Elizavett fluttered around the room shouting provocations as the two below did the best little hops they could on their stubby legs in a frantic effort to knock her out of the air. Needless to say, however, their jump strength was completely lacking. They had no chance of reaching Elizavett, except for one thing the vampire had overlooked—her own body was just as weak as theirs. Her tiny wings allowed her to fly, but with her stamina she couldn’t keep it up for long. Soon, an exhausted pink furball was drifting to the ground like a deflated balloon.
Elizavett gasped for air. “Hah... Hahh... Th-This body... It’s just far too weak...”
As she lay on the floor, the other two furballs leered down at her imperiously.
“Bwa ha ha!” Zag’giel laughed mockingly. “We’ll never catch you, hmm?”
“I hope you’re ready, newcomer!” said Fenrir. “I won’t hold back on your education, female or not!”
“Noooo!” Elizavett cried as the two prepared to pounce—but then, suddenly, Zag’giel noticed a presence behind him. He stopped.
“W-Wait!” Zag’giel cautioned Fenrir. “Let us end this here for tonight. It has already gotten late.”
“What’s the matter, Demon King?” asked the wolf. “Are you scared of her?”
“You fool!” Zag’giel snapped. “Look behind you!”
Fenrir turned around to see...
“C-Can we go for another round of fluffy-snuffy? Can we? Please?” Kanata’s eyes were shining bright. Her fingertips were already beginning to twitch with desire.
“N-No, Lady Kanata!” Fenrir exclaimed, desperately searching for an excuse. “W-We’ll cause trouble for the other guests if we make too much of a commotion, you know! We should end it here and get to sleep before there’s some sort of trouble in the morning...”
“Aww,” Kanata pouted. “No round two...?”
The three furballs shook their heads vigorously.
The four got into bed. Kanata, dressed in her nightclothes, reached out to turn off the room’s lantern. “Okay, I’m turning off the lights!” she announced.
“Very well. Good night, Kanata,” said Zag’giel.
“Rest well, Lady Kanata,” said Fenrir.
“I’m a princess of the night, myself...” said Elizavett. “But I suppose I’ll be keeping the same hours as my Mistress from now on.”
Kanata lay in the middle of the bed with Zag’giel and Fenrir on both sides of her pillow. Elizavett settled down on top of Kanata’s stomach and closed her eyes to sleep. And, surrounded by her three adorable fluff-fluffs, Kanata settled into the best sleep of her life so far.
† † †
I have been alone for a very long time.
For nearly as long as I can remember, I have abided in solitude within that crumbling ancient castle, only waiting for the day that the light of the sun would reach me and end my life. And yet, there was a time when it was not so. Before the castle fell to ruin, I lived a luxurious life surrounded by loyal ghouls who would attend to my every need. I even had a friend—a human girl, barely five years of age.
I had ventured outside the castle one evening, hoping to divert myself from my boredom with a moonlight stroll, when I happened upon, of all things, a human child. I was incensed. What were her parents thinking, letting a small girl wander around at night? But when I spoke to the girl, she told me that both of her parents were no longer among the living. Her relatives, who had taken her in after her parents’ death, weren’t feeding her enough. They treated her with cold indifference and none of the kindness a parent would have for their daughter. The one silver lining, perhaps, was that they were too indifferent to actually hit the girl. Instead, they acted as if she didn’t exist at all.
Nonetheless, the girl seemed to be growing up splendidly. She had gone out into the forest to pick wild herbs in order to be of some help to her relatives, but being a young child, she was not very good at finding them. Instead, she had become lost on the forest roads and ended up traveling all the way to the territory around my castle.
My castle was known well enough to the humans at the time, but few would dare to draw close. After all, it was common knowledge that the castle was the domain of a fearsome vampire. The only human guests I had were adventurers seeking to defeat me and make a name for themselves. They all fell to me, of course. In the end I would feed on their blood and add them to the ranks of my ghouls. Back then, I thought of humans as nothing more than a source of sustenance. I was not so uncouth as to feed indiscriminately, of course, but I saw no reason to keep from devouring anyone who dared trespass in my castle. Increasing my number of servants was just an added bonus—two birds with one stone, as it were.
But somehow, I couldn’t bring myself to feed on this girl’s blood. I felt pity for her, living with relatives who wouldn’t even spare her a glance. And her eagerness to be useful to them regardless of their indifference struck my heart. She was different from me in every way, from environment to age to species, and yet I felt a strange sense of kinship with the girl. Instead of drinking her blood, I offered her a pact of fellowship.
She looked up with mud and tears caked to her face, clearly not understanding. “A pact of fellowship,” perhaps, was difficult for a girl of five to understand.
So I corrected myself, and asked whether she would like to be friends.
Before that moment, I had never asked anyone to be my friend. Or rather, I had never succeeded in making a friend before in my life. Everyone in the castle was under my control—I had never even seen one of my fellow vampires.
She looked up at me with big eyes, and gradually her expression of confusion broke into a smile so bright she was practically glowing. I felt something warm spreading inside my chest—something I couldn’t understand. She took my offered hand, and it struck me that if I put my strength into the grip I could easily crush her. It troubled me the entire time I was holding her soft hand in mine.
In the end, I was just lonely. Perhaps that was the source of the strange kinship I felt with the girl—we were both alone. The two of us found succor in each other, licking the wounds of our mutual loneliness. At the time, it felt like the best idea I’d ever had. And from that day forward, the girl and I were friends.