The Fallen Vampire

"So soft..."

Though he did not understand how he had ended up in this predicament, Taira said nothing as a cacophony of small children treated his body like a jungle gym and crawled all over him.

At least seven of them were pulling on his tails or rubbing their faces in them, some were trying to peer inside of his ears and get a better look at it\'s contents.

Oddly enough, the first child who had bit him was still sitting beside him- chewing on his wrist like it was about to go out of style.

\'I don\'t have to allow this, I don\'t have to allow this, I don\'t have to allow-\'

One of the children ran up to Taira and lifted up his arm before sitting next to him. The child pulled up the back flap of his kimono and draped it over himself so that all that could be seen were his red eyes glowing within a dark pocket.

\'...I will allow this.\' Taira relented.

Laughing at the sight, the tribesman from before came and sat by the fire with Taira and his silently amused wives.

"Pardon the new bloods, night-kin. You are the first visitor that we have had to the tribe in centuries. Their excitement is borne of curiosity."

Taira tried to look as serious as one possibly could when a bunch of five-year-olds were using your body as a jungle gym.

"Am I truly so interesting...? I do not understand children."

The assumed tribe leader, a cultivator named Vaal, shook his head fondly as he smiled.

"You truly are one of the grim brethren. No love lost for the act of fellowship I see? I might never understand such a thing."

"Mmmh..."

Asanbosam and Vampires are like two sides of the same blood drinking coin.

While there are multiple offshoots of the original vampire bloodline, Asanbosam can be said to be their closest relatives in terms of purity.

However, their two cultures are drastically different, like night and day.

Vampires are quiet, reserved, snobbish, and somewhat treacherous.

Asanbosam are incredibly savage, extremely passionate, and have a strong sense of community.

Despite their drastic social differences and personalities, the two families have never held bad relationships- as they always end up needing each other at one point or another.

To put it in modern terms, Vampires are the quiet and reclusive cousin, and Asanbosam are the loud, brash, older cousins who you pretend to hate, but are secretly are quite fond of.

Vaal suddenly dragged his gaze over each of the girls and he paused when he got to Lucia.

"We bid you apology, kin-bride. It has been millennia since we have seen a dragon in our lands and our zeal caused hasty action. Me hopes that you will not take it personally."

Once they saw their elder apologize, the children crawling all over Taira began apologizing too.

"Soory!"

"Sorry, dragon lady!"

"I told Uncle Vaal I wanted to eat your legs..."

Lucia, who was usually cold and somewhat aloof in the presence of those outside of her family, melted like butter at the sight of all of these children trying to hug her.

"I-It\'s okay guys, really! I didn\'t get hurt so it\'s all good."

At this, the children switched their point of focus from Taira to Lucia, silently making him exhale in relief.

Finally, Vaal noticed that Vermeil was hiding somewhat towards the back of the group and he believed his eyes may have been deceiving him.

"Eh? You keep a human with you?"

"Mhm."

"Her eyes… she is not your thrall?"

"She is my wife."

"Eh!? A human is your life mate!?"

"In three months we will have been married for fifty one years."

Vaal stared at Taira like he had just grown a second head. .net

Vampires were known to keep humans around, but that was only to eat them, fuck them to death, or use them as servants.

The very notion that a vampire would marry one was not just unthinkable, it was downright strange.

Taira could have said that he fucked dogs and he would have gotten less judgement.

"Unbelievable... What do you even talk about?" Vaal asked in wonder.

"Lots of things. She is a very charming conversationalist."

Vermeil blushed slightly, as she had a tendency to be a bit of an airhead and ramble on for quite a long time.

It was nice to know that one of the traits she least liked about herself was still loved by her husband.

Vaal stared at Taira a few times before eventually shrugging away his judgement.

"To each his own, brother. Your life is yours to live."

\'Why are you acting as if I\'ve just come out of the closet...?\' Taira wanted to ask.

At that moment, Enyo finally worked up the nerve to ask a question she\'d been wondering this entire time.

"Um, excuse me, Vaal, but have you and your clan been here all this time?"

"Mmh, for as long as I can remember." he nodded. "Life in the Bright Lands is harsh but this is all that we know."

"Then... You have never been to Tayar?"

"Are those the lands that you people have come from? No, we have never ventured there... But sometimes we find certain blessings from what we assume to be your lands."

"Blessings?" Taira tilted his head.

Vaal smiled as he suddenly stood up. "You\'ve all arrived in good timing. There is to be a feast tonight to celebrate! Would you care to see our offerings?"

Most of the girls looked like they were a bit iffy about the prospect, but Taira seemed relatively unbothered.

Because he already had a pretty good idea of what he might be about to find.

Excited, Vaal got up and beckoned for Taira to follow him, and after a moment the fox stood up along with him.

One by one, the wives began to follow in his steps along with a brigade of small children.

"Ah, I\'m curious but, is one of your parentage a beast-blood by chance?" Vaal had been meaning to ask this ever since he saw Taira\'s nine tails and fluffy ears.

"My parents are both very pure, and very dead." Taira peeled a young girl off of his leg and let her climb onto his back instead.

"Ah, mine as well. It is a sad thing, is it not?"

"No."

"Ha! The sense of humor of you grim ones never ceases to elicit great laughter!"

Taira had no idea what to say, as he was pretty sure this was the first time that someone he didn\'t sleep with at night had called him funny.

Vaal led the group to a large wooden shack at the edge of the camp.

Upon approaching it, Taira noticed quite a few of the children become giggly and begin drooling as if they were starving.

When Vaal opened up the doors to the shack, a mild rancid smell spilled out, along with a chorus of muffled screams.

Buried inside of a dirt pit, there were around twenty humans bound with rope and with dirty gags tied in their mouths.

"Well, what do you think?" Vaal asked proudly. "The day has blessed us indeed, no?"

Taira and all of his wives had their mouths fall open.

The humans inside of the pit weren\'t really all that special, they weren\'t even cultivators.

But the clothes that they were wearing were another story.

One girl had on an \'Armani\' tracksuit, and another man wore a flannel shirt and a t-shirt that read; \'Big Girls Need Love Too\'.

All of the humans looked like they were in around their early twenties and were absolutely terrified out of their minds.

Taira had a plethora of questions, but before he could ask any of them Vermeil walked forward with more shock in her eyes than he had ever seen.

"My love..?" He asked.

"I... I know these people."

"You do? How?"

Vermeil grimaced and made a face like she was recalling unpleasant memories.

"W-Well... This is my homeroom class from when I was in high school."