I silently stared down at the food on my plate. All of it looked delicious and professionally prepared, but I didn't make a move to even touch it. Instead, all I could focus on were the sounds of everyone else eating. Forks scraping against plates, the occasional clink of a glass being set down, the sounds of chewing. It all made me nauseous. This was the first time all of us had sat down together to dine. At first I thought it was a joke—I mean, eating with the vampires as if they were friends? But this was probably the most awkward thing I ever had to sit through. No one spoke a word as they minded their own business. The silence was nearly maddening.

It was obvious the brothers didn't like each other much. So why did they force themselves to have dinner together all of a sudden? It wasn't like things would get better between any of them by forcing a dinner date on each other. Despite feeling awkward about eating with the vampires, I was at least grateful I sat nowhere near Laito or Kanato. Instead, I was sitting in between Shu and Subaru. I felt comfortable around Shu, since I got the sense that he was too lazy to do much of anything. And though Subaru had a bit of a temper, his maturity level seemed to exceed any of the triplets' despite being older than him.

Ayato sat directly across from me as he dug into his plate. To his left was Yui, who hadn't eaten much of anything either. I didn't blame her. I think she was still just as upset as I was about the events of last night, when Ayato tossed her into the pool even though he knew she couldn't swim. He had also bitten her yesterday. It has taken every ounce of self-control to keep myself from ramming my steak knife into his throat. I feel so horrible. I wasn't there to save her. I failed to protect her. Some sister I was. While she was stuck at school, getting her blood sucked by Ayato, I was here at the mansion, sleeping in my bed.

Okay, now I was just being too hard on myself. It wasn't like I asked to be brought back here. And it wasn't like I was wasting my time. I found important information. This morning, I took some time to intensely debate with myself about what I should do. Should I listen to my mother's warning and try to discover the truth about my situation, or should I cut and run while I still had the chance, but end up never knowing anything. Basically, I had to ask myself if the truth was worth dying for.

Eventually, I decided that it wasn't. What was the point of knowing anything if I risked dying anyway? My final decision was to escape. Seeing Yui depressed all day about what had happened yesterday pretty much convinced me that I had made the right choice. So, I spent the whole day planning and observing. Watching and learning. I was careful to avoid any interaction with the vampires.

"It doesn't look like you've eaten very much, Sugar Tits," Laito observed, breaking the silence and snapping me out of my thoughts. I looked over at his spot at the table, but he wasn't even there. Instead, he was suddenly standing behind me. He leaned in and hovered over my shoulder. "You need to eat a well-balanced diet or you'll become anemic," he spoke in a seductive voice, making me cringe. He smirked that stupid smirk of his.

"I hope I do," I growled, leaning forward in my seat to get away from him as I shot him an annoyed glare from over my shoulder.

He laughed as if that was funny. "What utter nonsense. Here, I'd more than happy to feed, if you like." He reached over to grab my fork. I curled in on myself, ready to slide out of my seat and under the table, where I could crawl to safety.

"Why can't you just go away?! Leave. Me. Alone!" I shouted as I turned away from him.

"Laito," Reiji scolded, "it's impolite to stand at the table while the rest of us are eating, so please refrain from doing so."

Thank you.

"Yes, sir." Laito chuckled as he stepped away. I hesitated before leaning back in my seat. Laito smirked at me again. "This conversation isn't over, Sugar Tits," he purred before returning to his seat. Before I could even react, Shu suddenly stood up. I looked up at him, but his eyes were closed.

"Shu?" I breathed. And I wondered why I even did.

"I can't be bothered with this," he said in a low tone. Then he promptly stuck his hands in his pockets and walked away.

"I've had it with that deadbeat," Reiji growled as soon as the door to the dining room closed behind Shu. "As a child, he had everything handed to him on a silver platter. This is what happens when kids are spoiled." I wasn't sure if he was talking to anyone in particular, but I found myself frowning at him. Did I feel sorry?

Yeah. Right. Why would I ever feel sorry for these psychos?

"Teddy, what would you like to eat next?" Kanato spoke to his bear. I looked over at him. "Let's have a banana snowball, shall we?" He tried to pierce the hard cookie with his fork. It broke in half instead. He raised his fork and tried to stab it through again and again. Each time, he laughed a little harder. It was quite a disturbing sight. I felt chills race down my back.

"He can't even make the effort to attend our monthly dinner party." Reiji continued his angry monologue, ignoring Kanato as if it was normal for him to act like that. It made me feel even more disturbed.

Why did Reiji even hate Shu so much? What happened between them when they were kids? Reiji opened his eyes like he was finally done with his rant. "That will be all for today."

Subaru was the first one to leave after being dismissed. I had a feeling that only Shu was able to get away with leaving early like that just because he was the oldest and could do whatever he wanted—the house was basically his. The other brothers had to listen to Shu and Reiji. Everyone else followed Subaru out. I met Yui's gaze and nodded at her. We both started out of our seats.

"Clary, a moment?" Reiji said. I looked at him, wondering what he could possibly want. And I was a little afraid to find out.

"Uh...sure." I slowly sat back down, nodding my assurance at Yui.

"I'll wait for you outside," she said. Relief eased my tension. I was grateful she wouldn't leave me entirely alone with Reiji—he was kind of intimidating.

Reiji waited until Yui left before speaking. I stared at him, wondering what he would say. He finally returned my gaze.

"Your table manners are deplorable, are you not aware of that?" he scolded. I furrowed my brow at him. Why would he say that? I didn't do anything wrong? I only ate a bite or two of food, but that was the only thing that I could think of that might be considered rude. But would he really blame me for not feeling hungry?

"What's that confused look on your face?"

"I—I just don't know what you're talking about," I admitted. "What'd I do?"

"What did you do?" he scoffed as it was obvious. "You placed your elbows on the table when you leaned forward."

"When I leaned forward..?" I gasped with realization before anger quickly surged through my veins, rolling through me in waves that couldn't be contained. Before I knew it, my lips were flying. "You mean when Laito was breathing down my neck like a freak?! Sorry, but I was trying to get away from him, in case you couldn't tell. Hello? Do you need new glasses or something? Maybe you should open your eyes once in a while and see what's going on right in front of your face!"

As soon as the words left my tongue, I instantly regretted it. I dreaded sitting there in silence as Reiji stared daggers into my soul.

"Um...I'm sorry," I mumbled, averting my gaze. "That was uncalled for."

"Listen to me. Know your place in this household, or I will just have to personally remind you of it. I don't want to hear any excuses. If that ever happens again, I'll take you aside and discipline you thoroughly. Have I made myself clear?"

I couldn't believe this guy. I did nothing wrong! It's Laito he should be disciplining, not me! I wanted to protest but I bit my lip instead. I was sure the expression on my face clearly showed how pissed off I was, and Reiji was just waiting for me to get smart with him again. But I knew better. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of yelling at him, because then he would just use it as an excuse to "punish" me. What a freak this guy was.

"Crystal," I growled as I got up. I pushed my chair in to show what great table manners I had before storming off.

God. Did he say that these dinner parties were a monthly thing? Well, if my plan worked out, Yui and I would be out of here long before the next one.

Wow. Okay, where do I begin? Haha. I haven't updated this story in years. I don't know if anyone is still here, but if you are, I'm sure you're quite surprised. This isn't an actual update, really. It's just a chapter that I had already written years ago before I stopped writing Bloodlines. The reason I'm posting it now is because...I might be considering coming back to this fic. I still don't know yet though, because I have two other very active fanfics on my Quotev. Seriously, you guys should follow me there. I am WAY more active on Quotev; as in, I check my profile daily and update my fics WEEKLY. I am currently running a Levi Ackerman (Attack on Titan) fic, as well as a 10k (Z Nation) fic on there if you wanna check those out. They are currently my biggest projects. I am also considering reuploading Bloodlines onto my Quotev and continuing it on that platform. I just never use this website ya'll.

So, if you wanna check out my other stories, stay tuned for future Bloodlines updates, chat with me, or all of the above, then come visit me on Quotev!

I can't paste links on this dang website, so you will have to search for my profile manually. Find me on Quotev at cynnerqueen

(just type in that username in the Quotev search tab and it should take you to my profile.)

I really hope to see you guys there!