Chapter 40 – Taking Care of Mai

*** Yuki, a Little after Alzi passed out ***

Nakuma coming early is turning into a real boon. She can watch Mai as she settles into her new way of life. I just need to make sure Nakuma doesn't use her as a test subject. She can go a bit too far when she has a question about magic. She once convinced her sister to hang upside down for an entire day to test if extra blood going to the brain helped you release mana faster. We found it didn't; we also found it is a terrible idea to hang upside down for a day. We all figured that out thirty minutes in, but Nakuma insisted she stay for the entire day. I yelled at her a bit for that one, so she started to hide her experiments from me. She never killed anyone or permanently crippled them somehow. She seems to have a bit too much luck when it comes to magic.

Luckily, Mai is a small girl, making transporting her to my private house much easier. I'm attracting a lot of stares carrying a person-shaped bag around, but everyone knows not to question the strong. The one good thing to come from Mai's transformation is that she may be able to get a class. We'll find out when she wakes up, but very few vampires don't get a blood affinity during the transition. The rich mana environment Alzi provided during her transition should let her body accept mana well. Her getting a class helps a lot. She won't be strong enough to complete the hard missions with Nakuma and me, but she can protect the home. The few vampires left in the open are all nobles now; she could earn us some connections to them as well.

That is only true if we can teach her to contain her bloodlust. I've been going back and forth about whether to contact the vampires now to help train her or wait. They may wish to kill her to cut off any chance of her going on a rampage. I'll have to use that as a last resort. I can't have Mai die, I promised Alzi she'll be fine.

My house isn't in the noble or high-class districts. Not being a citizen limits where I can purchase land. But I'm nowhere near the slums, and the land was a lot cheaper, so I got a bigger place than I would've in the higher districts. Six bedrooms, most were turned into practice rooms for my various arts until recently. I had them switched back when I decided to marry Alzi. The kitchen and living room completed the room list. I didn't have a courtyard, I was on a bit of a budget when I purchased the home and I never had a reason to upgrade.

It took two hours to reach the brothel, but my limp body made me go slower than normal. Nakuma is already home, so I'll have her watch Mai overnight and in the morning. I'm just staying until Mai wakes up, and I can explain what happened.

"HI YUKI!!" the crazy Kitsune yells when she spots me, her tails a blur of colors behind her.

"Hi Nakuma. Please don't yell so loud; you'll disturb the neighbors." I reprimand.

"I haven't seen you for eighty years. If I want to yell to greet you, I will. Now, why are you carrying a vampire?"

"Bitch learn to shut the fuck up!" I lose my top. I know she is loose-lipped, but she knows people won't like a new vampire living in the same city as them, much less the same street.

"Magic girl, only you and I are hearing what we are saying. Now come in. I may be absent-minded, but I'm not stupid. It hurts you still think I have no common sense." Her tails suddenly stop and drop behind her. Even her ears flop down to make her look extra pitiful.

"I'm sorry. It has been a stressful few hours, and I need this vampire to live, ok? So, a slight change of plans. You'll be watching her while I do my duty at the brothel. I'll be here during the evenings to handle her and give you a break. Morning and night, you'll watch her." I say, pushing past her and towards the bedroom without any windows.

"Oh, she's that fresh? I've got so many things to test with her. I've been wondering ho..."

"No, no experiments. Alzi and I plan to make her our wife. You can't be using her as a test subject. We'll be training her to control her bloodlust, and then she goes back to the brothel till Alzi's is sold to the Princess, got it?" I say with a stern face. She'll still run experiments; there is no stopping them, but it should limit them to nonharmful things like how fast her eyes dilate instead of how much of her body can regenerate on a cup of blood.

"But this is the perfect opportunity! A new vampire who has no idea how anything works, no control. She'll be reacting to things as a natural vampire. There will be no hiding or guarding of secrets like the last one did."

"Last one? When did you have a vampire before?"

"Oh, I was going through some ancient ruins, and some bitch tried to bite me. Probably five years ago. Well, I quickly figured out she was a vampire. The whole give me a cup of your blood, and I'll let you go thing made it obvious, so I kidnapped her for a few months and tried to figure out why vampires prefer the color black. All the paintings, books, and stories have them wearing black. There has to be a reason, so I wanted to test why. She wouldn't answer any of my questions. It was so frustrating. I tried putting her in different outfits and different colors, but she wouldn't just act natural in them. I had to give up and let her go."

"Really, why do they wear black? Please just let Mai grow into a normal, well-adjusted vampire. Alzi will not be happy if Mai has a large personality change, and neither will I."

"Fine. I'll do my best." She wines out like a spoiled brat.

"Have you finished settling in?"

"Yes, I got in last night. My room is almost perfect. I just need you tied to the bed, and I'll be good to go." A hopeful smile spreads on this girl's face.

"No, not yet, at least. When I'm married to Alzi, I'll think about doing that for a day or so, but no longer. Now, can I have some space? It'll be easier to keep her calm when she wakes up if it is just me around."

"Thanks, Yuki, you're the best." She says, running out of the room.

I get Mai out of the bag, onto the bed and wait for her to wake up. I've got a vial of Alzi blood. I also collected some of Kelly and I's blood. I'll mix a small amount of Alzi's blood into the blood I'll feed Mai and hope she doesn't spit it out. She needs to get used to other people's blood early. The biggest problem for new vampires is that they are often picky about the blood they drink, causing them to go hungry till they lose all rational thought and rampage looking for blood they can stomach. I had Kelly get some vials from other girls at the brothel. All I can do is wait for her to wake up. I'll need to get Nakuma to teleport me to the brothel in time for when Alzi wakes up; I've got the required runes marked in my bedrooms.

It takes Mai an hour to wake up. She seemed normal as she opened her eyes and studied the new room. I haven't put any decorations up in the rooms, just the basic furniture. She's weak, but that was known beforehand; she should perk right up after some blood.

Her eyes eventually find my neck and refuse to leave, making her look like a love-sick schoolgirl. A little drool shows in the corner of her mouth. "Yuki, why is your neck so pretty now?" She asks, clearly worried about her own behavior. Good, she has enough rationale to tell something is off.

"My neck? Not the new room or why I'm watching you. My neck is what you want to know about?"

"I want to know about all that, but I think if you answer my question, the rest will fall into place," she says, licking her lips, letting her new teeth show for the first time.

"Oh, I didn't think you would put that together. Things are looking a lot better than I thought," I say, almost giving out a little cheer. She may not need to stay here long if she is this rational while being starved. I decided to give a little test and pull out an Alzi's blood vial from my storage ring. She pounces immediately, faster than she's ever moved before.

Mai does her best to reach the blood, but she's too starved, and I'm too strong for her to ever have a chance of stealing it from me. I put it back away and she returns to normal rather quickly, eyes making their way back to my slender neck.

"You're a vampire now, Mai. I moved you away so I can help teach you to control your bloodlust. Once that happens, I'll let you go back to the brothel, or you can stay here and start to build up a good reputation for our family a little early," I explain. Mai's eyes stay put as her brain tries to process what I just told her. It takes less than a minute for her predicament to settle in and for her fear to try to control her. Shaking her body, testing her fangs against her red lips. Her eyes are now blood red. Her black hair and fur, shit, does Nakuma have a point about vampires and the color black?

Please have a class, Mai, I'll get you trained, and the stupid Princess will have no reason to deny our marriage when I force it from the Queen. "Focus on the Goddesses; focus on seeing your true status."

Once more, she looks confused, then...

"HOW! I don't have an affinity or class or anything. Why can I see the box?" tears threatened her beautiful red globes, demanding answers about her new-found blessing.

"You now have an affinity, most likely blood. Check for your class. Things just got a lot better for us, Mai. A little pain and a large reward."

"I do. Wait, don't people kill new vampires? How did I become one, and why did that give me an affinity?" she stutters, fear coming back to the little kitten.

"You should be dead; that is why you are a vampire. Most vampires have or gain the blood affinity, just like you now have. As to the death thing, yes. But I have a friend here that will help me teach you control. Once you have the control the people will have no need to kill you. Most vampires you hear about are the ones turned on accident and are left to kill the village. I won't let that happen to you. Alzi and I love you too much to kill you. Now, do you have a class already?"

"Yes, blood disciple. Is that a common one?"

"I don't know, but it doesn't really matter. A class is a class when you didn't have one before. Now time for what your stomach desires. Bite my neck, but remember to control yourself. When you're full stop."

"I don't want to. Please don't make me. Can't I get it in a cup or something?"

"No, right now, you'll get it from the source. Later, you can have it in a cup. But you'll always have to get some fresh, or you'll go insane. Now stop stalling. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to stop." I get off the chair and sit on the side of her bed, moving my hair so she can easily reach my neck. I'll likely need to force her off me.

With my neck presented so welcoming, Mai's instincts kick in, and she pounces, fangs sinking into my skin to draw blood. The fangs didn't cause much pain, more discomfort. I put Mai on my lap like a child and stroked her hair, trying to tell when she was full. All vampires naturally learn to control how much they can drink before they are full or start to hurt the donator. It just takes time. Nakuma and I's blood just isn't the right kind to train her taste on; our blood is probably rich enough in mana to taste good even. Mai will be living off Alzi's Mother and her wives for long stretches of time, she'll need to be fine drinking blood lacking mana.

It takes about five minutes for it to become obvious that Mai is full. Likely happened a minute ago, but the signs are hard to judge. "Mai, I need you to get off me now," I say in a calm voice, testing her control. She ignored me as expected. A flick of my finger sends a little mana to slap her off my pretty neck.

Mai immediately tries again to sink her fangs into my soft neck. Her speed has greatly improved, but she is still far too weak to threaten me. I toss her onto the bed and stand up, ready to give Mai a little beating if she still can't get control. She launches herself at me as soon as her feet touch the bed; I feel my blood jiggle for a fraction of a second. Bold girl using a skill on me at level one.

I give her a good few slaps when her head nears my neck, knocking her out. I need to get back to Alzi; she's likely waking up now. I can have Nakuma take over for me here. I go searching for which room she picked out.

I decided to check the one next to the master bedroom and felt a lot of mana moving around in the room. I gave her room a gentle knock, not daring to go in. Who knows what trap she's set for me inside.

"You can just walk in if you want. I don't mind, anytime, especially if I'm changing or sleeping and defenseless to stop you from taking advantage of me," She calls from inside.

"I'm not that stupid. Get out here. I need to give you the blood, and I need you to teleport me back to the brothel."

"Fine." I hear her stomp over to her door and walk out.

"Here, these are the bottles to feed her from. You'll need to mix this bottle into them—just a drop."

"I know, I've never messed up an experiment. She'll be ready for you soon."

"She isn't an experiment. Just get her stable. Alzi will worry about her."

"Fine, to your room, please. I need you on the runes."

"I know, this way. And no, you are not allowed in my bedroom without my permission. As soon as I get to the brothel, you are to leave my room." I don't know why she respects that wish of mine, but the girl never enters my room without permission. As soon as I step onto the strange circle, I appear in my room at the brothel. She's gotten a lot faster with that spell.

Time to check on Alzi, I hope I didn't kill her kids. Alzi likes to pretend she doesn't care about her kids, but someone as nice as her can't be indifferent to those she's raised for nine months.