Waking up wasn't always an easy feat; the constant discomfort that had coursed through her body since meeting Kori had eased away thanks to the comfort of the bed she was engulfed by. All her negative thoughts had faded away. She was left with herself, the bed, and the gentle flicking of pages in the background.

Wait, pages...?

[Y/n], suddenly alert, shot up from her resting position with the intention of thoroughly checking her room for a second presence. Her action was prevented by a painful ripping sensation in her back as her injuries came to light again, causing her eyes to squeeze shut and an involuntary groan to escape her. Though she hadn't reopened any of her wounds, everything was still sore and tender.

Her eyes slowly cracked open and scanned the room, finally landing on a certain brunette in the corner. His violet eyes stared into her [e/c] ones worriedly; he closed his book.

"[Y/n]. Good morning," he began carefully, "are you alright?" he asked, standing up and walking over to her, sitting on the edge of her bed. [Y/n] made herself a little more comfortable before nodding slowly. "You didn't reopen one of your wounds?" She shook her head. "That's good then. I'm... sorry to have startled you. With the boys acting so strange I figured leaving you own your own tonight wouldn't be the best idea imaginable."

"Thank you," [Y/n] dipped her head gratefully.

"Oh... and I thought I should tell you..." Nyais began, running a hand through his hair, "the 19th girl was pronounced dead this morning. I'll have to deal with the paperwork for that," he sighed, "you're the only one left." A sudden pit formed in [Y/n]'s stomach at his words. They'd all died?

"That's... terrible," [Y/n] said softly, looking down. "D-do you mind me asking... how...?"

"One of the vampires they were looking after," Nyais explained shortly. [Y/n] nodded slowly.

"Is that... the same for all the others...?" she asked. Nyais paused before shaking his head.

"No," he sighed. "The first girl died thanks to an asthma attack. We didn't know she needed an inhaler," he shrugged. That surprised [Y/n] a little - after all, hadn't he said they'd been watched since the age of three? "The next two girls had taken their own lives. One dehydrated herself and the other went delirious from the situation and fed the children on their blood," he hummed. It looked like he struggled to admit to this - [Y/n] wondered if he considered this a form of defeat. "At this point it was the kids who started killing the girls. The kids and Dr Rayne... three girls were taken," he admitted, shivering at the memory of Nari. "Twelve were killed by the children."

[Y/n] processed this for a while. Three girls died in the early stages - three girls were taken by Rayne. 12 girls killed by the children. Three squared makes nine, but only 12 girls were killed by children. 18 girls. Of course, she was the 20th. There was one he hadn't told her about.

"That's only 18 girls," [Y/n] said matter-of-factly.

"Yes, it is," Nyais looked down.

"What—?"

"I killed one," he cut her off, his eyes going dark for a second. [Y/n] shuffled back a little, her eyes slightly wider than usual. "It... it was an accident. She came at me with a kitchen knife so I responded accordingly. She... she cut herself accidentally and— and I..." he sighed, "it hadn't been my intention but she hadn't been eating. Her blood pressure dropped and I couldn't resist. That's... that's why I got so mad at you when your eating habits began to fall apart." [Y/n] nodded slowly.

"I understand," [Y/n] mumbled. The truth was far from that, however. She didn't understand. She didn't understand a thing. Her head was spinning and the only person she could trust was essentially a serial killer. Hell, could she trust him? She had no idea. She had strong emotions towards Nyais, she knew that, but whether they were trust or dependence... she couldn't tell.

"I'm glad," Nyais responded stiffly, standing up, "a-as I said, I need to do... paperwork. I've also got a couple of meetings I must attend." He paused. "Th-this is... this is going to sound very weird and intrusive but I thought I'd have to bring it up sooner rather than later..." he hummed. "When did you finish your last cycle?"

"Cycle?" [Y/n] hummed. Nyais nodded, scratching the back of his neck.

"Menstrual cycle," he clarified (a little awkwardly), looking at her door signifying this was a conversation he really didn't want to have to have. [Y/n]'s eyes widened at the perfectly ordinary thing that she'd almost totally forgotten existed.

"A few days before I was brought here," she said quietly, "why...?"

"Ah," Nyais hummed, "thank you. It's just... well, you won't be having any of those anymore," he said quietly. "I believe Rayne's planning on giving you something that will stop them." [Y/n]'s eyes widened slightly. This news was both a shock, a relief, and a little confusing.

"Why...?" she asked, tilting her head. Nyais raised an eyebrow.

"You... why?" he responded disjointedly with a sigh, looking a little embarrassed. "W-well, several reasons, but I thought it would be quite obvious... bleeding around vampires isn't the safest decision. Seeing as you can't exactly defend yourself, it wouldn't be great if the ones protecting you were then also trying to drink you dry," he sighed. "There's also other issues that I won't really go into, but... you're gonna be with us for a while. At some point in time you may seek a... physical relationship. If that becomes the case, this with mean that it won't kill you."

"Wait, what?" [Y/n] furrowed her brows. "What do you mean...? As in, this is to stop me having children- yeah, that makes sense, I mean, childbirth for you guys is lethal and all but... don't you guys have contraception? I'm... I'm really confused."

"Contraception... uh, it doesn't work for us. I would explain but I'm not exactly a doctor- most things written on stuff like that were written by... by Rayne," he sighed.

"Why does everything revolve around Rayne? Aren't there... other doctors?" Nyais paused before shaking his head. [Y/n]'s eyes widened. "You're telling me, in a massive vampire society that can really only grow because of how you age, you have one - just one - doctor?"

"Well, Rayne's also a human biologist, but yes... that's what I'm saying," Nyais said quietly.

"And not a single other soul has sought the path of medicine?"

"Not after seeing what it did to Rayne," Nyais looked down before meeting [Y/n]'s gaze again. "I hate to say this but, because of his importance to our society, you will have to meet him at some point in time. That will likely be quite soon as well," Nyais sighed, "despite this, I still want you to know that you must never seek an audience with him. He's very good at manipulating people. If he comes here, he'll act nothing but kind and amiable. Just know that he... he is anything but that. He'd try to lure you into a trap - hell, I don't know if he's already doing it; please be careful." [Y/n] nodded.

"I understand. Thank you again," she trailed off. Nyais stood up from his seat on her bed and walked over to her door, unlocking it.

"I would lock it again after I go if I were you," Nyais hummed, causing [Y/n] to nod. "I brought food in last night just in case you planned on sticking the last couple of days out in here. It's in those bags in the corner," he said, pointing to the corner of her room - the one with the mirror - where three bags of snack food items sat. "I'll probably see you next when I come to get you... so take care of yourself. I wish I could take you with me sooner but Olli informed me that you all had to remain here until the last minute." He opened the door, stepping out of the room.

"Goodbye, Nyais," [Y/n] waved him off. He gave her a small smile before shutting the door behind him. [Y/n] heard his footsteps retreat and the second door unlock, before shutting behind him to signal his exit. She didn't hesitate to stand up and walk over to her door, locking it again.

She glanced over to the bags of food and approached them slowly, kneeling down on the floor and looking in one of them. A small sandwich box contained, you guessed it, a couple of sandwiches. Everything had a handwritten post-it note attached to it. [Y/n] guessed it was Nyais trying to brighten up the dark situation. The sandwiches had attached 'never knew why they were called sandwiches. Do humans have snowtrolls, grasswizards and stonegoblins too?'. Attached to a small bag of dried mango had 'these don't look edible. Are these edible? If they're rocks, please don't eat them.'

[Y/n] chuckled lightly, taking out the two items of food so she could see everything else in the bag clearly. Attached to bar of chocolate had 'this is vampire chocolate - similar, if not the same, ingredients to normal chocolate except for the fact that it's so much better. I might not be able to pay the bills this month though. Well, if I paid my bills in the first place...'. [Y/n] shook her head with a small laugh. She took the chocolate out too, placing it beside the other things. She then removed a packet of haribo sweets with a post-it note that read 'I have no idea what these are but Rayne insisted I gave them to you because apparently humans like them. Please don't actually eat them. They've probably been infused with potassium.' [Y/n] slowly and carefully moved them to the side, handing the bag as though it was a potential explosive (which, theoretically, it could have been).

That was the end of the first bag - [Y/n] was now curious enough as to explore the others. As she reached for the second bag, a knock sounded at her door. The girl froze.

"[Y/n]," a voice, one [Y/n] immediately recognised as Seishin's, called through the thick wooden slab keeping her safe, "would you mind telling me what all the laughter is about?" [Y/n] didn't respond. "And... would you mind opening your door? I'm not so fond of your... 'methods'." She remained silent. "I'm losing my patience, moth."

Now that had stirred a reaction.

"If one more person compares me to an animal or an inanimate object I swear to god I will muster all the strength I have to kill someone," [Y/n] spat back, her fist clenched hard enough to make her knuckles turn white. There was a moment of silence on the other side of the door before Seishin began to laugh. It was his usual laugh - one that erred on joy and mockery; [Y/n] never knew whether she was being praised or dismissed by it.

"So you're okay with everyone who's already compared you to an animal or inanimate object continuing to do so?" Seishin responded.

"What? No. You know what I meant!" she spat back.

"I'm sorry, moth, but you should try to think a bit more next time," Seishin responded contemptuously. [Y/n] rolled her eyes in annoyance, deciding to just give him the silent treatment from here on in. "[Y/n]?" Seishin pressed. She could just make out the sound of his foot tapping on the other side of the door. "[Y/n], answer me. I don't like waiting."

'I can tell,' [Y/n] thought with a huff. She stood up and walked over to her bed, deciding to sit on the edge of it, doing all she could to ignore Seishin's very existence.

"I'll break the door down."

It took a while for [Y/n] to process his threat.

'Shit,' [Y/n] thought, 'he wouldn't actually, would he? But... then he can't lock me in here anymore. It'd be totally pointless. Except, I want to be locked in here now... so...'

"3," he began, and at this point [Y/n] bolted upright - he really was gonna break the door down! She stood up and did the first thing she could think of doing - made her way over to her walk in wardrobe. "2," he continued, his voice laced with a lazy drawl that screamed to [Y/n] that he was serious and pissed off. She opened the doors to her wardrobe quietly, shutting them behind her, before fumbling around in the dark for her dresses that she's never worn. "1." His voice was final; chilling. [Y/n] sank into her dresses and allowed herself to be concealed by them.

Then, a massive thud sounded. Once, then twice, thrice, four times. A clatter; a sort of lachrymose creak that resulted in a paroxysm of debris being flung across the room.

"Hiding? Aww, [Y/n], if you wanted to play you should have just said so," he giggled unsettlingly. [Y/n] knew for a fact that such words weren't in Seishin's nature - they were more words she expected Kori to say. The thought of Kori sent shivers down her spine. She hugged her knees to her chest, trying to keep an anxious sigh from escaping her lips.

"It didn't work," he muttered to himself, back in his normal tone of voice. 'What didn't work?' [Y/n] wondered. "Wardrobe," he added internally. The footsteps grew closer. Each nearing footstep brought more unease to [Y/n] - it didn't take long for them to stop right outside the doors. She anxiously clung to the clothes that protected her. Light erupted into the wardrobe in a sharp burst as the doors were swung open. They clattered against the walls.

"I'm not a fan of this type of game, [Y/n]," Seishin frowned. She stayed as still as she could, wincing at every inhale and exhale, wondering whether it was too loud. "I know exactly where you are so just be honest and show yourself - if you don't, then..." he trailed off, the silence making [Y/n] shiver, "well, just acknowledge that I won't have as much mercy as Kori did."

[Y/n] tried her hardest not to give in and burst into tears that very second. She spent a moment to weigh up her options. The chances were, Seishin probably did already know where she was and was testing her. Seeing whether she was smart enough to understand her situation. At the same time, he could be bluffing and trying to lure her out - it would make sense as before he'd said 'it didn't work', implying he'd done something somewhere to startle her or earn a reaction. But, now that [Y/n] thought about it, that in itself could be a bluff.

With all this thinking, [Y/n] hadn't noticed that there had almost been a full minute of silence. It was then she realised she'd fucked up. Of course he knew where she was. If he didn't, he'd have declared so shortly how 'it didn't work' again, or at least something along those lines. If Seishin had been trying to provoke a response and gotten it wrong, he'd never have admitted to it - he's too proud. It was a bluff, but now she'd waited so long, she couldn't bring herself to move. She was frozen in place. Frozen in fear.

The dresses parted and Seishin frowned down at her.

"Something in your eyes," he began darkly, "tells me you've already worked out what happens next."

So sorry this took so long! I kept procrastinating and then I injured myself which meant more procrastination on top of all this procrastination and all in all it was just a whole load of procrastination ahhhh— Also, as I may have said already, I'm in my big year of exams and if I mess this up I mess up my entire future so that's spooky. I ought to prioritise all of that, so I have less time for my book ;; Buuuut that doesn't mean I won't be writing because I definitely will, it just might mean my schedule is more of a 'once every two weeks' instead of 'once or twice a week' like it used to be.

Next chapter: Day 21, The Final Day.