Euphoria

Chapter Two

For once the mansion was quiet. No loud clamoring from the restless brothers, no shrieks of fear from the human livestock, and better yet, no spilled blood on the pristine carpet. Everything was perfect, and for a moment it was as if the apocalypse had never happened and the house had once more been hidden behind the mask of unapproachable.

Reiji Sakamaki enjoyed the silence because it meant his brothers were no longer up to their usual shenanigans, and for once he was left alone to tamper with his poisons in peace. That is, until a large crash shattered his silence completely and a string of curses filled the air followed by the sound of things breaking.

Reiji sighed heavily and planted his hands on the side of his work table. To say he wished for them to disappear was perhaps too much of an understatement. He desired for them to all cease to exist, and perhaps even suffer through death by excruciating pain.

Forcing himself to pry from the table and his room, he made his way down the stairs and prepped himself for the horrors he was about to see.

The door had been completely unhinged and remnants of glass laid scattered all throughout the living room. As expected, the youngest brother Subaru was the culprit. He was breathing heavily and managed to flip over the couch in an attempt to reach Ayato who was howling like a madman whilst dancing around Subaru's rage.

"Do you have any idea how difficult it is to repair the damages caused by idiocy?" Reiji said, crossing his arms.

"It's not my fault. Subaru did it," Ayato replied cheekily.

The combination of the grin that laced Ayato's lips, and the way he stuck out his tongue out and dodged out of the way of a well thrown vase led Reiji to believe anything other than what Ayato was telling him.

"I'm gonna kill you! You piece of shit!" Subaru shouted.

"Oh I'm so scared," Ayato mocked.

"That is enough!" Reiji demanded. 

There was a moment of silence as both Ayato and Subaru glanced to him but then Ayato had the audacity to say, "And what are you going to do you stupid pigeon?" 

Reiji's eyes narrowed and a sudden chill seemed to encase the air as he adjusted his glasses. 

"I ask you, for once, to comprehend the current situation of things," Reiji began, "There are no more humans to clean up the damages that you cause to the house since you've drained every human we managed to secure. I advise you to keep the damages to a minimum."

"Fine, whatever. But it's Subaru fault."

"That is of little consequence. I expect this mess to be cleaned or your punishments will be dealt accordingly."

Ayato clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes, a hand going to his hip as he cast an annoyed glare in Subaru's direction.

Their disagreement was cut short once a familiar chuckle reached their ears.

"It looks like Ayato brought a snack~"

Reiji's eyes flickered to Laito, the vampire smiling mischievously as he kicked at something hidden behind the overturned couch.

"She's a real cutie too," Laito added.

"Hey! Back off you pervert!" Ayato snapped, "That's mine!"

"Another livestock?" Reiji questioned. He sighed heavily and shook his head. "Haven't you learned your lesson? The more livestock you recklessly kill the less humans we have to drink from in the future."

"We captured her from our scouting patrol," Subaru replied.

"Damn it Subaru! Shut your mouth!" Ayato yelled. "Where Ore-sama got her is irrelevant! She belongs to me!"

Reiji ignored the statement.

"So she's one of those pesky humans known as the imperial demon army huh?" He spoke, already approaching Laito and gazing at her.

The girl was slender and frail, her purple hair crumpled and dirtied, stained with splashes of brown and deep red. He could tell she was indeed from the demon army, her black and green uniform giving it away immediately.

He wrinkled his nose and then glanced to his brother in mild disgust. "You fancy such a dirty being? That's a new low even for you."

"Ahn? Shut up pigeon!" Ayato retorted. He crossed his arms and huffed. "Her blood is first class. I haven't tasted such delicious blood since that chichinashi was here."

There was a silence before Reiji's eyes flickered back to the girl, his eyes lingering on her neck. Whether Ayato's words held any truth to them mattered little, Reiji would never test that claim on such a filthy human.

"As per our duty you have the obligation to force out any information on the demon army, even if that means breaking her," Reiji said, "what you do with her afterwards is none of my concern."

"Ah~ Ayato? Can I torture her? I'd appreciate it if you let me have a taste?"

Laito smiled and licked his lips as he stared at his brother with adoration in his eyes. This only served to make Ayato scoff and reply, "Hell no. She's mine, get your own toy you pervert."

"Haah? Don't be mean. You hogged the previous bitch-chan all to yourself last time! At least share with me. Haven't you heard the saying sharing is caring?"

"But I don't care. She's mine and that's all there is to it."

A light groan snapped their attention to the girl. Her eyes fluttered open before she slowly sat upright and rubbed her head, her mind clearly too disorientated to comprehend the current situation. It was only once she pulled her hand away from her head that she looked up, meeting the eyes of Ayato immediately, and then she froze.