Yui eyed the luxurious Western meal of french onion soup, poached fish, and perfectly grilled steak displayed in front of her.  All the dishes looked absolutely delicious, but she could not bring herself to have an appetite, not after finding her father's diary completely blank the night before.  And especially not when the atmosphere between the Sakong brothers at the dining table was as uncomfortable and far from pleasant as it always seemed to be.  None of them had spoken a word since they had all sat down half an hour ago and the silence was beginning to feel suffocating, just like in the limo ride to school.

Yui glanced up to see Joonmyun and Sehun diligently working on their meal diagonally across from her at the rectangular dining table, but Jongin who was seated right across from her had stopped eating much earlier and in fact looked to be sleeping sitting upright at the moment.

"You haven't eaten very much, Little ," Chanyeol's voice suddenly entered Yui's right ear, though she was sure he had just been sitting on the other side of Baekhyun to her left.  "You need to eat properly or you could become anemic," he teased as he leaned in to whisper, "Would you like me to feed you?"

"Chanyeol," Joonmyun reprimanded without raising his voice, "It's bad manners to get to your feet during a meal."

"Yes, sir," Chanyeol singsonged, but lowered his voice to tell Yui, "We'll continue this later, Little ."

A sudden sound of jostling came from across the table and Yui saw that Jongin had stood up from his seat, as if to announce something important.

"Jongin-sshi?" she called out to him, wondering why he wasn't saying anything.

After a moment, he merely uttered, "This is a pain," and left the dining room without another word.

Joonmyun frowned and muttered bitterly, "That deadbeat. Nothing good can come of anyone who grows up spoiled rotten."

"Teddy, what would you like to eat next?" Kyungsoo broke the tense mood with the dialogue he was having with the stuffed animal on his lap. "Let's have a banana snowball."

He gripped the golden dessert fork in his left fist and tried to pierce the tea cookies on his plate, but the brittle cookies broke in half instead of sticking to the fork like he wanted them to.  He tried over and over again, but his initial look of frustration and disappointment distorted into a look of pure sadistic delight, as he gleefully and brutally smashed the cookies on his plate, while laughing childishly in a deceptively innocent way.

Joonmyun looked like he had a headache, but apparently not because of his crazy younger brother who conversed with a doll and stabbed cookies for fun. "He won't even make the effort to attend our monthly dinner party."

Is he still talking about Jongin? He seems to have something particularly against Jongin, because he doesn't get as agitated against his other brothers...

"That will be all for today," Joonmyun announced to the remaining group, and immediately Sehun got up from his seat and silently left the table, the others following suit right afterwards.

What? How is this a family dinner? He sounds like he was dismissing them from an obligatory meeting. But given how Jongin had treated it, and how none of them spoke to one another, maybe this dinner was just that: an obligation. An unwelcome obligation.

Yui was also about to leave the table, but Joonmyun who was still seated stopped her. "One moment. Your table manners are deplorable. One of these days I will take you aside and discipline you thoroughly. Understood?"

Yui blinked astonished.

Excuse me? My table manners are deplorable? Then what about your brother who sat right across from you and sprayed crumbs everywhere as he stabbed the life out of his dessert?!

But she knew very well that she couldn't--or rather, she shouldn't--voice her mental retort aloud and, swallowing her pride, she quietly replied, "Yes, sir."

Back in her room, where she could find what little respite she had in the mansion, Yui made sure to lock her door before she approached the varnished nightstand beside her bed.  She pulled out her father's diary from the top drawer and opened it hesitantly.  But no matter how many pages she flipped through, she could not find any writing, not even any stray marks or indentations.

It's still blank. It doesn't even look like someone had erased writing in pencil.

But thankfully, there was one thing that had not vanished and gave Yui hard proof that she had not imagined the writing in the diary: the photograph.  She clutched the picture of herself as a baby cradled in her father's arms and burned the image into her mind, fearful that the photograph would one day disappear like the written contents of the journal.

This photograph is my only clue.

She carefully placed it back inside the diary and returned it to the drawer, trying to close it quietly, when a brash voice signaled an intruder in her room.

"What are you doing?" Baekhyun said snidely, and Yui whipped her head over to see him straddling the desk chair backwards as he sat facing her.

"H-how did you get in here?" she demanded, trying not to sound too panicked in case she raised his suspicion about her hiding something.

Baekhyun fortunately took her question as an invitation to boast, "I can go wherever I want. Now hurry up and let me your blood."

Yui scrambled to think of a way out of getting drained of blood like the previous night. "I-I was about to go have a bath."

She hurriedly made to leave the room, but Baekhyun wouldn't let her go that easily.  He caught her arm mid-escape and grabbed her side so she was caught in a waltz-like embrace that had her struggling in vain against his lips at her skin. "Baekhyun.. I've been feeling faint," she tried to stop him by gaining his sympathy.

"Be quiet," he ordered and continued to right below her collarbone, and it was painful, but a different kind of painful than when he had penetrated her neck with his fangs.  She couldn't stop herself from cringing and wincing aloud from this new kind of torture.

"Hey now, stop making it sound like it feels good," he murmured before giving one last hard and pulling away, leaving an angry red spot on her skin where his mouth had been attached. "That pain you feel is my mark."

Baekhyun swooped in to repeat the same marking ritual on the other side of her chest despite her protests. "Don't move. I'll mark you down here, too."

This time he was further down from her collarbone, and Yui was overwhelmed by both mortification and the stinging sensation.

"Feel more pain," he incanted, "More, more."

The intensity of Baekhyun's and the atmosphere was making Yui lose her mind, but just when she thought she couldn't take anymore, he stopped and pulled away with a smirk. "I'll save the rest for after your bath. I wouldn't want to you now and have to deal with you fainting."

Before releasing her, Baekhyun leaned in to whisper into her ear, "And make it quick, because if you make me wait, you know what will happen."

Yui stood frozen in shock, because for some reason, Baekhyun's threat had her quivering in her very bones.  It scared her how powerful he was, how much power he had over her, and how he could entrance her to allow him to do things to her that she could never imagine.

B-but I'm not allowing him to do those things! He's forcing his way with me!

Yui tried to protest to herself, but what really frightened her was that she knew deep down, she was never fully resisting him.  It was like something inside of her prevented her from actually running away, chained her to this place and the creatures that lived in it.

Shaking her head to rid herself of these ridiculous thoughts, Yui grabbed her toiletries for a bath and made her way to the bathroom on unsteady feet.  She placed her change of clothes on the sink counter and looked at herself in the mirror, staring at the ugly welts on her chest in harsh contrast with her pale skin.  As Baekhyun had so intentionally done so, she indeed felt marked, and though she had already had her blood , these marks were a visual reminder to her that she was tainted, tarnished, adulterated.

Yui was surprised out of her self-condemnation when she heard a splash from the side.  She thought the bathroom was vacated when she entered it, but now she could see someone lying in the tub.  It was Jongin, and he lay there fully clothed and immersed up to his chest in the filled bathtub.

"Wha- Jongin-sshi?!" Yui cried out in alarm, since he had his eyes closed and looked very much like he was dead.

"Quiet down.. You're too loud," he murmured, stubbornly keeping his eyes shut, "I'm just having a bath, that's all."

"But you're still dressed," she pointed out.

"Then undress me," he replied evenly.

"What?" Yui was baffled as to how the conversation could flow this way.

"Didn't you come in here hoping to see me ?" Jongin accused her in more of a conclusory statement than a question.

"Y-you're wrong! Please don't even suggest such an inappropriate thing!" Yui exclaimed, hoping the eldest Sakong brother wouldn't open his eyes to see her blushing furiously. "I came in here to have a bath."

Of course, that was the moment he decided to open his eyes and take a look at her directly for the first time she had arrived at the mansion.  He drawled seductively, "Want to join me?"

"What? No! Of course not!"

"You're as red as a tomato, you know," he teased, but then his face morphed into one of annoyance.  "How tiresome," he breathed out and closed his eyes once again.

This brother is as unpredictable as the others, though he seems to be the most normal out of them. At least he hasn't made a pass at my blood, but he's strange in his own way, always napping and thinking everything to be a bother.

She couldn't help but ponder out loud, "You're all brothers, but how could you be so different from each other?"

Jongin surprised her by not being too bothered to answer, "We have different mothers. Joonmyun and I are from the same mother, and the triplets--Baekhyun, Kyungsoo, and Chanyeol--are from another mother."

Wait, those three were triplets?! They look and act nothing like each other. But these brothers have different mothers? That must have been tough.

"I had no idea," she said sympathetically. "Um, what about Sehun?"

"He's also from another mother," Jongin replied, as he slowly slipped down into the water.

Startled and afraid he might drown, Yui grabbed his hand to prevent him from slipping further.  The contact must have shocked Jongin, because he suddenly sat upright and gripped her hand in an increasingly tight hold, his eyes wide open but blank, as if he was lost in a vision.  Yui barely heard him whisper a pained, "Kris," before she couldn't withstand the pain any longer and had to call him out of his trance-like state.

"J-Jongin-sshi.. Jongin-sshi! You're hurting me!"

Jongin seemed to come back to his senses, but instead of releasing his hold, he pulled on her forcefully and caused her to fall into the tub fully clothed along with himself. "Let me drink your blood."

"What?" Yui couldn't believe her ears.  She had trusted Jongin to be the last one out of the Sakong brothers to demand her blood, if at all, but she had yet again overestimated the kindness of these blood- monsters.

"What, are you scared?" he asked, devoid of any emotion.

Yui couldn't answer, she was a deer in headlights, paralyzed with feelings of betrayal, fear, and helplessness.  Jongin grabbed the back of her head and pulled her in closer to himself, tilting her chin back for easier access to her neck.

"It's so pale," he mused, "I bet if I bit through it, it would spurt bright red blood like a geyser."

Yui had squeezed her eyes shut tightly, but she knew what he was looking at when he chuckled and guessed, "Did Baekhyun do that? He's such a possessive freak."

How could he talk about what Baekhyun did to me so nonchalantly? How could he talk about me like I'm just some object, some toy being passed around between them? He's just like the rest of them, if not worse!

"I had thought you.. you were different from them," she mustered up a voice, "but why..?"

"Make no mistake," he growled, "I am a vampire. I will show you a whole new world."

She heard him take in a sharp breath before he bit into her neck and drank her blood mercilessly.  It was already the sixth or seventh time fangs had broken her skin, but she would never get used to the piercing pain that shot needles through her body and left her gasping for air.

"Your blood is so hot, I could get burnt," Jongin murmured against her neck. "You're getting excited. What a dirty girl you are. Your temperature is rising now that fangs are at your throat."

"N-no..," Yui whimpered in denial.

"I know why you came to live with us now," he stated, retracting his teeth from her neck. "Your blood is of the finest quality."

And I'm nothing but a living sacrifice.

"Think twice before you reach out to touch me again," he warned, "Never forget."

Leaving Yui slumped in the bathtub, Jongin climbed out and walked out of the bathroom without a backward glance, the trail of wet puddles being the only trace that he had been there, aside from the drop of blood that had escaped his mouth and swirled into the bath water before being diluted away.  But despite all of his threats and warnings, Jongin took nowhere near as much blood as Baekhyun had taken, so Yui tried to be grateful that she wasn't forced to pass out and quickly washed herself using new bath water, hurrying back to her room before she could encounter another person who wanted a taste of her.

But how could she forget about the "possessive freak" who was waiting for her in her room?

As soon as she closed the door behind herself, Baekhyun announced his presence and his impatience. "Pancake, you're late. I'm thirsty, so hurry up and let me your blood."

"B-Baekhyun, now's not a good tim-"

"You have no right to refuse me," he circled her from behind and captured her by the wrist. "Just submit to my feeding."

Yui braced herself for another painful intrusion of fangs, but instead she felt Baekhyun's slender fingers trace the fresh puncture wounds she had gained on her neck and yelped in pain.

"Joonmyun?" she heard Baekhyun whisper in quiet fury, "No, it must be Jongin. That bastard..."

Without another word, he grabbed Yui's arm and dragged her along as he stormed out of her room and down a confusing path of hallways until they reached a room she hadn't seen before.  It looked to be a lounge, with tiled flooring, pool tables, and suits of armor decorating the corners of the room.

"Jongin!" Baekhyun yelled at his older brother napping on a couch, "Are you trying to pick a fight with me?!"

Jongin didn't even stir, let alone give a response, so Baekhyun yelled even louder, "Oy! Are you listening to me?!"

"Too loud..," Jongin finally spoke to complain, still looking serenely asleep as ever.

Baekhyun clucked his tongue in frustration, then decided to change his approach. "I challenge you to a game of darts!"

"Too much trouble," came Jongin's bored response, inciting Baekhyun's anger further.

"You bast-"

Baekhyun was interrupted by the sound of clapping and they turned to see Chanyeol leaning on one of the game tables in the room.

"Interesting. And the prize for the winner of the game will be Little !" Chanyeol inflected with amusement. "This'll be good."

"Prize?" Yui echoed, utterly appalled.

"What's with all the noise?" Joonmyun appeared out of nowhere to demand. "What is the meaning of this commotion?"

"Jongin and Baekhyun are fighting over Little , so they're going to have a darts competition to decide who can have her," Chanyeol explained, leering at Yui.

"I couldn't care less about her," Jongin interjected, and Yui had to suppress the feeling of disappointment she didn't know why she felt at the statement. "So be quiet and let me sleep."

"I thought you would say something of the sort," Joonmyun goaded him, uncharacteristically losing his cool and acting immaturely. "He shrinks back from any challenge. If you look up the word 'spineless' in the dictionary, you will find a photo of him beside it. He can't do anything without help, good-for-nothing deadbeat."

Please, please don't take the bait. Please don't respond and just ignore everyone like you usually do.

But to Yui's dismay, Jongin sat up with steely eyes and a determined frown upon his face. "Baekhyun, I'll play your game."

He quickly got up and strode over to the dart board hung up on the other side of the room, immediately grabbing the darts and starting his turn to begin the game.  Baekhyun watched on with a confident smirk as he waited at the pool table, but he made a poorly disguised attempt to hide his uneasiness under fake coughs when his own fumbles during his turn made clear that Jongin was the better darts player.

Chanyeol took up the role of sports commentator, announcing the status of points and commenting snidely on Baekhyun's mistakes, which probably didn't help Baekhyun's performance, and Yui found herself getting absorbed in the game, forgetting about all else and enjoying the sports competition unfolding right in front of her.  But the game was drawing to a close and Chanyeol had to go and remind her what this competition was about in the first place.

"If Jongin nails this next shot, that means you'll belong to him, Little ," he deliberately pointed out teasingly from beside Yui.

"What? No way, that's ridiculous," she shook her head and tried to move away from him, but his large hands grabbed ahold of her shoulders to keep her in place.

"Now, now, prizes need to stay put," he said jokingly, but his vice grip spoke otherwise and Yui felt like her shoulders would crumble in his hands.  She squinted through her grimace at him, and he gave her a malicious grin but eased up on his grip slightly.

She was forced to watch the game through the end and Jongin let sail his third and final dart to have it land perfectly on the triple 20 section of the board, along with his other darts.  Baekhyun tsked in frustration, while Chanyeol gave a low whistle of admiration, commenting, "Not bad. Ton 80!"  Chanyeol had explained to Yui that "ton 80" or 180 points was the highest score possible when playing with three darts, so as much as she didn't want to admit it, she was impressed that the so-called deadbeat Jongin had pulled that off.

So he's perfectly capable. He's just too lazy to exert himself.

But now was not the time to be impressed by someone who could drain her to her death right on the spot if he wanted to.  She warily watched Jongin take one last glance at the dartboard before he turned around and walked back towards where Yui and Chanyeol were standing.  She held her breath and steeled herself for a forceful embrace, preparing to try and make a run for it at the last second, but Jongin made no notice of her and slunk right past her.

Astonished but relieved, Yui stared at Jongin's back, but Chanyeol did not let a single thing go.  "We have a winner! Here is your prize of one Little !" he sang obnoxiously in his deep voice and then pushed Yui forward so that she stumbled right into Jongin's back.  She froze on the spot, immediately remembering how just earlier Jongin had warned her not to touch him again, and she shook like a leaf, feeling the terror gnaw at her bones.

"To me, mortals are just prey to feed on, as you've already found out," he uttered lowly as he turned around and grabbed Yui's chin, forcing her to tilt her head to the side. "Don't even dream of messing with me."

Yui screamed silently into the darkness behind her closed eyelids as she awaited the quick draw of breath before she would be turned into a mere vessel of blood once again.

A/N: i hope you enjoyed this chapter! thanks for reading <3!

here's a question for you: would you prefer to have the vampire brothers be depicted more like the exo boys or do you want them to stay true to the diabolik charas? (i often have trouble imagining suho actually saying a lot of reiji's lines and yeollie making all of laito's noises and comments lol)