During the night, Yui was taken away by Shuu-san to have her blood taken once again. I stayed in my room, looking out the window, just to keep my mind off things. 

I don't want to stop Shuu from sucking Yui's blood, because she is their prey and I don't want to interrupt him. But my feelings for Shuu-san, Subaru-san, and Reiji-san are getting in the way of my thoughts. What would father think of me if he knew I had developed feelings for them? 

He once told me that demons are not allowed to feel ay emotion. We do what we want without thinking nor feeling such empathy for others. Feelings get in the way of what we have to do, and he says it's a nuisance. . .

Father will be most displeased if he were to find out. . . 

"Eve." My eyes widen at the sound of his voice. 

He's here! 

I gasp and turn around to see Father with a mean glare on his face. I can't tell what he's thinking right now, but what I do know is that he is angry with me. "F-Father, I can explain-" 

"Quiet." He cuts me off and my lips are sealed. I look down at my feet and wait for him to say something else. "What is the meaning of this? Why are you here!?" His voice roars within my ears, causing my body to shake and have goosebumps. "You're suppose to be with the Mukami's so the project can be complete!" 

"I know. . . It's just that. . . Something happened and Subaru-san brought me here because-" Father doesn't let me finish. Instead, he slaps me with the back of his hand and I fall to the ground, followed by a grunt. 

"I don't want to hear your silly excuses!" 

"Y-Yes, father. . . Forgive me. . ." I hold my cheek and frown, avoiding to make eye contact because I know better than to look at the Demon Lord in the eyes. 

Father grabs my wrist tightly and yanks me up off the floor. "You are going back to those brothers so they can be awakened by your blood." 

"Yes, father. . . I understand. . . I didn't mean to disobey you. . ." 

"Good. Now then," He takes out a sharp dagger and my eyes widen. 

"Father, please no!" I struggle under his grip, hopefully to get away. But his grip on my wrist tightens, making me whimper in pain. "I won't disobey you again, I promise!" I cry out. 

"I know you won't, because this will teach you a very valuable lesson~" He smirks as he chuckles darkly as he turns me around, so that my back is against his touch,  and drapes his right arm around my waist, and holds the dagger with his left hand with the blade pressing against my throat. 

"Please, father. . ." I tear up while he tightens his grip on me. 

"Silence and know your place, Eve." He whispers in my ear. I feel the blade slowly pierce my skin and drag across my throat. I gasp sharply from the pain. "Scream, my Eve. Let them hear your voice." He drags the knife deeper in my skin and I have no choice but to screech out. 

I can feel him smirking at my pain while I screech like the Banshee that I am. This proves that nobody can bring me this great pain but my father. Him and him alone. Only he has the power to make me feel this pain. The only man I will fear. . .

I screech again as the blood pours down from my throat and staining my dress. The knife finally leaves my skin and I close my eyes because I am exhausted from the screaming. 

My father drops me to the floor and I lie there as my neck bleeds out. The last words I hear from him are, "You are nothing more than Banshee that will follow the orders of the Demon Lord, and your father. Do not make me put you in your place again. Because the next time you decide to disobey me, you will suffer something much worse than this." 

And just like that, he disappears. I don't want to think about what could possibly be worse than this. I don't want to imagine it. 

I lie on the floor a little bit longer until I can find the strength within me to stand on my own two feet again. Afterwards, I wrap bandages around my neck to stop the bleeding and for the wound to heal. 

I don't bother to cry because this is nothing new to me. My father always does this. But every time he decides to punish me, the pain is greater than before. 

I decide to go to my safe place, to my sacred tree, and sit in front of it, on my knees, as I drown in my own sorrow. Even if the tree is withered, I can still feel at peace when I am here. But. . .

The bells go off and I open my eyes to see what is going on. "What is this?" I ask myself in a quiet voice. I look around and still hear the bell chiming, but when I look back at the tree, it withers away completely. "No!" My eyes widen. 

My tree! What does this mean!? Why is withering away completely!? Did father do this just to punish me?! . . . No. . . It's something else. . . 

"Eve, are you okay?" I open my eyes to see Yui next to me on the bed with a frown on her face. "You. . . were crying. Is everything alright?" 

"I want to say yes, but I will be lying to you. . ." I tell her with a sigh. "I don't want to talk about it. . ." I look at her and see bite marks on her neck. "Are you okay? Shuu-san took more than one bite." 

"Huh? Oh, I'll be fine." She smiles at me and I lightly smile back. Yui always seems to bring a smile to my face, even when I am feeling at my worse. 

"I want to walk around. I don't want to stay in this room. Want to join me?" I stand up from the bed and hold my hand out to her with a soft smile. 

"Sure." She smiles back and we walk around the mansion. After a while of walking around, we stop in a room and sit on the couch while looking out the window. "Eve? Can I ask you something?" Yui looks at me.

I look back and say, "Sure. What is it?" 

"You mentioned that you are the daughter of a Demon King, that means he's your father, right? What's he like?" 

"Hm. . . How can I put this? . . ." I turn my head towards the window and look outside. "My father is a ruthless man, and feared by both demons and vampires. He shows no mercy to anybody, not even a human. But sometimes, he shows a funny way of showing me that he loves and cares about me. . . Even if it means hurting me. . ." 

"Oh. . .  I'm sorry." 

"Don't be. After all, he is still my dad. I have to deal with him." I put on a fake smile, but she doesn't by it because she is frowning at me. 

"What are you two talking about?" We hear Kanato's voice. Yui looks over at him and blinks a few times as she says, 

"Kanato-kun? What are you. . . ?" 

"Traitor." He glares at her, making me sigh. Still upset that she was taken from him, I see. 

"Kanato, she's here now. Could you give it a rest?" I ask while sighing. 

"How can I when she's been away for so long!?" He shouts at m. 

"You're only yelling because you're thirsty right now. She already had a feeding off of Shuu-san, and if you take her blood now, she could faint. You don't want your food to be fainting on you, right?" My eyes wander to him with a glare. 

Kanato frowns and holds his teddy bear close to him. I guess I was right. But this isn't my business. But being the vampire that Kanato is, he bites Yui anyway and I cannot interfere. 

While Kanato is drinking blood from Yui, my eyes wander to the teddy bear that is sitting on top of the fireplace. I get up from the couch and walk over to the bear, then taking it in my hands. 

"Damaged. . ." I frown at it, realizing what's inside the bear. "Kanato, are you upset by any chance? Upset that you feel left out?" 

"What are you talking about? And don't touch teddy like you know him!" Kanato shouts and stomps over to me, but I rest my hand on his cheek, making him stop and look at me as if he's trying not to cry. 

"I see now. . ." I give him a faint smile. "You poor thing. I can see right through your pain, Kanato. You take your anger out on Yui because you don't know how to channel that anger." 

"What would you know about it!?" His voice cracks and he grabs me by my arms, before dropping to the floor. I hold onto him as I hear him weeping, knowing that I am right. 

"I know everything about it, Kanato. You poor dear." I giggle a bit and stroke the top of his head. The next thing I know, he bites on my shoulder and drinks my blood. But that's fine, because this pain means nothing to me. 

All I can do is sing him a soft tune just to calm his nerves. (I'm too lazy to put in the lyrics to the song, but it's so beautiful!)

After singing to him, he lies his head on my lap and he is sleeping so peacefully. "Kanato-kun!? What did you do to him?!" Yui panics. 

"It's okay, Yui-chan." I give her a closed eye smile. "A Banshee's singing can put any being to rest. He was so angry that he didn't know how to deal with it. So, I thought singing to him will calm him down a bit." I look back at the sleeping Kanato. 

"Oh. You have a talented gift, Eve." Yui-chan smiles. 

"Thank you." I gently like the purple-head on the couch and set his teddy bear beside him. "You should get some rest, Yui-chan. You've been through enough for one night. I'll just walk around for a bit longer." 

"Okay. See you later." Yui-chan and I leave the room and we go our separate rooms. 

Ugh. . . How long can I put up this happy act? It's actually bringing more pain in my chest than the scar around my neck. . . I can't be here. I have to go back to the Mukami, according to Father's orders. . .

While I was down the dark hallways, I can hear heavy breathing from behind me. I turn around to see nobody there, but when I look back, Azusa is in front of me and he grabs my shoulder. 

"Eve!" He shouts at me. 

I would be upset that he found me, but I'm too busy looking at his torn clothes and scratched up skin. "Azusa? . . . What are you-" 

"There's trouble! It's Ruki-kun!" He tells me. 

"What about him?" I give him a gloomy look because I don't really care about the Mukami's. 

"He's hurt. . . You have to hurry and come back. . . !" He tightens his grip on my shoulder and I sigh in disappointment. It has to be this way. . .

"Fine. . . I'll come back." I frown while looking at the ground. "Take me to Ruki. I'll treat his wounds. . ." 

"Right." He nods and we both vanish back to the Mukami mansion. Sorry, Yui-chan. Looks like I'll be gone again. . .But this is the way it has to be. I can't stay with you and the brothers as you wanted me to. 

I have my duties to complete due to my father's command. So, this is punishment. . .

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