The Fallen Vampire

Chapter 198: Family

"Ina, you can take a little break, sweetie."

"T-Thank you, but I can't just yet... I've already spent too much time yesterday on.." Inadu's words trailed off as she vividly remembered the events that had gone on all the way into this morning.

"A-Anyway..!" She shook her head hard. "I promised everyone that I would do my best to get these out to them quickly, and that's what I am going to do!"

Ina's resolve was strengthened once again and she resumed her task with even greater speed and efficiency than before.

Vermeil simply lounged in bed and watched her with great interest.

Ina sat on the floor in the middle of the room.

There was a pile of loose, broken down thread on one side, and on the other there was an assortment of neatly folded clothes; each with a small note on them so that she wouldn't forget who they belonged to.

Ina was exceptional.

The entire process for her took exactly ten minutes stimuli start to finish.

She would pick up a piece of paper that she had written measurements on, commit them to memory, and then begin weaving the clothing with her own hands, exactly to the specifications of their future owner.

The threads she was using came from Velreth's seemingly bottomless treasure trove downstairs.

The ice god had many trinkets, fabrics, pills, and weapons, but Inadu was only making clothes out of the worst quality ones.

Taira and Aveena's greatest fear was making a bunch of inept cultists carried by fanciful accessories.

For the first few years or so, they would be given only what was sufficient. No more, and no less.

Vermeil felt something move in the bed and Enyo sat up while rubbing her eyes.

"Mmm... Is she still at it?"

""Yes."" Vermeil and Inadu responded in unison.

"Does she need help..?"

"I think you would just slow her down, En." Vermeil said apologetically.

Inadu didn't say anything because she didn't want to be rude, but she was actually thinking the same thing.

Enyo rubbed her eyes until they were finally halfway opened and stared down at the floor.

When she saw the way that Ina was weaving the fabrics, she raised a brow.

"How come you're only using two hands, sweetheart? I thought spider demons traditionally used all of them when they weave."

Vermeil and Enyo tightly wrapped their arms around the young woman from behind.

"W-What are you..?"

"No matter what, Ina, you will always be safe with us. With our family."

"Even if it costs us our last breath, we will make sure that no one ever hurts you ever again."

Normally, Inadu would have said that she didn't need such a vow from them, and they didn't need to worry about her this much.

But perhaps the road to healing would be a lot easier to walk on if she had a little help.

"I... Thank you both for your kindness. I'm not even sure what I've done to deserve such a thing."

"That's the good thing about family, Ina." Vermeil wiped her face. "You don't have to do anything to deserve it, just be willing to accept it."

"...I understand, Vermeil.. Thank you." She smiled.

Enyo seemed quite proud as she pushed her hair to the side.

"Come on now, let us help you with all of this work."

"E-Erm.."

"Come on!" Enyo shook her. "How hard can it be?"

*Enyo poked herself with a needle 9 times. She cried at her helplessness before crawling back into bed and going to sleep for another five hours.*

-

Inside of a barren, icy room underneath the palace, a single woman was seated in the middle of the space.

She was locked in some kind of strange trance as she meditated; her mind so faraway that there was no telling whether she would even be aware of anything going on around her at this moment.

Seconds turned to minutes, minutes turned to hours, and hours slowly became days.

At the appropriate time, her body seemed to move on it's own and reached for a small pouch at her side.

She pulled out a small pill and pushed it past her lips with robotic movements.

Energy surged around her, and her brightly glowing eyes flashed open with an unreal brilliance.

Cracks formed over her nude body and gave her an appearance like that of molten magma.

She yelled out defiantly, and the shell stunting her growth was broken through once more.