Squatting near Akemi, I tap her forehead. “Sister. Wake up, sister.”

She furrows her brow and yawns. When she opens her mouth, I grab her chin to keep her jaws from closing and inspect her canines. They have lengthened slightly but not sharpened to an extent I would officially call them fangs. It takes some time for the fangs to fully elongate; however, they typically develop their points rather speedily. Until her canines have sharpened sufficiently, she won’t wake. Though, I only expect it to take under an hour or two at most for her, while the others might wake a bit earlier. The time varies from person to person; the soldiers and Eden awakened decently quickly, but they are all young and in shape. Meanwhile, these people spend most of their time on a computer and immobile.

“You are going to make me wait until I get an answer to my question, aren’t you?”

Hearing Aponi, I laugh and turn my gaze toward her. “Never, Sister Aponi!”

“...You’ve only called me that a couple of times. Is it something I actually don’t want to know?”

“Nah, I just thought you might have been a bit jealous because I called Akemi ‘sister.’” The corner of my mouth forms a smirk. “Would you like it if I called you ‘sister’ more often, hmm?”

“Do whatever you want; it was just suspicious. Now, if you’re going to save Dr. Wright’s life, you might want to do it before it’s too late,” she says, motioning toward the unconscious figure of the doctor.

“Yeah, yeah, her blood has probably already made the change even though she isn’t conscious just yet. Regardless, all I need is her blood, and then she can have a nice surprise when she wakes up! It’ll be my personal gift to our new sister!” I stop and point at a nearby coffee cup. “Hand me that, by the way. Just dump the coffee out.”

“Oh? A gift?” She picks up the coffee cup and dumps the contents on the floor. “If I recall, all I received when I made my change was being chased by terrifying mutant people,” she says, handing me the cup.

“Well, maybe I got you something as well.” Grasping Akemi’s hand, I cut her palm and allow her blood to flow into the coffee cup. With the blood draining, I turn back toward Aponi and smirk. “But, you just don’t know what I got you yet!” I say with a small laugh.

‘Though, that does remind me I need to check up with Terry. He was trying to find Aponi’s sister a while ago and disconnected in a hurry.’

I turn away, but Aponi seems wary of my words. She marches over and squats next to me. “What did you do, Eira?” she asks seriously.

“Hmm? Oh! Wait, let’s talk about vampire drudges, Sister Aponi!”

“No! I…”

Suddenly, someone throws open the door and bursts into the room. Aponi and I both turn to see Sam standing there with big eyes. “Sister! Have we officially made the move to calling each other brother and sisters!? I have been waiting for this!” Sam stomps into the room with a giddy expression. “Sister Eira! Sister Aponi!” he squeezes out the words with a high voice.

“Shut up, Brother Neanderthal!” I bark back, “If your voice turns any higher, you will shatter my coffee cup.”

He shuts the door and chuckles. “Don’t think I didn’t notice that you didn’t tell me not to call you sister.”

“Well, it’s a tradition I’d like to restart.” I roll my eyes, seal the wound on Akemi’s hands, and pick up the partially full coffee cup. “The Vampire Family referring to each other in that way is an ancient tradition and promotes comradery.”

“Really? I just thought it was cool. Trixie does it in her book, so….” He shrugs. “I just like it.”

Standing, I glare at Sam. “Don’t talk to me about that propaganda! Humans don’t know anything about vampires! They just make stuff up and then act like it’s a fact because they ‘just like it.’”

“Yeah.” Again he chuckles as if he doesn’t even realize I was referring to him. “Wait. What are you doing anyway?”

“Making Dr. Wright into Akemi’s drudge,” I reply with a wave of my hand as I walk toward Dr. Wright.

“...Like a thrall? We can do that!?”

“No. A drudge, not a thrall. Thralls are necromancy.”

Behind me, I hear Aponi speak, “Eira. Stop ignori—”

“Do you want to know what a drudge is, Sam?” I state, interrupting Aponi.

“Yeah!” he says, shuffling behind me and watching closely, “I’m definitely interested!”

“Well. A drudge is traditionally a servant to a vampire. Unlike a thrall, they have free will and a stable mind.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Oh? Well, if all of that is true, then why do they serve a vampire?”

“Because after they drink blood from a vampire, they become dependant on that specific vampire’s blood. Which basically means they must drink atleast a vial of blood every few days from the same vampire every time. The catch is if they do not drink that blood, they’ll go mad with hunger and attempt to forcibly take the vampire’s blood.”

Approaching Dr. Wright, I remove a rag from my ring. I cover my hand with the rag, tilt back Dr. Wright’s head, and make sure his mouth is open.

“This would only be done between a vampire and a trusted servant, someone that owes them a life debt, or if the vampire's mate was not of the Blood Race. The latter was a rarity, but it did happen, and after their mate had consumed the blood, their lifespan would match the vampires. Typically it was done as a life debt since the act of drinking the blood will also heal in injuries.”

I raise the coffee cup over Dr. Wright’s head and pour. As the blood enters his throat, he gags and coughs. Some of the blood spills from the side of his mouth, but enough manages to make it down his throat.

He groans as his body attempts to incorporate the blood into itself, as it would if I had given him my own. The difference being, this is not my blood but that of a typical vampire. Thus the process is imperfect, causing an extreme addiction to it instead of merging into the body.

“...Hey. If I’m understanding correctly, you basically just gave this Akemi wo—” He pauses and smirks. “Gave Sister Akemi a huge burden in the form of an old man,” he emphasizes ‘Sister Akemi.’

‘Maybe, I should just go back to calling everyone by name…’

“Yeah, I did. He’s going to be her assistant, and if he doesn’t play ball and escapes, then he can go mad and probably die in a hole or something far away from here.”

Rising, I toss the mostly empty coffee cup back to Aponi. She catches it with a frown while I stroll toward the other end of the room, where I propped my scythe before moving to Akemi’s side.

“...Could I have a drudge?” Sam asks.

“No. You can’t. I purposely didn’t tell you about this because I didn’t want you to do it to someone and then insist on hauling them around. Akemi is stationary; she’ll be here doing research. Meanwhile, as a soldier, you will be moving around a lot, so anyone you turn into a drudge, we’ll have to drag them around wherever we go.”

‘Funny enough, making drudges is something I’m currently incapable of. Anyone who drinks my blood turns into a Blood Race. I vaguely recall Callista developing a method, but I don’t know if she ever used it, and I don’t particularly care to learn it either.’

“B-but…” The gears in his head grind together as he attempts to persuade me in some way.

I sigh. “You can have one if they are a soldier, and they willingly agree to be your drudge. Otherwise, it can be dangerous since some might hold a grudge and kill you in your sleep before committing suicide. Plus, supporting more than a few drudges is not easy, and more importantly, frowned upon…” However, a thought crosses my mind. “But… do you really want one?”

He nods, but before I can respond, I hear a shout, “Eira!”

Looking toward Aponi, I smile. “Relax, Sister, I’ll answer your question in time. Anyway, Sam and I have something to do. Take care of all these unconscious people until we get back. They’ll probably start waking up soon.”

‘To be honest, I’m tempted to just tell her to contact Terry, but I’m afraid that if something is wrong, she might act rashly.’

At this point, I’d ordinarily walk out of the room, leaving Aponi to her devices, but I elect to wait and see how she reacts. I do this simply because I wish to build a slightly more candid relationship with Aponi, Jimmy, Kardama, Eden, Terry, and even Sam. I’ve dragged them this way and that way with little explanation, so I’m willing to answer her if she really wishes, even if I’m not confident it is the optimal course of action. In short, they’ve all shown themselves reliable… except maybe Kardama; we still haven’t had much time to get acquainted.

Aponi pauses for a second but ultimately sighs. “If I find out it was something I should have known sooner, then you and I will have some words.”

“...Well, I don’t know if it is something you should now yet, which is why I’m not telling you. If you change your mind, just let me know.” I wait for a moment, but not receiving a response, I wave my hand and open the door to exit the room.

'I'm not going to give Sam a drudge, but I don't mind giving him a pet.'

Shutting the door, we enter the hallway, and my throat starts to burn. I find that the Brutes seem to have dispersed, and the piranha solution has eaten into the viscera that paints the floor. The viscera appears to have lessened the potency of the solution, but that doesn’t help with all the gas that feels the air.

I remove yet another rag, placing this one over my mouth. Together Sam and I make our way back through the various hallways, occasionally discovering a room here or there with Brutes napping. When we reenter an area where the gas has dissipated, I store the rag and release a sigh.

‘I’m not sure how we’ll clean that hallway… I’ll just make the next person who looks at me funny do it.’

My gaze turns to Sam, who looks to be staring at a female researcher with a stupid expression. Noticing my attention, he turns toward me while maintaining the same simple-minded face.

“Hmm, later, I have something I’ll need you to clean for me, but for now, I want your help with something."

“Oh. Okay…” he says, rubbing the back of his head.

“Is something wrong?”

“Uh, no, but I just thought I’d get a little break.” He seems to think of something, and his face changes to one of concern. “This isn’t something dangerous, is it? Like… I’m not sure how I am even alive right now, but I feel like my luck is starting to run thinner by the day.”

“No, no, this is simple, don’t worry.”

He exhales in relief and returns to watching the female researchers. So we continue, winding through the hallways until I come back to the room I was searching for.

“This is a room I found that is full of test animals. There was one, in particular, I was interested in.”

“Huh? Test animals? And what do you mean ‘interested in?’”

“Oh. Didn’t you say you wanted a pet? I have the perfect pet for you, and it’s right over there!” I say, pointing to a large cage in the corner. When I approach the creature within, it growls. “So! All I need you to do is wrestle this mountain lion, and then it can be your pet!”