Diabolik Lovers: Recovery

Chapter 15: Invasion (Subaru, Reiji)

"You've been troublesome."

Me? I wondered.

"Who the hell else? You're a horrid vessel."

Vessel... Cordelia?

~

"Miyako, I've trained you since your birth," my father said, his stern brow lowered over scrutinizing eyes. Dread severely settled into my stomach as I analyzed his expression and tone. Was I going to be punished? It was always so hard to tell... "Don't disappoint me now."

"You've prepared me well, father," I said as evenly as I could. My belly felt like jello. "Of course I'll succeed. What is the next step in my training? The mission we discussed? The heart?"

My father crossed his arms, his parish uniform barely wrinkling as he did so. Excitement flashed across his face momentarily but was under strict composure once more. That was never a good sign.

"There is no more I can teach you," he said with utmost certainty and my eyes widened. "It is time for you to make your first kill."

"How? Where? When?"

"Patience!"

I quieted instantly. Panic was now pulsing hotly through my veins. As much as I despised demons, could I really manage to kill one? I'd mangled and tortured them so perhaps this wasn't too large a step to take.

"I have the whole thing planned," he said. "You're to be the sacrificial bride in a household of vampires."

A household? Oh god...

"You will receive a new heart – the heart that previously belonged to a vampire. It will make you more delectable in their eyes. They'll be more drawn to you and therefore more vulnerable."

"Easier to kill," I surmised, leaning forward in my chair. We'd been over this... even so... my job wouldn't be easy.

"Exactly."

"How many are there?"

"There are many, but the household I have you currently assigned to holds six brothers. They're pure-blood vampires, stronger than changed vampires, but I am certain of your abilities."

"Surely heart surgery will diminish my abilities, Father."

"You are not to accept failure as an option."

"I see, Father."

So I'm as good as dead... 

"Very good," I say instead, keeping my face impassive.

"Something happened, didn't it?" Cordelia surmised, another audience member to the movie of my past that was playing inside my head. "You forgot the instructions your father gave to you."

But what happened, exactly? 

"Count down from ten, Miyako."

I nodded, as I felt the prick of the needle. At four, I was under; there was only darkness.

But then, there was light. A woman with long blonde hair stood before me, her seafoam green eyes were unmistakable. She looked ethereal, a creature of half light and half human origin. 

"Mom?" I asked, aghast. 

The answer had risen to my lips as if I'd seen her face my entire life.

"Yes, my dear."

"How...?"

She smiled forlornly and put a hand to my cheek. Her touch felt like sunlight on my cold skin.