It was the middle of the night, a long time before morning. She rolled, lifting the blanket over, covering her mouth as she yawned. Kea moaned, scooting closer, searching for her warmth as it faded. Mikoto looked over her shoulder. "This is getting bad." She whispered. "Yep.."
It is the only thing little misaka could reply to. Except for," go for it!" she would say with a drunk college boy's zeal.
The longhouse had become crowded. The little ones were coming and going with greater frequency. There were three comings now. The atmosphere in the longhouse slowly changed. The daily routine of sleep, waking, breakfast, getting ready for the hunt, coming back, cleaning, storing gear, dinner, casual conversations, and sleep had disappeared, and help with the little ones added.
She looked around the dark longhouse, seeing Nya sleeping and holding a little one. She no longer looked like a blank, as they had first been called. Humanoids shape nothing but plain, featureless beings. With large, warm eyes. Two black dots where a nose should be, a small slit for a mouth. Their bodies resemble chunky children colored in black, brown, and dark greens. Now they looked like children, normal as normal could be here in this dimension. Miniature versions of adults with soft black nubs where their horns would grow. Each one is kind in their interactions, curious and careless. They'd watch Nya, Gullah, and even Aya, who hovered like a nosey aunt with intent. Each patient and kind as they helped the little one who claimed Gullah. Eyes shining and attentive, patient as they often find tools and weapons the curious little ones would discover and drop on the floor. They hovered around Nya as she cooked and seasoned meals by the fire. Her eyes never left the little one, who was watching with curiosity. A gentle hand was a barrier from the hot coals as she scratched its belly. The little ones' faces twisted in squealing laughter and joyous grunts and chirps. She'd blow across the soup. The little ones watching and imitating. Little mouths moving, slow grunts and chirps with excitement filling the longhouse. They'd run to the container, push open the lid, lift themselves up, and lean into the pot of the roots, vegetables, and herbs. Little feet dangling, then plop on the ground, rush out, and disappear into the jungle. Silence and longing filled where there once was laughter and want.
The third, a little older in appearance, had rough, messy hair cascading over her shoulder like a wild mane, her golden eyes flashing and a smile that never faded. And she laughed without a sound. Silent but happy. It was Kea who'd play with her. It was like she knew Mikoto was having problems accepting the little one, or hopefully, more Like she was an older sister, she'd nod and smile, holding her tight, rocking back and forth. She'd keep her on her lap as they sat next to Mikoto.
"It can't be mine.." she'd say over and over. The little one would quickly nod her head as if she could understand. Eyes sparkling, "yes, I am." Her small hand, with serrated nails, laid gently on her arm. Her long tail wrapped underneath Kea's leg and slowly brushed Mikoto's thigh.
"Don't you dare!" Little misaka quickly scolded. "Don't what?" Mikoto asked, looking at the little one swallowed up by Kea's arms.
"You were going to pull your arm away." little misaka said. "I was…." she had thought of it. She thinned her mouth, feeling an ache in her heart. "You were!" She stated.
"I just can't. I don't want to…." her shoulder dropped, "what's wrong with me?"
Losing Vita, Rin, Brym, Scarlett, and Chloe…. her elites, slowly poisoned her blood. The memory is both fowl and bile in her throat. She'd never felt this way about losing someone so close. And dealing with it….. was changing her.
"Doesn't matter. She's here, so…" little misaka gave a stern nod.
Mikoto looked out the doorway as it framed the dark and silent outside. The heavy wooded door was pulled to the side to allow for the comings and goings of the little ones. A few villagers carrying spears walked around, standing guard, watching, and laughing. The roaring of the wind above blocked out the moonlight. Torches and firepits were burning, and flame and firelight danced like dark maidens across the flickering ground and facades of the buildings. Small bodies rushed out of the jungle, into the longhouses, and out again.
She reached over, grabbed her boots, stood up, unhooked her armor, and sat on the bench. "Glad you wore some underwear tonight?" Little misaka said," it would've been kinda pervy if you asked me."
"I didn't ask you" she looked down, ran a finger along the elastic. she hadn't thought about it.
"But I am saying if you asked me, I would have said it would be kinda pervy. But you didn't. And I am not saying it. So… to be precise." She AHEMED!
She ignored her spoiled inner avatar, stood straight, and adjusted her shoulders, allowing the tight dragon scales armor to slip into place. She adjusted each utility belt. She was carrying three now. The others hanging on pegs on the wall above where she slept. Closed her eyes and breathed deep and slowly. She exhaled, looking down as Kea stirred softly. Biting the tip of her tongue, Mikoto fought the urge.
"Go ahead," little misaka spoke with a knowing sigh. "You want to..so just do it and get it over with."
"No.." she answered. Her lips trembled, and her fangs throbbed. "If I do it… it will just happen again."
Her eyes swirled, reds and browns, drawing Kea in a deeper and sharper image in her sight. Like a predatory bird eyeing prey from high above in the sky. Her soft hair, curves of her cheeks and mouth, the soft gleam of her lips, glowing skin in the firelight. Biting the inside of her mouth, tasting her own blood, she dropped her hand to one of her utility belts, fumbling with the snap and tensing, what seemed loud enough to wake her as it opened. With a soft clink of glass, she pulled out two ampoules, one crimson and the other a tinted yellow.
Heart pounding, blood rushing through her veins, Mikoto kneeled and gently pulled the blankets over, "not going to." beating back the urge.
"Figures… but whatcha got in the vials is just as good." She laughed. "Though a nice cuddle afterward…."
"Shut up!"
Mikoto walked out of the longhouse. She walked along the torches, listening to the flickering of flame and the roaring of the winds above. She nodded to the guards as they passed. Each looking a little non to pleased.
"Must be friends of the son of the king." Little misaka said. She sighed, wondering," what is his name?"
"Really don't care," Mikoto said, stopping at one of the trails leading out into the jungle. She popped the stoppers on the ampoules, raised her head, held each one between her fingers, and opened her mouth. Her fangs appeared, the liquid filling her mouth as she closed it. She swished around, feeling the tingle over her tongue, cheeks, throat, down to her belly, and across her body. She chuckled, her red tongue licking her lips.
"Nothing like a bit of blood and plasma chaser to get the body going." Little misaka spoke with a bright smile and shining eyes.
She put the empty ampoules back into her utility belt and snapped it closed. She wiped her mouth, smelled her fingers, and closed her eyes. "I hate this," she breathed, "even this reminds me of them and her." She breathed in the smell of blood, saliva, and plasma. Seeing their faces glowing like a full moon on a clear night, smiles and anticipation in their eyes.
"You promised! They'd say, or you lost the bet, now pay up! Mistress."
Mikoto groaned, looking over at Anastasia, sulking with her head in her hands, "You made a promise." She'd growl.
"Fine." taking two ampoules and quickly drank and mixed them in her mouth and kissed them, her tongue finding its way into their mouths, a quick pinch of her fangs across their tongues. A few would drop to their knees, their faces blushed a deep red, and their eyes closed serenely.
When she was done, she'd hear an excuse me cough, Anastasia using her best seductive expression, looking more like a jealous lover than a vampire queen or both, with ten blood-filled and plasma vials in her hand.
"My turn." she grinned, clinking the glass together.
Walking through the jungle, feeling the humidity, hearing the sounds of life and death, predator and prey, Mikoto slowed her pace. "No dreams tonight." She said. Little misaka nodded.
She was in her favorite recliner, overstuffed and soft. She almost disappeared when she sat in it. With her feet propped on the footrest. She had a remote in one hand and a large oversized drink cup with a bendy straw in the other. Images playing on large screens scattered all around her. Everything Mikoto saw, she saw.
"Well, we kinda slept for only half of the night. But…."
"But what?"
"This was the first time we had the little one sleeping with us." She said, looking over her memories. "She left about an hour after you fell asleep… so…."
"Hmm…." Mikoto looked unconcerned.
"Maybe… if she continues to sleep with us… we won't?"
"One problem at a time. Right now, I have Kea to…."
Little misaka shrugged and took a drink. "she seems to have taken to our little one…."
"Our? What?"
"Yep, I said it." little misaka licked her lips, taking a handful of popcorn out of a large tub that had appeared in her lap. "I don't have a problem with it. Neither should you." She burped. "Oh, that one burned." She scrunched her face and rubbed her nose.
"I don't want to argue right now."
"Ok… "little misaka interrupted. "How about later then?" She laughed.
Mikoto clenched her jaws tight, feeling the irritation building. and it had been over the past few days. the dreams, the loss of her elites, her friends, and now a child. "Let me deal with one problem at a time!" She growled under her breath. "I need a solution." Felt the growing pressure on her shoulders and in her chest.
"That's easy." Little misaka said, "start by being the queen vampire you have always been. Once you do that, there's no problem." She said, waving her hand.
"How about you…..just…..shut….up!"
She closed her eyes, sending out electromagnetic waves and building a 3-d map of the jungle around her. Her fingers tensed and slowly moved as she weaved the iron and sand particles she pulled from the ground. The molecules vibrated at high speed, like a chainsaw.
The jungle was complete.
"I just need to create a little…" .she stomped.
The ground cracked under her boots, spreading out in all directions. The trees trembled and swayed. Birds cried and took flight. And the 3d images of the plants moved and spread like something massive was running away.
Mikoto Misaka smiled and slowly opened her eyes.
"Got one," little misaka said with a malicious smile on her face. Taking a slow sip of her drink, watching the soda slipping through her bendy straw. "We can't kill them all, but we can come pretty damn close." She looked at pictures of the little ones who belonged to Nya and Gullah. She smiled, tapping the screen of the wild hair, golden-eyed, looking up with a smile that never stopped." Doesn't matter how. You're ours." She kissed her fingers and placed them on the image. "And she needs to accept that." Sighing as Mikoto gently placed and buried a little one.
"I really hate bugs!" Mikoto burst into a run, "gotcha!" She said.
The iron sand sword buzzed, shredding leaves as they rushed by. Mikoto quickly stopped, sliding across the ground, her arm back, and snapped forward. The iron sword lengthened and cracked against a giant centipede's shell as it rushed up the side of a tree.
Mikoto smirked, eyes blurring crimson. "It will be a good night for me and a bad night for bugs."
And crack, and the centipede's shell broke and shattered. White fleshy inside exploded out, another strike, and its head dropped to the ground.