15. Shadow Suspicions (2/2)

"if it'll keep you three quiet and out of my hair, then go ahead. look around. try not to get eaten and if you find anything useful, then come back here and let us know." from the roll of the thunder mage's eyes, he did not expect them to come back with anything more impressive than a weather report. if that.

the other two spirits appeared next to their younger

other and the three hurried through the door, cheering and bouncing together. manjoume sagged down into the nearest chair.

"why do i have to put up with them?" he muttered. fubuki settled next to him, one comforting arm around his lover.

"think on the

ight side. now they won't interrupt when we take our bath."

yuusuke ignored fubuki for the moment. right now it was more important to learn everything that he could about ryou and what had happened to him and how shou tied into it. he glanced toward kenzan, who met his gaze with determination.

"you want me to go see if i can find shou, don't you?" the shapechanger asked, his voice pitched a bit low. there wasn't any need to disturb fubuki or manjoume right now.

"i think i trust you to find him quicker than the ojamas could. they're easily distracted," yuusuke said, choosing his words with care. kenzan would not be like that. once he got onto a scent, then he stuck to it until he found out what he wanted to know.

"i'll have to wait until after dinner, though," kenzan said with a slight sigh, his eyes going to the door as if he truly wished he could get out there right now. "don't think it's a good idea to let anyone know we suspect anything just yet."

"you're right." yuusuke considered asking his own partnered spirit to look around, but in the home of a vampire, even that of one of his oldest friends, he did not want to be without the angel's protection. even a shadow mage had his limits, and yuusuke hadn't learned and done all that he had without being aware of his.

fubuki nudged manjoume to his feet. "we're going to get cleaned up and changed," he said. "you two better do the same thing."

yuusuke nodded; perhaps having dinner would also provide some more information. it wasn't completely unlikely that shou might turn up after all, and then he could find out if both marufujis walked in the darkest shadows or not.

it might also give him time to remember more about vampires and those who weren't born to being one. he recalled that much; some vampires were born that way and some weren't. clearly ryou and shou weren't born into it. which meant someone changed ryou, and that someone was who they really needed to focus on.

the major problem there was that most of those who changed humans into vampires didn't do it for benevolent reasons. more often than not, in what little drips of information yuusuke could remember, their goals were slavery or at most to have some kind of home-built family around them. that last wasn't always a bad thing either, but if it were the first?

if it were the first, then this vampire would not be allowed to keep ryou or shou. yuusuke would see to it himself.

to be continued

note: thank you for reading and i hope that you enjoyed the chapter. please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.