As I open the door to my apartment and invite the two monster kids inside, it suddenly hits me: where are they going to sleep?

It's not night yet, so maybe I can go out and buy some extra mattresses, but where...? I'll just open the map app on my phone and check what's nearby... I don't have a phone!

I have some extra sheets, they might work for a kind of improvised bed, but even then that would leave one person to sleep on the floor. Oh well, I guess that'll have to be me.

"Is this where you live, mister?"

Saezu is pulling on my pants to get my attention.

"It is. It's not very big, but you can stay here until I figure out what's best for you."

Belzal sits on the kitchen counter, then asks:

"Didn't you say you'd protect us? Doesn't that mean we're going to stay here forever?"

"No, of course not! I didn't say I'd raise you. And get off the counter, it's not made for sitting."

"I'd use a chair, but I don't see any."

It's true that, without any furniture, the place isn't exactly comfortable.

I sigh, then say:

"Alright, I'll try to figure something out. In the meantime, please get down from there."

"Don't wanna."

And that's exactly why I don't want to have children. One's clinging to my leg, and the other is already going through a rebellious phase despite only having been here for three minutes.

"Look, if you get down from there, I'll get you some food. You must be hungry right?"

The little girl looks up at me, beaming.

"Food!"

The demon rubs his stomach a bit, then says:

"Yeah, yeah, I am."

Disappointed of having been bought with something as simple as food, he gets off the counter.

"Alright, I'll go grab a pizza then. So please, the two of you stay here, and wait for me to come back. Oh and don't answer the door at all, okay? Pretend to not be here."

The two kids nod, and Saezu finally lets go of my leg.

I grab my things, get out, and properly lock the door behind me. I'll have to make sure to not take too long, otherwise my place might not have walls anymore when I come back.

I run around and jump over buildings as fast as I can without risking a collision with a car or another pedestrian. After a few minutes, I land in front of the pharmacy where I bought blood yesterday. I'm in my human form this time, so we'll see how the clerk reacts.

I enter, grab some ointment to help with burns, and bring it to the counter.

"Is that going to be all?"

"Well, I was wondering if you could help. It's related to some monsters."

"I'm sorry, but if you have monster troubles, you'll have to contact the monster hunters."

"Oh, no, I don't want them hunted. I heard you could help integrate them into society."

"Well, you heard wrong. Whoever told you that was probably making things up, and I'm sorry you were misled this way. Now please leave me alone."

He's being far more wary today. He might be suspecting a trap, or an attempt at getting him to admit to his crimes. Unfortunately, I can't back down, he's the only lead I have to get the kids somewhere safe.

"In that fridge over there, you have blood bags for sale, right?"

He looks in the direction I'm pointing, and I see him tense up a bit.

"No, of course not. What a ridiculous assertion."

"And yesterday, you sold two of them to a vampire woman who came here with a massive hangover."

It's a bit weird to refer to myself in third person like that, but I don't want to blow my cover.

I can tell that he's starting to panic now.

"What... makes you think that?"

"She told me everything."

"Uh?"

I smile as amicably as I can before saying:

"I'm not an enemy. I found two kids, an horned ogre and a demon, and I don't know what to do with them. I can't take care of them or raise them, obviously, so I was hoping your contacts could help me sort that whole thing out."

"Kids, uh... Yes, I think that can be arranged."

He grabs a notepad and starts scribbling in what's clearly a coded language and mumbles:

"An horned ogre and a demon... In that case, she's the one to ask..."

He lifts his head back up, then continues:

"Come back tomorrow. With the kids. We'll see what we can do."

"Thank you very much."

As I pay for the ointment, the clerk smiles.

"A demon kid, so that's why you're buying that."

"Better safe than sorry."

He smiles, having relaxed a lot. He doesn't see any of my forms as an enemy anymore, and that might come in handy again later.

I'm running and jumping back towards my apartment, carrying a pizza box and some one-time use cardboard plates. We'll have to eat on the floor, but I can't exactly go buy a dining set right now.

As I open the door, I find the silence almost unsettling. Are the kids still here? Did they run away? The door was still locked, so that seems unlikely...

I drop the pizza on the kitchen counter, then take a look around. I can't see anyone. I walk to the bedroom... Ah, here they are.

Saezu is sleeping in my bed, and Belzal is sitting next to her. His arms and legs are crossed and he's still upright, clearly in a position meant to reassure her, but his eyes are closed and he seems to also have fallen asleep.

I smile seeing them like that. Kids can be really cute when they're not causing trouble.

I gently poke the demon boy to wake him up. Since he's still sitting, he's probably only half asleep. Sure enough, his eyes soon open, and he looks at me.

"What do you want?"

"I have the food, so I woke you up. Think you can get her up, too? I'd rather she doesn't go without food at all tonight."

"Sure, whatever."

He tries to hide it, but I'm sure he's grateful that I care for his protégée too. I also figure that being woken up by someone she trusts will be reassuring for the girl.

I leave the bedroom, cut the pizza into slices, and put three of them in cardboard plates. As I do, the two kids leave my room.

Saezu rubs her eyes and says:

"Smells good."

I hand plates to them, then ask:

"Were you in the Underworld until now?"

She's already taking a bite of her slice, so Belzal responds:

"We were. We tried taking refuge from a storm by getting into a cave, but it turned out to connect to the Overworld. Some people found us and captured us, and next we knew we were in that cage."

"Probably not delvers, then... I guess there's a market for captured monsters. On a different subject, how's the pizza? It must be your first time having any."

The little girl, with her mouth still full, happily shouts:

"Delish!"

Trying to hide his emotions, the teen boy simply says:

"Yeah, I guess it's acceptable."

I smile as I notice that he's already almost done with his slice. I get up and grab another one for him, causing him to smile against his will.

Once we're done eating, I create an improvised bed next to my folding mattress for Belzal, and let Saezu go back to where she was already sleeping. Soon enough, their faint breathing tells me that they've fallen asleep, so I go outside on my balcony. I lean back against the wall and look at the stars that are visible from here.

I don't have a ton of money left, so I'm not sure I can afford to buy new clothes for the kids before bringing them to the pharmacy. Walking there with them wearing rags is sure to attract some attention, on top of their skin colors...

I also dismantled a laboratory that was trying to replicate the experiment that originally made me as strong as I was, but everything seems to indicate that there are more of them out there. Who's behind this? Amière was working alone. How did things end up with an entire secret network? Amalia said she was hired to take care of it, but why are the people who know about this forced to act outside of the law?

I'm sure there are reasons for that. I'm worried about the implications, though.

For now, however, my priority is to get these kids to a safe place. There are other monsters in the city, so maybe some of them would be willing to adopt them. Hopefully I can go visit them, too. I haven't known them for a long time, but I've grown a bit attached to them.

I can't help but wonder if that's connected to my transformation into a vampire. I used to not want to have anything to do with kids, now I find them cute and even endearing. That's not to say I was heartless, my old self would probably have taken in a lost kid or two if the circumstances had demanded it, but he would have felt a lot more anxious about the situation.

I let out a sigh. I'm already aware of just how much that bite messed with my mind, with my life as a princess doing the rest of the work to make me unrecognizable. For the first time, I also had a family, and it probably affected the way I think about children more generally. I don't know how genuine the whole thing was, but... It still made me feel new emotions.

I lift my hand up and look at it. It's my old hand, the one I had before becoming a vampire. That I can change back to this form is proof that I haven't accepted the transformation, that I'm still attached to this version of me, but... I'm not who I was anymore. I changed. And there's something horrifying about that. No matter what, I can't erase the fact that I'm actually a vampire now, and transforming myself into a human doesn't undo the year and a half of psychological changes I went through.

What kind of crazy situation is this? The greatest monster hunter, now turned into a monster. And a female one, at that. The universe couldn't just let me die in peace, it had to turn me into a princess and extend my life at the same time?

No point in crying over it again. This is the hand I was dealt, I must play it as best I can.

I get back inside, sit on the floor next to the wall, and close my eyes.

I'm woken up by a loud voice:

"Where's breakfast? Why's that guy's fridge empty?"

I'm immediately jolted awake. Is Belzal going to stumble upon the blood bags while looking for food?

I get up and, in a rush, close the fridge door.

"I don't have any food in the apartment. We'll go get breakfast outside, okay?"

He smirks at my reaction, then asks:

"What about the blood bags? Aren't they food?"

I feel the world slowing down as my brain scrambles for an immediate excuse to give as to why I have those in the fridge. If I take too long, it'll be suspicious, so I just need to say the first thing that passes through my mind, I can't afford to think about this!

"It's... Um... In case someone loses too much blood and needs a transfusion!"

"Right. Replacing lost blood... From a bag... In your apartment."

"They use them all the time in hospitals."

He takes a look around before smugly responding:

"Ah? But this isn't an hospital. You don't have the proper equipment here."

"You're from the underworld, how would you...?"

"I spent some time in a lab where they did tests on people. Also, I know what an hospital is, even if the ones I've visited probably weren't as fancy as the ones you have in this city."

Right, he probably traveled around the Underworld and might have spent time in cities here and there that did have more modern infrastructure. I shouldn't underestimate him like this.

I sigh. I guess I should just be honest with him, while omitting some details.

"Alright, alright, you got me. There's a vampire here sometimes. It's food for her."

"Ooooh? Is she your girlfriend?"

"What? No! She's..."

I can't say that I'm talking about myself, and claiming that my vampire form is a friend of my human form might cause trouble later.

"... She's someone from the vampire kingdom who visits sometimes. I wish she didn't, but it's out of my hands. That's all there is to know."

Belzal creates the shape of a heart with his fingers and, with a mocking expression, says:

"You must really love her if you keep food for her but not for yourself in the fridge."

"Look, you... Ah, whatever."

There's no point in playing along further.

I walk to my bedroom and look inside. Saezu is still sleeping soundly. I turn back towards Belzal and ask:

"So how did you two meet?"

He shrugs and approaches.

"Bit of a typical story, I guess. I ran away from Hell because I couldn't handle the abominations trying to eat me there. As I was going through the forest, I found her, and I decided that she needed someone to protect her."

He peeks inside the room too, causing his stern expression to soften a bit. He then continues:

"It hasn't been all that long, to be honest, but... She's already really important to me. I want to keep her safe, and see her grow strong as an horned ogre. We're both mutants, and neither of us really knows what our powers are like or will be like since we have no parents, but I'll do whatever it takes to protect her."

I ruffle his hair, which causes him to take a step away from me.

"When it comes to Saezu, you're surprisingly mature."

He does his best to fix his hair as he responds:

"Yeah, well, I feel like I have to be. One day, I hope to see her shine without the need for my help. Not that I'm going to abandon her, of course."

I nod in approval.

"So, since you say you have no parents, you both just appeared one day, right? What's that like as an experience?"

"It's hard to describe. I just opened my eyes, and I was in Hell. Thanks to the memoria that formed me, I already knew how to speak, walk, use rudimentary tools, and things like that... Oh and I also knew I was in danger. So I ran, as fast and far as my little legs would carry me. I assume she went through something similar, but in a forest instead of burning plains."

"And you managed to make it all the way here. I'm proud of you two."

He blushes, causing his already red skin to turn darker.

"Well, it's not like I had any choice, right? What about you? What's it like being born from a human?"

"I... have no recollection whatsoever of that part of my life. I forgot most of my early childhood, so I don't remember what my parents were like. My earliest memory is that of an orphanage."

"You were abandoned?"

I nod, then continue:

"One day, some strange man came along and 'adopted' me. Then, he brought me to some secret lab, along with other children he had grabbed in other orphanages, and he started running experiments on us."

"That's just like those bad guys in the place we were yesterday!"

"Exactly. Everyone else died. I remember their screams of pain and agony as life slowly left them. And then, it was my turn. The pain was unbearable, but unlike all the others, I wasn't dying."

Belzal is staring at me, his eyes open wide, waiting for the next part of the story. I oblige him.

"Next thing I knew, I was back in my holding cell. Something had changed in me, though. So when that bastard came back to do more tests on me, I lashed out. With the crazy strength I suddenly found myself with, I punched him once for every kid he had killed. By the end, there was nothing left of him but a red, bloody paste."

"Wooow..."

"So in a way, I'm a bit like you two. I'm not a monster, but I was turned into the closest equivalent a human could be to a mutant. After that, I decided to use my strength for the good of those around me, and to make sure something like that wouldn't happen again, so I became a monster hunter."

"Then, you're going to keep fighting the bad guys who took us prisoners?"

"I most certainly will."

He's satisfied with my answer.

In the bedroom, Saezu moves around a bit before waking up.