Before my mind could register the movement next to me, the blonde pulled something out of her back pocket. I glanced to see what it was out of curiosity and saw her pull out a silver cross that was decorated with a ruby in the middle.

"Take that you monsters!" Yui shouted at them, expecting a reaction, but only to receive none. Both of us were frozen in our positions when we noticed that nothing has happened. Instead, they all stared at us amused.

"We need to get out of this bitter place" I muttered as I was just about ready to grab Yui and bolt out of this bitter house.

"Honestly," started Reiji as he sat down in one of the chairs, "You can't really believe there's any truth to that old fairytale written by a mortal. The one that claims that vampires are vulnerable to garlic, holy crosses, and sunshine? It just goes to show how foolish and arrogant mortals can be..."

Yui quickly stood up and rushed out of the room, leaving me behind.

"...and it infuriates me."

"Excuse me-!" I said/yelled in a rush as I bolted out of the room, following Yui. While I was running behind her, I saw a buffet full of sweet things. It had cakes, sweets, ice cream, macaroons, and many other mouth-watering treats. I couldn't help but grab a pink macaroon while I was still sprinting down the hall, which earned me a yell from Kanato about how he didn't give me permission to take his sweets. I only giggled and turned around for seconds to wink at the lavender-haired boy as I still munched on the pink, rose-flavored macaroon.

I still rushed down the hall, taking a few sharp turns. Although, at some point, I ended up being pinned to a wall by nonother, Laito.

"What are you doing?" I asked as calmly as I could, "gonna suck my blood like a mosquito?"

"Oh, how'd you guess, Melon-chan?"

"Melon?" I raised a brow, "that's a sweet name, but you make it bitter with your sly tongue, bug."

"Then," Laito leaned in close to my ear, "let's see if I can call you a slut."

"No," I responded quickly, "you really can't because I'm a virgin."

"But this turns you on, I know it."

"Laito," I rolled my (E/C) eyes, "you trying to 'grind' on me with that excuse of a dick really doesn't turn me on. Instead, it makes me dryer than the Sahara Desert."

Before the ginger could respond, I took the opportunity to knee him in his crown jewels causing the male to cripple in pain. That was my cue to sprint down the hallway again. While running, I managed to spot the phone's wire was cut.

A few hundred turns later, I came to realize that I was miserably lost in this, quote on quote, "house". Most of the corridors looked so similar, that I dare to call them identical. Heck, I'm not even sure what floor I'm on right now! Although, when I glanced out the windows, I can see that I'm obviously not on the ground but presumably on the first or second floor – depending as to how you look at it.

Around me, I saw that there were windows, doors and a few decorative plants or pictures of places I'll never go to. The walls themselves were a dull shade of white and decorated with dark wood to somehow make it less sickeningly bitter. The whole house had this wicked demeanor that any sane person would leave by now.

Which reminds me, I haven't seen the vampires around for a couple of minutes. It must mean that they went after Yui and left me alone instead. This is the perfect opportunity to leave this hellish place.

I decided to start opening doors, hoping to find a closet or bedroom that had a lot of big starchy sheets. If I had enough, I could make a "rope" by tying the sheets together. Then, I could tie one end to the bed and then hold on to the rest so I can escape through the window. Although, I knew that it was easier said than done because the vampires might show up any minute. Plus, the method is also very dangerous. If one tying between the sheets gets loose and undoes itself, then I might be just as flat as a pancake – *cough cough* Yui.

As I roamed around the house, I noticed that further I went, the darker it got. I was about to turn back and leave, but no matter how hard I tried, something compelled my body to keep on going. I wanted to force my legs to stop, to not go in any further, but, again, my legs moved on their own. Before I knew it, I walked into a room.

The room was dark and cold. In the dimmest light that seeped through the heavily covered up window, I could almost spot a bed, a few drawers and the normal essentials for a basic bedroom.

Then, my body walked up to the window and tore down the planks and curtain-like materials that accompanied the planks. The light from the outside invaded my (E/C) coloured eyes, causing me to be blinded for a couple of seconds, but soon enough, my eyes readjusted allowing me to see beyond the window.

White. Flowers of white – roses to be exact. A whole garden was planted with just white roses, and it was to be viewed by this unkept room. Its existence was a waste. This room could be cleaned and used; not rotting away, forgotten by whoever the previous owner was. Even though, I saw that this room was damaged, unkept, forgotten, I still felt a bittersweet connection to it. Like my body knew and remembered it, but not me. My consciousness didn't know what this place meant to me, but at the same time, something or someone told me that they recognized it. It left me puzzled.

"Bittersweet..." I said out loud without much thought, but at the same time, I realized I regained control over my body again. I thought of leaving this room, but at the same time, I felt unease in my body.

"They're coming." A hushed voice said at the back of my head, "Hide."

Even if I didn't want to, I decided to listen to the strangely sweet voice and hide. I crawled under the bed, as close to the wall as I could get and covered my mouth. I also made sure that I kept my breathing slow and quiet; basically, as minimalistic as possible.

As soon as I managed to ready myself, I heard a voice to my right, not too far from the bed.

"I can smell her." growled, most likely, Subaru.

"I wonder why she removed the covers?" Asked Kanato.

"I don't know..." hummed Laito as his voice shifted from being above me to directly being on my left, "How about you ask her yourself?"

Suddenly, I felt a cold hand wrap around my uncle before pulling me out harshly from under the old bed. I tried to grab onto one of the polls and kicking Laito's hand off– or whoever's that decided to grab me for that matter. Although, my hands slipped, and the male tugged me out with ease.

"It is rude to not greet someone." Reiji said, "Honestly, you are just as bad as the other human."

I looked at Reiji as he spoke before turning my gaze to whoever was holding my uncle. I saw a flash of ginger hair, making me think that Laito was the one that grabbed me, but to my surprise, the male was on the other side of the bed. Instead, I saw his brother that thought too highly of himself – Ayato. I instantly aimed to hit his face with my free leg, but he caught it.

"Aren't you feisty?" Ayato smirked as he playfully pronounced the 'you'.

Ayato seemed to lean in close to my face, showing his fangs fully displayed. Those pearly white, sharp like knives fangs that could rip my flesh apart, draining me from the crimson liquid that keeps me alive on a daily basis. The mere thought sent electric shivers of fear up and down my spine while I was probably turning pale due to the anxiety that raised higher and higher within my chest.

Yet, even if I knew that the smartest thing to do is to probably fight back or try to persuade them into not hurting me, I couldn't do anything. I was powerless. My body was frozen on the spot. Every muscle tensed and didn't dare to even twitch. My jaw was clamped shut and tongue paralyzed. Cold, icy sweat started to moisturize my body while the ginger only seemed to lean into my neck.

"S-stop." I managed to choke out as a black blanket of fatigue (that was bought on to me by the sheer terror that I felt) tried to consume my small body.

"Stop?" hummed Laito playfully, "that's so cute of you, slut-chan."

I wanted to yell at Laito and gave him my opinion on that sweet nickname he just gave me, but my words were totally stopped dead in their tracks when I felt a cold, moist, slimy sensation on my cheek – déjà vu, am I right? Before I knew it, the slimy tongue slowly inched down towards my neck.

Without any control over my actions, my hands shot out and grabbed on any part of the gingers body. This meant that my right hand wrapped around a side of his neck while my left hand grasped at his shoulder. I used all the power in my body and threw him off me.

The male's body slammed into a wall that was behind him while I just grasped my shirt where my heart thumped. Ringing sounds filled my ears, accompanied by the sound of my heart banging against my ribcage. My throat and mouth dry, lips chapped, and eyesight fading. Screams that told me to get out filled my blank mind while everything felt heavy.

This is it. I'm sorry that I failed you, brother...

______________________________________

Hey, sorry that I haven't updated for so long. I had exams three weeks ago, then, as soon as my holidays started, flu decided to go down on me doggy style for nearly a week and then I was busy because I had to take care of my nieces and nephews. Although, I somehow managed to (somewhat) update. I promise I'll update a longer chapter if I can next week. 

Again, I'm very sorry. I'll work hard on updating this book as quickly as I can, and I'll try to make the following chapters longer!

- CherrySweet