#Shelia13

[lovetnaomi]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Shall We Date?: Obey Me! Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Lucifer (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!)/Original Character(s), Lucifer (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!) & Reader, Lucifer & Main Character (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Mammon (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!)/Original Character(s) Characters: Lucifer (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Mammon (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Reader Additional Tags: Wings, Lucifer - Freeform, mammon - Freeform, Slight pining Summary:

Lucifer wasn't much of one to lie, especially to himself. His life had been a rough one, so if anyone at all made it out alive, much more without anything rummaging around in their brain and hearts that would be a feature beyond impressive. A lack of caring that would've had to reach new levels. But your presence? It settled the storm that raged in his heart. Maybe he should've stood up a little faster from his desk when he felt your presence outside your door, maybe he should've called for you to come in instead of waiting for you to knock. But next time he wouldn't make the same mistake.

[lovetnaomi]

Nightmares & Curiosities

               It wasn’t like he hadn’t felt this feeling before, he had been made out of another person’s anger after all, he was familiar with feelings that weren’t exactly his. Satan glanced up from his book to the soft steps coming down the hallway. It was unusual to hear someone wandering around the house at this time of night, he was starting to suspect something had happened. _________’s steps were soft as they wandered around the house.

The first day they had gone towards the kitchen, he had just suspected that it was because of feeling hungry in the middle of the night, thankfully he was on dinner duty the next day and had added an extra helping to your plate, but not enough so that you would notice. He had even added in a special dessert from the human world hoping that would help, his brothers all stared at him suspiciously but chopped it up to his perfectionism each of them eating it although with obvious suspicion on their faces. He glanced towards you making sure that you cleared your plate. That didn’t help. Around the same time, the middle of the night, you were up again.

It was the second day, you wondered aimlessly through the halls, stopping between each of their doors, before heading back to your own room. It wasn’t as though he was particularly worried you could be sleepwalking for all he knew. But it made him immensely curious. And he knew himself that he loved a good mystery. But if solving this mystery could help you stay in bed at these hours he wouldn’t be distracted by the sounds of your feet tiptoeing around the hallway instead of a good book.  

On the third day you had wandered outside, it left him completely unprepared. The last thing he wanted was for you to know that he was listening to you aimlessly wander around in the middle of the night if you found out what was happening you likely would stop the situation before he could find the answers he was looking for on the why. It wasn’t like he could just go up and ask you, he knew you would try to hide whatever it was for worry about upsetting any of them. But he couldn’t leave you to wonder around in the cold devildom air this time of year, he sighed doing his best not to feel like he was scrambling to his room and grabbing a jacket to wrap around you as he chastised you for going outside in this air. Or the dangerous that existed outside their house. Not all demons in the devildom knew that you had pacts with them. That was majority of what made your life so peaceful here, the obvious unspoken declaration that they could, and would, hurt them if they ever hurt you. Satan swallowed, glancing at his flashing green eyes as he passed a mirror, taking a breath to curb the anger. It was a hypothetical scenario. No one had harmed you in anyway. You were just outside. He sighed, a coat curled into his hands without wearing one of his own as he stepped outside, only the soft imprint of your feet without any shoes on in the snow outside. You were already gone.

He wondered if the house was too warm, was that what had woken you at an odd hour? Or was it too cold? Were you curious about the devildom snow that had suddenly been falling? What was that feeling buzzing around in his chest each time you woke and wandered around the hall? As someone born with literally someone else’s rage he wasn’t exactly thrilled to have the pact giving him your emotions too. Especially when he couldn’t make out what was happening and why.

On the fourth day he decided to just wait outside your room, he would quietly follow you around the house. The pattern you had taken each day was sporadic. You had even stopped outside his own room once, it was as if you were looking for something. Trying to find something without wanting it. The clock struck nearly two in the morning when you finally opened the door, he drew into the shadows, watching you pull your blankets closer around yourself, glancing towards your lack of slippers before wandering further down the hall. You took your time stopping at each of their rooms, it was actually surprising that his brother’s hadn’t noticed your scent outside their doors the last couple days. It had been driving him insane. Maybe it was because your scent had been throughout the entire house mingling with their own, since his brothers didn’t know something strange was happening, they hadn’t noticed the odd patterns. Or maybe it had been like this all along. Satan took a breath, watching you, you glanced outside watching the snow fall, but thankfully not going outside this time, before continuing to the next room. It was then that he noticed the redness of your eyes. Were you homesick? Maybe he should suggest a trip to the human world over tomorrow night’s dinner. You stumbled your way following the path, he would make his brothers clean their mess that strayed throughout the house tomorrow. You were observing each picture throughout the hall with the eye of an expert painter, before completely circling the house and returning to your room.

By the fifth night he was absolutely frustrated. There was no way he would be able to get into his novel any time soon, instead of trying to indulge himself in the colorful ways of the latest mystery novel he had been looking forwards to for four months, he was instead listening to the strum of the clock to hit almost two o’clock or later and then curiously listening to the sound of your footsteps. The soft careful steps never came that night. Satan let out a sigh at nearly four a.m. realizing that he would finally be able to enjoy his book. But instead, his mind plagued itself of why you were wandering the halls at these hours of the night when no one else was awake, when most humans would be asleep, or they would get sick eventually. And why you suddenly stopped.

And then the sixth night, there was no noise again, except the fighting of Levi and Mammon, which eventually would fade into the background and the quiet noise of Beel wandering into the kitchen until their fridge was empty.  But other than the usual sounds there was no noise of you wandering around the house after everyone else had gone to bed. Satan sighed, maybe you had discovered he was listening to you and became quieter with your steps as to not disturb him. Closing the book, he stood up wandering up the stairs and out of the library. Down the hall into the kitchen, only Beel raiding the fridge, and then back down the hall, Mammon leaving your room quietly, a sign that you were likely asleep or not in there. It wasn’t surprising to see Mammon checking that you were still in there in the middle of the night, it was actually pretty common, until he fell asleep himself. For a demon of greed, it was strange how he wasn’t able to hold onto much and was either taking or being taken from. So, it wasn’t surprising that Mammon was instinctively making sure you hadn’t been taken out of the house either. Not that any of them would let anything or anyone kidnap you. But there was something he couldn’t quite judge him on about checking in just to make sure that you were still there.

Satan sighed, turning back to the library, maybe tonight his brain would let him focus. Who was he kidding? He had a real-life mystery in front of him, sure it wasn’t a murder mystery, not that he would want one in their house, but it was something. Baby steps. He bumped into something, swinging around “watch where-“

It was Belphie. It was known that Belphie was more of a night time person in the first place, but it was still early for him to being wandering around. He didn’t look right. 

“What’s wrong?”

“I was looking for ___________,” his eyes glanced towards Mammon down the hall, still trying his best to be quiet as he wandered to his own room, “But I’m guessing they’re already asleep.”

“I haven’t checked.”

There was silence. Satan glanced towards the ceiling, wanting to know if Belphie felt the feeling that had been blooming from their human, in the middle of the night swirling around in his chest. But also wanting to keep it a secret, something from ___________, and his alone that he wouldn’t share with his brother’s.

Belphie spoke up first, “I was worried about them.”

He didn’t even need to ask, Belphie continued.

“They’ve been drawing on my pact for a couple days now, usually they ask, but I don’t think they’re doing it on purpose this week.”

“How?”

“___________, they’ve been drawing on my sin, I think they’ve been using it to go back to sleep, I got a couple books on insomnia, but…” Belphie glanced towards the side, he understood the point.

“I’ll look into it.”

On the seventh day, Satan found himself wandering into the library later than he usually did, and there you were, just standing there. There you stood, wrapped in a blanket, slippers finally on your feet, doing your best to distract yourself from your reddening eyes, whispering to yourself to keep yourself awake.

Ah, he knew what this was. It wasn’t insomnia. He knew this emotion circling around in your chest, it was fear. You were having nightmares. You were drawing desperately on Belphie’s sin of the Sloth hoping he wouldn’t notice to try to keep the rest of them from noticing that something was terribly wrong. He was tempted to go get the two of you some drinks but was worried you would disappear from his sight now that he had his answers before he could confirm that he was correct.

“_________,” you jumped turning towards him, eyes wide, face reddening as you were quickly trying to disguise the emotions that were swirling in your chest faster than a vendor could make cotton candy, “come here, I’ll pick something out we can read it together.”

Surprisingly you nodded, sitting on the couch as he picked up something you would like, although it wasn’t anything scary or dark, but that was for another time if you wanted, it was still something you would’ve read, or at least enough to keep you enticed. Satan sighed, moving to the couch and pulling you closer so you would be surrounded by his arms. You moved the blanket so it surrounded the both of you, the blanket was big enough to swallow the two of you, it made him curious of how you wandered the halls so often without tripping on it. A small scoff escaped him as he popped open the book, his voice softly streaming into your ear as he began reading to you. Normally, the story would’ve enticed the two of you for hours, but tonight it wasn’t long before you were asleep. He considered carrying you back to your room, but likely whatever it was that was causing your nightmares would resurface it he let you go. Besides, what was the safest place in all of the devildom but in the arms of one of the devildom’s most powerful demons? After that your soft footsteps didn’t linger around the house, but instead would prod right towards the library. Sometimes he would put his book down to switch to something more suiting to the situation, or he would read his book to you, but either way you would be wrapped in his arms.

Several nights later he glanced down, you were already asleep in his arms, a soft smile sprouted on his lips, running his hands through your hair, maybe it wasn’t so bad for these feelings swirling through him. After all, he could feel the feeling of being safe blossoming with the dexterity of a cherry blossom and the strength of a world renown fighting champion. His arms curled slightly further around you. He would ensure that this would be the safest place in the world for you. You would always run back to him.

[lovetnaomi]

Secrets of the Dusk Chapter 20

Chapter 20

         His cold atmosphere ran down his flesh as his subconscious mind was beginning to bring thoughts that should’ve caused panic hours ago to the surface. Uraraka wasn’t wearing his mother’s beads. He shifted, the couch radiating with his own warmth and his arm stiff from being wrapped around Uraraka, but lacking her weight. Todoroki felt his eyes rip themselves open as he panicked, beginning to glance around for her. Where? Where was she? Was she in another room getting sick trying to make sure they didn’t see her this weak? It was his fault; his presence was too much for most psychics and he had never learned how to pull that power back in it was like the air around him. He needed to learn to control it, so it wasn’t just her problem. It would be best to get away from him if she was struggling with being overwhelmed.  

         His feet hit the cold floor before he could even let another thought process through his mind, swinging open the door, to Katsuki and Uraraka in the kitchen. Todoroki leaned on the door glancing between the two of them arguing over what to cook for breakfast and how to cook it, while the Witch of the Forrest sat at the kitchen table bouncing who knows what in the air whistling to herself and clearly ignoring the world around her. Her eyes slid to him, “About time you got up.”

         Todoroki ran a hand through his hair, eyes lingering down towards Uraraka’s wrist, brand new beads, bright pink shinning around her wrist, it was likely the witch of the forest’s work.

         “Sorry, your mother’s beads were a little outdated, they were ready to break, I disposed of them properly. Even if you wanted to give them back to her it wouldn’t have been healthy.”

         Todoroki nodded at the witch glancing towards Uraraka, who smiled towards him, waving as the beads dangled against her, “Oh, and she also did some changes so I can start working on my magic now too! Look!” Uraraka smiled, beckoning the pots and pans towards her, the pots and pans struggled in the air, but they moved towards her and back.

         The witch laughed, “Whoever made your mother’s beads probably made the situation so much worse by suppressing her magic.” The witch shook her head, likely mistaken, knowing his mother, she had likely gone running home with the beads hoping to be taken back in by his ever-elusive grandparents who turned her away at the door. Causing the situation to go from worse to create the beginnings of his mother’s downwards spiral.  Todoroki nodded, as the witch continued talking, “I put my magic in those beads, not much so it won’t be overwhelming to start, but the beads will eventually start breaking unable to hold up to Uraraka’s powers. I’ll come back to fix them when that starts happening when I do that I’ll slowly and gradually add more and more power, during that time I want Uraraka to pick out an idea of something she was to siphon her powers out of. And Todoroki, work on your psychic field its everywhere. It would make a newborn baby cry.”

         Katsuki huffed in the kitchen seeming to take it as a form of insult.

         “I don’t want to hear it from someone who can’t even step foot outside.”

         “You want to go? My day to go outside is also your weakest day.”

         The witch rolled her eyes, drinking something she had clearly stolen from their kitchen, “We can go, but remember I am thee Witch of the Forrest, if it weren’t for him-“ she shot Todoroki a glance, “I would be the most feared creature in this whole land, “Next time you pick a fight, remember that’s for a reason. And I wasn’t just born into that power.” She paused, “No offense.”

         Todoroki nodded, it wasn’t like he was unaware of the power and privilege he was born with, even if he dreaded it, he had always acknowledged what advantages it managed to give him over others. He shifted unsure if he should come closer while Uraraka was in the middle of using her powers.

         “It’s okay, come here, I want to make sure it’s working while I’m still here.”

         He nodded, moving closer to Uraraka, “Would you be able to tell it’s working immediately?” His mind wandering back to when they first met, it took several hours before she finally went down, what if this happened again while the witch was away?

         She glanced between the two of them, “Should be good, Uraraka call me if you need anything, start with the basics, then we’ll work our way up to see if it’s just telekinesis or some form of magic, also call your parents.”

         Uraraka nodded, a soft but hesitant smile on her face as she showed her out the door. Uraraka closed the door, turning back to both of them in the kitchen before glancing between the two of them.

         Katsuki made a soft scoff, “If anything hurts don’t try to be a hero, just tell one of us,” before turning back to the whistling stove.

         Todoroki’s hand tightened into a fist, “You still haven’t called your parents?”

         “You know how it is, there really hasn’t been a chance for it,” Uraraka’s face became slightly redder, “It’s just how it is, I’ve got to go get ready for class anyway.”

         He glanced towards Uraraka, the pool of blood that surrounded his ankles flashing through his mind, his voice cracking in his throat, “Actually…did you want to stay home today? I don’t…I don’t think it’s safe, at least not yet.”

         Uraraka glanced towards him, her eyes shifting to the floor, “I don’t want to show that I’m intimidated, but also…if I can help him. Even the slightest bit, I want to help, but I can’t help if I can’t find him.”

         Todoroki curled and uncurled his hand, suppressing the urge to run his hand through hair, his voice a soft whisper, “Please? Just this week? It shouldn’t take long, I’ll hunt them down,” His voice quieted, “And take care of them.”

         It was the only way he needed to be honest with her. That was the truth. She needed to know she lived with a duo of murderers. His heart quickened in its paces. Waiting. Waiting for her reaction as the idea that she lived with murderers processed within her mind. The denial cycling through next, glowing in her eyes likely asking all the right questions and trying to push them down as a lie.

         He braced himself, moving slightly to the side so Uraraka could dart out the door running for her life, Katsuki lowering his head pretending not to listen, but likely thinking of the same things they were thinking. That Uraraka was going to run, fearing for her life any second. The verbal rejection that they deserved about to accumulate into the air.

         Todoroki braced himself watching Uraraka open her mouth, Uraraka’s voice cracked, “I made you a killer. It’s my fault.”

         Todoroki raised his hand, his own voice cracking, as he glanced towards the floor. The pot whistling from the kitchen the only noise in the house, it was practically a scream.

         “We weren’t innocent before you found us. Uraraka, it comes with the territory of being supernatural. All supernaturals you have ever met are killers. We’re not an exception.”

         “But, who, I haven’t-I didn’t see a single-“

         Todoroki glanced towards the floor, any sane person would run, “You did.”

         “You didn’t, you wouldn’t, you’re both so gentle. There’s-“

         “The supernatural that chased you through the woods. The horde after that. I killed at least fifteen supernaturals that night. There was a stalker about a week later. The man from the mall. I’m sure there’s more.”

         “The night of the new moon, a pack of werewolves, a curious fae that came too close for their own good, an unrelated stalker two days ago. I killed multiple supernaturals before I even found Todoroki.” Katuski paused glancing at the counter, “And he kills to keep me alive.”

         He couldn’t look at her, he couldn’t see the fear of him that he once held for his own father running through her eyes, he couldn’t see the panic as she wondered if she was next or questioned her own morals if she was ready to stay. “The backyard is built on corpses of others. At the end of the day….we’re bad peopl-“

         “You’re not! I know you two! You’re not bad people! I trust you and sometimes life hands you decisions that you have to make to keep yourself and those around you safe. And I know you two, I’ve watched both of you make calculated decisions. And I don’t believe either of you go around killing innocent people. I know, you know, you’re just trying to scare me away. You need to admit to yourselves that you’re just scared. It’s okay to admit that you’re scared!”

         Todoroki glanced up towards her, his heart rate was still beating incredibly fast, but it felt different. Not like someone was wrapping an elastic band around it anymore. His heart suddenly felt lighter than it did before. To the point, he almost felt dizzy. He paused backing towards the wall, slowly sliding down it. It was unusual, but somehow Uraraka made him weak in the way that she made him so much stronger than before.

         He glanced up through his hair, Uraraka right in front of him checking him for a fever, his mind wandering to something he should’ve said before, something he should’ve been clearer with. “I’d be willing to meet your parents again if you’d let me.”

         Uraraka nodded, “Sure, but not right now.”

         “The two of you get off the floor, I just cleaned that!” Katsuki shouted from the other room.

         Uraraka stood up, “Alright, let’s get breakfast, then crack this case and save more people.”

         Todoroki nodded, following her to the kitchen as the three of them sat at the kitchen table, arguing, babbling, and talking like a family would. Doing his best to push the image down of the blood encased around his ankles. It would be a while before he was able to push the image down but having some of the most important people to him in the world next to him eating breakfast helped. More than he would ever be able to appreciate.

         He smiled, before moving towards the house’s library, paging through the books, his eyes lingering towards the prison worlds kept behind his desk. No. He couldn’t be tempted. Those kept in prison worlds were serving out their sentences. If he let one out in exchange for information, he couldn’t tell what kind of terror he would unleash on the world. His fingers brushed over the books, unsure of who to ask, who would be willing, and who would ever have information on the current supernatural he was hunting. Would the price of their freedom be enough? Enough to save others? But what would be the cost? The only person that might know enough information was in a prison world because he couldn’t handle them. He had nearly died that night trying to put them in. Everyone in the area knew their reputation. Even deadly and new supernaturals were concerned with this person’s presence. Putting this person away was how he had earned his reputation. His fingers traced down the spine of the prison world’s book, but could he manage to seal them back up again? Especially after years of pent up rage that were likely stock-piling within the novel?

         The dial to the phone turned in the hallway, “I know it’s been a while…. hi, dad…I’m okay, I’m living with two really great people. I know, I know, it’s okay. He said he’d want to meet you again sometime, not yet, no I’m safe. How’s mom?”

         Todoroki let go of the book, pushing it back onto the shelf. Taking a breath, as he wandered away from the fastest help that there was to offer…but quite also the most dangerous.  

[lovetnaomi]

Secrets of the Dusk Chapter 19

               Todoroki felt his heart strumming against his chest, reminding him of the warnings he had told himself, the warnings he had grained deeply in his own cranium watching his mother as he grew up. She was so weak in comparison to his father. Human. Uraraka had been so strong, her personality so powerful and presence reassuring to him, how could he have forgotten? How could he have pushed down the main thing he felt about humans. 

Fragile. 

Fragile. 

Fragile. 

His mind wavered to the time he had reached for his mother himself and accidentally left a bruise on her leg as a toddler, the panic and disgust swelled in him. He never wanted to be a drop like his father. She knew he didn’t mean it, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. He knew even as a toddler; he knew that his mother was the most fragile out of their family. But he never wanted to be his father. Even with the gentlest touch, the kind that someone would use when going over delicate artwork or in an attempt not to squish the smallest thing, he had still harmed her. And now he had forgotten what was carved deep in his brain about humans. The most important thing. The topic that was so deadly to forget in this world. The topic that he knew that he was just deluding himself in, humans were fragile.

               And his human heart felt like something was shattering in his chest as he stared down an empty parking lot with the exceptions of Tsuyu’s knife, Uraraka’s phone and bookbag, and so, so much blood. His hand stretched to his chest tangling with his shirt. It hurt. The organ had been practically frozen solid for years. It had helped him forget. Forget himself. That his heart was human. He had been so carefully remembering to be gentle with humans that he forgot to be gentle with himself, and now that the ice he carved around his heart was melting, it was too much. The ground felt uneven. He felt like he was choking. Todoroki breathe. He glanced up, searching around for Uraraka, her voice sounding so near to him. His breath exhaled, forming life into the air and ascending to the sky.

               “Uraraka!” He called, his voice echoing into the distance, reverberating back through the air to him. He wasn’t surprised to hear the silence echoing back at him. There was so much blood, it would be hard to track her scent. He glanced towards Tsuyu’s things; she wouldn’t leave Uraraka behind. Or have the chance to escape. He walked forward, finding beads shattered around the parking lot, with no time to pick up his mother’s bracelet, he needed to find her. He was sure his mother wouldn’t mind that he had chosen Uraraka over the bracelet, “Uraraka!”

               His chest tightened as he pressed the thoughts of why he didn’t get useful powers, why couldn’t his family had been one that would bestow him something he could actually use to help his friends. Todoroki swallowed, the blood remained pooled at his feet, on the contradiction of his brain it was good that it wasn’t dry yet. That means it was recent. That means he would find her alive. But which way? Which way? There were no footprints, just a pool of blood, liquefying and diffusing in the parking lot. Todoroki reached for the phone in his pocket, glancing down towards Uraraka’s strumming against the pavement with the home phone’s number battering against it. He was surprised it wasn’t dead from Katsuki calling and yelling yet. Todoroki slid unlock on the phone, surprised again that it didn’t contain a password.

               “She’s not here.”

               “Then what the hell is?”

               Todoroki glanced towards the scene, it was likely something that Katsuki had seen before, “Everything’s going to be fine. Call for the witch of the Forrest.” He hung up the call in the midst of Katsuki’s yelling, before searching the phone book, Tsuyu’s number being one of the most recent calls. He hit the call button. The ringing of the phone not fast enough to match the beating of his heart.

               The phone clicked on, loud clopping steps reverberating across wherever they were running.

“Tsuyu? Where are you?”

“Up, three floors! I don’t know what we’re going to do-“ Tsuyu sounded out of breath, and he could hear that she was being pulled along, Uraraka’s breath faint but he could hear it in the background. Meaning whoever was chasing them was playing with them, treating them like they were a game. Todoroki swallowed. Plenty of supernaturals that still craved bloodlust tended to play with their food. It helped wave the bloodlust off for a little extra time before they needed to hunt down another victim.

“I’m on my way, leave a scent trail, something that’ll throw off the scent, run in a circle only if you have time, and hide. Don’t make a noise. I’ll be right there. If I can hear you both breathing through the phone, they aren’t far behind.”

“You better hurry up or there won’t be a body to find.”

Todoroki nodded, shutting the phone before throwing himself into the building, going up the stairs two to three at a time.  He wouldn’t lose this battle, he swung the next-door open glancing down towards the pillage of clothes nearing the door, no one in sight but the echoing of footfalls slowly approaching him. He glanced towards the stairs; they likely were in a way he wouldn’t suspect. He had a choice to make, grab them and get out or find the person chasing them and confront the problem. Todoroki swallowed, he didn’t want them to see him like he could be in the name of defending his territory or what and who was important to him. But he also couldn’t leave, while running and having them fear for their lives.

Todoroki felt his feet move forwards, knowing what he had to do. He needed to be swift and lacking in mercy. A shadow lingered on the opposite side of the construction-littered terrain, calmly walking about the territory and observing as if they were playing hide-and-seek with a child. Their red eyes slowly lingering down towards the clothing articles that laid at his feet. A small scoff of annoyance escaping them, a twist of their foot as if to say they were turning around, but turning back to him and approaching him.

“You do realize who’s prey they were right? How can you be such a glutton not to leave a single piece?” The person paused, their unfamiliar but cold eyes glancing over the clothes, “Not a single spot of blood, so either I’ve misunderstood or you’re the world’s most meticulous eater.”

A hollow laugh escaped him, “I might be, I’ve never left a mess behind from something I’ve started, and I’m not going to start now.”

The steps were careful, graceful, not a sound echoed in the corridor, laughter echoed down the corridor as the man spun back to him, “You know, if I didn’t know who you were you would’ve had me, I was almost impressed. Alright, fess up where’d you hide them.”

A scoff escaped him, “If you knew who I am, you should know that I’m not going to give them up,” He paused, almost startling himself when he found himself right next to the guy, his right-hand lingering over the man’s neck, his voice dropping to a soft but sadistic whisper, “I would take this as a warning and never look in the direction of this household ever again.” He hissed, before launching the man several feet back. His body only stopping once it collided with the wall, shaking the building. Todoroki glanced towards the wall structure, he didn’t know where those two were hiding, it would be best not to do that again. If he was lucky hopefully the guy would get his point and dart in the name of at least trying to keep his life until the next new moon.  

The man cackled, brushing himself off and unburying himself from the supplies, in the next moment Todoroki could feel warmth wrapping around his own next, “You’re not used to losing are you? Or even people being close to your level, huh?” The man laughed as Todoroki grabbed his wrist feeling his feet leave the floor, he had severely underestimated this person’s strength. His mind swirling between how he was raised, hoping to find anything that could save him while not being launched back into a regrettable situation, something that would at least give him something in an attempt to free himself.

He grabbed the man’s wrist, fire causing light to radiate off their face. Todoroki swallowed, wishing it didn’t make the man clearly able to see. He had half a face, jawbone protruding out where skin should be almost seeming as though someone had attempted sculpting the face and wanted to move from clay to a new medium. Honestly, they would almost look decent if it wasn’t for the blood that crusted the other side of his face. He could feel his fangs pulse, while his human half wanted to run somewhere and puke in rejecting of the sight. His mind screaming that he knew exactly what covered this man’s face, but also wanting to deny it to the point the words sounded as though they were static in his head. He didn’t want to know. He didn’t even want to think it. His hand tightened, the fires growing brighter, beginning to cascade up the man’s arm, but the man didn’t flinch. Todoroki attempted to swallow feeling the pressure get tighter around his neck, he needed to get himself free and soon. He needed to be stronger than this man. He was the strongest in the area, if he lost who would protect everyone else? They would be vulnerable. Spots were moving through his vision, at the corner of his eyes, and he could see his fire starting to flicker even with how much it had spread upon this man. Todoroki felt a pressure run through the back of his head, he hadn’t felt it before but if he was thinking straight he would’ve suspected that he was losing. But instead, he was concerned with his blurring vision and the weight of his head, the brown-haired bob flying towards the two of them in the background barely a thought processing through his mind, words that were loud incomprehensible in his mind before he hit the floor.

He could feel someone rolling him over so that he was staring straight up at the roof, saliva running down the side of his mouth.

“Oh no, oh no, Tsuyu what do I do?”

Todoroki felt his head rolling his breathing beginning to sort itself, but almost as though it was hyperventilating in an attempt to regain all of the oxygen he had lost previously, but not quite strong enough yet to return himself to his feet.

“Let me see, watch for the other one.”

“I know I’m watching”

“It doesn’t look like his neck is broken, I see faint bruising, but I think it’s healing currently.”

Their panicked voices dropped to whispers as he could feel their hands carefully check to see if he was injured anywhere else before considering moving him, Todoroki glanced behind Uraraka, a metal rod laid right against her leg, and a headless man several feet away. His hand brushed Uraraka’s hair out of the way, “I’m sorry.” He coughed, out of the two of them he hadn’t realized who had been the weaker out of the two of them all along.

She grabbed his hand, her shaking hands tightening around them as she clearly was trying to steady herself, “Keep your breath, we’ll move to a safer spot as soon as we know you don’t have any other injuries that you’ll bleed out from.”

“You keep rescuing me.”

“And you keep running to me as soon as I call you.”

“I, I’m supposed to be protecting you.”

“We’re a household, we take care of each other now.”

He glanced towards her, wondering if she could tell what he was thinking about through one look in his eyes.

A small soft laughter came from her, “Alright, we’ll keep a tally and whoever does the most rescuing has to treat the other to ice cream at the end of the year.”

A soft laugh escaped him, before he felt his eyes linger towards the body in the background. He would have to take care of whatever that was before other humans arrived in the morning. Likely he would have to burn it in hopes that it wouldn’t attempt to rise again like a zombie, or a vampire might if not properly disposed of.

Tsuyu coughed, “We should hide him.”

“I’ll be up in a few moments. I can fight whoever we find next.”

Tsuyu shook her head, “It’s not that,” she glanced towards the street, whatever she saw down there both relieving and stressing her, “I called my parents.”

Todoroki nodded, The Demon Hunters in the area. Never a good sign. Especially since they were likely going to take one look at him so weak and likely decide that it would be the best opportunity to take care of such a powerful demon. But on the other hand, he wasn’t ever fit for hiding, and they had mentioned there was another person chasing them through the corridors. “When was the last time you saw the other person?”

Uraraka’s hands tightened on his arm, “That’s the thing, we saw him and then he was gone…he looks like Katsuki’s old friend.” Her eyes were distant as though she was unsure if she wanted to share this information. It was clear the next question would be if they should or shouldn’t share the information with Katsuki. Her voice shook, “He didn’t seem like a-“

“There’s never anyway to tell until after you see them do it. It’s one of the things that keeps them alive, is they’re good until they’re not.”

Uraraka nodded, glancing towards the window, her attention coming back to him as he was already beginning to try standing.

Todoroki felt himself instinctively bristle feeling a cool metal on the back of his head. It had been a rough day already in the first place. He attempted not to let his hand curl around the clothes covering Uraraka’s knees, his hand bracing for an impact as he felt her flinch likely looking at whatever he was feeling behind himself. Todoroki paused still feeling unsteady, he wouldn’t be able to get away from whoever was behind him, especially not at the range they were at. It had already been a rough day. He knew he should’ve found a way to practically dress Katsuki up in a bee-keeper suit of sun blocking curtains and dragged him along. He pushed the ridiculous idea down, trying to focus on the situation. He uncurled his hand, slowly beginning to raise both of them.

“Don’t you dare move you disgusting demon-“

“Mom, it wasn’t him-“

“Tsuyu!”

“He came to save us!”

“Tsuyu, don’t fall for that, he’s probably just trying to-“

Uraraka launched herself towards the person behind them, likely to wrestle whatever equipment they had out of their hands, “I’ve had such a rough week already, I’d appreciate you not aiming a gun at my friends, especially during midterm week.”

Todoroki slowly stumbled attempting to raise himself to a standing position so he could see what was happening behind him, before lowering himself back to the floor, raising his hands, “I’m not going to attack anyone.”

“That’s what they all say!” Tsuyu’s mom shouted from underneath Uraraka, seeming as though they were losing the situation barely keeping the weapon out of Uraraka’s hands. Frankly, it looked similar to siblings arguing over a toy. Except it was a very dangerous element that could likely kill him considering what Tsuyu’s parents did.

“Mame- I’m a half- “

“He’s a demon doesn’t matter what he says- “

“I don’t give a damn if he’s a demon or not, I give a damn how he treats me. So, if you want him you’re going to have to go through me.” Uraraka stood, the glow of a thousand wildfires and the power of a stampede radiating from her presence. “Besides, don’t you have a more important job than to attempt to kill an innocent bystander? Especially one that regulates this city better than you could ever dream?”

“I do my job just fine!”

“Your job is murder, not control. I know you’re doing you’re best and I appreciate you coming to help save us and I know that it’s the only answer for a species so weak and so easily preyed upon can come upon, but there’s nothing wrong with leaving those who haven’t done wrong and those who are doing their best and haven’t hurt anyone alone.” Uraraka’s loud voice dropped to a whisper. Confusion as she ran through her explanation running through her mind. Clearly knowing that she shouldn’t reprimand Tsuyu’s mother for her job, and that it was something that she would’ve been doing in order to save their lives. But also, that it wasn’t fair to kill Todoroki only due to what he was.

Tsuyu’s mom let out a loud sigh, the noise of regret lingering through it, “You’re possessed child, move, it’s not going to feel good being released from it, but I promise it’s worth it.” Tsuyu’s mom switched, a knife in her hand.

Uraraka threw herself in front of him, “If you can’t be bothered to listen, over my dead body, and then some.” She hissed, Tsuyu’s mother came closer a lingering look of regret, “If you take another step closer, I promise only your nightmares will be where you feel safe.”

Tsuyu gasped, grabbing her mom’s elbow as she raised the knife, Todoroki moved grabbing Uraraka and spinning her to the other side of himself. He couldn’t have done much throughout the day to help her, but at the very least he could protect her from an on-coming knife. He braced himself, waiting for the burning to seethe down his back in the way he had heard it described before. Those who had been cut by a hunter’s knife and managed to get away even the tiniest of cuts and bruised never healed. He would have to find a way to hide it so that the forest residence didn’t think he was weak, and his father wouldn’t take it as a chance to start a war with the humans. But he wouldn’t change his mind. He couldn’t do much for Uraraka, at the very least he could be her shield. He swallowed, waiting for the pain.

“Honey,” Loud steps clopped against the pavement, “I can’t find anyone else in the building- “

The pain never came, Todoroki loosened his grip on Uraraka, full of rebellion that he was planning on taking the hit for her especially after she had riled the hunter up. He glanced over his shoulder, the two hunters standing side-by-side, Tsuyu’s hands still wrapped around her mother’s elbow, confusion, regret, and embarrassment more than obvious on her face.

What he believed was Tsuyu’s father, turned to him, likely looking him over as Todoroki slowly let go of Uraraka, pushing down his instinct to run. That was normal. They had pointed a knife at the two of them. If he couldn’t tell their clear resemblance he would’ve laughed at the similarity of the situation if it hadn’t been so dire.

Tsuyu’s father blinked at him, confusion clear on his face, “Are you….are you Rei’s son?”

He almost took a step back, heat rising to his face as he glanced towards his shoes, then back towards him, “Why do you need to know?”

Her father nodded, “Honey, he’s a half-demon.”

“Does that make much of a difference?”

“No, but the way he’s raised would definitely be different than most, it’s not often you run into a half-demon. Well, they are more common now a days since demons are beginning to adapt to look a lot more like humans. Anyway, how’s your mother?”

He glanced towards the empty corridor waiting for the person that had been chasing Tsuyu and Uraraka to appear at any moment. At the current moment, it didn’t feel real, as though they were playing some sort of game of tag and the person, he was expecting to show up was an imaginary player.

“Ah, right, not quite the right area to have this conversation. Thank you for taking care of our daughter, you should come over sometime and bring your mother-“

He glanced back towards him, his eyes narrowing, the humans he had been told about from his mother’s side weren’t much. From his perspective she had fought to survive taking everything morsel she could possibly get but in her eyes…humans were just as cruel as the stories of demons that her family told. Worse. Because in the beginning, most expects those similar to their own to help them out. He wouldn’t put himself in such a vulnerable situation. The story of how his mother had been practically sold off to his father because her family mistook her psychic powers for selling her soul. He didn’t trust either of his parents’ connections, no matter how much a sparkling recommendation either of them might’ve given them, “How did you know her?”

“We went to high school together. But you know how it is, after most people graduate, go their separate ways and never speak again. But I didn’t know-she….” There was concern radiating in the man’s eyes.

Todoroki glanced towards the wall, knowing exactly what the man was thinking about. Uraraka’s hand moved around his wrist, “Let’s go home.” She whispered, nodding towards Tsuyu and her family, before making their way down the stairs. Todoroki glanced towards the floor, attempting not to glance at the bloodstain walls, they had fought with everything they possibly could before he had arrived. And even then, they didn’t truly need him to step in. He hadn’t noticed Uraraka taking the keys or the quiet drive home. His mind was spinning, and he was regrettably beyond exhausted.

“We’ll get him next time. And we’ll save Midoriya too. No matter what we have to do to save them. We’ll help who we can.” Uraraka paused, sliding out of the car, “I was thinking that’s the way I want to do things. I looked Tsuyu’s parents over and I realized they do good in the world, but I also don’t want to be in-discriminatory of the good and the bad and accidentally take the good out of the world. I want to do the best I can for the world. I’ve decided how we’re going to do things, help who we can.”  

Todoroki nodded, that seemed like the way to be. The hunters’ presence had put his mind for a loop, especially when he was typically on the other end of the weapon. But in his defense, he had gone after murderers, serial killers, but didn’t that make him a serial killer himself? Todoroki moved his way onto the couch, his head spinning in circles on an already rough week. Uraraka’s soft voice sounding as though it was in the hall, “We’re all just doing our best. And that’s all anyone can ask for.” The sound of the shower turning on beginning to low him to sleep. It wasn’t until several hours later that his brain was starting to detect some form of weight on his chest as he attempted to breathe. But the presence wasn’t unfamiliar, instead of the panic he knew he should’ve been feeling, he felt relieved. Todoroki slid one of his eyes open, Uraraka’s head on his chest and her legs draped across Katsuki on the other side and he stayed, an arm thrown over the back of the couch and watching a movie. And suddenly his mind was quiet. For the first time in weeks, Todoroki found himself not only feeling safe, but content.  

[lovetnaomi]

Secrets of the Dusk Chapter 17

               Todoroki stumbled, the bloodlust was boiling in his own blood and he had never gone such a long time without allowing it to quench itself over the target. 

Each of his targets had been well sought out and deserving of his bloodlust, he had also never had to hide the bloodlust from anyone. But from the crevices of his heart, he didn’t want Uraraka to see it blossoming within him to the point of physically painting his face, from his facial expression to his glowing eyes. He knew how a human would feel about it. His human-half had panicked the first time he saw such an expression in the mirror, he could still feel the bile that rose in his throat in such disgust for it. But this bloodlust was what had kept him alive all of this time. He turned from the house, glaring at the fiery stars as though they would be able to overpower the glow that was radiating from his eyes.

               He felt himself tense then instinctively relax as arms slipped around him, Uraraka stuffing her face between his shoulder blades, “We’re going to be okay.”

               His hands wrapped around her arms, letting himself embrace such a luxury, just for a moment, just for a moment was all he needed. The world that felt like it was slipping underneath his feet finally shifting back into place. He knew that he should’ve never had to face a world that was too dark for him with his own powers, but with Uraraka’s arms around him, the world felt so much brighter than it had before as the stars painted the sky. “I know. I’ll make it okay again. I have to.”

               She buried her head deeper in his shoulder blades, “You don’t have to make anything okay and not again. There’s the possibility of things being completely different, and that’s alright. It’s okay if it’s different,” She paused, loosening her grip and peering around so he could see her eyes shining in the darkness, “And it’s okay if you rely on us.”

               Todoroki lowered his head, “How am I supposed to rely on you when you can’t rely on me?”

               Her grip tightened on him as-if if she let up for a single moment she would lose this chance, losing him in the wave of forever, “Feel that?” she pulled him backwards, pushing her forehead into his shoulder blades and standing him upright again, “I do that for you when you fall and vice-versa, but it doesn’t always look or feel the same. Right now, you need us, but we also need you. Although I’m sure Katsuki would never admit it, I’m sure he appreciates that you’re around.”

               Todoroki nodded, “Alright, we’ll move forwards. But what do we do about Katsuki?”

               Uraraka glanced towards the house, “We let him out.”

               Todoroki paused, glancing back towards the stars, his thoughts cycling around to the point he knew that it should’ve sounded like the screams of a riot breaking out the influence of mob-mentality rippling through the crowd in a high crime rate city, yet-it felt quiet. It only took a moment, but it felt as though the quiet of a field with the soft chirp of crickets on a summer night and the wind playing with his hair was passing through his head. He glanced down towards Uraraka’s eyes, and he knew the answer on why. He trusted them, both of them. Katsuki would never lay a finger on her nor would she let him. He trusted both of them with his life. Katsuki wasn’t his prisoner, far from it. Katsuki wouldn’t admit it, but he was his friend. Deep down he knew that Katsuki knew what he had done was for his own good. Todoroki nodded, “Just keep the book near you until we can figure out if he has blood-bingeing qualities and until he can sort it out on his own.”

               Uraraka nodded, rushing inside to the book Katsuki was sealed in. It wasn’t long until he could hear what was likely profanities being ushered out the door in the form of Katsuki’s voice likely cursing his name to the high heavens, if there were any. The long list of profanities echoing into the night making it seem as though they were arguing over what to make for dinner and a serial killer hadn’t just broken into their home. He could feel his muscles relaxing before turning and heading inside. Todoroki moved to a chair, pulling open another book and stuffing his hands into his hair. He didn’t know how long he had been there nor did he notice the scent of food drafting into the disaster zone of a room, whoever had made them a target had gone out of their way to give the damage similar to a tsunami to the room. If he wasn’t here, he would’ve considered someone breaking into the house in an attempt of a burglary that didn’t end well.

               A bowl filled with his favorite food slammed down in front of him, barely avoiding splashing its contents onto the books sprawled across the desk, “Don’t do that shit ever again. We both know you need me.”

               Todoroki nodded, “I’m-“

               “Don’t tell me your sorry, I don’t need to hear that crap,” Katsuki moved, picking up some books off the floor and stuffing them on the shelf, before pulling another, “just keep moving forwards. We’ll figure it out.”

               Todoroki glanced down into his book, “I don’t know how to protect her. I don’t think you would purposely hurt her….but now that you’ve gotten a taste for it….did you want me to give you some of mine?”

               Katsuki made a loud choking noise, slamming the book he was holding shut, “Don’t bring that nonsense up again. Also, you’ve been supplying me with supernatural creatures’ blood, consider yourself once in a while you’re probably in more danger.” Katsuki shuffled his hand through his hair, “I wouldn’t hurt you. Only a weak fool would lose control,” Katsuki’s hand brushed the files and collection of blood-bingers that he kept, a soft “I refuse to wind up like them” under his breath.

               Todoroki curled his hands around the book, “Katsuki….What happened….what happened to your friend?”

                Katsuki paused, staring down the bookshelves as if the books would release the answers to him instead of being required to page through them, his demeanor was quiet in the opposite relation to the swirling chaotic presence that rushed around the room. Katsuki bubbled, taking a breath and leaving the room before he came back with two chairs and Uraraka. Todoroki swallowed wondering if he had just hit a very bad topic between them, shutting the book as he glanced towards Katsuki lowering himself into his chair, a suppressed look of shame and guilt on his face.

               “My friend’s name was Izuku Midoriya, and if you asked me the person who killed him was probably me.” Katsuki tapped his foot attempting not to let his voice waver, “He was a very weak child from the beginning, my parents were always very strict about making sure that I was protecting him, but he frequently did too much, too far, so I tried to push him away. Some nights I got in over my head…he was still there for me, not that I would admit the amount of times he pulled me out of trouble when he could barely hold his own.” Katsuki shook his head, “But there was one night we had gotten into a large fight, spending your whole life protecting someone who won’t even protect themselves is too much to ask a child. And pushing it down their throats for twenty-three years is a little much. So, I hopped on my motorcycle and I floored it. It wasn’t until two days later I got a call from his mom frantic and crying.” Katsuki paused, his hands tightening together. “I spent three days after that looking for him and the police had already declared him missing, they weren’t doing anything since the case was opened and closed so fast. It’s what happens when someone that weak goes missing, they assume they didn’t make it after forty-eight hours.” Katsuki swallowed glancing towards the ground. “I figured the good guys weren’t giving me any information than I’d beat it out of the bad guys, typically they had a good network for finding stuff out. The more I looked the deeper and deeper I went into….” Katsuki glanced towards Todoroki, “This world. And when you get deeper into the dark side of things, darker things come looking for you. Especially when you build yourself up a reputation. Criminals looking for a partner get curious, gangs get curious,” Katsuki glanced towards his hand, “we get curious. I just wasn’t lucky enough for something a little less sinister to find me. Whatever took an interest in me likes to play games.”

               Katsuki paused, glancing towards the blanketed window as if he would’ve been able to see through it, “I don’t even know if I found him that night or not.” He ran a hand through his hair, “They get in your head, I was so confused already and then he was standing there, in the middle of the alley, looking down on me with that smug look he gives me like he knows more than he lets on. And then he was running, and I had been looking for him for nearly two months by then. So, I threw my bike down I didn’t even think I just ran, I ran until I could almost grab his hood in my hands, I could feel the fabric of the hood on my fingertips, then he turned into a building that was less than livable. And there he was on the ground, just a body bleeding out. The next thing I knew, they had me over the ledge of the building, hanging by holding my throat I could barely understand what was happening I just knew I was losing.” Katsuki glanced towards the window again, “I knew now why they were laughing as they glanced towards the sun to rise, but at the last moment they changed their minds and dropped me, I crawled into the building and they were both gone. Blood laid about the streets and across the entire building. There was no way all of that blood was his….I woke several days later, glancing around, knowing half that blood was mine, and unsure how I had lived.” Katsuki’s hand curled on his pants, “It took one look in the mirror for me to realize I hadn’t. And neither had Midoriya.”

               Uraraka tightened her hands on each other, “Then that means your friend could still be alive?”

               Katsuki shook his head, “He was so weak. I’ve researched it. Whatever I am, vampire or not, it’s not good to turn someone so weak into a vampire if we even are that.”

               Todoroki swallowed, wishing he didn’t know what that meant.

               Uraraka glanced between the two of them.

               “It’s not on purpose, it never is with blood-bingers or rippers, but he’ll desperately crave the life his body was never able to handle, even if he has to rip it from the other’s around him.” Todoroki looked down at his book wishing he didn’t have to say it, but he didn’t want to force Katsuki to say it either.

               “It’s better that he didn’t become one, the best we can hope for is I find his body decent enough to give back to his mother and I wipe her mind on how she got him back to bury him.” Katsuki sighed, already over by the curtained-window, hands holding onto his own hips likely trying to convince himself to be patient with himself as he did something out of character and explained what had happened. “It might’ve all just been in my head. I don’t know what they did to me.”

               Uraraka glanced towards the floor, “You said you left your motorcycle? And you remember where it all happened.”

               “Not exactly, that alley I told you I died in is the alley I woke up in later on. Newly born vampires don’t have much strength to keep their memories in order. The police report says that alley, but as the memories have started clearing out, I know it was worse than any of the pictures of those police reports that were brought home. It was a disaster. Whoever had found me was desperately looking for something to show them a good time.” Katsuki paused, “Never found my motorcycle either.”

               Uraraka nodded, leaving the room before coming back with her laptop typing furiously, “I may have not had a lot of money growing up but that didn’t mean I didn’t take full advantage of every possible opportunity offered to me.” A final aggressive tap turning their attention to her, “I found it. Hopefully. It’s been sold two to three times but it’s still in the area, but all of the hands it’s passed through have been shady.”

               “It’s okay, I don’t need it back.”

               “That’s not the point.”

               “How did you even find the plate number?”

               Uraraka blushed, not ready to admit she pulled it up in a background check, “Let’s just blame this on the elective class and move on. But that’s not the point, if we can trace it back to who sold it and then trace where those people have been hopefully somehow we can get ahold of where they’ve been and get a hold of footage and backtrack it until we find out where they took it from.”

               Katsuki nodded, beginning to draw up a map and leaving the room to turn off the whistling stove.

               Todoroki glanced towards Uraraka, already furiously paging through the pages, “Uraraka….if you see Katsuki’s friend….don’t approach him. Alert one of us.”

               “I know, it’s dangerous, I’ll figure it out.”

               Todoroki moved, lowering himself to her pouring herself through the books she was researching not realizing the first mistake he had made, he lifted her head to meet his eyes, a blush covering her face as confusion ran through it, “If you see Izuku Midoriya, run, contact us next.” And with those words, he had mistakenly sealed their fates for the next several days.

[lovetnaomi]

Secrets of the Dusk chapter 12 sneak peak

But it’s 430 AM now so I’m going to bed, subject to change but I’m glad I finally got a bit of free time to write. I’m going to sneak it in during the break

It probably won’t be done until late tonight cuz I’m going to bed now

[lovetnaomi]

Secrets of the Dusk Chapter 16

               He knew his eyes were glowing, a signal from his demon-half. He couldn’t suppress it. There were so many thoughts circling in his head right now. Desperately fighting to be the dominant issue that he needed to take care of.  The way Uraraka was looking at him as though he had just killed Bakugo. Or the blood that painted the room. 

Bakugo was going into a blood-binge rampage. He never wanted to trap him in there. In the last two years although the blonde would never admit he had considered the two of them to be friends. Todoroki set the book onto the table. In the end, there wasn’t a single thing he could’ve done for either of them.

               “Todoroki? What’s happening?” Her voice wavered; she didn’t have to say it out loud. She was scared. For Katsuki. And of him. His parents had warned him growing up that humans would always be scared of him. At the end of the day, this was always the answer. Maybe he had brought her in out of spite after all. Maybe he didn’t truly care for her, but a sense of pride was boasting in his chest and now his pride was screaming because they were losing the uphill battle.  

               The book rattled in his hand, likely Katsuki was too powerful for the dimension he was sealed in, he would have to keep the book by his side day in and out until he was able to help him. Her scent waded over him. Todoroki swallowed. He had forgotten about that. He had become so comfortable in her presence that he forgot that her scent presented herself as a literal meal to most creatures that roamed the night. The book refused to cease its rattling, Katsuki was desperately trying to keep himself from being entrapped. He would never hear the end of it when he finally let him out. Todoroki swallowed, his eyes lingering towards Uraraka, “Have you considered asking Tsuyu if you can stay with her for a while?”

               Her eyebrows knitted together, “What’s the matter?” The prison world’s rattling drawing her attention, she swallowed, “Katsuki’s in there?”

               Todoroki nodded doing his best to suppress his own guilt, wishing that he could’ve managed to hide this scene to at the very least save Katsuki’s dignity. He would likely carry that shame for months. Uraraka nodded, leaving the room and coming back with a bag. “He carried this with him to meet his parents.” Her shaky hand reached for the light before deciding it was best that they left it off. Todoroki nodded taking the bag out of her hands, wondering what had been previously kept inside. Uraraka was back again, this time with a towel, and a mop bucket. He wasn’t sure where she had discovered that in his maze of a home, but she had found it. At least the home itself had begun to accept her. Her voice was a soft whisper, “You need to move.”, but he heard it. And the message was loud and clear. He needed to start working on saving Katsuki.

               She paused as he glanced towards her, “Todoroki….did you give him human blood?”

               There was a silence in the kitchen, “I didn’t give him anything. You told me you two were leaving.”

               Uraraka’s breath hitched, “Are you sure? But Katsuki’s the one that went to find you and he said he did.”

               Todoroki’s grip tightened on the bag, who had given him this? Who was powerful enough not only to get passed the Witch of the Forrest’s barrier on the house, but to disguise themselves as Uraraka and himself without any of the residents of the household noticing? “We aren’t safe here. We need to go.” The words were bile in his mouth. He needed to stay here. The answer to helping Katsuki was probably still within the house. And likely whoever had broken in had this as their plan all along. They hadn’t attacked any of the residents but made it impossible for Katsuki to move about and made a carefully plotted plan that they would have to be separated. He had been careful not to give Katsuki any human blood what-so-ever. He had been so careful, not even a bit. Todoroki’s eyes moved towards the blood in the kitchen knowing his brain had already processed it. They were going in circles and he had a decision to make. He could either kick Uraraka out of the house or keep Katsuki trapped in the prison world. He took a breath, his mind wandering to Uraraka sleeping on the streets. He didn’t want to see her like that ever again. But it wasn’t safe for her here either, someone had broken in. But he could use her help digging through archives on how to help Katsuki. Todoroki took the cloth from her, “You shouldn’t be touching any of this. I’m sorry you had to see this.”

               Uraraka nodded, glancing around, “Does this happen…often?” She had been living with them for a while, she knew this hadn’t happened before, she was likely trying to fill the silence.

               “It’s the first time. I don’t know who broke in or who snuck him actual human blood or why.” The questions were driving him insane. They were practically infuriating him-Uraraka’s hand landed on his shoulder.

               “We’ll figure it out. We need to help him.”

               He nodded. There was nothing else they could do but try. They couldn’t afford to fail. Uraraka’s hand stiffened on his shoulder, as she glanced towards the location his office was, slowly standing up and reaching for the nearest would-be-weapon, “What’s the matter?” He didn’t know what it was, but the presence she must’ve sensed finally waved over him, bristling his demon-half. Someone uninvited was in his territory. A cruel smile blossoming to his lips, a fool was in his library.

               “This presence it’s similar to Officer Jenkins…before, before his body was found in a ditch.”

               Todoroki nodded, his eyes lingering down towards the bracelet still around her wrist, “Take Katsuki,” he slid the book into her hands making sure she was using enough pressure to keep the book closed, “Go hide. Ask the house to hide you, it should move.”

               Uraraka gave him a bemused and confused look but moved outside of the room, already running down the hallway that should’ve led to the back door, but turning at a new room that opened for her. Todoroki nodded watching the wall close, he probably should’ve told her that was a good sign and nothing to be frightened of. But he didn’t have time, he needed to get to whoever was in the library. And show them what it meant to invade a demon’s territory. Todoroki took a breath, summoning the amount of strength he could manage. This person must’ve known and had contact with whoever Uraraka’s parents had hired. He still felt weak, but he wouldn’t let them see that. He couldn’t let them know. Todoroki grabbed the nearest weapon off the wall, dragging it down the floor neat the tile he had designed to making an incredibly loud screeching sound to accompany his footsteps. He slid the office door open, “I’m assuming you made an appointment correct?”

               A woman in an office suit had herself placed on his desk, paging through one of his books and a fresh stack towering towards her knees on the floor, her purple hair cascaded down, and a look of displeasure was clearly painted on her face, as if he was the one to rudely interrupt her while she was reading. The woman scoffed turning the page, “Just getting rid of a little bit of a mess I left behind. You see my last shell left such a mess. You know possessing him was rough, he had such an undesirable quench for blood, but this one, this one’s quite,” She glanced up from her book, then back down to it as though it wasn’t worth her time to pay her full attention to him, “Quiet. It leaves more room for clear thoughts, and one of those was why don’t I clean up the trail I left behind? And what do you know, I wind up here. At the strongest demon in the area’s house.”

               “You can’t have him.”

               “I’m not looking for a him. I’m looking for a young college-aged woman. She seems to know more than she’s letting on.”

               Todoroki felt himself bristle, if they wound up at his house and weren’t looking for Katsuki-then Uraraka-“I’m sorry, you must’ve just missed her. The Witch of the Forrest doesn’t get frequent visitors. She’ll be quite displeased to hear it.”

               The woman nodded turning the page, “I’m sure,” she turned another page before setting the book down and moving to the bookshelves, clearly ignoring the unnecessary sword he had brought with him, she pulled down three more books, “Since we’re on the topic, how is that child I left with you?”

               “There are no children in this household.”

               She slid herself back onto the desk, “Don’t play dumb, we both know I mean Katsuki Bakugo.”

               “He hates you; he hates being a vampire and will probably kill you that minute he sees you, now get out you’ve overstayed your welcome.”

               The woman laughed, “I just told you I jumped bodies. Now can vampires do that? I’m not a vampire, honey.” The woman leaned back on the desk, putting the book into her lap, “You know I did spend a couple of hundred years thinking I was a vampire too or at least some variety of a vampire.” She glanced towards her nails, beginning to clean them, “Then one day I decided humans weren’t enough. They never were, I was always so hungry. I feel like if there was the supposed embodiment of lust, I guess we’re gluttony?” She set her heels down onto the floor sliding off of the desk, “Although you may be concerned about it, I haven’t let that many of your victims out of the prison worlds, besides I’m sure most of them have served long enough sentences.”

               “You don’t get to decide that-“

               She shrugged, “I’m sure they’ve all served several life sentences. You know what the other’s say,” She took several steps closer to him. Todoroki glanced about the room, if he were to light this room up it would go up in flames he couldn’t risk it, she was by his side whispering in his ear, “You’re a softy and unfit to rule this forest.” Her laughter reverberated about the house. “I mean you can’t even protect one human. Speaking of which, I need to clean up my-our tracks. You know the law, it’s okay to do what we want as long as we don’t leave any witnesses behind.”

               “So, you’re here for both of them.”

               “You know Katsuki doesn’t count as a witness. Now hand the burnet over.”

               Todoroki glanced about the room, the house was magical, but the fact that it hadn’t kicked this person out meant the house was probably considering this person to be from the same family as Katsuki due to their lineage. “If you’re not a vampire what are you?” And that meant even if he lured them to the hallway the house still wouldn’t take care of the problem. He would have to take care of the problem without trashing the house.

               The woman laughed, “Wouldn’t you like to know? Now, where is she before I start looking for her myself.”

               He took a breath, his fingers buzzing with his powers begging him to use them although he knew the house would burn, especially in this room. Whoever this person was it was likely they had been watched for a while. Likely they had been looking for Katsuki and after finding him had decided that they were going to either steal him back or kill him. Did whatever they were have the same circumstances of hierarchy as a vampire clan? He didn’t want to know. “I’ll have you know Katsuki is part of my pack.”

               “Ah, yes.” The woman rolled her eyes, “Demons one of the most-greedy creatures on the planet. I’d say, but that’s right after a human.” The woman huffed looking at him, “I won’t be so dumb to neglect how powerful emotions can be when you’re both creatures that are the epitome of greed.”

               A small scoff came from him, “I only have two that are under my watch and you’re a threat to both of them. It sounds like you have already made that mistake by even looking at them.”

               “And yet you haven’t killed me yet, are you curious? You want to know what Katsuki is. Or I could be lying that I’m not a vampire and we’re vampires in the first place. What is it you want to know?”

               Todoroki took a breath, taking another step back as they willingly followed him towards the door, “I might be. I am in charge of the safety of all of the residents, that comes first. But remember I don’t need you.”

               The woman laughed, “Or do you?”

               Todoroki took a breath in, attempting not to let the anger bubble to the surface, he didn’t want them to know they were winning. The air wafted in, the woman’s scent lingering towards him. Human. The scent was oh, so very human, even more than Uraraka’s scent. A silver lining glistened from behind the woman, Todoroki glanced up towards the corner of his eyes-Uraraka was in the center of the room tiptoeing towards the woman, with a knife that she had managed to find somewhere within the house. Todoroki glanced back towards the woman-dangerously close to him, one of the most feared creatures in the country-wearing a gigantic and triumphant smile. They weren’t jumping bodies. They were possessing from a distance to hide themselves. The woman in front of him was innocent.

“Uraraka, no!” It was too late as he reached for her, Uraraka had already plunged the woman’s back with the knife. The woman let out an uncannily unmistakable cough before collapsing to the ground, foam forming at the mouth the body twitching down and falling to the ground. Todoroki grabbed the body, sliding it the floor before letting it go and turning away to gag. There was something so unsettling about what had just happened. The body was dead. Likely, it had been dead before entering the house and that’s why the house did not register the problem. Bile spread onto the floor.

Uraraka glanced towards him, “I’m sorry. I-I just couldn’t do nothing and-“

He nodded, “It’s okay, it’s going to be okay.”

“Maybe, maybe we can help them.”

Todoroki shook his head, trying to pull her away from the body, she was too good-natured. That strike wasn’t to kill, and the body died too fast. He didn’t want her touching that thing, especially not after whatever sent it. Whoever was controlling it wasn’t doing much with it, likely they had chosen their host by the fact that they thought they wouldn’t attack it immediately and the fact that the human scent would throw them off. They had chosen the library because they knew his family was known for the fire abilities instead of his mother’s ice. They had snuck in somehow tricking the three of them to look like each other and given Katsuki human blood. Something he couldn’t handle. And it was all his fault. He had been too proud. He hadn’t been careful enough to ask the Witch of the Forrest to reinstate the forcefields. They knew that he was weak. Uraraka’s hands tightened on the sleeve he had around her. And they knew that they were capable of getting to Uraraka under the implications of the demon law in his forest. This was a carefully calculated plan. He had put them all in danger. Uraraka’s hands tightened on his sleeve as he glanced down letting go, attempting to suppress the heat from rushing to his face.

Uraraka tightened her grip on his sleeve, “They had the answers. They know what happened to Katsuki, they know so much and what happened to his friend. What have I done?”

Todoroki let the urge to run his free hand through her hair take over, “Nothing wrong, nothing wrong.” He whispered, swallowing, trying not to look at a likely innocent and unknowing by-stander on the floor. He would have to hunt down whoever had sullied her hands with such dirty work. Even if he knew the reason was the fact, he wasn’t able to protect her. The reason that she had saved him. Was his fault and that he was too weak. And the enemy knew. The reason they had taken so long, sent a person that would be able to take their time was the fact that they were setting up to see if Katsuki and Uraraka were truly within this house. And if they’d be able to get in and out without a problem. They had done a basic demon trick. How it slipped by him, he was sure they would be laughing wherever they were about how much of a fool he was for not realizing the woman in front of him was possessed. And telling them how much he didn’t know. “Uraraka? Where’s Katsuki?”

“I hid him. The book calmed down after I hushed it a little bit and told it I’d be back.”

“I’d hurry back to it, be careful not to let him out.”

Uraraka nodded, before hurriedly leaving the room, not before he noticed her wiping her hands on her pants. Likely trying to remove the bloodstains that now covered her flesh.

Todoroki sighed, moving towards the body that laid on the floor, wondering who this woman was, or how long she had been dead before entering his home. Todoroki swallowed, rolling the body over and examining the neck. There were no bite marks. He wasn’t sure if that relieved him or worried him. How did they do it? This person didn’t leave the psychic traces of a demon. His hands lingered towards the books ready to page through each one to find his answers. He glanced towards the body. It wouldn’t look good if he started researching while walking around a dead body that was still boiling up vomit and bile. But it was probably best if he didn’t touch it. No. He needed to get rid of it.

Uraraka came back, the book in her hands, glancing towards the body, her voice shook and her hands tightened on the prison world Katsuki was sealed in likely thinking about handing the book over, “I guess I should clean that up.”

“Don’t.”

She glanced towards him, “I did it. I’ll take responsibility.” Darkness painted her face; it was clear she never wanted to kill anyone. And it would be even harder to explain to her that Katsuki’s killer was still out there and there was an innocent victim at their feet. Should he explain to her that they had minions? Or able to possess others? He didn’t know the circumstances, nor did he want to freak her out, but he also didn’t want to leave her defenseless.

“I’ll take care of the body. Stay with Katsuki.” He glanced down towards the book, “I didn’t seal him properly he might be able to hear us still.” The rattling of the book had stopped shaking. Katsuki must’ve finally settled down. It was an unlikely situation, but in Uraraka’s hands, he was beginning to expect she was some sort of miracle. His eyes lingered towards the blood that covered her hands. She was a miracle he had tainted. He picked the woman up, shutting the door behind himself so she wouldn’t see him drag the body down the hallway. Glancing up, he was thankful the house had at least appreciated the sentiment. He swallowed glancing towards the edges of the woods, lingering eyes blinking and waiting. He had typically dealt with the bodies of those who were too dangerous for prison-worlds or those he couldn’t imprison by giving them to the scavengers of the forest, but this one didn’t deserve such a situation after all they had probably been through. He sighed, shuffling away, from his mother he knew the proper human burial rituals. He couldn’t give them much, but he could at least try. This person would’ve likely been through the same situation that Katsuki had been through.

Todoroki sighed, “Sorry, buddy, there’s not much I can do for you.” He made a couple snaps of his fingers unsure which religion wanted this, but there were at least some rights for someone, and no one would be able to find the body. “Hopefully in the next life, you’ll be given enough blessings to make up for the hell you’ve been through.” He snapped his fingers again, a fire illuminating his face, “Here’s to us, hopefully, the future will be better for the both of us. And you’ll be free in your next life.” He lowered his fire to the body, watching it burst into flames. The body had crumbled to ashes in a disorientating short amount of time, whatever this person had done to the body it was something completely unsettling. He could feel the wind swish through his hair as the body had finally become nothing been the ashes of what it used to be. The wind cradled the ashes in the way he hoped this person would face tenderness in their next life before carrying them away.

Todoroki brushed himself off, staring at the stars that sparkled in the sky, quelling his bloodlust, knowing his hands would be stained red by the end of the week. Whoever had decided that murder was fun was about to learn who was in real control of this game. A prison world was too good for them. There would be no gentle fire. No, who had put them through this awful scenario, who had taken Katsuki’s freedom, his sense of safety, and bloodied Uraraka’s hands, they would suffer. This person had gotten away with too much on his territory for too long. Todoroki brushed his hair back, attempting to quell the bloodlust and rage that poured through his eyes, knowing that his blood was pumping with the desire to hunt. An ecstasy of a different kind was pulsing through his flesh. When he found this person, wherever they were, they were going to suffer.

[lovetnaomi]

Secrets of the Dusk Chapter 15

Chapter 15

               Uraraka set the cups on the table, there wasn’t much they could do except return to the house where they were staying. She glanced between Katsuki and Professor Bakugo, the lingering feeling that she didn’t quite belong to this conversation moving closer and closer to her conscious mind. “I’ll go wake Todoroki, he’s probably up by this hour.” She whispered, standing, but hoping that they really didn’t hear her or would acknowledge her. She wasn’t sure quite yet what they were going to do about Professor Bakugo. But at this point in time, he was a current danger to Katsuki.

               “You’ve got to come back! Your mother and I have missed you so much! I can’t-I just can’t believe you’re alive.” 

Tears that would drown a fish in its own tank rushed out of professor Bakugo’s eyes as he sat across from Katsuki, likely going through a scene that he thought over in his head over a thousand times only to know that it was just but a daydream. Knowing that because of some psycho he would never have even the last chance to bury his son. But now in his eyes, his son was sitting right across from him, moving as if nothing had ever happened in the first place.

               Her voice turned to a hushed whisper, “I’ll go get Todoroki.” Before moving into the other room. He was asleep, but he would be able to help figure out the problem.

               Seraphina stood near Todoroki’s door, one of the books from the library in her hands, “It’s a grimoire. From an ancient and powerful witch, but it doesn’t seem to be taken from a witch…it almost seems like a gift.” Seraphina glanced towards her, “Oh, sorry, I’m mumbling to myself in the hallway, you’re probably curious now ain’t ya? Most of the books in the library are either prison worlds or have a decent amount of damage on them. This one does not and only contains healing and barrier spells. It’s the kind of book I would give as a gift to a newbie witch. Probably for the birthday right after they get their powers.”

               “Interesting, I’m actually going to see Todoroki to discuss a problem with him,” Uraraka paused, a hand on the door, “Do you know how to help?”

               Seraphina shook her head, “It’s probably best not to help him. At this point…he might turn rabid being allowed to roam free after such a long confinement.”

               Uraraka bit her lip, “Rabid?”

               “You know, like a blood-binger? It’s a common trope in all the vampire lure for a reason. It’s that dangerous that even humans with little to no psychic ability instinctively try to get away from someone who’s gone rabid or is on a blood-binge.”

               Uraraka nodded, glancing towards Todoroki’s door. Katsuki might not have seemed as level-headed to someone who had just met him, but there was no way that Katsuki would allow himself to lose control of himself to such an extent that he wasn’t able to control himself. “I think he would be alright. I trust him.”

               Seraphina coughed, “It’s not about trust.”

               Uraraka shut the door behind her moving to Todoroki’s bedside, sitting on the bed, “Hey, Todoroki? How are you feeling?” Seraphina said the rest of getting rid of the curse would basically be like a human sweating out a fever, Uraraka reached over for the cloth.

               Todoroki shot out of bed one hand grabbing her arm, eyes wide, and the other glowing.

               Uraraka glanced towards the floor, doing her best not to let her eyes slide towards the glowing hand raised at her, “Sorry…I was just trying to change the cloth.”

               Todoroki shook his hand attempting to get the fire to dim out as she slid her frost-covered underneath her other hand, “It’s alright. I thought the Witch of the Forest would tell you it’d be dangerous to go in here.”

               “She said it’d basically be like a fever, but she probably didn’t realize that I would scare you. You know having the atmosphere of mostly a human after all.”

               Todoroki nodded slowly, before glancing towards her, “It’s not often you come into my room, what’s wrong?”

               Uraraka looked at her hands, attempting not to fiddle with them, “Katsuki’s father is here. He wants to take him home.”

               Todoroki took a breath, inhaling deeply, before glancing towards the perilous stack of books that would soon need a mountain climber for a librarian stacked next to the bed lamp. “We should let him go, then shouldn’t we?”

               “It’s important to be with his family. But-he’s going to get hurt….I’m sure he already knows…I’m sure he was hurting already. But I can’t-“

               Todoroki’s door swung open, “Don’t you two make decisions for me.”

               Uraraka glanced towards Katsuki leaning on the door, “I know what happens to vampires with intense emotions, I know what happens to those that try to stay with their families or explain. He’s been pressing me for answers for how and why.”

               Uraraka nodded, “Then what are we going to do?”

               “You two are going to do nothing. I will take care of it.” He shook his head before returning to the kitchen where he could clearly hear Seraphina attempting to entertain Professor Bakugo.

               “He’s trying to ease your worries in his own way.”

               “Do you think he’s happy? To see his father?”

               Todoroki leaned his head back against the headboard, “I don’t know, I’m not much of one to speak on families. And he’s never told me himself about his family. I tried to offer him a condolence to find his family and explain the situation once.”

               She glanced towards him, the look on Todoroki’s face as he stared towards the ceiling telling her that the result would be less than amicable.

               “He told me not to bother, it would only make matters worse.”

               “His father seemed just concerned.”

               “He was worried about what his mother would think. He said that his mother was a lot like him, but she’s louder with her opinions. Likely would’ve complained that he lost the fight.”

               “He died, how can- how would a parent be so cruel?” Uraraka curled her fingers through some fabric. It was just too cruel to imagine. That not even in death was he able to escape his mother’s judgment or concern about her harsh words.

               “Sometimes people are just people. Even if their blood, sometimes, they’re just strangers. Strangers that happen to share your DNA.” His voice was soft, gentle, as though he was speaking words, truths, his truths, that he had to break to himself thousands of times before.

               “Alright, I’ll go see if they need anything.”

               Todoroki nodded, “If anything goes wrong call me.”

               Uraraka nodded, moving towards the kitchen, Seraphina stood in the hall, her fingers paging rapidly through the book in her hands and satchel filled with grimoires, “I’m leaving tell the Demon of the Forest I said thanks for the books, I’ll return them when I’m ready. I’m going to fight to expand the territory the people at the edge have been driving me nuts for days.” Seraphina smiled, not having moved a single inch from the spot she was in before she entered the house.

               “Will do.”

               “Also,” Seraphina sighed, turning Uraraka’s arm over, “Be more careful. He may seem like he has his powers under control and he’s not quite timid. But he carries an anger that only some would understand.”

               “I’ll take your advice, but I won’t stay away.”

               Seraphina laughed, handing over a wet washcloth, “Run that under some cold water and gradually get warmer so you don’t burn yourself. Also, that officer you met yesterday? He wasn’t an officer at all, don’t keep looking for Officer Jenkins found his body in a sewer a couple days ago, just keeping looking for his presence and stay away from it.”

               “I’ll make sure to keep that advice too…but how am I supposed to catch them then?”

               Seraphina scoffed like she was looking at a child, “You want to deal with supernaturals based on human law? You’re talking to the wrong person on how supernatural law works.” Her eyes lingered towards Todoroki’s door, “It’s not as stringent, but we try to keep a decent balance around here, but it’s not going to be the same. I hope you have a good long talk with those in charge and about our rules before you try to catch them.”

               Uraraka nodded, wrapping the cloth around her arm before beginning to move to the kitchen. A shadow leaning over her, Uraraka glanced towards them.

               Katsuki sighed, likely looking over the frostbite beginning to cover her arm, “I’ll tell him to be more careful.”

               “Do not mention it. I kept it hidden for a reason. Don’t tell him.”

               Katsuki leaned on the wall, observing a house that he had observed likely a thousand times in his nearly two-year imprisonment of the building, “My dad wants me to go home.”

                Uraraka swallowed attempting not to let her concerns bubble to her chest, not to let the concerns that were beginning to overflow affect his decision, “Are you going then?” She couldn’t meet his eyes, she wasn’t ready, she didn’t want the answer. Anyone would want to go home after two years. Especially, after two years of taking care of two strangers.

               “Yeah…” He paused, before glancing back to the other room, “Did you want to go with me?”

               “I can’t leave Todoroki here by himself. Not after everything he’s offered us and everything he’s done for us….not after that incident…not until I fix it.”  

               “We’re just going to visit. I need someone to drive us back if we stay too long, can’t exactly try to drive while trying not to sizzle.”

               Uraraka laughed, he wasn’t making eye contact but staring into the other room. With any other tone she would’ve thought that he was just watching his father fiddle with the mug in front of his hands, “Are you speaking from experience?”

               A barely noticeable blush sprung to his cheeks, “Hey, it’s not like anyone else wouldn’t have attempted it already.”

               “So, can you go outside if you’re wrapped in those curtains?”

                “It’s not much of a journey. Can’t see anything so there’s no point.”

               Uraraka nodded, “I’ll come along.”

               “I’ll tell Todoroki we’re leaving; we should be back tonight.”

               Uraraka moved, lowering herself to sit across from Professor Bakugo, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know he was your son.”

               Professor Bakugo let out a small laugh, his hand clinging tighter to the mug, “You know? That question you asked when I first handed out the project makes a lot more sense now. How did you come to live here?”

               Uraraka glanced at the table, maybe one day her mouth would run dry of answering this question and begin to refuse to work, “I was being chased. They helped me.”

               Professor Bakugo nodded, “So, are you like the other two?”

               “Supernatural? Who knows?” She shrugged as Professor Bakugo seemed to give a knowing nod.

               “Sometimes the world is just like that.”  

               Bakugo threw a bag over his shoulder, “Alright, let’s get this over with.”

               “You’re going to see your mother. It’s been a while.”

               Katsuki shrugged, before turning to lead them out to the car, “Did he need anything before we left?”

               “Make sure we locked the door.”

               The lock was already underneath her hand as they slid into the car. For most of the drive they were silent, Professor Bakugo would sometimes offer a word or two, or ask them how long they could stay for or ask what was in the bag Bakugo had brought with him but he was frequently answered with a grunt or a half-answer signaling that Katsuki wasn’t ready to reveal any of this information to him. It didn’t take long for them to get to the Bakugo’s house, Katsuki shuffled the bag over his shoulder, almost protectively sliding it behind him, before glancing up towards the house. If a passing stranger were to jog by, they would assume that he was staring at the building in disgust or contempt. But Uraraka knew what it was, it was longing. He wanted to go home. His father slid out of the car looking between the two of them as Uraraka hit the buttons on the car keys.

The front door swung open, “Where have you been all night!” Mrs. Bakugo snapped from the front steps. If one were to assume that males usually take after their mother, they would likely be right in this circumstance, she appeared exactly how Uraraka had expected Katsuki’s mother to look like. Anger blazed in her eyes as she darted down the stairs, “And where in the world have you been! You get your butt in here before you wake the whole street!” She snapped, dragging Katsuki into a neck-lock and up the stairs into their home, her mouth full of words berating him for disappearing and worrying him. As much as Uraraka was sure that he was strong enough to make her let go, he was letting her drag him along.

               Uraraka took a shaky step towards the house, “It’s alright, come in.” Uraraka nodded towards Professor Bakugo, unsure if she was being invited in as a guest or the perpetrator of the whole situation. A glass of whatever liquid was in the house was slammed down in front of her as Katsuki sat across from her, his parents on each side, “Where have you been? And you better tell us the full story and the truth! I can’t believe you had us worried sick! Do you know how often the police come here to update us on your so-called tragic case? I can’t believe you would go out of your way to stage your death. This better not be for a girl you never seemed like that,” Mrs. Bakugo glanced towards her, “And she seems like the type that would drag you back here after learning your story.” Mrs. Bakugo grunted, pulling knots from her hair and an elbow on the table, “And while you’re at it tell me where Izuku went, Mrs. Midoriya has been worried sick.”

               Uraraka swallowed, Mrs. Bakugo would never receive the answers that she wanted.

               Katsuki’s hands clenched, tightening around the fabric of his pants, his voice a soft mumble, “I couldn’t protect him.”

               “Huh? Speak up!”

               “I said he’s fine! I’m sure he just wandered off and got himself lost!” Katsuki snapped, before glaring back down at the table.

               Mrs. Bakugo scoffed, “You two knew this city like the back of your hands, I’m sure two years is more than enough to constitute lost.” She sighed, slamming some food onto the table.

               “Don’t waste the food.” Katsuki sighed, pushing the plate back towards her.

               “You’ve been missing for two years and you’re going to tell me you’re well-fed? Fine. Starve on my account, it’s not like I wanted a meal with my son anyway.”

               Mrs. Bakugo slammed a plate in front of her, “It’s not poisoned, so hurry up and eat.”

               Uraraka nodded, as Mrs. Bakugo placed a hand against her head, “So, you’re telling me not only did you come home after not sending even a letter for two years straight, but also don’t know where little-Izuku is?”

               Katsuki’s eyes darkened. He knew where Izuku was, but no one at the table was going to like the answer. The red sparkle in his eyes glimmered, almost seeming to sparkle as the next words he spoke came across huskily, “Don’t worry about where Izuku is. It won’t do you any good.”

               Mrs. Bakugo suddenly went quiet, returning to her dishes, setting one out for Professor Bakugo as he slid into his seat from the other room. Uraraka glanced towards Katsuki as he shook his head, as if a way to say don’t mention it.

               Mrs. Bakugo made some grumbling noises, as Bakugo picked up an empty plate that Uraraka was unsure where he had gotten it from, “I’m done, I’m going to wash the dishes.” He mumbled, before excusing himself from the room, dragging the bag he had brought with him behind him.  

               Mrs. Bakugo sighed, “Listen, I’m sure from your perspective it sounds like I’m a bad mother…I was just…worried. I thought I lost my son. I am relieved he’s alive, but he disappeared one night and never came back. The next morning the police were on my doorstep telling me that he and the neighbor’s child were dead. I couldn’t even bury my own son; they had no bodies.”  She paused, recollecting the plates. “I have a lot of emotions right now, and this is the only way I’m able to really express them. But I promise I care for my son. If he’s alive I’m sure the neighbor’s son is,” But he wasn’t. “I just want to know what happened….and why he didn’t come to me for help.”

               Uraraka nodded, resisting the urge to put her hand on top of Mrs. Bakugo to comfort her, “I’m sure he has his reasons. Everyone does. But I think they each need time to deal with what they need before they come to terms with it. He’ll come around when he’s ready.”

               A small smile tilted on her face, “I don’t know who you are, but I’m sure my son trusts you very much to bring you back here when it was going to be such a rough night. Please keep letting him rely on you.”

               Uraraka nodded, “Of course.” She glanced towards the kitchen, barely visible through the crack in the door, Katsuki holding his arms as he stared out the window, a form of anger and regret lingering in his eyes, “I’ll go get him to rejoin us.”

               Mrs. Bakugo nodded, letting her go to the kitchen.

               Uraraka approached quietly, placing a hand gently on his arm, “hey-“

               She felt a small jump under her arm that she wouldn’t have noticed if she wasn’t touching him, “Guess witches are good at disguising their presence too, but who knows what prey they would want with that skill.”

               Uraraka let out a small laugh, “Go back to your mom. She doesn’t mean her harsh words.”

               A sigh escaped him, “She does. Growing up Izuku was significantly weaker than most children, but he clung to me like a bunch of burs in the woods.” Katsuki sighed, washing the dish that he likely had grabbed from the kitchen cabinets to appease his mother after whatever he had did to her to make her quiet about Izuku. “He was with me….the night…” Katsuki paused, staring at the water running throughout the sink, “that night.” He turned the knob.

               “Your parents didn’t seem to think he was with you, maybe he could still be alive? Or like you?’

               “Did you not hear the part about significantly weak? He’s dead.” The sink knob bent slightly underneath his pressure as he released it, “Todoroki gave me some instructions for us to get out of this mess.”

               “This mess? That’s your family in there.”

               “My very human family. Do you not know what happens to vampires that stick around with their human family? They kill them.” Katsuki reached for the hefty bag at his ankles, throwing the strap back over his shoulder, “Let’s get this over with.”

               “What are you going to do?”

               “I’m going to erase their memories, the sooner the better.”

“You died! You could at least talk to her for a while!”

“She wouldn’t understand! She never does!”

“You’re similar to her in that regard where you can’t say what you mean! Go tell them you missed them and care for them!”

“What am I supposed to tell her? By the way mom I have no idea where Izuku is, pretty sure he’s dead, it’s my fault and by the way I lost the fight against a serial killer? Oh, one more thing, I’m dead.” Katsuki’s eyes blazed and were in pain at the same time. But they blazed with the words that he had thought to himself a thousand times, but never wanted to physically hear. Uraraka’s eyes slid to the open kitchen door.

Mrs. Bakugo stood the plates unsteady in her hands and confusion painted clearly on her face, “Katsuki, what do you mean? You’re standing here right now.” Tears were pricking her face as though she had somehow known the answer the whole time. The reason the cops had shown up at her door two years ago, the reason there was no body, the reason he hadn’t come to visit. “I forbid you from leaving with that girl, you’re not going anywhere until you explain everything in detail.”

               Katsuki ran a frustrated hand through his hair, “I was going to start with dad because I thought he’d be easier,” he muttered shuffling through his bag. Uraraka took a breath knowing better than to look down, knowing better than to look in the bag. But she needed to. There was no stopping her from watching what he was about to pull out of the large duffle bag he had brought with him. The red bag unsteadily sloshed in his hand as Katsuki took a large swig, a darkening red running down the side of his mouth before he turned to his mother, not bothering to wipe off the red lines that smeared across his face.

               Mrs. Bakugo swallowed, crossing her arms, her voice shook, “Whatever you’re planning on doing you will do no such thing. You will stand there and explain yourself.”

               A soft hollow laugh came from Bakugo as he reached for his mother, locking eyes with her, “You had a little too much to drink, had a nightmare and woke up to having a very similar dream to your husband not that you would admit it. If you ever meet someone that looks like me in the streets or in public you will not call his attention to it, but instead insist you and your husband go the other way knowing full well that if your son was to actually come back to life it would only be a trick and a lie. It would hurt just as much. Now, go to bed knowing that this nightmare was a blessing and a warning.”

               Mrs. Bakugo nodded, turning before walking towards her own bedroom. Katsuki’s eyes glowed, in the way a glowstick glowed after it was broken. And behind his eyes he was hiding how positively bright that glow was about to be.

               “I guess I’ll go see my dad now.”

               “Make sure to say goodbye this time.”

               “I was never supposed to get the chance to say good-bye. That’s the way this world works. When you’re dead you don’t get that chance to say good-bye. When you’re dead, you’re just dead.”

               Uraraka grabbed his arm, struggling not to press her hand into his arm muscles, but also not pull him back to look her in the face, “And here you are standing here, with a second chance to do just that. Say good-bye. It’ll be alright.”

               The tension in his arm loosened although his voice didn’t betray it, “I’ll consider it.” Before he moved to the other room. Uraraka took a breath, trying not to listen, doing her best not to hear Katsuki’s voice crack as he said the good-bye to his father that he never thought that he would get. Not to listen to his father pleading with him, knowing full-well what was coming next. And not to listen to the soft padding of Professor Bakugo returning to what he would be to her, just professor Bakugo. Her elective professor who she had met by chance.  

               Katsuki came in, swiftly picking up the bag and keys before clomping down the stairs, swiftly out the door as though the house itself was what was burning him. Uraraka followed steadily behind after cleaning the glasses and any signs that guests had been within the house, locking the door carefully behind them. Katsuki stood there, the light reflecting on him as he stared towards the streetlamp, likely a string of curses of its existence teasing him so, one hand on his hip and the other running through his hair full of frustration. Guilt ran through Uraraka for thinking it, but with the light showing his skintight shirt rippling up his back muscles, he looked good. Guilt ushered its way back for her. “Hey, it’s going to be okay.” She whispered nearing him.

               “I know that!” He snapped, trying to hide all of his give away quirks that he was mad. He didn’t dare to turn to face her, he had left the blood caked to his face to scare his mother so that from the depths of her subconscious she wouldn’t even try to search for him. “It’s just, it’s just” His hand ran back into his hair as his voice trailed off.

               Uraraka took a breath, leaning against the car and pulling him against her, “It’s going to hurt, that’s normal. But until you’re ready rely on us.”

               Uraraka wished she had an umbrella, Katsuki’s head stuffed into her chest, and rain poured down Katsuki’s face dripping onto the sidewalk.

***

               It had been late into the night when Katsuki and Uraraka returned home, they quickly made their way to their rooms, not without Uraraka moving to Todoroki’s to check to see if he was awake, check his fever muttering about how she was unsure if that was the right temperature and plans to ask Fuyumi in the morning. Todoroki slid out of bed not long after. He carried himself against the wall wandering what they had attacked him with that he was so weak for so long. It shouldn’t have been much longer now, especially that the fever was beginning to break. It had gotten the Witch of the Forrest in enough of a frenzy for her to come along to see him. Surely, she was just after whatever form of magic they had been using to add to her collection. And the debt they owed her through a favor.

               Todoroki attempted to ignore the fact that they had come home smelling like each other. They had gone to Katsuki’s house, he needed to acknowledge that fact that Uraraka was going to smell like the Bakugo’s either way. And that it was going to be a rough experience for the both of them. As much as he wished he could’ve gone with them, something told him that Bakugo’s pride would’ve never allowed him to do as such. Todoroki moved to where the noise in the house was coming from, the kitchen. Katsuki was likely still outside his room in an attempt to distract himself.

               “Katsuki? Are you alright?” He moved to the kitchen, the satchel he had taken with him completely empty, the sound of Katsuki dry heaving from the kitchen, causing him to open the door faster. Todoroki felt his shoulders relax seeing Katsuki with his hands pressed to the kitchen sink, but tense again when he looked at his surroundings. Katsuki spit out blood into the kitchen sink. Bags of blood laid around the kitchen floor, each completely empty. Todoroki swallowed attempting to resist the logic that was boiling in his head. “I didn’t realize you had gone through all of it, it’s been a while I’ll get you more.”

               Katsuki fell to one knee, attempting not to damage the counter, “Don’t look at me.” He snapped, red caking his face.

               Todoroki swallowed. Those blood bags were typically a year’s ration for him. And he had drunk it all within the fifteen minutes that they had been home. There was something wrong. Todoroki glanced towards the bags at Katsuki’s feet, they weren’t what he typically used to collect blood either, “Where did you get this blood?”

               “You gave it to me, in the hall.” Katsuki’s fingers dug into the floor, the starting signs of an addiction vibrating through him. The typical vampire’s blood-levels were lower than a human’s, which meant faster intoxications. Todoroki had read about the coaxing smell of a human’s blood. How it was positively addicting to most vampires. He would have to. Todoroki breathed the remaining scent from the floor in. Human. Todoroki swallowed, hearing Uraraka pad to the kitchen door, he pushed his hand against it as she began to try to open it.

               “Hello?”

               “It’s just me, I got a little sick. Don’t come in here.” Todoroki croaked, miming for Katsuki to be quiet, but his human-heart strummed against his chest. Upon hearing Uraraka’s voice, Katsuki’s eyes glowed significantly brighter than he had ever seen. Whoever had thrown human blood into his bag and whoever had disguised themselves as him was going to pay for throwing his house into chaos. Katsuki crashed against him, as Todoroki threw him back towards the other side of the kitchen. Several things clattered from the cabinets.

               “Are you okay? It’s okay, it’s normal, I’ll come in and help you clean up.”

               “It’s alright, don’t worry, just go get a drink of water from the bathroom.”

               “Are you sure?”

               Todoroki glared towards the book sitting on the table, “Positively.” It wouldn’t be the worst world to put him in, and it was now vacant. He snatched the book up off the table, struggling to grab Katsuki before slamming his face into the book and slamming the book closed as fast as he could against Katsuki’s struggling.

               “I’m coming in.” Uraraka glanced around the kitchen her eyes wide, her mouth agape as she searched for the right words to ask, “Where’s Katsuki?”

               Todoroki glanced down towards the book in his hands, knowing he only had himself to blame. He shouldn’t have brought a human back into his house in the first place. He knew what the right thing to do was.  He had a promise to keep to her. But the more important one was the promise he had to her safety. He would need to tell her to leave. Uraraka was ankle-deep in blood bags and yet she was looking for Katsuki, concern on her face, instead of properly placed fear. Todoroki shuffled up from the floor, the book not leaving his clutches, nor his side until he figured out how to help him, “Uraraka, I’m afraid there are a couple of things that we need to talk about.”

[lovetnaomi]

Secrets of the Dusk Chapter 2

Chapter 2

               “We had agreed not to bring people like-like her back to this place!” Katsuki’s red eyes were glowing the fiercest shade of red Todoroki had seen so far. Katsuki contained a personality that he would’ve hesitated, but whoever turned him must’ve had their reasons. His eyes frequently shifted colors along with his open personality, in his awkward manner. The person that turned him should’ve known better that it would be impossible for him to be in public with such a personality. He would never be able to control his emotions long enough for his eyes to not shift in color. Katsuki slid into the corner attempting to make it look more casual than an instinct to stay away from the windows.

               Todoroki glanced towards the window watching the brave and the stupid of the demons that radiated in these woods considering if they should tempt their face by crossing the borderline that marked his territory. He had strict rules about what was his and what wasn’t. And he was powerful enough that no demon had dared to cross the borderline. Not one that had managed to live after. Todoroki found his eyes shifting towards the general direction of the room he had put the young woman in. What had caused that demon to decide to overstep his territory by so much that he would chase her all the way to his front door? Knowing that taking a single step passed his border they knew they would be forced to dig their own grave.

               “Huh? Are you going to answer?” Katsuki snapped.

               Todoroki sighed, turning his attention back to Katsuki, “She hit her head. I can’t dump her in the woods after a show like that. If they eat her it’ll tarnish my name.”

               Katsuki rolled his eyes, “Demons and their hierarchy.” If it wasn’t for his current predicament, he knew Katsuki would’ve been clawing his way to the top of the hierarchy himself.

               Todoroki found his eyes lingering towards the room where the woman was asleep. He had wrapped her wounds; the scent of blood should’ve already faded. Soon it would be hard to tell that she was in the house in the first place. “I wonder why they were after her.”

               Katsuki rolled his eyes, “Don’t play stupid. You should know the best.”

               Todoroki glanced towards the family album sitting on the counter, “You think she’s like my mother?”

               “Probably isn’t a priestess, it’s probably starting to get stronger.”

               Todoroki glanced towards the other door. Her presence was still soft telling him she was still asleep.

               Katsuki shrugged, “It’s just a guess, you know neither of us can detect that kind of thing. Not when it’s so weak.”

               Todoroki nodded. He would have to pay more attention. Both of their aurae’s overpowered anything weak that was nearby. If this woman had a hidden ability that was just at the beginning of the stage of manifesting than they would likely both miss it when they were together.

               “Just walk her to the base of the mountain, I don’t want to hear about her getting eaten on our turf. I don’t care for humans much, but it’ll make both of us look weak if she dies right after you rescue her.” Katuski turned back to his corner, barely able to see out of the closed windows. The sun had yet to shine through, but he didn’t dare bother trying to open the curtains. Todoroki wondered where Katsuki’s transformation had gone wrong that even the sunlight reflected off of the moon was a bit too much. He would only be caught outside of his home on the night of a new moon. At least Katsuki’s presence guaranteed whatever demon or other creature of the night decided to rob his house or test how far they could go never made it outside of the house again.

               Todoroki glanced towards the radiating of sunlight starting to attempt to peak in through the windows. He reached up closing the blinds more and beginning to move towards the kitchen. If he remembered right the average human ate more often than he did. He could at least be a decent host to his unexpected visitor.

***  

               Uraraka pushed her hand through her hair attempting to ignore the throbbing from her head. It hurt so much. She wished she was able to afford some sort of medication to make it stop. The nightmare was so vivid she was almost positive it was real. She wrapped her hands around the blanket pulling it closer as though it would offer her some sort of protection. She felt safe here. Her eyes slide open, glancing towards the blanket and the weight along her leg showing that someone had wrapped the deep cut that was sliced along her leg. Her heart rate rising. There was denial in her chest, but the other more important matter-she didn’t know where she was. Whose house was she in? Where was she? Tsuyu was going to be so mad that she didn’t manage to check-in. Which would’ve been a lot easier if she chose to own a cellphone, but that required having an actual address. She had given up everything to pursue her career in college.

               Uraraka glanced throughout the room, she needed a weapon. She had to get out of here. Uraraka glanced around the room, a flashlight near a cup of water and an unopened bottle of painkillers. Her hand tightened around the flashlight. She couldn’t let this display of kindness get to her. Essentially all’s she knew was that she had awoken in someone else’s house. The likelihood that they had kidnapped her was extremely high. Uraraka’s hands tightened on the flashlight, her head was pounding but she wasn’t going to let the pain get the better of her. She knew better than to take the drugs of strangers. Even if it was in their best intentions. The night before was fuzzy in her mind, but she hadn’t forgotten the panic that radiated in her chest or the house that she had found. Uraraka wandered around the house moving from room to room, exhaustion starting to deplete on her, it was a lot bigger than she had expected. It was as though the house was attempting to keep her away from both the exit and the residence. The house echoed with unnatural silence, the further she walked, the further she felt as though the house was engulfing her and trying to keep her as a hostage. Uraraka sighed, her classes would likely be starting soon if she was going to give up everything for them she couldn’t miss a single one, “I want to leave.”

               As soon as the words fell out of her mouth, the sound of dishes clattered from the nearest door. Uraraka slid it open. A slender man stood at the counter, his shirt sculpted his muscles from his upper-arms. She would have to fight like she meant it. There was no other way out of the house. Uraraka pointed the flashlight at him, “Where am I? Who are you? How do I get out of here?” She growled.

               The man glanced over his shoulder towards her, lowering the dishes in his hands, “My name is Todoroki, Shouto, you are in my territory and to get out you ask.”

               Uraraka lowered her flashlight, “Territory?”

               A scoff came from the table where another man sat, surrounded by decaying newspapers, “Cut that nonsense out. We’re in his house. We found you outside last night. How much did you have to drink at the town festival?”

               “I didn’t-“

               The man rolled his eyes, “Sure you didn’t. And your delusional ramblings had nothing to do with your drinks either.”

               Todoroki shifted, taking a glance towards the man at the table, “Bakugo, mind your manners. We’re in my house.”

               Uraraka tightened her grip on the flashlight, there had been two people last night too, “Did you kidnap me?”

               Katsuki scoffed, drinking from his mug and turning his back to her, “Prince Charming here didn’t kidnap you, he saved you from mountain bandits.”

               Todoroki set the food down on the table, a single plate, “You can stay for breakfast, then I’ll walk you home”

               Uraraka glanced down towards the single plate on the table. It made her hesitate.

               “Eat with her dumbass.”

               Todoroki rolled his eyes, shoving a plate at Katsuki before setting one of his own down. Uraraka pulled the chair closest to her, carefully lowering herself into her seat and precautiously waiting for either of them to make any suspicious movement.

Todoroki glanced towards her, “How faraway do you live?”

Uraraka shook her head, “It’s okay don’t worry about it. I made my way up here on my own I’m sure I can make it back down.”

Todoroki and Katsuki exchanged a look she didn’t quite understand.

“There are still bandits on this mountain, and I can’t quite let you get killed after finding your way into my terri-“

“Home. He has an odd way with words. His family’s a bit odd. Don’t mind him.”

Uraraka nodded, not missing Todoroki’s eye roll at Katsuki, “Thank you for taking me in. I was meeting up with a friend when a riot broke out in the middle of the festival. The next thing I knew I was in the middle of the woods.”

               Todoroki slid his chair back as Uraraka looked up towards her empty plate. Hopefully, that meal would last her a couple days. It was the largest that she had eaten in a while. Todoroki scrapped half of his food into the garbage, glancing back towards Katsuki’s still brimmed plate as though he was considering just swiping it off the table.

“Just leave it.” Katsuki grunted, before shooing them towards the door.

Todoroki nodded, sliding out the door. Uraraka waved good-bye to Katsuki before following suit of how Todoroki had slid out the door, firmly shutting it behind herself. It was odd. But if these two really did rescue her from mountain bandits instead of putting her in danger then she could at least respect their odd customs.

“I haven’t seen you before.”

She glanced towards him, “I’m new to town, I moved in for the college’s astronomy program.” She glanced Todoroki over, he seemed to be around the typical age to attend college, “Are you taking any courses?”

Todoroki shook his head, beckoning her to follow him down the estrange paths in the mountain. “We’re not quite in a situation that doesn’t allow for such fantasies.”

Anger boiled in her chest, “It’s not a fantasy! I am going to complete my dream.”

“I meant us.”

Heat boiled to her face, Uraraka ran a hand along her neck, “Sorry. I-“

He nodded seeming as though he should’ve realized, “It’s understandable.” He glanced towards the grass that borderlines the sidewalk and the mountain.

“Even if you aren’t going to the college, I hope to see you two again sometime.”

Todoroki let out a soft hollow laugh, “That’s not something you should be wishing for.”

“You’re presence isn’t that bad.” Uraraka laughed, glancing towards the sidewalk in front of her hoping that he wouldn’t insist on walking her all the way back to where she lived. She didn’t want to reveal it. Not to someone she just met. She glanced over her shoulder; he was gone. Not only was he gone, but the entrance way to the mountain had entirely vanished. As though he had been a specter, never really there in the first place. Uraraka turned, rushing towards her college. She darted into the nearest bathroom, hopefully, she had something in her person that wouldn’t give away that she had slept in her dress from last night. Or at the very least something more appropriate for her classes. She dug around her purse, pulling on the nearest piece of fabric. She didn’t remember stuffing clothes in her purse and was unsure how she managed it, but she pulled. The clothes unfolding and displaying in front of her. She felt herself relaxing, quickly getting changed. They weren’t her clothes, but they would have to do for now. Until she found a way to return them to Todoroki or Katsuki. Whichever one of them had a thing for random women’s clothes laying around. Uraraka sighed, deciding not to question any of the events from the morning or the night before. She slid out of the bathroom, watching the students quickly beginning to dwindle in number.

“Uraraka!” Tsuyu called from the near her first classroom door, “I’ve got to get your number! I was worried, last night!”

Uraraka shrugged, trying to figure out how to brush aside the thought of her not having a phone. She didn’t want to bring it up. And if she told Tsuyu about how she was chased throughout the woods by bandits last night Tsuyu would worry even more.

“Were you at the party last night? I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. It’s usually a family friendly event.” Shame swirled in her eyes.

Uraraka tried to put a frail smile on, an attempt to reassure her friend, “No, I didn’t make it there before the riot broke out. I was really worried about you too.”  

Tsuyu nodded, “As long as we’re both safe. I’ll pick a restaurant next time instead.”

Uraraka let out a laugh, at least her friend was still up to going out, that was at least a good thing. She pushed to the back of her mind that she would likely have to turn her down. An open festival with cheap coin stalls was one thing. A dinner where she would be socially required to buy something? That wasn’t going to happen. But at least it showed that Tsuyu’s mood had improved slightly. They slipped into their shared class. An elective on Uraraka’s part, but it was Tsuyu’s planned career, criminal justice. This particular class focused on murder and missing person’s cases. They would be focusing on them for approximately a week according to the syllabus. Uraraka held back a shiver wondering if last night she had almost gotten herself added to the syllabus. She drew out her notebook attempting to suppress the questions and thoughts from whatever had happened last night. It was coming back to her in small pieces. There was no way she would’ve made it all the way to the top of the mountain with several drinks in her system. And it would take more than one to put her in a state where she had only a fuzzy idea of what had happened.

“Uraraka? Care to tell us what you think happened to him?”

She glanced up towards the picture displayed on the PowerPoint towards the front of the room. Her mouth ran dry as her eyes lingered over the picture of what he had originally looked like towards the right. Her mind begging her to not look towards the evidence on the left that the police had been presented as an example.

“Is this a cruel joke professor?” Her voice was hollow and confused.

“This class is not a joke at all. What would make you think such a thing looking at this image?”

Uraraka found herself choking on her words, that wasn’t right. It couldn’t be, her eyes traced back to the image on the right.

“I’m sure you’re just confused after last night’s events. Many are today. As I’m sure you’re not one to ask such cruel questions on such a sensitive class I’ll repeat the circumstances. The twenty-two-year-old was found murdered on the street in a pool of blood, shortly after his body disappeared. Who do you think stole his body?”

How could she answer no one? She had seen him alive and perfectly healthy. A bit of an attitude. But he was moving as clearly as anyone else in the room she was currently in.

“Sir, I think I need to go.” She whispered, roughly gathering her books before taking a last glance at the screen. “Time of death, three years ago; cause: blood loss. Ability to resuscitate: None. Body long cold by the time found.”

Bakugo, Katsuki’s image resided on the screen.

[lovetnaomi]

Secrets of the Dusk Chapter 7

Chapter 7

                 It was supposed to be an easy assignment, Uraraka ran the pencil behind her ear attempting to half-listen to her groupmate’s theories and half-push back spilling what had actually happened. She couldn’t exactly say that perhaps no one made off with the body and perhaps he was still alive and kicking somewhere. For the most part really. The project was about strategizing and the ability to think outside the box, but it was also odd that they were being given an unsolved murder case to figure out. She tapped the pencil against the desk.

               “You’re usually so focused what’s wrong?”

               She turned to Tsuyu, wishing that the fact that she knew Katsuki was up-and-walking around wouldn’t interfere with her ability to think straight. Her ability to think creatively, at least, so that she could come up with a possible viable conclusion on what happened. Something that masses would understand. Not that the body got up and walked away on its own-wait, did he?

 Or did someone drag him to Todoroki’s first? Did Todoroki have to resurrect him? Uraraka shook her head. There was one absolute consistency in vampire lure. And that was how to become a vampire. Todoroki had nothing to do with it. Also, there was the other fact that they had been discussing. Assuming that the killer had come back to clean up their mess.

               “There’s a couple things. Why only one kill? Typically, such brutal killers consider this a work of art, and artist have the tendency to keep creating. I also feel like we’re assuming that the killer came back to clean up their work, which I don’t think is likely unless they got cold-feet about displaying what they did.”

               Tsuyu let out a soft smile, her eyes likely wondering why she hadn’t chosen such a field for her own major. There were a couple answers to that. One of them being the need for answers would drive her insane. She would keep going. And the world keeps spinning. At the end of the day, there would just be more to solve. She couldn’t burn herself out like that. But the case was unsolved. The killer was still out there. If they saw Katsuki was alive. They would be back to finish the job. Uraraka glanced towards the window, or was it something more? Was it some form of vampire etiquette none of them understood. The person who forced the transition on Katsuki thought they actually killed them and darted? If they saw Katsuki was alive would they try to finish the job to seal the loose ends or would it progress the other way? No. Knowing Katsuki, that person would try to finish the job. There was so much blood. They were trying to drain him dry. That person probably did. How his heart began beating again she would never know. The conclusion to that would be there was a serial killer on the loose that would attempt to drain the next nearest victim dry.

Uraraka flipped the page, her bracelet jangling against the paperwork. Her eyes slid down towards it. There was no reason to worry. Todoroki would more than likely swoop in like a hawk the minute something went wrong.  Uraraka took a breath, but she couldn’t rely on them to save her each time. Uraraka took a breath, writing a couple drabbling’s down into her notebook.

The third of their four-man team turning to her, “What do you have? I’m in a slump. Most killers either become serial killers or leave something behind. But we’re working on the why the body was gone. It’s so hard to determine the motive without the killer.”

Tsuyu turned to them, “Most would decide cold-feet. Like at last second they changed their mind or decided to hide it.”

The third person in the group nodded, their eyes sliding towards Uraraka, “What have you been thinking about?”

“If they had cold-feet and decided to hide what they did, why didn’t they clean up the mess they left behind? I think it wasn’t necessarily the killer that moved the body.”

They nodded at each other. Emily, turned the page, annoyance beginning to glow in her eyes, sliding her phone closer to her before setting it down again. It was likely both the fact that they were struggling with a hard angle in which Uraraka found herself guilty for knowing the answers to but having to withhold them because they couldn’t present such a conclusion in class and that Emily’s boyfriend was the other member of the group. And they were not only late, but no message and they weren’t replying either. “He said he was free at this time. And we went around her schedule too.” Emily flushed, glancing down at the table, “Sorry, I’m just a bit embarrassed. I suggested he join our group and now he’s not here.”

Uraraka waved her hands, “It’s fine. Maybe, she got held up in traffic or is having a hard time parking.”

Emily glanced towards the clock, nearly eleven-thirty…..in the night. Uraraka knew exactly what she was thinking. Those were all unreliable excuses. There was no traffic at such an hour and the campus was practically deserted. Emily slid her supplies into her bag, “If either of you have any time after this, that’d be great. I’m sorry about….ya know.”

“It’s fine. Sometimes somethings happen. I hope Jasper’s okay.” Tsuyu stated as Emily nodded before heading out. They waved bye to Emily before beginning to pack their own things.

Uraraka took a breath, “What if the answer to what happened to him is something that we can’t explain in class? Like something no one would quite be able to understand?”

Tsuyu glanced towards her, shaking her head, “No matter what we come up with it’s going to sound ridiculous. We just have to figure out how to back it up so that it’s believable.”

“How about we just arrest the killer and bring them in for show-and-tell.”

Tsuyu laughed, shaking her head at her, “Don’t do anything crazy now.”

“Do you think we’ll get extra credit if we bring the killer in?”

Tsuyu shook her head, glancing towards Uraraka’s pathway back, “Are you sure you don’t want me to walk you back? I don’t see Todoroki’s car today.”

Uraraka shook her head. In the darkness of the night, the offer was super tempting, but there was no way she was going to let Tsuyu walk her all the way home than wandering her way around the demon-infested woods that was the borderline Todoroki’s territory. She would be up all night with nightmares unsure if Tsuyu had made it home.  

“It’s fine, I’ve got my pepper spray. I’ll be alright.” Lies. She knew what she wanted. The woods that had begun providing her comfort in the recent days were ushering an atmosphere that made her want to check over her shoulder every two minutes. And the powers that Natsuo had spoke of were being suppressed by the necklace that was also keeping demons and other creatures from wanting to eat her.

So, she had a choice to make. Powers and becoming dinner or barely hidden behind a thin piece of metal. Right now, it was not being dinner. She secretly wanted Tsuyu to walk her home. In the past couple of days, she had grown comfortable with Todoroki being by her side. But there was something chilling about him not being here at the current moment. She waved bye to Tsuyu doing her best to put on a smile. A smile and presence of reassurance. In the last couple of days, she also found herself becoming a progressively better actor. She could do this. She could figure out how to survive in both worlds. Uraraka glanced towards the stars, if their home led them to discover Katsuki’s killer what would she do with that information?

Uraraka sighed, glancing towards the sidewalk. It would result in them on a major avoid list or having to fight for her life. If Katsuki couldn’t survive with how built he was then currently she didn’t expect to manage to put up a fight. Especially against someone who was a supernatural creature. Wait-what if the killer was human? Uraraka glanced towards the sidewalk, what if the killer was human and then a vampire came along afterward pitying Katsuki because of his age and with little hope attempted to resurrect him, walked away before that happened because of being long gone by the time they attempted something, and Katsuki then woke up confused thinking that a vampire killed him? Uraraka shook her head, realizing something, a crucial detail that would enhance her investigation. She had never asked Katsuki himself.

The gruesome scene circled in her head, there were so many details. But mostly the sheer amount of blood was the distraction. The fact that there was so much had pulled her attention away from the more crucial details of the scenery. The familiarity, it had been playing over and over in her own head for days on end becoming clearer and clearer each day. Uraraka felt her eyes slide down towards an alleyway that she must’ve stayed in before Todoroki found her. The faint rustic color of what could’ve been mistaken as rust coloring the edges of the alley. The fading color splattered about. The alleyway both beckoned and scared her. The world tilted, Uraraka felt anger rush over her heart, the need to run into the alleyway whirlpooling around in her head as she felt the anger pump in her veins. Suddenly being thrown back, feeling as though her neck was snapping. Uraraka took a breath. Lowering herself to the sidewalk. She hadn’t moved an inch. She couldn’t make herself follow such an impulse. Not into an alley with that feeling. Not into that alley. There was no mistaking it. This is where Katsuki had been murdered. And that event was clinging dearly to the alleyway. Begging someone to unravel it.

Metal clanked as Uraraka glanced towards the emergency stairwell, one of the residents dragging out their cigarette, “Hey, girl, you okay?”

Uraraka nodded, “Sorry, I-I just didn’t feel good suddenly.”

“Happens a lot around here. I’d move if I could, but hey, at least rent’s cheap.”  

Uraraka nodded again, attempting to wave good-bye as they kept talking. She sent a soft smile before heading further towards Todoroki’s house. Without a companion, the trip was feeling as though it was taking forever. She knew she hadn’t gotten lost. That wasn’t possible. She knew how to get there; Todoroki had walked her there a bazillion times so far. She knew the way. She had gotten there on her own the first time. Faint footsteps echoed behind her. Uraraka swallowed, the feeling of someone grabbing her by the neck in the alleyway still resilient in her mind, picking up her pace as her hand slid to the pouch where she knew she didn’t pack the pepper spray that morning. Uraraka took a breath. She could handle them. They didn’t look too tough. And they probably underestimated her if they were already following her without a second thought. If she could just round the corner and throw a good right hook, then she’d make a run for it. Startle them then escape. Uraraka took a breath quickening her paces the paces following her beginning to match. She took a breath, running for it, the person’s footfalls not bothering to hide that they were following her anymore and already attempting to catch up to her. Uraraka spun, their shadow approaching. Just at the right moment, she threw the punch, Katsuki pushing her hand away barely dodging, a wild smile painted on his face.

“That surprised to see me?”

A mixture of embarrassment and anger mixed through her chest, “Why didn’t you call out to me?”

Katsuki shrugged, glancing towards the alleyway, “Figured you were having one of your psychic attacks and wasn’t sure if it’d be a good time. After that, I did call out, but you didn’t hear me.”

Uraraka nodded. That alley was where he had been murdered. She couldn’t really hold his struggle to call out to her against him. She attempted to keep her hand from moving to her neck to itch it….anything to remove the feeling of someone having their hands around her throat, being dragged to the wall and fighting for her life, anything to remove the brutal feeling of the way Katsuki was murdered. It hurt so much. He made it seem like it wasn’t a big deal. But he was angry. He was desperate to win. Like anyone would be. And he had lost the only thing that could be considered purely his own no matter what anyone else said. Uraraka took a breath, trying to steady the dizzying feeling spinning in her head, begging her to get out of the funhouse and take some Tylenol,  “Was that-? Where you?”

Katsuki glanced over his shoulder, his voice given off a slight grumble, “Yeah. I go back there every so often to see if the bastard that made me this way is going to show their face.”

“Are the person who murdered you and the person who made you a vampire the same person?”

Katsuki’s red eyes flashed through the darkness, “Huh? Of course, they are. There’s no way a regular person would’ve been able to take me. Not even as a human.”

She let a slight smile slip, the amount of self-pride that bubbled within him was something to admire. She wondered if she could cultivate and sell it. The fast pace of heels clopped down the sidewalk. Uraraka glanced over her shoulder, seeing Tsuyu, covered in sweat and worry on her face.

“I couldn’t just leave you. I’m sorry. And then I heard you scream, I’m-“ Tsuyu’s eyes slid over towards Katsuki. “He’s alive?”

Uraraka felt her heartbeat increase a few notches. The confusion on Tsuyu’s face as she attempted to connect the dots becoming more and more prominent by the second. Her eyes slid towards Katsuki who glared towards her, “I’m as dead as they come.”

“Don’t lie to her. You’re not. You still are capable of moving yourself. You’ve been undead for a while now.”

Uraraka glanced over her shoulder, Todoroki standing a few sidewalk panels down the street, “Sorry about not being there. Katsuki said he’d go since it’s the new moon tonight.”

“It’s alright.” Her eyes slid back towards Tsuyu, what wasn’t alright was the fact that she felt like a liar to her best friend. That she hadn’t confided anything in Tsuyu. And that she was likely about to find out about way more than she wanted her to know. How was she supposed to keep her safe? Tsuyu meant it when she wanted to go into the criminal justice field. It wasn’t a fling or because it was a decent job choice. It was her passion. And Uraraka felt like a criminal hiding evidence.

Tsuyu slid a knife out of her pocket, “Uraraka, get away from them.”  

[lovetnaomi]

Working on Chapter 28 of Regrets & Monsters

I’m pretty sure that it’s going to be the finale, just need the closing line & editing. It’s been wild and fun I hope y’all enjoyed it as much as I did

[lovetnaomi]

Currently working on Regrets & Monsters Chapter 27 & just showed my little brother one of the lines I wrote and he went “oof, ooooh” so I’m feeling pretty good about this new one [still working on it tho guys don’t get too excited yet]

[lovetnaomi]

I’ve been trying to focus on my English assignment and all’s I can think about is my FanFiction

[lovetnaomi]

Secrets of the Dusk Chapter 23

Chapter 23

               The cool air flowed in through the window, softly playing with his hair, an attempt to disarm him for the cold winter ahead. Todoroki sighed, shifting his weight on his feet as he stared out towards the grave where Jericho was buried. He had been careful not to bury anyone so far, he knew he didn’t have a willing church grim-that-and well, most of the people he killed so far didn’t deserve to have a happy ending, as one of a lighter term of life may have hoped for. Those he had killed were all of supernatural-kind, they would have enough psychic-energy to linger as ghosts, he had made sure to dispose of any wandering spirits properly so he wouldn’t have to deal with the after-effects later. Besides, they didn’t deserve the rights of a church grim who had the ability to come and go to the afterlife and their modern world as they pleased, conscious of what was happening. Sure, it wasn’t without its own rules, but most wouldn’t forsake such a chance. Others would regret it. And others would use it to deal with their unfinished businesses. He wished he knew more about Jericho before they had buried him. He glanced towards Katsuki paging through some of the books he had brought home recently, his unusual behavior of quiet to accommodate their current situation. The house had an unusual mellow to it and the coffee mug he held in his hand had long gone cold. 

Another page turned. Another ripple ran across the cup. And the moonlight continued to shine in their yard, completely unaffected by the happenings of the night. To some, this was just another night. Another tranquil night, going on living their lives. And while not tranquil, that was what he intended to do.

               He reached to close the curtains.

               “Leave it.”

               “Are you sure?”

               “As long as the moonlight stays over there.”

               Todoroki nodded, unsure how long that would remain, but it couldn’t hurt to let Katsuki see outside with the moonlight illuminating the world every so often, it was likely better than most dreary nights covered in the grayscale colors. Todoroki glanced at his glowing red eyes wondering how much that allowed him to see throughout the night, maybe he was seeing the world different from how Todoroki was picturing he saw it. A soft sigh of cold air ran down towards his mug, maybe it wasn’t the cold winter air that had turned the beverage cold, but himself. Uraraka’s feet had long since stopped padding around the room, she was clearly in bed but he could hear from the way she was tossing and turning and occasionally giving up to rustle through paperwork, that she was still wide awake. Burying another was no easy task. He glared into his reflection knowing that he had failed in his task to protect her. An embarrassment as the protector of this household that would have to be paid for in kind.

               “Take her somewhere.”

               Todoroki glanced at Katsuki paging through the books, unsure of how to answer.

               “You told her we’d take care of her. It is not like she was born into this world. Give her a night out. Something to make it easier.”

               “We have another problem to deal with.”

               “Yeah, a problem that comes and goes, clearly.” Katsuki pointed at himself. It made sense, if Katsuki had restrictions it was very likely that the person who had turned Katsuki into what he was also had restrictions, although not the same ones. It seemed that they were rather active, but given by the evidence they hadn’t been attacked in a while after the first entourage of attacks it was unlikely that they were going to attack any time soon.

               “And if they’re just hoping we’ll let our guard down?”

               “Defend each other. We’re going to win. We have to.”

               Todoroki paused continuing to stare out the window. Maybe he should do something with the grave, ask one of the forest fairies for a favor or the witches that still resided in the forest. Maybe he could even cover it himself. He was sure that it would be a burden each time she looked at it. A burden that she shouldn’t have had to endure. Uraraka said that she wanted to create a future for herself, it was the reason she was going to college. But she had never said that she was willing to tear others down to create it. And it was clear that those were not her intentions. It was moments like these, moments like when she was deep asleep in her bed when he was standing out in the yard soaked in the blood of anyone who dared enough to go passe the border staring at the moon wondering what he did to deserve this life, that he wondered, wondered what her life was like before she had met them. If she would’ve been better off not meeting them if she would regret knowing them by the time she graduated. And if she would ever find out that he was slaughtering people while she slept. The idea of her stepping out that door to find the bodies that piled up throughout the night, him standing in the center covered in their blood made bile rise in his throat. It felt as though his throat boiled when he wondered what would become of all of them. They knew the only way out for “immortal” supernaturals was murder. She knew that. But he didn’t want her to see the ending. There was no reason she would have to see the ending.

               “No, I’m not taking her out,”

               “She needs a day out, we’re not-“

               “I’ll call Tsuyu. She needs a normal day out, we’re not helping.” Todoroki’s eyes slid towards the phone hoping he could remember what her number was. Wondering if Tsuyu had ever left her number around for them in the first place. Todoroki swallowed, glancing towards Katsuki as he lowered himself to the table, “One more thing….when they come home, I’ll have the Witch of the Forrest waiting for them and they’ll erase their memories of this place.”

               Katsuki’s eyes trailed leaving their after image as they moved towards him, glancing up from his book for the first time since they had been in this room several hours ago, “You can’t-“

               “It’s the same concept as the barrier that protects the forest so normal humans can’t run in.”

               “That’s her decision.”

               “Are you hoping that she’ll actually be able to fix your curse? We’re being selfish. This is going to get her killed.”

               Katsuki was quiet, closing his book as he stared towards the moonlight glowing in the kitchen floor, steps away from him, knowing that no matter how much he should ask Todoroki to close the window he wanted to let the light in, let it seep in through the curtains. Moonlight wasn’t warm, but there was something mellow about it, “So what you’re just going to throw her out?”

               “No, I’ll find a place and rent it out than have someone pose as a person renting for cheap-“

               “Shady.”

               “College offer?”

               “Unless you can get someone officially through the college, even shadier. Especially if they’re only offering it to one student. Uraraka probably doesn’t know that many other people considering she was sleeping on the streets, and Tsuyu probably lives close by with her parents’ recent appearance a couple of weeks ago.”

               Todoroki nodded. Neither option would work without some investment, but this was something worth investing for.  Uraraka was something that he would gamble his whole life on if he had to. He didn’t want her to feel indebted to him, but he didn’t want to put her in danger. He was a being of another world in her reality, he was a being of literal magic and fairytales. What was the point of all the magic and power that he controlled if he couldn’t at least give her a roof over her head and a place to feel safe? An absolute waste of power.  That was the bare minimum, the ability to protect those who had come to him for protection without them offering and giving them the ability to feel safe. It was his duty as the one with the power. It was his duty to protect them.

               Another cold breath escaped, drawing his eyes towards the forest where a set of their own blinked. “Leave” He mouthed. Enough blood had been shed here tonight. He wasn’t in the mood for another hunt of prey. That prey would suffer if they came any closer.

               Katsuki sighed, glaring towards the creature that curiously blinked in the woods, anything that was smart could smell the amount of blood the land had been soaked in, it would stay far away. But this creature seemed to be nothing of the sort, “What is it?”

               “I can’t tell from here.”

               “I’m not eating that. It smells like your other house, something recognizable inhuman about it.”

               “Several humans live there.”

               “Who also happen to be half-demon.”

               He had a point, but there was something about Fuyumi and Natsuo that seemed more human then he and his eldest brother did. And it wasn’t the crazed eyes that his eldest brother possessed, although that likely was both of his heritages struggling as hard as they could against the reality he was presented with.

               “But you’re not denying it smells like your old household.”

               Todoroki shuffled, none of the creatures around here recently were dumb enough to go near such a blood wrenched place, “It does. It smells like Fuyumi.”  He stood up, heading towards the front door and opening it, the creature already scrambling up to him. It was an unusual creature, especially for their world. It could almost be considered small and cute, by a human’s standard. Likely that was its lure to collect prey. It likely wasn’t very strong but had plenty of tricks up its sleeves. The kind that clearly got underestimated but shouldn’t have been. Some creatures that were so cute that it would cause even the toughest demons to let their guards down, creatures that should never be underestimated. It almost reminded him of Uraraka, he got himself. A smile almost escaping his lips as he considered how powerful he knew she would become. He shook his head, there was no way that this creature in front of him would be able to compare to her in any way. But there was a reason they stayed around Fuyumi, while Fuyumi may have seemed to side mostly with the humans, she spent most of her life residing in the demon world. This creature was clearly one of her messengers.

               Its voice was soft and squeaky, the kind someone would expect from something so small, a disarming voice, “Princess Fuyumi’s next birthday is coming up, we would like to request a gathering of sorts to take place.”

               “Shouldn’t that be planned by her?”

               “We are making a surprise, please do show up. Princess Fuyumi also asked that I told you that she’s made accommodations so all of your guests will be able to attend, but did not elaborate on it.” The creature squeaked, handing him an invitation and a quick nod before scampering off into the woods.

               “Guess it knew it wouldn’t get killed immediately since it smells like your sister.” Katsuki leaned on the railing near the door as Todoroki glanced up towards the floor that wasn’t there before. The house was moving around of its own will again, there were days where he wondered if it would swallow them alive. If it was a curse or a demon itself.  Or maybe something else entirely. Either way, so far it had been kind to them.

               “I wonder what it meant by accommodations.” He glanced towards Katsuki, it was clear that she meant that she would make arrangements so that Katsuki could attend a night out that wasn’t dedicated solely to the new moon, but it wasn’t something he wanted to risk without further details.

               “Don’t think about it, I need to guard the house.”

               “The house guards itself well enough.”

               “Sure, it just let like four guys in here that wish us ill will and would’ve burned it down had they a chance.”

               “It used to eat people.”

               Katsuki blinked, glancing back at him, likely the thoughts of a human running through his head as he processed while they were still living there, “Are you crazy then why are we still living here?”

               “It’s how I knew you meant no harm when I found you in the house one day.” Todoroki paused glancing towards the sky, remembering one of the first times he felt panic in the domain he had created. And yet, the reason for his panic and unreason-ability that day would become one of his closest friends.

               “I’m still not going.”

               “Fuyumi has a lot of connections herself within the magical and demon realms, she’s probably the person to ask if someone wants to get anywhere with information.”

               “That goody-two-shoes? Come on, even I know looking at her she’s not going to have the kind of information you would expect a demon to have, even if she’s only half, you can tell-“

               “You’ve underestimated her already.” Todoroki paused, remembering the creature that was at his door only moments ago, from the looks of it the creature-itself currently seemed just as unreasonable as the malicious aura it was capable of asserting. If it wasn’t it wouldn’t have managed to live long enough to deliver such a message. And it wouldn’t have left a pile of scraps that it had munched on within the woods near the edge of his territory.  He glanced towards the door, “And although I hate to admit it, she’s dating one of the most powerful tengu-clan members in the area.”

               Katsuki scoffed, rolling his eyes, “And what’s wrong with the tengu? It’s not like the two of us can’t beat the crap out of their whole clan single-handedly.”

               “We could. But we won’t.” Todoroki sighed, glancing towards Uraraka’s room wondering if she was still awake if she would like to prepare to go to such a place. Or if she would even want to get out of bed tomorrow. Maybe she was asleep already. He glanced back towards Katsuki, maybe he should enlighten him on why not to fight the tengu. “We don’t want to fight them. There are several reasons, the first is my family has a pact with them, they don’t hunt humans, they act like a mafia, but the most important reasoning is my sister is dating the heir.” Todoroki ran a hand through his hair, it was something most people would whistle at or be interested in on how sweet and soft-spoken Fuyumi had managed to snag the wild playboy heir. But last time he had seen Hawks, it seemed that Hawks was absolutely smitten with her. And he didn’t think he would randomly betray Fuyumi, likely at this point if they broke it off it would be a mutual understanding. He hoped. For Hawks' sake.

               “I’m going to bed. Make sure you address the concerns about me coming there with Fuyumi later.”

               “I will. She won’t purposely kill a guest.”

               Katsuki rolled his eyes, “Purposely isn’t the only way someone can die. And I won’t be going out in such a flimsy way, not when I’m so close to answers.”

               Todoroki shrugged, wondering if Katsuki’s species truly did sleep. After Katsuki padded off into a random direction in the house, likely just giving him the courtesy to go to bed himself and explore the house’s new arrangements on his own instead.  Todoroki turned, heading down the hall. Uraraka’s footsteps had long since stopped wandering around her room, he could at least check on her.

               “Uraraka?” He knocked on the door, receiving no response he knocked again, his knuckles sliding down the back of the door. Maybe she didn’t want to see him. Maybe she was sick of the supernatural world and the bloodshed and the fear that ran throughout it. It was no fairytale after all. She had nowhere else to go. Maybe she wanted to run from them and had been frantically packing to free herself from the perils they had gotten her into. None of these were her problems, after all, just problems her roommates had caused her, frankly if there was a roommate rating system he was sure he wouldn’t be the worst roommate, but pretty far down on the scale.  Dragging your roommate into murderous situations didn’t help in the opinion factor. Todoroki shook his head, Uraraka wasn’t like that, she was kind. And she was desperately working towards her goals. If he knew her she was likely engrossed in a book that was either teaching her about her own blossoming magic and who she was or still struggling to research how to help Katsuki. “Uraraka?” He knocked again, the sound of her breathing was soft, almost hollow, his brain stuttered reeling throughout the day. He hadn’t realized it earlier, but the feeling that slipped down his back earlier, tickling the nape of his neck, it was magic. Magic had ran throughout the house, not only once she separated the three of them from fighting for their lives, but even further. How could he not realize it sooner? Uraraka was the reason they were still alive? Between possessing Jericho from that distance, he could still feel the magic coming and going drifting around their feet. She was still running some form of magic. Todoroki’s eyes lingered towards the mirror, the bruises on his face had disappeared faster than normal. He had thought it was his demon side reacting as quickly as it could to save their lives. But it was her. She was trying to save them. And he hadn’t seen her all night in the name of giving her space, “Uraraka, I’m coming in!”

               Todoroki swung the door open, the tension building up in his shoulders releasing as he spotted Uraraka; head on placed on the desk, covered in paperwork, books messy and stacked in the corner, she was asleep. Todoroki smiled, taking a spare bracelet the Witch of the Forest had left him and slipping it around her wrist. The bracelets had been made by the Witch of the Forest when she thought Uraraka was a blossoming witch, one she wanted to take into her coven and nurture herself. There was no way she would imprison Uraraka with such intentions, especially when she was such a wild soul that was desperate to be free herself.

               Uraraka’s eyes slid open, haze covering them, “Todoroki? Did you need something?”

               “Nothing, have you been here all night?”

               “I’m trying to find answers.” Her words were jumbled as she mumbled, but it was clear what her intentions were. They all needed answers of their own. They weren’t out to save or destroy the world, but to find out the answers to what was happening in their own lives. The papers discussed the circumstances of vampires, similar creatures, and events of similar happenings. It was perplexing where she was able to obtain such documents from, but those would be questions for tomorrow as he watched Uraraka slip in and out of sleep. Maybe he hadn’t trapped her here after all but she chose to stay. No one who felt trapped would be falling asleep in front of the person who they felt was trapping them. She clearly felt safe here.

               Todoroki reached, gently lifting her up, doing his best to move delicately in a similar way to someone hunting their prey, but the only intention to move Uraraka without waking her. He slipped her into bed, covering her with her blankets. Uraraka rustled turning to her side, he let out a breath pacing towards the door, “Goodnight, Uraraka.”

               Todoroki paused, glancing down towards the paperwork, knowing he would have to pull more of the weight in the investigation. Maybe part of him wondered if they could return Katsuki back to being human, would Katsuki leave him? Would they be able to turn him into a human too? Would whatever the sacrifice require be worth it? What would be the value of it all? But mostly would he wind up alone in the end? Todoroki’s hand quivered as he picked up an article, he knew he shouldn’t look at it. An article that shouldn’t be removed from the pile, an article of a man he knew he shouldn’t meet alone. But he would. He would go for answers, and that man would pay for making his territory into a hunting ground of those who he now protected. The article without realizing it detailed the hunting ground and current pattern of the person who was suspected in several murder cases. The person who had murdered Katsuki.  And he was going to hunt. Todoroki had found that he was doing his best to limit how much blood was spilled each night as not to scare his guests off, but he had a thirst for vengeance to quench. And the clock had just hit midnight.