Page 29 of The Tainted and the Tamed
Haruki looked away.
“Chairman Asami—”
“Of course you’re right, Tanabe. I am a chairman, and as an elder vampire, Iamabove you in rank. It is not your business to advise me.” With guilt already raging inside him, he drew himself up. “I have centuries of wisdom with which to make my decision. Something you lack.”
“You’re a hurt little boy nursing his wounds,” she hissed.
Haruki whipped his head around, shocked.
She didn’t back down. “You are too emotional to make this decision.”
Haruki’s lips parted. For a long moment, nothing came out.
“I think,” he said, slowly, pushing down the sting of her affront, “that it is time for you to find a position elsewhere.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” she answered coolly.
So this is it. What our decade of friendship has come to. Who will care for me when you have gone?
But he said, “I will speak to Chairman Hayashi. He would be all too eager to aid you in finding something better suited to your station.”
“No need,” she replied, her expression barely telegraphing annoyance, let alone anger.
It was just as well, he thought as she swept out of the room, his newfound outlook already withering at its edges.She never would’ve approved of my going out in public.
Tanabe couldn’t understand. He could not continue to live in the manner he had for so long, could not endure the isolation.This will be for the best. It must be.
Because the only thing worse than a vampire was one driven mad by isolation. For that reason, he feared himself more now than at any other time in his immortal life.
Chapter 14
Haruki
As evening fell again, Haruki paced in his room, a caged animal once more.
He couldn’t experiment on an unknowing, unwilling person. Nor could he tell her anything about their world.
But he couldn’t let her die, either. Doing so would be little different than if he’d taken her life himself. Like Chiyo.
That settled it. He would add fresh blood to the herbal medicine. Murasaki would improve again and—
And what? Tanabe was right. Sooner or later, others would begin to recognize his blood signature in her, as surely as if he’d sired her.
“Damn it all.”
“What is it this time?” a voice said, muffled by the door. The screen slid open without further preamble.
The lack of propriety meant it could only be one person.
“Junpei,” Haruki said with a sigh. “You’ve caught me in the middle of a moral dilemma.”
“Ah. Still have those, do you? Good for you.”
Haruki raised a brow. “And you don’t?”
“They sneak up on me, from time to time. Are you going to tell me what it is, or keep moping?”
Motioning for Junpei to sit, Haruki settled onto a cushion opposite him. The tray full of empty bottles and cups sat there from the night before like an accusation. If Junpei noticed the lack of attendance by the housekeeper, he did not comment.
