CHAPTER THREE: BITE THE APPLE.

      An empty chair, a still turned-around plate, and the cutlery untouched were evidence of Izumi Kuromiya's absence throughout dinner. She had refused to go, not even bothering to get up when Reiji called her announcing food was ready. It was supposed to be a special family dinner to welcome Yui, and the only reason why Reiji allowed her to get away with this was because they didn't really share a blood bond. Thus, her attendance wasn't really necessary according to his own principles.

      No one mentioned her during the banquet. It wasn't necessary since everyone knew this was probably another one of her tantrums because of Ayato. The relationship between the two loudest ones in the manor had always been full of bumps and downs. Whenever Izumi threw a tantrum, Ayato would give in to her every last demand. On the other hand, when they were on good terms, Ayato turned so possessive of her that it only annoyed the siblings further. So, they preferred it when they were arguing, not that it was particularly pleasant either.

      "Why couldn't I enjoy your company during dinner?" Laito asked, appearing behind Izumi. She was in the playroom, staring at the pool balls while she wondered which would be the best way of proceeding to obtain what was hers.

      "Because I didn't feel like rewarding any of you with my lovely presence," She pushed one of the balls, which rolled slowly until it found its home in one of the holes of the table. The vampiress barely looked up at Laito, and she sat on top of the table to haughtily stare at him, "You don't deserve me."

      Laito raised an eyebrow, wrapping her waist with his arms like snakes to hold her close to his body. He pressed her against his chest, leaving her with nowhere to run. A tiny smile lifted his lips, "And why the sudden change of opinion, princess?"

      "It may be due to your sudden change of behavior, sweetheart."

      Laito frowned. Now he really didn't know what was happening, he would have thought he had misheard her if it wasn't because he was so focused on her. His grasp over her flickered. He hadn't changed his behavior at all... right? The only change that had occurred was the arrival of the human girl to the mansion, but that couldn't be it. She had said his change... only his? Or were his brothers also involved in this?

      "I'm afraid I don't understand," he ended up admitting, his cheeks slightly red.

      "She is jealous," Shu said from the sofá, without opening his eyes.

      "What?" Laito turned to Shu, expecting an explanation that would never come. Then, he looked back at the girl and was surprised to find her staring daggers at the blond boy. His frown softened, an idea sparking in his mind.

      "Who are you jealous of?"

      Izumi turned her head towards him, rolling her eyes when she caught his smirk.

      "Don't mind him, he's only fucking with me."

      Shu snorted, catching Laito's eyes again. Izumi cursed him on her mind before grabbing Laito's chin with two fingers and made him look at her. She smiled seductively, and spoke up for Shu to hear her, "Shu, why don't you shut your mouth and go back to sleep or whatever you do?"

      Shu went to answer her, but he pressed his lips together when the door of the room loudly opened. Laito and Izumi turned to the commotion only to see Ayato enter. They noticed he was mad, but Izumi first noticed his companionship. Apparently, Yui was incapable of being alone even for just a second.

      The redhead went straight for Shu, not noticing the presence of the others. Meanwhile, Yui glanced at them, terrified of just making eye contact with either Laito or Izumi. That brought a smile to the pink haired girl's face.

      "Shu! Are you trying to pick a fight with me?! Hey, can you hear me?!"

      "He can hear you, Ayato," Izumi answered, irritated, "We all can."

      The redhead turned to her, not expecting her to be there. However, he didn't hide his annoyance at her. Lately, she had been avoiding him all the time. And the only time that she dared speak to him was when she had some sort of snarky comment to bite him. That only pestered him more. He wanted to talk with her, but he postponed dealing with her to continue sucking Yui's blood.

      After all, it wasn't like he knew what to say. He hadn't done anything wrong, at least not that he was aware of. And, no matter how pampered Izumi could be, she had never gotten this angry with him if it wasn't for a reason. He was trying to decipher at that exact moment which had been his mistake when he finally noticed how close she was to his twin brother.

      Laito was standing between Izumi's spread legs, and his arms hugged her waist to bring her even closer. He showed his teeth, about to snarl at his brother to get away from her, but he forgot about this impulse when Shu finally answered him.

      "Keep it down."

      Then, Ayato stared at him and decided to free his demons with him. He clenched his teeth and closed his hands into fists, "Shit. I challenge you to a game of darts!"

      "Too much trouble," the blonde boy heaved a sigh, still lying imperturbable on the sofa.

      Ayato clicked his tongue, "Why, you..."

      Laito started clapping his hands, taking the rest's attention, "Sounds good, and the prize for the winner of the game is Bitch-chan. Awesome."

      "Prize?"

      Izumi snorted, "And everything revolves around the blood bag, doesn't it?" Shu opened an eye towards her, so she was quick to add, "You could give her a breather. She isn't really a blood bag, you know? You could severely hurt her."

      Yui looked up at her. Her eyes full of hope, and her mouth fell slightly open at hearing the vampiress being worried for her well-being. On the other end of the room, the pink haired one looked away, almost outraged by the fact that the human girl really believed she was thinking of her.

      Die already, she wanted to scream. But, on the contrary, she kept her composure and held her head high. She looked up at Laito, who gave her a smile that suggested he had an idea.

      "Oh, so you want to be the prize? I shall partake of this game too in that case."

      Izumi guffawed at the suggestion, looking at Laito incredulously. She could feel Ayato's eyes burning her back, and she wanted to laugh even more loudly at the idea that he held hope of obtaining her as a prize. They were being utterly ridiculous.

      "I'm not an object you win on a fair, Sakamaki."

      "Enough of this noise!" Reiji appeared, "What is the meaning of this commotion?" He asked, so Ayato explained to him what was happening. Finding that the dispute was only because Shu had bitten the human girl made Izumi want to get up and rip her head off so they would stop arguing. That was all it was about? Really?

      "I couldn't care less about her. So be quiet and let me sleep," Shu drawled.

      Izumi stretched out and held her weight on her hands that laid on the table's filtered surface. Her shirt went up a little, showing a little bit of the naked skin on her stomach, and she gave a lazy smile, "I already tried to make them make sense, Shu, didn't work."

      "Right, as if that was what you were really trying to do," Shu replied and Izumi only rolled her eyes. He was right, both of them knew it. But she would never admit it. Thus, she played dumb and made a little pout as if the was a child that had just been scolded.

      "I thought you might say something of the sort," Reiji exclaimed, and Izumi stirred up in her place. She was sure that, if Reiji provoked his brother, Shu would end up accepting the challenge. She tried to stop him, but Reiji continued, "He shrinks back from any challenge. If you look up the word 'spineless' in the dictionary, you will find a photo of him beside it. He can't do anything without help. Good-for-nothing deadbeat."

      Izumi clenched her teeth, staring at Shu getting up. He sat up on the sofá, looking bittered by the fact that he was getting so low as to accept such a stupid challenge. Either way, there he was: there was no way he would allow his younger brother to be right and have a reason to criticize him, "Ayato, I'll play your game."

      "So you really do not care about her, Shu? How insensitive can you be?" Izumi accused him, almost desperate to find a valid excuse to put an end to this whole farce.

      The blond vampire finally got up from his place and followed Ayato to the dartboard. When he passed by Izumi, he approached her enough to mutter to her ear, "Shut your mouth already. I'm going to win for you."

      She stared at him, and he stared at her back, clearly telling her "you know that's what you want." And again, he was right. It seemed that Shu was always right. Izumi only crossed her arms over her chest, and stayed silent throughout the whole game.

      When the competition ended, Shu complied with their little treaty. Izumi stayed silent, he won, and the vampiress almost wanted to jump in celebration. The blonde boy walked past her again to go to the exit, but he didn't say anything this time. She barely looked at him go through the door before turning to the twins, ready to make fun of Ayato. However, all the remarks died in her throat when she saw him as affected as if he had just lost a hand.

      The happiness left her as quickly as it got her. Because, even if Ayato had always hated losing (who doesn't?), it was easy to notice that his anger was not due to the lost game but rather because he had lost Yui.

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      Izumi was in one of the many yards of the Sakamaki manor, looking for a couple of bats that would help her get rid of her ill-temper. Finally, she reached a big tree from which hung a little bat that was barely a few days old.

      She stood on her tiptoes to be able to reach it, and grazed its head with care. The tiny animal extended his wings, but soothed down once he noticed the girl had no intention of hurting him. Then, the bat stayed there, hanging from the lowest branch and moving his head with pleasure because of the attention he was receiving.

      With no previous warning, the bat flew away. Izumi felt a presence behind her back, but she didn't have to turn around to know who it was. She could identify his smell anywhere. Besides, she could hear the moans coming out of the headphones. From one moment to another, the moans stopped, Shu had put them in pause.

      "I hope you are willing to be my stress ball since you made the bat go away."

      She turned on her heels, standing on her toes once again and staring up at the blond vampire.

      "I guess you can pat my head while I take my reward," Shu muttered, approaching her. Izumi frowned, having to lift her head up more now that he was standing closer to her. "It's not like you haven't done that before."

      "Reward?" She repeated, despite knowing what his intentions were.

      "I won the human girl, didn't I? We made a deal."

      "Yes, I kept my mouth shut. That was it."

      Shu crouched down to be able to stare at her as an equal, looking into her eyes. "Please, Zuzu. You didn't really believe that was all, did you?" When Izumi didn't answer, he continued, "You really want me to do it forcefully?"

      The vampiress puffed out her cheeks, but gave in to his wish. Shu straightened up, and gave her time to prepare herself. She threw her hair behind her shoulder, revealing the nacked skin of her neck and shoulder. Even under the light of the moon, she could see the darkened eyes of the vampire, and she could almost hear his gums opening to let the fangs out.

      Shu took her by her waist and brought her against his body, burying his face on her neck. He sniffed her for a moment, enjoying the essence of her body.

      "None of my brothers has bitten you yet... good."

      Izumi buried her teeth on her lower lip, mentally preparing for the sensation that was going to take hold of her any second now. Shu continued sniffing until he finally sank his teeth on her neck.

      The cheeks of both of them were bright red, and Izumi pulled his hair while her fingers got caught in it. She couldn't help but push his head further into her neck when ecstasy overwhelmed her. The venom of his fangs took a toll on her body instantaneously, making her feel nothing but pleasure while Shu sucked her blood without control.

      After a couple of minutes, Shu finally got away from her. He stared down at her, licking his lips to catch any drop of blood that tried to escape his tongue. And Izumi wanted to hit him when he only dedicated her a smug look.

      "Exquisite, as always."

      "Shut up."

      A sly smile took power over Shu's face when his eyes fell on her neck, "Good luck covering that up."

      Izumi's hand flew to her neck. The anger was clear on her face when she felt that the bite mark was way higher than it usually was, which would make it harder to keep hidden.

      "You did it on purpose!"

      "No, of course not," Shu muttered, but his smile gave him away, "See you later, Zuzu," he disappeared.

      Izumi's jaw clenched, her eyes narrowed, "Asshole!"