Life after the situation with Hannibal and Caleb went virtually back to normal after that with a few changes to the vampire domain. Wyatt and Kyra had decided to take a day where they would heed the voices of the people who lived outside of their manor in the village below. It was a long process that proved to be very arduous at times, but with Donovan and Lancelot there to help Lord Wyatt and Lady Kyra they made sure no voice would go unheard to them who came that day. The day in question was due to Hanako suggesting to Wyatt to help usher in a golden age and it would start with the people. Hanako Ashida-Tepes herself made her way to the throne room to where Wyatt and Kyra had been listening to a few people from the village. After speaking with Lancelot, she requested to hold the line for whoever was next a she wanted to speak privately with the lord and lady. She made her way inside and kneeled before them.
"Hanako, you shouldn't have to bow to us, you are family." Wyatt said.
"Forgive me, but I do so out of respect. I initially just intended to stay here temporarily to protect the children. But I cannot deny that my.....my feelings for you all have changed. I have come to view you both as well as the children as family." Hanako now sat on both of her knees and unsheathed her sword and lay it in front of Wyatt and Kyra's direction. "So if you would have me, I wish to stay not just as protector, but...as family." Hanako said as she bowed her head for respect.
Wyatt and Kyra both looked at each other and walked over to Hanako leaned over to her. They placed their hands on her shoulders and motioned for her to rise up from the floor, as she stood up Wyatt embraced her in a hug which she returned.
"Thank you for staying Aunt Hanako." Wyatt thanked as Hanako nodded.
"We greatly appreciate you being here, as do the children." Kyra said with a nod.
Hanako now bowed towards the two of them as she picked up her sword and sheathed it back into its scabbard. She motioned for Lancelot to resume letting the people speak now to Wyatt and Kyra as she made her away around the manor.
As she was making her way around the manor, she suddenly encountered Vlad in the hallway, she stood there in front of him without moving at first and looked directly into his eyes. She stood there and looked directly into his eyes and took a few heavy breaths and seemed like she was about to cry.
"Hello Hanako, is there something I can do for...." Before Vlad could finish Hanako could finish Hanako embraced Vlad tightly in a hug.
"Grandfather....grandfather.....you are my grandfather....." Hanako said almost to the point of tears.
Vlad tried to say something but felt himself overcome with too much emotion to even fathom what to say to his granddaughter and returned her hug.
"I am, I just.....I finally see you.....as family." Hanako said giving him a small smile. Hanako finally broke off the hug after a while and wiped her eyes then nodded as Vlad nodded back with a smile.
"Where is Lisa?" Hanako asked as Vlad began to walk past her.
"Oh, she wanted to spend some time with the children today. They were with Miss Cheyenne the last time I saw her." Vlad said as he walked off.
Hanako found Lisa and Cheyenne standing above the Tepes children who were looking up at them as they looked a little concerned.
"The mean human isn't coming back, is he?" Andrew asked the women.
"No, Andrew. The mean human isn't coming back. Your mother said he's not allowed back here at all." Cheyenne informed the children much to Andrew's delight.
"But not all humans are mean, right? Daddy told me so." Andromeda asked the women.
"That's right Andromeda, not all humans are mean. Some, just like your Aunt Sasha are good people. But remember there can also be mean vampires out there too." Lisa explained to the children.
"Gram gram, um, why were you mean before?" Nyx asked Lisa as Lisa and Cheyenne looked unsure of just how to answer them.
"Gram Gram was just lost when she first came here." Hanako said as she put down her sword and stepped inside the room. The children all turned their heads to listen to Hanako.
"She didn't know who she was for a long time and she thought she had to be mean to survive in the world. Sometimes being mean can help, but do you all remember who let gram gram back home?" Hanako asked as Nyx perked up raising her little hand.
"Me?" Nyx asked pointing to herself.
"That's right Nyx. You let her in because you saw she was a different person than when you first met her. Gram gram had to travel across the world to....find herself again." Hanako explained.
"Huh?" The kids all asked in unision.
"Why did you need to find yourself gram gram?" Brendan asked.
"Yeah, you're right here." Duncan said pointing to her.
"Huh? I am? Oh, silly me." Lisa said looking down at herself as the kids but Andromeda giggled.
"Andromeda, what's wrong?" Hanako asked her looking concerned.
"I....just reawwy miss Auntie Sock." Andromeda said holding her bear close to her.
"Oh, I've really missed you too 'Dromy." A voice said as the kids looked behind them to see Sasha and Duke standing behind them.
"AUNTIE SOCK!" The kids all shouted with joy as they ran over to Sasha and gave her a hug with Andromeda hopping up and down wanting Sasha to pick her up. Sasha bent down and picked up her young niece.
"What's wrong 'Dromy, did you think I wasn't coming back?" Sasha asked.
"Y-Y-Yes, we all....heard that....some....humans hate vampires and we....got....worried you didn't like us anymore." Andromeda confessed as the kids now looked a little sad.
"Oh...'Dromy. I could never hate you. I could never hate any of you." Sasha said trying to suppress her tears from the kids. "I love all of you around the world and back. There's nothing I wouldn't do to keep all of you safe either." Sasha said as she got on the floor and gave the kids a hug making the kids feel better especially Andromeda.
"Alright children, you can talk with your Aunt Sasha and Uncle Duke later. I got you all a surprise snack." Cheyenne said as she uncovered a plate.
"Cookies!" The kids all shouted in excitement and ran to eat them all.
Duke and Sasha now went to stand alongside Hanako and Lisa as they watched the kids excitedly eat the cookies.
"Didn't expect you both to show up here so soon." Hanako admitted to Duke and Sasha.
"Yeah well, Duke told me that 'Dromy was getting worried I didn't love her anymore and I am not letting any of my nieces or nephews think that." Sasha said as she watched the kids excitedly eat the cookies.
Duncan was now trying to grab a cookie from Nyx that she had already pulled from the plate.
"Oh, Duncan, let your sister have that cookie." Cheyenne said as she went over to break up the fight.
"I am glad you found yourself." Hanako said to Lisa who politely smiled back.
"I am too. I wouldn't want to miss seeing these children grow up." Lisa said.
"Now that's something we can all agree on." Sasha said as they watched the kids eat the cookies.
Hanako was happy she could be there now for her family. She was content with her decision to stay and help this family grow. Her family.
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Meanwhile, some of the other vampires were finding happiness in their own way. Ken was doing training with little Ann out in the forest. This was a way for both Ken and little Ann to keep up their skills and tactics.
Ken made his way carefully through the forest as he listened carefully for little Ann to approach him from behind at any moment. Little did he know that Ann was actually hiding among some of the tree branches and waited for her moment to pounce. Ken stopped in his tracks as he listened above him to hear the sound of a heavy object falling towards him as he stuck his sword down into the ground and swung his foot up kicking Ann in the stomach as she now fell onto the ground. Ken could hear growling while on the floor.
"No, come on, don't feel bad about it. I certainly didn't expect you to come down from the branches. I was expecting a ground attack." Ken said to little Ann who he could hear kicking the dirt.
"I know you want an assignment. But Lord Wyatt assigned Duchess and Cassandra on the stealth mission and we all know you aren't so good with stealth." Ken said as Ann stomped her foot once.
"No, you wouldn't be for this one. It was at a brothel. Do you honestly think anyone would come for a child at brothel?" Ken rhetorically asked Ann. "Please don't answer that."
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Duchess and Cassandra were sitting at a table sipping on some tea they had made.
"Mistress, I've had a question on my mind for some time." Duchess said as she sat her tea down.
"Yes my love, what is it?" Cassandra asked.
"Well, Lancelot is in Lord Wyatt's employ, correct?"
"Yes."
"So that means that the legend of King Arthur is true, isn't that right?" Duchess asked as she heard a moaning from the floor and threw her tea cup down onto the person's head.
"Yes, I suppose it is. Why do you ask?" Cassandra questioned raising her eyebrow as she heard a man groaning behind her as she broke her cup and plunged a sharp piece of the tea cup into the man's eye.
"Well if the legend of King Arthur is true in some fashion, doesn't that mean other legends are true as well such as Robin Hood and the like?" Duchess asked as a man screamed running towards her with a sharp object before Duchess punched him in the crotch and he fell onto the floor. Duchess then grabbed the man's belt as she choked the man to death.
"I suppose they could be my love. But remember I don't have all the answers. Some legends are based on truth, some are based on lies, and everything else? Well it's just some bullshit that some dead old men made up." Cassandra surmised stroking her chin.
"That is true. It seems most history has been written by men while the women were believed to not be important enough to change the world and just be mothers or whores." Duchess noted.
"Yes, on that I do agree with you. Hence why we tracked this local gang down to this brothel. Shame we couldn't save some of the women before we got here." Cassandra sighed.
"Indeed. It is a cruel, cruel world we live in. But that is where being a vampire has its advantages." Duchess said getting cheery.
"Oh, on that we agree my love." Cassandra said as they came to a room where a few of the women were hiding. Cassandra saw a portly shaped woman who looked to be in her late 60s standing in front of the younger surviving girls who looked to be at least in their 20s.
"I take it you are the madam of this fine establishment?" Cassandra asked kindly.
"Y-Y-Yes? I...uh....I am." The portly woman answered back still frightened.
"Oh, take it easy now. Duchess and I aren't here to harm you, the bastards we tracked down were our targets and now you have us to thank. Well, ourselves as well as Lord Wyatt and Lady Kyra, they sent us to you to stop those criminals. Now, I....oh....I see we have one left trying to scurry away here." Cassandra said finding a young boy who looked to be 14 underneath the bed.
"No! He wasn't with them. He's my grandson, I told him to hide in here with us so he wouldn't get hurt." The portly woman explained.
"Oh, well then, I have one last question for you all: Would you care to live under the protection of Lord Wyatt and Lady Kyra?" Cassandra said showing her fangs.
"We....we would be protected by them in their land? Unlike here?" The portly woman asked as Cassandra nodded her head.
"I...I would like to go first. I don't want to feel like a coward again after today." The young boy said.
"Ah, excellent. Then maybe you can be the sire of your grandmother and the rest of these women. Duchess, would you kindly do the honors? I'm going to get our room ready, we'll be staying the night madam." Cassandra said as she dropped a handful of money onto the floor.
Duchess meanwhile bit into the young boy's neck and he turned into a vampire. He then turned to his grandmother and the few remaining women. He bit into his grandmother's neck and was surprised when she was convulsing but it turned out that she was breaking out of her old shell and became a young and robust woman. The other women became vampires as well and decided since they were all in a brothel and vampires that they might as well enjoy themselves now.
"Work before pleasure, eh Mistress?" Duchess chuckled as she began undressing.
"Indeed my love. But the pleasure is always worth it." Cassandra said as she put a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the handle of their room door.