First of all, I apologize for the long wait everyone. I've been pretty busy lately, moved out from Japan and starting college. I've survived my first 3 weeks of here in Philippines, hopefully I can pull myself together until the Prelims/Graduation.

And also, thank you all for your kind words and support. I took my time off from studying and finished up the second chapter for you guys! Consider it as both and apology and thank you gift? Ahaha if that even makes sense. Enjoy everyone!

CHAPTER 02

For every passing second, the wails grew louder and louder, which made the boy wince at the high-pitched sound. The sobs became agonizingly painful for even the Vampire King to bear, his poor sensitive bat ears couldn't take it anymore. Marshall Lee sheathed his axe-bass behind him as he made his way towards the infant. The Vampire towered over the little creature, with displeasure written all over his face. The sniffles and hiccups came to a halt when the baby was lifted off the luscious green ground.

The Child was brought up until the two were face to face with one another.

Marshall Lee eyed the baby and let out an irritated sigh, "Ya know. For a little runt, you sure know how to make a racket."

A small confused mewl was all that could be said from the child as a response, followed with a slight tilt of the head. The boy's eyes caught something, two noticeable bumps were found on the infant's forehead, to which he assumed was caused by both the fall and his careless apple tossing.

Marshall mentally cursed himself for unintentionally inflicting harm on the baby. He wanted to apologize to the little one, but such an act would be pointless considering that the baby can't even understand a word he says, or anything for that matter. He would gladly heal the small injuries, really he would. But his demonic powers haven't quite recharged to its fullest yet. That and he is most certain that using dark magic on the small child is a big no no.

Out of nowhere, the baby's sausage like arms reached out towards him. The Vampire King jolted when he felt the infant's small hands honk his nose.

"H-hey!" Marshall shook his head free from the baby's grasp, he instinctively wiped his nostrils against his shoulder in hopes of getting rid of that mysterious odor. He wiggled his nose at the slight burning sensation from the vigorous rubbing, he eyed the child with much disdain, "That. was. uncalled for."

His death glare would've made any monster cower in fear, but it had absolutely no effect on the child. A bubbly giggle escaped its lips at the boy's obscure facial expression, whereas the Vampire King rolled his eyes and grunted in irritation.

Nonetheless, the teenager resumed to his examination. As his eyes scanned downward, the gender of the child was quickly executed, " A girl." The teen monotonously stated. But there was something strange about this infant, this girl.

Marshall brought the top of the baby's head closer to him and inhaled her scent. The small golden locks of her hair rose and wavered under his nostrils. The gentle touch of the girl's strands tickled the Vampire King's nose, which made him twitch in both response to the tickling sensation and faint recognition.

"Human."

No wonder the scent that radiated off her squishy flesh was so familiar to him.

He found a human. A HUMAN! It has been centuries since the great Mushroom War. How is it that this girl survived it? Were there more of her? Old? Young? A whole clan of them perhaps? No, that can't be. Marshall was there, he witnessed it all. He watched the human race fall to the ground, back when he was just a newborn Vampire. Or so he thought.

Marshall Lee looked beyond the shrub and saw nothing but trees, trees, and more trees. He arched an eyebrow in confusion and eyed back at the infant, "Where the heck did you come from?"

Marshall received nothing but a giggle and another honk on the nose. The boy glared menacingly at the girl, "Okay, you have got to stop doing that."

From a distance, a snap of a twig branch received attention from the boy's ears. In that slight moment, he turned his head over at where the sound originated. His senses on full alert for any sudden movement and sound. A thought of an intruder, or possibly a pursuer, entered his mind (he made lots of enemies during his travels).

He could feel his powers returning to him, along with his heightened bat-like senses. The boy's hands began to move in response to his animalistic impulse. He cradled the infant close to him with his arm, while his free hand went to retrieve his trusty weapon that hung innocently from his back. Marshall's fingers grasped the neck of the instrument firmly, he stood in place and waited.

Thoughts rushed through his head, Marshall has spent the first few seconds calculating the best way on exterminating the intruder. But this time, it wasn't just to satisfy his needs of sadistic violence. Oh no, instead it was for the sake of the baby's safety, believe it or not. His discovery was beyond extraordinary, and he's not willing to let something like that disappear from his hands just now.

Seconds ticked by, now minutes. The boy's suspicion grew weary. Marshall's muscles began to relax at the absence of danger, the grip on his weapon loosened.

"Hm, guess it was a raccoon or something."

The teenager felt the small human in his arm squirm, which brought his attention back on her. He could read the discomfort on the infant's face, which brought up the question as to what was bothering the little thing. Marshall carried the baby with both hands once again, elevating her up to his eye level just so that he could better examine any damages that he somehow overlooked besides the two small bumps on her forehead. But doing so made the infant wriggle even more, which got the Vampire King irritated rather than concerned.

"Stop fidgeting will ya? I'm trying to see what's wrong with you."

The little girl didn't stop her squirming, Marshall Lee was this close to throwing in the towel, that is until he heard something dripping down on the forest grass. A curse was uttered when the vampire teen quickly outstretched his arms just so that his shoes could avoid getting drenched by the baby's piss. He did so with some success, only the tips of his converse shoes were soaked. The teen didn't fight the grunt from escaping his lips.

"Well that's just freaking great."

The boy looked at the infant's face which showed relief and content, where his held annoyance and displeasure.

He was reconsidering on taking in the girl, because one. She's freaking Human! Probably the only human there is out there. And Marshall Lee is a fine collector of rare things. And this human baby pretty much fits under that description. That and he never tasted human blood before.

But it was obvious to him that the infant is far too fragile and weak to even be kept under his care. Considering that Marshall has been living his undead life chasing danger. The baby would probably live for up to 2 months tops. That and the boy wasn't very fond when it comes to taking in animals who aren't exactly potty trained. Taking care of himself and his house was enough for the boy to handle.

"Alright, that's it."

The vampire king settled the baby on the ground, far from where she peed on. After that, he continued on with his walking. The baby followed suite on all fours, not wanting to be left alone in the woods. Marshall Lee could hear the baby whimper again, pleading the boy to slow down.

Marshall simply smirked at her and spoke in a teasing tone, "C'mon now. Whimpering don't work on me kid, so quit it."

He quickened his pace and looked forward at his general direction. He could hear the child's arms and legs pick up, as well as the volume of her mewls. The little crawler stumbled over a tree branch and a couple of pebbles, whereas the vampire measly hovered over them with ease. After the fifth stumble, the girl plumped on the ground and didn't bother to get up.

Marshall Lee stopped to look over his shoulder, her body laid there motionless, her face concealed by the tall grass. The vampire floated his way over to the body, his downcast eyes held despondent over the baby's loss of will power.

Weak. Helpless. Fragile.

Those were the words that entered the boy's mind.

"Hey squirt, up and at em."

Nothing, not even a flinch.

Before the boy even considered on flying off, he felt something tug on the hem of his pants. Marshall felt the corners of his lips twitch upwards.

"Well hot damn." He was impressed, very impressed. The girl almost had him fooled. Who knew that the little squirt had it in her? Marshall couldn't help but look down at the girl, he barely noticed the smile on her dirty plumped face. For a small, weak infant, she sure got spunk. That the boy could not deny.

Marshall Lee let out a cackled laugh, "Alright, alright. You got me good there."

He gently planted his feet on the ground and offered her his hand, "C'mon, the sun's about to come out soon." The baby eagerly took hold of his offering hand. Unbeknownst to her of how many lives the boy has stolen with the use of them.

She nearly collapsed against the boy's calloused hand, Marshall could feel the girl's body shivering against his palm. He shed off his plaid patterned polo, leaving him only with his plain white T-shirt. He then wrapped the naked baby with his clothing before he could cradle her in his arms once again. She nestled herself closer to the boy's body and began sucking on her tubby thumb. The boy stared at her sleeping face amusingly.

Thanks to the showing of the girl's effort, the boy came to a decision. He will look after her, a choice that he didn't put much thought on and how it would affect him. All that consumed his mind was how much he admired the little fire in her, a fire that has reminded him much of himself.

But there was something else in the girl that intrigued Marshall Lee, something that he couldn't quite place.

The color of the night sky started to melt, from a distance he could see the sun barely peeking out. The vampire king took his cue and left the forest without a trace.

yup... that's pretty much it.

I promise the next chapter will be far more interesting, I swear on it! But other than that, what are your thoughts about Marshall Lee so far? Do you by any chance know who/what was peeking at them from behind the bushes?

Post a review with your thoughts :) the more the better~