6. Family

"Naruto? Are you down here?"

"Down the hall, Milla-chan!"

Crystal blue eyes took in the changes their resident human had made to the castle's dungeons. What had once been empty, desolate cells had been transformed into what could only be described as a science lab.

"I never took you for a man of science," she stated, one delicate eyebrow raised.

"You tend to pick things up after living for so long, ya know?" Naruto shrugged, smiling at her. "I won't discover anything new and can't do any complicated math but I can run some experiments and what not."

There it was again, the implication that the young man before her, who appeared no older than twenty five, was older than he appeared. Perhaps that regeneration of his didn't just apply to his wounds but also senescence, keeping him at his peak physical age.

"Hmm. And what have you been doing down here in this lab of yours?"

"Studying Viktor."

She followed his gaze to the vampire chained to the wall. With iron collars wrapped around wrists, throat and ankles, his mobility was reduced to a single meter from the wall. Not that he would be moving any time soon, but it was the thought that counts.

"And what are you studying exactly?" Carmilla smirked as she loomed over his shoulder, enjoying the way his shoulders stiffened ever so slightly.

"His… affliction, I guess you could call it."

"'Affliction?'" she parroted.

"Yea." Naruto moved his seat aside. "Take a look for yourself," he stated, gesturing towards the microscope. She did as he requested and found herself confused by what she saw.

"Is that… his blood?"

"Nope. That's Selene's blood." He turned around a glass vial on the table with the letter "S" etched onto the glass. "Those bigger cells, however, are his. They're just not strictly human in a sense."

As she watched, Carmilla couldn't help but feel intrigued by the cellular activity. Even at a cellular level, the vampire's cells behaved almost like a plague, consuming every non-infected cell until only the vampire's cells remained.

"From what I gathered from Viktor's memories," Naruto stated, "the werewolves are the same way. Even those they kill can come back, turned."

"Hmm." Carmilla hummed to herself, more concerned with a thought that had crossed her mind. "What happens if we introduce your blood to this strain of vampires?"

A knowing smile crossed Naruto's face before he bit open the tip of his finger, allowing a drop of his blood to drop onto a fresh slide. Before he could wipe away the excess blood, she took his hand and placed the wounded digit into her mouth.

Was it necessary? No.

Was it too much? Not at all.

Saliva dripped from his finger, back onto her awaiting tongue as he pulled it away. Her slender thighs crossed as she tried to quell the heat in her loins. As euphoric as Naruto's blood was, it wasn't the cause of her arousal; it was the sheer presence he gave off. In the moment it had taken him to rein himself back in, the sheer power he'd given off had triggered something in her.

"Your teasing is gonna come back to bite you in the ass one day."

"I just hope you'll be the one doing the biting."

"Do you want to see what my blood does to his or what?!"

"What do you have in mind if I'd said 'or what?'" They stared at one another for a moment as she waited for his response.

"Perverted fucking vampire."

"Horny vampire," Carmilla corrected. "You haven't started fucking me yet."

"... I regret saving you."

x-x-x-x-x

"Took ya long enough to run home."

Marcus didn't recognize the voice that followed Ana's report, detailing her escape from what he could only assume to be a massacre and the last they'll ever hear of Viktor. Ana, on the other hand, did recognize it.

"It's him!" Wide eyed and terror-stricken, the vampire whirled, searching for the voice that haunted her waking moments and terrorized her nightmares.

"Show yourself!" Marcus demanded.

The sound of hissing steel filled the throne room as Marcus, Amelia and their retainers drew their weapons. To their annoyance, laughter was their answer, echoing against the stone walls. In their uncertainty, the vampires flocked together, their backs to one another at the center of the room.

"I intruded on a den of vampires. What do you think a bit of steel is going to do to me?"

Someone gasped. As one, their assembled vampires turned towards the noise. Following the gaze of the vampires, they immediately pinpointed the cause: two glowing red eyes, each slitted like those of some predatory cat or venomous snake. There was something unnatural about the shadows that shrouded the newcomer. A mass of writhing darkness hid the perpetrator's features, but allowed the ominous glare of those crimson eyes to shine through.

"S-Show yourself!" one of the retainers shouted, though the gravitas of the demand was rather lacking given the stutter and the crack in his voice.

The red eyes regarded the vampire with amusement, tilting every so slightly. What set the others off, however, was the way it looked at the guard. Like the way someone would look at an insect.

"Why don't you make me?" Whether it was sheer instinct or some sense of vampiric pride, several guards charged into the shadows. One by one, they disappeared into the darkness. "Would anyone else like to try?"

The darkness receded and Ana screamed.

"Now," the interloper calmly stated, "is that how you treat all of your guests?" In his hand, a single guard was held by his neck, his feet kicking uselessly in the air. The rest were dead, impaled upon stakes of pure shadow.

For the first time in nearly a millennium, Marcus feared for his life.

x-x-x-x-x

"Stop that."

"Stop what?"

"That!" Lenore gestured at his face. "Stop doing that."

"Stop being me? Lenore-chan! That's so mean!"

"No! I meant that stupid smile of yours! You've been grinning ear to ear ever since you returned and haven't said anything about why." Lenore crossed her arms. "Am I to assume that you've lost your marbles?"

"I got to cut loose on a few vampires and sent a message," he shrugged.

"Right," she drawled. "And to clean up this new mess, do you need a diplomat or a maid?"

"Hey!" Naruto retorted, offended. "I will have you know that they didn't need a maid to clean up!" He scratched his head, slightly embarrassed now. "Though, we could use a diplomat to smooth things over with them…"

Lenore smirked, rolling her eyes as he tried to use those beautiful blue eyes to plead with her.

"You would make such a cute puppy," she remarked. "Alright," she sighed dramatically. "I suppose I should reach out to this new breed of vampires and talk with them. But!" She held up a finger, frowning sternly at him. "You will be making it up to me."

"Huh?" Naruto tilted his head, confused. "But what am I making up for?"

"For making my job more difficult!" Lenore poked and prodded him on the chest. "I am a diplomat! It's hard to speak of true diplomacy and be taken seriously when the opposing side is scared half to death because of you! So I demand compensation!"

"Compensation?" Naruto crossed his arms. "How-?"

"A date."

Lenore could've sworn she saw the idea bouncing around inside of Naruto's head before his eyes finally lit up in recognition, as if he'd only ever heard of a date as some far off concept.

"Oh! When?"

"Well, that's for you to decide is it not?" Lenore grinned. "This is my compensation; I will not be the one planning for it."

"Fine, fine." Naruto shook his head, uncrossing his arms and walking away with a smile. "I really do spoil you rotten."

Lenore walked back to her room with a smile on her face and a spring in her step, something several of the maids noticed given the muted looks they sent her way when they thought she wasn't looking. Bah. Who cares what they thought?

"He's taking you on a date?"

Oh right. The others. By virtue of some nosy vampires, everybody and their grandmother heard the news before midnight had come.

"Well, yes."

"Really now?" Striga crossed her arms. "Him?"

"You're just upset he defeated you again," Lenore commented, having clearly heard the disapproval in Striga's voice.

"Che." Striga crossed her arms and tried to look dignified, but they could all see how annoyed she was.

"Striga's thoughts aside," Morona giggled, "who brought it up?"

"I did," Lenore admitted proudly.

"Mm." Morona hummed. "And you're certain of this?"

"Yes, mother," Lenore rolled her eyes. "I'm certain of it."

"And when will you two be having this date?" Carmilla interjected.

"I left the planning and scheduling up to him," Lenore waved her hand dismissively.

"Hmm."

She really didn't like the little smile she saw on Carmilla's face. It was just a hair too wide, one tooth too many. Had she not known any better, she would've considered it a mark of the Queen's claim on Naruto himself. But that couldn't possibly be it, could it? For as long as she'd known the white-haired vampire, she'd never shown any romantic interest in anybody. Sexual interest, sure, but never romantic.

Lenore herself wouldn't mind it if she and Carmilla tag-teamed the blond. Heavens knows he has more than enough stamina for it if the constant training routines he went through were any indication.

Still. That smile unnerved her. Even then, it didn't take away from the giddy feeling she had in her stomach. Hoping to find a way to preserve the feeling, she sought out Naruto's company. Judging by the smell in the air, he was in the kitchen once again.

"Press the bottom of your hand into it." Naruto's voice, soft and encouraging, managed to cut through the whispers of the cooks and maids. "That's it. Now roll it up and tuck it back into itself."

Lenore smiled behind her hand, smiling as she watched Naruto teach Selene how to roll out pastry dough. Say what you will about her being a soulless creature of night, but Naruto and his ward did horrid things to her heart. Terrible, flippy-floppy, mushy things.

Speaking of terrible, flippy-floppy, mushy feelings…

That little side smirk Naruto sent her way made her think of the date she had finessed out of him. She was blushing now, wasn't she? Silly stupid boy. Silly stupid heart. Conspiring against her.

So she spent the night basking in the high of that feeling. It was almost unbelievable to see the way Selene had latched onto the blond and the blond doting on her and treating her as if she was his own. Of course, family was more than just blood; she and her sisters knew that better than anyone.

She nearly squealed when the bright-eyed child presented her with a baked though sloppily-made braided pastry. It definitely wasn't bad for a first time attempt.

"For me?" A shy nod melted her heart. "Thank you, little one." Instead of taking the bread, she reached down and plopped the girl onto her lap. "Let's try your bread together, yes?"

The girl smiled, however slightly, as they ate the freshly baked treat together. A bit doughy, a bit too sweet, but not bad for what she assumed to be the girl's first attempt. The little thing looked so proud of it too.

Naruto sat down beside her on the kitchen bench. Without even waiting for him to properly settle down on the seat, she leaned herself against him. Tucked into his side with her head on his chest, she shivered as the heat of his hand could be felt through her clothes, spreading across her hip.

She was going to get her revenge on him for doing these things to her, that she swore. She was supposed to be the one teasing him, not the other way around. She was supposed to be the one taking charge here!

"You think we should have a picnic sometime?" The question blindsided her. "Travel as a group somewhere for a day? A weekend? Maybe a week?"

"And how would we do that exactly?" She pouted. The idea did sound appealing. "Unlike Castlevania, our castle isn't capable of teleporting to whatever location we wished."

"Well, we don't have to take your castle with you. Just you," his hand squeezed and she shifted against him, "me, the others and Selene."

Lenore kept the disappointment of not having him to herself for the trip well-hidden. Then again, they were going on a date soon, so it wasn't like she was going to be missing out on some alone time with him.

"Hmmm. And you will be the one teleporting us?"

"Duh~."

They stayed like that for quite some time after. He regaled Selene with tales of strange monsters, taller than entire buildings, dwarfing carts and wagons of any size. Had she not heard the stories before and heard him swear on his soul that everything he told her was true, she would've thought it was the strangest, grandest tale she'd ever heard.

She couldn't even begin to imagine what Selene thought of it, though the pleasant smile on her sleeping face told her plenty. While that quandary may have been answered, there was yet another that escaped her grasp.

How did she end up in Naruto's bed? Selene's gentle tossing snapped her out of her confusion. Right. She tried to tuck in the child, but found herself unable to. Quite the grip on the little girl.

"I can't believe you've talked me into this, Mr. Uzumaki," Lenore whispered, lest she wake the sleeping child. "You haven't even asked to court me and yet you've invited me to your bed. What would people say?"

"I think it's a bit late for that, Lenore-chan." He pulled the blanket tighter around the three of them. "I think there's a betting pool going on between the kitchen staff, the guards and the maids."

"A betting pool?" She raised an eyebrow at it. "And what exactly are they betting?"

"My cooking," Naruto chuckled.

"And what exactly are they betting on?"

He whispered into her ear and she found herself blushing once more. Had the servants of the castle no shame?! D-Did they think her some harlot who would just do that to a man without preamble?! The teasing grin on the blond's face did nothing to help her self-conscious blush.

"Mama… Papa…"

Lenore's breath hitched. Tiny arms tightened on her dress and pulled her close. A quiet whimper from the girl only served to pull on her heartstrings further. Naruto, lying on his side, pulled her and Selene into his embrace. Suddenly, the difference in their height was all too obvious.

"Sweet dreams," Naruto smiled, perhaps just a little too deviously, "Ma~ma~."

Her heart barrel-rolled.