It's been a long while. I have no excuses. Instead I have a new years resolution to return to writing. So I hope that anyone still reading this sad and frankly pathetic story is happy to see this chapter. Anyone follow me as an author has probably realized I've update three stories. one a week. I can't promise to keep to the schedule, but I'll do my damnedest.

Twins. Twins. Twins.

The word echoed in the silence. Yuuki literally felt her heart skip a beat.

This was terrible. She wasn't ready to be a mother to one child. How was she going to manage two at the same time? What if she birthed identical twins? Twins were as rare to vampires as they were vampire hunters? Would her children be cursed like Zero and Ichiru? Was one baby going to consume the other in the womb?

Kaname's long fingers grasped at her chin, pulling her head up. She gazed, hypnotically, into glowing wine-colored eyes, only to wrench herself free a moment later, remembering his talent for memory charms.

"No magic." She wouldn't let him entrance her into being calm, or worse, forgetting that she was carrying twins.

"I would never," her brother intoned.

If only she could believe that. He had done it once, for her safety. Kaname held nothing at a higher priority than the wellbeing of his sister. Yuuki knew that. Understood even. He would stop at nothing to ensure that she was safe.

Everything he had done up to this point, every piece he moved on his symbolic chessboard, was to secure their future together. One in which he put them in a position of ultimate power.

Yuuki hadn't questioned his methods. At the beginning, Kaname had been tentative in revealing his plans, concerned that she would disagree. That she would be horrified at who he was and what he had done and what he was willing to do and would want to leave him.

She let him open up at his pace. It was only natural that he was hesitant to reveal the grand scheme that had been a decade in the making. He intended to carry it out entirely on his own.

But Yuuki didn't want that. Ever since she was a child, all she had wanted was to be there for her savior. At ten years old, Kaname was solemn and distant, and it was her deepest wish to make him happy.

Recovering his Pureblood sister had done that.

When he revealed that truth to her, Yuuki finally understood why he had always insisted that he only needed her to be herself whenever she asked if there was anything she could do for him.

Be Yuuki Kuran. Pureblood sister to Kaname Kuran and rightful Queen of the vampire nation.

The brunette had been treating it like a role, slipping into that mindset whenever the duo sat down to discuss their—his—plans for the future. As Yuuki Kuran, she accepted that her brother withheld certain things from her until it was necessary for her to know, confident that the secrecy was only temporary. Indeed, whenever she pushed for more, he gave it to her.

So she had come to believe that he was being one hundred percent honest with her.

And now it was if she was standing on uneven ground. Kaname didn't trust her fully. He gave her enough tidbits to distract her, make her complacent, and continued to operate in the shadows without her. All while he encouraged Yuuki to believe herself his equal.

Why did he keep promising to share his burden with her? How many times had he vowed there would be no secrets between them? Four? Five? More?

Each time it cropped up between them, she had let it slide, content that he had chosen to share more. Because, as Yuuki Kuran, she had no reason to distrust her brother. They were a team, working in tandem to create a better future for vampires and humans.

Or they were supposed to be.

Not even she was spared being moved about like a pawn on the board.

She remembered the board in his dorm room. Knew that it signified his battle against the corrupt vampire society. She thought the game had ended when Rido and Shizuka had been defeated. Instead, Kaname had started up another round against Sara.

Yuuki wasn't upset that the game was still going. She had already been aware that the sole other female Pureblood wouldn't go down without a fight. But she had thought that she and her lover would be battling Sara together.

No, she wasn't upset. She was furious.

Her child—no, children, she was having twins!—were not pawns for Kaname to wield against his enemy.

Kaname's end goal was this Right of Contention, where either she or Sara would secure their position on the throne in a manner that could not be disputed. It was a brilliant tactic. When Yuuki emerged the victor, there would be no more doubts amongst the ranks of Nobles and Aristocrats that she was who she claimed to be. She would prove herself one of them under one of their oldest traditions.

If Yuuki had known that was the plan, she could have spent the last three months preparing for this confrontation.

Now she didn't have that luxury. She had wasted three months preparing an elaborate coronation that may not happen because she inadvertently committed to ritual combat against a being with more than a millennia of age and experience on her. Worse, she couldn't do anything for the foreseeable future seeing as she was pregnant.

"Will two months be enough?" she asked flatly.

Every vampire in the room was aware her expected due date was in early October.

Kaname's arms curled tightly around her, and she hated that she could no longer take comfort in the action. "You will recover quickly after the birth. It's less taxing on vampires than humans. We've been storing blood weekly. You will have more than enough to return to full strength."

"How am I supposed to defeat her? She's leagues stronger than me."

Her despair was palpable. Aidou, observing from the sidelines with his cousin, took a halted step forward. Yuuki-sama was his friend. It angered him that his lord was capable of pulling his stunts with her. There was no need to trick her into the outcome he desired. She would have challenged Shirabuki if Kaname had explained why this method was imperative.

Akatsuki's hand rested on his shoulder, not truly preventing him from throwing it off and continuing forward to console his lady and friend, applying just enough weight to give him pause. Slumping, the blond fell back in line beside his cousin. As much as he wanted it to be, this wasn't his battle. He could approach once it was over, offer an ear and play up his dramatics to make her smile again, but he couldn't fight his lord for her.

In answer, her brother reached down to her hip, where Artemis rested in her sealed form. "You have everything you need to win. Sara's unique power is unknown. It's a card she's held close to her chest. But she has the same weakness of any vampire."

"But I'm not skilled enough. I can't even bring myself to kill a level E."

"Compassion isn't a weakness." Kaname pressed a kiss to the corner of her lips. "Sara is not a level E. Regardless, you won't be fighting to the death."

Chocolate brown eyes looked upon him with tears. "I don't? But you killed Rido and Shizuka."

"That was a different fight," he explained. "Each one of us had reasons for needing the other dead. I could have beaten them into submission and prolonged the stalemate another few decades. Killing them was more expedient."

Yuuki frowned, thoroughly examining the logic. "Is that not the case for Sara, as well? She's building up an army of level E's. If something isn't done, her actions are going to expose us to the humans."

She was a firm believer that the vampires could live alongside humans and benefit from interacting with them, but that didn't mean revealing the truth of what they were as Shirabuki seemed almost bound and determined to do.

"Shirabuki evoked the Right of Contention with full expectation of not having to follow through. If Yori hadn't released you, you would have been dishonored for failing to accept her challenge, circumstances notwithstanding."

"So I would have lost immediately?"

"No," he responded in the denial. "The aristocracy would have viewed you as unwilling to put your honor on the line, but a challenge would have still been set up. Likely, she planned to declare a date and continue to hold you captive so you would be unable to show up. Victory would be hers, by default, then. However, she forgot one crucial element. The Right needs a judge and mediator, which only another Pureblood can fulfill."

Yuuki could predict where he was going. "They'll call you biased. Claim it wasn't fair."

"As the judge, I set the rules. Until one is defeated or unable to continue."

Apparently, her brother had all his bases covered. The wording was vague enough to permit him to call an end to the match whenever he deemed one suitably overpowered without deny they ability to strike a killing blow.

The only thing the nobility loved as much as they loved their Purebloods was a well-played game.

Yuuki was tired of games.

'Yori,' her mind suddenly reminded her. How had her best friend gotten tangled in this mess?

"Where's Yori? Tell me she's alright?" she begged. Kaname tensed, only perceptible because she was still cradled in his embrace. "Please, onii-sama."

"I'm here, Yuuki."

The tears reappeared, predictably sending Aidou into a panic. The ice-wielder was at a loss for what to do when Kaname was the cause of her tears.

That was the moment the young woman in question chose to make her appearance. Yori had been waiting outside the room, knowing that her friend would need to work through the events of the last few weeks. While Yori had been firmly on her side, Yuuki hadn't known that. Right up until the very end, she would have been torn over Yori's true allegiance.

She regretted that the deception was necessary, but this was one instance in which she agreed with Kuran. Yuuki had a terrible tendency to fret about things out of her control and overwork herself to a dangerous degree with little care for her own health.

She was better now, because of the babies, but only marginally.

So, Yori had chosen to wait outside, not wanting to stress her best friend further. Once she had come to terms with the part her human friend had played, then she could reveal herself.

"I'm fine. No need to worry."

Yuuki's head snapped over to the door so fast the bones in her neck gave off an audible crack. If not for the arms still wrapped around her, like unmovable steel, she would have launched herself out of the bed.

"What did she do to you?"

"I'm okay, Yuuki," soothed Yori.

"You're a vampire."

She had smelled another vampire nearby and had just attributed the scent to one of any number of vampires that her brother must have called upon see to her protection. Now that she was standing before her, it was clear the scent belonged to Yori.

Despair curled in her gut, sending an all too familiar burn of nausea crawling up her throat.

Only Purebloods could turn humans. Kaname had no reason to turn her friend. Only Sara could have done it. And she would have done it to hurt Yuuki, because the other Pureblood had a sadistic streak a mile wide. Yuuki would be tortured with the knowledge that her best friend had been turned to punish her. She would be forced to watch as Yori slowly descended to a desperate, bloodthirsty, crazed level E without the blood of her progenitor to stabilize her. Worse yet, she would have to live with the knowledge that it was her fault. That Yori would eventually succumb to madness and be killed because she had been protecting Yuuki.

Yori approached with the grace and silence befitting her change of species. After determinedly staring down the ancestral vampire, he conceded his spot to her, letting Yori draw his beloved close.

"Listen." And so the story unfolded.

Yori had been thrown in Yuuki's former cell to wait out the change. The female Pureblood was confused as to why Yori's transformation had taken longer than her own, to which Kaname quickly interjected that he hadn't actually turned her so much as awakened her vampire, which had been suppressed.

Surviving wasn't guaranteed, so Yori had been left to suffer until Sara deigned to return and see the results.

"It was an odd feeling," Yori admitted, when describing what the lust for blood felt like upon coming to. "Like eating a curry with too much chile."

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Uncaring blue eyes studied her.

"It would have been easier if you had died, but this outcome works just as well. You will suffer in your last days, alone in this room, desperate for blood. Know that when your ends come it was because you sided with the human lovers."

Yori blinked slowly, not able to pay attention to the woman's caustic words with the persistent burn at the back of her throat.

Simply thinking about her thirst was enough to bring out her fangs. Sara's bell-like tinkle of a laugh resounded as she bared them.

"I would love to keep you alive until the solstice. Imagine how lovely the Kuran Princess would look when she realized what her actions had done to you. Sadly, I don't have enough blood to sustain you. Yuuki wasted much of my supply."

Yori blinked again, recalling a conversation where her friend had mentioned the power within a Pureblood's blood. There was something important about it, but she couldn't remember what. It hovered just out of reach.

But it reminded her that there was blood in the room. The blood in Sara's veins.

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"So, I leapt for her. Sara wasn't expecting me to fight back. Her head smashed against the doorframe. Blood spilled down the side of her face. Without thinking, I licked it." Yori shuddered, remembering dragging her tongue across the hot liquid.

From there, Sara threw her off and Yori didn't think twice about running back to the Kuran mansion.

"I'm glad you're alright," Yuuki said quietly.

Yori said nothing back, instead retreating to the side with Akatsuki and Aidou to allowing Kaname to return to her side.

"So what now?"

"Now you rest," he insisted. Not giving her the chance to protest he added, "tomorrow, we'll start training your powers. Wielding an anti-vampire weapon will be an advantage, but you will need more than that."

Decision reached, albeit reluctantly on her part, her friends slipped out of the room to leave her to her rest.

Kaname offered his wrist, and despite have just guzzled a pitcher full of blood, she drank deeply, reveling in the flutter in her midsection that followed.

Being satiated made her drowsy, no doubt part of her brother's diabolical plan to make her sleep more, but Yuuki had one more point she needed to make.

"Kaname." Her brother hm'ed at her to show he was listening. "Consider this checkmate."

He knocked a sculpted brow. "Oh?"

"I'm flipping the board. No more games."

"As you command."

"Lie to me again; I'll end you."

Her hand curled around the weapon she always carried, the weapon on she could touch. It was a Pureblood's only weakness, and not even her brother was exempt from that.