“…Ah!” Ernest tensed up at the sudden pain, causing Yuuri to come to her senses.
“I’m so sorry! I-I…”
“I don’t mind. That couldn’t have been enough. Were you that hungry?”
Yuuri burst into tears, clearly dismayed at seeing the pain she had caused him. But he could see now that she had been telling the truth. Her canine teeth were sharp, though not unthinkably so for a human, and she completely changed when she drank his blood.
He heaved a deep sigh and lovingly gazed upon her as she fed. Her tears were heartbreakingly beautiful.
That alone made Ernest feel that fulfilling her request was of the utmost importance, and that other questions, such as what exactly she was, could wait.
When she finally finished, Yuuri fell back, her expression sluggish and dazed. Ernest pulled her close to him, embracing her. Yuuri did not try to pull away, instead choosing to lean into him.
It was something she likely otherwise would never have done.
“What do you normally do for sustenance?”
He wasn’t sure he could handle it if she had drunk the blood of another man. It now felt like such an important task to him.
She was cautious before, like a skittish cat that would run at the first sign of trouble. But now here she was, curling up in his lap of her own free will. This defenseless side of her only made him want to protect her more.
“…I don’t know. This…was my first time…” Yuuri drifted off midsentence.
Ernest now overflowed with concern for the girl who had once threatened him for simply touching her hair.
“First time? Miss Yuuri…? What do you mean? Are you all right? Don’t go falling asleep like a baby after its bottle on me!”
He shook her gently, but she would not wake. He resigned himself to serving as her pillow for the time being.
“M’lady, I do not think you appreciate me enough. If I weren’t the gentleman that I am, it would have been you and not I that was the prey here.”
He felt entitled to at least kiss the top of her head, but thought better of it. They remained like that for over an hour, until she awoke, screaming at him.
✦ ✦ ✦
❦❦❦
YUURI shrieked and retreated to the other end of the couch.
Her memories of what had happened came flooding back and she quickly apologized, her cheeks bright red. Her expression rolled from one emotion to the next, and Ernest teased her, causing her to become even angrier.
Yuuri noticed the bite marks her feeding frenzy had left and ran off to fetch supplies to treat Ernest’s wounds. By the time she returned, she had finally calmed down.
“I’m so sorry. That must hurt…” she said meekly, attending to his wounds with a disinfectant-soaked cotton cloth. She then carefully applied an ointment with a fragrant herbal aroma.
“The bleeding’s stopped, so it’s fine. I won’t become your servant or something because of the bite, will I?”
“Not at all. But the open wound is at risk of infection, so it’s best to disinfect it.”
The sight of her little hands feverishly attending to his made Ernest smile. It did hurt, but her attention afterward more than made up for it. He felt an odd sense of pride knowing that the evidence of her secret resided on his left hand, hidden just below a bandage.
After replacing the now cold tea from earlier with a fresh batch, Yuuri brought a chair from the dining room and sat across from Ernest. He suggested she join him on the couch, as it was meant to seat three people, but she merely shook her head. It was clear that she was over any desire to be that close to Ernest for the time being. He realized that pain was the price he would have to pay to see her true self. He lamented the fact that she really was like a skittish cat, only wanting to be handled if food was involved.
“…So, please tell me more. What are you, really?”
“…I’m the descendent of the vampires of Hinomoto.”
“You said your grandmother was the ‘witch’ before you. Was she a vampire as well?”
Yuuri gulped and nodded. “My grandmother was a vampire, but my father lacks any vampiric characteristics. While my blood may be diluted, I am much like my grandmother—our ancestral blood flows strong in me.”
“So it’s a sort of atavism, where those traits skipped your father’s generation and made a return in you? …So what of your parents? Are they still alive?”
“Yes. The head of Watoh Company is my father. I don’t look much like him, do I?”
The head of Watoh Company was the one who told Ernest about the witch’s shop. He looked different from most people in Hylant, but his olive-brown hair and eyes were a far cry from the deep ebony of Yuuri’s. Ernest had suspected they might be related, but they certainly didn’t look enough alike to suggest they were father and daughter.
“Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve been able to see well in the dark, but that also means I have a hard time in bright places. And my teeth are sharp… If you asked my Hylantian mother, she’d tell you I’m a monster. My mere existence tore our family apart,” Yuuri rattled off these words with the same disinterest one might with a shopping list.
But Ernest sensed something deeper in her apathy, as if she were trying to keep her fragile heart from breaking. After all, her mother couldn’t bring herself to accept that her daughter looked nothing like her beloved husband, couldn’t bear the light, and loved the dark. “Unconditional love” apparently meant nothing to her.
“Is that why you live here alone…?”
“I’ve lived here since I was little. But I had my grandparents with me, so I wasn’t lonely…”
But now she was alone. Her contact with her father seemed mostly perfunctory, so she was more or less alone.
“I see…then it’s decided!”
“What is?”
“I will keep your secret. But if you ever need anything, all you need do is ask.”
In the beginning, it was likely just his fascination with the strange girl from a foreign land. But after seeing the expression on her face as she became intoxicated off his blood, one he was sure she never intended another to see, he resolved himself to become her source of sustenance.
“No, really, I’m all right. I don’t want someone hanging around, treating me like a circus attraction. Please leave me alone.”
“You said you were only going to try my blood, but you drank a lot of it. Was it that good?”
“……”
Yuuri stared at his left hand, wrapped in the bandages she’d painstakingly applied.
“And here I went and gave you an advance and yet, you’re still so cold toward me. I thought I’d give you more if you were honest with me, but…” He was only trying to tease her and act put off, but she continued staring at his hand.
“Aren’t you afraid? You’re not repulsed by all of this?”
The one quaking in fear and disgust was Yuuri.
“You have to feed once every few months, but you won’t hurt anyone beyond that, correct?”
“I don’t think so. My grandmother lived her life in peace alongside my Hylantian grandfather.”
Now that he had served in the same capacity, it was clear to Ernest that Yuuri’s grandfather had been the one to provide blood to her grandmother.
It seemed one thing Yuuri herself was unaware of was that vampires were said to have the ability to charm their prey. Ernest decided he didn’t mind, as long as he was the one and only person she used that ability on.
“Well then, there’s no need for me to be afraid, is there?”
“You’re an odd man. Well, I suppose, until we tire of each other, you’re welcome here anytime.”
He was sure the line about tiring of each other was more for her benefit than his. Until recently, she didn’t know Ernest. And even now, he still seemed like a passing presence in her world. Despite his affable nature, she was still cautious of him. Her words were meant to soften the blow, should that day come when he abandoned her.
Too bad for her. I have no plans of going anywhere. And I rarely tire easily of anyone or anything that strikes my interest.
And so, he willingly became the sole food source for Yuuri Watoh.