It had been a few days since the incident.
Returning home was probably the worst thing she held insecure feelings about. Even now, Megura was lying on her bed with her gaze on the ceiling of her dark bedroom. The only light illuminating her ceiling was the from the street of the city below.
Her father had just left the room earlier in the night, asking her questions about what happened. She couldn't answer him, but she knew he was outraged that someone would even attack her, especially since she wasn't defended at all. There was no one to blame though. She'd purposely ditched her escorts, running out to the car and by the time anyone caught up the building wasn't secured quickly enough.
In regards to her well-being, she had fed very little since the incident. Her stomach had almost completely mended, but an ugly scar formed in its place that the doctor claimed would go away if she only ate a little more. Somehow, she couldn't bring herself to do so. The idea of looking completely unscathed made her feel sick.
Still, the doctor's complaints weren't unheard. She had not been drinking enough as of recent to recover quickly and her dieting was abnormal, though there wasn't much that could be done about it. Faded scratches and bite marks littered up her arm and shoulder, leaving bandages in little places that would have otherwise been untouched by medical tape. Though, even still, the worst of all them was the stab wound that raked across her back.
It had torn open unceremoniously. The way the medical team spoke of it, she agreed that the blade used was probably built with teeth, meant to tear her skin in shreds. And due to her lack of feeding, this wound in particular had taken the longest for them to stitch. They had even opted for a synthetic skin to help mend it and a synthetic bond, akin to glue, just to keep it all together.
She was mangled badly and the blood had hardly washed out of her hair, not that she cared much anyways. She couldn't have a proper shower and she wasn't going to let anyone else do it for her. She'd refused the servants assistance and locked all but two out.
It wasn't like she meant to look like a victim. For the first few days, she hadn't even woken up to tell the tale. That was probably the most worrisome part that made everyone weary. For Megura had slumbered deeply, no matter how they disturbed her, for three whole days.
Daichi had to reassure her father she hadn't died. The doctors had no clue on how to handle, let alone address the situation. They were the only two vampires in the facility that had lived as long as anyone dating back to their arrival could remember. What could they do with a vampire, their princess, who was supposedly born immortal to begin with. While most others had suffered death from these types of wounds, even turned, she had only slumbered.
That was, until she woke up. It was eerie how silently she'd been throughout the remainder of the week.
"Sire," Daichi bowed to his master, Mr. Miyamoto himself. "I understand I shouldn't have left them alive. I had well intended to only do so because I had the intent for them to be interrogated fully. If it weren't for the po-"
"Enough." He raised a hand to him. He looked away from Daichi, placing his hand over his mouth slowly as he thought about his experiences and just exactly how this had all come down as it had.
"You've already explained to me why you did not take their lives enough times. I don't need to hear it again." He growled, cringing, trying to keep his voice from becoming a roar over the table of the clan members. He composed himself almost meticulously so as to keep his image together. "But what you haven't explained is this." His mouth turned down into a frown.
"My precious, beautiful daughter is riddled with scars. And from what I understand, at the hands of some human's weak attempt to kill her. Explain to me how you were so busy with your dealings at this event to not question that the places you let her frequent not be listed for heavy security."
Daichi knew the answer, but he also understood the ramifications of such an action. The head was merely attempting to keep his cool and he knew his master would understand if he were calm. Except now wasn't such an instance. "I know I couldn't possibly make up for this no matter how I explain it. I know excess forces all places would draw suspicion to our underground operations, but I should have been more attentive to her whereabouts especially since she is free to come and go as she pleases." He sighed.
"I was more focused on her well being at the time of the attack. I assure you," he frowned, his deepest sentiments were definitely in mind as he thought of his words carefuly. "Her health was my utmost concern. I promise I'll investigate their whereabouts. I'm almost certain that they did not stand alone but I assure you they could not have premeditated this any further than finding her at the warehouse."
He raised his gaze to Daichi and then looked to the rest. His gaze was cold, almost icy for a man as large as himself. He looked like an ex convict with his body as it was, muscular, well trimmed, but the only semblance of what would have been a tattoo was only a scar that ripped down his neck and over his shoulder as if someone had torn his skin off with a knife meant for carving leather.
"Then let this be a lesson to you all-" He stood up then. "Should you see any group wandering the city that resemble those three, I want them brought here immediately. Once they're identified, I want to be notified of their presence. Any reason they may have will become apparent to me once I've had my chance to figure their angle out. What is certain though, is that this town will bleed red even if the hospitals, morgues, every damnable piece of this city has to be torn apart. I don't care if you have to scrape their mangled and bloody corpses before me. No one gets around in my domain without paying dearly for it."
There was a long silence before everyone looked down. Then he sat down and everyone breathed in sharply before a resolute 'yes, my lord' came from the voices of the chairs sitting around him. Each family head took that order seriously and without a doubt, something would turn up for this or else everyone would feel rather incompetent.
"Dismissed," Mr. Miyamoto waved at them, turning his head away. "I need time alone."
The chairs clattered back before everyone got up. Daichi stood through the bodies that flooded past him and he watched him sit in his chair.
Shotaru remained. He walked up to him and quickly bowed. "I will make this up to you, my lord. I shall make up for my family's faults by providing you information swiftly," he frowned. As if he hadn't failed enough in his family. First Kentarou failed her.... Then this. "Forgive me, for not being by her side."
Daichi growled, but Miyamoto didn't regard Shotarou and for a brief moment he felt a little relieved. He hated to see them grovel, but he knew well everyone played a role in how this turned out. And now it was on them to figure out how to turn this all around.
He stepped out into the hall, walking back towards the elevator. It didn't take long to pass under the bright white lights that illuminated the gray walls of the vacant-looking hall. Only a single vase of dull pink flowers decorated the hall just before the elevator door.
Diachi pulled up his card key, sliding it over the front till it illuminated green and he pressed the button to go down. A low buzzing sound started up, making his ears twitch as he listened to it ding a few floors below before coming to him. This was a bleak week. He wasn't sure how else to feel for it, but he had been curious if Asami had seen any change in the boss' daughter.
When the doors opened, he stepped in and rode down to her floor where the clearance and security in and out was tight. Only a few could come down to this floor and he was relieved Shotaru had yet to be given clearance here. Being reassigned to guard her was probably the best opportunity he'd had in a long while as it had been granted away from him at one point, but once again he had been given the opportunity to be around her again.
Such fire she had always been. A stark contrast to the cold, calculating and argumentative world he lived in. Things had always been done with reserve, but she was always a passionate flame yet to be contained. It was refreshing to see her, if only he could have her too.
When he knocked at the door, it opened quickly and quietly. Asami was there of course. Her unnaturally silent movements - a typical nature of her's - had always been quick and resolute. "Be quiet." She told him, a warning but it was hard to discern if it weren't for how long they'd worked together.
He nodded, stepping in before coming over to her bedside. Sleeping again? He felt his throat tight and he reached over her head, lightly touching her cheek before lifting a lock of her hair out of the way. It almost stole his breath away. "They'll be found soon enough," he mumbled.
Daichi almost couldn't contain his deep sentiment for her, he truly couldn't love any other than her as she was a marvel that transcended human time. She was nearly flawless in her ravenous nature. Innocent and unaware to the real world but still very much vulnerable. And no one would understand that better than him.
The ignorance of his fellow clansmen knew nothing of her mind, but he'd watched her for years grow older though her body and mind remained relatively the same as if she was slumbering before life would whisk her away.
Still, it was interesting to observe her. To see how she strived for the utmost normalcy, privacy, and love that one such as herself couldn't attain yet somehow should have been just as capable. Funnily enough, all of it should have been within her privilege but these weren't things that were forced or bought. They were pure experiences. And that... That was why he yearned to save her the pain of attempting to imitate mortal life. She had everything yet it seemed as if she strived for more than the emptiness of needing nothing that wasn't already easily within her grasp.
Asami watched him with a cold calculative nature that she almost liked to boast. Her eyes cast down over him, watching him damn near grovel over their sleeping master's form. "I assure you, avenging her yourself does her no service. If the three of them manage to survive the onslaught you gave them, I'm certain they weren't just some stray gang of wolves and master. Surely they came from somewhere more organized." She grimaced, crossing her arms.
"I keep thinking it over, but to see a supposed lycan. I just-" he sighed. "I can hardly believe it, but they say if it wasn't a vampire or a ghoul, surely it was a lycan." He clenched his teeth, looking at her. "But I can't understand what they'd get from attempting to kill her."
"What if that wasn't the intent?"
"Then I'm at a loss because containing a vampire is a death sentence in and of itself and if they attempted some feat such as that here, they'd have to be unaware that a disappearing vampire can be all it takes for the city to completely turn upside down."
"Naturally," Asami commented, "putting a curled finger under her lip as the remaining tightened into a fist. She loked up at the ceiling, trying to imagine it. "Would it be Draguul?"
"Impossible. They're a rumor." Daichi sighed.
"Just because we've worked at the precinct for the last four years doesn't mean we've seen it all. If there was any ties to the government, it may be above our heads let alone our pay grades."
"We'll root them out, upturn whatever it is that's hiding and rip them from the comfort of their shadowed space." Daichi tightened his hands into fists before he stood up. He looked at her. "Do you have any ideas on where to start?"
"Several, but first you'd have to abandon that joke you call a partner."
"Smith?" He regarded her slowly.
"He's cocky, arrogant and trouble. I doubt he's got the connections necessary to aid our search. Let alone, he might blabber."
"He's sloppy enough that he doesn't question if I leave to investigate something."
"Of course," her voice was thick with sarcasm. She waved her hand before walking to the door. "I'm leaving to let her sleep. I'm sure she'll stir if we keep bantering, so I'm going to return to the precinct to finish some paperwork and start my investigation quietly. Don't interrupt me."
"As if I would." He told her darkly as the door to the room shut.
Megura's eyes opened slowly to look up at the ceiling and she parted her lips slowly before a low whisper seeped from the depths of her throat. "Is he okay?"
Daichi jerked, turning to look at her and he felt alarmed. Had she been awake the whole time? "Who?"
"The boy." She told him, her chest squeezing. "Shouji."
A sense of discomfort washed over him, especially since he was unaware of this boy she mentioned. A human she met? Where? Had he been that out of touch with her that he'd be unaware of her current affairs? Or was he the first and only to know. "I can find out." He offered.
"Please." She closed her eyes, thinking about it. "I left him behind..." She cleared her throat. "I wonder how he's doing."
"Is there a last name perhaps?"
"No, but I know one thing." She smiled a little, closing her eyes as she imagined his work. "He's quite the talented artist."