hands clench.

You already want to knock that grin off his face.

Crooning that he’s so happy that you worked things out, that you’re going to hate him with so much passion, Laito ducks his head down to your neck, licking your skin with a cold tongue and inhaling deeply.

“Ah, you smell so sweet~ Let me have a little taste, okay?” he moans, and that’s all the warning you get before there are fangs in your skin.

The burn is starting to become familiar, and that thought isn’t a pleasant one. Laito bites roughly, shoving you back against the wall near the door. Your back hits the stone with a painful thud, and you wince.

So this is how he’s going to play.

Acting on anger, your hand goes to Laito’s hair, grabbing a handful and pulling hard, possibly rougher than the day before. Laito yelps against your skin, fangs tearing larger holes as he’s ripped away.

He asked you to do it. It’s probably not going to get you killed if you fight back. These thoughts rush through your head as you force him away.

“Get off of me,” you hiss. “If you’re going to put me in charge, we’re going to do things my way.” Shockingly, Laito obeys, licking the blood off his lips and smiling, amusement in his eyes. It’s sickening.

Without another word, you turn and leave, shoving the door open and walking away. The last thing you hear is Laito’s voice calling after you.

“We have a date tomorrow then, Bitch-chan~ I’ll come find you, and then you can show me just how passionate your feelings are.” There’s open arousal in his tone, mixed with something cheerful and delighted.

You know it’s just a game to him. He could end you anytime he feels like it, and most likely, the only thing keeping you alive at the moment is that you’re amusing to him. If he didn’t like what you were doing, if he didn’t think he was in control, you wouldn’t stand a chance. You’re well aware of what kind of disadvantage you’re at when compared to a monster

It’s disgusting that you’re being forced to play into his games. Whatever vulnerability you saw the day before is long gone, replaced with smug superiority and perverted desire.

Laito is getting his way, you know. You’re doing nothing but playing into it and giving him entertainment. He has nothing to risk with you.

You’re the one whose life is on the line.

Even so, you remember the look of shock in his eyes the first time you fought back. You caught him off guard, if only for a moment, and even if he’s managed to run with it now, he wasn’t always so at ease.

There’s a headache pounding at your temples. The heavy-perfume smell that hung over Laito has stuck to you, cloying and thick.

You fight to calm down. It won’t help you to lose your temper.

In your room, you feel slightly more at peace. The wound on your neck is dripping blood, torn open from when you yanked Laito away. The pain is somehow stabilizing, grounding, and you concentrate on the the steady pulses of pain that it gives off. You can do this. You’re not going to break.

You think of Laito’s smug grin, so self assured, and bring your hand up to press along the marks dotting your neck.

…

The next day comes. Despite the feeling of dread lodged low in your stomach, you carry on as normal, pointedly ignoring the unease.

Reiji harrasses you at breakfast, chiding you for not sitting up straight enough, for being a messy eater, and countless other little things that you never would have noticed on your own. You mostly wonder why he cares.

Through it all, you get the impression that what he’s attempting is some mix of controlling and self-elevating behavior. He’s trying to both put you down and make himself seem better, and you silently bristle a bit. Reiji isn’t one you could get away with fighting back with, but in the mood you’re in, he quickly gets lumped into the same pile of disgust as Laito.

You’re quickly deciding that you don’t like any of them very well.

Laito’s promise of a “date” today is turning your stomach. You don’t want to have to deal with him again, don’t want to have to look at his smug grin for any longer than you have to. You’re thoroughly sick of it all.

You’re sitting on your bed, flipping through more borrowed books from the library (this time on some sort of vampire history… you think) when something begins to tap at your window. A closer inspection proves it to be a small bat, holding a piece of paper in its tiny feet.

Against your better judgement, you get up to let the bat inside. It lands peacefully on your bed, releasing the paper with no fuss.

The paper itself is pale pink and floral scented. You immediately know where it’s from, and have to resist tearing the thing up then and there. Laito’s feminine, curly handwriting spells out a short message instructing you to follow the familiar– the bat, you assume– to where it takes you.

It takes legitimate effort not to toss the bat back out your window and go back to reading in peace. You have the feeling you’d be found if you tried.

Instead, you stand up with a sigh, setting your book down on the bed.

“Well? I’m supposed to be following you, you know,” you say to the bat. It chirps at you softly in response. Honestly, it’s almost cute… at least until you remember that this thing apparently belongs to Laito.

The familiar soons takes flight, and you follow it. It leads you to another part of the house that you haven’t been through yet; one of the lower floors on the side opposite you room. You notice that, while the furnishings here might actually be even more fine than in your room, there’s a significant amount of damage to things here and there.

You remember the couple of times you’ve met Subaru, and the damage suddenly makes a considerable amount of sense.

It eventually stops in front of a worryingly normal looking door. Despite the bad feeling weighing on your shoulders despite knowing that Laito is going to try something again, you knock, then slowly push it open.

Your guess turns about to be correct. The room appears to be a bedroom. The walls are dark, there’s a plush, green carpet beneath your feet, and a pair of windows let in a soft, nighttime breeze. A chair, small table, a massive, lavish bed with curtains draped behind it are the only notable furniture in the room, and you get the impression that it’s not particularly lived in. The smell of perfume is stronger here than ever.

Laito is perched on the bed, laying on his stomach, a little book open in front of him. As soon as he catches sight of you, he bursts into a sickly sweet smile, pushing the book aside and scooting over with surprising grace.

Next thing you know, he’s behind you, arms wrapped around your midsection, head leaning in much too close to yours.

“Ah, Bitch-chan, I missed you so much,” Laito croons, and you feel almost sick. “I’ve been waiting patiently to see how much my cute little Bitch-chan really hates me. Please show me your hot, passionate feelings for me today. I’ll love you every bit as much as you hate me…”

Laito’s hands are at your chest and waist, forcing contact on you that you’d never want. He ignores the way you stiffen up, and instead eases you back to the bed, pulling you down with him and leaning into a kiss.

Well, he did say that he wanted you to fight back.

It’s probably not the best thing to do, but you bite him. Hard. Your teeth sink into his lip, catching a little string of flesh, and Laito jerks back.

For a moment, you hope you may have actually hurt him.

Instead, he moans, face going red as he licks the blood off his lips. You find yourself frustrated that vampires heal so damn quickly.

He leans in again, going for another kiss, and something in you snaps. You’ve been trying to remain decently polite, trying to keep your cool, but when his hand goes straight for your chest again, barging into your space, you decide that you’ve had more than enough of pretending not to care.

You backhand Laito with as much force as you can manage, hard enough to knock his head to the side. It’s sure to bruise, if he doesn’t heal so fast it won’t have a chance too, but Laito’s face only goes more red.

While you’re highly tempted to snap at him for touching you like that, you have the feeling that it will only make him push your boundaries more.

“You hit hard, Bitch-chan~” Laito laughs, still smiling. “You’re a strong girl, huh? All that hatred, all that resistance, ah, it just makes me want to love you more and more. You’re so pretty when you’re angry, when you look at me like you want me dead, so hate me with all you’ve got, okay?”

He’s annoying. He’s infuriating. Your temper is almost at its limit, and when he leans over you again, caging you in with his body and trying to part your thighs with his leg, you absolutely can’t take any more.

“Shut up,” you hiss. “Can you be quiet for five seconds, or does that nasty mouth never quit?” The words are out of you before you can stop.

Laito moves with you when you shove him over, and that part makes you almost angrier. He’s humoring you like an adult would a small child.

On his back, he arches his hips, forcing more contact. He’s smiling like he’s enjoying himself, face red and eyes glassy with arousal. You imagine that, for a creature as strong as him, what you’ve done so far is just playing.

You wrap your hands around his throat and start to squeeze.

Laito lets you keep him pinned, moans his approval as you tighten your grip. The most he does to fight you is squirm, and you assume that’s just an attempt at making you uncomfortable. You lean your weight into your grip on his throat, half hoping he’ll shut up for good.

He asked for this, you remind yourself when the feeling of choking someone sinks in. He’s goaded you into it at every turn.

Pulse pounding in your head, the smell of perfume half choking you, you lose track of how much time you spend on top of Laito, squeezing his throat until his face starts to go a bit red.

You don’t think for second that you’re really hurting him. At best, you’re minorly annoying. Laito has already shown that he can handle whatever you dish out, and at this point, the violence is more blinding anger than any real attempt to hurt him. You just wish he didn’t like it.

Finally, Laito gets bored of playing along.

You see the change in his eyes first, the glazed look being instantly replaced with something sharp and alert. Your grip falters for just a second, but that’s enough. Laito shifts, and you can feel how much stronger he is.

Before you know what’s happening you’re on your back, hands closing on empty air. Laito flips you easily, forcing your arms above your head.

“Ah, Bitch-chan~” he croons, voice rough. “Look what you’ve done to me. I’m all excited now, and it’s all your fault. You’re going to have to make it up to me, you naughty girl. You’d like that, hmm? I can smell that you’re getting hot too, you know… Here, let me help.”

Your stomach twists, rage and disgust mingling as one. Laito sinks his fangs into the meat of your shoulder, but you barely feel it. You struggle and try to shove him off of you, better judgement replaced with sheer fury.

“Mmm, you taste so sweet. I can tell how much you like it, Bitch-chan. You hate me, but your body doesn’t lie. My fangs are arousing you, even while you want me dead~” He sounds disgustingly arrogant.

What happens next you lose track of.

Between your own anger and the blood loss, you don’t remember much more than fangs and pain, pulse thudding triple-time.

Laito leaves you in his room, half conscious on the bed. The last thing you remember of him is a laughing apology for being so rough, a promise that he truly did love every second of your passionate hatred.

The bed you’re on has the same smell as the rest of Laito, and your head throbs with every inhale. Underneath it, though, is the same dark, unpleasant note that the rest of the mansion has; the smell that you’re quickly learning to associate with the vampires themselves.

You’re bleeding, you realize. Sitting up, a rush of dizziness almost forces you back down. You look down with something like horror.

There are bite marks dotting your chest, stomach, and thighs. Your shirt is torn open, hanging off of one shoulder. Your skirt is ripped up one side and pulled up to your hips. There’s blood stains underneath you, and most of the little wounds are still weeping red.

Irritated and in pain, you steal some of Laito’s clothes for the trek back to your room. You can barely walk, blood loss making your whole body feel funny, and you wonder if Laito might have wanted to kill you that time.

Of course not. You know better. He’s having far too much fun for that.

Fortunately, you don’t run into any of the other boys on your way back. They’re probably avoiding you because you stink like their brother, you think, and you don’t know if that’ a good thing or a terrible one.

Your room is a welcome sight, but first of all, you head to the bathroom to clean up. The dried blood on your skin feels disgusting.

As you wash yourself off, you see Laito’s throat under your hands every time you close your eyes. For someone who told you that you could be in charge, he sure didn’t follow through properly, and you find yourself wondering if the boy even knows how to give up control. The whole time, he acted like he was just playing a game, always staying far enough on top that you couldn’t exert any real control. It’s arrogance, most likely.

Well aware that you lost your temper, you force yourself to think over the experience, trying to place what all went wrong. You know that losing yourself and resorting to plain violence didn’t help you any.

Laito is much too tough to hurt in the normal ways. You’re never going to overpower him, and you can’t think of what would actually do him harm.

It occurs to you that his pride is a weakness.

He thinks that he’s above you. He thinks that you’re some toy that he can play with as he sees fit, do with whatever he pleases.

The one moment when his composure broke was when, for an instant, he wasn’t entirely in charge of the situation.

It was easy for Laito to claim that he wanted you to be in charge. The whole time, though, you were doing what he wanted. It was his idea for you to react with violence, for you to grow angered and lash out. He’d been able to turn the situation around the whole time.

He played at your weaknesses and took control, even while claiming that he wanted you to do the same. You don’t know if was an open lie, or if he honestly just has no idea how to act in a situation where he wasn’t playing everything to his favor.

You imagine that a vampire would never have been in an experience where a human was a legitimate threat to him. He has no reason to fear a human, even one who equally has no fear for him.

Bravery may have made you special, but anger reduces you to the level of anyone else who bought into Laito’s tricks.

Deciding then that you won’t play his game again, that you won’t let yourself lose your temper and do what he expects you to, you take a deep breath and remind yourself that this isn’t a situation you’ll easily win. You’re in a house of monsters, and you have to be at your absolute best.

You hurt when you lay down, bite wounds dotting your body aching with every little move. Laito did a number on you, and you fell for it all.

But you’ve realized now what needs to change.

Laito still doesn’t scare you, and he probably never will. The worst he can do is hurt you, and he’s already done plenty of that. You’re still more angry than afraid, and you know that’s the problem.

As you fall asleep, the emptiness of Laito’s room is suddenly brought to the front of your mind. It was abnormal, almost like the person who lived there didn’t have quite enough personality to fill the room, and that stands out to you. There was something decidedly wrong about it all, something that, dare you think it, seemed almost telling.

Perhaps Laito isn’t quite as untouchable as he seems to be.

You’re determined not to make the same mistakes again. You’re not going to lose your temper anymore. You’re not going to let Laito win.

Admin Mawile: Well, here’s the first chapter of Laito’s route! I wrote it faster than expected, so I hope everything turned out alright… 

To anyone who doesn’t already know, this fic takes place in my Sub Au, more information for which can be found on this blog. There’s going to be a route for each boy, and each route will be divided up into an estimated ten chapters. I’m probably taking on too much, honestly (*~▽~)

The warnings for this chapter include one scene that implies sexual assault, some minor blood and violence, and Laito being himself. If any of this bothers you, read carefully.

Questions and comments will always be appreciated, and thank you so much for reading! ❤ (∩´∀`)∩

Fic below the cut!!!

Time passes. You sleep for a bit, half expecting that you’ll wake up to one of the boys in your room. You remain undisturbed, though, all by yourself in a room so overly feminine it’s almost unpleasant.

The sky outside lightens and darkens. You’ve slept through most of a day already. There’s not much of a reason why you shouldn’t.

Instead of fussing over why no one has come for you yet, you go through your things, calmly unpacking and making the absurdly pink room your own. Everything in it is nice, all high quality materials, and you find it harder and harder to complain about the decor alone.

The room itself smells like flowers and something dark and unpleasant. There are few sounds in the house, not even the settling you’d expect.

It’s unnatural. It’s what you’d expect from a home full of vampires.

Despite the horror of the situation, you don’t feel anything but calm resignation. You’re here for good, you have a feeling, and it doesn’t seem to make sense to be afraid after everything that’s happened.

You know they might kill you. You know they’re going to hurt you.

Thinking of who could be in your place, you find you don’t really care.

The idea of being the vampire’s prey doesn’t scare you anymore. Your first meeting was far from intimidating. If anything, you feel like you won something by standing your ground when they tried to be intimidating.

You’re kneeling by the bed, sliding your suitcase underneath it for storage when one of the boys from before appears behind you.

You feel him before you turn around and see him, the distinct feeling of being watched. By choice, you stay exactly where you are, carefully pushing your suitcase the rest of the way under the bed.

“Ah, she’s ignoring me~” Laito says, humor in his tone. “Bitch-chan is so cruel. And here I just wanted to talk.”

When you do turn around, it’s slowly, as if you couldn’t care less that a vampire is looming mere inches behind you. Laito is much too close, practically invading your space with his body where he stands.

It’s a gesture of dominance, you can tell, and when you stand up, you make sure not to back down for a second. You stand up, staying just as close as he put himself to you, and look him dead in the eye. Laito isn’t particularly tall, and his intimidation is purely in the way he carries himself.

Laito’s pretty green eyes sparkle with something cunning and cold. You have the feeling he’s going to try something to make you afraid.

“So, what are you here for?” you ask.

“I wanted to talk to our pretty guest~” he sing-songs, sounding delighted. “You were such a brave little Bitch-chan earlier…”

He’s patronizing you with every word, treating you like a silly little girl. You can imagine that he’s used to girls much younger and softer than yourself. The thought of that makes you feel almost sick.

“Alright. What did you want to talk about?” you reply, sitting down on the bed in a casual gesture that should show him you’re not afraid.

There’s no sense in being rude to the vampires, but you’re also not going to cower from them for a second. You’ll be polite, yes, but you won’t leave room for them to walk all over you or see a second of your fear.

Well, not that you have much of that in the first place.

Laito sits down next to you, smiling fake-friendly. His posture is schooled, open, arms back and head tilted slightly back. He’s trying to look harmless, you can tell, and if anything, that puts you more on edge. You have a feeling that this one is a manipulator, and the last thing you want is to get wrapped up in the lies of a monster like him.

“So, why’s Bitch-chan so fearless, hmm~?” he asks with a little laugh at the end. “Don’t you realize that you’re in a bad place?”

You take a moment to consider how honest you should be. You run the risk of making him angry if you’re too blunt, but hiding things could very well get you in more trouble. This one could probably tell.

“I’m not afraid of you,” you say in the end. “I don’t know why, but I’m not. As soon as I figured out what you are, I quit being scared.” There’s a flash of something like surprise in Laito’s eyes, for just an instant.

You can’t help but feel like he’s faking.

Laito replies with cheery words, and you imagine that he’s trying to be comforting. He’s looking at you with something like predatory intent, though, and the sharpness in his eyes defeats the soft words.

Instead of pointing this out, you play along.

The conversation goes back and forth a couple more times, Laito seemingly playing the part of the concerned bystander. You don’t like how good an actor he is, cheerful voice slipping over the pretty words with ease. He doesn’t slip up for a second, even though you can tell that he’s messing with you. He must be well used to tricking people, you think.

The longer you talk to Laito, the more uncomfortable you feel. He’s downright slimy in a way that creepy men always seem to be, pretty face and relaxed demeanor only making it all worse.

You have a bad feeling about this one, somehow, and when he starts needling you about why you’re here in the first place you’ve had enough.

“Excuse me, but why are you asking me all this?” you ask. “Is there some point in knowing every detail of my personal life?”

Abruptly, something changes in Laito’s bearing. You freeze.

“Ah, Bitch-chan’s catching on,” he croons, and you resist the urge to back up a bit. He’s been using that demeaning nickname the whole time you’ve been talking, and you’ve only barely resisted telling him off for it.

All of the sudden, Laito is much too close. He moves faster than any human should be able to, and is mere inches away from your face before you can jerk away, smiling like he knows some exciting little secret about you. You’re about to shove him off of you, or least try to–

And then he kisses you.

Cold lips are pressed to yours, and Laito presses even closer, deepening the kiss so quickly and forcefully that you don’t have a second to pull away. His hand goes to your waist, tugging you close.

Beyond annoyed, you wedge your hands in between the two of you and shove, hard. Laito moves with you, but you can tell it’s willing.

“Feisty, hmm~?” Laito laughs, licking his lips. “I know that older women have more fight in them, but you look like you want to choke me~ Were you going to bite me next, Bitch-chan? Make me bleed?”

You feel downright nauseated. Before you can say anything, Laito scoots forward, pinning you with surprising strength. He forces you down and back onto the bed, kissing you again, and this time when you try to shove him off of you, he doesn’t budge.

Honestly, you want to bite him. If you thought it would get him to move, you would. He seemed far too excited by the prospect, though.

When he moves a hand to your breast, you consider it all over again.

Instead, you go limp, not fighting back. You’re not kissing back, either, and you imagine that he’ll get bored when his victim doesn’t react. His hands are all over you, forcing, and you can feel your eye twitching. It’s more infuriating than anything. You wish you could just shove him away.

Laito finally pulls back from the kiss. You don’t have much time for relief, though, because there’s a pain at your neck a second later, liquid agony flowing through you as what feels like fangs sink into your skin.

He moans against your neck, lapping at the skin, and you clench your fists and bite your lip. It hurts, of course it does, but you still just want to hit him. If this is all the worse being bitten by one of the monsters is, you can take it. You can definitely take it. Laito’s open invasion of anything resembling personal space bothers you more.

“You taste so sweet… Even though you try to be tough, your blood is telling me how much you enjoy this,” Laito mumbles against your skin.

It takes genuine effort not to try to strangle him.  

His hands are cold against you, and his mouth is cooler, even the soft puffs of breath as empty as if he was dead. You can’t feel any sort of pulse from him, and you’re increasingly aware of how inhuman he really is.

“You can fight back if you want, Bitch-chan,” he moans, sounding pleased. “Girls who hate me are just as delicious as the ones that love it.”

There’s blood dripping down your neck, sticky and hot.

You’re starting to feel light-headed.

If he thinks you’re going to encourage him, he’s dead wrong. Instead, you lay there and let him do what he wants, acting like you couldn’t care less that some pretty boy vampire is drooling over you.

That goes on for a good few minutes, Laito biting and licking and running his hands all over you. He doesn’t seem to get bored, and your irritation climbs. Just when you’re starting to wonder if it would be worth it to hit him, he tears your shirt open with inhuman strength.

This is the second time you’ve met the boy, you think bitterly. You’re starting to feel sick, wondering exactly how far he’s going to go while you lay there and pretend like it doesn’t matter that you’re being assaulted.

If you thought there was anything you could do to get him off of you, you’d do it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like there’s any way out.

Laito has moved on to biting at your chest, fangs prickling instead of piercing. You’re starting to get the impression that this is some kind of twisted show of dominance, and the only reason he’s bothering to torment you to such a degree is because you didn’t show fear earlier.

You’re definitely getting dizzy from blood loss, you think, and wonder if he really intends to kill you so soon in the game.

He sinks his fangs into your stomach and you grit your teeth. It hurts, horribly so. Even so, the pain is bearable. What’s really getting under your skin is the way he treats you like he has some right to your body. Maybe it’s a vampire thing, thinking that they’re so above humans that they can do things like this. You doubt that you’re special in any way.

That thought makes you picture something even worse.

A girl, younger and smaller and more fragile than you, holding back sobs as this monster drains her try. Fear in her eyes as he tears at her clothes. You have the sickening feeling that it’s happened already.

Something inside you snaps, shattering like glass.

Laito has tugged up your skirt, is inches away from sinking his fangs into the meat of your thigh. He looks downright smug.

You knee him in the head with as much force as you can muster.

You can feel Laito’s jaw snap together with a harsh click, and when he looks up at you, his fangs have gone through his own lip a bit, blood dripping down his chin. The wound already appears to be healing.

Disgustingly, he doesn’t look like it hurt him very much. Instead, he’s smiling, eyes sparkling with something close to satisfaction.

And then he moans.

“Ah, Bitch-chan, you really hate me, huh?” He’s nuzzling against your thigh, smirking like the cat that caught the canary. “You’re the first girl to fight back so viciously, you know? It’s so charming, that hatred in your eyes~” His gaze is fixed on you, glittering brilliant green.

Instead of showing how sickened you feel, you sit up, wipe your mouth, scrubbing the taste of him off of you, and bring a hand to a wound.

“Were you going to kill me?” you ask, feeling wetness on your skin.

“Of course not!” Laito laughs. “You’re so pretty and sweet, I just wanted to show you how nice it would be if you loved me. Your blood tastes so good, I can tell how much you liked being at my mercy, nfu~”

You give him a look that could freeze an open flame.

“Lovely. Are you done now?” you say, looking him in the eye like you don’t care that he was probably minutes away from raping you or worse.

Instead of replying, Laitio laughs again. “Don’t worry your silly little head about that, Bitch-chan. You’ll find out just what kind of pleasures I can bring you. You’ll come around sooner or later.” As soon as the line is done, he vanishes, gone every bit as suddenly as he’d appeared.

As soon as you’re sure he’s gone, you flop back onto the bed, exhausted. He took a lot of blood, you can feel it, and the wounds are only just starting to close over. Vampire saliva, perhaps.

Your skin still feels chilled where he touched you.

A couple deep breaths later, and the furious, scrambled feeling is gone. You’re still angry with him, but it’s down to something simmering and molten, instead of the kind of anger that made you knee him in the head.

That may not have been your wisest choice. Ah well, it got Laito off of you and didn’t end in your death. You can live with one bad choice.

There’s not a dash of fear in you. You’re angry. You’re disgusted. You’re honestly wondering if you could get away with strangling him, but you’re not afraid. You’ve seen what the monster can do, and all it did was piss you off. The thought of Laito’s smug grin makes your blood boil.

Rationally, you decided that another bit of sleep will do you good.

…

You wake up again, feeling just as tired as before you slept. The wounds on your neck, chest, and stomach are throbbing, and you inspect the punctures with annoyance. The marks are neat and small barely even noticeable, but hurt more than you’d expect from such tiny wounds.

Legs shaking when you stand, you force down how weak you feel. Blood loss is going to be beyond unpleasant to deal with.

After just a few minutes of sitting unsteadily on the edge of your bed, there’s a knock at your door. You tense for a second, then remember that Laito has already established that he doesn’t like to knock.

The person at the door is one of the servants, a tall, older man who tells you in low tones that a meal has been prepared for you downstairs.

A few minutes later finds you sitting at an absolutely massive table in what appears to be the dining room, all alone. The room is dark and vaguely unpleasant, smelling of the same odd scent as the rest of the mansion.

You aren’t exactly surprised when someone appears behind you.

This time, it’s Reiji, making a face like he’s mildly disgusted with you. You don’t comment. You know mind games when you see them.

Reiji informs you that he and his siblings attend school at night. “But, considering your age, you will be remaining in the mansion,” he says, sounding as if he dislikes the idea. He spends a few minutes lecturing you on what constitutes appropriate behavior while they’re gone, and, with one last parting comment about you using the wrong fork for your meal, is gone.

You very nearly collapse into a fit of giggles as soon as he’s vanished. The very idea of a vampire scolding you for using a salad fork improperly is ridiculous, and you can’t help but snicker at how serious he seemed.

After finishing your surprisingly palatable meal in peace, you leave the dining room behind, glad to be away from the monstrosity of a table.

The thing looked fit for something close to ten, not one lonely person, and can’t help but wonder if the boys ever eat there as a group. You can already picture them bickering like children over something stupid.

From what you know of them, you think it could actually happen.

You spend the next while wandering around the mansion, attempting to learn some of the twists and turns of the place. The house is absolutely huge, all winding hallways, and it takes some careful plotting to make sure that you don’t get hopelessly lost from your room.

(The thought of the boys at high school is still making you snicker. You wonder if it’s a school special for vampires, or if they have to play human.)

Something changes in the air after a while. There’s a sudden sense of foreboding, some energy crackling in the empty space, and you recognize it as a similar feeling from when you first entered the mansion.

Taking it to mean that at least some of the vampires have returned, you decide to stick a bit closer to your room.

You can just picture one of them trying to harass you for wandering around. With the infuriating memories of the incident with Laito fresh in your mind, you’re not sure you wouldn’t do something that you’d regret.

The feeling only intensifies when you see one of them waiting for you.

It’s Ayato, messy haired and looking like he thinks he’s on top of the world. There’s something childish in his expression, you note, some look in his eye that makes him seem younger than he already looks.

“Hey, old lady!” he crows when you get close enough, eyes fixing on you in an instant. “Where have you been? Out getting lost?” He laughs obnoxiously, grinning ear to ear, and you now have a very good idea of what this one is like. Even his tone of voice is arrogant and self-sure.

“Just exploring,” you reply, smiling politely. Ayato’s grin drops.

“Damn, you’re boring,” he says, making a face, “and yuck, I can smell Laito on you. Are you such a slut that you’ve been letting that nasty pervert at you already?” His eyes fall to the bite wound on your neck.

“You’re vampires. I would have imagined that this is normal for you,” you say, not falling for his taunt for a second.

A moment passes, you and Ayato looking at each other eye to eye. He’s challenging you, you can tell, trying to make you cower or feel ashamed. You hold his gaze and refuse to so much as flinch.

“Tch, boring,” he says eventually, looking away and taking a step back. “I’m not gonna bother with you while you stink like that pervert,”

It’s a childish admission. It’s a win nonetheless.

Ayato leaves, vanishing in the same way they all do, and you go back into your room, feeling almost proud. You stared down the monster and won, and that alone almost makes up for what happened earlier. Well, sort of. You still wish that you could have done more to Laito than kick him.

The impression you’re getting so far is that all of these boys need a serious attitude adjustment. Almost all of them have come off as childish and immature, and, for as young as they look, you can’t help but wonder where their parents are, why they’re left to raise themselves. Reiji has been the only recently responsible-seeming one you’ve met yet.

There’s no point in fussing over these awful creature, you remind yourself, laying back on your bed. None of them are of your concern.

…

A couple days go by, crawling slowly. You have little to do in the mansion but wander around, and you’re becoming horribly bored.

You find a library on day two, but most of the books are in languages that you don’t understand. Reading only gets you so far, anyway, not when you have absolutely nothing else to do in the huge house.

The brothers spend all night at school. You’re told early on that you’re expected to keep a nocturnal schedule too, and you don’t complain. Worse things could happen. You don’t mind being up at night too terribly, anyway. It doesn’t bother you too much that they’re imposing this too.

The mansion itself gets creepier the longer you’re in it. That dark, unpleasant smell never goes away, and every room you find has the same awful aura. Even the rose gardens out back seem half dead, refusing to thrive in such an unhappy place. No matter how pretty and fine everything is, you get the impression that the unhappiness is permeating it all.

You eat your meals alone in the dining room. You spend your days wandering a nightmare of a mansion. You sleep always half expecting to wake up to a real life monster hovering in your room.

It’s not hard to imagine how their previous prey would be terrified.

Instead, though, all you feel is resignation. There are some positives to all of it (the fanciest place you’ve ever been in, time to yourself to think, and so on), and you refuse to play the vampires’ game and start to break.

There’s no reason for you to be afraid. You’ve already experienced what they can do to you, and it doesn’t frighten you to be hurt.

Even better are the moments you actually face them. Even though you’ve been bitten a few times, the looks in their eyes when you remain cooly impassive through all of it are almost funny.

A couple of them, like the small one, get angry when you don’t play along. You’ve already had a fork embedded in your leg by him.

Most of them ignore what they see as unpleasant prey.

Laito seeks you out again on day four.

This time, you’re sitting in a chair in one of the many sitting rooms you’ve found, flipping through a book filled with fairy tales that you’ve never heard before. All of them are exceptionally violent and end horribly.

You’re just starting to wonder if this kind of thing is normal for vampires, when “Bi-tch-chan~” is whispered in your ear.

Knowing that he’s probably expecting you to startle, you close your book calmly and turn around. “Can I help you?” you ask, already feeling mildly annoyed by the same smug look on Laito’s pretty face.

“Aw, how cold,” he smiles, looking at you like a cornered mouse, “I’ve been so busy with school lately, and this is how my cute Bitch-chan talks to me? I’m hurt.” He makes a fake-upset face, pouting. You note that he’s wearing what looks like a uniform, probably from his school.

“Mhmm, I’m sure you are,” you say, voice even and unamused.

Laito does something too quickly for you to see, and next thing you know, you’re on your feet, pinned against a wall.

“Is Bitch-chan going to play nice,” Laito croons, “or am I going to have to be rough with her again?” He looks like the very idea pleases him.

Instead of responding, you sigh, not fighting his grip. You can already tell that you’re going to get bitten again. The idea doesn’t particularly bother you, aside from the fact that it’s the annoying one doing it.

Laito laughs again, and tears at your shirt, getting it off your shoulders roughly enough to pop a couple seams. You know already that your neck is dotted with a couple fang marks from his brothers, from the few times that they’ve gotten pushy enough with you to try to feed.

“Oh? You’ve been being passed around a lot while I was gone, huh, Bitch-chan? Did you like it? Did their fangs feel as good as mine?” Laito’s face is flushed, and he’s getting in close to your skin, inspecting.

He runs a couple fingers over one wound, pressing down with enough force to send a rush of pain through every part of you.

You grit your teeth and resist the urge to punch him. Hard.

Seconds later, there are fangs in your neck, biting painfully close to one of the existing wounds. Laito has your arms twisted up above your head at an odd angle, putting too much strain on them, and it’s starting to hurt.

He bites you a couple times, not lingering for long at each spot. You have the feeling he’s trying to mark you instead of feed.

“What do my brothers think of my scent all over you?” he asks, voice sounding thick and half-moaning. “I bet they all know what a little slut my Bitch-chan is, begging for my fangs like this~” He bites you again, deeper than before, and you try not to roll your eyes at his words.

All of them have assumed that you’re going to whimper and struggle, afraid, and their actions show that they don’t quite know what to do when you don’t. Laito especially seems to be stuck in the same role.

He mumbles something derogatory against your skin, infantilizing words, as if you’re some child who will fall before him.

He release your hands, moving to grope you instead.

You’re well aware that this a monster at your neck.

You don’t care.

One of your hands goes to Laito’s hair, embedding itself in the soft, auburn locks. Laito moans like he thinks you’re playing along. With as much force as you can muster, you yank his head away from you.

Hair rips under the strength of your grip, tearing away from his scalp. Laito yelps, moving with you, and you drag him off of your neck.

“Do you honestly think that I’m afraid of you?” you ask, voice so cold it sounds foreign even to your own ears. You can feel your pulse pounding somewhere around your throat, anger consuming you from the inside.

Laito’s eyes fix on yours. He’s frozen, for just a moment, and in that instant, you see something like genuine shock in his eyes.

Then, his face breaks into the same smug smile. He squirms in your grip, face going flushed with what looks like excitement, expression turning aggressive once again. You tighten your grip in his hair, and he moans, whatever surprise you saw in his eyes replaced by sickening arousal.

“Ah, Bitch-chan~ You’re finally going to be cruel? I’ve been just waiting for you to fight back, you know. You hate me, don’t you? Go ahead, show me how much you do,” he croons, leering at you.

You let go of his hair, annoyed at how well he catches himself.

“I don’t want to play your little game. I’m not afraid of you, and I’m not some scared little girl that you can push around. I’m not going to cower, and you’re not going to get anywhere with stupid intimidation tactics. You’re annoying.” The words fall out of you, fury bubbling out over your lips like tar. Vaguely, you realize that this isn’t wise, but you’re too angry to stop.

You want to hurt him. You want to pin this disgusting boy to the wall and choke him until he stops talking. You have the feeling you would, if you didn’t already know that he’d like it.

Laito shifts his posture to something open and vaguely aggressive, looking you in the eye again, the smile almost gone from his face. It feels like he’s trying to gain back some control of the situation. He licks his lips, eyeing you with something predatory and almost angry.

He looks like he wants to say something, like he wants to beat you into submission and make you play along with his will.

You stand straight, look him in the eye, and refuse to back down. Showing fear now would damn you. You started this, and you’re willing to finish it. Even if he kills you, you’re not going to let him win.

Looking into Laito’s eyes, you see the exact moment he changes.

All at once, the tension drops out of Laito’s frame. He relaxes, going back to the same fake-open bearing you’re used to. He smiles again, the familiar, easygoing look falling back into place.

“You’re really serious, huh Bitch-chan?” he grins, laughter in his voice. “Not many humans would stand up to me like you did, you know? It’s reeeally impressive, nfu.” His tone is amused, like you’re a child trying to stand on equal ground with an adult. You feel absolutely sick.

Laito steps forwards, slings an arm around your shoulder, and kisses you on the cheek, disgustingly affectionate.

“I like you, Bitch-chan. You’re going to be very fun to play with. Girls who hate me are always so pretty when they’re mad~ Yell at me again, won’t you? Tell me how terrible I am?” A blush paints his pale cheeks.

You feel more like hitting Laito than ever. You should have known that fighting back would just encourage him.

After promising you that he’ll be back, smiling as he tells you that he’ll have plenty of fun things to do to you next time, Laito is gone. You’re left alone in the room, shaking with anger, a headache pounding through you.

You’re disgusted. You’re furious. You hate that boy more with everything he says to you.

And yet, when you were staring him down, for just an instant, you thought you saw something almost vulnerable in his eyes. It was only an instant, but that look of shock won’t leave your head. You have the feeling that no one had ever tried to stand up to him before.

Fuck, you know that no one has. You’ve managed to endear yourself to him by refusing to be afraid, and now he’s even more interested in you than before.

You walk back to your room, taking the fairy tale book with you.

You’re bleeding where he bit you, red dripping down and staining your shirt. His fangs tore you up pretty badly when you yanked him away. You remember him moaning over how sweet you taste, and you don’t care.

Laito promised that he’d be back, and that’s the singular worst news you’ve had since getting to the mansion.

Even back in your room, you can’t stop thinking about how strangely Laito acted once you fought back. Perhaps the vampires really are just shocked that a human would dare lash out at them.

Perhaps you’ve opened a whole different can of worms.

You go to bed feeling vaguely unsettled, still angry over how Laito treated you. He’s still acting like it’s a joke, you know, and while that’s probably the only thing keeping you from getting killed, it still makes hot fury run molten under your skin.

The anger doesn’t quite erase the uneasy feeling in the pit of your stomach, though, the vague sense that you’ve gotten yourself into something terrible.

Telling yourself that it’s just the blood loss and adrenaline making you feel funny, you push it aside and force yourself to sleep.