Usually the walk from Rayne's apartment to his room was pretty quick - sometimes a little painful if Rayne hadn't been in a good mood, but never particularly long. Except for now, of course. With each step he took further from [Y/n], another ball of lead was added to the metaphorical shackles that caused Aytsa's back to hunch and his feet to drag along the floor. Eventually he got to the front door and was greeted with a sharp object lodging itself in the doorframe beside his head. He glanced over to it lethargically.

"Where is she?!" Mitzu snapped. Aytsa looked from the kitchen knife to see Mitzu and Seishin standing a little down the corridor.

"Rayne has her," Aytsa said quietly, walking down the corridor with his head down despite the two males that blocked his path. When he grew closer to them, he raised his head once again and simply stared at the two, waiting for them to move.

"Why the fuck does Rayne have her?" Mitzu growled. Seishin brushed past Aytsa and plucked his knife from the wall, holding it out in front of him and staring at it for a while, before pointing it at Aytsa. Aytsa looked at him with an unusually dull expression.

"Did you take her out of the house, Aytsa?" Seishin questioned. A nod answered him. "And she tried to escape?" Another nod. "So Rayne acted upon his offer," he hummed. Despite the murderous glare that had greeted Aytsa when he walked into the house, Seishin didn't seem to hold such malice anymore. "For someone so opposed to Rayne being anywhere near [Y/n], you seemed more than willing to lead her into his house..."

"I thought you said you didn't know where she was?!" Mitzu snapped, and Aytsa seemed to be thinking the same thing. Seishin laughed, tapping his index finger on the side of his nose a couple of times, a mocking smirk tugging on his lips.

"Aha, but Mitzu, I didn't say anything." And with that, the blonde brushed past Aytsa and Mitzu once more and headed off towards his room without a care in the world. The pair left in the corridor shared a glance. Mitzu turned and entered the kitchen, leaving Aytsa on his own once again. He turned to face the wall and allowed his head to collide against it, letting out a low groan of annoyance when he did so.

"I'm an idiot," he muttered.

"Understatement," Kori's voice sounded.

"Have you come to criticise me too?" Aytsa questioned, though he didn't move his head from its position against the wall. A throbbing pain surged through but, for some reason, that only made him want to hit his head again. Maybe it'd knock him out and he wouldn't have to worry about this mess until he woke up.

"Something like that," Kori hummed, walking over to Aytsa, "but you're looking so pathetic right now that I can't really bring myself too. It'd be like scolding an old lady for taking too long on the stairs. The simple solution is to knock her over," he grinned. Aytsa rolled his eyes.

"Are you trying to criticise me or humour me?" Aytsa questioned.

"Whatever works." Aytsa raised a brow.

"Works for what?"

"Whatever stops you being such a miserable twat," Kori hummed. "Come with me." Aytsa was about to object but the grey haired boy had already grabbed his arm and started dragging him off down the corridor. "I have something to show you."

"Isn't this how every porno starts?" Aytsa muttered to himself, though he didn't stop Kori dragging him along. Kori gave him a confused look.

"Every what?" Aytsa looked away, muttering something under his breath, though Kori chose to ignore whatever it was once they got to his room. He pushed open his door and pushed Aytsa inside, slamming the door behind him. The room was dark, as per usual, though of course vampires had no problem with darkness. Aytsa crossed his arms over his chest.

"I thought you didn't want to scold me," Aytsa muttered. Kori shrugged his shoulders and Aytsa watched as he pulled his shuriken from his pocket. "Ah, so you're pissed and you want to beat me up?" Kori shrugged once again, staring down at his shuriken like it was the most interesting thing in the world. He turned his gaze back to Aytsa.

"Do you know why Rayne stopped working?" Kori questioned.

"So much for having something to show me," Aytsa laughed dryly, wandering over to Kori's bedside table and inspecting the candles that sat atop it. "I haven't a clue, he gave Laion and I as much warning as all of you."

"For a 'busy' man, he's more than happy to take on [Y/n]," Kori hummed. "So, given the scenario that he's not quite as busy as he made himself out to be, what the hell is he playing at?" Kori pressed.

"Don't tell me you think he set this all up?" Aytsa rolled his eyes. "You know, whatever the hell your job is, it gives you some bloody weird ways of thinking. Theories left, right and centre," he mumbled. Kori didn't seem to have much to say to this - in fact, Aytsa feared that he was more attentive to the weapon in his hand than the conversation they were having. After a moment of staring at his star-shaped blade, Kori glanced up once more.

"And what's wrong with theories? We don't live in the sort of society where everything is black and white. No one does," Kori said simply. "If I were to dissect this in more detail, I think you'd find there'd be more evidence to suggest that Rayne did set this up than didn't. Though my problem isn't whether Rayne pressed for a certain scenario, my problem resides in one simple question: what does he want with [Y/n]?"

"What's this about [Y/n]?" Draka questioned from the other side of Kori's door.

"It's rude to listen in," Kori muttered. The door creaked open and Draka walked inside, not bothering to shut the door behind him.

"Says the spy," Draka retorted. Aytsa leant back a little, his face projecting confusion.

"Wait, you're a spy?" he questioned.

"Doesn't matter," Kori brushed him off, averting his attention to Draka, "we were just wondering why this situation aligns so nicely with Rayne's unexplained break from work, which he now doesn't seem to mind filling," Kori hummed, "and that leads me to my next point." He pointed the weapon in his hand at Aytsa. "Did you or did you not follow orders to take [Y/n] to Rayne's apartment?"

"What?"

"Did you or did you not?" Kori repeated, his tone low and level yet unnervingly threatening.

"No, I didn't. I took her there because... I—" he paused, looking back at the candles, "I guess I wanted to scare her a bit. Scare her out of trying to run away. If she knew the sort of stuff Rayne did, then maybe she wouldn't put herself in a position where she'd have to end up there." He picked up one of the candles and inspected it further, though only as a means to distract himself from the disapproving stares of the two other boys in the room. "I didn't expect her to try and stab me, though—"

A snigger of laughter escaped Draka; Kori also seemed pleasantly amused. "She tried to stab you?" Draka hummed.

"Well— no, but yes, but... she felt backed into a corner I suppose. She picked up a scalpel," Aytsa shrugged. "It's not me she was actually close to stabbing, though." The other two boys exchanged a nervous glance.

"She held a scalpel to Rayne?" Kori questioned. There was a hesitation before Aytsa nodded. A groan left the grey haired boy and Draka placed his hand on the back of his neck, seemingly unsure of how to react. "She didn't actually stab him, right?" Aytsa shook his head. The room once again fell quiet.

"I wonder what she'll be like when she comes back..." Aytsa sighed.

"You're the one studying psychology," Draka muttered. "Why do you seem unsure?"

"The point of sending her to Rayne was essentially to scare her into never wanting to leave, though there are other outcomes that arise. She may turn fear into hatred for us and she may continue in her old ways. Though there's also the possibility that we'll lose her entirely. Metaphorically, I mean. She'll be here of course, but she may no longer be... [Y/n]."

"And that's why you were so against sending her there?" Kori questioned. Aytsa shrugged.

"Partially." He stared over at the door, his eyes narrowing. "What I know for sure is that Rayne is no one's ally, no matter how friendly he tries to act. And when you live that long, you stop caring about 'necessities'. All he does, he does for one thing and one thing only." Aytsa's fist clenched around the candle that he'd been absentmindedly twirling in his hand, slowly crushing it and watching the wax crumble to the floor. "Fun."

* * *

A sudden cold sensation overcame the previously unconscious girl. [Y/n] gasped in shock and moved backwards joltily, only to find herself strapped to a certain chair. Her hair was dripping wet — she stared up at the man who held a glass upside own above her head.

"I find cold water is excellent at waking people up," Rayne hummed. [Y/n] didn't respond, though her narrow-eyed glare was enough. "You know, I find myself in a position of uncertainty. You have the regenerative abilities of a lower class vampire thanks to that little drink you had, but you still have the feeble mind of a human. So if I hurt you too much, I might break you." He placed the glass on the portable table very lightly, hardly a sound came from it. "If I break you, Olli won't be too pleased."

"Why do you care about what Olli thinks?" [Y/n] questioned.

"Should I have gagged you?" he retorted, though he didn't seem to want to act on it. "Stupid questions aren't for stupid people. I'd like to think that the girl who stole Nyais' heart wasn't a total buffoon." Rayne patted her sodden head condescendingly and turned around to inspect the items that hung on the wall that [Y/n] had been so fearful of. He glanced back at her, an amused - yet painfully patronising - smile on his face. "You needn't be so scared, darling. I'm not using any of these on you yet."

At his words, [Y/n] couldn't help but struggle against her restraints a little. He ignored her, continuing to glance over the items on the wall. He plucked off a strange looking hook with a handle. It was too blunt to do any serious damage - or so [Y/n] thought.

"Do you know what this is?" Rayne questioned. [Y/n] stared at it for a little longer before her brow knitted in confusion.

"A hoof pick...?" [Y/n] questioned.

"Indeed," he smiled, twirling it around in his fingers. "There are many objects not intended to be used on the human form, though when paired with someone like me the results can be... fascinating." He walked over to a book on a desk beside the door, picking it up and flicking through the pages. "It perplexes me why humans take pleasure in jumping and jollying about on beasts such as horses." He placed the hoof pick back, his eyes narrowing. "There must be an element of exhilaration. Perhaps trust, too." [Y/n] continued to stare at the hoof pick.

"What does all this have to do with anything...?" [Y/n] inquired.

"Trust and exhilaration my dear," Rayne responded, wandering over to her, a sick smile on his face. "Now, we can go about this one two ways. When I release you from this chair, you'll do exactly as I say and we won't have any problems. If you try to fight me, I'll stick a hook through your intercostal muscles and use your rib cage as a harness." [Y/n] visibly paled, though slowly nodded her head. "Good." He grabbed some keys from his desk and began to unlock the metal bands that kept her strapped to the chair. Once they were all unlocked, he took a few steps backwards, gesturing for her to stand up.

"Follow me," he muttered, walking over to the door. To say she was confused was an understatement, though [Y/n] wasn't going to complain. She followed Rayne up the stairs and along the corridor, though instead of turning right to go to the front door, they turned left and continued down the house. He pushed open a second door and showed a very neat, and once again very white, hospital room. Somehow this place was just as terrifying as the basement downstairs.

Rayne wandered over to a cage that he'd placed on the operating table, pulling a small white kitten from the box.

"I thought you weren't allowed pets...?" [Y/n] questioned. Rayne rolled his eyes, holding the kitten out in front of him with a bored look on his face. It mewled quietly, rubbing its head against Rayne's hand, seemingly glad for warmth.

"Of course not. This isn't a pet." [Y/n] furrowed her brow as a chuckle left the doctor, though her heart dropped when she realised just what Rayne's twisted smile meant.

"Say, [Y/n]. Have you ever killed something before?"