Altered Illusions (Ch.3)
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Staring at myself in the mirror, I’d come to a very clear conclusion.
I hated this uniform.
It was too tight on the top. The skirt might as well have a hoop under it and these shoes were an atrocity.
Sighing, I slipped on some brown boots. Maybe no one will notice or care that it’s not technically dress code. Kou wears white boots… but he’s also pretty famous so he can probably get away with it. I did my makeup and checked the clock. The boys should be eating dinner. Right now, I wasn’t sure I could stomach anything.
I walked out into the hall, seeing Yui. Again, she turned a little pale when her eyes landed on me. With no one around, I asked, “Do you know me?” I had this nagging feeling that she had to know something.
Yui couldn’t look me in the eyes. “No. I don’t. I’m sorry.” Before I could stop her, she’d gone into the dining room where I could hear Kou and Yuma arguing over food. I squeezed my fists. Dammit! She knows something.
Standing in front of the big windows that overlooked the backyard, I let my mind reel. It bothered me that I couldn’t remember. I had thought maybe I’d had some kind of accident and the memories were lost forever, but now I knew that was false. My memories had been taken from me. My father had the keys and I wanted them back.
Two arms slid around my waist and Kou rested his chin on my shoulder. “Are you worried about your first day?”
“A little.” I lied with a half-smile. Going to school with humans didn’t appeal to or worry me. I had plenty of self-control, but telling Kou about recovering my memories would only end in a fight. I was on my own.
Kou kissed my cheek. “It’ll be fun. We’ll have classes together and we can always sneak off for secret make out sessions in empty dark rooms with the thrill of almost getting caught.”
I tried to make it sound like I was extremely excited about it, but I couldn’t tell if it worked. My mind was lost on the memories trail. Azusa got picked to stay behind with Yui. She still wouldn’t look in my direction. What was she hiding? Angry, I glared at her. Tonight, I’m going to make her talk. I’m a pureblood vampire and I’ll be damned if some human girl is going to ignore me.
Kou opened the passenger side door for me of the SUV. They talked on the way, but all I could do was stare out the window at the passing world…
My shoes dug into the pavement, scooting in the wrong direction. This isn’t right! Why is he taking me away again? Pushing my feet down harder, I leaned forward, trying to get the momentum forward instead of backwards. No luck. The man’s grip on my arm held solid. “Mother please!” I cried out, tears blurring my vision.
My mother folded her arms and no sympathy came from her. She raised up her head. “Good girls do as their told, Leiko. Crying only means you’re weak and need a lesson. I’ve no time to deal with you. Richter will oversee you.”
She never wanted anything to do with me. I longed for someone to come save me… who I couldn’t be sure… maybe just anyone. I sniffed, still trying to stop crying. Weak. I’m so weak. No one will ever want the weak little girl who cries so much.
“Stop that this instant!” Mother snapped, striking me across the face. Had Richter not been holding my arm, I might have fallen.
He stopped her from doing it again. “Enough, Cordelia. Leiko will be perfectly fine in my care.” It didn’t feel fine. Something about him made me afraid. I don’t want to go. Don’t make me go, mother. Those unspoken words echoed in my head.
The memory comes and goes but at the end, I can barely remember seeing someone in the bushes. Blurry, but someone saw. I hated that memory. It always made me sick to my stomach. That man was not good. Something about him left a bad taste in my mouth.
“You okay?” Kou asked, breaking my concentration. He swerved around another car and into the parking lot. This boy could not drive for the life of him. It was a wonder he hadn’t wrecked yet.
I stopped rubbing my neck where it burned. Muttering a response, I slipped out of the car when he’d parked. There were a lot more students that I imagined. Inside, we parted was. I had my first class alone, which I was grateful for the solitude.
The only seat open was in the back, next to a redheaded boy who had his head down. Taking a deep breath, I slid into the seat. Maybe this was a bad idea. I don’t need school. Wait. Sitting straight up, my eyes flickered to the boy. Vampire. Pureblood. No one told me other vampires attended this school.
He must have had the same thought. His head snapped up and green eyes met my purple ones. Whatever snarky remark he had prepared halted and he said, “Leiko?”
“Do I know you?” How does he know my name? My guard went up. It’s never good when they know your name.
He stood, grabbing my arm and teleporting us into the corner of an empty hallway. “Don’t play stupid with me! Where the hell have you been? We thought you might be dead!”
I shoved him back. “I don’t know you! Back off!” Something about him felt familiar, confusing me.
Hurt registered in his face. “You really don’t remember?” When I shook my head, he said, “I’m Ayato, your brother.”
I blinked. Brother? “I’m sorry. I don’t remember any of my past…” Why do I want to hug him? Reigning the urge in, I dug my nails into my palms. Focus.
Ayato ran his hand through his hair. “How do you not remember?”
Students began to pour out of the classrooms. I backed up out of sight when Ruki came out. “We can’t talk here. It’s not safe.” Is this way father wouldn’t let me go to night school? Whatever the reason, I knew that I couldn’t trust Ruki. He’d disapprove and he’d tell on me. I didn’t need that right now… because I believed Ayato. I knew I had trusted him in the past.
Ayato took my hand and teleported us up to the roof. “You really don’t remember?” He asked, watching me like I might disappear.
“No… everything before my time with the Mukami’s is fuzzy.”
“Those damn half breeds! Leiko…” Every time he said my name, I felt a longing… for what I wasn’t sure. “Come home with me.”
Home… I’d never had a home for as long as I could remember. Before I’d lived with the Mukami’s, I’d been working for my father and moving around a lot. And when I did settle in with them, it had never felt like a home. But I… “I can’t… I need to sort all this out.”
A mixture of anger and confusion crossed his features but before he could speak, someone else appeared beside him. Vampire too. “Let her go, Ayato.”
He had the same green eyes, but more orange than red hair, and a fedora set loosely on top of his head. They must be related… does that make him my brother too? I only stared for a few seconds before teleporting down the road in front of the school. The house was a long way from here. Sliding off my shoes, I ran. Being a vampire had its perks. My stamina was amazing. It took half the time it would have taken a human to get there.
I paced in the foyer. One of your brothers… Are there only two of them? Why can’t I remember at all? Squeezing my eyes shut, I rubbed my temples. It’s all there. I can feel it. A wave of nausea flooded over me.
“Please don’t!” I had my hands out in front of me to keep my distant from them. “I don’t want this.” Panic has settled in. My eyes darted around the room, trying to keep an eye on all four of them. Why are they doing this to me?
The room was a laboratory, filled with human corpses in various stages of decomposition. The smell alone overwhelmed my senses. Ruki. Yuma. Azusa. Kou. They were all here. They were what I was distancing myself from.
“Leiko, just calm down.” Kou frowned liked he did when he was annoyed… when he wasn’t getting exactly what he wanted.
This was wrong. I could feel every inch of my body telling me so. No. It screamed. “Leave me alone.”
“This is the only way. You have to forget again. It’s the only way,” Azusa said, reaching out for me. Trust no one.
My back hit the wall. The only option was to fight my way out. I was the pureblood, but I could really hurt them if I did. Hesitation was my mistake. Kou and Yuma came at me together, holding me strong until Ruki walked up, a syringe attached to a bottle of liquid.
I had dropped to my knees like someone had just knocked the wind out of me. Taking heavy breaths, I untangled my fingers from hair. My head turned to look at the four boys all standing by the door after Kou called my name. Alarm was written on his face. They did this.
“What the hell did you do to me?”
