[ As I warned in the previous chapter, the happy-go-lucky stuff is pretty much over now. That doesn't mean there won't be any more happiness, but the story's gonna get a lot darker from here. This chapter also has relatively graphic descriptions of violence later on in the chapter. It's not bad enough for me to say 'skip it', but if you feel uncomfortable reading this chapter then you may not want to proceed with the book. I don't wanna scar y'all haha xD ]

"Well that's not an excuse! It's getting creepy," [Y/n] said sternly to the grey haired, blue eyed boy who sat on the end of her bed. He watched her intently, his expression unchanging despite her clear displeasure at his actions.

"You let me when I was younger," Kori responded evenly, "what's wrong with it now?"

"I just told you," [Y/n] sighed, her shoulders drooping at his hopeless behaviour. "Watching me sleep is a no-no. And I didn't let you when you were younger, there just wasn't anything I could say or do about it that you would understand."

"Why do you suddenly seem scared of me, [Y/n]?" Kori frowned. "I've never done anything to hurt you. You don't act scared of Aytsa or Nyais and they've both almost killed you. Yet, for some reason, you're not allowing me in your company." His words were simple - there was no accusation to his tone, but [Y/n] could see the glaze of menace in his eyes that even he had no idea he was holding.

"I'm not scared of you, Kori," [Y/n] assured softly, "I just feel a bit uncomfortable when I'm doing my own thing and you're sat there staring at me. Surely you can understand that?" He stared at her for a while longer before looking over at her bedside table, his eyes locking onto the clockwork bumblebee Aytsa had made her the day before. [Y/n] turned her gaze from Kori to the door as someone rapped against it. "Hello?"

The door slowly opened revealing Draka, who's usually happy red eyes seemed dark and devoid of emotion. [Y/n] wondered whether he was still upset about not having a skill like everyone else. His eyes moved from Kori to [Y/n] and back again. "Good morning," he hummed, "why are you in here, Kori?"

"I was making sure she was alright," Kori responded immediately.

"Really?" his expression changed from one of emptiness to one ridden with scepticism. "She doesn't look too thrilled. Were you just asking him to leave, [Y/n]?" Draka asked. [Y/n] didn't fail to recognise the change in Draka's tone - instead of a child seeking guidance, he sounded like a brotherly figure. The change caught [Y/n] off guard a little. Kori's blue eyes pierced through her as though begging her to say she wanted him to stay, however [Y/n] couldn't bring herself to say anything. She didn't want to make the boys fight but also didn't really want Kori in her room. Draka looked at Kori again. "I'll take that as a yes, shall I?" [Y/n] hesitated before shaking her head.

"No, no, it's okay Draka. You don't have to do anything." Neither boy seemed thrilled at her words. She realised that was probably one of the worst things she could've chosen to say but figured there was no going back now.

"Because I'm useless, right?" he retorted immediately. [Y/n]'s eyes widened a little at his response, suddenly recognising the reasons for his challenging behaviour. It wasn't that he was being rude - it was that he was insecure about his lack of a skill. It seemed to her like he was trying to make up for it with his strength and physical authority.

"You don't need to be useful, Draka. No one should need to use you." [Y/n] allowed a small smile to spread across her face, hoping it might rub off on the others as well. "You just need to be you. So don't let go of yourself by trying to prove your worth all the time or you'll forget what really matters." Draka's crimson eyes widened a little at her statement. There was a moment of silence before he sighed, looking down.

"If vampire society was as simple as human society then maybe that would be the case, but usefulness is the only thing that determines who you are here. By that logic, you're the lowest of the low. Not only are you a human, you're also entirely useless."

Draka's words felt like a stab in the back to [Y/n] - the boy seemed to catch on to this as he gave her a slightly sad smile. "That doesn't mean we don't value you. It just means we can't look up to you. This is going to seem strange but from this point onwards you're no longer our carer, we're yours. We're the ones defending you and keeping you alive." He paused, his sad smile becoming a slightly nervous one. "I'm sorry for how abrupt all of this must sound," he sighed, taking a step backwards so he stood in her doorframe.

"You're starting to sound like Seishin," Kori laughed dryly.

"I apologise for that," Draka responded, "I'll be going now. I'd recommend you leave [Y/n] as well, Kori. She clearly doesn't want you with her." With that, the brunette boy exited the room. He left the door ajar, clearly another way of telling Kori to leave as well. The blue eyed boy looked from [Y/n] to the door, sighing.

"I expect that he isn't really giving me an option," he hummed. "I'll... try to stop watching you so much. I'm sorry if it's been creeping you out. I just want to make sure no one tries to hurt you again... I felt like what happened with Nyais and Aytsa was partially my fault." [Y/n]'s eyes widened at this and she immediately shook her head. She was about to speak but he cut her off. "Don't stress. It's just... knowing you're safe makes me feel a bit better. I guess I'll just have to trust you more. Sorry." He stood up and made his way over to the door.

"I'm sorry for not seeing it your way, Kori," [Y/n] said quickly before he had the chance to leave. He turned and gave her a smile before stepping outside and shutting the door behind him. [Y/n] pulled her knees to her chest, subconsciously rocking back and forth.

* * *

Harshly rapping against the door, Nyais' magenta eyes were cold and full of anger. The door opened slowly and a man with raven hair and blue eyes stood at the other side. His eyes brightened and a grin made its way onto his face. "Good day Nyais. How's your human?"

"Shut up," Nyais responded darkly, "I heard you'd talked to Olli about having a private audience with [Y/n]," he spat, not wasting a second of time before jumping to the point, "what are you up to, Rayne?"

"I'm not up to anything," Rayne frowned. "Would you like to come in?" He held his door open, his signature implacable smile on his face.

"No," Nyais responded coldly, "I want to know what you're doing." He watched Rayne with malice engraved in his features. Despite his threatening appearance, Rayne only seemed to grow more amused. Nyais understood that Rayne treated everything like a game - his mentality was one that thrived off schadenfreude, after all.

"You're so dull!" Rayne complained, leaning against his doorframe. "King Olli was actually the one who approached me. Something about the solution," he smirked. Nyais gritted his teeth, not liking where this was going. "He wants me to produce one for [Y/n]. Said something about making it mandatory though a contract? Anyways, I was asking to meet with her so I could explain what it would mean," he grinned.

"You..." Nyais trailed off, his eyes growing wide as he realised what Rayne was trying to do. "No. No, you can't meet with her. It's best if she doesn't know."

"But if she reacts badly, you'll just erase her memories again, won't you?"

There was a period of silence as the cogs in Nyais' head began to turn. How much did Rayne know? Or, was it a guess to draw Nyais out? If it wasn't, how did he find out? Maybe he'd already met with [Y/n]. That thought sent chills up his spine.

"If you're wondering how I knew," Rayne began, "I installed cameras in the place she's at now. I asked Olli so don't worry, I've got royal permission," he giggled. "When I saw your little stunt... I found it quite endearing. So don't worry. I'm not planning telling her in hopes she'll kill herself - that'd be far too dull," he smiled, "but I would like her to trust you a bit less. Who knows? I might just do her a massive favour."

"Who's blood are you using?" Nyais asked quietly, changing the subject as quickly as he could.

"Well, mine is obviously the most accessible so I figured I'd just do that," Rayne said, his brows furrowing a little as to why Nyais cared so much about the ingredients. "What, you want her to taste you that badly?" he smirked. Had anyone else made that suggestion Nyais probably would've blushed, but the words coming from Rayne just made Nyais feel bilious.

"The solution is... drastic. It's better than her becoming a vampire, but I worry about what it'll do to her," he sighed. "I just want her to have some familiarity and reassurance that she's not alone... after all, the last one lost his mind."

"The last one was also a test subject and lived in a cell for 200 years," Rayne pointed out. Nyais paused before nodding, hating to admit that Rayne had a point. "If you're that dead-set on [Y/n] having your blood in the solution then come in and we'll get this over with," Rayne sighed, standing aside once more so Nyais could enter his house. "It'll take a while to make the solution anyways so I may as well start sooner rather than later."

Nyais stared at him for a while. The thought of Rayne taking his blood made him want to be sick - he didn't want to be in a vulnerable position in front of the raven haired sadist but he figured he'd have to at some point. Slowly, he stepped inside, his eyes narrowing. "If you do anything I'll tear out your eyes," Nyais growled lowly.

"That wouldn't work on me again," Rayne laughed dully, pointing to the set of spare prosthetic eyes he had floating in a liquid cylinder across the room. Nyais grimaced slightly at the reminder but proceeded further into the room regardless. Rayne walked down a thin corridor and down a set of stairs, leading Nyais into his workplace.

Rayne's house was surprisingly bland. It looked like a hospital interior, entirely sterile with easy to clean surfaces. His workplace, however, was the polar opposite. It was like some sort of sick dungeon. Preserved human body parts were littered around the room in glass jars. A single low-level lightbulb hung from the cracked ceiling, flickering occasionally. The room was dark and papers scattered every desk and counter. At the back of the room, some iron bars sectioned off one of Rayne's unfortunate victims: it was one of the 20 girls who he'd managed to snatch up after she made an attempt to smother one of the children she was put in charge of.

"That's Nari," Rayne said, pointing over to the girl. She wore no clothes, her hair was shaved off and her body was bruised and battered. Nyais grimaced a little. It was all too easy to picture him doing the same thing to [Y/n]. He didn't want to imagine it so he looked away from her. "Nari's done a very good job at entertaining me. Did you know that humans named a blood disease 'gas gangrene'? It has nothing to do with gas, though. It just looks like there's gas bubbling up under the skin. Come here, look," he chuckled, grabbing Nyais' arm and tugging him over to the girl.

Rayne harshly grabbed Nari and pulled her infected arm through the bars, the girl helplessly being dragged with it, her body colliding with the cold metal. She didn't even have the energy to cry out. She remained perfectly silent. "Isn't it gorgeous?" Rayne giggled. "To cure her I'd have to chop off the whole limb."

"I don't care..." Nyais trailed off, not looking at the injured girl. He could tell her eyes were begging him to be her saviour - her last chance - but Nyais knew he couldn't do that. She was not his priority. "Are you going to take my blood or what?"

"Oh, yes, that," Rayne laughed, dropping the girl's arm and dragging Nyais over to a metal chair. He shoved him into it and walked over to a cupboard on Nyais' right. He pulled a few objects from the cupboard - a glass bottle, a bung and a knife. Nyais sighed.

"Figured you'd make it as painful as possible," he huffed, staring at the knife. Rayne laughed, walking over to him. Though he had expected it would take this turn, Nyais' eyes shot wide as Rayne closed the metal straps on the chair around his wrists. "Now I'm starting to think you're gonna try and kill me. You sure that's a good idea? You'll ruin your own game," Nyais muttered through clenched teeth.

"Kill you?" Rayne laughed. "Fuck no! Where's the fun in that? I just want to hear you scream in agony. It's the least you could possibly do to make up for what you did to me," he smiled. Nyais fell silent but it didn't last long. The knife in Rayne's hand embedded itself in Nyais' upper arm, causing the male's lips to part and allow a pained yell to slip through. Rayne twisted the knife slightly. Nyais' body tried to hunch forwards but Rayne's free hand pushed against his chest, holding him to the chair.

"Don't move," Rayne warned, continuing the twist the knife slowly. Blood oozed out of the wound, most of which Rayne managed to collect in the glass bottle. A lot was wasted, however. Tears formed, obscuring the corners of Nyais' vision. He could hear the blood pulsing out of him, every layer of tissue splitting as the knife twisted; he could hear his heart rate spike, then slow, then spike again. He could hear it all - the ragged breathing pattern of the insane man collecting his blood, the delicate sobbing of the girl in the cage, the drip drip drip of the wasted blood that pooled on the floor.

So focussed on his hearing, he hardly noticed when his sight began to fail - when black spots began to float in his peripheral vision, slowly growing larger and larger. Then, Nyais felt the knife stop twisting. He felt the pressure release. Drowsily, he watched as Rayne let go of the knife (still embedded in his arm) and walked over to the other side of the room, grabbing a first aid kit.

"Guess I've gotta patch you up now, eh?" Rayne sighed, looking at the knife and deciding the best way to remove it without causing Nyais to bleed out. "I'm gonna have to knock you out for this part so you don't split an artery or something," he huffed. "Also, the noise you made was pathetic. Couldn't you have at least screamed? You're dull as fuck," he sighed, picking up a hammer from the counter and (surprisingly gently) knocking it against the side of Nyais' head. The black spots swelled immediately before everything faded to nothing.

This chapter's pretty short! Sorry! Also pretty dark, sorry bout that too ^^;

Next chapter: Day 17 and a Cry for Help