Carpe Noctem - Ch. 29
AU; Chapter 29 - Hinc Itur Ad Astra
This was going to be the last chapter, but then…things got out of hand… Maybe next time. In the meantime, enjoy old vampires being petty.
~6400 words
Even conscious, Daiba stuck close. He didn’t cling as much, but he followed me or Harlock around wherever we went. When I asked him why he had any interest in me when we’d just met a few days before, he stared and cocked his head to the side.
“I don’t know,” he answered as I was starting to feel anxious under his gaze. “Anyway, we’re the same blood, so it’s normal.”
I wasn’t so sure, but he had some centuries on me. He would know more about being a vampire. Plus, I learned right away that arguing with Daiba was pointless.
I had hoped he would have found somewhere else to sleep once he was back to himself. Sure, the ship was full, but Harlock’s offer to get him his own bed was shot down.
“I can sleep with you,” he said.
“Well, it’s just, Yama and I are getting married,” Harlock attempted. Actually, we were already married, but we hadn’t mentioned that to anyone else.
Daiba gave him the same stare he gave me, eyes sharp and obstinate. “Yeah?”
Harlock and I both had to back down. I wasn’t sure how to handle him when he wasn’t feral, and Harlock looked far too stressed to go into detail.
I didn’t mind him sharing our bed exactly, but I couldn’t press myself to Harlock with him between us. I liked Daiba. I really did. He was cute and sweet and usually grumpy for no reason, but I just… I…
I really needed some alone time with my husband.
But I couldn’t just kick Daiba out, not after all he’d been through, not after he woke us both up with desperate sobs and gasps for air. I was so startled and groggy at the time that I could only watch as Harlock tried to reach out for him, only for Daiba to scream and cower against me. Harlock froze. Pain bled into his eye. He was blaming himself again.
“Daiba,” I called, as I wrapped my arms around him. He trembled as though fighting off the cold, his gaze lost to the past. “You’re alright. We’ve got you. You’re on the Arcadia. No one’s going to hurt you.” I breathed whatever comforts I could and rocked him until exhaustion claimed him, and he fell back asleep.
If he remembered what happened when we woke again at nightfall, he didn’t want to talk about it. He rolled out of bed, stretching every-which-way like a cat in a sunbeam. “I’m thirsty,” he grumbled as usual. “Can we go get some fresh blood today? I’m tired of this gross, stored stuff.”
“No,” Harlock said, not bothering to hide how his eye flicked over Daiba. “Scouts say Promethium will arrive today. We’re not going anywhere. I want everyone to be prepared”
“Prepared for what?” I asked.
He breathed a near-silent sigh before answering. “War.”
Daiba remained unfazed, but surely he felt my heart hammering. “War!?” I squawked. “What for?”
Harlock shook his head. “It’s just a precaution, Yama. It’s unlikely anything will happen, but I won’t take any chances. Promethium doesn’t like having to split her power with the other lords. She’s been vying for control longer than I’ve been alive, and I’m certain Faust was in her pocket. I took away some of her control, and she won’t be pleased with me. I won’t lie to you. She is intimidating. Try not to let her get the best of you. Avoid her if you can. I doubt I’ll have anything to say to her in private, so you shouldn’t need to carry any messages to her second either. I’m just hoping the meeting will be quick.”
“It had better be,” Daiba said. His shoulders were scrunched by his ears, his arms crossed. It would be the first time he’d be away from us both since Harlock found us.
Again, I found Harlock examining him as though he were a book that could be read. A sense of unease hit me, creeping up my spine and scratching at my chest. Just as I started to say how we should go up to deck, Harlock spoke over me.
“Daiba, I need to know what happened when you were held captive.”
Daiba’s expression flipped to a snarl. His eyes never left the floor as he spoke, icy and slow. “I don’t remember.”
When even I could tell he was lying, he was doing a bad job.
Harlock took a step toward him. “Daiba-”
“You don’t need to know,” Daiba corrected him. When his eyes snapped up, they pinned Harlock’s feet to the floor. “And I don’t remember, so it doesn’t matter now.” He spun on his heel and snagged me by the wrist. “Come on, Yama, I’m starving.”
I felt I needed to say something. “Ah, but-!” But what? I had nothing to fix the rift between them. In the end, I let myself be led away as Harlock remained in the room, looking as though he didn’t know where he was.
Daiba settled us both in the galley, his glare now fixed on the table. Tadashi served us our glasses between games of chasing Mii-kun from the kitchen. One round, my cat somehow carried out as fish as Tadashi threatened his life. Judging by the yells from the hall, Meowdar came to my cat’s rescue.
As I leaned toward the open door, trying to see what was going on, Daiba spoke with a melancholy in his voice that sliced through my heart. “Captain just wants to hurt himself,” he said. “Only wants to know what happened so he can wallow in guilt.”
I looked back to find Daiba swirling the blood around in his glass, his eyes showing his age for the first time. “I think he just wants to know about his brother,” I said. “He didn’t realize there was anything left of Dick. Maybe he just wants to…” I let the thought trail off as Daiba shook his head.
“He wants to know what happened to me. Even if I told him about when Dick was aware and in control, that would only hurt him more. He just wants to blame himself, and I won’t let him.”
Swallowing my anxiety, I asked the question I wanted the answer to as well. “How much do you remember?”
“Everything,” he whispered.
That wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be possible because it was too painful. Daiba didn’t deserve something like that. “What?” I asked, fighting to keep my voice down. “But when you’re feral-”
“I’ve always remembered. I remember how I died too, but Captain didn’t want to hurt Dick, and I didn’t want to hurt either of them. When Captain lied, I went along with him. It was for the best. Well, I guess it wasn’t. We should have been more careful with Dick.
“After Gido captured me, I didn’t last long conscious. It was killing people that made me lose it. I couldn’t handle it, so I let myself go feral. At first, it was like I was sleeping. It was like I’d let someone else take over, but then I realized I could open my eyes. The other me still controlled my body. I always felt I could take back over if I wanted to, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. There were only a couple times…”
His features softened with sorrow. I didn’t like the way sadness looked on him. Anger fit him, but this felt wrong. “Sometimes Dick would try to apologize to me,” he continued. “He’d go up to the bars of the cage and let it melt his skin just so he could reach through and try to touch me. My feral side would back away, afraid of Gido, but I would take over enough that I could go up to him. It was exhausting, though. I couldn’t maintain it for long. And it didn’t make a difference if Gido had hypnotized me.”
He looked back to me. “Do you remember? I was the one who tried to kill you. I was the one who threw holy water on Tadashi.”
My eyes shot wide. “I-I didn’t see,” I stammered. “I never realized… But it wasn’t you! You were under Gido’s control.”
Daiba finished his drink and continued frowning as he set the glass down. “Gido really liked that idea,” he said, “using Harlock’s old newblood to kill his new one. Glad it didn’t pan out. I wouldn’t have been able to forgive myself if I’d hurt you.”
But the look in his eyes was the same as Harlock’s. He did blame himself. For what, I couldn’t imagine, but I put my arms around him and pulled him close just like when he had the nightmare. “You protected me, Daiba,” I whispered into his hair. He smelled much like Harlock with a dusty tinge like charcoal. “I was so scared, but you did your best to comfort me and keep me safe. Thank you for that. I don’t care what happened when you were under his control. None of that was your fault. In my eyes, you’ve done nothing but take care of me.”
His hands balled into the back of my shirt as he buried his face in my shoulder. “Yama,” he whispered, his voice trembling. “Come back, okay? You and Captain both. I’m so scared I’ll wake up back in that cell again. I’m so scared you’re a dream.”
He was more nervous about the meeting than I was. My poor little Daiba. “We’ll be right back, safe and sound,” I said, pulling back so he would raise his head. Placing my hands to his cheeks, I pressed my forehead to his. “See? I’m right here. I’ve got you. While we’re gone, you make sure Tadashi doesn’t kill my cat, alright?”
His brows knit as he looked me in the eye, and a spark of determination flashed in his gaze.
I thought it was a good sign until he tilted his head and kissed me.
“Don’t be nervous, Yama. You already know most of the other lords, and they’ll keep things together.”
Still, he kept fidgeting, rubbing his hand across his mouth and leaning from one foot to the other. I was starting to worry I shouldn’t have put so much pressure on him by making him my second.
“Yama, if you-”
He finally looked at me for the first time since nightfall, his heart hammering in my chest. “Daiba kissed me,” he said.
Wait.
I blinked at him as he stood there looking ready to lose his mind. “Is that what you’ve been worried about?” I asked.
“Yes!”
He yelled loud enough that the other lords across the deck glanced over for a moment. We had to meet on Promethium’s daunting ship, as she was the eldest among us, but there was a palpable tension from every one of us.
And then there was Yama, red-faced with his hands slapped over his mouth.
“I’m kind of surprised it took Daiba this long,” I said. “He’s not good at hiding his feelings. He clearly loves you.”
Yama leaned in close and lowered his voice. “But he kissed me. We’re married, Harlock.”
This time all the other lords stared at me as I broke into a laugh. “I suppose we haven’t set ground rules, so it makes sense for you to be so nervous. If you don’t want him to kiss you anymore, just let him know, but I’m not opposed to you two exchanging affection. If you didn’t notice how Wataru and his wife acted, many vampires have open relationships. I can’t say I like the idea of sharing you with any strangers, but I’d be happy if you and Daiba were close. You’re the only person I’ve ever seen able to control him at all.”
Yama stood limp like a stringless puppet. Perhaps this was too much for the church boy’s mind all at once.
“So you’re not mad?” he asked.
“No. Do you want me to be?”
“No.”
“Would you be interested in pursuing a relationship with Daiba, or did you need me to tell him to back off?”
The more he thought about it, the more his expression became troubled. I was starting to think he wasn’t in the best mindset to join the meeting. I would need to calm him down quickly. As much as I would have liked to do so by drowning him in affection, this wasn’t the place for it. Seemed I didn’t have any place for it as of late.
“I don’t know,” he finally answered. “I just met Daiba. And isn’t that being unfaithful?”
“Not if I know about it and say it’s fine. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, Yama. Except this meeting. We both have to do this.”
He took a deep breath and released it with a sigh, allowing the tension to ease from his shoulders. “You’re right,” he said.
“I know. I’m always right.”
That got an unimpressed glare out of him. I had to fight not to smile, but he must have seen the amusement in my face regardless. “So how much longer will we be waiting up here?” he asked, crossing his arms. “She’s already had us waiting for ages.”
“Her second said they were setting up the meeting room. She may just be getting dressed. I don’t know.” Promethium had always been one for dramatics. Every time I’d seen her, she wore a crown made of some shining red stone and a dress dark as the void. Rumor had it that she had been a queen of some old empire as a human, but I had a feeling she started that rumor herself.
“That was her second?” Yama asked. “The one with the weird green hair? How is his hair that color anyway? Are there people with green hair?”
“I hear dryads have green hair. Maybe he’s part fae. Who knows?”
Judging by the way his fingers were tapping in annoyance, Yama didn’t believe me. There was still much I needed to show him.
“Or he could dye it,” I said, “but yes, Wataru informed me earlier that he’s Promethium’s second - Daisuke Yamori.” He reminded me a bit of Daiba with the fluffy hair and annoyed expression. He had a few inches on Daiba though.
“Wataru said he’s got quite the temper,” I added, “so try not to pay him too much mind. If anyone bothers you, I’ll step in.”
Yama muttered something about how he could handle himself, and truly, if anyone was going to draw any ire, it would be my father. In the few meetings I’d attended, he’d always gotten the most glares, even when we all hated Promethium far more.
But while I was at it, it seemed like a good idea to do some proper introductions.
“Just so you’re not going in blind, Wataru is known for becoming furious at these meetings.” I glanced toward him so Yama would follow my gaze to where my brother stood. “If he goes quiet and you can feel his heart strongly, that’s our cue to avoid him. I’ve never seen him use that boy Bulge as a second before, so I can’t speak for how he’ll act. Seems like a fairly loyal guard dog.
“My father doesn’t use a second.” Again, I used my eye to point to where he stood alone, leaning on the rail. “Likely what gets him in trouble, but he’s too honest to pass notes like a school child.
“You know Zero.” I nodded toward where he leaned against the mast. Emotions flashed like a storm in Yama’s eyes when he looked to the captain. “He doesn’t act much different at meetings. His second, Marina, is so by-the-book she may be the only one who tries to make the meetings run like meetings.”
I used a twitch of my head to gesture to the woman not far to my left. “That’s Emeraldas. I’m sure you’ve heard about her.”
Yama’s brows shot up as he looked at her. “She’s pretty,” he said. “Isn’t that Tochiro’s girlfriend or something?”
“Or something is more accurate,” I said. Tochiro stood at her side with starry-eyed awe. I would have gotten onto Yama for suggesting the two weren’t a good fit, but honestly, everyone reacted that way. “She won’t talk much, but she may make use of Tochiro as her second often. She likes to do everything behind Promethium’s back. I guess I should mention beforehand - don’t be surprised by how similar they look.”
“Why’s that?” Yama asked.
But I shook my head. I didn’t have time to get into family history, and even if I tried, Emeraldas would sense me telling stories that weren’t mine and would come kick me off the ship. Quite literally.
Yama didn’t press the question, though I could sense his curiosity. He would need to keep a handle on that. The meetings often brought out old grudges.
“The other two groups are wild cards for me,” I said. “The Kodais aren’t even oldbloods. I can’t imagine how Mamoru came to be a lord.” Though considering this was Mamoru’s first meeting as a lord, he may have just lucked into the title. I doubted he would hold it long.
“How can you tell?” Yama asked. “Everyone else always seems to know how old a vampire is. I don’t get it.”
“You’re still a bit young, but you learn to sense it in the air around them. You can feel how old they are by the way the air resonates. Even you’ll be able to feel it around Promethium. She’s ancient, but the Kodais hardly have an aura. I’m not certain they’ve hit their first century.”
“What about Leopard?” Yama asked. “He looks nervous.”
Nervous was a nice way of saying it. Leopard looked like he was close to passing out. Even from across the deck, I could see him trying to keep control of his breath. If he weren’t careful, Promethium would take advantage of his fear.
“It’s his first meeting as a lord,” I said. The first time I met him was as Promethium’s second, all hardened eyes and stiff posture. When he betrayed her, the whole vampire community buzzed with shock. I was still just amazed he’d come out of it alive.
The rest of us excepting Kodai had promised to look after him in the meeting, though we hadn’t told him as much.
“I don’t know his second,” I said before Yama could ask. He was an older-looking man with dark facial hair and a calm, stern demeanor. Perhaps he could keep Leopard stable.
Yama returned to fidgeting with his clothes, new formal wear we’d commissioned. I may have gone overboard, but the shimmering green fabric I’d insisted on for the vest looked so nice on him that I really wanted it off. He kept tugging at his sleeves though, trying to make everything look smooth.
I let him try to work out his nerves for a minute before I stepped in front of him and adjusted his vest and sleeves myself. “You look fine,” I said as I tucked a stray bit of his bangs behind his ear. “We should get you a haircut though. You’re starting to look like Daiba.”
“Like you have any room to talk,” he muttered. The soft smile that graced his features left me hard-pressed not to kiss him. I made do with returning to his side and pressing close to him. He let his hand fall, so I laced our fingers together and listened to the waves wash along the ship’s sides until Yamori reappeared on deck. He seemed to think he had somewhere better to be. “Come on,” he called. “Time to get started.” Without waiting to see if we’d follow, he headed back into the dark belly of ship.
I didn’t need to look around to see the annoyance the others had for him. Irritation radiated through the air despite Mamoru’s chirp of “He seems fun.”
Promethium had gotten a new ship since last I sat in on a meeting, but this one was just as much of a fortress as the last. The outside had a wall of cannons as long as the horizon. The inside looked a maze, though all we did was traverse the steps. Down and down into the belly of the beast.
Yama drew in a sharp breath when he must have sensed Promethium. She was like a weight against my chest, so I could only imagine how Yama felt. This whole show was for her own benefit - placing the meeting at the base of her ship, making us all walk in to find her already perched at the head of the table.
Her expression was too calm to give anything away, too cold for any shred of comfort.
Honestly, the whole thing just reminded me how annoying and boring the meetings were. I should have skipped out on this one like I always had before. Plopping down in the nearest seat of the massive, round table, I crossed my legs and wondered why there was never any wine at these things.
Wataru and my father bit the bullet and took the seats on either side of Promethium. Undoubtedly, no one else would touch them. That landed me with Mamoru on my right side and Leopard on my left.
Yama stood to my right, slightly behind me, following the example of all the other seconds. Poor Tochiro wasn’t much taller than the table, and Yamori still looked like he’d rather be napping. Couldn’t say I blamed him.
“It has been awhile since there were any new faces at a meeting,” Promethium said. She never let emotions touch her voice when she spoke. Maybe she didn’t have any. “And I cannot recall the last time we had so many new lords at once.”
“Phantom’s not really new,” Father offered.
“True,” she said. “Neither is Leopard.”
Through some impossible courage or combination of drugs and alcohol, Leopard maintained an even stare with her as she looked to him. Luckily, he didn’t have to hold it long as Mamoru made his chipper attitude known.
“I am actually new,” he said, chin in his hand as he leaned against the table. “I didn’t get to introduce myself to you yet, ma’am, but I’m Mamoru Kodai.”
“I see.”
Not put off by her response, Mamoru kept his smile. There was no way this boy had come across a Piece by legitimate means. Still, I found myself unable to dislike him, no matter how hard I tried.
Emeraldas cut off any further chatter in an even voice with an underscore of malice. “If the formalities are over, let us get to the matter at hand. Why did you call this meeting?”
“So many lords gathered in one area, and you expect me not to?”
“Surely you could make sense of what happened through your networks,” Wataru said. “Given that so many of us are of the same blood, I don’t find it unreasonable that we would meet.”
“Yes, three of you,” she said. “Four if you count the dead.”
My whole body bristled with the urge to snap at her. She couldn’t even bother to recall his name. Yama must have felt the angry pulse of my heart because his fingers brushed my arm - just for an instant as he raised his hand to swipe at his nose. Not as subtle as he may have hoped, but it was enough to calm me.
“But you involved others,” she continued, “and though Leopard now holds the Piece, I heard nothing of a proper challenge. It seems to me you overstepped your bounds as lords.”
Her eyes were on me now. Though she pretended to speak to all of us, she wanted me to answer. Fair enough. I would take her challenge.
“Gido initiated a challenge against myself, Wataru, and my father when he sent hypnotized men after us in an attempt to bring us harm.”
“And you have proof these men were hypnotized by him?” she asked.
“You think I wouldn’t recognize the work of my own blood?”
“A weak excuse. By all accounts, you used the other lords to corner and kill another without proper reason or procedure. That is overstepping your bounds.”
I sensed Susumu move to Yama’s side and heard him whisper something into my second’s ear, but I paid them no mind. “If you want the absolute truth,” I said, “Gido killed himself by sunlight. It was not my doing.”
“There is no proof of such allegations. Regardless, he would not have done so had you not intervened.” She loved going to bat for anyone if it meant getting another lord in trouble. She was gunning for an excuse to be allowed to execute me herself. That was the price of meddling in another lord’s affairs. The more she tried to corner me, the more my blood boiled. She knew nothing.
Before I could respond, Yama leaned in and whispered, “Mamoru wants to speak for you. I believe the quote was. ‘Let me shut her up.’”
If he wanted to dig his grave with me, I wouldn’t stop him. Curiosity more than anything led me to turn to him and nod. He flashed me a grin that eased to a polite smile as he looked to Promethium.
“Ma’am, I know the statues of the lords are considered high authority, but are you suggesting they trump the old laws that govern how sires may oversee their newboolds? I have read both written law sets, and the lord set says nothing on the matter of lords being of the same blood. Rather, it states that the old laws should not be trampled on in any way that would benefit the lords exclusively. And, well, old law makes it apparent that sires can kill their newbloods if the newbloods go berserk or are dangerous.”
Promethium said nothing. None of us had anything to say. Even Emeraldas couldn’t hide her surprise. The cogs in Father’s head were spinning as he tried to recall the old books. He and Promethium were the only ones I’d known to actually read them.
Damn, I did like this weird kid.
The hush over the room broke when Yamori yawned, and we remembered we were able to speak.
“What else is on the agenda?” Emeraldas asked.
Promethium snapped her eyes onto Zero like a set of fangs. “I was told you turned a hunter.”
Zero had just finished folding a piece of paper he handed to Marina. “I did,” he answered, his brows pinched.
“Why?” she asked. I wondered if she felt disdain or curiosity or anything at all.
“That is a long story, and while I see no reason why you should need to hear it, you have no need to be concerned of him. I’ll admit to my reasons being largely motivated by spite. I wanted him to have to experience being on the other side. He’s entirely harmless, though.”
The folded note moved to Wataru, who didn’t have anything to write with, so he used his fang to pierce the pad of his thumb. Using the blood like an inkwell, his fingernail scratched some response into the page, no doubt in some code.
“You don’t think he may inform other hunters of what he learns?” Promethium asked. “I do not fear him, but perhaps you should.”
“He can’t even walk,” Zero said. “If he still wants me dead after all that has happened and finds a way to kill me, so be it.”
The note skipped to Father, who must have forgotten the code because he stared at it for a while before responding. Then to Emeraldas. Then Leopard, who didn’t write anything. Then me.
As Promethium continued interrogating Zero, I unfolded the note. It was an old code, but it was a pirate code, explaining why Leopard couldn’t respond. Promethium considered herself above a pirate, and he’d served under her. Undoubtedly Zero had only allowed Leopard to look at the note to make sure she couldn’t decode it if she cared to.
As I skimmed the page, I fought to keep my face placid.
Why is this ship so quiet? Where is her crew?
She must have one. Did they make port and clear the ship?
What port could they have docked at? We would have seen them.
Perhaps she has kept them hidden on the ship to mask her numbers. She does not like to give away information. She may be expecting this meeting to end poorly.
Unprepared like the rest of my family, I responded as Wataru had - in my blood. Maybe she was hoping for a war and that was why she challenged me. If any of you had sided with me or challenged her, she may have considered that grounds to attack our ships.
I folded it back and handed it to Marina, who skipped over a disappointed Mamoru. I couldn’t rule out the possibility that Promethium would find another excuse to attack. She did seem to be stalling.
But Zero was getting tired of it. I doubted reading through our responses helped matters, but he did well to keep his expression even. “Honestly, Promethium, enough digging into my affairs,” he said. “We should move to a topic that actually matters, like passing some sort of law regarding the limits of hypnosis and punishments for going overboard. There are surely more vampires with abilities like Gido.”
“You speak out of turn,” she said.
“Not really. It was my turn to speak, and I was done with that topic. Until we can all agree on some mythical, unbiased moderator, I don’t see why we can’t start a new topic when it’s already our turn.”
People didn’t challenge Promethium often. I suppose Zero lost the ability to care when he lost his arm. Before she could cut into him with some lecture, I heard a whisper behind me. “Ah, my cat!”
My heart shot out of my chest when Promethium’s gaze flicked to Yama. I turned toward him in hopes that he would look to me, but he maintained Promethium’s stare. “Did you speak, Second?” she asked.
Yama should have looked frightened, but all I could piece from his quick heartbeat and reddened cheeks was embarrassment. Either he’d learned to be an actor overnight, or he didn’t realize what a mistake he’d made. Either way, he was killing me slowly. I was dying from stress. Yama needed to stop making a habit of that.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to say that out loud. I was just thinking that my cat is really finicky and unbiased. He would make a good moderator. You could have whoever is able to get him to come to them the one with speaking power.”
He still wouldn’t look at me, and I couldn’t speak out of turn as well, or Promethium would jump down my throat. Dammit, Yama, look at me! You’re killing me! You’re murdering your husband!
“Your…cat,” Promethium echoed.
With my focus on Yama, I saw his eyes go wide, so I turned back to Promethium.
She was smiling. Almost like a real person. It was just the smallest curl of her lips, but none of us could hide our surprise. Father kept blinking, and Emeraldas had one brow raised. If even the oldest among us had never seen this, I wasn’t sure whether to be happy for Yama or concerned for his life.
Perhaps it was all just a group hallucination. The smile vanished without a trace as she spoke again. “Second, is it true you were raised in a church?”
Yama’s brows pinched, but his voice remained even. “That’s right.”
“And you were a hunter?”
“I was raised to be a hunter, but I never became one. I didn’t have the stomach for it.”
“I see.”
Though I didn’t care for her sudden interest in Yama, there was little I could do. Seconds could contribute to meetings if called upon by another lord. Most of the other seconds appeared anxious at the prospect, except Yamori, who seemed to be counting the ceiling beams.
Second contributions were rarely more than a few words, never more than a simple clarification. Promethium’s next question caught me off guard enough that I had to bite my tongue to keep from interceding on Yama’s behalf.
“Do you believe hunters deserve to die for what they do to us?”
I would have killed to know what was going on in Yama’s head because his expression gave me nothing. His voice was firm as he responded. “I do not consider myself to have any say on who deserves to live or die.”
“Spoken like a true church boy,” Promethium said. “Who do you believe has this authority?”
“That’s an impossible question. Hunters believe they have the authority from god, and in-turn vampires take revenge against them in an endless cycle. It’s not just a problem between hunters and vampires either. Anyone can decide they have the authority to kill. The reality is that no one does. No one should have the ability to choose who lives or dies because if one of us does, we all do. I understand it is an impossible ideal, but it is the truth. Even if there is not a god, no one should try to take his role.”
Promethium eyed him for a few more tense seconds of silence. “Harlock,” she said, making my heart explode from shock. I was too old for this type of stress.
“Yes?” I responded.
“Your second is amusing. Keep him well.”
“I will,” I said automatically.
“I hear you’re getting married. Is that right?”
I didn’t know which way was up anymore. “That’s…right.”
“I suppose I can’t spoil a wedding, but make sure I’m invited.” She gave a nod as though in assent, like when Wataru let me keep a mutt I found on the street. Though I was uncertain what she intended, I felt she had decided to forgive me for today. I was allowed to breathe again.
Not that I wanted Promethium anywhere near my wedding, but if an invitation was all it took to hold back a war, I would live with it.
The rest of the meeting passed in its usual mind-numbing manner. Wataru grew so angry at my father’s suggestions on piracy laws that my brother sat fuming in silence for the rest of the meeting. Yamori somehow fell asleep while standing. Leopard managed to not hyperventilate when Promethium questioned him over how he would carry himself as a lord. For some reason, she didn’t ask Mamoru the same questions, though he needed a distraction from the way he was staring starry-eyed at Yama.
My attempt to send Yama over with a message that I would kill him if he didn’t stop had no effect. Then again, judging by the look Yama threw me, he didn’t carry the message faithfully.
By the time Promethium called the meeting to end, we all had to stretch the kinks from our backs. Yamori jolted awake when Promethium stood and the rest of us were filing out. I had to wonder why she kept him around. Must have been a good guard dog when things got heated.
Everyone separated with grumbles and sighs as we reached the deck. Zero was the only one who remained near Yama and me. “You’re lucky the younger boys were quick to save your ass,” he said.
He was right, but I didn’t need him lording it over me. “I suppose. I’m not sure what her interest in Yama was.”
Zero flashed one of his rare smiles. “I think she just likes cats. But I also think she’s curious about how the other side thinks and Yama pulled the rug out from under her a bit. I certainly wasn’t expecting an answer like that. Yama sure is…” Confusion tied his tongue for a moment as he looked over my shoulder.
I turned to find empty air where Yama had been. Across the deck, Mamoru had an arm draped across Yama’s shoulders and was saying something I needed to kill him for. I wasn’t close enough to hear what. I just knew he needed to die for it.
“Kodai!” I snapped, starting toward them. Zero sighed before trailing after me.
Susumu, who stood a few feet away as though trying not to be associated with his brother, still looked up alongside him.
“We’ve been over this!” I added when Mamoru didn’t let go of Yama.
For his part, Yama was caught somewhere between embarrassment and annoyance. He was tense as a breeze-blown sail and curling to the side much like one in an effort to get away from Mamoru.
That made it easy for me to snatch him away. Caught off balance, Yama stumbled into my chest with a squeak of surprise. I wrapped my arm around his back to hold him tight to me. The pounding of his heart pulsed in my head.
“He was just telling me about your upcoming wedding,” Mamoru said, flashing his usual smile. “Sounds like fun, but he doesn’t have any groomsmen picked out, and that’s tragic.”
“You’re not invited,” I said.
Mamoru’s grin broadened as Yama muttered into my shirt, “I already invited him.”
“He did save you back there, Harlock,” Zero added. “This is going to be one hell of a wedding, eh?”
The last thing I needed was half the damn vampire world at my wedding when half of them already hated me.
“Are you sure we can’t just have the war instead?” I asked.
Yama looked up at me with the least threatening pout I’d seen in my life. “No! We’re getting married, and I’ll make sure you write a letter to Promethium yourself. No wars!”
“I guess seeing you all dressed up as a groom will be worth it,” I sighed before leaning down to kiss him.
His angry retort became muffled whines until I pulled away to see him blushing so hard I could feel the heat radiating off his face.
“Nevermind,” he hissed. “We’re getting a divorce. I’m marrying Daiba.”
Smirking, I brushed another kiss to his forehead. “Your church doesn’t approve of divorces,” I breathed into his bangs, “so you’re stuck with me.”
“And you’re stuck with me!” he snapped.
“And I love you.”
With a huff, he pressed his face against my chest and grumbled a quiet, “Love you too.”