[Vampire Knight] Deeper than Blood (Book 1)

Chapter Ten

Shizuka closed her eyes, wincing as Kaname's hand moved inside her chest, his hand grabbing her beating heart.

"You don't seem surprised Shizuka," Kaname pointed out.

"No, I was planning on taking your life as well," Shizuka admitted. "I was planning on using Yuki as your assassin."

"She would have been the perfect choice," Kaname agrees. Shizuka winced again as Kaname tightened his grip on her heart.

"You foresaw this. My healing powers were restrained by the bullets in Zero's gun, and you came here to rip out my heart, knowing it will kill a Pureblood like me," Shizuka says, knowing it was the truth. Kaname leaned down and bit into Shizuka's neck, drawing her pure vampire blood into his mouth. Shizuka sighed. "I find this very strange. The first time I met you, when you were a little boy. You desired the same thing I did." Rido Kuran's death.

"That is the one thing that has not changed," Kaname says as he pulls away from Shizuka's neck, her blood running down his chin. He closed his eyes and pulled his hand out of Shizuka's chest violently, causing blood to splatter everywhere as Shizuka fell backwards. Kaname caught her before she hit the ground, wiping her blood off his mouth as Shizuka looked up at him.

"I will make sure your life was not in vain. I promise to find the thing you hated the most and I will destroy it once and for. The one who twisted our fates; the fate of the Purebloods," Kaname promises Shizuka.

"You just drank the blood of another Pureblood," Shizuka says as Kaname lays her on the ground. "You have gained new powers. But an ominous future is what awaits. There will be nothing but jet black darkness."

"I'm very well aware of that," Kaname says, more to himself than Shizuka.

"And Akiko will surely hate you for this too," Shizuka says, a sudden sadness filling her at the thought of her daughter. To think that she had only know her daughter for a couple of weeks after sixteen years of searching.

"I know that too," Kaname says before leaving.

Shizuka closed her eyes, waiting for her death to come.
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Akiko lifted her head as the scent of Shizuka's blood hits her nose, stronger then it was before. Zero must have also smelt it too because he said, "the smell of blood is strong."

"Shizuka-Sama?" Ichiru asks as if he knew it was Shizuka's blood that Zero had smelt. He ran out of the door towards Shizuka, but Akiko was faster.

Akiko rushed to the room where the smell of Shizuka's blood seemed to come from and she stopped, letting a cry out at what she sees now. Shizuka lies on the floor, half-dead, blood staining her kimono around her chest and her neck. Akiko dropped to the floor beside Shizuka, Ichiru dropping by her.

"Shizuka-Sama," Ichiru whispered. "What have they done to you?"

Shizuka opens her eyes and she gives out an emotionless chuckle. "I don't seem to die easily."

"Shizuka-Sama, you can have my blood," Ichiru offers, taking her bloodstained hand and nuzzling it as a tear falls his cheek. "Please don't die."

Shizuka narrows her eyes and pulls her hand out of Ichiru's. "No, I will not turn you into a vampire."

"Than mine," Akiko says, biting her wrist and holding it over her mother's face. "I'm a Pureblood. It can heal you even when you are close to death. Please, I don't want to lose you again." Akiko's blood drips onto Shizuka's face but she doesn't take it. She shakes her head, raking her bloody hand through Akiko's hair.

"You grew up to be such a beautiful young woman," Shizuka says, stroking Akiko's cheek, staining it with blood. "I will not do something selfish and take your blood to save my pointless life. Besides, it's already too late." The blood on Shizuka's chest begins to glow different colours as a bright light rises up from Shizuka's chest, lightening up Akiko and Ichiru's faces. Akiko gasps at the sight before her, tears falling down her cheeks as she collapsed onto Shizuka's chest, crying uncontrollable tears which was unusual for a Pureblood princess.

"No, please don't leave me!" Akiko sobbed, clutching Shizuka's hand to her. "I only just found you! Please, I don't want to be alone for an eternity."

Shizuka reaches out her free hand to caress Akiko's head, tightening her hand around Akiko's.

"You will not be alone," Shizuka says. "You have Mikio and Ichiru. Mikio has won me over the way he treats you. Make sure that you treat Ichiru well."

Akiko pulled away from Shizuka and looked at her mother. Shizuka wiped Akiko's tears away and watched as they ran down her slender finger. Ichiru was crying as hard as Akiko was.

"If you're afraid of being all alone," Shizuka says, pulling both of them down to her. "Than shall I remain with you?"

Akiko bites into Shizuka's flesh as the sparks glowed brighter. The door burst open and Zero stared at the scene before him in shock. 

"Is that -? No."

Ichiru pulls away from Shizuka and stands up, pulling Shizuka's body into his arms. Zero gasps as his fangs extend and his eyes glow crimson and he collapsed against the wall.

"The Level E inside you is raging, you're craving Shizuka's blood, aren't you Zero?" Ichiru asked. "But unfortunately for you, it's already too late." Shizuka's body turns white and she shatters, sending glass everywhere. Akiko licked Shizuka's blood off her fingers as she glares over at Zero, her purple eye crimson.

"Because I'm her daughter and Shizuka is dead, you are now my servant," Akiko says as Akiko's crimson eye fades back to purple. The purple eye looks dead, not as alive vibrant as it had been when Shizuka was alive. "I will make sure your life is a living hell."

Cherry blossoms come rushing into the room as if carried by an invisible wind and Zero covers his face from the violent attack. When the attack dies down Zero looks up and sees nothing but Shizuka's disintegrated body.

Akiko and Ichiru were gone.