Vampire for a Time

^{TW: Mortality.}

Delmarya Fier loved being a vampire. Just kidding, except not really kidding? Her thoughts on everything vampire-related were complicated, from her cravings for plasma instead of “normal” food to her affinity for sunlight.

Nonetheless, she was extremely happy (as long as she kept certain thoughts tucked away). She loved that she hardly needed to sleep and that as a child of the moon, her abilities were even more powerful at night.

She’d also found someone to rave about Sulani with her, her boyfriend ♡. Zach lived on Mua Pel’am and loved all Sulani’s islands as much as she did. By moon or sunlight, he was always stoked to swim in the ocean or walk the beach with her.

Together, they examined the caves, studied the ocean life, cleaned up the shores, and swam.

They also did a few other things.

But then Deli would abruptly notice something that ruined the mood, like Zach trying to hide his shivering. It had been cold? She hadn’t realized.

At times like this, she felt more like her father’s daughter than she wanted—how long had she been unaware that it was uncomfortably cold? Zach always tried to be considerate of her, so what should she say or do now? She didn’t know because she didn’t understand temperature in the same way that most humans did. She needed a thermometer, but suggested that he go inside at any rate…

Still, she reasoned that this kind of stuff was relatively easy to fix. She could pay more attention and figure it out. Could she figure out how to handle everyone aging and dying before she did? She didn’t have the same confidence and that was the problem that dared to rise (figuratively screaming) from wherever she’d tucked it every time some slightly related but infinitely more insignificant thing bothered her. Her parents had each other… She was afraid that her older vampire siblings weren’t as okay with things as they seemed.

Deli didn’t want to ruin the present with thoughts of an undetermined future, but sometimes it was difficult not to. She knew her father would tell her to not hold back and to live bravely, experiencing everything she wanted with her mortal siblings and with Zach, but that had the potential to be dangerously soul-crushing and working hard to transform every moment into an indelible memory was burdensome too.

---

Back home, Elmire, who thought very highly of Deli, began interrogating her sister about music, because Deli had casually snagged a Starlight Accolade for a song she’d written on the guitar and she had a different perspective from their father and Elmire’s teachers. Elmire was curious about more than just music, though.

She asked about being a vampire. Deli told her to go read a book about it. She wasn’t going to talk about it.

Elmire: Oh… okay.