"It's not possible." Kureto ruled. "He must have plagiarized her, she can't..."

"She seemed sincere Kureto."

"She seemed, Shinya. Seemed. We can't know how it is."

"You did see her, didn't you, how she reacted when the vampire was stringing Kureto's words along?"

It was Guren who had intervened. He would have had more to add to the conversation, but he couldn't. Kureto sighed.

"We're at the same point as the last time. Nothing can be done." But the sentence seemed left unsaid. Shinya watched him, imagining the nature of his wavering. "Are you thinking about Tenri?" "Yes." "You have to consider that we don't have much to offer. We're confused as well, let alone telling Tenri." "I admit that this is a thorny situation, but then again... I believe it is my duty to inform him of every single interesting element. And you will agree that this one is." Shinya blurted out in exasperation.

"Are you going back on your fantastic theory? Seriously, could you see Yurika seducing that monster as a favour to you? In fact, to do a favour for that monster who happens to be her father?"

"If not, however, I think you know perfectly well that we should consider her as an enemy as well."

"As if it were possible to kill that sadist Ferid Bathory!" Guren's laughter echoed through the room.

"We may not be able to do anything against a rank vampire now, but soon we will be able to wipe them off the face of the earth and take back what is ours." Shinya and Guren remained silent, both not intending to continue that pointless talk with Kureto. As always with him, it was impossible to touch certain topics.

"Do whatever you want then Kureto, tell him whatever you want." With that said Shinya took his leave, on his own he would be able to put his thoughts together better.

"He gets too caught up in feelings."

"Exactly the opposite of you." And Guren left the place as well.

If they had access to your mind instead, they'd be pleasantly surprised, wouldn't they? 

The man didn't bother to respond to Raimeiki's provocation; he knew his thoughts, he didn't need to confirm them. The revelation Yurika seemed to have made to Shinya was as shocking to him as the girl's ambiguous behaviour in battle. The evidence was obvious and perhaps undeniable. Yet they were so incomprehensible to him.

From an early age he had been used to posing as a worthy leader of the Hiiragi family despite Mahiru's presence. He had been brought up to lead the army as best he could and to be infallible and ruthless. After all, that was how he should behave if he wanted to hold on to power. He needed an iron fist, without which no institution could prosper, particularly in the current world dominated by vampire's violence. These values had been instilled in him even before the Apocalypse completely changed their lives and they had proved successful. In the world he had grown up in, there was no room for love, he had been taught that feelings had to be quelled, rejected and removed. They could not stand in the way of a strong, charismatic leader. To fall victim to such feelings was to abandon oneself to chaos.

How many times had he seen how love can cloud the mind and push you towards roads you never thought you would go down? That was the thing he could not accept the most. He could not bear the idea that Yurika had really fallen victim to that spell. She had succeeded in abandoning herself, forgetting herself, going so far as to say she loved a vampire. The enemy par excellence. On the one hand, he focused all too well on the fact that he could never indulge in the frivolities of love; he could not afford to lose control over himself. He had missions to fulfil.

On the other hand, he tried to imagine what had really happened between her and the vampire. After all, they couldn't know how things had really gone, they had only seen the two of them together for a short while. Maybe she had been forced to say those things, maybe the vampire had forced her to do what he had accused her of doing for them.

If that had been the case?

He acknowledged that he couldn't say for sure that he knew his sister well, and the mere fact that she had preferred to confide in Shinya and not in him proved that. He couldn't blame her for this choice, but he couldn't hide the fact that he was hurt by this action, but he was good at hiding these little weaknesses of his. What if he took after his father in this? What if he too was hiding that he was suffering from Yurika's absence? What if he too really cared about the girl? How could he even accept the situation she had ended up in?

He didn't know if there was a God out there, but if there was, he was certainly enjoying repaying Tenri for everything he hadn't given his daughter by making her fall victim to his enemy's deadly charm. There would probably have been no worse punishment than this for the man.

Apparently Ferid has arrived where you can only dream of being!

Mahiru's mocking tone annoyed Guren, but the demon had no intention of letting up on the matter; she loved to tease the man.

Our same passionate love...

"A love that ruined us."

For love one does the worst things...

Guren sighed. He knew what that meant, he had been reckoning with it for the last few years, tormenting himself and pining for the dire consequences that choice had brought to his life. A choice that had also been partly dictated by the outcome of his troubled love affair with Mahiru, too many obstacles had come between them. While now they were condemned to a kind of strange coexistence. Forever haunted by his spirit.

Despite this, he could not help but think about her provocations. After all, he had known before the others that Yurika was all right, but he had only believed it when he had seen her on the battlefield next to Ferid. Like the others, he was still shaken by what had happened. It seemed like such an absurd and unthinkable situation. 

On the one hand there was Ferid, the most enigmatic creature he had met in his life. He had had more or less deliberate dealings with him for a long time, yet he had never been able to grasp its deeper essence. He had never understood what his ultimate goals might be. Yurika seemed fine, but who could really guarantee that? He didn't think it was possible that the monster could really care about her, at least not as much as a true lover should. But then why had he chosen the girl? Was there a convoluted plan hidden there that he couldn't see? Probably, yes.

On the other side there was Yurika. He had seen her standing next to the vampire, he couldn't deny it. She was at ease. Incredibly comfortable.

He gritted his teeth. It didn't take long for his mind to generate some unhealthy fantasies about the two of them. He imagined them close together. Laughing together. The vampire's hands caressing her body. His lips on hers. His canines in her skin... Flashbacks of him and Mahiru, when he could still feel her next to him, came back to his mind.

What did he envy Ferid? The fact that he had obtained Yurika or the simple fact that he could do what he had been denied? He had never been able to truly have Mahiru while he was still alive. Too many constraints had kept them far from being the typical pair of lovers. 

Yes, it could be said that they had a story, but he had never managed to free her from the clutches of her father and the Hiiragi family. How could he have done that? Neither he nor she had ever been able to fully experience their relationship because of the world in which they lived.

Ferid, on the other hand, seemed to have succeeded in taking the next step. He had taken Yurika away from the hell that was the Hiiragi family and managed to create with her a probable parenthesis of life where they could express themselves freely and be who they wanted despite the restrictions, probably much more acute in their case. Perhaps he envied them their intimacy. The vampire had managed to give all this to Yurika. And he could keep her close to him. He probably could have done it forever if only she had wanted to. He could have talked to her, touched her, kissed her at any time. He envied them the chance he had been denied.

Guren, you shouldn't still be pining for these things, especially don't blame yourself. I don't want you to. We are both responsible for what happened.

He sensed Mahiru's aura hovering around him, but that was all he could get of her.

02/10/2021

Sorry for the late update, hope you can forgive me <3