24. Breaking Bonds (2/2)

at the moment, yuusuke could defend himself very well. he moved into the shadows, keeping himself visible enough so ryou didn't look for other people to use as hostages, but not so much that ryou could grab onto him himself.

they all knew this was nothing more than a holding action, something they had to dance out for another few minutes. ryou could scent blood in the air and knew it for chaos hunter's. it wasn't enough for him to want to feed, but it caught his attention enough so that yuusuke could lash at him with a bolt of dark lightning, searing him from top to toe.

"you're supposed to be killing me, remember?" yuusuke reminded him, a dark tilt to his lips. ryou returned the expression.

"i won't forget again." there had always been a connection between the two of them, different from what bound the three of them, or ryou to fubuki or yuusuke to fubuki. for years ryou had entertained the notion of exploring what could be, if yuusuke were willing. now, perhaps… if all of this had some kind of favorable outcome…

he darted forward; for yuusuke to use his magic like that, he needed to be out of the shadows. before the mage could go back into them, ryou's hand closed on his wrist and he pulled him closer, the sudden rush of fear intoxicating to ryou's vampiric sense. if his heart could beat still, it would've done so faster at how close yuusuke was to him now.

there were others there, but all of ryou's focus now centered on yuusuke. he had to kill him. he had to make it hurt. camula had not said how to do so. there was a way…

he'd resisted turning shou, but camula had wanted that. camula wanted him to kill yuusuke and he could resist that to some extent…

his

eath, unnecessary for life but in his lungs all the same, stuttered. he could do it. he could make yuusuke one of them, and then…

thunder rocked the mansion. lightning as

ight as sunlight lit up everything, even burrowing here, if only in the faintest gleam.

something snapped: the tie that bound ryou to camula and forced him to obey her will, even if he could twist it to his own ends at times. his fingers flexed and he stepped back, releasing yuusuke, taking more

eaths that he didn't need but wouldn't do without now.

slowly, ever so slowly, he lifted his head and looked around at the others. for the first time since he'd awakened at camula's call, he could make up his own mind without worrying that she'd negate it somehow. a slow, rich smile tilted his lips upward.

"it's over. she'd gone." he could never have done it himself. nor could shou. but now they could chart their own courses once again.

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.