Author's note: Prompt by Krystal Gryphon.

When Yazoo was still a child, he used to wonder why vampire traditions and House protocols were so much stricter than human laws and customs. He adapted to the formality and learned to school his expression into a blank mask that he could hide behind. He played the games of House and court as well as Sephiroth did, making his mother proud. But despite all that, it wasn’t until his first duel that he knew why the true-born had long ago chosen to hem themselves in with so many rules.

Standing in the circle, free of restrictions and with all senses focused on his opponent, Yazoo felt powerful. Instinct took over then, urging him to hunt, to feed… to kill.

He knew why his kind wore masks. Beneath the veneer of civilization, beneath all the pretense at culture and refinement, vampires were as feral now as they were when they ran free and hunted alongside demons.

Yazoo kept playing the games, because he knew that admitting what he truly was would mean seeing his niisan’s blue eyes wet with tears as the Hunter’s blade struck home.