About Child Making – Part 2

Thus, after a quick explanation…

"So… your mother is a greatly renowned scientist specialized in reproduction amongst uncanny beings?"

"Correct. Amongst the many legends surrounding us, one of the few that is true is that it is difficult for us to bear children. But I will say it again – it is not because we are undead!"

"I-I apologize, okay? It was half a joke!"

With her smile still on her face, the vampire girl continued. She seemed to enjoy talking about this quite a lot for some reason.

"I will not get into the details but our uncanny traits are the results of our blood. It gives us many powers but some are quite inconvenient like our inability to be infected or our regeneration."

"Is it inconvenient? Doesn't it just mean you won't die or get sick? Well, I understand that living forever may be boring, but at least your health doesn't decline, right?"

"Incorrect! That is quite incorrect!" she protested, earnestly raising her hand. "There's more to health than just being able to regrow limbs and not catching diseases, you know! But that isn't the subject here."

The vampire girl stopped for a second.

"Ahem. Vampirism is a disease by essence. A disease not of this world. A mortal disease."

I furrowed my eyebrows in incomprehension, "Mortal? But… you are alive, aren't you?"

"Correct. I am alive but only because my body survived the disease and adapted to it. Now it protects me but it doesn't change that for all intent and purpose, I am carrying a mortal disease and should be dead. Correction. If I was still human, I would be dead. That is what a vampire is."

"... I knew that, but…"

"Additionally, each person's body doesn't exactly react the same way to the blood," she continued, ignoring my hesitation, "but that isn't all – the blood, the disease, also changes when living inside someone for a certain amount of time! That is why, even if vampires can be grouped into different categories, they are always different from each other because we don't share the exact same disease!"

"I see… But what does it have to do with not being able to have children?"

She raised her index, "Do you remember when I said we can't catch any other disease?"

"Yes?"

"Good. Let's say that you were to have a big accident and were in need of blood. Would any blood be okay for a transfusion?"

"No. It would need to be of the same group as mine, right?"

"Correct. But what would happen if it were not?"

"I would die?"

"Correct."

"I am not sure I understand."

The vampire girl looked up while playing with her long sidelock.

"Example. Let's take an example then. You might understand better that way."

"Okay."

"Let's say I get pregnant—"

Urk!!!

"—and the father is another vampire… Hm? Why are you making that face?"

"N-No reason… continue please…"

"Oh? Well, let's say I get pregnant. That would mean my body would welcome the father's cells and genetic information to make a baby."

"... Hm? Wait… Ah!"

Sometimes when you realize how much some things make sense, you are filled with a need to yell and move. It was the case then. I promptly stood up as it "dawned" on me.

"If vampires can't get infected by other diseases and their blood, well, their cells are diseases, then they can't share their genetic information!!!"

"Correct. It isn't so simple, but it is a good analogy. Actually, the problem appears after the sharing and conception. The baby can be conceived but they will eventually be considered as a foreign organism and be attacked by the mother's blood. Even if by miracle that didn't happen or the embryo was raised in a human or a tube, it would inherit its parents 'cursed blood' and there would be no guarantee that the resulting child wouldn't die from 'vampirism'. Oh… Correction. It could never even go beyond the cluster of cells' state."

I slightly furrowed my brows, "... That… Does it mean that…"

"Indeed. Vampires are functionally sterile."

I bit the inside of my lips. The vampire girl's expression was now unfathomable. She was looking at my turned on screen with empty eyes. Maybe…

"Sorry…" I said, lowering my head. "I… guess that maybe you tried… no, huh, you lived so long yet you couldn't have any child of your own. All of that just because you were born a vam—"

"Interruption!"

The vampire girl raised her hand interrupting me.

"Dawn, excuse me but I am not old enough to want to have children you know? I am only 17."

"... Huh?"

…Huh?

"You are… 17?"

She smiled wide, "Didn't I tell you? That I was quite young myself."

"You did but I thought you were… young in vampire years? Eh? I… What?"

"Besides, didn't I tell you earlier too? My mother works in the field of uncanny beings' reproduction. She is a celebrity in the domain. Thanks to her research, vampires can have children without problems nowadays. I am proof of that, just like Iovanna and the others."

".... What?"

That… was a lot of information to take at once.

"Vampires… can have children?"

"With proper medication, yes."

"And you were born 17 years ago."

"This body is indeed 17 years old."

I inhaled deeply and pressed the area between my eyes for a second, "... Huh, yeah, so what was it about your mother being Iovanna's father?"

"Why, she impregnated a woman to have her of course," she said, looking at the screen again.

"That isn't a joke… is it?"

I hoped that she would say yes but…

"Question. Are you familiar with Incubi?"

… She just brought up another embarrassing subject.

"The… lewd male demons?"

*footsteps*

For a second I think I heard footsteps in my yard but the vampire girl's energetic protest brought back my attention to her.

"They aren't demons! They are vampires! Moon's Nobles! Blue eyes! Nightmares! Succubi! Also, they aren't male at all! Not even one of them! They are the only vampire type to be exclusively female!"

She then stopped, her smile recessing.

"Dawn… Could it be that you really don't know anything about vampires?"

"Well… Before coming here, I only knew about stories and…"

"Ah~... Sadness…"

The vampire girl looked at the ground, the glint in her glasses hiding her eyes. I could feel her dissapointment from where I stood.

"So your interest in my kin is so low, huh?" she almost mumbled.

"Huh? No, I—"

"Well, talking about all of us would take a lot of time. I am a red-eyed vampire or noble so I will start there."

"I am sorry…"

She tilted her head, "Confusion. Why are you apologizing?"

I sat on the ground again looking into her eyes, "You are angry, aren't you?"

"Hm? No. Not really. There's a lot of misconceptions about us. If anything, I am happy to be the one to teach you about this."

"Oh..."

I looked at the floor in front of me in silence. I could tell she wasn't really happy since she wasn't smiling like usual.

"Dawn."

"Yes?"

I looked into her eyes again. She was staring at me while playing with her braid.

"Correction. I might be a little angry," she said.

"...I figured it out."

"Dawn, I heard Iovanna asked you to marry her."

"Eh?" Why bring that up now?

"I heard you refused."

"Yes."

"Why?"

Why? Well…

"I wasn't interested in her, that is all…"

"Because you aren't interested in girls?"

Wait, that question… is she…?

"It... It isn't that I am not interested. I just don't like her specifically."

"What about me then?"

"!"

What… about her? What does she mean? Is this…? Wait, I shouldn't… No, she probably doesn't mean that…

but… but what if she does?

"I… think I… I don't dislike you."

"..."

The vampire girl stared at me for a long time without saying a word. She pressed her lips together, seeming hesitant about something. As for myself, well… my heart was beating so hard that I had a hard time keeping my breath steady. No, to be honest, I was struggling to just breathe at all.

There was no need to lie to myself any longer. No matter how hard I tried to tell myself otherwise, I couldn't stop myself from expecting something. Something between me and that girl whose name I didn't even know.

Yes, I was ashamed of myself. I was conscious of those feelings I had for her for quite some time now, but I desperately told myself it was nothing. Why? A dumb reason truly – I was afraid she wouldn't reciprocate my feelings. I was a coward unable to be honest with herself if it meant I could get hurt at the end of the day. That was Dawn Riftwalker.

But…

But now that she seemed about to declare herself, I… I started wishing to—

"Sadness. If you didn't like me too, I could bite you as a punishment, but now… Hm… Can I really complain though? I don't think I can."

The vampire girl dropped her shoulders in defeat before staring right into my eyes again.

"Oh well, let's settle this with Corridor Fighters then," she said, crawling on all fours towards my GS4. "About 99 victories for today should do?"

"..."

As I looked at her back, I noticed the vampire girl's smile was back. If anything, she looked more excited than before. I dropped my shoulders in defeat.

"Of course… Of course, she didn't mean it that way…" I mumbled.

Yes, it was my fault for falling in love with someone like her.

"Hm? Mean what?" the vampire girl asked, turning to me.

"Hmph. Just so you know, I got very good at this game during your week of absence. You might be surprised."

"My, such confidence! You won't mind a little bet then?"

"I refuse."

"Eh? Why not? Are you afraid I will take something really important from you again?"

"Care to explain what you took last time exactly?" I asked, my hands on my hips and my brows furrowed.

"How about a dinner with you next time? If you lose, you will have to cook something I like! Otherwise, I will bring you out for dinner!"

"So you have your dinner regardless, huh? I have many things to say against that!"

She smiled at me as brightly as usual, illuminating my room.

In the end, I forgot everything I wanted to ask her about. Where she was, what was she doing, her name, everything. I didn't even learn anything about vampires. We just played and played until we both got tired of it and around 8 AM, she went back to her home as usual. Well, she never left that "late" so it wasn't like usual.

For a few seconds I asked myself if she really didn't try to confess to me that day and then gave up and tried to pass it as a punishment game. But it was her we were talking about, she was anything but roundabout.

Either way, the vampire hour resumed as if nothing happened.

***

The next Monday, Iovanna said something weird to me.

"Sister talked about biting you? Are you sure about that?"

"Huh? Yes. She said something about it being a punishment… or something."

Iovanna "ogled" me, the corners of her mouth turned downward.

"What? What now?" I asked, tapping on her desk with my fingers frenetically.

"Do you not know? Cognates' saliva has some hypnotic and aphrodisiac properties."

"... Huh?"

"Why do you think our bites do not hurt? If we are biologically incompatible with the target, they just feel numb. However, if we are, they might experience an immodest… hm, why, you know what an aphrodisiac is do you not?"

"An… aphrodisiac? Your bite?" I repeated, unsure of if the red-headed girl was the truth or not.

"Listen! They are talking about that!"

"Ah, so bold of them."

Again, Iovanna's carelessness attracted unwanted attention.

"Given that we can obtain food without hunting, our bites are mostly used for courting now. We bite people we want to possess or rather, people we want to ensnare in pleasure. If sister mentioned she wanted to bite you then maybe… she was trying to mate with you?"

"Ma— Huh??? Wait, what do you—" I tried to ask but...

"Sister? Wait, she is going out with a pair of sisters?!"

"Ah, this girl might be truly interesting… *lick*"

*shiver*

I learned a great lesson that day: never talk to Iovanna in class.

As for the bite… apparently she was right mostly about their significance and effects… except the part where it was considered as quite the horrible punishment when used against an unwilling person…

I was getting a bit worried about my safety there.