“So, Mom, I had an idea,” Lia’s opening statement somehow managed to send a shiver down my spine, and not the good kind of shiver. It wasn’t so much about her words; those were innocent enough for a given value of innocence, and she did present a few genuinely good ideas in the past, some of which had advanced my own research by leaps and bounds. Especially when she presented ideas related to Alchemy, those could always give me some new path to seek out or a new methodology to follow. But this time, there was something in her voice that was just, for lack of a better word, wrong. As if she was about to present an idea that should never be voiced, certainly not followed, hel, even conceiving it in the first place might only be possible thanks to Lia’s inhumane nature.
“Let’s hear it,” I told her, a bit of apprehension sneaking into my voice.
“Well, you know how we helped Alex? And the various experiments we have done on animals and people since then?” she asked, getting a nod in return, “I thought about the best species we might want to use as new vampires,” she continued, and, somehow, that ominous feeling was intensifying, making a few droplets of sweat bead up on my brow.
“Yes…” I prodded, despite the growing premonition that I didn’t want to know. Or, at least, I didn’t want to have anything to do with that purported idea than to reject it. But for that, I needed to hear it first.
“You see, I first thought about using bats,” she began, “Cause they are the classic myths, stories, legends and all that. But when we got to that bookstore, I stumbled across a book about the various vampire myths and how the tropes within the stories were based on different psychological theories. Essentially, the author tried to demystify the whole myth and, in some ways, the entire genre, though I’ll admit there were some parts I didn’t get.” she shrugged, not really getting to the point, which caused the eerie feeling in my gut to intensify.
“Eh, doesn’t really matter,” she admitted before continuing on, “Anyway, part of that was that most bats want nothing to do with any mammals other than bats of the same species to make little batlings with. There are like three species of blood-sucking bats in South America, but even those aren’t really predatory and more along the lines of parasites,” she shrugged again before finally getting to the point.
“So, I had to think, what could be a good animal to use, something famous for its predatory nature and subsisting on nothing but blood, something we can turn into a better version of itself that I can claim as my vampiric underlings,” the gleam in her eyes was nothing short of unholy, the wicked glint of mayhem, “And then it came to me. We can use Mosquitos; there are literally billions, if not trillions, of them. They thrive almost everywhere, and they drink blood by the galleon if you have enough of them,” she enthused, making me freeze in horror.
As I was staring in awed horror, Lia continued to enthuse about the possibilities of actual vampiric mosquitos, a horror without equal. Nearby, I could see Luna, who had apparently listened with half an ear or more freeze with the same expression of abject terror I likely had on my face, the hope that this was just a nightmare and not an image we ever needed to contemplate further.
“Um, Mom?” Lia asked a little later, breaking me out of my horrified reverie.
“No!” was my first word after my mind stopped reeling from images of horror conjured up by Lia’s insane proposal. Suppose I ever wanted to destroy the world. In that case, this idea might be a tool to do so, a cruel and unusual punishment for those living at the time, a slow and agonising death as their blood was literally drained by an endless swarm of tiny, bloodsucking fiends.
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“Not just ‘No!’ but ‘Hel, NO!’, never, not while I draw breath, not while I plan to resurrect my beloved into this world. I will not turn this world into a death world teeming with murderous, bloodsucking monsters. Mosquitos are a blight, a pest of limitless proportions. If you told me they were an actual biblical plague sent to punish humanity, I’d believe you!” I growled, my magic writhing under my skin, my hair whipping about in an unseen breeze, and my eyes glowing with power, causing Lia to take a small step back.
“Carnelia, I love you, my daughter; I truly do,” I tried to assure her, “But if there is one beast I would never want to augment, it’s mosquitos. Never, ever, not even a little. I will not help you, and if you ever augment those tiny little suckers, I’ll do my level best to wipe them all out, whatever measures I need to take. I would conjure up the Fimbulwinter and cover this entire world in ice if necessary. Mosquitos are already a pest; if you, or anyone, decides that they need to become something worse, I will wipe out all life on this planet, only to get rid of them!” I stared into her eyes, power still rolling off me as I gave her my warning. There was no exaggeration in my words, nothing but the promise of a freezing grave if that was what proved to be necessary to keep mosquitos from becoming more than they currently were.
“Mom, you might want to tone it down a little,” Luna threw in, making me close my eyes for a moment and take a deep breath.
“You might be right, sweetie,” I told Luna once my voice wasn’t vibrating with magic any longer. “But I’m not joking; those flying pests are a plague, a scourge in this world. They contribute little, just a bit of food for other animals, and cause massive damage with the diseases they carry. And it’s not even useful damage, not like a lion or some other predators that have to kill to eat; these tiny little pests are killing people as a byproduct of their feeding, without need, without benefit,” I groused, venting a bit of my hatred for these pests.
“I guess that’s a no, then?” Lia asked and, for once, I noticed a tiny grin playing on her lips. “I mean, you already have those fancy chokers around your neck, so I thought you’d be happy with more mosquitos,” she added, trying to suppress a laugh. Now, I finally began to realise that my daughter had, apparently, pulled a prank on me, causing me to growl deep in my throat.
“You find that funny?” I asked, only to get an exaggerated nod in return while Luna started to giggle in realisation, only for her giggles to rapidly evolve into full-blown laughter, bending her in half as she tried to suck in enough air, a task quite difficult given that her laughter redoubled every time she glimpsed at me and the undoubtedly offended look on my face.
“Honestly, yes,” Lia grinned, “You know, that look of outrage on your face, it really drives home how much you hate my fellow bloodsuckers,” she giggled, making it difficult for me to hold onto my outrage.
“No respect,” I grumbled, only to step forward as quickly as I could, boosting my speed with Wind and Blood Magic so I had a chance to catch Lia off-guard. Otherwise, my daughter’s physical attributes would have foiled any attempt at physical retribution or punishment; she was simply faster than me. Thus, I managed to catch and mercilessly tickle her, making her squirm and twist as her giggles turned into helpless laughter.
“You want to laugh? I’ll make you laugh,” I snarled. I wasn’t really angry at the prank but had a feeling that my dear daughter may need some extra attention after her time away from us. So, tickle-punishment it was until Lia squirmed out of my hold by virtue of her superior strength. However, given that she landed on the ground once she escaped, it might have been an involuntary reaction, thanks to the tickles.
“Have you learned your lesson? Pranks are one thing, but pranks regarding the tiny bloodsucking fiends? Just the suggestion to enhance those things, even if only as a joke, is beyond the pale. I will not stand for it, and, as it turns out, neither do you,” I ranted a little, playing it up to amuse my daughters a little more.
“Is that understood?!” I snarled, something fairly difficult to accomplish while my lips were trying to curl into a grin. Luckily, I didn’t need to play up the anger any longer since Lia was nodding along while shaking with laughter.
“Now get up so we can keep going,” I told her, offering her a hand to pull her back to her feet. With each day Lia was back with us, she was doing better after the issues at Jademoon Tower. Hopefully, she’d soon recover from that mess.
