"What in the world happened?!" Norman's wide-eyed yell was justified by Chris's bloody lab coat and, of course, the baby. "Don't tell me it's yours..."
"Of course not!" Chris almost burst into laughter. "Listen..."
When he finished the explanation, Norman also looked at the child sympathetically. "That nurse is right. We have to take in the kid. She'll be much happier this way, unlike us. Oh, she needs a name! We can't keep calling her 'this kid' or something."
"Right. How about..." Chris noticed the baby's sandy hair. She was now awake, staring at them. Her eyes were just like theirs, the same shade of black, as if she were their sister. "...Sandy?"
Norman laughed. "Because of her hair? You can't just give a child a name on a whim, but... that suits her. I like it."
Chris chuckled. "Sandy, then." His face turned serious again. "But her eyes... Do you think...?"
Norman also noticed Sandy's black eyes. "You mean her eerily similar black eyes to ours? Yes, I've noticed. Are you saying her father might be the same vampire... as ours?"
Chris nodded. "Yes, and look at her facial features. They're familiar. Maybe we can contact the Cullens. They probably still have our DNA data. We can run a test, like last time."
Norman opened his mouth to say more but was interrupted by Sandy's whimpering. "I think she's hungry," he said instead. "But... what do we do? Did you buy some blood bags for her?"
Chris shook his head. "No, I didn't have time. I had to run away as fast as possible. How about taking her hunting? She's too little to hunt for herself, of course, but we can kill her prey for her to drink from. Her teeth have already grown in. Look." He gently opened Sandy's mouth to show her teeth to his brother. Sandy protested, trying to bite Chris's fingers. "Sorry, little one. We could give her some milk, but... we didn't like the taste of human food when we were little, remember?"
"Now that I think about it..." Norman cringed at the memory. "I always thought something was wrong with me. All food tasted like dirt when I was little. It got better as I grew older. Now I know what the problem was."
"Yes, it's Nessie's theory, actually," Chris recalled, thinking of the conversation he had with Renesmee and Nahuel during their visit.
Although Joham and Serena were not hostile, the Cullens felt uneasy with their cold-hearted, ruthless experiments. Only Nahuel was able to share his experience of living as a hybrid. His sisters came along later, but that was much later. Among their interactions, there was a conversation about their diet.
"Like I said before, human blood is the best, in terms of taste, obviously," Nahuel had told them. "Animal blood isn't bad, actually. What's funny is the taste of human food. When I was very young, I found all food foul, but it got better as I grew up. I still prefer blood over food, but nowadays, food isn't that bad. I think I just adjusted."
"Me too!" Nessie had responded. "When I was just days old, Papa tried to give me some foul-looking, colorful exgorgitation or something—"
The 'Papa' in question laughed out loud. "Baby formula, Nessie. Not exgorgitation!"
His granddaughter rolled her eyes and grinned mischievously. "I know. I was just kidding. Anyway, I really hated that stuff. But as I grew up, I started eating more and more food. I even quit hunting temporarily when I attended high school for the first and only time. My full-grown body looked closer to an adult than a teenager." Nessie attended high school just once when she was not yet fully grown. "I wanted to see if I could do without blood, and it went well! But I couldn't give up blood entirely. I like the taste too much."
Listening to this interaction, Chris remembered his own childhood. He could never forget the taste of his mother's flesh—or blood, he thought miserably—even when he didn't know he was a half-vampire. I always thought the foster parents' cooking was bad, he had thought. But the real problem was me.
"Nessie's conclusion was that younger hybrids prefer blood much more than mature ones do. Let's take this little one hunting before she takes down some innocent humans."
"You were right. Look at this analysis," Carlisle said, handing over the results.
The rest of the Cullens were occupied with Sandy. Since Billy and Liz had grown up, there hadn't been a baby in their household. Being the youngest in the family, Liz especially loved the little one.
While the others played with Sandy, Carlisle, Chris, and Norman were busy running a DNA test for her.
"This is the third time, and all within a relatively short period considering the lifespan of vampires. Who is this guy?" Carlisle furrowed his brows, perplexed by the unknown vampire's irresponsibility.
"Maybe he doesn't know vampires can impregnate humans?" Norman suggested. He didn't like his biological father either, but he wanted to believe that all of this was just a mistake. He often felt abandoned by the world. Things had gotten easier when Chris came into his life, but the feeling still lingered.
"Maybe." Carlisle nodded, though he seemed deep in thought. "But we need to find him and warn him about the danger. You three were lucky, but we can't assume all cases will be as fortunate. You all know Nahuel, right? When he was born, he instinctively bit Huilen. Fortunately, they were isolated from humans at the time, but if Huilen had been bitten in a big city..." He winced at the thought. "They would have been executed by now, not to mention the potential mass murder."
"How can we find him, then?" Chris asked directly. "We can't track his scent or anything just by analyzing DNA, right?" He laughed at himself for the unscientific idea.
"Of course not," Carlisle replied, turning off the computer and gesturing for them to head downstairs to the living room. "But we can rule out those who aren't your father. It's the least we can do. That way, we'll find out eventually. The vampire population isn't as large as you might think. It's a small world."
"What do you mean by 'rule out'?" Chris asked, sitting on the sofa beside Esme, who was now feeding Sandy with animal blood. "Is there a particular method?"
"No, I mean from now on, we'll collect DNA from every male vampire we encounter. Our friends will cooperate without complaint. However, strangers might be a problem. Morally, it's not right to take someone's DNA without their consent. I'll do my best to persuade them when the time comes, so don't worry."
Jacob snorted unexpectedly. "Really? Have you finally realized that? You know, you took my blood without my consent back then. Not that I'm complaining, but it's funny to hear you say it's morally wrong now."
Carlisle chuckled halfheartedly, looking apologetic. "I'm sorry, Jacob. I was so curious back then that I couldn't resist."
"Wait," Edward suddenly interjected. "What were you just thinking, Chris?"
"Huh?" Chris looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"If I heard right... you're brilliant. Yes, that would be the way. We can narrow down our search significantly. We've been overlooking the common appearance you and your half-siblings share. Yes, he also has friends there." Edward grinned widely in triumph.
Explain that, please? Carlisle thought to his telepathic son.
"Oh, right. As you can see, Chris looks East Asian, not mixed, and he told you he was born in Korea. So maybe both his mother and father are East Asian. On the other hand, Norman and Sandy look half-Asian, which means..."
"Ah. It means their father is East Asian, so we only need to investigate vampires who have an East Asian appearance, or similar. That would certainly reduce the scope."
"Do you have any friends there?" Chris asked.
"A few. Two covens in China, some nomads in Japan, and one in South Korea... I'm not sure about the friend in Mongolia, though. He was being chased by some rivals when I last saw him." Carlisle's eyes lit up as he thought of something. "If you don't mind, Chris, Norman, how about coming with me to meet them? If they see you, they might recognize someone who looks like you. If we're lucky, one of them might know your father."
"That's a great idea!" Norman said, excitedly.