“Truth is, I... want to take you so bad that I can’t help it.”
“...Wha?!” Maria exclaimed in a hysteric voice. After she darted her eyes around the room, she scooted back to the edge of the bed and hugged herself. Maria hugging at her stomach in her single piece of sleepwear emphasized her breasts, which were quite ample for someone her size and age. It gave her a somewhat alluring appearance.
“D-Director Ristia, you want to take me? Does that mean, um... Are you being serious?”
“Yes, I want to take you right now.”
“O-Oh, I... see. Erm, um, well, you have helped save my life and, um, I’ve been violated, but if you’re saying that you want me, then...”
“But, you see, at the same time, I don’t want to view you as sustenance because you’re so important to me, Maria.”
“I-If you want, Director Ristia, I don’t mind being sustenance for one night... Huh? Sustenance? What do you mean by that?” Maria asked, her head cocked in confusion.
“Um, well, what I mean is... I’ve had these impulses urging me to drink your blood as of late, which have made me almost jump all over you.”
“...Um, blood? Could you elaborate?” She was obviously dumbfounded. It dawned upon Ristia that she had yet to reveal her true identity to her.
“Erm, so basically... I’m a vampire,” she said covering up the fact that she was a True Blood, remembering Nanami’s reaction and thinking that telling Maria she was a True Blood would shock her even more than telling her she was just a vampire. Despite her consideration, the fact that she was a vampire alone was more than enough to shock Maria.
“A vampire...? Huh? Are you being serious with me?”
“I am. I’m not a human; I’m a vampire.” Right after Ristia repeated herself, Maria’s body went into shivers. So I did freak her out after all, Ristia thought regretfully.
But... that was when an anxious-looking Maria’s small hand grabbed onto Ristia’s sleeve.
“...Maria?”
“Director Ristia, why did you save all of us? Because you wanted to drink our blood?”
“N-No! I never once had that idea!”
“You... didn’t?”
“Not at all. I came to this orphanage to help children in need and build relationships with them.”
“But now you want to suck my blood?”
“Well... yes, I do.”
Ristia feebly nodded in reply to Maria’s pursuit on the topic. She knew she couldn’t really excuse herself; no matter how nuanced her motives were, the reality of the situation was that the end result remained the same. With that stacked against her, she couldn’t blame Maria if she ended up hating her, and she had to accept any verbal abuse she might hurl her way as a result. That was what she was prepared for, until...
“So, correct me if I’m wrong, but... Vampires don’t make kinsfolk by sucking blood, do they? It’s by giving blood, right?”
“That’d be correct.”
“In that case, I don’t mind you drinking my blood.” She had the same reaction as Nanami, and in a certain sense, an offer that Ristia had expected, but that was exactly why Ristia quickly declined.
“Why? You want to drink my blood, don’t you?”
“While I do, I don’t want to at the same time.”
“...What is that supposed to mean?”
“Let me explain. I do have the impulses that urge me to drink your blood, but I consider you too important, Maria... I consider you family. So, you see, I don’t want to view you as my sustenance,” she said, opening up her heart to her.
“I never knew you thought of me that way,” Maria smiled gently in response to Ristia’s heartfelt sentiment.
“So, hey, Director Ristia? Why do you want to drink my blood?”
“Why I want to drink your blood specifically?”
“Yeah, you want it just because it’s my blood? Or will any person’s blood do?”
“Well... I’m not quite sure myself. For whatever reason, whenever I see you or Nanami, I’m suddenly overcome with vampiric impulses...”
“Whenever you see me or Nanami?”
“That’s right, whenever I think about how cute you two are, this vampiric impulse tries to get the better of me.” Ristia’s disclosure made Maria assume a thinking pose before replying,
“So... why do vampires suck blood in the first place?”
“Um, well, they suck blood to increase their physical abilities, so it carries the implication that the target is food.”
“Really? It’s not a sign of affection or something like that?”
“No, it’s nothing like that. I mean, if it was, then I wouldn’t be so torn up about it.”
“But you said that your vampiric impulses start coming up when you think about how, um... cute me or Nanami are, right? If that’s the case, then it’s most likely an expression of love instead, right?”
“That’s simply...”
“Impossible? You can’t say that for sure,” Maria cut Ristia off mid-sentence, denying her statement before she could finish it.
“...Why do you think so?” Ristia questioned, but after a slight pause for thought, Maria started to explain herself.
“There were a lot of people who had a warped way of showing me their affection when I was offering them my services. And no matter how twisted that stuff was, they definitely were their ways of showing their affection— as one-sided as it may have been.”
“So, um, do you mean to say that... the way I express my love is warped?” Ristia asked, caught off-guard and hard-pressed to respond.
“I don’t know about how normal vampires work, but... you can’t entirely say that sucking blood isn’t a form of showing your affection, right?”
“Yes, you may have a point, but...”
“It isn’t a matter of may. I mean, it doesn’t matter either way, honestly speaking. I’m interpreting it as affection,” Maria declared, lowering the shoulder on her pajamas and showing Ristia the bare nape of her neck.
“M-Maria?”
“If drinking my blood will help relieve you, then I don’t care what the reason is. I want you to drink it, Director Ristia. Even more so if those impulses are being brought on from your care and consideration for me,” Maria declared in a slightly bashful manner. Seeing Maria present herself started to send the vampiric impulses inside of Ristia back to the surface. And before she realized it, she already had Maria pinned down to the bed.
“Hngh... Director Ristia, please be gentle.”
“...Mm, I’m sorry. Anyway, I’ll be sucking your blood now.”
Maria was probably still afraid, even after all of that. Her body trembled slightly as she showed her neck. Seeing this, Ristia gently caressed the young girl’s cheek, starting off by planting a tiny kiss on the nape of her neck.
“...D-Director Ristia?”
“I’m going to numb your neck so that you don’t feel any pain.” Ristia ran her tongue over the course of Maria’s neck with a numbing agent infused into her saliva.
“Ee-aah... Mm, it... tickles.”
“...Mm. You’ll be fine now. Alright... I’ll be drinking your blood now, okay?”
“Uh-huh... Do it, Director Ristia.” Maria held out her arms and wrapped them around Ristia’s neck. Leaving herself to sit in Maria’s arms, Ristia sunk her fangs into Maria’s neck.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Ah... mm...”
“Smch, mm, smch...” Ristia proceed to run her tongue over the blood coursing out of Maria’s neck, lapping it up into her mouth. Accompanying that, an unbelievable amount of euphoria started to wrap itself around Ristia. Her love and consideration for Maria swelled as a result. Ristia found herself entranced, running her tongue over the young girl’s neck.
“Hah... ah-mm... hah, hah... D-Director Ristia, you’re not, ah... done yet? At this rate, I might just... ah-ungh,” Maria stuttered, her body shivering all over and her breathing becoming more and more strained. The sound of Maria’s voice brought Ristia back to her senses as she healed the wounds on Maria’s neck with healing magic, lapping up the leftover blood with her tongue until her neck was clean.
“Maria... Um, I’m sorry. Did that hurt?”
“O-Oh no... I’m fine. I mean, forget it hurting, it was actually... um, no, never mind. Anyway, are you okay now, Director Ristia?”
“Me? Um, I’m...” Posed with the question, Ristia checked her own condition. She was enveloped by a huge wave of euphoria, power surged throughout her entire body, and the vampiric impulses that mimicked starvation which haunted her this entire time were gone without a trace.
“Thanks to you, Maria, those impulses seem to have gone away.”
“Great... I’m glad that I could be of service, Director Ristia.”
Maria’s adorable comment caught Ristia’s attention, which was a trigger for those same impulses—one which thankfully did not activate again. But remembering the euphoric rush that she felt when she sucked Maria’s blood did give Ristia a tiny craving. She seemed to be faring well for the moment, but the possibility existed that the craving might come back again eventually.
“Um, so... Maria? If you wouldn’t mind, um...”
“I don’t mind. If you want me, Director Ristia, feel free to ask me at any time.”
“...Thank you, Maria.”
With that, the issues caused by the vampiric impulses that had been tormenting Ristia this entire time were resolved for the time being.