Who: William and Hayate
When: Late Night
Where: The Wine Bar
What: While William is getting his drunk on, he meets someone...interesting. (I'm just starting from square one, hope that's okay!)

"No, wait. Seriously! I was only serious about wondering about the pointy ears, not the threesome." Welp, there went two hot chicks. Turned out, weird looking, yet hot females had feelings too. William just wasn't getting it here. He felt like the lesser species and it kind of sucked being normal. Not only was he bad at understanding what sensitivity was, but he wasn't too careful with the questions he asked. Often times, within minutes he was already on to "So what are you?" Not the best way to make friends.

No matter how many times William went to the Wine Bar, he always forgot that they had goodies like Jack Daniels in which he ordered and asked for the bottle to be left with a shot glass. Of course, his excuse for drinking today? The loss of talking to two hot, slightly freaky females. William wasn't within the "always drunk" category, but when he did get drunk, he got drunk

Time passed and various conversations with people took place, one more drunk than the other. Some spoke of a killer on the loose, some asked about the search parties, others just ranted about their personal issues. William was like a shrink to some of these crazies.

The human reached a point where he was so drunk, he needed what he called a "breather" which was just resting his head on the table and hoping everything would stop blurring together. He couldn't help but laugh a little. Shit. He remembered when some Lycanthrope played beer pong with him until he was puking. Asshole didn't say he was a hairy bastard until he was near puking his guts out.

William didn't even realize a new face was approaching. He was too busy trying to see how he could muster up the strength to leave. He was a big boy, he could walk it off.

Who: Chris, Hayate & Ralph
When: Night
Where: Hayate's place
What: Going to hell in a handbasket of bad deeds and bad choices
Warnings: Mature sexual content w/three people (eventually) and one is a teenager, jsyk.

Ralph crossed his arms over his chest. He was trying to lock warmth inside his coat. The days were easy to bear, but the nights were freezing. He walked steadily on a dirt road. Ralph counted his steps. He was on two hundred and seventy-three when the menial task bored him. He stopped counting. Ralph thought on the reason why he was out tonight. The path led to the address on the slip of paper in his pocket. Paper given to him by Hayate last night.

What had he agreed to? Ralph never did anything like this before. Just thinking about it was bizarre. He said yes though. Turning back on his word now wasn’t right. How is this right? Ralph thought. He frowned. It wasn’t wrong if everyone agreed. Morally ambiguous. Ralph liked to look at it that way.

Was what he tried to do last night right? It wasn’t any different. Ralph had moral lines. He did. The problem was figuring out where they began, and where they ended.

He noticed the lights of the cottage. Ralph walked up to Hayate’s home. His hair had fallen into his face so he raked it back using his hand. He knocked and held his breath. Morally ambiguous. He could do this.

Who: Ralph & Hayate
When: Evening
Where: The wine bar
What: A meeting of like minds

Boredom was what brought him here. Thankfully it wasn't like a club. Ralph hated those things. Enough flashing lights to induce a seizure and music loud enough to invoke a migraine wasn't his idea of a good time. Nice, quiet places attracted Ralph. The empty nook of a library or the calmness of a café were among his prized places to visit. Read a book and sip your coffee in peace. To Ralph, that was the real treat.

The bar bordered on vacant tonight. Any other packed night would've driven him away because crowds panicked Ralph. He walked to the bar and ordered a drink. Ralph paid no attention to the bartender while he asked for a rum and coke. Time away from home was on his agenda this night. It was simple. For now.

He waited for his order and looked at the few visitors in the room. One caught his eye. It was a slight frame blonde. Ralph looked away. His drink came and he sipped it in quiet, but his thoughts nagged him. He looked back.

Ralph never initiated conversation at random. It wasn't normal behavior from him. He always had a reason. Always. Tonight he didn't have a reason. He just had a rum and coke.

He crossed the distance, sat down beside the stranger. Nervously his legs twitched, tapping away at the floor.

"Hello," he said. Usually people looked at who they talked to but Ralph stared down at his rum and coke. Tap tap tap. "Nice night."

Who: Zach and Hayate [Narrative]
When: Night
Where: Around the town cottages.
What: Hayate tells Zach he let Dante out.

Zach resolved himself to talk with his girlfriend at last. He had been stubborn for long enough, and he knew they had to talk sooner or later. If he was going to go and avoid her like this, he might as well pull the plug on their relationship—which was something he didn’t want to do. The only thing left was for him to face up to recent events and speak to her again. For some foggy reason, his thoughts were laced with apprehension at the idea of discussing it with her, but it was unavoidable. Adrienne probably had questions on her mind, and he simply couldn’t go on dodging them in this manner. He already looked like a prick for his actions so far, and he knew he had hurt her feelings over it.

With his hands shoved deep into his pockets and his jacket zipped all the way up, he made his way through the grassland between the cottages to Adrienne’s house. He wasn’t bothering with the paths, and it took less time when he just cut his way through in a straight line. He spotted a familiar figure up ahead on his walk, and while he could have stayed silent and continued on his way to Adrienne’s place without any interruptions, Zach didn’t think much of a quick meeting with a relative.

( It was strange how Hayate wasn’t quick to greet him . . .  )

Who: Hayate and Adela
When: Late Afternoon
Where: The Woods
What: Sometimes an escape to nature is good.

Despite the overcast skies above his head, Hayate felt more at ease than he had in a long time. His freedom tasted better than it had before his incarceration, and the case against him had been completely dismissed for some reason. He was not about to question it; it was good thing, and he was thankful for twist of fate. It was hard to imagine someone like him could be thankful for anything, but it came along every once in a while when good situations dropped into his lap. Right now, the world was looking up for Hayate Ishikawa, and he walked along a clearing until he reached a moist forest path, looking up at the sky as a drop of water fell from a leaf and hit his forehead. Rarely did he find appreciation in the smaller things, but it brought calmness instead of annoyance on this day.

His hands were deep in his pockets, a light coat of length hanging down to his thighs and swaying in the wind. It had been a long time since he visited the forest, and it occurred to him as strange. He once visited this place often upon the early months of his arrival, finding the wilderness to be more to his liking than the company of people. Somewhere along the way, things changed and he did not question it.

Hayate shook the idea from his head and took a deep breath as he cleared his mind. He came out here to not think, not to spend his time thinking. Passing by one of the trees, he held out his hand and allowed his fingers to run along the bark of the oak. It still felt damp from recent rainfall. He paused, looking up the tree and considered for a moment to ascend it and sit amongst its branches. It was the fae blood in him that longed for these places of the world, these quiet and secluded spots of nature. Too often he ignored the feeling or repressed it, but it never meant it went away completely.

Who: Hayate and Dante
When: Late Evening
Where: The dungeons in Town Hall.
What: One devil to another, and chaos is released.

Hayate ran his fingers against the bars as he passed them, humming a tune in the back of his throat. The guards were all away from the dungeon on a break. It wasn’t as if they had to watch the place for every hour of the day. Any prisoner within would be locked up tight away from the public, only open to visitors who chose to come by voluntarily, and would have very little chance to escape. Hayate escaped, of course, but he had also severely wounded himself in the process and endangered his life. Without proper medical care or blood to sustain him, he could have died.

Dante, on the other hand, was locked behind silver bars that even the strongest of werewolves couldn’t break past. Silver was deadly to werewolves. They had taken extra special precautions with their new prisoner. It was almost a shame they hadn’t thought to do the same with Hayate. Complaints were the last thing on Hayate’s mind, though. He had more pressing matters at hand.

Pausing in front of Dante’s cell, Hayate looked past the bars to the man inside them. Eventually, he leaned against the opposite wall and slouched with his hands in his pockets. “Hello,” Hayate said casually, as if he was greeting an old friend. They had never been friends, but they had always understood each other. Perhaps it came with the territory. “It looks like you’re the bad guy of the moment now.” Hayate brought one of his hands to his mouth, sitting three fingers atop his lips as his thumb rested against his chin. “And I seem to be the new good guy . . . ”

A scowl crossed over the vampire’s face, and he shook his head. “People are so fickle.”

Who: Chris and Hayate
When: Evening
Where: Hayate's Cottage
What: Reuniting feels really good
Warning: Sexual situations between a young teen and adult/vampire

It had been hours since Chris left the water bungalow she shared with Riley and Charlie. How could she even think about going back when the truth she had tried so hard to hide was thrown in her face? Charlie was disappointed in her, and considering how close she was to her brother any sort of negative emotion from him weighed down on her like a tons of bricks. Chris couldn't shake the tight feeling she had in her chest, or the extreme need to just cry every five minutes. There was only one place she felt like being, and that was in the very house of the man that had taken her innocence.

Chris entered the vampire's cottage, and made her way to the bedroom on the second level. Her footsteps were heavy like her emotions, and all she wanted to do was cuddle up in Hayate's bed. She lied there in the dimly lit room with the last rays of sunshine filtering through the curtains. The light danced on the walls, and Chris was drawn into her own mind. She had worked so hard to keep herself in a safe, and warm bubble. She didn't want to face the reality of any situation she had been in, and she pushed those events to the back of her mind and warped them into something happy and bright.

( The young girl couldn't do it anymore... )

Who: Dante, Zach, and whoever else wants to join in
When: Evening, after this
Where: The Temple
What: The showdown finally comes to an end

Too many voices. There were just too many voices inside, and out for Dante to deal with. He had to run. Had to feel free even though he was anything but. There was no freedom in this place, and so his frustrations were showing themselves in the most violent of ways.

The lycanthrope carried Zach through the more deserted areas of the town. Back alleys that were nothing like the ones of New York or L.A., but still back alleys with little light, and places to hide. But Dante didn't stop to hide. He just ran, and ran, holding Zach tightly in his clutches. Without realizing it he ran all the way to the Elven temple, a place that would normally be a sanctuary would be the place where Zach would meet his end. It seemed fitting in the werewolf's mind even though it would effectively corner him in one place. Dante just wasn't thinking clearly, but every decision he made was backed-up with a fallacy he created in his mind.

Inside the temple Dante dropped Zach to the floor before he put a heavy foot on his back. He began to revert into a human form if only so he could talk to Zach. He was shirtless when he was done, and wearing a pair of tattered jeans. Dante knelt in front of Zach, and lifted his head by pulling on Zach's hair. "I don't usually kill men," he said with a smirk. "But I'll make an exception for you just like I made an exception for that other guy. What was his name—" He paused, and tapped his chin with his free hand. "Oh right, Simon. You remember Simon, don't you?"

Who: Hayate [Narrative]
When: Evening, during this.
Where: The dungeon in Town Hall.
What: Hayate breaks out of his cage. Oh boy.

Hayate heard the commotion down the corridor. The guards were talking about a serious situation in the market place. He rose from his bed and walked up to the bars, leaning against them as he listened carefully for the words of the conversation. His sensitive vampiric hearing caught onto what was being said. There was mention of a rabid werewolf, a kidnapped boy, townspeople crowding around the scene, the boy was Constance Alexie’s grandson . . . Zach Kitano.

His vision turned red. Of all the things for the wolf to seek out, everything Dante sought to conquer just happened to be something that belonged to Hayate. The boy was his great nephew through many generations, the one tie Hayate still had to the world of the living, and this wolf just had to go after him. First, it was Chris. Now, it was Zach. Hayate felt the adrenaline pumping through his veins, red hot blood surging through his heart. The boy was his — his charge, his blood, and his . . . family.

Dante was mistaken if he thought he could get away with this.

Backing away from the bars, Hayate set his sights on them and steeled his muscles. He ran headlong into the bars, slamming the entire side of his body against them. They barely nudged. The vampire backed away and repeated the motion. Again. And again. Each time they shook harder — bent out of place. His side was searing from pain, but Hayate repeated the act. Again. And again.

Eventually, the bars would have to break.

Who: Midori and Hayate
When: Evening
Where: Town Hall Dungeon
What: Silence of the Foxes-- Erm, Midori interviews Elysium's resident psycho vampire in custody

Italics = Japanese dialogue

Hayate.

It was the name that was on the lips of many citizens of Elysium. The man thought to have committed the string of maulings and murders over the past few months.

Midori wasn't sure what to think. She had no strong opinion on vampires herself. Oh, they were fairly vile creatures (most non-Kitsune were), but the drinking of blood was not an issue with her. It was simply a fact of their biology. She would have to meet the man-- to look him in the eye-- before she made judgments.

She had researched what the Head Council and Elven guards had on the man, on his alleged attack on Sanura Hart. She had not consulted her fellow Council members on the matter yet. Midori had no need to discuss things as a committee. It would just be a waste of her time. She had dealt with this sort of thing before.

For the past few hours, she'd simply observed the man. She'd kept her distance, stood with the guards. She saw the young blonde girl visit him. Chris Jung. She was in the reports on Hayate. Injured recently while Hayate was in custody. She was quite devoted to him, it seemed.

The time for observations had passed. She had no idea if her fellow Vice Council members had visited him, but she did not care. She needed to speak to the man.

Dressed in a primp green kimono, her dark hair swept up, she strode down the stone corridor to the vampire's cell. "Hayate-san." Midori bowed her head slightly in greeting, but kept a careful eye on him. "I apologize for the familiar greeting. I'm unaware of your family name. You are a man of some mystery. In fact, the only thing really known about you is what you allegedly did."

She pulled herself back up to full height-- while still short, her air of superiority made her seemed taller. "My name is Kamiyama Midori. I am from the Vice Council." She paused momentarily, cocking her head slightly. "Are you more comfortable with Japanese or English? Japanese is my personal preference." She glanced down the corridor. "It has the advantage of keeping the conversation between just us."

The language she used was incredibly proper, formal, almost old-fashioned. While conveying her authority, it also gave the illusion of respect for Hayate. It was simply an illusion, but there was nothing to be gained by treating the man with hostility from the outset.

Who: Chris and Hayate
When: Afternoon
Where: Town Hall Dungeon
What: Chris is out of the pavilion, and goes to visit her favorite vampire

Chris couldn't stand being cooped up in the Medical Pavilion. She practically dashed out of the building the moment she was released with Charlie running behind her to catch up. And he always caught up with her; that was never a problem. Chris had stopped trying to outrun her brother a long time ago. They parted ways in the middle of town with Charlie headed home to the bungalow, and Chris making a bee line toward Town Hall. She was headed to see Hayate in the dungeons even though it was the very place where she had been injured.

That didn't matter to Chris, though. As long as that other mean guy wasn't there she wasn't going to worry. She doubted he would be since Charlie had reported the incident to Mr. Dylan, and if there was anyone who would deal with a situation like that it was Mr. Dylan. He was the twins' favorite council member by far because he was always so nice to them. Chris smiled smugly when she thought of all the trouble that mean vine guy had gotten into; that should teach him to never throw girls into walls ever again.

The dungeon guards let Chris pass without any trouble, and the young girl ran down the corridor to Hayate's cell. "Hayate!" Her voice echoed against the old, stone walls as did the sounds of her running feet. Her knitted purse swung back and forth against her body as she ran toward the vampire, stopping finally when she reached him. Her fingers wrapped around the bars, and she leaned as close as she could get.

"Hi..." she said softly with a bright smile on her face. She had missed him so much, and it made her happy to be able to see him again.

Who: Chris, Charlie, Hayate, and Adam
When: Afternoon
Where: Town Hall Dungeon
What: Flaring tempers have a tendency to burn innocent bystanders

Chris's days had been spent in the dungeons as of late. A cold, and dank place that smelled musty, and was not at all pleasant. It wasn't where the girl would have normally spent her time, but it was where Hayate was being held. Being held unfairly, if anyone asked Chris, which no one did but she gave her opinion to them anyway. She'd told anyone she encountered, and often gave nasty looks to the guards that were watching Hayate. In the beginning they had tried to stop her from getting too close to the "criminal", but she had thrown such a fit that they all eventually learned to let her pass. The girl was crazy, they would whisper, but Chris didn't care. She just wanted to be near Hayate.

He seemed lonely behind the bars, and Chris wished so hard that she could give him a hug, or something. The most she could manage was to interlace her fingers, her arms the only thing that spanned the distance between them.

"Are you hungry yet? I'm gonna go to the blood bank, kay? Bring you some 'A negative'? Or do you feel like something different today?" Chris smiled a little mischievously at the vampire. It was her attempt at a joke to try to cheer him up since she couldn't do anything else.

( Being behind bars doesn't necessarily mean you're safe. )

Who: Zach, Lucinda, and Hayate [Narrative]
When: Morning
Where: Town Hall’s dungeon.
What: The Kitano family is pissed off.

With everything going on lately in his private life, Zach couldn’t figure out if it was his own fault or someone else’s that he hadn’t found out about Hayate’s arrest until today. Well, he heard about an arrest that happened the evening before on Sunday, but it didn’t cross his mind that it could have possibly been Hayate and no name was mentioned. Just an arrest. Zach didn’t even hear the charges because apparently there weren’t any official ones yet.

Now, it was Tuesday morning and his great uncle and friend, Hayate, was the one locked up. He immediately told his parents about it, and they all decided to go to Town Hall together to see Hayate. Kelsey demanded to know what was going on, which caused quite a ruckus with the guards. Meanwhile, Zach and Lucinda headed to the dungeon to speak with Hayate themselves.

It was dark in the dungeon, and the air was cold and wet. Zach wrapped his arms around himself and walked the length of the corridor to the only occupied cell down there. It was guarded by two Elven guards. Inside was Hayate. Before Zach could speak, his mother beat him to it.

( “Oh my god,” Lucinda said, bringing her hand to her mouth. )

Who: Hayate & OPEN
When: Evening
Where: The dungeon in Town Hall.
What: A lone vampire in his cell. Any visitors?

The cell was cold, even for a vampire. Hayate could feel as much as he lay in the uncomfortable grip of the dungeon. It was a part of the underground layers of Town Hall, the part kept hidden from innocent eyes and known only to those who needed to know it. No sunlight reached these floors below. His eyes looked up to the ceiling, catching only the light of the faint lantern above his head and those along the hallway of cells. He saw nothing but concrete and smelt nothing but the cool, dank soil seeping through the cracks in the foundations. It was like a crypt in this place, and his only other company was the Elven guards standing watch outside of his cell. They believed their magic enough for his strength and their iron enough for his hold. He had yet to test it to find out for sure.

Hayate had been in this position before, but only once — captured in Argentina for strangling and mutilating a couple in a hospital hallway. It was a long story. Suffice it to say, a vehicle collision left him in critical condition and drained of blood. He awoke possessed and took the lives of the closest humans. They locked him in a local jail, but he broke out of it that night and fled the country.

That, however, was nothing by comparison to this. Escaping was easy when one had an entire world to disappear into afterwards. No matter where he ran, he was stuck under the watchful eye of the ten councils. They were the new United Nations, all bound together in brotherhood with common principles. He had nowhere to run but the barren wasteland beyond the havens, and even his chance of survival there was slim.

He had told them nothing, but it was only a matter of time before everything fell apart. Still, Hayate sat in perfect silence in his cell. He remained quiet — and, most of all, he waited. What else was there for him to do?

Who: Chris, Hayate, and eventually Elven guards
When: Late Morning
Where: Hayate's cottage
What: Time to pay the piper

"Hayate?" Chris's voice was clear in the quiet air of Hayate's cottage. She looked up at the vampire from her position on his lap. She had laid her head on his leg while she flipped through one of her old manga. For all intents and purposes it was an innocent scene between the girl and the vampire. "What's this say?" She held the book high above her, and pointed to an advertisement inside of the front cover. It was in Japanese, and the young girl still didn't know how to read the language.

"Maybe you can teach me sometime," Chris suggested once Hayate gave her the translation. "If you have the time," she said as she looked up at him. Her book was closed, and lying on her tummy now. "If you do I can teach you German." There was a silly grin on her face as she tried to imagine Hayate speaking German. "Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" She asked with a small laugh. "That means 'do you speak German?'."

There were times when she felt more at home with Hayate than she did at the water bungalow with Riley. Not that Riley wasn't nice! She really was, and Charlie liked her a lot, but Chris spent more time with Hayate than anyone else. It was probably detrimental to the girl seeing as she was at an impressionable age, but she was blinded by her feelings for the man. She knew of the evils he could commit, and she had little doubt that he had done so over and over again in the past. He had even shown her the darkness of his character once, and still she forgave him.

She was perfectly happy with him, and she didn't want to be anywhere else than lying on his lap for the rest of the day.

Who: Hayate & Sanura
When: Late Evening/Night
Where: The outskirts of town, and then to a shack in the woods.
What: Hayate is not a happy camper.
WARNING(S): Physical and psychological torture, which may not be suitable or stomach-able for some. There will be blood!

Hayate’s nerves were on edge. They had been on edge for weeks. The cigarette twitched in his hand as he brought it to his lips and sucked in the smoke. The vampire never smoked because of the nicotine or the calming effect it sometimes had on humans. In fact, tobacco was too weak to have any sort of effect on him or any other vampire. Newly turned ones might have still done it out of habit, but Hayate never knew cigarettes in his time as a human and therefore could not recall any memories of its effects to use it as a placebo. He only knew the effects of opium, and there was no opium in Elysium that he knew of. He would not touch it even if it existed here.

He did it to occupy his hands, to give them something to do. Even that feeling did not last long, and he threw the rolled up paper to the ground, crushing it beneath his boot on the wet grass. The burning tip extinguished quickly, little trails of smoke trying to reach up from the ground before vanishing into the cold, damp air. The rain from this morning still lingered across the land, and Hayate could smell it as if it had fallen only minutes ago.

Pulling his coat around himself, he scowled at the darkening sky and took off towards the forest’s border. The trees were tall and ominous here, looming over the edge of the land like sentinels of nature. There was nothing frightening about the forest to Hayate, though. The animals had better reason to fear him, for the vampire knew how to hunt them down and kill them with only a knife in his hand or less. He had the learned reflexes of hunting from years and years of stalking animals when he could not get human prey. Plenty of animals in Elysium were slaughtered in the forest by his hands alone, even the large felines of the mountains.

Hayate growled in the back of his throat, livid with the thoughts of murder inside of his head, and ran headlong for a tree. His feet touched the base, and he kicked up, leaping high enough to catch a low branch and swing his body up into the sturdy branches. Immediately, his finely tuned eyes were scanning the lower grounds for movement, his stillness going unnoticed by any passersby.

Though he knew the one who poisoned him, he wanted to exact punishment on whoever he could just because he was capable of it. Hayate did not care who he hurt at this point, as long as he got his revenge in one way or another.

Who: Hayate [Narrative]
When: Early Morning
Where: Hayate's Cottage
What: Someone has a vendetta, and has poisoned Hayate . . .

The morning began like any other morning as he woke up from his slumber. He drank in the daylight from his window and cleaned up for the day, getting dressed in clothing suitable for the weather outside. He toned down his appearance today, looking normal with somewhat haggard hair. There were days when he did not feel like putting on a show, and today was one of those days.

When he made his way downstairs, he entered the kitchen and reached for his stored blood. He took care to warm it and poured some into a cup. The blood from storage never had quite the same taste as fresh blood, but sometimes it was all he had to drink. Chris was not around him twenty-four seven, even though he had personally considered her his blood donor — with or without parental permission. Luckily for him, her parents were nowhere around in order to bother with protest.

He drank slowly from the cup, but he noticed immediately something did not taste right. It was not until it breached the back of his tongue and he swallowed it, though. The flavor was off, unnatural; the liquid was watery instead of thick. Something was not right. Hayate put down the glass and leaned forward to smell the inside of the bottle. The scent, it was wrong as well. His blood was tainted, tampered. Accidental? The vampire whirled his head to look around, trying to smell the air of his kitchen, but it seemed normal. He had not been in his kitchen for a while, and no one else had been traveling through it. Vampiric senses tuned in and caught the scent — animal.

Realization settled like a thick knife in his esophagus. Poison. He had been poisoned. No, it was no accident; and he, too paranoid leading the life of a killer to assume this was not done on purpose. It could have very well been an accident, but he did not believe that. This was a vendetta, or vengeance.

Hayate staggered quickly out of the kitchen, knocking over the porcelain cup of blood. It splashed all over the floor in a mess of thin red, porcelain cracking, breaking upon impact. The poison had not set in, but his fear of what was happening did; as quickly as he could, he left his home, and hurried in the direction of the medical pavilion.

WHO: Hayate and Chris
WHEN: Nighttime, around 8:00 or 9:00 PM.
WHERE: The Wine Bar
WHAT: The vampire and human go out dancing.

Careless—it was a word becoming more and more intrinsically intertwined into Hayate’s choices. Everyday he was making more careless decisions, giving less and less of a damn about the consequences of his actions. Each time the mythical figures of old let their image of themselves get to their heads, an inevitable downfall loomed on the horizon. His hubris was not going to last him much longer when it came to keeping him upright on his own two feet. Somewhere along the way he was going to make a foolish mistake, and he was going to get caught for it. Tonight might have very well been the night to set him down on that very path.

( He left the house on a high of pure, potent youth’s blood, having taken plenty from Chris before they had even gotten ready to leave . . .  )

Who: Hayate and Chris
When: Late Night
Where: Hayate’s Cottage
What: There are other ways to exert control.
WARNINGS: Mature sexual content between an adult and young teen.

Often she would lose herself in a book upon the cushions of his sofa, quietly reading the pages as her eyes roamed over text before her. Her hair would fall into her face, and her fingers would idly reach up and tuck it behind her ear without leaving the book in front of her eyes. She would read steadily, breathing in a mild manner, absorbed in the text like it was another world and she was already in it. Her eyes spoke of her belief in it. In them he saw devotion and a glimmer of hope, a spark come alive and burn for an hour or however long she continued to be immersed in her fantasy world.

A book could never give to him what he received from simply watching her. She was his only fantasy, and a book would never measure up to what he could have here, now. Chris enjoyed reading, though, and he liked to see her happy. He refused to ask her to do things for him on most occasions; instead, he would ask her what she wanted to do, and they would do that. If Chris felt like reading, then she would read and he would watch her read in silence, mulling over his thoughts and finding ways to easily occupy them.

Hayate watched her as he sat across from her, wondering how they could remain silent for such long periods of time as they did nothing in particular; her, reading — and him, watching her read. A strange arrangement, of course, but they both liked it. Hayate needed no other reason or excuse to justify their choices in pastimes; he needed no excuses for anything, lacking a proper conscience to require them in the first place.

( It might have been the reason for his next idea as well . . .  )