Blood Lily

Emberend Content warning:

Spoiler

mention of death/violence/murder

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The dapper butler wore a poker face unhindered by his apparent age, his well-groomed mustache's demeanor second to none.

His colorless eyes drifted over my shoulders.

"Millie and Amber," he said before returning his peerless gaze towards me. "A tour? Very well."

Holding a single hand contained within a butler's trusty white glove, he let a firm snap ring out. Within moments, a dozen or so servants came from the myriad rooms of this floor, some even coming from the first floor. Most were maids all seeming decently older than Millie and Amber, and the few butlers that arrived were clearly much younger than Birch.

Before I had even realized it, my two new friends had moved from my side to his, and the rest of the servants formed a line behind the man who summoned them, each giving an exemplary bow.

"We are they who would serve the vampires of House O'Sang. Any complaint our lord and lady have, we settle. Any problems, we solve. Duties, we complete, and maintenance, we handle," he said, his voice firm and full of vigor.

Then, he looked me squarely in my scarlet eyes.

"Any wish, we fulfill," he said before gracing me with an impossibly perfect bow, one clearly achieved through decades- no, at least a century of practice.

At a loss for words, I meekly shook my head. Will they really listen to me? Be at my every beck and call? I wasn't sure if I liked the idea of that or not, but I certainly didn't like the idea of demanding their obedience. I'd much rather just be friends with them.

In spite of my nod, they all remained fixed in their bow.

"Say something," I noticed Millie and Amber mouth. Even in silence they were in unison.

"Uh.. Th-thank you all," I said even meeker than my nod.

"As always, our lord," each and every servant said with an unnerving yet loyal fervor directed at me.

With that, they took their leave and returned from whence they came. Back to their... maintenance, I guess?

"We'll carry on with our Lord's tour," the twin-like but not-twin maids said after returning to my sides.

Humbly nodding, Birch turned to take his leave. Just as he was turning on his heel, an idea came to mind.

"W-wait," I quickly asked.

He immediately halted, turning around to face me.

"Yes, my Lord?"

Oh, wow. This feels weird. I definitely don't like commanding people, but my curiosity proved too powerful not to itch.

"You were the, um... bat, right? C-could you show me again?" I requested with a tiny bit of hope. "...Please?"

"As you wish, my Lord," he said with a trace of hesitation, though his century old expression remained unchanged.

Closing his colorless eyes, a cloud of dark smoke enveloped him from the floor up, hiding his body. Within moments, the shadowy cloak faded, revealing a small fluttering form in an appropriately sized tuxedo and top hat...

"Mister Batler!" I said with excited glee. That form was just too cute, I had to see it again, ok?

His expression had retained a dignified pose befitting such a gentleman, even if his tiny, adorable form would do its best to betray it. Even so, the moment I declared his new nickname, I could feel the pressure crack his mask like a submarine braving a depth far deeper than it should ever dare.

Millie barely restrained a snort. Amber was suppressing a smile as a single bead of sweat made it's way down her forehead.

Mister Batler continued to flutter in place as only the slightest hint of annoyance was visible, but trust me, it was visible.

"Is that all, my Lord?"

Oh my god, he has an adorable baby bat voice too. It took everything I had to resist squeezing the rest of the years out of him in a tight hug, and that was saying something now that I have a thing for blood.

"Yes, thank you," I said with a sweetly-satisfied smile.

The dark clouds began shrouding him before I even finished saying thanks, and moments later he was back to his humanoid form.

"Enjoy your tour, my Lord," he said, almost sarcastically, before heading down the hall and into some other room.

I turned around to my friends.

"So, where nex-"

"OH MY GOD," Millie said as she busted out laughing, her fluffy tail noticeably whipping back and forth.

"I've never seen him like that before!" Amber exclaimed, giggling as quietly as she could manage (it wasn't very quiet).

I nervously joined in with their laughing.

"W-well, I just wanted to see him as a bat again, I mean every vampire can probably do that..."

"Yeah," Amber started to say, still laughing, "every vampire can transform, but it's different for all of us."

Calming herself down, she focused for a moment and called for a similar cloud, except this one only covered part of her back. When it dissipated, a single, medium-sized wing sprung forth from her back and past her left shoulder.

"See?" she said, flexing her leathery wing. "I only have the one wing when I transform."

"Oh, really?" I asked. I figured all of us could fully turn into a bat, though I still had no idea if I could or not.

"Yup," Millie added, still laughing. She grabbed her ferociously wagging tail, holding it in front of her. "This 'big fluffy tail,' as you put it, is my werewolf trait. Every myth inherits and manifests their racial trait differently."

"Still jealous your older brother got the ears instead of you?" Amber teased.

"Wha- I told you not to bring that up!" Millie whined as her tail straightened back out. She crossed her arms and pouted. "I bet you're still jealous of your sister..."

"I- ok, ok, fair enough," Amber conceded.

"Uhhh," I said rather lost in the conversation.

"Oh, right, sorry," Amber said. "Sister problems."

"Right," I said. I probably didn't want to probe into any of that. "What's a myth?" I asked, both to change the subject and learn. Mostly to learn.

"We're myths," Millie responded. "Anything rumored to be legend, to humans at least, is a myth."

"But we're real," I said.

"Try telling that to a human," she rebutted. "Even if you went and found the nearest human and told them you're a vampire while you look like that, fangs and all, they'd think you're joking. And, if they thought you were serious? Then you'd be crazy. Even if I tried to tell someone I was a werewolf, they'd think I was just cosplaying. You wouldn't believe how easy it is to cover it all up, even if someone ends up dead by a myth."

"...Dead?" I asked. I know what death is, I've seen it. I remember a thief barreling through the park as swiftly as he could to escape the police. I remember how he grabbed the first person he ran into and held them with a knife. Sitting in fear on a nearby bench, I looked away until I heard terrified screaming from bystanders followed by a loud bang. When I looked back to see what had happened, all that remained were two bodies, the thief and his hostage, in a pool of blood... I sat on a different bench from then on.

"Not all myths are nice like you," she said, drawing a weak smile from me. "Some refuse to learn how to live with their quirks at 'The Academy,' and some even choose to embrace their carnal instincts."

"The Academy?" I asked. I think Magnolia mentioned it before.

"They say it's like a school, but I think it's more of a program to earn your license. The license to live freely, that is. We're not allowed to go off on our own, too dangerous otherwise," Amber answered for me. "Millie and I are old enough now, so we'll be applying soon. You will, too, once you're old enough."

"Oh." I still didn't know how old I was, though. At least 16, I think. It all blends together.

"You'll have a nice long discussion with Lady Magnolia about that some other time though," Amber said, redirecting the conversation, flexing her singular wing once again. "The main point is that we all manifest our racial trait differently."

"Then... Mister Batl- er, Birch..." I began to say.

"Is a rare case," Millie continued. "Usually you get just a part, or parts, but rarely everything like that. Some werewolves get both a tail and ears, for example. Or just a lot of fur."

"He rather dislikes his form because... well, I think you made that clear enough," Amber added, giggling.

"Oh." Now I felt kind of guilty, but how could he dislike it? It's so cute...

"Ahem," Millie interrupted. "We should continue our tour. This is the second floor, or, as Birch put it, the humble abode of us servants," she said trying to impersonate Mister Batler.

"This is where we live," Amber said, "and-"

"You both live here?!"

"Yes," they said in quick succession.

"The house is rather large for just the two of you, so in addition to regular pay, we are allowed to live here for as long as we work here," Amber continued.

"So we're always nearby if you need us!" Millie happily reminded me. "That said, this floor mostly consists of many occupied guestrooms, the washroom, supply room, and the kitchen. Nothing too out of place."

"I see." I was starting to feel like this house was more of its own ecosystem than anything else.

"Now for the first floor!" Amber said cheerfully as she guided us towards the stairs.

As we descended to the ground floor, I couldn't help but wonder what my "racial manifestation" looked like. It better be cute...