She was in the library, a poignant love story in her hands. Suddenly a cold chill descended on the room. The light flickered and then went out.

"Ferid!" She called.

Only the distorted echo of his voice answered.

How could there be an echo in that room?

She looked around, a strange fog seemed to envelope everything. Kurena!

She realised she was holding her sword in her hands.

She dropped it. It was smeared with blood.

She felt a stinging pain in her arm and a liquid running down her white skin. She lifted the limb, confused and frightened.

Still no response from her demon. She sensed something not far from her.

A guttural growl echoed nearby. Something cold and sharp pierced her neck. She screamed, assailed by an omen of death.

"Yurika!" The girl opened her eyes suddenly, her body shaking with tremors. "Yurika!" But the vampire's sharp voice seemed not to reach her ears. She looked around bewildered.

She was in the room. And Ferid was beside her. The vampire pulled her close to him, holding her to his chest. She could feel her heart beating wildly.

"It was just a bad dream." He whispered to her. Yurika took a deep breath. "I'm sorry Ferid." "SSh, there's nothing for you to apologize for, though... I've never heard you scream in your sleep, even at first..." And he made the sentence die. Reliving the early stages of their relationship created a sense of disgust at himself.

"Is it better?" He asked her. The girl nodded, "What time is it?" "It's the middle of the night. You started fidgeting and then screaming. It was chilling even for me."

"I don't want to go back to sleep." "It's not even two o'clock, you'd better rest." "I don't want to dream that again." "What did you dream?" "I... I don't know clearly, I didn't see what it was, but here..." The memories of the dream were still vivid in her.

On reflection, the thing that had pierced her neck looked like vampire teeth. It was the same sensation she had felt the first time Ferid had bitten her. She shuddered. She didn't want to reveal that detail to Ferid.

"I don't know."

The vampire sensed she didn't want to talk about it. He decided not to push it, perhaps with a clearer mind it would be easier. "I'll go get you a glass of water, maybe that will help."

He tried to get up, but Yurika's hands held him to the bed. "My love, I'll be right back." "No, stay with me."

She didn't know why that dream had shaken her so much either, but she wanted to have her vampire with her. "Get back under the covers then." The vampire lay down beside her and pulled her into his arms. "It's okay?" The girl mumbled a yes in response, stopping herself from thinking.

She reopened her eyes later feeling the vampire's arms still wrapped around her. Shortly after, the vampire's lips brushed her forehead. She smiled.

"Good thing you were able to sleep soundly. Do you remember anything about the dream? You were trying to tell me something, but then you stopped."

Yurika hesitated. She remembered the content of the dream perfectly, and more importantly, she thought she knew why she had done it. Thinking about it brought tears to her eyes. The realisation that everything she had fought for all those years could be so risky as to be almost impossible made her despondent. Ferid sighed.

"Maybe if you told me about it we could find a way to put a smile back on your lips, what do you say?" "It was about the demon thing..." The vampire stiffened. He didn't think Yurika had come up with the right amount of information needed. Perhaps she had simply sourced the most discouraging ones. He'd read a few studies on the subject himself, but he'd never paid proper attention to them, the only thing that was clear to him was that it was neither simple nor quick.

"I knew it would be difficult to control the curse that bound the demon, but perhaps returning to vampire status might be too risky for those in the vicinity." She whispered. That statement needed no comment. The closest person to the demon would be Yurika, there was little she could do about it. The girl felt the vampire's body tense imperceptibly. As she suspected he would not be thrilled by such a revelation. "But it doesn't have to be that way..."

"And that you have to try." Ferid replied sharply.

Yurika released herself from his grasp by lifting herself onto the bed.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What I said. If it involves risk you won't do it. No way." His voice was reduced to a growl.

"There must be a way to make it less dangerous." "Not necessarily." "Are you sure?" A few long moments of silence passed.

"No, you don't know either." Yurika replied, sourly.

The vampire had to be honest, he had never gone into the specifics of these dynamics, so his knowledge of them was not deep enough to pass judgement on what the girl had said, he couldn't even help her unless he decided to read the texts he had procured with her. He could have done that very easily, he had a lot of things to do and plan, but it was also true that as a vampire he could have been faster and more efficient than her. Of course after these revelations he would never have done that. He knew he couldn't stand in her way if he didn't want to lose her, but he doubted there was any painless way to bring Yurika's absurd wish to fruition.

"It doesn't take much to understand that there will always be risks in this, Yurika." There was still a note of harshness in his voice.

The girl clenched her hands into fists and took deep breaths. "Fighting in a war doesn't involve any risk though, does it?" "I'm a vampire..." "What about me?" "I've already explained that to you." "You could help me, rather than attack me!" She cursed herself through the tears he was shedding.

"I'm not helping you die." Ferid's tone was icy.

Before the girl could realise it the vampire had left, slamming the door violently.

She shuddered at the sound. Not even Kurena seemed eager to show herself at that juncture. Perhaps the vampire had every reason not to approve of such an action, but it was unfortunate that he had come to far too hasty a conclusion. There was still so much to study, to discover, to codify.

A sense of emptiness returned to her being as she thought that perhaps the risks were inevitable. Too bad that in the dream her worst fears had taken shape. It was inevitable to realise that only some time before she would not have even cared if she died, but now things were different. She could also try to take more care of her own safety. But, as right as the vampire might have been, she felt that her behaviour had been decidedly unjustifiable, and this was the second time she had ended up with Ferid leaving her in overly angry tears. She sighed.

"Kurena?" But the demon seemed to have no intention of showing. "Come on, don't play hard to get, please."

I don't want to rage further. Also because... I can't help but agree with him. In case it poses a risk for you... I could never....

Yurika closed her eyes. ''You guys are overreacting. There must be something that can help us, don't you think?" Once again she only got silence from the demon. "I still think he shouldn't have reacted like that, we could have talked about it quietly..." She worried. "About not being able to control me at baton. Because going to war is fine, trying to free you isn't." Kurena finally decides to appear.

"He's a vampire, you probably can't expect too much." "I just wish it wasn't so hard to confront him." The demon smiled. "You can tell he wasn't used to dealing with his feelings anymore, can't you? Mind you. He got angry last time because he was jealous." "Jealous?" "He'll be afraid you'll change your mind, he's a vampire, perhaps perfectly beautiful, but with a murky past. He knows you could have far better options if you just looked around. Then today. You told him that so far it seems that the release operation is riskier than anything else. You couldn't expect him to rejoice. Come on." "Are you seriously agreeing with him?" Kurena sighed.

"I see your point, then... of course, he should try to regulate his impulses." Yurika sighed. "We could have talked about it calmly, instead he immediately jumped to conclusions." He'll cool off. And he'll come back to make it up to you. He has to make it up to you... And she laughed.

Yurika widened her eyes, certain that she didn't want to know specifically what her demon was thinking. She stood up, making herself operational would be the best choice. Assuming Ferid hadn't decided to make all her books disappear, she wouldn't rule it out.

She went to the library anxiously to cross paths with the vampire, she didn't know how she should behave. Especially how he would behave. Maybe he would attack her again. She took a deep breath. Where was he holed up?

She left the library only when she began to feel the pangs of hunger, already worrying about what she should cook and especially how. She would have to make herself more independent of Ferid. A few cooking lessons wouldn't hurt, she just had to find out if someone was going to talk to her again and show up.

A bowl of rice with vegetables and a white rose were waiting for her on the kitchen table. She lifted it up and sniffed it. It was very fragrant. Who knows where he had retrieved it.

Cold lips rested on her neck.

"One rose is not enough." Yurika whispered, trying not to think about the vampire's hands gently brushing her.

"I didn't expect to fix everything with just a rose."

The girl clutched the flower to her chest.

"Why do you always have to react like this?"

"You know, I can't keep my cool with you. I'm not used to it anymore."

Yurika released herself from his grip, pulling away from him.

"We could have talked about it calmly. Instead you got angry. Like last time..." The vampire said nothing. "You can't expect me to follow you onto the battlefield and then stop me from going after what I've been fighting for all my life. Can you understand that?"

Could he understand her? Perfectly. He was being too impulsive towards her. Certainly she didn't deserve this. "Yurika. Just promise me you'll find a way not to risk too much." Another brief pause on her part. "The idea of losing you drives me crazy. That's why I react like this. I'm not used to really caring about someone, having to worry about someone else's life. Whereas now you're here."

The vampire reached out to her, caressing her cheek. "You are so fragile and precious to me." "And you take me to war." "Because I would always be watching you, no one would hurt you."

"Whereas if I decided to free Kurena, you couldn't control me. That's the problem, isn't it?"

Ferid swallowed, "I'm sorry Yurika."

The girl remained motionless, adding nothing more to the vampire's words. She wanted to move away from that cold hand, but something was holding her back. Her stupid feelings? No. In that instant, something else was going through her mind.

For some absurd reason, her primitive instincts were surfacing. Was it fear she felt? How could she feel that? This was what it felt like to hear him talk like this. Because she realised that it would cost him no effort to achieve such a goal. To restrict her, to prevent her from acting as she wished. All he had to do was move a finger to stop her.

Ferid sensed a change in Yurika's body. How could he not? He was a predator. It was only natural that he would be able to recognise what was happening in her body. His hand slowly moved away from her face.

Yurika released a breath as the vampire's hand moved back.

"Ferid..." She whispered, unable to continue the sentence.

The tone used was eloquent. Especially to him.

For a moment he was tempted to repeat the mistake of the morning, to walk away and leave her alone to torment herself, but that was no solution. To do so would only have exacerbated the problem further. He sat down.

"You're right. I'm afraid I have this tendency to want everything under control. This falls on you as well. How can I blame you? But you see... I'm used to doing that. Making sure that everyone moves according to my plan. Because you have to make sure that every little detail works to avoid failure. And yes, it bothers me to deal with someone who doesn't follow the plans and the rules."

There was a moment's pause.

"But you didn't fit into my plans, not like this. And sometimes I can't stand the effect you have on me. The power you manage to wield over me. A human sending a vampire into crisis."

He laughed.

"I was out of line before, I realise that. You still have a lot of studying to do to conclude. I may be able to help you if you want, but until we find the best possible way, will you promise not to do anything rash?"

"All right. I promise."

03/09/2021