Shinoa's eyes fluttered open as a soft groan spilled from her lips. her body was cold and stiff, and the aching of her limbs only made the cramped confinement even more unbearable. It was pitch black and her fingers trailed the sides of her to get a sense of where she was. After some time it was clear that she was stuck in a coffin. 

She only had the faintest idea of what had happened to her, her last memory being of the vampire Subaru biting into her neck. It was obvious that he had placed her in the coffin, but as to why only made her panic as the thought of his assumption that she was dead forcing its way to her mind. 

Shinoa frantically tried to free herself, her hands banging against  wood too heavy for her to lift and she twisted and turned in an effort to find some sort of exit. 

"Help!" She screamed, "Get me out of here!" 

Her heart rammed against her chest feverishly as the idea of being buried alive burned at her mind. After several minutes of struggling in vain she finally  took a deep breath and closed her eyes to calm herself. When her eyes opened, her fingers fumbled at the edge of the wood above her to find something to grab hold of. Finding nothing she then began kicking against the wood and beating it with her fists.  

After what felt like an eternity the light suddenly flooded her vision, the blinding white light forcing her to cover her eyes as a voice said, 

"Why're you hiding from me? I don't like it when Dollies hide from me." 

The sound of the lid of the coffin hitting the floor with a loud bang  made her pry open her eyes and sit upright. With the turn of her head she found herself staring into the lilac eyes of the vampire named Kanato and resisted the urge to shriek. 

He tilted his head, the teddy bear in his hands hugged more firmly to his chest. There was a moment of silence as he pulled away to circle to the left side of the coffin and reach for her. Suddenly, his hand began stroking the back of her head, his fingers sliding through her hair.

She swallowed and forced a small smile, "T-thank you. For helping me," She said, trying to fight the urge to jerk away.

"Your hair is so soft. You'd make a beautiful little Dollie. Right Teddy?" 

"E-eh? I'm afraid I don't understand," Shinoa replied. 

With hesitancy, she moved and climbed out of the coffin and turned to face him. The air seemed to grow cold as he stared at her, his eyes cold and almost lifeless. A small smile slowly spread on his lips and he tiled his head.

"Your skin, devoid of blood, will become smooth and transparent like porcelain. Don't worry, I'll make sure to  properly drain your blood," He said.

Shinoa stepped back and kept the smile on her own lips, despite wanting to run as fast as she could. 

"I don't think i'd make a very good doll at all. Just look at me, i'm not suited for that at all." 

"You'd be beautiful  as a corpse that won't speak don't you think? I'll sew that mouth of yours really prettily and insert lovely glass beads in your eyes. Don't you want to become a doll right now?" 

"No thank you," She replied curtly. 

Before she could even blink, a pale hand suddenly wrapped around her neck, squeezing intensely into her flesh. Shinoa gasped, her fingers instantly grabbing his wrists as she struggled to breathe.

"S-stop!" She gasped out. 

"It's been a long time since i've added such a beautiful dollie to my collection. You'll keep Teddy company won't you?" He grinned, tightening his grip.

Shinoa could feel the light-headedness taking over her senses and knew that at this rate he was really going to kill her. And so she kicked him, hard, in the leg. 

His eyes widened and he let her go, blinking profusely with a look of confusion before wailing,  "I hate you! I hate you so much!" 

She used the chance to run, her hand throwing open the door  as she dashed down the hall. She knew it was only a matter of time before he reached her and killed her and tried desperately to find a source to escape from. 

Her hands instantly rattled doorknob after doorknob as she ran down the hall, her head clouded by thoughts of her squad, of her sister, of Yuichiro. She couldn't die, not until she saved her squad. 

She yelped as her foot connected with something hard and sent her pummeling to the ground. She sat up and turned to find herself staring at the disgruntled face of Shu, propped against the wall. He grumbled something under his breath as he stood up to leave, and Shinoa found herself saying, "Please help me! Kanato is trying to kill me!" 

Her mind briefly returned to her time in the dungeon where he had stopped Ayato from killing her, and she scrambled to her feet and rushed to grab a hold of his sleeve. 

"Please! Make him stop!"

"Too troublesome," He replied.

Shinoa blinked as all hope slowly fizzled out. He pulled his sleeve out of her grasp and turned to look at her, his face holding boredom and disinterest. 

"I'm different from my brothers. I have no interest in you  or the Sakamaki household, so getting closer to me won't get you any power if that was what you're aiming for." 

It was clear he was going to be no help, and as he turned to walk away she blurted out, "I'll give you my blood if you protect me!" 

He paused at that, and slowly eyed her with a raised brow before a small grin flickered on his face. "Is that so?" 

Shinoa shivered as the sight of Kanato approaching down the hall came into view. He was clearly livid, his eyes filled with fury yet glittered with tears. And instinctively Shinoa stepped closer to Shu to hide herself from Kanato's view.

"Move out of the way!" Kanato yelled, "I'm going to kill her!"

"Go ahead," Shu replied.

Shinoa hated herself for being so weak as to be at the mercy of a vampire, but she could only clutch the back of Shu's shirt and cry out, "Please, don't let him kill me!"

"What is going on here?"

The sudden voice made her snap her head behind her where Reiji stood adjusting his glasses, his arms crossed as he stared at the scene in front of him.

Immediately, Shinoa let go of Shu and stepped away, swallowing hard.

Reiji ignored her, his eyes instead focusing on Shu who he immediately began berating.

"To find the insufferable presence of a lazy good-for-nothing causing trouble is predictable. If you don't have anything better to do then perhaps you should focus on repairing the damages caused by the others."

Shu didn't bother responding, he only sighed and passed by Kanato with slow, sluggish movement.

Kanato, meanwhile, had begun to sniffle, rubbing his eye with a free hand as he whined, "I'm tired of this, I'm always thirsty! I want to taste fresh blood. And that girl, she kicked me! I'm going to kill her!"

"The humans are in limited supply and for you to blindly kill the only source of blood in a blind rage will only ensure that we all will starve," Reiji chastised.

Kanato glowered hard at Reiji, the tears trickling down his cheeks.

Only a heavy sigh escaped the lips of Reiji before he said, "I'll make sure to prepare your favorite dish for tonight's dinner and punish her thoroughly for kicking you."

"I want raspberry pudding," Kanato replied, with a finality that was followed by a sharp glare towards Shinoa and  the sound of him stomping away.

She could only watch him depart before she turned her attention to Reiji who finally shared a glance towards her.

Reiji furrowed his brows and silently observed her form before he said, "It seems that I must discipline you properly. You humans have certainly lost quite a lot of manners as of late. Rest assured, by the time I'm done with you, there will not be any ounce of disrespect left."

"I'm afraid I don't need any training," Shinoa replied, forcing a smile.

Though every ounce of her being screamed run she ignored it. Reiji was a vampire, yet if what Shu had said before was correct then they weren't supposed to kill her, and something told her that the man in front of her was not as reckless as his brothers. She tried desperately to keep her face passive as she added, "If you vampires can stop trying to kill me at every turn that'd be appreciated. I mean, you can't expect me to be respectful in the face of certain death after all."

To say Reiji was surprised was an understatement. He raised a brow, "There is only one fact that you must fully comprehend. You are prey."

No sooner had the words left his mouth that he appeared in front of her, his form towering over her.

Shinoa's body shivered at the sound of a loud crack that resonated in her ears, her eyes instantly flickering to the whip in his hands.

"Such a condescending attitude will not be tolerated. You should learn learn some respect."

She couldn't respond as he roughly grabbed her arm, his fingers cutting into the flesh. She winced before finding herself being dragged down the hall. He dragged her for several moments before throwing open a door and tossing her into the dark underground.

She recognized the place easily enough, the scent of stale air and rusty metal tickling her nose all too familiarly.

It hit her unexpectedly, the pain hot against her back. She couldn't help but to scream, twisting around until she tumbled onto the floor gripping at herself whilst staring at him with eyes brimmed with tears.

He smiled then, a cruel twist of his lips. He adjusted his glasses while saying, "The more you struggle the longer the punishment. Every inch of your body will learn the basics of etiquette."