Nectar Over Necks (Part 2/2)

Asher’s youngest daughter, Ennik, wanted to spend time with him, so she joined him in the basement. Then, she immediately asked for a snack, “Daddy, I’m starving. Please, a snack. I don’t want cookies. I don’t juice. I don’t want milk. I don’t want fruit. I don’t want carrots. I don’t want yogurt. I don’t want … Thank you.”

Asher did not eat normal food and he was still questionable at the stove, but after 18 kids, he had no problem putting together something healthy she would like.

Peas and water for Ennik.

She ate happily, dozed off, woke up, maxed her skills, and told Asher a little story about her favorite toy, a blue helicopter, which she called Helgi.

There was still some time before Ennik’s birthday, but Asher considered designing a blue helicopter themed bedroom for his daughter, which probably wouldn’t work, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that her new bedroom would cost more than 60,000 simoleons, which meant he needed to stop stomping grapes and get back to income-generating work soon.

But first he would stomp a few more while Ennik danced in imitation.

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Meanwhile, Elmire prepared to start high school. It annoyed her that her teachers had assigned work before the first day, but she made sure to do it all properly. She also completed a school project with her mother’s help.

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Adelise: Did you measure that?

Elmire: I can tell by looking. I promise. Baking soda, vinegar, phenotholein—you know.

Adelise: Phenolphthalein.

Elmire: Yes, phenolphthalein, thanks. Anyway, I studied how to do this. I’m 99.993% sure this is the right amount of vinegar. Honestly.

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The project turned out fine, so she went with Brett and Britany to participate in the Karaoke Contest at Quay Karaoke (designed by Peacemaker). Thankfully, they never mentioned anything about her being a prodigy.

First, they took selfies. The objective was serious faces. Anyone who laughed would eat spoiled fruitcake as punishment.

They all passed.

As for singing, Elmire was decent. She stayed on beat, in tune, and got most of the lyrics right.

And they're singing my praises, la-la-la  
Screaming my name out lo-lo-loud  
This is why we're immortal now …
- Gods (League of Legends, NewJeans)

Britany wasn’t bad either. She stayed in tune and on beat.

Brett sang passionately,

but he was off beat and out of tune and he mumbled the lyrics. Oh well. None of them scored high enough to win the contest. They’d practice and try again later.

Elmire was having so much fun that she ignored her needs until she really couldn’t and had to hobble-run to the restroom.

U)*@#)*@#)*

Her breath caught in her throat as black mist suddenly swirled about her and a man appeared.

He had no reflection!

He wore a black double-breasted coat, like a historical cosplayer.

She recognized him immediately even though she wasn’t sure she’d ever seen him in person before: a vampire, Vlad. WTF? Why was he here? What was he doing jump scaring humans in the restroom? Was he attacking people?!?!

Elmire did not stick around to find out. She immediately warned her friends about the creep in the bathroom and texted her mom.

Now that she was calmer and almost could think straight, she wondered what her parents would actually do, but it was hard to tell. Her thoughts were a bit jumbled. She thought that her father had once been friends with Vlad, but they’d since fallen out, probably because Vlad was a creep—Vlad was unlikely to bother her for obvious reasons and her parents were too busy to monitor his every move, so she’d be sure to keep an eye out for him too, especially if the karaoke place was one of his regular haunts.