~ Shards of Opal ~
When the child was three years old (but looked more like a 5-year-old physically, according to human standards of growth), Carmilla declared that Junior was old enough to start learning to hunt for her own food.
Hector, of course, was not so sure about that. But when he voiced his concern about it, Junior bared her fangs and hissed at him, and Hector quickly revised his opinion.
It was still much too early for Junior to begin hunting humans, so Carmilla took her out to the forest where there were plenty of animals to hunt.
She did not see the problem with this plan until after her daughter managed to catch something.
"Puppy!" Junior squealed excitedly, holding up a fox for her mother to see.
The fox whined and struggled to get free, but could not break out of the dhampir child's grip.
"You caught a fox. That's good," Carmilla said, reaching down to pat her daughter on the head.
The child beamed at her proudly.
"Now eat it."
Junior gasped and cuddled the fox protectively.
"NO!" she yelled. "Puppy's not food!"
It was at this point that Carmilla realized her mistake. While she did have something of a ruthless streak, Junior was very much her father's child and shared his love of animals.
Carmilla sighed.
"Okay, fine... just let it go, and let's go back to the castle."
She was not prepared for her child to defy her a second time, but Junior absolutely refused to let her 'new puppy' go.
Tears streamed down the child's little face as Carmilla continued to try to convince her release the fox back into its natural habitat.
Carmilla knew she was defeated when she saw the fox licking tears from her daughter's face while the child hugged the fox closer and said, "But I love him."
Hector was surprised and relieved (but mostly relieved when he stopped to think about it), when his wife and daughter returned from the midnight hunting trip still hungry and with a fox perched on Carmilla's shoulder.
"You didn't go to a town?" he said, as Carmilla handed their child over to him.
"Papa, Papa! Look, new puppy!" Junior told him excitedly.
"Yes, I see it," he said.
He reached out and let the fox sniff his hand. He was only momentarily surprised when the animal leapt from Carmilla's shoulder to land on his.
"Puppy~" the child cooed happily, patting her new pet.
"Of course we didn't go to a town," Carmilla said, answering Hector's earlier question.
Once their child had started learning to talk, many of their conversations ended up like this with the two of them talking to each other around whatever conversation one or both of them were also having with their daughter.
"But you know she doesn't eat anything other than humans." After a brief pause, he added, "And sometimes cookies. But you can't exactly hunt down cookies in the wild."
"She's not ready to start hunting humans yet. She needs to pick up the basic skills first."
Hector stared at her for a few long moments but Carmilla remained stubbornly silent until he prompted teasingly, "And...?"
She made a small, annoyed sound in the back of her throat before finally throwing her hands up and admitting, "And I forgot she wouldn't eat animals!"
~oOo~