Diabolik Lovers: Recovery

Chapter 37: What is Eve?

Low groans and sharp yelps draw me from my sleep. I'd dozed off in an unfamiliar room, but the anemia still laid heavy in my limbs, keeping me from getting worked up with anxiety.

"No..."

I glance beside me where my companion lay beneath the thin sheet. Although like a solid white boulder beneath the covers, he moved and thrashed mildly.

"Stop it..." Kou insists, still in the confines of sleep.

Grasping him while he slept could awake him in a frenzy, but perhaps...

I scoot closer to him beneath the covers such that the skin of my arm is against the cold expanse of his back. It makes me shiver, not helping my current illness, but I endure. Without hurry, he turns, flipping over in his sleep to face the source of the touch. Now I remain still, heart beating worriedly in my chest. Even though he's slow with sleep, if he were to be startled in this fragile state, it might not bode well for me.

My worries are assuaged when, instead of striking me, he reaches to grasp the arm that had touched him with desperately reaching fingers. I let out a relieved sigh when it feels as if the grip isn't going to get any tighter – the last thing I wanted was to lose an arm by the actions of a vampire experiencing a night terror.

The pleading from his lips subsides, his face relaxing, eyelashes flutteirng handsomely on his cheeks. His fine features, especially gentled by sleep, seemed so foreign in comparison to the anger he'd expressed on them previously. While unable to fully relax, I'm able relinquish myself to sleep once more.

~

"Ne... Miyako, did you choose... Kou... as your Adam?"

Yuma looks over at Azusa's question, eyes flickerieng between Kou and me intently. Kou's own expression quirks upward with unfounded smugness and that seems to make Yuma's brow furrow.

"What does it mean to choose an Adam?" I counter, chewing a slice of bacon pensively at the breakfast table.

"Livestock needn't concern itself with such matters," Ruki interjects, the only one seemingly unconcerned by my stay in Kou's quarters the previous night. Apparently

"Seeing as I'm the one making the choice, I should be informed on the matter. Don't you agree?"

Ruki stares pointedly, grey-blue eyes narrowed in my direction. Clearly the continued questions were unwelcome, but I wasn't about to back down. To figure out why they'd stolen me away, I needed this answer. Could it be related to the reason why I'd been sent to the Sakamaki's to be a sacrificial bride? Something to do with the heart I'd been given?

All of that seemed so far away now... I'd lulled myself into a false sense of security among the Sakamaki family. With a blink, I refocus on Ruki.

All attention was on the eldest Mukami now. His eyes lowered to the open book in his hand and my question remains woefully unanswered.

With a heavy sigh, I return to the meal, clearing the plate and moving to wash it in the kitchen. Ruki follows, keeping close by with his own plate until we've passed through the doors.

At the moment the doors bump shut, he's upon me, pushing me forward into the countertop and pressing me over it. His back is flush to mine, trapping me against the hard planes of the granite. I yelp as his thick hand wraps my throat and closes over my windpipe. The air trickles to a thin stream, then ceases flowing into my lungs. 

"You will never question me in front of them," he says in such a soft and even voice that the dichotomy of his actions and tone shock me quiet, "Do you understand?"

His fingers tighten, crushing the column of my windpipe and a hollow gasp wisps from my throat.

"Ru...ki..." I rasp, ignoring his order. I'd sooner pass out than agree.

"Oi, do you understand?"

I cough defiantly, the sound is airy and weak. Spots of black blossom out of the corners of my vision. Very suddenly, he relinquishes and I take the opportunity to lurch away.

It's more of an ungraceful slide along the counter in the direction opposite him, but I'm able to prop myself against the cabinets to heave in air.

"What's... wrong with... you?!" I accuse between pants.

"Your petulance is growing tiresome and irritating – "

"Your treatment of me is the same!" my voice cracks and squeaks, but my tone is passably enraged, "Continue to kick a dog and he will only learn hatred for you! Do you really think -"

A sharp smack washes my left cheek, leaving a heavy stinging burn in its place. My eyes smart slightly at the pain, but more from surprise and I look to Ruki, resentment burning in my chest. My arm reaches up and my fingers curl on the edge of the countertop, nails digging into the lip of the granite. He seems rather surprised by his own actions, but that won't save him from my searing grudge.

"You will never become Adam at this rate," I say hoarsely; even without knowing the meaning behind my words, I know this will hurt him.

"We must!"

"I suggest a different approach –"

"Do you have any idea of the debt we owe Him?"

I keep my mouth shut, sensing impending answers. Even if they aren't to a question I've asked, I'm eager for any bit of information.

"He gave us a second chance. Becoming Adam is the least we can do. So your blood will awaken and one of us will become Adam."

"How can you be certain that becoming Adam is possible? My blood was close to awakening once before when my body was nearly taken over by the original owner of this heart. I know what an awakening feels like, but to trigger it - "

"We stimulate the letting of your blood – "

"No! It's not just that. I may not know about the 'Adam and Eve' in your plan, but I have heard of the Awakening. I know that Cordelia triggered it within me before, but she's been defeated. She might've been the only one who could've done it, who knew how to activate her heart within this body. But now she's gone – an Awakening might not even be possible. I might be defective in this role."

"You have Eve's heart, your body will do this – no matter the mind."

"A mind that knows how to instigate the Awakening is required," I insist, "Cordelia did it instinctively – through the way she acted? How she carried herself? I don't know. Even after sharing a headspace with her, I don't know. I don't think I'm a proper vessel, a proper Eve, but the Sakamaki's didn't care -!"

"Don't speak their name in this household!"

Of course, I think spitefully, standing resolute in the face of the stalemate between us. Of course, it devolves this way. Just as soon as we're about to discuss something meaningful.

"If all I am to you is Eve, then you will be disappointed to find that I am Miyako. Just, Miyako. Nothing more."

Ruki seethes, eyes flashing, but says nothing. Does nothing.

I take the opportunity to quietly remove myself from the situation.