Blood relatives.

1:

“Look. There has to be someone out there more closely related to them than me." I pulled up the hood on my pullover nervously some indirect sunlight shine into my front doorway despite it being set well within a set of walls on each side of the porch.

The witch from the Society stood there in her somber gray suit with her one arm full of files and a tablet as shook her head sternly. As she adjusted the old fashioned frames of her glasses, the two hastily dressed looking children she had shown up with in tow simply sat out on the steps as the ever present crows looked on. The two of them, a light skinned boy who was at most a very young teen had a resigned look and the tiny darker girl who looked to be all of eight simply appeared to be very tired.

The boy spoke up. “Are you seriously going to leave us with some white guy?”

The middle aged librarian looking woman who had introduced herself as Mrs Astarte turned to the boy and admonished him sharply. “Cyril Gregory, this is your great grandfather five times removed. You will show him the respect he is due as both your elder and ancestor.”

She turned back to me and sighed at my panicked look. "Yes, Mr. Atrabile. We are familiar with your condition but you are the closest appropriate blood relative.”

I had instinctively backed away from the door, perhaps in hopes of slamming it shut and hiding for a few months, but the last line sparked a plausible objection on my behalf. “Surely I’m not the closest “living” relative? How am I supposed to take care of two children when I can’t even go out in the sun, and why the hell would you trust me with them?”

The woman glanced at one of the thick folders in her hands. “I’m afraid that both of the children inherited your family line of magical affinities in addition to the powers of another line by way of their father. All of their living relatives are either unfit to take them in, unable, or dead.” She adjusted her glasses. “To be more precise, “dead,” dead.”

I gestured at myself. “Vampire. Even if they are my descendants, how the hell could I be the best choice?”

She nodded at me grimly. “Both of them require a strong magical practitioner to be safe around them while leaving their magic unsealed so they can defend themselves.” She shook her head sadly. “Their father’s family have an innate talent for blood magic, and the blood of an innocent or a relative is the most powerful blood to use as a sacrifice.”

She gestured at me. “All Vampires are immune to the worst uses of blood magic. Who better to protect them while also being safe from them.” She gave me a look of distaste. "Even with your… hobby”

I glanced at the two children who were staring at me wide eyed. The girl whispered to her brother. “Is he a Dracula?"

I winced. “Alright… How are they to be trained? I don’t know anyone willing to train children and I am not a practitioner.”

Mrs. Astarte pulled out a sheet of paper from his file with the picture of a young woman and some information printed underneath it. “Miss Caine has petitioned to serve as both an instructor in basic magic and is also qualified to provide home schooling. She will also serve to guard the children from eight to four, Monday to Friday.”

She passed over the sheet. “The Society will cover her salary, but you will be expected to cover the cost of any supplies she feels she might need. Such as the groceries she will be using to prepare a lunch for herself and the children.”

With that, she turned to the two kids. "You will now be in Mr. Atrabile’s care.” She glanced at me before turning back to the children. “Good luck.”

Wait. Was that for me or them?

I looked at the kids, they looked at me. "What happened to your parents?"

The boy frowned. “She told you. Blood of the innocent and family.”

I grimaced and stepped aside to let the children in as the black birds took flight.

2:

I had bought my current house back in the 1800s, a sturdy two story Edwardian brick home with a small garden, a coach house, and an iron fence with spiked tips on the top.

And it was where I have chosen to live for the last two hundred years. Favors and cash paid out to the Sanguine vampires for their mind control talents took care of any problems involved with property taxes, not aging, and other issues.

The latest had been a court order to remove the iron spikes from my fence because they could injure someone climbing over them. What the hell else did they think they were there for?

I had guest rooms for my occasional overnight guests, both human and human adjacent, on the second floor, and others of my kind, in the sub cellar safe room suite with me.

I let the children inside. “So, you’re Cyril and who are you, young lady?”

The large eyed chit of a girl looked up at me, “I’m Mandy, Mr Dracula.”

I frowned at her. “Call me Tom, little girl.” She gave me a stare. “Call me Mandy, Tom.”

I snorted. “Deal.”

With that, I led them to my library, sat, and took my phone off the charger. "What do you want on your pizza?"

The boy seemed started. “You eat pizza?”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t eat anything. At least not of a material nature. But I do have guests now and then. So I even have drinks and snacks. But nothing that constitutes a meal. So thus, pizza. Meat, vegetables?”

The boy wanted a meat lover's, the girl plain cheese. I ordered two large. Children are small so I figured that would feed them until dinner the next night.

Since I wanted them to sleep soundly through the night, caffeine and sugar seemed like a bad idea. So they got two of Larry’s leftover flavored vitamin waters instead.

A long day and a large meal made them tired enough to lead them upstairs with only an objection from the girl about not wanting to sleep alone which was settled by a grumpy agreement from the brother to share a room. I had thought the king sized bed would be more than large enough for them both, but the boy laid out a blanket and pillow on the floor for himself.

I shrugged as I closed the door on them. Not my concern.

Despite this they were both out cold when I checked on them an hour later, I could only hope that it would always be this easy for them to fall asleep until I could rid myself of them.

Between two sisters and the several children that I had been told were mine, surely there had to be some other relative closer to their own generation that could have taken them in.

While it would not arrive until the next day, I put in an order for a variety of food and drinks with a service that I had given access to my home. They would not only deliver the groceries but put them away in the kitchen as well.

Then I sat and thought for a while about what the hell I was going to do.

I was not prepared or willing to become a single dad at the age of nine hundred and eight.

3:

From behind a window engraved with warding symbols, I watched the sunrise in the east as always without fear. I had not been able to buy and demolish the building that blocked my view of the sunset, but I had long ago bought the land to the east and established a park. The buildings on the far side were too close to the channel to allow for the building there to be made too tall so I had a clear line of sight to the rising sun for at least part of the year.

Shortly thereafter I could hear some stirring from above and the rare sound of the second floor toilet flushing. Moments later the boy arrived downstairs and jumped when he realized I was standing there looking at him.

His startlement had a certain appeal.

The boy stared at me and then slowly turned his head to look at the risen sun with its light shining into the room onto me.

“Aren't you supposed to be on fire or something?”

I tapped on the glass. “Warding, and it’s “or something,” not fire.”

He looked expectant for a moment then puffed out his breath. “Is there anything to eat?”

I gestured to the kitchen. “Yes.”

He headed into the formally clean kitchen and stared at the pizza boxes sitting on the chopping block before turning to give me an offended look, he asked, “Didn’t you put that in the fridge last night?”

Hmmmm. "No. Was I supposed to?"

He stared at me for a moment before opening the box with his meat covered food, pulling out a slice he began eating while standing rather than sitting at the kitchen table and staring at me defiantly.

“Get a plate. I don’t want more vermin in my house.”

He shrugged, seeming to miss the implication, and collected a fresh paper plate to drop his half eaten slice onto along with another before putting both boxes of food into my fridge. “Can I have a pop?”

Well, it would be the tutor dealing with them the rest of the day. "Yes."

It was another hour before the girl awoke. The boy managed to get her run through a shower, got her dressed, groomed, and fed more leftover pizza before a knock came on my door.

The front door faced the north and stood back from the steps in a deep, covered alcove. As long as I didn’t step outside I was able to answer my own door.

The young woman waiting for me matched the picture, aside from her smug grin. “Miss Caine I presume.”

“One of them.” Miss Caine looked like she had only just finished with collage, perhaps as recently as that morning despite her age being listed as sixty six. Her orange hair and pale skin marked her as being of Irish or perhaps Scottish descent. While her apparent age marked her as incredibly vain.

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Her complete lack of fear despite clearly knowing what I was, seemed far more abnormal, but not something I wished to question. Not if it meant losing my daytime babysitter.

“You are welcome in my home as my guest.”

She laughed carelessly. “Not too worried if I wasn’t. This is actually something my sister set up, so we could both get some practice with other kids. But I won the coin toss. Where should I set up?”

I showed her toward the library, but she was distracted by the sight of the two children who had followed me to the front door. “Oh wow, they’re cuties.” After introducing them to each other, I finally got them into the library, then I was able to retire for the day.

Although I did have to walk back upstairs to warn her about the delivery coming in later that morning and showed her the picture on my phone of my regular delivery person, Garold.

Then I could finally lie down for something that mimicked sleep.

4:

That afternoon I had a short period of quiet before I had to take custody of the children again.

I did arrive upstairs a full twenty minutes early. Miss Caine was already gathering up her books and other teaching supplies. “Hiya “Mr Atribile,” guy” She made quotation marks at me with her fingers. “I was wondering if I could leave some of my stuff here rather than haul it back to my rental every day."

I nodded. “I will empty out a closet in the hall for you.”

She seemed to hesitate before she left, almost seeming to be concerned about leaving me with the children, even prattling on for a bit about how well the children had done.

Was I supposed to have asked about that?

She finally left. Leaving me alone with two children.

“I don’t suppose you two would be willing to nap until bedtime?”

The girl informed me that she had already laid down briefly after her lunch, but it seemed that now both of them were energetic. So I supposed I needed to think of some way to tire them out.

Well, I did promise to empty out a closet.

“Aren't we supposed to be wearing masks?”

I thrust at Cyril’s face with the epee, stopping just short of his nose. “I could if I wished, easily hit you in the face, instead of stopping just short. While you will not be able to hit me at all. Get good enough to become a challenge and I will get you a mask.”

The girl was too nervous to even pick up a blade, not even the fencing dagger which was light enough for her, but she did clap, cheer and laugh either at or for her brother as he attempted to master the basics of the art of fencing.

“Three times a week with blades, three with martial arts, and on Sundays you may rest. At least for as long as you are here. We will also begin practicing meditation before your workouts."

The boy's eyes went wide, "What about her?" He pointed at his sister, "She ain't doing nothing!"

“She “isn’t doing anything,” young man.” I aimed another slow thrust at his face which he barely pushed aside. “We will be speaking proper English in this house. I believe there are some excellent educational recordings for learning other languages available online. We will start her on Latin while you practice, then you will have to pick it up in the evening after she has gone to bed.”

He looked bewildered. “Latin?”

I grinned and circled my blade around his, trapping it between my blade and guard so I could twist it out of his hand. "A dead language my boy, suitable for a dead man's house is it not? It may also prove useful for a Magi like yourself. Ancient tomes and books of lore.”

It was nearly oozing out of him, the fear of hard work, and the depression or knowing there is no way to avoid it. I hadn’t tasted such sweet despair since I last had maids living and working in my home.

I had forgotten how delightful having a morose teenager around could be.

The girl however was useless. She seemed to be happy I was thinking of her at all let alone planning on buying her things to learn from. In fact, she was positively sweet.

How annoying.

“Enough for today, go take a shower boy, you reek. My guests will arrive soon and I suppose I need to feed you the two of you first. I don’t suppose there’s any pizza left?”

The girl shook her head. "Miss Caine threw out what was left when she found out it was sitting out all night.”

I looked at the boy. "Is it still edible? I could fish it out of the trash?" From the look on his face that didn't seem to be in the cards.

Instead, the boy got a sandwich with a pop on the agreement that he would stay upstairs and put himself to bed that night, the girl got breaded processed chicken meat called nuggets and a glass of apple juice.

The boy also added some slices of tomato and cucumber he had cut up for his sandwich to his sister’s meal despite her protests, while he glared at me. “You can’t just feed her meat.”

In all seriousness, I promised to look up the care and feeding of small children later that night. He seemed begrudgingly appreciative.

5:

As the sun set I tipped my regular pizza delivery girl to set out the pies downstairs and then greeted my guests and escorted them one by one to the steps leading down to the basement. Ankha, the only woman in our group was the only one to ask about the children as she noticed them despite my efforts to conceal them from her line of sight with my own body as she walked past them.

The dark skinned woman stopped at the doorway to the living room where the girl was playing on her newly arrived phone while the boy was setting up his own.

Giving me a suspicious look, she stepped up close to peer up into my eyes. “Snacks Tom?”

I shook my head. “Descendants.”

Her eyes went wide as she glanced over from them to me. “You never said you had kids?”

I tried to circle around her to try to lead her downstairs, she matched me step by step to stay in my way. Both of the children were looking up at us in curiosity.

I sighed. “There was an arrangement. My family was strong in magic even if only the girls got it, so the younger women in my mother’s Coven used me like a prized stud. I’m not sure how many children they got off me before I ran off to become a monk.”

Her eyes widened again. “You were a monk!”

I took the chance to step around her and head for the basement stairs, only to have her start to chase me down. As intended. “I’m not going to tell you all my secrets at once woman. Save something for later, don’t kill the mystery.”

Downstairs, my players awaited me in the room that took up almost the entirety of the basement level, its walls lined with bookcases, and cabinets filled with painted miniatures and scaled terrains made from anything from hand painted plaster to the latest in 3-D printing.

Chernofel, playing Brother Catfield the catholic missionary, had relaxed into his true form of the demonic personification of dehydration and had stretched out at the end of the custom made gaming table closest to the mini fridge full of drinks. His writing shelf was pulled out all the way to give him more room for his hooved feet underneath it without kicking other people’s legs from beneath the table.

Larry, Teq the Atriho tribesman, was hastily snatching his overlapping scar covered hand back from the poster board sheets covering the top of one of the miniature terrain rooms. One of the dozens covering the sections of the Temple of Mictlantecultli.

Ankha, Lady Catherine Adora Torcamada, gentlewoman adventurer, took her seat opposite Larry and produced the crystal ball for our fourth player, Landry, playing Philippe the mouse, a French thief who had fled to the new world just ahead of the law, would be projecting in.

I wouldn't get anything to feed on from Landry, ghosts were a bit beyond fear, but the group dynamics worked better with a fourth player.

It had been a long time since I had needed to stalk people in the night to frighten them enough to feed on their fear. But I had found that even only a tiny bit of fear from other supernatural beings was more than enough to slake my hunger these days. Even just the concern of something bad happening to their characters was more than enough.

Tiq made his knowledge roll to recognize the name of the Aztec rain god who had children drowned as sacrifices to him while downing a slice of his supreme pizza.

Chernofel smashed his fist down on the end of the table, which fortunately had been rebuilt at his expense to withstand his outbursts of anger after he broke the last one. "A water dungeon, we're halfway across the continent from the sea. This is bullshit."

I gave him an innocent look. “You didn’t really think taking Hydrophobia as a flaw was never going to come up?”

There was a gasp from the door to my game room, looking over I saw the two children standing gap jawed at the doorway.

Landry yelled up from the table where his projection stood scaled down to match the miniatures. “What going on?”

Mandy pointed at Chernofel, “He real! Satan Claus!" Who in turn asked, "What the hell?" as the small child ran over and began to climb onto his lap.

I was glad I had insisted that he wore pants at the games. Also, his fear of small children was a tasty snack. Ankha was nearly falling out of her chair laughing as Cyril walked over to look down at the table before turning to me. “Can I play?”

I sighed as the girl proceeded to list all the toys she wanted to the eight foot tall demon sitting opposite me, as Larry encouraged the boy to “Check out” the cool stuff under the cardboard. Looking down at the giggling human form of the Egyptian liche. “Did you set this up?”

She pushed aside her long black hair as she wiped at her eyes with a napkin. “I don’t want to say, I might kill the mystery.”

6:

With the assurance that I would prepare a game appropriate for children the following Sunday, I was able to send the children to bed and get well into the game before the Blood Mage finally made his attack.

My description of the animated bones of the children drowned to please the rain god crawling around on the walls of the temple while covered in a watery veil that showed the illusion of their former flesh had been unnerving enough for my players to allow me to manifest their unease as illusions.

All of the tiny haunts crawling around the miniature diorama of dungeon tiles and the miniature figures of their characters only deepened their uneasiness due to sheer creepiness.

Then Larry’s nose began to bleed, the first drop flying off toward the far end of the room to briefly pool on the wood paneling before it began to run sideways to slip through the seam.

Larry leaped to his feet, the Mithratic Knight coalescing his blade of light by the illumination from the overhead light fixture and slashing it across the air in front of him.

"Blood magic must have hit me first since I'm the closest thing to a mortal." He glanced at me."The children?"

I shook my head at him as I stood. “Their blood is too heavy with magic to draw out with a spell.”

Nodding at my guests I headed out of the room. "My apologies, I was hoping it would take them a few days to catch up with the children. I will take care of this and return momentarily."

Ankha started to rise herself. “Do you want help?”

I turned and shook my head. “I appreciate the offer, but I wouldn't want to trouble my guests.”

As I started to head out once more, I stopped for a moment to point at Larry. "Do not look under the remaining covers on the map or my notes."

I ignored his protests of innocence. All Mithratic knights were errant ones, regardless of all their claims.

The boy was awake and standing behind the front window, peeking out to the park across the street. He jumped in surprise as I laid my hand on his shoulder.

Just a little pick me up before I headed out.

Looking up at me, he seemed honestly concerned for me. “It’s my cousin, Samhain. He’s supposed to be strong.”

I shook my head. “He’s still just another Blood Mage. And the only thing in my veins is dust.”

The gathering crows cried out as I headed across the street, raising the hood of my pullover both for dramatic effect and to protect my hair from the excited birds circling above me.

The young man was wearing a long dark coat without a shirt underneath that showed off his nearly gaunt frame, as well as a wide top hat with a snake skeleton as a hat band. He stood waiting for me in front of the fountain which had been shut down for the night and now stood still with its waters turned deep red from the dozens of rats and stray dogs which lay around it with their throats cut.

The birds cawed and looked on in eagerness at the Blood Mage’s discards.

I sighed. “Did we really have to do this tonight? I have guests.”

The boy smirked and raised his hands above his head, all of his fingers spread out, "You don't have to do anything, leech boy, except burn."

Then his hands ignited with the burning light of the noonday sun.

Kind of.

True sunlight destroys my kind with the divine radiance of a bitter, spiteful old god. The imitation stuff hurts, but it takes forever to kill us.

His eyes went wide as I didn’t burst into flames, not even noticing as the outer layers of my flesh turned to gray stone and began to crack and break with each step as I closed in on him.

“Why ain’t you burning, keep back! Burn!”

He doubled down on the intensity of his spell, enough for the light to come through the cloth of the top of my hoodie as I leaned my head forward in a failed attempt to protect my eyes. As they turned to stone I reached forward toward where I could taste his fear and closed one of my hands on one of his shoulders, and the other on his opposite arm.

From there it wasn't hard to move them over to his throat.

The light keep petrifying me as he pressed his hands still burning like the rays of the sun against my face, but all the damage he was doing was healing as far as he was inflicting it from my feast on his terror.

He tried to step back, only for the back of his legs to hit the rim of the fountain, and he went over into the blood soaked water.

From there it wasn’t much trouble to just keep his head under as his sunlight spell ended and my eyes and skin began to turn back from stone to flesh.

Just in time to see the bloody water began to rise up and take the forms of the rats and hounds from which the blood had come from.

I did not know Blood Magi could do that. Knowing in advance they could do that would have been very helpful.

Leaning away from them gave the Blood Mage enough leverage to tear himself free of my hands and gasped for air as he crawled back through the waters of the fountain until he could rise to his feet with his back to the central array of stone cherubs and mermaids that normally spit water out through the air into the fountain.

Not my design. The city let someone put it in my park while I was out of the country for a few decades and was unable to stop them. By the time I had gotten back, it had become "Historical."

I waited to see what the mage would do next as he caught his breath. I certainly wasn't going to go into the water. More than any other, water and my particular kind of vampire don't mix. Even still water.

He pointed at me. “You. You’re going to die. Then, the children are mine.”

Well, that appeared to have made it clear that this wasn’t about just me to the watching birds.

The first crow tore open the back of his hand, the next caught the side of his face while others just dive bombed him to tear at his huge head of curled hair.

But the first drop from the back of his was the one that mattered. The red bead fell and struck the water, and all the rat and dog constructs formed from the stolen blood turned from slowly advancing on me to gaze at their master.

Then they exploded into motion as him, biting at him to tear open holes in his flesh to drain away all of his blood.

Now I know why I never heard of Blood Magi doing that spell. All in all, it just seemed to be a fairly useless form of magic.

Mrs. Astarte stepped out of the shadows while making a Tsking sound and tapping something on her tablet. “I wasn’t aware Melanc Vampires had dominion over animals Mr. Atribile?”

I stared at her for a moment then shook my head. "Dominion would be the last word I used to describe my relationship with these pests Mrs. Astarte. They are the descendants of my Mother's familiar and after my last sister died they began following me around since I was the last of her children."

Jerking away from a flutter of wings I narrowly prevented one of them from landing on my shoulder.

“I can guaranty they didn’t intervene on my behalf out of some sense of loyalty, they just wanted the fight to be over so they could feed in peace.” I wave my hand at the greedy horde which had settled on the dead animals. I noticed they avoided the dried out remains of the dead magi sinking in the now clear waters of the fountain. There was no sign of blood or the creatures he had made of it in sight.

The representative of the Society nodded. “Then I think perhaps you should let that particular bird land on your shoulder so you can take it inside. It appears that at least one of the children has acquired a servant.” She gestured to an upper story window in which I caught a brief glimpse of a started looking young girl before the curtain dropped back into place.

I sighed and waved at a raven with a few red feathers mixed in its otherwise black wings as it flew to my shoulder with a mocking cry and began pecking at my ear with its beak.

Pointing to the corpse I asked Mrs Astarte, “I trust that will be cleaned up.” She nodded. “A discrete ghoul will deal with it and send the bones to his family. Good night Mr. Atribile.”

The bird launched itself up the stairs toward the girl's room as soon as I got inside, there was of course no bird for the boy from my mother's flock. I suppose I would need a few perches, some feed, and some newspapers to spread out below where ever it chooses to roost.

Where would I even get a newspaper these days?

The boy watched the bird fly off before the turned to look at me. “He had brothers, and sisters, and his father.”

I shrugged. "I have more birds, and if needed. I can just shoot them with a large caliber rifle from the rooftop. I don't have to play by the same rules they do."

He shrugged after a moment. “Can I watch the rest of your game?”

I waved at him to follow me. “Up to you, if you have nightmares, I can promise you that they won’t bother me.”