Chapter 94 – Everyone’s Losses (2/2)

I couldn't do anything for these people. I couldn't do anything for those that died to that bastard's hands, directly or indirectly. Most likely I couldn't do anything for those who had a loved one die to his hands either.

All I could do was show my remorse for not being able to do anything.

”D...daddy? Daddy!”

I shuffled back to make room before balling my fists.

It seemed like the first person who recognized one of the corpses rushed forward.

The sound of her sobbing reached my ears, yet I couldn't do anything for her.

I couldn't comfort her.

My condolences would be worthless.

I had nothing of value for her at that moment, and that fact was all too frustrating.

Slowly, the other two bodies were identified and there were more people weeping for the dead.

But as expected, it happened.

”What about Derek?”

”Did you find Joseph?”

”My son! Alex! What about him?”

The rest tried to huddle around me, shaking my shoulders and asking me where their loved ones were.

The words choked in my throat as if they were trying to strangulate me, but eventually through a tightened throat and forcibly suppressed tears, I managed to squeeze out the words I had to say.

”The others...were unrecognizable. I'm sorry.”

My voice was quiet, but to those who were desperately hoping for good news, it was deafening.

...

...

...

”That vampire killed them all. The blood of a murderer is in my belly.”

Somehow, against all imagination, an icy stone that dropped to the pit of my stomach had been drilled further down.

Disregarding the people who were leaning against me for support, I jumped to my feet and searched for the one who let out those faint words.

”That murderer's blood.”

”A killer vampire's blood.”

There were more voices that latched onto the first.

The thought that came from that made a shiver run down my spine.

(Who said that?!)

My eyes scanned around, and found a woman with a scowl on her face. One hands was on her swollen belly, and another on a stone bowl, raised up high.

”Don't!”

I leaped over everyone's heads and landed beside that woman. I grabbed her arms and held them tightly to stop her from doing something irreversible.

”Don't stop me! There's a killer, a vampire's blood inside of my belly!”

”No, but...!”

”That monster forced himself on us! All of us!”

”It's a killer's blood!”

”His baby is in our bodies!”

”It's YOUR baby!”

I shouted, far louder than I intended.

But it worked. My words made everyone freeze for a moment, allowing me to collect my thoughts.

”No matter what, the baby inside of you is yours. I know that you didn't want it, but the sins of the father shouldn't be laid upon the children! Everyone is born innocent!”

My tears, which I had been holding back so hard for so long, were flowing freely down my cheeks as I fell to my knees as I begged.

”Please. Life might be common and everywhere, but it is still a miracle. I know it's your body and you deserve to have ultimate control over it, but please, think through it before you do something irreversible.”

I let go of her arms lowered my head, pressing it against the stone floor. I didn't know why I was going so far for such a thing, but I felt like I needed to. At the very least, I couldn't let everyone's emotions take away rational thought.

Or maybe my own emotions had already taken away my rational thought and I was just trying to justify it.

Things had gotten difficult these last few days, I wasn't sure just how badly my judgment was being clouded.

”Miss...why are you so desperate about it?”

One of the women spoke up, voice full of curiosity.

”Look, your kind might fear and envy vampires like myself, but the thing is, we feel the same towards your kind as well, you know?”

”Huh? But vampires are so powerful, and live so long.”

”But our skin burns under the sun. We take damage from typical healing magic. We're born all alone, often fated to die alone. We can smell the sweetness of fruit, yet can't taste it even a little. We vampires have a lot of things to be envious about you know?”

The fact that I knew these things made some things harder, but I've accepted it all. Only some vestiges were left, things that I hadn't realized I had lost.

”Until a few days ago, I thought I couldn't even have children of my own.”

There was a few gasps around me.

”Even further, you know about Scarlet, right?”

Someone had mentioned her before, but I didn't know if it was common knowledge here.

”You mean Saint Scarlet? I think there are fewer people who don't know her.”

Almost everyone around me nodded to confirm what she had said.

”Did you know, she was a vampire?”

There were a few gasps again, but fewer this time.

”So it was true?”

I nodded.

”But here's the thing. Apparently, the whole reason why she travelled the world was to find the secret behind creating a family.”

”What?! But...”

”That's not a secret!”

”That doesn't make sense!”

”It's true. What she wanted more than anything else was to have a family. But she didn't know how. She thought it was some great secret of the other races. So she travelled to seek it out. To find records of how it was done. To find someone who could trust her enough to reveal the one secret she sought more than anything else.”

”But...that doesn't make any sense!”

Everyone else nodded to her words.

”Of course it doesn't. Because you were all born to families. To you it's not a secret at all, because it's so well known nobody ever has to talk about it. But for us, for vampires, we aren't born to any families. We have no way to know unless someone tells us. And in the end, Scarlet died without ever finding out the world's best known secret.”

”But now you finally know, Master”

I ignored Claret's terribly timed interjection.

”It's the same for me as well. I slowly gathered the knowledge about it all, but I only learned how it all starts a few days ago. I lived my entire life not knowing how I could get pregnant. So please, at least think about it a little before you snuff out those innocent lives inside of you.”

I lowered my head once again, pressing it against the cold ground.

”Umm, I'm sorry. You're right. This baby isn't guilty of any sins.”

A hand gently touched my shoulder and I looked up to see a gentle smile. It looked a bit forced, but it felt extremely warm.

”Sorry for yelling as well.”

”No, it's my fault for doing something so rash.”

I sat up and looked around me. The figures around me were smiling, and I smiled back.

”Well, I understand that at least some of you still can't get over having an unwanted child.”

I wiped my face with my the back of my hand, got up and made another announcement.

”If you still feel that way tomorrow, I can try an abortion.”

”An abortion?”

”It's when you force a fetus out of the body before it is ready. My knowledge about reproduction is pretty lopsided, but I at least know enough on the theory that I should be able to preform an abortion as long as you're not too far into term.”

”What's too far?”

”Hmm...I guess when you're showing more than a tiny bump is too far?”

To be frank, if they were showing at all, I doubted that any sane doctor would allow an abortion that late, but since I could also use healing magic, that would probably not cause permanent damage. It was better to allow a bit more leeway than was ethically possible on Earth without healing magic.

I got up to my feet.

”But I'm sure that you all have a lot to process right now. I'll be outside. I don't think you girls want a vampire like me around tonight.”

As everyone quieted down, I squeezed my way between them and slowly made my way to the entrance.

But against my expectation, something grasped my hand before I could get all the way through.

Looking down, I saw the one who grabbed my hand was the unresponsive who I fed the day before.

Baffled at the sight, I simply froze, my mind unable to keep up with the wholly unexpected sight of her doing anything proactively.

”Y, you don't have to go! Stay with us!”

A voice echoed through the silence. When I turned, there was a single figure standing amongst all the sitting women, looking directly at me.

”You've done so much for us already! It doesn't matter that you're a vampire!”

That was the one that was following me on the first day. Epione.

I didn't know if it there was a deeper meaning to it or not, but I wished that she didn't say that as if it was bad being a vampire.

But after her words, everyone else ended up agreeing, so I ended up staying for the night.

It wasn't like there was much for me to do outside anyways, and being used as a pillow by that formerly unresponsive woman made me smile so much I thought that my face would be stuck in that position for the rest of my life.

Yet even if it did, I wouldn't have had any complaints.

Ninetailed_Furball

Hi everyone! It's your usual furball!(/◕ヮ◕)/

Sorry for another dark one, but you all knew it was coming in one shape or another. m(_ _)m

I hope everyone enjoyed it though.

I don't know if it was entirely appropriate, but I just had to add that little bit of fluffiness at the end. No matter how dark things get, there always needs to be some fluff somewhere to make up for it. (#^.^#)

We've gone past the darkest bits, so from here on things will be getting a bit lighter. I've been itching to write nothing but pure fluff with how dark this arc's been, so I hope that you guys will have your insulin ready, because we'll be going full on type two pretty soon! (✿◠‿◠)

That aside, on an IRL side, I've been noticing, or rather, it was hard to miss that people have been going shopping a lot despite the fact that things are still rough on the COVID side.

I ask that if you need to buy groceries, try to keep it limited to once a week, or even less if you can manage. Same with your whole household. The more often you go out to where there are other people, the more you put not only yourself, but your whole household and everyone you meet at risk.

Don't go out repeatedly in the hopes of getting the one thing you really want, but go for alternatives. Buy cereal if pasta is short. Buy oats if bread is scarce. If you're having trouble getting eggs, buy bananas or apple sauce.

And it seems like sourdough bread is becoming a bit of a fad lately, but if you or your family's bored, instead of following a fad and going through three grocery stores to find flour and sugar, how about learning a new language? There's lots of bored people all over the world who won't mind helping you pick up their language over any assortment of online chat programs. Maybe you can help them learn English while you're at it?

Anyways, this thing's been tough on all of us, and we're in it for the long haul. Don't expect things to get better in a couple of weeks or something, despite what they're saying on the news.

Wash your hands, maintain social distancing, and stay safe!

Adios! (≧∇≦)/