The Fallen Vampire

"Have I perhaps poked a nerve?" She sneered back with unveiled satisfaction.

"Was that your goal?"

"My goal was truth. Getting underneath your skin is only an added benefit."

"A pity then that neither was accomplished." Taira lay his head back on the ground and rested atop his own paws- showing a complete lack of concern or interest.

In a surprising twist, he proved to be the one who succeeded in getting under her skin instead of the other way around.

Tiche\'s dislike of her distant relative was quickly turning into a game of morbid pettiness.

"Why do you insist that we are going to meet some horrible end?" Vermeil suddenly asked.

"Besides your unfamiliarity with the Sanctum and the traps inside? You all are too weak. The beast who guards would devour you all before you even had a moment to draw your weapon. He is a special kind of creature."

"A chia pet?"

"A chi.. What?"

"Sorry it was a joke but I forgot about my audience…"

Tiche rolled her eyes and Vaal just made a confused look.

"Your attempt to play the jester in this moment of severity is all the more reason why you are bound to fail in your crusade.

The qilin will crush you all underfoot to keep you away from the treasures and secrets that lie in wait inside."

This admittedly made Taira flex his claws in annoyance.

Fenris, that furry hunk of garbage, didn\'t say a damn word about there being a beast guarding the pill.

Though in hindsight… perhaps some of the blame also lie with himself for expecting the god of beasts to send him on something simple like a grocery run.

Meanwhile, Vermeil was thinking about the actual power dynamics between those who lived in the secret realm.

The asanbosam were composed of some of the most high-level cultivators she had ever seen, but even they seemed not to be the dominant power in this world.

It was interesting to her, and left her with quite a few questions that she wanted to ask.

But since Tiche was barely tolerant of her, she decided that it may have been best to wait.

Or better yet… maybe Vermeil could think of a way to get the unfriendly Youn Wouj to warm up to her.

"Will you help us?" she suddenly asked.

""Eh?"" Both Vaal and Tiche stared at her like she\'d just asked them for the moon.

"Well, we\'re apparently not going to be able to get this done on our own if your warning holds any weight, so why don\'t you all help us?"

She suddenly looked at Taira for confirmation and found him with his eyes barely open.

"Are you alright with this, babe? It couldn\'t hurt to have some extra hands around afterall."

"…I take issue with bringing her." He flicked his nose towards Tiche.

The Youn Wouj felt her eyes narrow unconsciously. "Imbecile, I have not in any way sanctioned this-"

"Oh, please brother, please!! You have to let us come! I promise that I will ensure that my sister remains on her best behavior!!" Vaal suddenly threw all sense of pride aside and began begging like his life depended on it.

"D-Do not act as if you are capable of restraining m-"

"You be silent, witch!" Vaal snapped.

It\'s been ages since the tribe got to participate in a great, meaningful hunt!

And with extended family at their back too?! This would be an endeavor to tell stories about for centuries!

He would not lose this opportunity because of his sister\'s bad attitude!

"…If you can ensure that your sister remains pleasant, then I will not object to your cooperation." Taira declared.

"Glory be to blood!" Vaal cheered.

"I will not be managed as if I am some petulant-"

"Here, Tiche, try this!" Vermeil tossed a small chunk of sautéed pork into the air.

Though she was fuming just a second ago, Tiche still reacted and caught the pork between her teeth like a dolphin at a water park.

Once she actually tasted it, her ears twitched visibly before she resumed a stone-faced expression.

"T-That was… not horrible."

"That means she likes it, so break me off a piece too!" Vaal knew his big sister\'s tells all too well by now.

Vermeil smiled as she obliged him and waited to see if his reaction would be any better than his sister\'s.

While Vaal was raving over the cut of pork, the human boys finally returned from cleaning themselves up within the lake.

They elected to go by gender to preserve modesty, so since the girls insisted they would require a longer time to bathe, the boys went first.

This was also done to eliminate any lingering likelihood of peeping on their part.

"Oh, you guys are back!" Vermeil waived. "Come on over and sit down, I\'ll have breakfast ready for you in a second!"

None of the three moved an inch because they were all too distracted by the nine-tailed spectral dog that was atleast three times bigger than even the largest horse.

You couldn\'t have gotten them to move if you paid them.

Raymond \'Big Country\': "I believe I\'m good right where I\'m at, ma\'am. Much obliged though."

Sawyer: "C-Can you maybe put a muzzle on that thing..? Where the hell did it even come from..?"

Corey: "Sweet mother of maybelline, it\'s a white Kurama! Has it been claimed yet?! C-Can I maybe have him?!?"

Silence fell over the clearing as Vaal, and even Tiche suppressed their snickers.

Vermeil wasn\'t much better, and it took all that she could muster to turn her head away so that Taira wouldn\'t see her giggle.

Among all of them, he was the only one who did not seem to be amused in the slightest.

"Muzzle me..? Are you qualified to do something like that?"

"""It talks!!"""

Vermeil finally wiped away her smirk before someone ended up getting hurt due to their own ignorance.

"Guys, this is my husband Taira. You literally saw him like ten minutes ago, remember?"

A thought bubble appeared over the heads of the three humans and they finally recalled the man they had seen earlier with furry ears and tails.

The limits of their imagination seemed to have been fully stretched.

They didn\'t previously assume that just because he had animal parts that he could turn full doggo.

But in hindsight, maybe they should\'ve…

This just raised even more questions over which appearance was his real one.

"You\'re coming to sit down now, right? Everything\'s almost done." Vermeil beckoned.

Now that they were freshly out of things to be scared of, the humans had no choice but to go and sit around the boiling pot.

Though they carefully avoided sitting near the two feral asanbosam.

As Vermeil removed a trinity of wooden bowls and spoons from her inventory, she began scooping her rice dish into the bowls in sufficient amounts.

…She gave Big Country an additional scoop out of pity.

"T-Thank you kindly, ma\'am."

"T-Thanks, Vermeil.. f-for all of this."

"What they said…"

"Don\'t worry about it, guys! Just eat up and try to feel a little better, yea?" Vermeil\'s demeanor was so radiant that it could have lit up every corner of the dark web. Explore more adventures at m,v l\'e-NovelBin.net

As she turned away to begin feeding Tiche and her brother, Taira finally decided to nudge Enyo awake so that she could eat too.

While he was doing so, he noticed a rather unsettling sight out of the corner of his eye.

Sawyer, in the midst of eating, was continually stealing glances at Vermeil\'s very noticeable behind.

And Taira simply… snapped.

At one second Sawyer had both of his eyes sitting firmly within his skull, and in the next they were rolling around in the palm of Taira\'s hand.