"Bro," Annabelle deadpanned, pointing at the sleeping children coiled beside a sitting Bastien, their heads resting on his thighs. Their half-opened mouths revealed two sharp fangs, but the rest of their bodies were so tiny and emancipated that the boys inspired no fear in Annabelle. If anything, their cuteness and frail appearances sparked a motherly side in her she didn't know she had—but the 'cute' things here tended to be deadly, so… Maybe it was better to keep her distance for now, for self-preservation purposes.
If she lowered her eyes, Annabelle could see that Bastien's wrists were littered with highly suspicious bite marks. Even if it didn't seem to bother him, it bothered her.
"What?"
Annabelle rolled her eyes, gesturing more vehemently toward the sleeping boys, the elephant in the room, "What's that?"
"Kids," Jules deadpanned back, lifting his eyes from the book he had been reading while the group slept; even Felix had fallen asleep at one point after being reassured that the vampires would be alright.
Earlier, Bastien had become the de facto cushion and moved from the secret room to the office with the boys, who had fallen prey to a food-induced coma, while Jules had taken a book from the dusty shelf to pass the time. He was still on guard duties and couldn't join the others in dreamland, not like he needed to sleep in this form, anyway. But maybe a night's rest would have helped alleviate the irritability that had been gripping him.
On the bright side, even if the book was a little hard to read, as it was written in Old English, it was interesting. It was one of the few written in a language he could decipher, and the author discussed the witch and werewolf trials from the medieval period, from the 5th up to the 15th century.
Jules was just about to plunge back into the recording of one of the most gruesome trials held during that time when he heard his sister scoff. So, he stopped reading mid-sentence and glanced at her. What did she want now?
"…When the heck did you guys find the time to have kids?" Annabelle smiled icily, unhappy with the one-word reply that did not answer her question. "How many times did you do it behind our backs? And who gave birth, by the way?"
The hunter felt his mouth twitch while Bastien's stifled laugh echoed throughout the room. Well, it seemed like his sister's humor hadn't improved during her time in the other realm, and her snappy temper was still the same.
"As far as I know, we're both males," Jules cocked an eyebrow, answering in a matter-of-factly tone, "and that makes it hard for either of us to get pregnant. The boys are also a little too old to be ours; I met Bastien a week ago, remember?"
Now that Jules said it, the whole ordeal had only begun a mere few days ago, even though it felt like years, and it had indeed been years for Annabelle.
"Dude," Annabelle smirked, unwilling to capitulate first, "you're not exactly humans, both of you. Do I have to spell it out for you? Bastien is an incubus, the kind of demon people associate with sex, debauchery, and other shit. I wouldn't really be surprised if incubi could get pregnant. And if that's not enough for you, angels are known to create miracles, too. So, see where I'm coming from now?"
"That's stretching it a little too—" Jules paused mid-sentence to glance at Bastien. Honestly, he didn't trust his knowledge all that much anymore. What if incubi, like sucubi, could also get pregnant during intercourse? Now that he thought about it, he didn't wear a condom when they went at it a few days back, releasing himself deep inside the demon. So, just to be sure.
"…Can incubi get pregnant?"
The question dumbfounded Bastien for a second, then he burst out laughing, plastering a hand to his mouth to muffle the sound. He didn't want to wake the boys just yet.
"Incubi don't have a womb," Bastien said after the bout of laughter calmed down, wiping the tears that had welled up in the corner of his eyes. That had been a good laugh. "Although I guess, if an incubus truly wants to bear a child, he'd only need to switch into a sucubus form, and voila."
"You can switch between the two?" Iris asked, popping from behind Annabelle's back. She had been hiding behind her friend with Melody, quietly observing the children from afar. Curiosity was gradually replacing the fear, giving her the courage to speak. "You never told me that!"
"You never asked."
Iris glared at her ancestor, and Bastien smiled at her descendant.
"How come I didn't know that, too?" Jules frowned.
"Hunters also never asked," Bastien shrugged, an amused yet nonchalant expression softening his smile. "Most of us also tend to choose the form we're most comfortable with when we're young and stick to it. But yes, some still switch between the two whenever they feel like it. And as you know, I'm the oddball in the lot; the majority of us don't have fixed partners, so it makes it harder for the information to spread. A one-time encounter with one of us wouldn't make you believe that we can switch gender willy-nilly, would it now?"
"Well—"
The discussion descended into a lesson on incubi and sucubi's anatomy, as well as societal norms, until, at one point, the vampires emerged from their sleep.
The moment they woke up, however, they retched.
Jules frowned as he watched the boys empty their stomachs on the floor, folded in two by each side of Bastien. The demon took it upon himself to pat their backs. The sound of vomiting filled the office, cutting short the conversation. No one spoke, nor commented. They watched as the vampires gasped, tears of pain rolling down their cheeks. Saliva, alongside the whitish-reddish liquid that they had just hurled, clung to their lips, dripping on the soiled floor.
It was painful to watch.
Eventually, the noise woke up Felix, and panic flashed across his face at the sight. He scrambled toward the boys, looking at Bastien in fear as he asked, "W-what's happening?"
"Don't worry," Jules answered for the incubus as he finally shut the book that had been lying open on his thighs. "They've only eaten too much. A primordial demon's blood is rich in nutriments, and their stomachs are revolting a little. Have you ever tried to wolf down a copious meal after fasting for a few days? It's the same principle, but worse."
These two hadn't eaten proper meals for decades, if not centuries. They couldn't digest Bastien's blood all that well, but for the little they did manage to digest, it showed in their complexion. Their skin had turned into a pale, pristine white, instead of being a pale, greyish white, while their cheeks appeared a little fuller. Of course, one good meal wouldn't bring them back to peak health, but they didn't seem to have a foot in the grave anymore.
"W-why?"
Their voices were faint, barely audible.
"It's alright," Bastien said, rubbing their backs in a comforting manner. "It might hurt for a bit, but—"
"N-no," one of the twins trembled. "W-why…"
"Why did you," the other continued, more poised than his brother, "bring us out of the room?!"
"Hey, calm down, it's—"
"No! It's too late," they then both cried out, curling up into a fetal position. "No, no, no… We're not supposed to get out!"
While crying, they peered at the door and put their hands on the back of their heads, covering the nape of their necks, as if to protect themselves from something. Fear distorted their delicate facial features into something grotesque, and soon enough, their thin shoulders started to tremble.
The terror they felt couldn't be any more palpable.
Confused, Jules and Bastien stared at each other before turning their attention back toward the secret room. Ah, right. It couldn't be opened from the inside.
"Shit!" Jules cursed as he sprang to his feet, the book falling onto the floor in a loud thud. He gestured for the girls to retreat to the back.
They didn't ask questions and swiftly bolted behind the desk; Annabelle grabbed Felix's wrist in passing, pulling him along and shoving him down so that he could hide underneath the massive desk with the teenage girls. She put herself in the first row before the three, as a meat shield, hushing them to stay quiet.
The young man didn't seem to understand, and Iris decided not to take any chances, plastering a hand against his mouth. Her glare was a warning to shut the fuck up, lest he wanted to die.
Meanwhile, Bastien brought the frightening twins behind him and nodded at Jules, who stood in the middle of the office, facing the door with his spiritual sword in one hand.
Now, he could hear footsteps drawing nearer.
Someone was coming.
Jules lowered his eyes to the doorknob. A snort escaped him. He doubted the locked door would do anything to stop them, but hope springs eternal, as they say.