The Fallen Vampire

He had spent his whole life doing so, and as a result he had accumulated a lengthy assortment of excuses and misdirections to get him out of any given situation.

And yet… everything within his being was telling him not to use any of those right now.

Every bone in his bulbous body was screaming out to him loudly that telling even a single lie here would result in a terrible consequence.

He had to tell the truth today.

"T-They do not belong to me! I do not know where they come from, all I know is that they appear before me after a high value item goes up and they demand that I get them close to whoever buys it!"

Taira felt his vision narrow as he continued to hold Theodore by the tusk.

He could tell that his captive was indeed not lying, which meant that he would have to switch his tactics around just a bit.

\'Drop him.\'

Bang!

Yasuke released the boar-kin and dropped him directly onto his nose; spilling a fair bit of his blood in the process.

The mischievous weapon let out a hum that sounded like laughter as it encircled it\'s master like a giant serpent.

Taira began fishing inside of his storage ring for something and he dropped it onto the floor uncaringly.

When the boar-kin\'s eyes landed upon the ancient advanced martial art that had been thrown in front of him, he almost forgot about his broken snout instantly.

"T-This…"

"You\'ll be putting that up on the next auction. When the humans come to you looking for an opportunity to meet with the buyer, you will not object to this as you have before.

Should you tell them anything about me, I will know and I will not be happy. Do you understand me, traitor?"

"Y-Yes…"

Taira turned around and walked back towards the window when the hollow voice of Theodore called out.

"I.. am not a traitor, you know? I despise humans just as the rest of my kin, but they have taken my son and will not return him to me unless I do this for a year… I had no choice…!"

It was unclear whether or not this sob story had moved Taira in the slightest, as he continued to move without confirming that he\'d heard anything.

Yasuke re-entered his body of it\'s own volition and he leapt out of the window without waiting for another second.

Huge leathery wings that were even larger than his tails emerged out of his back.

He flew high above the clouds with his destination focused solely on the woods outside the city.

Taira hadn\'t been home in a week, as he literally spent seven days stalking Varken without taking a break.

It was a painstaking and sometimes boring process; and as a result his mental battery was just about as low as it could get.

He was missing all of the comforts of home!

He wanted to take a nice long bath!

He wanted to see his wife and friends!

He wanted to read a book and not step out of his room for a whole day!

He wanted to have sex!

The next auction would not be held for another three days, so he had that much time to de-escalate and relax.

In addition, he was also hoping to get some of Lucia\'s cooking.

The addition of a Nogitsune to his genetic makeup had altered his dietary needs in that he could now eat normal food again without puking it up.

He felt so bad everytime that Lucia or Vermeil cooked and he had to pass on it in favor of a simple cup of tea or blood.

\'I want to ask them to prepare a feast but I don\'t want to overwork them… I\'ll help them if they don\'t mind it.\'

As Taira flew ever closer to his home, he raised a brow when he found two people waiting for him on the porch.

Lucia and Enyo were both seated outside, their heads resting against each other like they were half asleep and a lantern resting beside them.

As always, Taira landed on the porch without making a single sound, but this time he was easily noticed.

Enyo\'s eyes immediately flashed open as soon as she sensed the arrival of her husband.

"Honey!"

"Uwah!"

Enyo immediately leapt up from her seat on the porch and lunged at her husband with open arms.

But because she was acting as support for Lucia, the unfortunate lamia fell over onto the ground; giving her a rather rude awakening.

Enyo would normally have apologized, but as of right now she was so overjoyed to see her beloved after a week that she had forgotten all proper etiquette.

Her lips quickly found Taira\'s and the two of them wrapped their arms around each other longingly.

It was clear to all that he had missed her just as much as she missed him; if not more so.

And it was very clear that he was not going to let her go for the rest of the night.

Or atleast he wouldn\'t have, had Enyo not wormed out of his embrace at the last second.

"Mmh! Ah, I forgot! I have to go and… get a bath ready for us, yea!"

"Right now? Can it not wait for-"

"N-Nope, sorry! Come upstairs in a few minutes and I\'ll make it all up to you then!"

Taira noticed something strange about the way that Enyo was behaving, but he ultimately lost the chance to ask her about it when she turned incorporeal and flew into the house.

Taira watched her leave with something of a crestfallen expression, and his ears had begun to droop just a bit.

\'I wanted to grope her a bit more…\'

"Welcome back, Taira."

Jolted from his dirty thoughts, the seemingly young man found his friend Lucia staring at him warmly.

Just like Enyo had done, she also held out her arms indicating that she\'d like a hug, although she was less forceful about it.

Taira smiled and he also embraced her; long growing accustomed to her touch if no one else\'s.

"It\'s good to be back. I hope I haven\'t made you girls miss me too much."

"You have, but it\'s okay… I\'ll have you make up for it right now."

Whether he wanted to or not, Taira could hear the thought of others through physical contact.

And this time was no different, but because the thoughts he was hearing from Lucia were so out of character, he thought he may have been mistaken.

However, he would very quickly learn that he was not.

Lucia parted her full pink lips as wide as they could go and exposed the snake-like fangs within her gums.

With a loud hiss, she bit Taira directly on the shoulder and pumped him full of as much poison as she could possibly produce.

"Ugh.. Lucia, why would you…?"

"I-I\'m sorry! I just didn\'t want you to run from me!"

Taira\'s body began to feel heavy as Lucia gently lowered him to the ground.

She sat directly on top of him and stared down into his eyes with a manic and obsessive gaze.

Taira recognized this kind of look well, as it was one that Enyo gave him quite often.

Right now, Lucia had never looked more beautiful to him.

"I-I\'m sorry for biting you but I kinda just let my instincts take over and panicked! But I\'m only doing this because I love you and I don\'t want to be your friend any longer!"

With Taira paralyzed, Lucia had free reign to grab him by the face and kiss him boldly for the first time.

A flurry of emotions assailed his mind all at once, but none of them were more prevalent than the profound realization he had while being smothered.

\'I shouldn\'t leave home for so long again… As soon as I step out, everything gets turned upside down.\'

reaper of the drifting moon is finally back and my life has literally never known greater peace