†Chapter 10: Laboratory in the Dead of Night†
†Chapter 10: Laboratory in the Dead of Night†
IN late-summer, the Wilds were but a series of dry, rocky mountains dotted with dried out scrub bushes.
A large semitrailer showed up on the service road off the freeway leading to the Municipal Biotechnology Research Institute. On its side was “Nojima Motors,” painted in big, bold letters. This was Gothic City’s notorious “Nojima’s Workshop on Wheels.”
Zelaide had put in the call for immediate, no questions asked service, while offering an unprecedented amount of money.
“‘Sup, Sir Beast Blood, I’m ‘ere at the speed of light at your beck n’ call!” the young auto mechanic greeted as he slid from the driver’s seat and took off his dirty hat in a gentlemanly gesture. Always quick on the job, the small man thrummed with energy.
After Zelaide safely dropped Euphemia off at the laboratory, he had returned to the Wilds to contact an auto shop he frequently called upon to make repairs whenever his car was damaged. Under normal circumstances it was advisable to return to the city and leave the car in Nojima Motors’ Out Circle garage, but the situation was far too urgent. Zelaide needed his car to pick Euphemia up after work, and he couldn’t bring her home without the safety of his car.
“Wowie kazowie! Ya’ve really done her in good this time, boss man. I know ya said so over the D-com, but it’s somethin’ else to see the swankiest shock-resistant, bulletproof windshield cracked like a spider web… How close was the shooter? On top o’ the car? Car’s a beaut, too. Poor thing.”
“Shut it. Quit ramblin’—fix it, already!”
A normal human would be shaking in their boots before the disgruntled Beast Blood, but the mechanic shrugged it off.
“Sure thing, boss man. Aw darn, the body’s nicked up somethin’ sorry. And owwie, ya’ve blown the key sensor off—that’s gonna be a pain to fix. The chassis and internal-combustion engine look almost as good as new. Yup, that’s Pop’s work for ya. So, I can repair her within five hours. But I won’t be hitting the road home till nightfall at this rate, and ya know night’s real dangerous. The fees for comin’ out here are gonna cost you a pretty chunk of coin, mister boss man.”
“I’ll pay double. Repair it in three hours and get your ass home.”
“Wouldn’t expect any less of my rich n’ generous Beast Blood pal!”
No sooner was the topic of money broached than the mechanic schooled his expression and promptly drove Zelaide’s car into his Workshop on Wheels, where he quickly set about his work with an assistant who waved at him before getting to work. Zelaide had been doing business with Nojima Motors since the time of the young mechanic’s father.
He shifted his attention away from the mechanic and turned his back on the hisses, clanks, bellows, and drumming of first-rate machinery.
They were in the Wilds right behind the research institute, where mostly small-scale laboratories stood in a row. Euphemia’s work for the day was inside one of these buildings. Naturally, the premise was surrounded by tall fortress walls, blocking the buildings from view.
I’ll sneak inside and check on her if she takes too long.
Zelaide couldn’t afford to leave Euphemia’s side right now. Or to be more accurate, he couldn’t stand to be away from her anymore.
He glared resentfully up at the towering white walls. Getting an idea of the facility’s layout in order to better tackle any problems that might arise in the near future—suddenly felt like a very important item on his agenda.
Even after everything that’d happened, Euphemia had stubbornly marched right into the laboratory, motivated to continue her work. Of all things, her last words to him were that she’d be out late today.
She could try layin’ low for a while, but given what just happened! Stubborn woman!
The truth was that he didn’t want to let Euphemia out of his sight. But Zelaide couldn’t enter the research institute through the front door when he was a Beast Blood.
Erica had given him a top-secret PIN capable of overriding the gate security system in case of emergencies, but it’d defeat the purpose if he went around flaunting it in front of others, so it wasn’t an option at the moment.
Impatience and irritation were overtaking his emotions, but now was the time to watch and wait.
Should anything happen, Euphemia would contact him. The GPS locator on her confirmed she was less than a mol away from him. Zelaide wanted to believe she was at least safe within a research institute where only people with security clearance could gain access.
But what he wanted to believe and how he actually felt were two different matters altogether.
Dammit all! Why am I so pissed off? Zelaide kicked a rock with his heavy boot.
He already had the twenty-digit free pass PIN completely memorized. The PIN wasn’t the only thing Erica had given him, either—she’d even handed him a personal ID card granting entrance into the deepest, most secure rooms of the institute.
Under normal circumstances, authorized personnel of public institutions, including the Municipal Biotechnology Research Institute, passed through each gate by biometric scans of the iris and genetic identification, but institute presidents and government officials occasionally issued special IDs, activated only for a select period of time with finite uses.
The ID card Erica had given Zelaide was only good for the duration of his job as a bodyguard, but it was a genuine ID card from the Office of the Mayor herself. It went without saying that any building entered or gate passed, in addition to the number of times used and the time of day, would all be thoroughly logged. Responsibility for which would fall on Erica.
Erica had taken these measures to respect Euphemia’s ardent desire to bring the project entrusted to her to fruition—even if it meant staying overnight at the laboratory—while simultaneously providing Euphemia with the closest protection possible.
The mayor’s got some crazy foresight, all right. I can move as I want with this ID of hers. Protectin’ Yumi might not have been possible otherwise.
The biker gang had attacked them the instant they left the city’s fortified walls, which meant their enemy had a clear picture of what Euphemia and Zelaide were doing and when. In other words, his enemy this time around wasn’t after him alone—they were targeting him and Euphemia, as a unit. More precisely, he thought of it as an attack aimed at Erica via her little sister.
If the mayor’s biological sister falls victim to a horrible crime, it’ll plummet the mayor’s popularity, since she’s made improving public safety the pillar of her policies.
That was the enemy’s goal.
There’s no mistakin’ it. That biker gang was Inferni pretending to be Vermi.
Without any outside help, Vermi were no threat, even in large Vermis groups. They were little more than common lowlifes encroaching every major city; they accepted jobs from anyone, as long as it padded their pockets with money or Nightz.
Infernum’s Inferni were an entirely different breed of criminal. They lived upright lives among normal citizens, only giving in to violence when Beast Bloods were involved. As a general rule, they avoided stunts that would put other humans in danger.
The only thing Inferni and Vermi had in common was that no member took action alone. Inferni’s sworn enemies, Beast Bloods, possessed the strength of more than ten men, so they brought numbers to combat that strength.
Inferni traveled in groups ranging from five to several dozen when hunting down Beast Bloods. Not even the police grasped the full extent of the syndicate’s operations. It was unclear how many subgroups moved within Gothic City, and rumors had it that some of Infernum’s bosses ran with them.
But that isn’t all there is to this. Hunting a Beast Blood like me’s one thing—goin’ after the mayor would be biting off more than they can chew. No, Infernum’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The real enemy was an even larger crime syndicate, one inducing the very crime that plagued Gothic City, that shook the city’s municipalities by stirring up chaos. The situation was already far beyond Infernum. At the core, they were but a newly cut terrorist group with an axe to grind with Beast Bloods. The true threat reigned over Vermis and Infernum and controlled them both.
Zelaide gnashed his teeth.
Whoever the real enemy was, they had deeply penetrated Gothic City’s syndicates and crime organizations.
There’s a mole near the mayor. Somebody in the upper ranks. They couldn’t have turned up with such perfect timing otherwise.
The day’s events had heightened Zelaide’s sense of danger.
The number of employees working inside Gothic City’s city hall, including the chefs, cleaners, and garbage men, exceeded 2,000, but the number shrunk significantly when narrowed down to those working directly with the mayor. The spy had to know about Euphemia’s regular reports and her private contact routes, which narrowed the pool further. Only the mayor’s close aides and another select few around her could know the minute-by-minute details of her schedule.
It’s probably safe to say even Yumi’s drawn similar conclusions by this point. She’s probably sending a report to the mayor now.
If the annoying men in the helicopter were telling the truth, video footage of the car chase had reached Erica. Just looking at the data would be enough to tip Erica off that there was a traitor in her close ranks. He didn’t need to know her super well to know she was already digging into it. Problem was how fast she could weed them out.
Attacks are gonna be the norm for us now. Infernum, Vermis, other gangs. Fine, bring it on. Saves me the trouble of smokin’ them out. Might even get my hands on a lead to the head honcho. But…Yumi…Euphemia’s different.
Zelaide didn’t care about what happened to him. But the last thing he wanted was to put Euphemia in danger.
She’s not a woman who deserves to be hunted like a wild Muta or a Beast Blood like me… She’s a small, pretty, and bright woman from a good family. I have to…I have to do something about this alone.
Zelaide glared at the dazzlingly bright city lights fading into dusk beyond the horizon. Time had passed as he ruminated, and now the curtain of darkness was slowly closing over the Wilds. The Beast Blood’s eyes were beginning to emit a faint glow.
That’s right. She’s the kinda woman who deserves to be protected by the government’s best agents in a safer, more comfortable location. To begin with, I was only hired for three months. There’s two months left. I’ll find a way to protect her throughout. But after that…
Zelaide’s broad, reliable shoulders trembled.
I have to return Yumi to her world.
Something broke deep inside the Beast Blood’s chest as he came to that conclusion. Returning her to her world meant separating from her. Permanently.
Guess that means I’m single for life? Zelaide smiled bitterly, feeling like he was chewing on hot sand.
The human system of marriage didn’t apply to Beast Bloods, so the entire concept and its related emotions were pointless to them. But even so, the Beast Blood’s instinctual need for their destined mate was much deeper and heavier than any relationship ratified by paper.
Most Beast Bloods living without their destined mate spent the rest of their lives devoid of partners or children.
“What other choice do I have?”
The night breeze stole his heartbroken whisper.
Maybe Zelaide could still end things in time. After all, if they continued down this path, he may very well end up as the greatest threat of all to Euphemia. Zelaide was still a young Beast Blood—he was aware of his intense, wild urges as a male.
The height of summer had passed, and there was a chill in the air. The last traces of the sun slowly faded below the horizon.
The autoshop semitrailer parked in the distance looked like a black panther crouching in the Wilds. Repairs would finish before long.
I have to pick up Yumi soon.
The Beast Blood prowled slowly into the night.
†††
“YUMI.”
When Zelaide entered the designated laboratory, Euphemia was furiously working away at the laboratory table—or at least he assumed that’s what the wide table with various apparatuses on it was.
He watched her figure from behind as her hands protected by skintight gloves picked up the small animals, placed them on a metal plate, glanced at the numbers on the meter, and typed the data into the terminal. No other lab technician was present.
Research laboratories ran twenty-four seven, so somebody was probably working somewhere else in the building like Euphemia, but their numbers had naturally dwindled as the clock ticked on past midnight. It was thanks to the late hour that Zelaide had entered the building unnoticed.
“Hi, Zel. I’m glad you got inside okay.” Euphemia gingerly returned the strange, restless animals to their cage.
“Yeah. What are you doing?”
“I’m weighing the Mongolian gerbils. There are more of them now, so it’s taking me longer. I should be done soon… Wait, what?” Euphemia’s words gave way to a laugh when she turned toward him.
Zelaide looked utterly cramped and uncomfortable in the white lab coat he was wearing. The look was perfected by the matching white hat he wore to conceal his silver hair. He pulled the hat off, letting his hair fall to his shoulders.
“What’s with the getup?” she asked, hiding her laughter behind her gloved hand.
“Just ‘cause the place is deserted doesn’t mean the security cameras aren’t working. Figured the way I look would set off alarms, so I borrowed what I found lying around. Thought I’d look less suspicious at a distance with this on…” Zelaide mumbled excuses as he shirked off the lab coat. His earlobes turned light-pink.
Euphemia continued giggling. The way he looked and acted was at odds with what Palmina had said about his mental age being equivalent to a human teenager.
“Too bad. You looked good in it…”
An attractive man with a wild air clad in a pristine, white lab coat was the subject of more than a few women’s fantasies. Zelaide had effortlessly pulled the look off. Euphemia wondered what Sonia would’ve said if she saw him.
“No way I look good in a lab coat. I’m an uneducated Beast Blood,” Zelaide grunted morosely.
“An education has nothing to do with it…trust me,” Euphemia said, her voice quiet as she returned to her work.
She was typically nothing but a ball of optimism and spunky energy, but for some reason Euphemia seemed distracted and pensive tonight. Zelaide instinctively took a step closer to her dainty back.
“…Sorry ‘bout how today played out. Did you get hurt anywhere?”
“I’m fine. I wasn’t injured. I think your car was in far worse shape. How’s it doing?” Euphemia asked over her shoulder with a smile.
“Won’t run till tomorrow morning. Damn grease monkey lied to me!”
Word from the mechanic holed up in the auto-repair semitrailer had reached Zelaide’s IHT just after sunset, while he was standing at the edge of the Wilds.
The skilled mechanic had been able to repair most of the damage inflicted by the biker gang, but he apparently brought the wrong model sensor circuit board with him.
Zelaide couldn’t speed through the Wilds with Euphemia on board if there was a blind spot in his defenses. Intimidated by his silent glare, the mechanic apologized profusely and said he would return to the city to pick up the part. But going into the Wilds late at night when the savage Muta were most active was too dangerous, so he said he would return with the circuit board first thing tomorrow morning.
A D-vid from Euphemia arrived just as Zelaide had grudgingly finished parking his car behind an outcropping and concealed it under the surrounding brush with the intentions of spending the night inside the vehicle.
Euphemia appeared spent and dispirited through the screen, but hearing Zelaide’s news seemed to have the opposite effect of what he expected. Relief had washed over her face as she told him she’d stay the night at the laboratory and asked him to come to the designated building.
Passing through security was a piece of cake with the PIN and ID from Erica, but Zelaide’s appearance stood out like a sore thumb. Choosing a time with the least number of people, Zelaide had taken the route Euphemia indicated had little foot traffic, and cleared his way through each security checkpoint with his personal ID, making his way to the laboratory where she was waiting. He borrowed his lab coat and cap along the way.
The clinically white buildings arranged in rows on the massive premise featured a disparately complex layout, and laboratories handling dangerous animals and pathogens were built apart from the rest. Still, it was no hassle for Zelaide to find the general section where Euphemia was working with his night vision.
She was in a room at the far end of a one-story building that was relatively small compared to the rest. It was the exclusive laboratory and breeding room assigned to Euphemia’s research team.
“I’m firing that grease monkey,” Zelaide groused from where he stood near the door.
“Hasn’t he worked for you for a long time?”
“Roughly twenty years. But his old man was better.”
“…T-Twenty years?” Euphemia was lost for words hearing that out of the mouth of a man who looked no older than his mid-twenties. But his perception of time was clearly different as a Beast Blood who aged slower than humans.
Zelaide took Euphemia’s sudden silence to mean something else. “You look bothered… My fault?”
“No, you’re not the problem, Zel. I think I’m more discouraged than bothered, really. It’s just that it’s hard for me to go home after what happened today… I know I’m being inconsiderate by wanting to work more at a time like this, but I’m glad things turned out this way… I feel bad for worrying Erica though,” Euphemia confessed while she returned the last gerbils to a temporary cage. She needed to return the gerbils to their proper breeding cages as the next step. But, for some reason, Euphemia wouldn’t turn back to face Zelaide.
“Did the mayor say something to discourage you?”
“No… I spoke to her by D-vid earlier, but she was nothing but worried sick about me. She asked me if I got hurt and how I’m doing mentally…because I was probably the target of this attack.”
So even an optimist like Euphemia had grasped that much of the situation, Zelaide noted, staring at her slender neck as she hung her head. Her hair was pulled back, but the fashion specs were off. She was usually so aggravatingly defenseless, but he found himself at a loss seeing her down in the dumps like this.
“Nothin’ good comes of beating yourself up. Cheer up.”
“Yeah, I know. But I saw the news earlier. I watched Erica debate Mister Ingalls and Mister Haydn. Remember how they mentioned they were having a live debate tonight? Did you watch it, Zel?”
“I didn’t.” Zelaide didn’t have a habit of watching TV.
“They both railed hard on Erica. Haydn was especially critical. He laid into her, saying that her term was coming to an end with her yet to make good on her campaign promise to restore public order, that the crime and narcotics are still as bad as ever. That Molina guy hosted the whole thing like he was getting a kick out of it. Erica refuted their criticisms to the best of her ability. But it’s hard to argue when it’s a fact that crime rates have skyrocketed as of late. People in the audience criticized her too.”
It had been a ruthless evaluation for Erica Saionji, the first mayor in Gothic City’s history to openly oppose crime and substance abuse.
Erica’s political measures were of the slow and steady variety, but they had resulted in positive change until recently. Incidents involving assault weapons had transpired only once during Erica’s term, a drastic decrease from before she took office, and her policies succeeded by requiring a well-vetted license for carrying most lethal weapons.
Needless to say, there was no end to the lowlifes who wiggled their way free from the law’s net, but crime syndicates were on the decline. As for Nightz, not only were the police cracking down on its use and sale, but copious amounts of money had been directed toward a massive budget for this research institute, thus allowing scientists to tirelessly tackle the source of the calamity from various angles, such as by implementing selective breeding to reduce the Night Blooms’ numbers.
However, since Erica had become the target of two new political opponents, atrocious crimes were unquestionably on the rise from a few localized events. Nightz was often involved in the background of these cases as well.
During the debate, Haydn and Ingalls had thrust that fact and the hard statistics in Erica’s face. Although the public debate was hardly a flawless victory for her opponents, it still ended with Erica’s loss.
“…That’s why you don’t want to go home?” Zelaide surmised.
“Yeah… I’ve started to think that maybe the increase in crime has something to do with how I was attacked first… It’s all because I was so stupid that night…”
Euphemia was referring to the night from a month ago that’d brought Zelaide into her life, and he was almost certain now that the events of that night had indeed acted as some sort of catalyst, propelling things into motion in the background. But he didn’t think she needed to hear that right now.
“Overthinkin’ things won’t do you any good. It’s got a way of impeding your decision making. And don’t get it confused; you’re the victim here. You always were. Even if that night never happened, criminals would still do crime, druggies would still be snortin’ drugs.”
“But—”
“Look, I’m sure you’re aware of this already, but there are definitely scumbags after you. And they’re in cahoots with the scum who resent me. Kicking their asses would take out both of our enemies in one go… So we’re in this together.”
“Do you really…think that? Can you think that way?” Euphemia looked up at him with a stark-white face. Her big eyes wavered in the laboratory’s overly bright indoor lights.
“I do. I’ll protect you, Yumi. I’ll protect you through it all,” Zelaide promised, his lips pressed in a hard line.
Even if our separation is at the finish line.
“…!” Euphemia’s face crumpled as his reassuring words hit her.
“H-Hey!”
Unable to resist, Euphemia leapt into Zelaide’s chest, sending him into a flustered panic. Not even a Beast Blood’s intuition could predict her actions.
“Zel…Zel. I’m sorry. I dragged you into my problems… If it was just you, you could wipe the floor with those douchebags, but I’m holding you back…”
“…You aren’t holding me back…”
Putting their life on the line to protect their mate was a matter of course for Beast Blood males. This was now very much his problem too. Even so, Zelaide desperately fought the urge to lift his arms and wrap them around the woman clinging to him.
Euphemia continued in an unsteady voice, “But it’s true I can’t do anything to help… All I could do earlier was hide under the seat and shake…”
“And there’s nothin’ wrong with that. You’d throw me off my game if you tried to fight without knowin’ what you’re doing… C’mon, weren’t you gonna put those gerbils somewhere?” Zelaide grabbed Euphemia’s shoulders and gently pushed her away from him. He grimaced at the sight of the little gerbils squirming inside the cage.
“Do they bother you?”
“They creep me out.” Zelaide averted his eyes with disgust from the restlessly squirming little rodents. “Those are the Mongolian gerbils you go on ‘bout, huh? They’re tiny little things. Somethin’ creepy ‘bout them, even though they’re smaller than my finger…”
Suddenly, the power went out in the laboratory and the emergency lights kicked on, giving Zelaide a jolt.
“What?!” he yelled.
“It’s not a power outage. The power system automatically goes into this mode at night,” she informed him.
In order to save energy, the lights were set to die down at a specific time across the board, unless someone overrode the system for a room. Without his specs on, Zelaide’s eyes instantly glowed.
For all Euphemia had grown accustomed to seeing them, their beauty never failed to awe her—she couldn’t resist staring if she didn’t stop herself. She chose to shift her gaze to the cage Zelaide had turned his back on.
“Do you hate rodents, Zel?” she asked to distract from gazing into his eyes.
“Rather than rodents…it’s seein’ a cluster of tiny creatures crawlin’ all over each other inside a cage…”
He didn’t seem to be joking. Now that Zelaide mentioned it, Euphemia could see how the sight of rodents crawling on top of each other, tumbling off, wiggling their noses, and squirming around could disgust some people.
Still, Euphemia was surprised to see a magnificent specimen of a man shrink away from the cage like a teenage girl from a spider. It wasn’t every day she saw him like this. It was pretty entertaining in its own right.
“Mongolian gerbils are the smallest species of rodent. Believe it or not, they can eat three times their weight in Night Bloom seeds a day. Even better, they don’t drink water. They’re perfect for the Wilds,” Euphemia boasted, earning a doubtful sidelong glance from Zelaide.
“You’re tryin’ to eradicate Nightz with these things?”
“You bet. I’ve only recently gotten their numbers over fifty, but I plan to breed them to greater numbers… They say ‘multiplying like rats’ for a reason! Once I get their population into the thousands, I can put them to use in practical projects. I’ve got my own team now, even if there are only three of us on it. While I can’t say much for their personalities, Sonia and Ronaldo are proficient scientists. Ronaldo in particular has written an award-winning thesis on genetics. His behavior leaves much to be desired, though.”
“He disgusts me.” Deep creases formed in the bridge of Zelaide’s nose as he recalled the man who was overly familiar with Euphemia.
“Me too.”
“Okay, so say you succeed in gettin’ rid of Nightz, won’t you have a rodent problem next?” Zelaide cringed as he imagined a countless number of small rodents chomping on him.
He was used to taking on bigger and stronger enemies, but it was extremely difficult to kill tiny creatures when they banded together by the thousands, the ability to crush dozens in one hand notwithstanding. The nocturnal Mongolian Gerbils were still darting around the cage as they spoke.
“Oh, that won’t be a problem. By only releasing males into the wild or making them infertile through gene manipulation that kicks in years down the line, we can reduce any threat the rodents pose, so…”
“You can do that? You’re amazing, Yumi. You’re smart, like I thought.”
“I’m not smart. And aren’t you the one who’s always thinking I’m acting stupid?”
“Well, you can be stupidly rash at times… Hey, how far are you gonna take that?”
Euphemia placed the gerbil cage on a steel pushcart. “I’m returning the gerbils to the large breeding habitat inside that back room… Hold on a moment, I’ll open the lock. This door requires biometric authentication and a separate PIN number. We keep dangerous, rare, and almost extinct animals at the institute, so there’s strict security in place to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands,” Euphemia explained, pushing the cart toward the door at the back of the lab room.
“…If security’s so strict, how’d the enemy sneak that snakelike Muta out?” Zelaide wondered aloud, turning the possibilities over in his head.
“…That’s the real question, isn’t it? Erica said she’s looking into it via a trustworthy route…”
The thick steel door opened, and Euphemia slipped inside the breeding room at the back of the laboratory. Inside the room wasn’t pitch-black, but it was very dark due to the dim blue lights used for sterilization. Nocturnal animals by the hundreds called this room home.
This was a breeding room specifically for rodents and lagomorphs, with various types of rabbits and rats kept in rows of observation cages along with larger breeding habitats embedded in the walls. High-powered ventilation ran at all times, preventing the unique odor of tightly packed animals from permeating the air.
The breeding room was spacious and sterile. The back of the room had a space set up for the lab workers to rest, likely out of consideration for days requiring twenty-four-hour observation.
Euphemia ran a tube from the small window in the breeding habitat to the carrying cage Zelaide held for her, and dropped a tiny rodent down it. Far too many Mongolian Gerbils for comfort were inside the breeding habitat. It appeared they were housed in separate cages only once their numbers passed twenty.
“Pft, Zel? Do they scare you that much?” Euphemia asked the nervous Beast Blood through a giggle. He was holding the cage out to her with his arms stretched as far from his body as possible.
“Yeah… They weird me out. Lookin’ at them makes me feel itchy all over,” he admitted honestly, keeping his eyes trained on the ground away from the rambunctious rodents.
“Aha! So even you have a phobia! That’s good to hear, really, makes me feel closer to you. Don’t worry, I’ll close the blinds over the cages. Oh yeah, feel free to rest in here if you like. This doubles as an on-call room, so there’s a bed. A lot’s happened today…” Euphemia pointed to the back corner of the room.
A simple twin-size bed was on the other side of the open blackout curtain. It was put to use during overnight experiments and in-room observations.
Zelaide briefly glanced at it before returning his gaze to Euphemia. “You plan on stayin’ here tonight?”
“Yeah…I’ve logged it with the system. I’m going to spend the night here. There’s proper lodging on the lot, but too many people come and go from there. We won’t get much more than a light nap in here, but no one will come until morning. It’s nothing great, but there’s food, too. See?” Euphemia opened a cabinet crammed with packaged food on the other side. Hot water was always available in the boiler, and so were several varieties of drinks.
“Got all your bases covered, huh? I don’t need food. You can eat if you’re hungry, Yumi.”
“I’m good for now, too. Hey, it’s hard to settle down if we stay standing… Why don’t you come over here?” Euphemia invited, plopping down on top of the large table in the middle of the room as if she always sat there. Small tools for experiments were scattered on top of the table, making it hard to call it clean or tidy.
“O-Ok.” Zelaide walked over to Euphemia, trying his best not to pay any mind to the rodents and their watchful, beady little eyes. He sat cross-legged on the floor a few steps from the table instead of sitting next to her.
“You’re sitting on the floor?”
“Yeah. I prefer it this way.”
Euphemia’s heart dropped at the thought he didn’t want to sit next to her, but Zelaide had his own concerns. Euphemia’s loss of confidence had aroused his desire to protect her and an even stronger desire to be one with her. He didn’t have enough faith in his self-restraint to sit right beside her at a time like this.
“Where are the security cameras? You’ll have trouble on your hands if they see me here,” he asked in search of a distraction.
“It’s okay. Cameras are over there and there, but I changed the angles during lunch to only focus on the cages. This is the breeding room, so it won’t arouse suspicion. I turned off the sound, too.”
“…And why did you do that?”
“To spend time with you,” Euphemia blurted.
“Don’t we spend time together every day?”
“Yeah, but you won’t come near me unless you have to, Zel. Times of crisis aside.”
“Of course I won’t. I’m no gentleman, but I’m not gonna initiate contact with a lady without good reason.”
“Killjoy.”
“Hey now, think of your standin’ when you say that, Miss Mayor’s Little Sister!” Zelaide goaded the pouting girl.
“I do think about it. All the time. That’s why I’m so depressed. This stupid little sister is standing in the way of her successful sister’s future!” Euphemia burst out, then, desperate to do something about the awkward mood, began restlessly tidying up the tabletop.
“I’m leavin’.”
“Fine! Have it your way! Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!” Euphemia wheeled toward him. “You don’t have to waste your time hanging around me. It’s probably safe in here, anyway. Just come get me at the gate tomorrow morning!”
Those eyes, again. They mess with my head. She pretends to be strong when she’s really scared on the inside. Her mind and heart are trembling—as they should be. She witnessed horrible murders and was almost killed herself just a few hours ago. Zelaide squeezed his hands into tight fists.
“Shit! Fine! ‘Probably safe’ and ‘not safe at all’ are two sides of the same coin. The enemy’s very likely lurkin’ somewhere inside this facility. I’ve got little choice in the matter if you’re set on stayin’ in this dinky room. I’ll spend the night here too! Because it’s my job!” Resigning himself to his fate, Zelaide turned his face away from her.
Euphemia broke into a broad smile. “You mean it?”
Zelaide said he’d stay because it was his job, but that still meant he was going to be at her side the entire night. Things might’ve turned out this way by accident, but Euphemia counted her blessings. She had succeeded in getting him to spend the night in the same room as her, when she thought the best she could get was him taking up guard in the laboratory.
After all, Zelaide strove to avoid getting deeply involved with a human like Euphemia—or that’s how she saw it.
“I’m glad. Thank you, Zelaide. Try to put up with being in the same room tonight.”
Though they lived under one roof, Zelaide never entered Euphemia’s room without permission, and he had no reason to stay by her side inside his house, with its SS-class security hiding behind its elegant veneer. Well, outside of that time Euphemia had carelessly left the bathroom window open and accidentally let in a dangerous Muta, that is.
“Anyways, it’s weird nobody’s inside this building. Careless, much?” Zelaide remarked, while thinking asking him to put up with sleeping in the same room alone was a tall order.
“You could say that. There’s less people and security in this sector because it handles relatively harmless animals compared to the other laboratories. The security for the food development sector and the bacteria research sector is something else. Still, there’s usually some people around. I guess days like this happen sometimes. I can’t really say what the norm is because I rarely ever work the nightshift.”
“Are you gonna work it more often now?”
“I can’t stand it if I’m given special treatment forever because of my sister’s influence. Besides, I’m in a unique position, because while my original concentration is in plants, I’m approaching my Night Bloom research through mammals. I’m hoping to act as a bridge between the two fields. Kind of like a pioneer,” Euphemia explained, pride filling her voice.
Zelaide listened attentively on the floor. His eyes glowed silvery blue in the dim lighting. His glow was much brighter than the blue light sterilization, gradually making Euphemia more restless.
“Hey…um, do you mind if I change the topic, Zel? There’s something I’ve wanted to ask you for a while…”
“Yeah?”
“Umm…what is Miss Pal…to you, Zel?”
“Pal?”
Zelaide didn’t understand why Palmina would come up at a time like this, but he didn’t care what the topic was as long as it took his mind off the sweet fragrance wafting from Euphemia. He couldn’t even bring himself to look her in the eyes since sitting down.
“Askin’ what she is to me sure is a weird question… She’s an agent I’ve worked with for a long time, I mean…I don’t know any other agents, which makes her an important business partner to me.”
“Important… I see. You trust her a lot then.”
“Trust is a human concept. It’s not the same for us, but if you call feeling like you can leave somethin’ to another person ‘trust,’ then yeah, that.”
“How did you meet her?”
“Kinda fuzzy on the details. Think some Beast Blood introduced her to me when I was still a kid. I’m just another cash cow Beast Blood to Pal.”
I don’t think that’s true. Euphemia didn’t voice her opinion aloud. Palmina absolutely harbored special feelings for Zelaide.
“Don’t you like her?”
“Haa?” Baffled by her unexpected question, Zelaide jerked his face up against his better judgment. He stared at her white face, drawn tight by the solemnity of her question. With the side of her face illuminated by the sterile blue lights, Euphemia appeared anxious and apprehensive to his eyes.
“…Well, you don’t get along with humans much, do you? Wouldn’t you have to like her since you’ve associated with her for that long?”
“Palmina’s an important business partner…that’s it.”
“What about me then?”
“What?”
“Do you protect me because it’s your job?”
“…What good comes of askin’ me that? Alright, I’m stayin’ here like you’ve asked, be a good girl and get some sleep over there,” Zelaide directed, angling his chin toward the bed. He tried not to look at her.
“Do you hate me?”
“I don’t hate ya.”
“Do you like me?” Euphemia persisted.
“Oi, give it a rest!” Zelaide deliberately raised his voice to throw her off—sitting here was becoming more uncomfortable by the second.
But Euphemia showed no sign of backing down. Her emerald eyes were wide open, harboring some sort of secret in the dark.
Stop this…Yumi. Don’t arouse me more than this… I’m begging you.
But the Beast Blood’s silent prayer didn’t reach her. Euphemia slid from the table and sat in front of him. Dizziness overtook the recoiling Beast Blood.
“I won’t. Because I like you a lot, Zel. If—and I mean if—you have even the slightest hint of a feeling for me then…won’t you take me right here?”
In that moment, the Beast Blood’s life blood grew hot.
Euphemia reached out and brushed Zelaide’s cheek with her hand. Goosebumps ran the length of his body; it was near impossible to shake off that hot, soft hand. It was as if it were made for him. Even without her alluring touch, her sweet aroma had been toying with his brain the whole time since he entered the room.
“…Don’t. Get away from me, Yumi.” The words he hoarsely squeezed out with the remaining tatters of his self-control were perceived by the object of his affection in the complete opposite way he intended. Euphemia’s slender shoulders went taut, and her heartbroken gaze pierced through him.
“You do hate me, don’t you? I’m so sorr—” her voice trembled.
“I DON’T!” Zelaide hurled those short words at her right as she tried to pull away, tears misting her eyes. Euphemia flinched, afraid of his callous outburst. Zelaide wanted to punch himself.
Everything he ever did or said backfired on him. Frustrated with his lack of tact, Zelaide reached out to stroke the frightened figure in front of him, but even that backfired by igniting the flame inside him into an erupting volcano. He was wearing skintight leather pants and the beast below was screaming to be freed.
He heard Euphemia hiccupping with suppressed sobs.
“Grrr!” he growled more at himself than her. “Sorry I yelled at you. But so much ‘bout this is wrong… Don’t cry, Yumi. I don’t know what to do when you’re crying…” The Beast Blood’s hands trembled, hovering between touching and not touching her.
Damn it all! Can I be any more disgusting?!
Zelaide was being tortured by the competing urge to yank Euphemia into his arms, and the frustrating knowledge that he had to push her away. His indecisive feelings threw his mind into chaos, tossing him about like a dingy lost at sea during a furious storm. And the heat at the core of his body had finally hardened.
I shouldn’t have stripped off that handy white robe-thing.
“Zel…?”
“Yumi…you’re human, and a proper young lady from a powerful family. You shouldn’t be so quick to tell a Beast Blood like me that you like me or want me to take you.”
“…Why not?”
“Why not? You can’t figure that out for yourself? We live in different worlds, is why.”
“No, we don’t. We are both lifeforms in the same world, on the same planet.”
“If that’s your reasoning, then the gerbils and rabbits here are the same. But you wouldn’t tell a rodent you love it or that you wanna have sex with it, right? That’s how it is.”
His easy-to-understand example forced Euphemia to bite her tongue while she searched for the right words to contest his point.
“See? For the duration I’m hired, I’ll be your bodyguard and maybe a decent friend, but that’s ‘bout all our relationship’s gonna amount to, Yumi.”
“You’re trying to tell me our relationship is business only?”
“…Did you forget that your sister approached me with a job contract?”
“I see… Your relationship with me is contractual…your relationship with Pal is contractual… Are humans just business partners to you, Zel?”
“……”
“Zel, will you never…will your kind never love humans?”
“We…we won’t. Probably…” Zelaide wrung out his affirmation with a staggering amount of effort. All the while silently wishing, if only that were true. How good that’d be.
But his own body and actions in this moment were proving how very wrong he was. He didn’t want Euphemia to approach any other man or to utter their name.
Zelaide’s mate was this young human woman.
A human’s possessiveness couldn’t even begin to compare to a Beast Blood male’s territorial behavior. Beast Blood males felt a primal surge of uncontrollable anger that made them want to tear apart any other male who tried to touch their bonded female mate. It was perhaps the main reason why Beast Blood males killed each other.
Humans, however, ran by a different set of rules. Humans formed society based on rules and laws they agreed to. Killing a human was child’s play for a Beast Blood, but there were far too many instances of humans banding together to chase down Beast Bloods for murder, administering capital punishment, and in the worst cases, lynching them in a mob.
To Beast Bloods, humans were a troublesome nuisance. And Euphemia was one of those humans. But, deny it all he like, Zelaide’s instincts screamed that she was his lifelong mate.
The only reason why the man who touched Euphemia indecently during the dinner party was still alive was because Zelaide had stamped out his fiery rage in the last second out of consideration for Euphemia. His instincts would’ve normally resulted in him tearing the grinning idiot apart, and then engaging in mad, wild sex with his blood-covered mate.
Nevertheless, his natural instincts were lost on the human Euphemia. Mystified by his silence, she tilted her head and looked up at him.
“But it’d be a different story with a Beast Blood woman?”
“Y-Yeah. Yeah, that’s right.” Zelaide frantically wove his words together through the fog jamming his mind. “You probably had no idea, but I frequent a professional.”
“A professional woman? Like a prostitute?”
“Yeah. I’m no saint. I’m a male, I have sexual urges like a man should!” Zelaide spat as if the words were poison on his tongue.
Euphemia was no child; she understood that a male’s sex drive was different from a female’s. While she didn’t know how much stronger a Beast Blood’s sex drive was, humans had had pleasure quarters and red-light districts since time immemorial. There, women pleasured a man as long as he could pay.
If humans, with their weaker libido, already possessed such a culture, then it wasn’t strange for Beast Blood men to have women working the same profession as well, even if their numbers couldn’t compare to the human side of the business.
But understanding the logic of something and reconciling oneself with it were two completely different things. Euphemia knew she’d suffered a shocking blow.
“You…do?”
“I do. Get it now? I’m a filthy mongrel, right? I disgust you? Well good. That’s the kind of dirty man I am.”
“……”
“So stop tryin’ to wheedle your way into my life.” Zelaide’s attitude made his words closer to an entreaty than a demand. “A proper man’ll take the role of your mate some day soon.”
“Mate? What kind of mate?”
The word was rarely used in normal conversation, and Euphemia picked up on the underlining emphasis. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that it held a special meaning to his people.
“Tell me what mate means to you,” she asked of him, mustering all her courage. Zelaide brooded over it for a long minute before carefully choosing his words.
“…A ‘mate’ is the one and only lifelong partner to a Beast Blood… Putting it in human terms would be like, uh, married until ‘death do you part’? A spouse you never divorce? But it’s far heavier for us. Our mate is our entire being…more important than our own life? That’s why when our mate dies, we won’t move on…it’s just that one person for us till we die. It’s ‘cause of that that Manuela, the woman I frequent, works as a prostitute for her son, but will never fall in love with anybody. I let her do her job, and I have no special feelings for her. She’s not my mate.”
“…Basically, it’s like the ‘mate’ in soulmate?” Euphemia deduced.
“Yeah…you can put it that way. Not sure which word came first. I’m not the brainy type, after all.”
“Beast Bloods are a mysterious species.”
“Mysterious? Don’t ya mean primitive and savage to the bone? That’s what most humans think of us.”
“Most humans don’t know a thing about Beast Bloods either. Okay, so then…then…where’s your mate, Zel?”
Please say you haven’t met her yet. Please say you haven’t met her yet. There’s no chance for me against someone like that.
“Beats me…dunno… I’ll probably never meet her in my lifetime.”
In reality, his mate was right in front of him, unknowingly tempting him with a honey-sweet scent. Either way, his answer seemed to relieve Euphemia’s worries for whatever reason.
“Will you know right away? When you meet her.”
“Yeah, I will. I probably will. It’ll be completely unexpected and I won’t even see it comin’.”
In the Wilds during the lawless night: who was it that had captivated him with emerald eyes more beautiful than the gleaming blade she held aloft, in the second she prepared to take her own life rather than fork it over to the Muta—and the other scum even more inhuman?
“Zel? The way you put it…makes it sound like you already found her…your mate.”
“D-Does it? I’m just relatin’ somebody else’s experience,” Zelaide lied, averting his eyes from her questioning gaze.
AGH! Why must there be so many lies between us? he lamented.
“Okay, then if we look at what you said another way…then you can, you know…do it with someone who isn’t your mate, right?”
“Do what?”
“…You know…like what you do with the woman you frequent…that means you do it, right?”
“…I usually work as a Muta Hunter. My blood boils sometimes after a hunt… Some of our women take care of the wild, excited males without mates. I know how it must sound to you, Yumi. But that’s what a Beast Blood male is—filthy.”
“Look, humans have people working as prostitutes and call girls too, you know? One of the books I read said it’s one of the oldest professions in history. But that’s not what I was trying to say… If you can do it with a woman you don’t love…then there should be nothing stopping you from doing it with me.”
“Yumi! Do you hear yourself right now?!” Zelaide’s eyes bulged at Euphemia’s outrageous suggestion. She might think he couldn’t read her expression, but this feeble darkness did nothing to obstruct his vision. Deep red dyed her adorable earlobes.
His mate—his darling woman—was blushing redder than a cherry and smelled sweeter than one too.
Zelaide’s mouth went dry and the column of his throat undulated. But the girl bashfully hanging her head had no way of knowing the strong man’s faltering feelings.
“I like you a lot, Zel. I don’t mind if it’s just once, just hold me.”
“You…” Zelaide’s voice sounded so hoarse, he doubted it was his. “Do you even understand what the hell you’re saying?”
“I understand completely. If it’s by your hands, Zel, I don’t care what you do to me—”
“Don’t be stupid! How many times have I told you, I’m a Beast Blood?! That’s not somethin’ that should touch a pretty princess like you!”
“And how many times have I said that I like you?! Being your friend is a big fat lie! A lie I told to protect my hurt pride. I’m in love with you!”
“You’ve got it all wrong! You never think things through!”
“How rude! I’m a scientist! I don’t make baseless claims!”
“And where in the colonies can you possibly find a scientist as cute as you? HUH?!”
“Well, SORRY! Cute scientists do exist, you know?! …Wait, what?”
“What?”
Their argument suddenly stopped.
Does that mean Zelaide thinks I’m cute? Euphemia had been talking back at him by countering every argument he made, so now she had to pause and take a moment to carefully study him to be sure.
He was bent over with one hand covering his face, looking like he’d majorly screwed up. Was she just imagining the slight flush on the nape of his exposed neck?
He might just be…hopelessly adorable…
“…Muta wrought Wilds take me!” he cursed.
“Zel?”
“AGH, I can’t take it anymore!” He suddenly tugged on her arm and she smacked her nose hard against his broad, solid chest.
“Ow!”
“Why?! You just had to go and ruin all my hard work! You can say all that because you don’t know how I feel holdin’ back!”
“Zel? Zel?? Did it bother you that much? Me saying I like you?!” Euphemia was flustered out of her mind. This was her first time seeing Zelaide this intense. This was the same man who’d acted calm and composed when he took out the biker gang that same afternoon.
“Shut up! Don’t say another word! Damn it all!”
“Zel…Zelaide…answer me.”
“Don’t look at me with those eyes…!”
Eyes glittering with anguish; silver, glowing faintly in the room’s darkness. How much more stunning that radiance would be if the room was pitch-black. Euphemia knew of their true beauty intimately.
Zelaide, however, was speaking of her eyes.
“I don’t have any other eyes to look at you with… Sorry?”
“I’m the one who should be apologizin’… I honestly wanna take you so bad it’s driving me mad… Shit!”
“Then do it, right here and now.” Unable to wait any longer, Euphemia entwined her arms around Zelaide’s drooped neck. “You can do whatever you want to me. You can even take a bite if you’re hungry…” she offered, tilting her head to expose her pretty white neck to him.
In the dark, his glittering eyes flew wide open.
“…I don’t care anymore. I’m not holdin’ back any longer! It’s not my fault if you regret it later!” No sooner did that hoarse shout rip from his throat than Zelaide’s long arms shot out and squeezed her against him. In a single raspy groan, his lips smothered hers in a hungry kiss.
“Ah! Mm…mnnh…” she whimpered.
Their lips collided over and over with wild abandon until, gradually, the kiss melted into something tender, with his lips softly, carefully enveloping hers. He ran his tongue over her bottom and upper lips, tasting her; his hands searched fervidly over the entirety of her body, committing her shape and warmth to memory.
“You feel…ahh, I can’t get enough…you fit me perfectly.”
Euphemia responded by knotting her fists in his shirt and pulling him harder against her, the space between them closing as her curves melded to the shape of his muscles. They held fast to each other and matched the rhythms of their bodies, Euphemia’s tongue searching his mouth, his tongue entwining hers in a game of cat and mouse.
They pulled apart temporarily to take deep, ragged breaths before diving back in for a fiercer, passionate kiss. Cupping the back of her neck, Zelaide tilted his face and met her mouth with his, greedily tasting her. Their eyes locked with electrifying heat every second they paused for a breath.
“Gimme more…I’m parched,” Zelaide grunted.
Euphemia lifted her chin to meet his demand as Zelaide changed the angle of his kiss. His hot, wet tongue slipped through her parted lips, seeking her out. It tangled with hers and caressed it, raptly indulging in her honey sweet saliva. And then he deepened the kiss again, sucking on her tongue with an intensity that made her cling to him, weak in the knees.
A delirious giddiness spun Euphemia round and round, the delicious shivers casting a thickening fog over her thoughts. If this was what a kiss was meant to be like, then every kiss she’d ever known before had been little more than child’s play.
This is a real kiss. A Beast Blood’s kiss. He’s going to eat me up, Euphemia thought, twining her fingers in his mane of silver hair. Ahhh…I’d be happy to be eaten by him. If that’s what it takes to be one with this beautiful man.
The fervent, urgent need to kiss slowly swallowed her ability to think. Zelaide was far taller than Euphemia, and his hips were flush against her stomach. Her heartbeat raced to feel the intimate shape of his desire pressed into her.
In spite of people’s impressions of Euphemia as a femme fatale with her stunning beauty, she’d actually had very little romantic experience. She experimented once with the man she dated in university, but he neither excited nor pleasured her one bit. Their lack of chemistry led to their break up.
Ever since, Euphemia believed she was a woman indifferent to love and love-making. Never before had she felt a man’s body this close and desired it with every fiber of her being.
“Yumi…argh, Yumi… Dammit, I want you…Yumi!” Moaning her name, Zelaide ran his hands over the contours of her body, lightly scraping his teeth down her neck in a cadence of nibbles. His every touch sent thrilling shivers through her, arousing her even more.
They sank onto the floor in a close embrace still lost in their fervent kiss. Interposed firmly between Zelaide’s knees, Euphemia couldn’t move. Instead, she leaned all of her weight on him, overjoyed to tears to find his strength could support them both.
“Mm…” Zelaide moaned, intoxicated. Apparently Euphemia’s lips and saliva contained some sort of element capable of sending his self-control and sanity rocketing into outer space.
He thrust his fingers into the golden chignon behind her head. Twisting his fingers ever so slightly brought those luscious locks tumbling down with the sweetest scent to tickle his nose.
He groaned softly, deep in his throat.
Zelaide no longer possessed the self-restraint to carry Euphemia over to the on-call bed several paces away. He put his fingers on the snap buttons holding Euphemia’s unsexy, white lab coat together and in one jerk, tore both it and the shirt below open. Buttons exploded in every direction to the tune of ripping fabric, bouncing off the walls and surprising the caged rodents into running frantic circles. Needless to say, they were both too caught up in the moment to care.
Zelaide’s eyes riveted on the exposed, supple white flesh before him. He’d never looked closely at a human woman’s skin before. Plenty of women drawn to his fascinating looks had invited him to their beds, but human women had never amounted to more than passing scenery to him. They always looked like they’d break under his touch, rendering even the simple thought of embracing something so fragile an unpleasant one.
And yet, look at where he found himself now.
“Incredible…you’re whiter than milk,” Zelaide whispered as he nuzzled his cheek against her bared, voluptuous breasts, intoxicated. His hot breath brushed over her skin, sending Euphemia squirming with tantalizing shivers.
Euphemia was trembling from conflicting emotions—she wanted to cry with shame on the one hand, and on the other, thirsted for his touch this instant.
“Zel—Ah!” she gasped out a ragged breath.
His long fingers gingerly traced the contours of her breasts. By no means was it a potent touch, but the stimulation was more than Euphemia could take. Flustered, she sharply sucked in her breath.
He’s looking at my breasts…
By no standards were her breasts small, but she nonetheless feared they wouldn’t be enough to satisfy his large palms. His fingertips sunk into her soft skin, like marshmallows to his touch. Euphemia didn’t know if this was how it was supposed to be, but she couldn’t fight the sense that a Beast Blood woman’s skin would be firm and taut.
“Mmn!” she moaned, the sound ripped from her lips with the sudden, intense stimulation from his fingers. Her whole body tensed. Zelaide brought his lips to the nape of her neck and sucked hard.
Euphemia threw her head back so far that her hair touched the ground. Zelaide supported her back as he leaned over her. Illuminated by the blue lights, his silver hair was dyed a bewitching blue that sent delectable shivers down her spine.
He’s going to eat me. I’m going to be eaten by this silver wolf.
As he tasted Euphemia’s skin, Zelaide earnestly rocked his waist, grinding against her. She felt the size of his manhood through his tight leather pants and shuddered in anticipation of what was to come.
But why doesn’t he just take me already? He’s clearly burning with the need to do it.
Zelaide had only been rough in the moment he ripped off her clothes—he’d only relished in the taste and touch of her skin since. He hadn’t even sucked on her nipples. As it went, he was already a hundred times more a gentleman than any human man she had been with.
Getting impatient, Euphemia nearly pushed her breasts against his solid chest.
“…Yumi? Does it hurt?”
For some reason, the glowing eyes peering uneasily up at her from between her breasts looked terribly young to her.
“I’m fine.” Euphemia smiled to reassure him. What if this fine figure of a man who looked like he had walked right off a gravure wild photoshoot actually had the mental age of a teenager?
“This spot makes an incredible sound…” Zelaide whispered, pressing his cheek against her chest. Her heart was unquestionably pounding away against her ribcage like a fast beating drum. But Euphemia couldn’t do anything about it. She’d be on a one-way trip to the hospital if someone took her blood pressure right now.
“Yeah. My heart is pounding.”
“Are you okay? Are you sure it’s not because you hate a monster like me touching you?” he mumbled.
Discovering just how much he was considerate of her even at a time like this helped Euphemia make up her mind. Zelaide probably never realized, but Euphemia originally lured him into this room precisely because she wanted to be alone with him like this. She wouldn’t even think about turning back now.
“I like it. I’m just…a little nervous is all. Don’t let it stop you. All women get a bit embarrassed. Zel, you can do whatever you want with me,” she reassured.
Even if it’s only this once. I’ve loved him from the moment we met, I won’t have any regrets. I want to be the first human woman he holds.
For all of Zelaide’s kindness and gentleness, he’d never view a human as a love interest. And Palmina mentioned that something horribly traumatic must’ve happened to him in the past. Likely at the hands of humans.
Nothing could be done about it; she couldn’t ask him to fall in love with a human like her who knew zilch about Beast Bloods. But Euphemia wanted to accept everything he offered during their precious time together. That was her strongest desire, her deepest wish.
“I’m fine. Take me.”
“But…”
The cowardice that ran contrary to the intensity he’d shown when he wildly ripped her clothes off was the epitome of adorable to Euphemia. She caressed his head like a nurturing mother.
“I want you to. Okay? Don’t hold back. Us human women are made of pretty sturdy stuff too.”
“……”
“Zel…”
“Tell me right away if you don’t like it.”
Euphemia simply smiled at him without answering, and Zelaide resumed his loving caress. As he rained kisses over every corner of her soft, fair skin, he solicitously pulled down her jeans, then her lacey underwear. Once he removed all her clothing, he scooped her up into his strong arms and sat her on top of the work table. Shrugging off his leather jacket, he spread it over the table as a blanket, and slowly pushed Euphemia down. Then, still standing, he entered the space between her legs and rocked against her.
“AH!” Euphemia instinctively let out a moan from the sweet stimulation the hard, cold leather gave her.
“Sorry, Yumi!”
“D-Don’t be. Your leather pants tickle… Won’t you take them off?” she invited, her cheeks a rosy red.
“N-No. If I take this off, I’ll…” Zelaide left his sentence hanging and resumed devoting himself entirely to pleasuring Euphemia as he ran his hands over the contours of her breasts. With loving caresses of every type, from kisses to licking, nibbling, and nuzzling, he brought Euphemia closer to climax.
But for some inexplicable reason, he never even tried to touch the most critical location. Anxiety gradually built up inside Euphemia. Were her fears coming true in the worst possible way—was her human body failing to arouse him?
“Zel…?” she whispered, a silent question unspoken. “Ahn…!”
His forefinger furtively stroked that untouched spot, for all of but a second. Euphemia glanced up at him as he wholeheartedly licked his finger with his eyes closed.
“Amazing. Every part of your body is sweeter than any nectar, but your nectar is on a whole other level,” Zelaide mused, spellbound. He knew for sure that every body fluid oozing from this woman was the same. Her saliva, blood, even her tears.
Euphemia cried out in a voice she never knew she could make.
“I’ve consumed your fluids. A part of you is inside me now. I can never be apart from you again. No matter how far away you are, I can find you,” Zelaide whispered, kneeling on the floor as he diligently licked up the sweet, sweet nectar escaping her body. His satisfaction and excitement was even greater than Euphemia’s, who was at her climax.
This was how a Beast Blood male showed both submission and dominance to his mate.
He wasn’t even aware that what he was doing was called foreplay. The desire to please a woman in such ways was foreign to Zelaide, who viewed sexual intercourse as nothing more than a temporary antipyretic. Rather, he believed it part of the inevitable urges of a male Beast Blood. This symbolic action, too, was part of his identity as a hideous monster.
With a click of metal, Zelaide freed his belt from his pants. What he released from its prison wanted more than anything than to thrust into Euphemia’s warm moist folds. He wanted nothing more than to acknowledge her for the first time as his mate, the one he wanted nothing more than to protect. But going through with such an act would undoubtedly put Euphemia through unimaginable pain.
Like hell I’d do that to her. I don’t want to hurt Yumi with this lethal weapon, Zelaide though strongly. Not yet. I can still restrain myself. I need to protect her to the very end. Enduring is a mate’s responsibility.
What a tangle of sweetness and numbness accompanied the act of persevering before his mate. Zelaide bit down hard. His sharp fangs sliced through his own lips, spreading the taste of blood over his tongue. Drunk on Euphemia’s scent and nectar, with her perfect white skin before him and her body presented on the table ready and waiting, he climaxed in bliss, ejaculating into his hand.
“Zel?” Sensing his odd behavior, Euphemia lifted her head.
“Don’t say a thing. This is good enough for now. I won’t let anybody hurt you, not even myself. So let me drown in the taste of you a bit longer. If you don’t mind a man like me, that is.”
“…Can I continue to like you?” Barely dressed in anything, Euphemia looked imploringly up at him.
“I don’t mind.”
Their lips met together once again. Their wet kiss was already like intercourse to them.
The room was filled with their wet and heavy sighs and the peculiar sound of rodents scurrying around. Both sets of creatures were occupied with an important part of life.
Suddenly, bright blue lights illuminated their youthful bodies with a strange bluish-white.
By the time Zelaide had lovingly explored every nook and cranny of Euphemia’s delectable skin and brought about her own blissful orgasm, their snuggling was abruptly shattered by the heartless blare of the emergency alarms shaking the room.
But the high-pitched, ear-piercing warning siren stopped as abruptly as it started, leaving behind only an indescribable ringing in their ears.
Eventually, a woman’s voice came over the intercom and broke the silence. “The emergency alarm was set off by a malfunction in Block B’s administrative building. This is not an emergency. I repeat, this is not an emergency. There is no threat. The alarm has been stopped.” It was a synthesized, electronic voice, not a person’s. The calm voice normally meant to set people’s minds at ease only threw the barely dressed Zelaide and Euphemia into a terribly awkward moment.
“Uhh…” Dressed in little more than her ripped shirt and lab coat, Euphemia sat up on the table. Zelaide jumped away from her like she was on fire and sank down against the opposite wall.
Avoiding Euphemia’s gaze, he kept his head down, eyes trained on the ground. The massive body that’d filled her view like a solid wall of muscle was now shrinking away from her, as if trying to become as invisible as possible. Taking his actions as a rejection, Euphemia’s explosion of excitement dissipated like air let out of a balloon.
“Zel…?” she asked, her voice small.
“…lad…”
She strained her ears to pick up the faltering voice coming from across the room. “Come again?”
“This is for the best. If we kept goin’, I could’ve hurt you… I said, I’m glad this happened.”
“What does that—”
“Yumi,” Zelaide strained, slowly turning his back to her. “Sorry, but could ya look the other way for a bit?”
“But…”
“Yumi, please…” Zelaide pleaded, his sturdy, broad back looking forlorn as he slumped forward. He was rejecting her with his entire body, almost like a pouting child after receiving the scolding of a lifetime.
Euphemia perceived there was nothing more she could do in this moment. Without another word, she stumbled about and picked up her clothing before heading to the rest space in the back of the room. She couldn’t fight off her depression as she rummaged through the closet for one of the spare lab coats.
Why the heck had the emergency alarm, which rarely ever went off, chosen now of all times to malfunction? It was late at night. Did someone inside the administration building accidentally hit the button? They had impeccably horrible timing if that was the case.
After all her pining, Zelaide had finally touched her–embraced her—and now their relationship had gone back several steps with him putting an even greater distance between them.
Cursing the careless idiot who’d ruined their moment, Euphemia fixed up her appearance. Zelaide had sent her shirt buttons flying, so she pulled on the spare lab coat and buttoned it in front of her shirt. Her pants were intact, at least. Now she looked presentable. She peered into the small mirror attached to her locker and saw a white face on the verge of crying staring back at her. Her tousled, disheveled hair was a mess.
Yet, for all that, Euphemia found herself carefully staring at her reflection because the coquettish face she normally hated appeared a little more mature for once, drawn around the edges with the sadness she felt. After a while, she pinched her cheeks, forced a smile, and laid down on the couch.
Giving Zelaide some space seemed like the smartest thing to do right now. And it’d taken her until now to realize just how tired she felt.
How unlucky can I be?
It had been a horrible day.
Euphemia squeezed her eyes shut.
It was my first time trying to seduce a man, too.
The only silver-lining she could see was Zelaide had acknowledged her as a woman for the first time. Maybe he’d only fallen victim to her seduction or perhaps he acted out of pure curiosity. Either way, he’d indicated their futures didn’t only run in parallel lines.
It won’t be long. I just have to wait a little while. If I wait, the rain will fall and wash everything away. A terrible day will always come to an end. The rain falls, morning comes, and another work day begins. I just have to start over from there. I’ll have plenty of opportunities ahead of me. As long as I don’t give up, Euphemia reassured herself until she fell into a deep sleep.
†††
“…!”
Dammit! Quiet down already you damn beast! Despite having only just released himself, the Beast Blood let out a heady breath as he squeezed the heated monster down low. But it just wouldn’t go down.
This is for the best. I don’t wanna see Yumi cry in pain from this abomination. Hell no! This is a good thing! It’s all good…
Zelaide gasped as he grappled with the desire that refused to abate. This was an act he’d never committed before meeting Euphemia, but he felt compelled to give in to it now. That was how wild the flame was burning within him.
Aaah, Yumi…Euphemia! My one and only mate…!
He howled. Sweat trickled down his chiseled jaw.
Ever since he ended up alone with her in the laboratory, he desperately wanted to jump her, expose her sweet, soft skin, and thrust into her. The feeling only amplified when he entered this room full of voyeur rodents, hurting him where his leather pants squeezed taut, forcing him into a desperate struggle not to moan.
Yet his struggles had been in vain because she told him to TAKE HER.
A human woman, one born to the upper echelons of society as the mayor’s younger sister, wanted him, a barbaric Beast Blood. And she was the same woman he acknowledged as his mate. If the emergency alarm hadn’t sounded, Zelaide may have lost all self-restraint during their explorations and defiled her.
But for all his self-denial, he couldn’t deny that Euphemia’s moist lips and hazy eyes wanted him bad.
AGH! Damn…it all! Yumi!
His manhood exploded again. In the moment of reaching the edge, he felt himself inside an imaginary Euphemia, her body welcoming him in as they both orgasmed in union. In reality, she was sectioned off by a curtain after being hurt by his rejection.
Sorry. I’m so sorry. I can never apologize enough for making you my mate. I wish it was some mistake…
Zelaide snatched up the roll of paper towels on the table and wiped the cloudy white fluid from his body. His hand was drenched in the liquid seeping through the soft paper. By all appearances, his urges had finally quieted down. He wiped the sweat from his brow, ignored the remnant desire burning below as he shoved it inside his leather pants, and tightly latched his belt as if sealing it within. With one look around, he noticed the area was splattered with that same stickiness. He’d had a lot built up. Careful not to leave any traces behind, he diligently scrubbed the floor with a wet paper towel.
Shit! Look at me. I’m a beast on the inside and out. It’s a real blessin’ you didn’t have to deal with this thing, Yumi. It’d be a waste for your first to be with me.
Zelaide could tell himself whatever he wanted, but his instincts continued to scream over his thoughts, insisting that Euphemia was his one and only mate.
Euphemia’s pretty boy coworker had only teased her the other day and it was enough to fill Zelaide with seething rage. He might’ve killed the man right there and then if he had tried to touch her. That wasn’t the only problem now, either. Was it even possible for him to keep this restless beast in check for more than a few days while they were living under the same roof together?
Zelaide slammed the drenched paper towels into the wastebasket in the corner of the room and perked up his ears.
Peaceful breathing came from the other side of the curtain. Euphemia seemed to be asleep. Contemplating what to do, he eventually approached her with quiet footsteps after washing his hands. Euphemia was sleeping curled up in a ball on the couch. A thin blanket slipped from her shoulders.
“Yumi…” Whispering her precious name didn’t wake the sweet girl. She was in a deep slumber. Today had been a traumatic day for the virtuous woman.
Zelaide pulled the blanket over her. Staying in the small room with her enticing breathing was foolish. It didn’t take a genius to know it’d only further stir the beast he’d worked so hard to placate.
You’re important to me. So important I can’t lay my hands on you, Yumi.
Zelaide gently ran the back of his finger along her soft cheek before leaving the small rest space. He made eye contact with the rodents frolicking around inside the cages in front of him. They gawked at the Beast Blood with curious, beady little eyes.
“Can’t anybody tell me what to do…” he murmured.
You’re my woman, but I can’t make you mine…
The tiny rodent noses twitched as they sniffed the air. Moisture mingled with it—rainfall was close. Zelaide grimaced at the rodents, resigned himself to his fate, and plopped down on the floor.
I’ll stay here till daybreak. I’ll leave before the humans start work. His mind made up, Zelaide leaned against the wall, protecting Euphemia’s peaceful sleep.
†††
A man’s snickering filled a small room. The low noise leaking from the various machines in the room and the light emanating from the white and yellow gauges performed a mechanical play in that tight space.
Clad in a white lab coat, the man held up a dark glass in dim lighting. “Did you think all was safe just because you turned the security cameras and muted the sound? Naïve, naïve, spoiled princess. I’ve bugged every room you might enter with high-powered mics as a precaution. Though what a shame I don’t have video to go along with these sounds.” The man pressed the replay button.
“This spot makes an incredible sound…”
“Yeah. My heart is pounding.”
“Are you okay? Are you sure it’s not because you hate a monster like me touching you?”
“I like it. I’m just…a little nervous is all. Don’t let it stop you. All women get a little embarrassed. Zel, you can do whatever you want to with me.”
“But…”
“I want you to. Okay? Don’t hold back. Us human women are made of pretty sturdy stuff too.”
“Yumi…argh, Yumi… Dammit, I want you…Yumi!”
The man’s cackling filled the room once again. His shoulders shook with his mirth. “Good grief. I’m speechless. This could make for one nauseating soap opera. This will surely please him… Sorry for bothering you kids just when the action was getting good.”
He’d turned on the emergency alarm at the precise moment when the young couple’s feelings and bodies had reached a climax, putting an end to their love making. He didn’t need video to know how flustered they must’ve been.
“So, so sorry. You were almost there, too. But how could I let the two of you enjoy this delicious moment without us? Besides, he’s sure to enjoy your chastity, so I wanted to save it for later. Even if you aren’t a virgin, you practically act like one. I can tell by watching you. Can you be any more obvious of a woman, hm?”
His finger pressed the replay button again. Their shallow, ragged breath conveyed their heated moment even through the cold microphone.
“Lucky kids. How nice it must be to be young. Well, not that I’m too old myself. But wow, what an incredible sample you’ve left behind for me. This is an unexpected yield. Thanks, Mr. Beast Blood. I’ll be along later to gratefully collect it,” the man muttered to himself while pulling several Spitz tubes from the desk drawer.
“I’m amazed you could restrain yourself in front of that girl. Guess that’s a pro for you? Such a good boy. But maybe it’ll negatively affect your job outlook in the future if you lay a hand on your client. What a situation you find yourself in, having to live under the same roof as a woman you harbor affections for without laying a finger on her. Any normal man would become frustrated under those circumstances. Even more so for a young Beast Blood male, with their virility.” The man began chuckling again. “Poor thing. Interrupted just as the shackles were finally coming off. Any other man in your situation would…”
The man fetched his IHT and put in the number he had memorized. As the newest technology on the market, the receiver was capable of picking up even a whisper. A man’s shadowy form appeared on the transparent screen in a matter of seconds.
“Hello? It’s me. I watched the live debate on TV tonight. Very entertaining… Yes, it was a magnificently eye-catching car chase. Great camera work. Just like watching a movie. One of the audience members shouted, ‘Is it all right to let a crime like this off the hook?!’ That part was great. The production was perfect. Yes…indeed…no, they’re completely behaving now. Things took an amusing turn. Yes…like cats forced to back off.” The man sounded delighted.
“That’s…only natural. But I was able to obtain some remarkable data. It’s a real shame all I have is the sound, but I should have it to you by tomorrow at the latest… I’m sure it will fit your tastes… Yes, I know. I’ll be careful. Oh, and I’ve thought up a wonderful idea… Yes, very much so. Would you mind informing me of the Beast Blood’s actions in detail from now on? He should be mostly under surveillance while outdoors. Yes, the plot is already mapped out. Yes…yes…then until next time.”
The man pushed away the IHT after the call ended and turned his eyes out the window. Most of the windows in the laboratory opposite of the courtyard were dark. After a while, something pelted his window.
Giant raindrops. Rain always fell on this planet at the darkest hour of night. Such was the sacred ritual of this world.
“Ah, the rain’s here. Daybreak will arrive soon. And when it does we will have such fun, oh yes…”
The rains transitioned to a downpour. The world would be soaked for several hours.
When the pitch-black darkness breaks, what would the new day bring?
The man’s laughter was hidden behind the heavy rainfall.
†††
FOR humans, the rainfall becomes a silver curtain, concealing a criminal’s hidden crimes, an infant’s peaceful sleep, and a couple’s romantic tryst. And then, with the dawn’s light, the rains retreat. Such is the unbroken cycle, the never-changing promise between the heavens and the earth.