Leo stretched her free arm over her head, relishing the way her back popped into place and letting out a satisfied sigh. She wasnât much of a clothes shopping girl, but everyone needed to go sometimes, and it was infinitely more fun with her female relatives. There was something about being totally anonymousânobody in town knew their family names or about her blood or Yukiâs dad or Ricaâs status as a twin⊠actually, Leo was trying pretty hard to forget that Rica had a twin, too. The challenge had begun last night, but sheâd been a complete chicken and tried not to see Keir at all today. Maybe he was trying to avoid her as well, because sheâd succeeded.
âWell, ladies?â she said with the subtle lift of an eyebrow. âWhere to next?â This little excursion had proceeded under the term reconnaissance, as it was in the town slated to be attacked in a few days, but actually they were just enjoying themselves. It was tradition for the three of them to try and get away from the boys and the school at least once a month, and they always found different ways to do it. Theyâd been to the arcade, a beach a few hours away, the nearest large city⊠once, Rica had even dragged them along to try something humans called âcow-tipping.â It was a very strange thing, and Leo almost felt sorry for the poor cows, but it had been new to her.
Some humans walked by them on the sidewalk, and Leo could feel the eyes on them from behind her. Okay, so maybe they werenât totally anonymousâvampires were still a bit⊠noticeable for their looks, and three of them clustered in one spot was not going to go without notice. Leo rolled her eyes and turned around, catching the eyes of one such ogler and smiledâmaliciously. That seemed to render the person confused, but he was at least aware of what he was doing now, and cast his eyes away. She sighed through her nose. She was aware that they had evolved this way because it made feeding easier, but it really got annoying when you didnât want to feed on humans anyway.
Yuki shot a slight glare at one of the younger men who she felt staring at her, the ice in her gaze enough to make him blush and quickly move on. She knew she often didn't help matters by wearing what she wore, her stomach exposed, but she wore what she did because she liked it. She glanced at her cousins. "Well, we could always get something to eat."
Like her twin cousins, Yuki had a more human-like digestive system, though the reasons for this were largely speculated. Yuki didn't want to know, either. There was a lot about herself she was more comfortable not knowing about, and she knew exatly how Helen felt in that regard. She still had nightmares sometimes, memories she thought she'd buried cropping up every now and again. She'd learned some more darker things about herself that she didn't like, but tried her best to ignore.
Alarica sighed softly through her nose, her eyes roaming about as she tilted her head to the side, popping and stretching her neck in the process. Somehow, she managed to be dragged into town with her cousins, Leora and Yuki, to go shopping, something the three of them were not particularly fond of, but necessary nonetheless. She glanced towards Leora through the corner of her eyes as she asked for their next destination. She thought about it for a minute before Yuki suggested a place. Something to eat? Now that she thought about it, it was getting roughly close to lunch time and she hadn't really eaten anything (besides an apple) that morning.
"Sounds acceptable. We can go to the restaurant that just opened up a few blocks from here," she stated, choosing to ignore the looks they were being sent. She was aware of their genetic make-up, and that alone made them appealing to humans, however; it was something that irritated her to no end. She wanted to maim the nearest human that was still glancing at them, something dark flashing behind their eyes. She sent them a glare, void of everything, but that did not seem to deter the group. She rolled her eyes in the process.
"Humans are lucky enough we are not allowed to harm them, otherwise a few of them might be missing eyes," she stated in a low enough voice so that only Leora and Yuki could hear. She wasn't in a particularly good mood at the moment and she wasn't feeling very reserved, however; she knew her place and it wouldn't be good to draw unnecessary attention to her family...no matter how much she wanted to punch someone.
Leo shruggedâeating sounded fine. It wasnât necessary for her to do so, but her mom had never been able to give up cooking, and especially not baking, so her system was a little more used to food than that of most vampires. She even enjoyed it, in small quantities. Spotting something new across the street, she gestured to it. âItalian?â There seemed to be a consensus that it was at least worth a try, and so the three made their way over to it, and they were just sitting down when something fluttered to the groundâa folded piece of paper, it looked like.
âOh hey Rica, I think something fell out of yourâŠâ Leo bent to retrieve the object, but had trailed off upon recognizing the handwriting. âPocket,â she finished, her tone rather more gleeful than before as she scanned the words. Her smile, which had been slight, morphed into a foxlike thing, the mischievous twinkle in her eye making her cousin quite aware that sheâd read the whole note. As soon as they sat down and the waiter had taken their order for drinks, she read it again, and couldnât stop the laughter that bubbled up from her diaphragm.
âOh my god, heâs so hopeless. And you, Rica, youâre worse!â she exclaimed, trailing off in another fit of giggles.
Yuki had sat down, Leora between her and Alarica, and had been sipping her water when Leora suddenly dissolved into giggles. Yuki raised a slight eyebrow, leaning over to read the note in her cousin's hand. Her brows furrowed as she recognized Balthasar's handwriting.
She then looked at Leora. "I don't get it, what's so funny? And why are they...hopeless?" She knew very well that her brother sometimes had difficulty with others, but then, it was the same way she herself was, and their father, too.
Alarica shrugged her shoulders at Leora's suggestion, and the three of them made their way towards the restaurant. She had failed to notice the note that Balthasar had given her, peeking out of her coat pocket before it fell out completely. Alarica stopped in her spot as Leora stated something, and as she turned with a raised brow, her face immediately drained from its color. Leora held the note in her hands, her lips quirking up into a mischievous grin. Immediately, Alarica's face was a light pink color. When they sat down, their orders taken, she immediately snatched the note from Yuki's grasp as it found its way to Yuki.
"That is none of your business Leo! And I am not worse," she stated, unable to stare her cousin in the eye as her bottom lip puckered out a bit,the equivalent of a pout forming on her face. She could hear the whispers around her and immediately she sent the nearby customers a glare. It wasn't their fault really, but Leora was touching a subject that was extremely sensitive to Alarica. "Besides, it's just a letter about the damn apples that were outside my room that morning. There's nothing wrong with that," she added, folding her arms against her chest.
Her eyes traveled to Yuki when the snow-haired girl popped the question about what was funny. "It's nothing Yuki, Leo's just having a bit of fun," she stated, shooting Leora a look in the process. So help her, she loved her cousin, she really did, but if she told Yuki about Balthasar...the restaurant might have a bit of an accident, so to speak. Leora was the only person who knew of Alarica's feelings for Balthasar, and it would only make things more awkward if his sister knew as well. She would have told Yuki herself, but there was a light fear that she would tell Balthasar, though she knew Yuki would never do that.
Oh, she was a horrible person, but she was having just as much fun as Rica was accusing her of. And at least she was going to spread it around. âWell, Yuki⊠you know how you kinda feel funny flutters in here when my brotherâs around, or get embarrassed when heâs just a little too close to you?â The smile was still there, and she raised a hand to place over her heart, to indicate the here she was talking about. Nodding with false seriousness, she found she couldnât keep it up for long and smiled again anyway. âItâs a little bit like that.â Seriously, though, she was doing them a favor by pushing like this. Sure, Zero might take care of the pushing on his own, but he was kind of stupid, and if Yuki didnât know how she felt by then, things could go poorly.
Ricaâs problem was the opposite: Balthasar would never guess how she felt about him, and even if he did, he wouldn't do anything about it as long as she continued to act like she hated his guts. For someone who was so direct about everything else, Alarica was so obtuse about Al, and Leo knew exactly why that was. The reason was even dumber than Balthasar himself. Somehow, Rica had developed a single-target inferiority complex. Leo didnât get itâher cousin was amazing, but sometimes amazing people needed to be reminded. Far be it from Leo to do this in the normal wayâoh no, sheâd prod and tease until they got it themselves. That was much more her style.
Yuki looked absent-mindedly at Rica when she snatched the note back; Yuki had barely read the first line. Her face remained quite placid as Leora began to speak, however; the longer her cousin spoke, the more horrified her face became. Soon, Yuki was almost as red as the cherry, gloss-finished wood of the table they sat at.
"I-i...I don't...it's n-not like....oh..." She wasn't able to do much more than stutter a bit before burying her face in her hands, trying to hide. Why did Leora have to bring up Zero? It had been bad enough when Aryan had actually left the room earlier when she'd entered after her English session with the aforementioned male. Her brother's behavior was also something she did not understand. She really was not good with emotions, she'd never been. Even now, after one hundred years, she sometimes had difficulty expressing just how much she loved her step-father. That, at least, was easily delt with, she knew that Jasper understood, so it was unnecessary for her to say so.
Still rather unable to speak, Yuki did the next best thing as she blushed furiously behind her hands. Please stop, Leora...
If it were possible, Alarica would have found away to dissolve into a puddle of water and just disappeared. Her face, once a light pink in color, had turned a darker shade. Though her face was one of embarrassment, her lips were tilted down in a frown. "Leo, don't," she started to protest, but it was far too late. Her cousin began explaining it to Yuki, and for once, Alarica tilted her head with a raised brow. Yuki liked Zero? She covered her mouth with her hand slightly, stifling the laugh that was threatening to escape her. It seems she wasn't the only one who was having difficulty with that.
"Well, at least you don't have anything to worry about then Leo," she retorted to her cousin. She didn't know if Leora had anyone in mind, and if she did, Leora hid it well. She sighed softly, her face cooling down in the process as she played with the straw to her drink. "Maybe it'd be best if I just...," she started but shook her head. How could she pretend that she didn't like (was that even the right word?) Balthasar? At least with Yuki, though the girl might not realize it, Zero's feelings were reciprocated. That much she knew. Her cousin had confided in her once about it, and she had returned the gesture.
Leora sighed. It wasnât fun anymore when Yuki said it like that. Honestly, was her entire family emotionally stunted? It seemed like she was the only one who saw clearly the threads connecting them all⊠the red strings, if one wanted to use such a metaphor. It was a good thing, tooâwith how completely incompetent all of them were with their own emotions, they were going to need the help. Still, she shook her head and smiled.
âFine, fine, Iâll stop. Just donât blame me when your silliness doesnât work out for you. Both of them are rather popular with women, you know.â She doubted it was a legitimate concernâZero wasnât interested in anyone but Yuki, though his mouth might occasionally make someone think otherwise, the way he teased. And Balthasar⊠it would take a very forward woman for him to even register that someone was interested in the first place. Though she did worry about that a little. As far as she could tell⊠he was not actually in love with Rica, and she couldnât blame him for not falling when the girl avoided him like it was her religion.
Still⊠red string, right? It would all work out in the end. She glanced over at her cousins, blinking speculatively. âŠMaybe.
âWell, ladies?â she said with the subtle lift of an eyebrow. âWhere to next?â This little excursion had proceeded under the term reconnaissance, as it was in the town slated to be attacked in a few days, but actually they were just enjoying themselves. It was tradition for the three of them to try and get away from the boys and the school at least once a month, and they always found different ways to do it. Theyâd been to the arcade, a beach a few hours away, the nearest large city⊠once, Rica had even dragged them along to try something humans called âcow-tipping.â It was a very strange thing, and Leo almost felt sorry for the poor cows, but it had been new to her.
Some humans walked by them on the sidewalk, and Leo could feel the eyes on them from behind her. Okay, so maybe they werenât totally anonymousâvampires were still a bit⊠noticeable for their looks, and three of them clustered in one spot was not going to go without notice. Leo rolled her eyes and turned around, catching the eyes of one such ogler and smiledâmaliciously. That seemed to render the person confused, but he was at least aware of what he was doing now, and cast his eyes away. She sighed through her nose. She was aware that they had evolved this way because it made feeding easier, but it really got annoying when you didnât want to feed on humans anyway.
Yuki shot a slight glare at one of the younger men who she felt staring at her, the ice in her gaze enough to make him blush and quickly move on. She knew she often didn't help matters by wearing what she wore, her stomach exposed, but she wore what she did because she liked it. She glanced at her cousins. "Well, we could always get something to eat."
Like her twin cousins, Yuki had a more human-like digestive system, though the reasons for this were largely speculated. Yuki didn't want to know, either. There was a lot about herself she was more comfortable not knowing about, and she knew exatly how Helen felt in that regard. She still had nightmares sometimes, memories she thought she'd buried cropping up every now and again. She'd learned some more darker things about herself that she didn't like, but tried her best to ignore.
Alarica sighed softly through her nose, her eyes roaming about as she tilted her head to the side, popping and stretching her neck in the process. Somehow, she managed to be dragged into town with her cousins, Leora and Yuki, to go shopping, something the three of them were not particularly fond of, but necessary nonetheless. She glanced towards Leora through the corner of her eyes as she asked for their next destination. She thought about it for a minute before Yuki suggested a place. Something to eat? Now that she thought about it, it was getting roughly close to lunch time and she hadn't really eaten anything (besides an apple) that morning.
"Sounds acceptable. We can go to the restaurant that just opened up a few blocks from here," she stated, choosing to ignore the looks they were being sent. She was aware of their genetic make-up, and that alone made them appealing to humans, however; it was something that irritated her to no end. She wanted to maim the nearest human that was still glancing at them, something dark flashing behind their eyes. She sent them a glare, void of everything, but that did not seem to deter the group. She rolled her eyes in the process.
"Humans are lucky enough we are not allowed to harm them, otherwise a few of them might be missing eyes," she stated in a low enough voice so that only Leora and Yuki could hear. She wasn't in a particularly good mood at the moment and she wasn't feeling very reserved, however; she knew her place and it wouldn't be good to draw unnecessary attention to her family...no matter how much she wanted to punch someone.
Leo shruggedâeating sounded fine. It wasnât necessary for her to do so, but her mom had never been able to give up cooking, and especially not baking, so her system was a little more used to food than that of most vampires. She even enjoyed it, in small quantities. Spotting something new across the street, she gestured to it. âItalian?â There seemed to be a consensus that it was at least worth a try, and so the three made their way over to it, and they were just sitting down when something fluttered to the groundâa folded piece of paper, it looked like.
âOh hey Rica, I think something fell out of yourâŠâ Leo bent to retrieve the object, but had trailed off upon recognizing the handwriting. âPocket,â she finished, her tone rather more gleeful than before as she scanned the words. Her smile, which had been slight, morphed into a foxlike thing, the mischievous twinkle in her eye making her cousin quite aware that sheâd read the whole note. As soon as they sat down and the waiter had taken their order for drinks, she read it again, and couldnât stop the laughter that bubbled up from her diaphragm.
âOh my god, heâs so hopeless. And you, Rica, youâre worse!â she exclaimed, trailing off in another fit of giggles.
Yuki had sat down, Leora between her and Alarica, and had been sipping her water when Leora suddenly dissolved into giggles. Yuki raised a slight eyebrow, leaning over to read the note in her cousin's hand. Her brows furrowed as she recognized Balthasar's handwriting.
She then looked at Leora. "I don't get it, what's so funny? And why are they...hopeless?" She knew very well that her brother sometimes had difficulty with others, but then, it was the same way she herself was, and their father, too.
Alarica shrugged her shoulders at Leora's suggestion, and the three of them made their way towards the restaurant. She had failed to notice the note that Balthasar had given her, peeking out of her coat pocket before it fell out completely. Alarica stopped in her spot as Leora stated something, and as she turned with a raised brow, her face immediately drained from its color. Leora held the note in her hands, her lips quirking up into a mischievous grin. Immediately, Alarica's face was a light pink color. When they sat down, their orders taken, she immediately snatched the note from Yuki's grasp as it found its way to Yuki.
"That is none of your business Leo! And I am not worse," she stated, unable to stare her cousin in the eye as her bottom lip puckered out a bit,the equivalent of a pout forming on her face. She could hear the whispers around her and immediately she sent the nearby customers a glare. It wasn't their fault really, but Leora was touching a subject that was extremely sensitive to Alarica. "Besides, it's just a letter about the damn apples that were outside my room that morning. There's nothing wrong with that," she added, folding her arms against her chest.
Her eyes traveled to Yuki when the snow-haired girl popped the question about what was funny. "It's nothing Yuki, Leo's just having a bit of fun," she stated, shooting Leora a look in the process. So help her, she loved her cousin, she really did, but if she told Yuki about Balthasar...the restaurant might have a bit of an accident, so to speak. Leora was the only person who knew of Alarica's feelings for Balthasar, and it would only make things more awkward if his sister knew as well. She would have told Yuki herself, but there was a light fear that she would tell Balthasar, though she knew Yuki would never do that.
Oh, she was a horrible person, but she was having just as much fun as Rica was accusing her of. And at least she was going to spread it around. âWell, Yuki⊠you know how you kinda feel funny flutters in here when my brotherâs around, or get embarrassed when heâs just a little too close to you?â The smile was still there, and she raised a hand to place over her heart, to indicate the here she was talking about. Nodding with false seriousness, she found she couldnât keep it up for long and smiled again anyway. âItâs a little bit like that.â Seriously, though, she was doing them a favor by pushing like this. Sure, Zero might take care of the pushing on his own, but he was kind of stupid, and if Yuki didnât know how she felt by then, things could go poorly.
Ricaâs problem was the opposite: Balthasar would never guess how she felt about him, and even if he did, he wouldn't do anything about it as long as she continued to act like she hated his guts. For someone who was so direct about everything else, Alarica was so obtuse about Al, and Leo knew exactly why that was. The reason was even dumber than Balthasar himself. Somehow, Rica had developed a single-target inferiority complex. Leo didnât get itâher cousin was amazing, but sometimes amazing people needed to be reminded. Far be it from Leo to do this in the normal wayâoh no, sheâd prod and tease until they got it themselves. That was much more her style.
Yuki looked absent-mindedly at Rica when she snatched the note back; Yuki had barely read the first line. Her face remained quite placid as Leora began to speak, however; the longer her cousin spoke, the more horrified her face became. Soon, Yuki was almost as red as the cherry, gloss-finished wood of the table they sat at.
"I-i...I don't...it's n-not like....oh..." She wasn't able to do much more than stutter a bit before burying her face in her hands, trying to hide. Why did Leora have to bring up Zero? It had been bad enough when Aryan had actually left the room earlier when she'd entered after her English session with the aforementioned male. Her brother's behavior was also something she did not understand. She really was not good with emotions, she'd never been. Even now, after one hundred years, she sometimes had difficulty expressing just how much she loved her step-father. That, at least, was easily delt with, she knew that Jasper understood, so it was unnecessary for her to say so.
Still rather unable to speak, Yuki did the next best thing as she blushed furiously behind her hands. Please stop, Leora...
If it were possible, Alarica would have found away to dissolve into a puddle of water and just disappeared. Her face, once a light pink in color, had turned a darker shade. Though her face was one of embarrassment, her lips were tilted down in a frown. "Leo, don't," she started to protest, but it was far too late. Her cousin began explaining it to Yuki, and for once, Alarica tilted her head with a raised brow. Yuki liked Zero? She covered her mouth with her hand slightly, stifling the laugh that was threatening to escape her. It seems she wasn't the only one who was having difficulty with that.
"Well, at least you don't have anything to worry about then Leo," she retorted to her cousin. She didn't know if Leora had anyone in mind, and if she did, Leora hid it well. She sighed softly, her face cooling down in the process as she played with the straw to her drink. "Maybe it'd be best if I just...," she started but shook her head. How could she pretend that she didn't like (was that even the right word?) Balthasar? At least with Yuki, though the girl might not realize it, Zero's feelings were reciprocated. That much she knew. Her cousin had confided in her once about it, and she had returned the gesture.
Leora sighed. It wasnât fun anymore when Yuki said it like that. Honestly, was her entire family emotionally stunted? It seemed like she was the only one who saw clearly the threads connecting them all⊠the red strings, if one wanted to use such a metaphor. It was a good thing, tooâwith how completely incompetent all of them were with their own emotions, they were going to need the help. Still, she shook her head and smiled.
âFine, fine, Iâll stop. Just donât blame me when your silliness doesnât work out for you. Both of them are rather popular with women, you know.â She doubted it was a legitimate concernâZero wasnât interested in anyone but Yuki, though his mouth might occasionally make someone think otherwise, the way he teased. And Balthasar⊠it would take a very forward woman for him to even register that someone was interested in the first place. Though she did worry about that a little. As far as she could tell⊠he was not actually in love with Rica, and she couldnât blame him for not falling when the girl avoided him like it was her religion.
Still⊠red string, right? It would all work out in the end. She glanced over at her cousins, blinking speculatively. âŠMaybe.