CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: TRAPPED IN THE CONCEPT.

      Her head thrown back, her arms hanging at her sides, and her legs stretched out on the ground. Izumi Kuromiya looked dead, except that her scarlet eyes were still open, showing that she was only living dead... though she didn't know which was worse.

      The pink-haired Founder finally broke away from her neck, wiping his sleeve against his lips to clean himself, and reflecting a grimace of pure disgust, "Your blood is so disgusting. Seriously, how long did you allow them to feed on you?"

      Izumi barely looked at him, her face not allowing any feelings or thoughts to be reflected. She was sitting on a chair, held to it only by a rope across her waist. Not that it was necessary, escaping the Founders was close to impossible.

      "If I'm so disgusting, why don't you just let me go?"

      Shin smiled mischievously, placing a finger under her chin, "I'd rather kill you instead."

      The vampiress threw her head back again, "Go ahead," she muttered in a bored tone, "It's not like you're really going to do it. Obviously, for some reason, I'm important to you. Why else would you have me here?"

      The Founder clicked his tongue, his annoyance evident on his face. It didn't take Izumi long to realize that the salmon-haired man, who introduced himself as Shin, didn't have much patience. Furthermore, he was impulsive, leading him to make decisions without thinking, and his narcissism and superiority complex made him underestimate vampires. Therefore, now that Carla (the long white-haired Founder) was gone, she had a chance to escape.

      She now had the advantage.

      "Please, you're just a weapon. Don't overestimate yourself."

      Her ears tingled at the new information. To be honest, she had no idea why she was there. While her first hypothesis was because of the power her blood granted, it was quickly dismissed when the Founders themselves reminded her that that effect was only effective on vampires.

      If she kept pushing Shin, she would succeed in making him talk. Just a few more minutes...

      "If I'm a weapon, then all I have to do is shoot the two of you, right?"

      Shin growled under his breath, clenching his jaw.

      Izumi smiled arrogantly, "Doesn't sound like a challenging feat."

      The Founder clenched his jaw, and his hand moved down to Izumi's neck. His fingers easily encircled it, and his thumb moved up and down in a mocking gesture.

      Bingo.

      "You're pretty stupid, don't you realize your position?" His fingers began to slowly close, exerting pressure and closing around her throat, "Not only are you an embarrassment to the Founders, but-"

      "Shin," Carla appeared, and that alone was enough for Shin to release her and back away.

      But Izumi had managed to get him to talk. Why could she be an embarrassment to the Founders? That didn't make any sense. She hadn't even met them until this very day. Maybe he was telling lies to confuse her.

      Unless... she herself was a Founder?

      Carla noticed where her mind was going, so he decided to interrupt her reflection.

      "You're too caught up in the concept," he clarified, catching the vampiress' gaze, "Think a little further, weapons are not only for hurting."

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      Izumi no longer knew how much time she had spent alone in the room. The Founders had left in a hurry, without explaining anything to her, and only with Carla ordering her to stay there, lacing the order with magic so that it became law over her body.

      You may not cross any door or window that would allow you to leave the room.

      Those had been his exact words, repeating constantly in the girl's mind as she tried to find a way to escape without breaking the rule. There had to be a gap, something that would allow her to move her body.

      She was aware that he had not directly told her that she was forbidden to move in case there was an accident. After all, Izumi was right and they needed her alive for some reason unknown to her, so she had to be allowed to escape in case of an emergency. However, in order to get out she would have to....

      Create her own way out.

      She couldn't cross any windows or doors that would take her out of the room, but if there was a hole in the floor, she wouldn't be disobeying their order.

      With a triumphant air, Izumi rose from the chair after easily breaking the rope around her waist. However, she was not out yet. Thanks to the fact that Shin had been drinking from her blood non-stop to, according to them, "cleanse" her, she was not at her strongest. Needless to say, the eclipse was still in effect, illuminating the room with red rays through the windows.

      Forming a fist, she pounded with all her might on the floor and a hiss of frustration escaped her lips when the wood did not give way under her touch. But it did sink considerably, so with a second blow or perhaps a third, it would cease to obstruct her passage.

      Wasting no time, she struck again. But, the wood must have been old, because as soon as the gap formed under her fist, the structure shrieked and Izumi's body fell to the floor below. Of course, by her reflexes, she landed on her feet; but the cloud of dust that enveloped her, blinded her.

      She remained standing until the dust left, and her stomach flipped when she spotted the Sakamakis, the Mukamis and Yui a couple of meters away. She thought she must be in luck and gave them a small smile. But, far from looking relieved, the faces of the vampires and the human were contorted in worry. Before Izumi could reach them or even ask them why they were reacting that way to seeing her, arms wrapped around her waist.

      She already knew why.

      Carla sank his fangs back into her neck, glaring at the vampires across the room with the sole intention of provoking them.

      "Nice to see you join us, Izumi," he murmured in her ear, giving a scarlet smile as his teeth were soaked in her blood. And then he continued drinking.

      Izumi could hear the vampires' cries of protest on the opposite side of the venue. She identified their growls of anger and helpless grunts, mingled with Yui's gasps of concern. But she couldn't think of them when she was the one currently in danger, and more so when she knew exactly what Carla had in mind.

      He wanted to drink her blood until she lost consciousness, so he would only provoke the others to erupt in fury. But again, the one who gets carried away by their anger falls into stupid mistakes. Stupid mistakes that in this situation would mean their end. So, she decided to go a couple of steps ahead of him.

      She began by closing her eyes, her breaths slowing, until her head fell to the side and her body seemed to fall limp with all her weight. Carla withdrew his fangs from her neck, raising his eyes in the vampires' direction.

      "Look at that, she turned out to be much weaker than I thought."

      And now, Izumi had to improvise. She expected Carla to let his guard down and let go, or at least weaken his grip on her, but he didn't. Rather, his hands remained strong on her arms like the chains they represented, and did not slip an inch.

      She was running out of time. If she didn't escape soon, the vampires would react and she knew that was the last thing she wanted to happen. Her feet shuffled over the ivory as Carla moved, and she could hear Shin laughing next to his brother. He had probably made fun of the vampires and their apparent inferiority, but she hadn't heard him since she was too busy frying her brain in search of a plan.

      For a moment, the bitter thought that it was impossible popped into her mind. After all, they had tried to put a plan together before, and had come up with nothing. What made her believe that she could do it without the help of the others? Twelve heads had been working together and failed to formulate a plan, now she alone could when she was short on time? While she knew she wasn't dumb, she had never considered herself the smartest person in the room.

      She wished she was.

      Cold. Alarm bells went off in her head as she felt her body drop and hit a cold surface, which she assumed was the floor. Her body remained motionless, fearing it was a plan by the Founders, who may have seen through her act and knew she was feigning unconsciousness.

      "Zu?"

      The vampiress opened her eyes, and swore she had never been so happy to see Yuma.

      "Are you all right?"

      She nodded, "I was just acting," she explained, standing up quickly.

      "Yuma! Hurry up!" Kou shouted from across the room.

      "What?"

      "We have a plan," Yuma reported, grabbing her in the blink of an eye in his arms to run off after his siblings, the Sakamakis and Yui.

      Izumi wasn't sure if she was more surprised that they had somehow managed to escape the Founders, or that the Sakamakis and Mukamis had managed to put their differences aside to work together. It was probably the latter.