Bloody Petals

Chapter 9

Zero left Yuuki and Cross together with Kaname downstairs and headed upstairs alone quietly. He entered his room and, out of habit, immediately locked the door.

He glanced at the mirror and noticed how pale he looked. His mission wasn't going too well and the Association didn't seem too pleased with a report that said there's nothing going on under the surface of the school. But if Zero couldn't find anything, then he didn't need to report anything. He might be a professional hunter and spying was one of his jobs, but he wasn't about to create some stories just to satisfy the higher-ups in the Association. He wouldn't do anything that could destroy the setting of the school. Even if he was still somehow against vampires' co-existence with humans, he knew that the school was doing well to prove that it could happen.

He changed into a sweatshirt and went to the bathroom to wash his face and clear his mind, but he froze when he felt an all-too-familiar chest pain. It started as something tolerable, if not hurtful, but Zero found the pain was getting more intense by the second. It was even more intense than the last time. It seemed every time his body took the pills, the effect was getting stronger. But he also realized that three pills took more time to have an effect than just one pill. When he first took a pill, the effect came right after some minutes. But when he took three of them, the disgusting things took effect after at least half a day. Perhaps if he drank more, it would take longer before the effect took place... Either that or he would die from overdosage. And after the pills' temporary wonder wore off, the pain would be something he didn't want to feel even in his worst nightmare.

He clutched his chest as he struggled to breathe. He covered his mouth with his other hand just as he started coughing up blood. His knees gave out because of the intense pain and he slumped on the flooring of the bathroom without much poise. He gripped the edge of the toilet bowl as he continued throwing up crimson-colored liquid. Some blood spilled on his shirt and more to the flooring than to the bowl. His body was trembling too much to even hold tightly onto something.

After some minutes of coughing continuously, his body finally gave out. He barely had the time to think of where his body would land when there was suddenly a swift air movement beside him and someone already caught him before his body even touched the floor. Zero sensed the presence a little too late but the scent was what made him sure Kaname was the one holding him from behind.

"This is what happens when you ignore my blood and drink something else." Somehow, Zero felt calmed at the sound of that cool voice. It meant Kaname wasn't angry at him for being humiliated in front of Yuuki and Cross. The voice held warmth and calmness that Zero never heard from the pureblood yet. It wasn't like the tone he used when speaking to Yuuki either, so it was just a voice for Zero. But his thoughts were too muddled up and he wasn't thinking right, so maybe that's also part of the reason.

Zero's body continued to tremble in Kaname's arms and the brunette was silently panicking. No wonder Aido helped the hunter even when they were in the middle of a fight. The other vampires whose bodies were not that inclined to take the pills would just throw up a small amount of blood, but their bodies were still okay and they could even joke around afterward. But Zero was different. He looked like he was about to die and Kaname didn't like it. No. He hated it, even though he didn't understand why he thought that way.

Actually, he had no intention of going to Zero's room, even when he smelled the blood. He was afraid to lose his control again and it would be a disaster when that happens. He couldn't understand why Zero's blood could make him feel so hot and excited. He desired Yuuki's blood but not with that intensity. If it was because Zero was a hunter, then why didn't Cross exhibit such blood as well? It's only with Zero that he could feel that way. And now that he realized it, there were so many things he couldn't understand when it came to Zero. He didn't like it when he was in the dark about something. And he somehow had the tendency to try to know everything about that certain thing, even to the point of possessing it. Of course, that was it... He was merely interested because Zero was a mystery to him... That was merely it...