It would be a very idyllic place, if not for the vampires' battleship swimming just a few meters off the coast. Dark and threatening, like a black floating fortress that could unleash destruction on the meeting site, it served as a reminder for the humans that they were completely outgunned.

At first the human delegation, consisting of Kureto Hiiragi and his assistant Aoi Sanguu, Guren's squad, Shinoa's squad and two squads responsible for guarding the site (a weaker equivalent of the battleship) had travelled by pick-up trucks, but then the street became too narrow and the humans had to abandon their vehicles at an overgrown parking lot.

The vampires had already been waiting. 2nd Progenitor Urd Geales sat at the table, which once had been a picnic table. The entire place showed signs of a recent clean up, but the vampires had not bothered to repair the wooden fence enclosing the former picnic area. Behind Geales stood 5th Progenitor Ky Luc, his hand heavy on a captured JIDA soldier. The soldier tried to put on a brave face, but couldn't contain the shivers of dread running over his body. Luna sat on one of the stable parts of the fence. Next to her stood Crowley, his aides and Ferid.

When the humans came closer, constantly checking the area for additional vampires lying in wait, Geales stood up. Kureto dauntlessly approached the table. "I was under the impression I would meet with your First Progenitor today."

"Their time is far too valuable to be spent on a matter like this," Geales said without a hint of emotion. "You will be negotiating with me instead. I am authorized to make decisions in their stead. Also, I have brought you a token of our First's goodwill."

On a nod Ky Luc let the human go, who after a moment of hesitation à la 'are they really letting me go?' scrambled towards his comrades and almost collapsed when he was safe in their midst.

"Your leader sure is gracious. Thank you," Kureto said.

"The First is kind towards their allies and destroys those, who oppose them," Geales replied. "Shall we start the peace talks?"

The two sat down at the table.

When Yu spotted Crowley and Luna on the other side he wanted to call out a greeting, but Shinoa squeezed his upper arm.

"Don't, Yu. This is not the time to be buddy-buddy with the enemy."

"But Crowley and Luna are friends?"

Shinoa sighed. "Why don't you follow Yoichi's lead?"

The smaller boy had given the vampires a small wave, which Luna had answered by waving an annoyed Crowley's hand. The man seemed to complain about something, probably along the lines of 'aren't we enemies? Why are you waving? Why do I have to too?', but if anything it made Luna smile more.

"Are you kidding me?!" Kureto shouted. "Did you actually assume the JIDA would accept your outrageous demands?"

"No, but you did inquire about our demands," Lord Geales smoothly replied. "The essence of negotiations is to find a compromise and I am willing to listen to your proposal."

A flash of red on the edge of this vision caught Mika's attention. He looked at the vampires. Crowley and his aides had not moved a muscle. Ferid was still there too, though he wasn't wearing anything red to begin with. Where was Luna? Kureto was still ranting at Geales and kept the others' attention on the talks. Was Mika the only one who had noticed the vampire's absence?

Mika tapped Yu's shoulder. "Luna vanished."

"Eh?"

Shinoa, who stood next to them, heard that too. "Where do you think she went? Do you think she's preparing an ambush?"

"I don't know," said Mika. "But I will find out where she went." He deliberately made eye contact with the short woman, a silent question. 'May I go?'

Shinoa nodded.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Yu asked.

Mika shook his head. "I'm faster than you and your absence will be noticed soon. It's better if I go alone."

"Okay. Stay safe."

Mika carefully surveyed his surroundings and when nobody was looking he jumped into the bushes. Thanks to his vampire powers he did not make a sound and crept stealthily through the undergrowth until he couldn't hear the others anymore. Then he started running.

Mika had a theory where Luna had gone to. Of course if he was wrong, his family could be in grave danger, but he was pretty sure that he was right. Luna would go to Hiroshima, where Krul was being held. Mika wasn't sure whether she was going to break Krul out right now or if she was going on reconnaissance. Even a First Progenitor should not be powerful enough to take on an entire fully staffed JIDA facility.

Running along, Mika did not see a single sign that Luna had been here. Not a stone out of place or a pink hair caught on some twigs. There was no way he was going to catch up with her no matter how much he pushed himself and still Mika pushed himself to go faster, faster, fast enough to close the distance.

A stone moved under his foot and Mika took a tumble down a slope. He was unhurt, but his black JIDA uniform was muddy and his throat itched. It was annoying and exhausting, running after someone so fast and still Mika grudgingly admired Luna. She had crossed 200 kilometers on top speed without leaving any trace.

Finally behind the next hill laid Hiroshima. Mika searched the hill. If he were trying to get a good look at the city without being seen, where would he go to? Certainly he would not cross the city. Way too dangerous. That leaves only the entire western hillside. Great. Even before the Apocalypse many of the hills had dense foliage and since there was no one left to stop the plants, it was now even more overgrown. Maybe there was a road running along the slope or some sort of tower.

Mika did indeed find the ruins of a pylon for high-voltage power lines. No electricity was running through the lines and Luna wasn't there, but it still made for a great lookout point. The city was green and grey, with the occasional speck of color from a yet not completely rusted car. The hillside was more green than grey.

A red spot caught Mika's attention. It was quite far away on a bridge for pedestrians. It could be a jacket or some other heap of clothing, but still it was worth investigating. He snuck closer.

It moved! Mika tried to walk even more silent and stilled his breath, a left-over reflex from his human life. Luna was crouching on the bridge and drawing something. She hadn't noticed him. There was a gap in the bridge between Mika and Luna. He would not be able to cross it unnoticed.

Mika unsheathed his sword and allowed it to scrape the scabbard. Luna whirled around.

She sighed in relief. "Oh, it's you. I thought you were at the negotiations."

"I thought the same of you."

"Ah." Luna waved the paper and pencil in her hand. "Well, obviously I was trying to spy, but that turned out well. Are you going to capture me?"

Mika hesitated. There was no need to say anything about the First or Krul. There had to be a reason why Luna preferred to stay incognito. Was it fair to confront her with the truth? Then again, Mika and his family were in a difficult position. They had to know who their allies were and they had to know the truth to decide on the best course of action. Was it fair to them to deny information to save Luna some discomfort?

"No. You are more powerful than me."

Luna ignored his second statement. "Thank you! I just need to finish the northern block and I'll be on my way again." She flattened the paper on the pavement and started drawing.

Mika jumped over the gap and walked up to her. Luna's drawings were schematics of the buildings and small notes littered the edges of the paper. The words were in a foreign language Mika didn't understand, but he did recognize the handwriting.

"Why didn't you tell us? Why did you hide it?"

Luna made a 'I have no idea what you are talking about; Please explain' noise.

"You are a First Progenitor." There. Mika said it.

Luna looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. "And what makes you think that?"

Mika explained. He talked about the names, her handwriting, about the weird inconsistent power that Luna had displayed, her nonchalance about breaking vampire-kind's rules and her knowledge about her people.

After all that Luna only nodded and said: "That sound's reasonable." She went back to drawing.

Anger boiled in Mika's blood. It was frustrating. It had been so difficult bringing all those facts together and when confronted with them Luna neither denied nor acknowledged them. She had promised not to lie, but continued to weasel her way out.

"I want to know! Are you a First Progenitor?"

She hadn't stopped drawing and she was running out of space. "Why do you need to know?"

"Because I need to know! I need to know who I can trust!" The memories were safely stuck in his head and the feelings they evoked clawed at Mika's heart. Their time in Russia. Luna playing cards with Mika. Going snorkeling. Learning how to gut fish. Luna offering blood to Mika. Training on the beach. Luna beating Yu in a duel. Reading in the library. "I want to know, if you are still the person we met. I want to trust you."

Luna had finished her sketches, folded up the paper and put paper and pen away. Then she stood up and dusted her pants of. "You're right. I am Luna Martina Tepes, daughter of Vlad Tepes and current First Progenitor of the Tepes faction. You can still trust me, though. I am always myself and I try my best to not hurt you or your family."

Her admission frazzled Mika almost as much as the uncertainty had before. It was a relief to know he wasn't just imagining things, but now he had to deal with reality. Mika had so many questions. He didn't know a lot about First Progenitors. He had no idea how powerful they were in both the physical and political sense. What question should he ask first?

"I'm done here. I'll go back," Luna said.

"I'll escort you," Mika said and leaped from the bridge.

Luna followed him. "Are you scared I'm going to cause havoc? Maybe attack some civilian?"

Mika glared at her and Luna grinned. "Relax, I'm not Ferid. Also there is nothing to gain for me here."

"There is Krul," Mika said softly.

"I'll come back for her later. Either the negotiations succeed or I'll have to plan a rescue mission."

Ah, now Mika finally knew what to ask first.

They made their way through the suburbs of Hiroshima. The houses were utterly broken. They spooked a flock of pigeons. Glass shards were littering the floor. What was the result of a natural disaster could as well be the result of a war.

"If Krul was severely hurt, what would you do?"

The gentle smile slipped of Luna's face and was replaced by an anxious expression. "I don't know. I really don't." The vampire sighed. "She is my little sister and I'll always love her. I'd do anything for her. Absolutely anything."

That was something Mika understood.

Instead of travelling along the coast where they would be spotted easily, the vampires abandoned the highway and journeyed inland. It never had been as densely populated and the chance of running into a JIDA patrol was lower.

Mika realized that the reason why Luna did not leave any tracks must be centuries of training. Even on slippery river rocks she was surefooted and she indeed preferred those because there was little to get caught on or leave tracks on.

"Have you decided on what you are going to do once Krul is free again?"

"Heh, are you trying to interrogate me? That's not going to work, you know. I'm good with secrets~." Luna grinned. Then she laughed at Mika's exasperated expression. "I have no plan yet, I mean, actually I have a lot depending on what happens. I guess, in the end I'll go back home. I like my current life."

Then there was a loud cracking sound shattering the peace in this valley.

Luna had stopped and surveyed their surroundings. Mika walked up right next to her.

"What do you think that was?" Luna asked her voice barely above a whisper.

Mika watched the scenery. He could still hear cracking and scraping sounds, but couldn't quite pinpoint them. "Maybe a Four Horsemen of John?"

"It's pretty loud."

They continued their way, not actively searching for the source, but strangely the sounds grew louder and louder. The valley widened and revealed a city. Unlike most metropolises, this town consisted mostly of two-story buildings which made spotting the horseman quite easy.

"Oh. Well that one surely is bigger than usual."

Luna was right. Mika had fought a lot of horsemen during his time as city guard. This one was at least twice as big as a regular horseman. The markings on his body were also quite unusual, but also hauntingly familiar. "It's the same kind as the one that attacked us at your place."

"Then it's probably curse-resistant too." Luna sighed.

The horseman was heading south-west towards their friends.

"Since it is like the other one, it's probably after Yu and the others or the JIDA commanders," Mika said.

"Then we should stop it here. Either it will disrupt the negotiations or it will ambush you guys on the way back and then," a grin crept into Luna's voice, "I won't be around to help."

"Are you sure we don't need backup?" Mika asked. Sure, he hadn't seen Luna's full power yet, but he had fought this beast before and it had been way tougher than a regular horseman. If the defenses had not charred its body beyond its regenerative abilities then they might have died that day. Despite lamenting his fate as a vampire, Mika would rather not die.

"I'm not sure how we could get backup without drawing too much attention. Besides," Luna grinned, "I'm here and I can hold my own even without my sword!"

…

'Wait,' Mika thought, 'without her sword?' "You did not bring your weapon? But you do have a dagger or something, at least for self-defense?"

"Nah. If they can't catch you, they can't kill you," Luna stated.

She started sprinting towards the monster and Mika was hot on her heels. "You're unarmed?! On hostile territory?! Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?! Or what the JIDA is going to do to you if they capture you?!"

"It'll be fine. I haven't lost against anyone else other than my father ever. Not in hand-to-hand combat or with weaponry involved. I'll just grab a steel bar or rod."

"It's not fine!" Mika hissed. "You could die!"

Luna stared at him with wide eyes at a loss for words. The first that came to her were: "Thank you."

Before Mika could ask what she meant by that, the young woman had taken a sharp turn into the staircase of an apartment complex and proceeded to rip off the handrail. Then she broke it to a length of 1.5 meters and pronounced it 'not ideal, but useable'. Mika highly doubted that assessment.

They jumped onto the rooves. From up here they had a clear view of the monster. If it had noticed them, it did not show it. The Horseman continued its path south-west, trampling over anything that was in its way.

"Maybe it would be better if you took my sword. With that, maybe you could take the horseman down on your own."

"I'm not compatible with your weapon. I'm not compatible with any enhancement weapons. I'd just break it." Luna shrugged. "That's why I have a custom-made sword, you know."

She sped up and in the blink of an eye Luna had closed the distance and brought her staff down on the monsters body. The sheer force had it crashing to the ground. Luna rolled herself off and rammed the staff through one of the tentacles into the earth.

The monster let out an ear-shattering scream and attacked the vampire she dodged the first strike and then Mika was there and slashed the pincered arms in half. Luna ripped her staff free and took to covering Mika's back.

Back to back they fought. Mika was cleaving arm after arm, while Luna blocked, deflected or stopped them.

"They grow back to fast!" Mika shouted. Surely by now he had cut each tentacle at least once, but there was no end in sight! Those damn things just regenerated too fast! Even vampires healed more slowly.

"Where does it get the energy for this regenerative ability from?" Luna threw a glance at Mika's hands. Unlike her, he wore gloves. They would protect him a bit from the heat. Still, he wasn't used to that technique. Luna pressed her lips together and decided to change tactics.

She heated up the metal staff in her hands until it burned her skin.

Mika slashed an arm in two and smelled the burning skin. "What are you-?"

Luna turned and raked the red glowing metal over the horseman's fresh wound. It howled and drew the burnt appendage back. And then it probably decided that it had enough of these vampires. Instead of one by one in quick succession, the monster drew its arms back and together.

"It's going to crush us," Luna warned.

The two vampires jumped back and just when its arms were horizontal the horseman charged. Mika watched the pointy pincers closing in on his heart and eyes. He had not expected this! What was he supposed to do? There was no time!

Mika was ripped off his feet by a pair of strong arms. Luna threw them through a window into a building, where she immediately go up, pulled Mika up and made a beeline for the back door. Just when they stumbled outside, the horseman flattened the building behind them.

The two vampires rounded a corner and fled into an open and long ago looted store, where they hid behind the counter. The noise outside died down. The horseman wasn't hunting them. Maybe it was because Four Horsemen of John don't hunt vampires, or maybe it was because it was a weird horseman, who for some reason had a mission.

"Oh dear, that was close," Luna huffed.

"Close?! We stood no chance at all!" Mika hissed. "I thought you had a plan! I thought you knew what you were doing!"

The pink haired vampire shrugged. "I was a bit surprised. I didn't know, it would regenerate that fast."

Then she lapsed into silence.

Mika waited for a bit, but when it didn't look like Luna was going to say anything else he asked: "So, how are we going to stop it before it reaches my family?"

Luna made a strangled sound and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Can you keep a secret? … It's not supposed- I didn't want it to be a weapon, but it's the ace in my sleeve if anything goes wrong. It's a kind of magic and there are only three, no four people who know I can do this. And I want it to stay that way."

"Alright. If we can take it down that way then fine."

Apparently Mika did not sound grave enough, because Luna demanded: "No. Swear that you will not tell anyone of how we took that thing down, not even Yuichiro!"

Mika hesitated. After he had reunited with Yu he had tried to become more open, to divulge information, to share his experiences.

"Please, Mika." She was pleading. Whatever this magic was it must be really important to her.

"Fine. I'll swear that I will not tell anyone how we killed this horseman."

Luna smiled. "Thank you." It gave Mika's heart a squeeze.

And with that she was off. Mika scrambled after her. She was charging straight at the monster! What the hell?! Mika reached for his sword and bolted right after her. The horseman was now weary of them and when it had noticed the two returning, it had turned claws poised to strike. With one of its claws it lashed out at Luna.

Mika knocked her aside and blocked it, but it pushed him back and then the pressure was gone and the monster was screaming. Small blue flames were dancing around Luna's hand.

Enraged the horseman launched itself again at the vampires. Luna crouched down and moved her hand in a half-circle over the pavement, leaving yellow flames in her wake. From those a wall of red fire appeared. Mika felt the heat on his skin. The horseman pulled back.

"Step back, please. I don't want to hurt you by accident."

Mika stepped back as asked, but kept his sword ready just in case. The firewall crashed down, the red flames running over the ground like liquid. They flickered and changed color. Red, yellow, green, blue, violet and white. Sparks and fireballs jumped around like overeager puppies. How Luna could stand the heat in the middle of this inferno was a mystery.

The monster sized the vampire up. Two times it had been thwarted. Two times it had been burned. It clicked its claws.

The horseman lashed out with its left claw. Luna ducked close to the ground. The flames surged in the wake of the monster's claw, circled back around to form a golden dragon with two wings and a serpent's body. It opened its jaw and breathed fire over the horseman's exposed side. The monster stumbled in to a building in a frantic attempt to escape.

The dragon stopped spewing fire and as it closed its mouth colors bloomed from its body forming colorful scales and a mane of rainbow feathers. It circled around its conjurer, who couldn't keep herself standing anymore. Luna was down on her knees yet the flames around her were still dancing.

The monster had enough of fire and decided to go for the other vampire. Mika switched to a fighting stance brandishing his sword, but before the monster reached him the fire-dragon rushed in and dissolved into an orange dome of whirling flames capturing the horseman.

The dome grew narrower. Mika looked over to Luna, who held her hands out like she wanted to compress the dome. Then the dome collapsed, rapidly shrinking in width, but growing in height, until it exploded as a short pillar-shaped burst of energy.

Nothing, not even ash, was left of the Four Horsemen of John.

Mika sheathed his sword and walked over to Luna, who was still on the ground and held herself upright with her arms. "Are you okay?"

The woman pointed at the now empty space. It took her a second to catch her breath. "That went better than expected. I'll just need a second to rein everything in again."

"I don't quite understand why this is supposed to be a secret. I saw Krul create a dragon of fire on a battlefield before."

Luna laughed and it sounded a bit hoarse. "It's not the same at all. On a better occasion I can tell you about it." She covered her mouth with a hand. "I think I'm going to be sick and the floor started moving again. Oh, I hate Japan. No offence, but I don't do well on tectonic plate boundaries."

"Can I help you somehow?" Mika asked.

"I'll be fine." Luna pushed herself to her feet and combed stray strands of hair out of her face. "Come on, let's go. We still have a way to go."

Mika watched her stiffly jogging away. Why did all the people around him push him away when they clearly needed help? Okay, maybe that sounded a bit hypocritical, but Mika liked to think that he himself had gotten a bit better when it came to relying on others.

At first, they journeyed on in silence. Mika watched Luna concerned about the fatigue on her face. Before it had felt like she had been limiting herself to his speed, but now Mika felt like Luna was the one trying to keep up.

"Are you sure you are alright? Do you need a break?"

"We don't have time for a break," Luna replied not taking her eyes of the path.

They were already close to the negotiations. Yet Luna made no move to slow down or take any care at all.

Mika grabbed her upper arm. "There are JIDA soldiers guarding the place. If they see you out here, -"

"I know," Luna interrupted him. "I did sneak out and I am able to sneak back in." She stopped and listened.

Mika stayed quiet. If she got herself captured, it would not be his fault. He wasn't trying to get her captured, but on the same time Mika was annoyed at her lack of caution. In seconds his brain was able to come up with dozen of situations that got the other vampires, Krul, Mika's family or them hurt or killed.

Maybe someone would come along and spot them. Would Luna kill that soldier? If yes, Mika would have to fight her. If not the soldier would raise an alarm. Fighting would break out. Kureto Hiiragi would attack the vampires, they would retaliate and –

"Hey." Luna snapped her fingers in front of Mika's face. "The air is clear. Are you okay? You don't look so good."

"It's nothing. I just thought about how dangerous this is."

Luna grabbed his hand. "The sooner we're back the better. And by the way, I didn't ask you to follow me."

They crept through the undergrowth on hands and knees. Finally there was only one layer of bushes hiding them from view. The vampires' looked nonchalant yet bored as always. The General seemed to be a bit frustrated. Even though the main attention was on the peace talks, Mika knew if they were to leave the cover of the bushes all eyes would be on them.

"Now what?" he whispered as quietly as he could manage

"Ferid."

"What?"

Luna pulled out a phone. It looked like even before the apocalypse it had been outdated. "I'm calling Ferid."

"Why?"

When Luna pressed the 'call' button, the most abdominal song rang through the clearing. It was one of those songs that pierced your eardrums on the way to your brain, proceeded to chop your gray matter into tiny pieces and leave your head though the other ear, taking half your brain with it. 'Distracting' was not even close to being the correct description. 'Ear-shattering', 'distressing' or 'horrendous' were far better.

The vampires' hands flew to their ears and various calls ranging from 'Ferid, please shut that thing off' to some hefty ancient curses combined with the threat of shoving the phone down Ferid's throat if he did not turn the fucking thing of right this instant.

The humans were not immune either, cringing and trying to block their ears from the onslaught of that atrocious 'music'.

Finally, at last, Ferid muted the infernal device. "I apologize. I was absolutely certain that I had put it on mute," he said with a grin. The vampire must have possessed the thick skin of an elephant, because despite the murderous glares he was still standing chipper and nonchalant as always.

His good mood could also be caused by the fact that he had played his role perfectly. Without anyone noticing Luna had slipped back to the other vampires. She was standing next to Crowley, rubbing her ears, as if she had never left.

"You call this music, Ferid? Couldn't you have chosen literally any other song than this one?" she complained.

Ferid spread his arms. "Why, it's not my fault your taste for music does not go with the times. Also, what's wrong with personalizing my phone a bit, hm?"

"Can we kill him?" Chess asked and Horn agreed, the whip already in her hands: "Just say the word, Lord Crowley."

"Please put your whip down, Horn. You're upsetting the humans. I'm sure Ferid had a good reason." He side-eyed Luna.

She patted a pocket around her waist. "Everything worked out fine."

"What about Mikaela Hyakuya? He followed you."

"I know." She shrugged and left it at that. "What happened at the negotiations?"

"Ugh, it was sooooo boring," Chess complained. "I don't get why we can't simply crush them."

"Lord Geales and the Hiiragi are unable to agree on a few points," Crowley explained. "That lengthens the talks."

"Can I braid your hair?" Chess piped up and behind her Horn was hissing her name in scandalized shock. "What? I've braid Lord Croly's hair like four times already!"

"Five," Crowley quietly corrected her and Luna laughed.

"Sure. Can you braid them in such a way that I can pull them up later, if I want to."

"Yes, I can do that!" Chess went to work and Crowley bemusedly watched Horn's expression change from disbelief about Chess' frankness to worry about what would happen if her friend actually offended the First in some way.

After a moment of hesitation Mika had also used the distraction Ferid had caused to sneak back to his friends. If his absence had been noticed by any other human than them, they didn't say a word about it.

"You've been gone for an awful long while." Shinoa kept her voice low. "What happened on your little date?"

Mika blinked in confusion. How did that girl's brain work? Did she always have to put in an innuendo, even though it was the most outlandish assumption someone could have under these circumstances? Her question was a good one, though. Mika himself wasn't exactly sure how he should evaluate what had happened and what it meant for the future. This was something he wanted to talk about with the whole team.

But there was one thing he was absolutely sure about: "I think we have a problem."

Luna looked into the lavish crib. Inside laid a tiny baby clad in the finest woolen garments. She reached out and gently poked the baby's cheek. It started to wriggle.

"Are they always that small?" she asked.

Nero, who had decided to complete his latest piece of music in this very room, answered: "I think so. I've never fathered a baby before. The wet nurse was not worried."

"Was I so small too?"

"I suppose." The emperor plucked on the lyra's strings. "If all babies are that small then you must have been too."

Luna studied the child. It didn't do anything, just sleeping, eating and crying. "No, I was never that small." The baby started whimpering. "She's crying! What do I do?"

"Pick her up." At Luna's panicked 'how to I pick up a baby without breaking or dropping it' look he stood up and placed the child in the vampire's arms. "Here. Don't forget to support her head." Nero's daughter stopped crying. "See! She likes you!"

The girl softly patted the baby's reddish hair. It was incredibly soft.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

It was the middle of the night. Since there wasn't much to do, because everyone was sleeping, Luna had started to sleep too. She never slept deeply. Nero sadly joked, that he would never get to see her sleeping face, because she always woke up when he dared to walk by her room.

Obviously since baby Claudia grew, her voice also grew. Most nights when the baby started wailing for food she woke up Luna first, but then a wet nurse or her mother were at her side and fed her, so she went quiet and Luna fell asleep again.

But today the child did not want to stop crying so Luna had to go and investigate. She was Claudia's big sister after all! She found the baby in the arms of her wet nurse, who was quite surprised and maybe a tad scared to find the vampire standing in the doorframe.

"My Lady! I am sorry for waking you. I've already fed little Claudia and changed her diaper, but something is still amiss."

"It's fine. Give her to me please." When the wet nurse had deposited Claudia in her arms, Luna started rocking her and humming a lullaby that Nero once had composed for her. The cries turned into sniffles and slowly even the sniffles died down, but when Luna tried to hand her back to the wet nurse, Claudia wanted none of it.

"I guess I'll just stay with her." Luna yawned.

"My Lady you have to sleep too."

"I'll be fine. Why don't you go to sleep? Surely you need it more than I do."

Relief washed over the woman's face. "Thank you my Lady. Do you know where to find me?" At the acknowledging hum she left the room and the emperor's two daughters.

The child slept soundly in Luna's arms and just when the sky started to pale Luna deemed it safe enough to get some sleep too. The following morning was the first day Nero saw his eldest daughter sleeping. Not only was she sleeping soundly, but she had curled up protectively around her baby sister. Nero silently left the room and informed the teachers that Lady Luna would arrive to the lessons somewhat late.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Luna's head appeared over the crib and Claudia started wriggling and squeaking. When the vampire brought a wooden lion toy into her view, the baby's eyes went wide.

"Do you want the lion?"

Claudia's eyes flickered from the toy to her face and back. "Awawawaw."

"Here you go."

As soon as Claudia's hands grasped the lion it went straight to her mouth.

"Eww. Poppaea, Claudia is coating the lion in drool!"

"That's normal." Well, Poppaea had to know. She already had had a son before marrying Nero.

"Ouch! Don't pull my hair, child!" Luna had picked up her younger sister and now she pulled on her hair with her free hand.

"Don't scold her. Why are you running around with your hair down anyway?"

"I like it." The vampire tried to open the baby's fist and free her hair, but Claudia was surprisingly stubborn.

Poppaea clicked her tongue and rose from her seat in front of the make-up table. "Sit down. I'll do your hair."

Luna obediently sat down and while the older woman pulled at her hair, she kept entertaining the child on her lap with the shiny metal boxes containing whatever Poppaea used on her face and hair. Luna neither liked nor disliked the Augusta, but she tried to befriend her, because she was Nero's beloved wife.

Unknown to her, Poppaea had pretty much the same thoughts. Unless she were to conceive a son or Nero changed his mind about making Luna's unofficial adoption official, the young vampire, or more exactly her future spouse, would inherit the Roman empire. Poppaea wasn't stupid enough to fight with the girl, who received Nero's fatherly affections first.

"Oh! This is where my favorite people have hidden! Am I interrupting something?" The Cesar himself stood in the door frame.

Poppaea fixed the last needle in Luna's hair. "Not at all, love. I was just doing our daughter's hair. Tell it's beautiful and this style suits her well."

To Luna Nero said: "Your mother is right, dear. Your long hair is perfectly suited for pinned-up hairstyles and the color is lovely. Don't ever cut them, okay?" After Luna nodded, Nero turned his attention to his biological daughter. "And my little Claudia is here too." He picked her up and the child giggled and babbled.

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Claudia had a fever. The medicus had been called as soon as she showed symptoms. The child was surrounded by a group of women, who were just waiting for the doctor to say what he needed to treat her. Poppaea and Luna had not left the infant's side since and Nero looked in whenever he had a free minute.

"It's just a small fever," the doctor said on the first day.

"She smells weird. Do sick people always smell weird?" Luna commented and the doctor answered: "Yes, they do." Not for a second had he taken the girl's words seriously.

On the next day, the infant was coughing, wailing and had blood-stained snot running from her nose. The medicus prescribed herbal baths and teas, especially thyme, lavender and yarrow.

On the third day the doctor tried to get Claudia to swallow some theriac. Most of the cure-all landed on clothes or the floor. As soon as the physician was done Luna consoled the screaming baby and agreed with her that theriac was the foulest smelling substance in the world.

On the fourth day Claudia vomited everywhere and couldn't swallow anymore. Nero had stopped caring about governmental issues and spent all his time singing and playing for his poor daughter.

Claudia Augusta died on the fifth day, a rainy day in April, after only four months in this world.

Yay! I wrote more than 100k words!

The world gave me a sign that I should not be making promises to post a chapter on Day X when it's not finished on the day of the promise. -.- I don't think I can finish chapter 21 until late September. It'll probably take longer. Btw, I put the discussion about why Luna is allowed to spy on the JIDA despite being grounded in the patch-notes. I know it's a minor plot-hole but I didn't have the inspiration to write it.

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For Ryo: Don't worry, it's okay. I forget peoples' names a lot and also I'm the writer of this ff, but I was sitting at home like: 'Who is Cassia? Oh no I forgot one of my important characters! Poor Cassia. Let's see where I left you.' :D

I'm glad Luna's relationships with the other vampires are enjoyable to read. Sometimes I find it difficult to judge how they would react to things because of their different cultures and upbringings.

Truth to be told I haven't read the LN in a long time either. I mostly use them to check whether I still remember things correctly.

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There is actually a way to track someone who steps only on stones in the riverbed to not leave any tracks in earth. You have to check the underside of the stones for crushed mussels or insects. At least that's what I once heard.

I just watched a documentary about Mohenjo-Daro and I'm stunned. 4500 years ago these people build a city for 40 000 inhabitants with proper canalization! I love history! I also spend a lot time screaming into the void 'Why did this knowledge disappear?!'.

I had Claudia Augusta, Nero's real daughter (who really died young), come down with diphtheria. Babies get vaccinated against that bacterium and that's why it's almost extinct in developed countries. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Vaccines work.

Putting in scene breaks on is difficult (maybe it's just me?). I'm a simple author, I'm not asking for much. I'd just like to leave some more space between parts of the story. I just want to make a distinction between 'break-line story-author's note' and 'break-line scene1-scene2'.