It was like they were empaths...but only with each other.
Gabriel had never seen anything like it, and aside from his fondness for Halina, I think it was a large part of why he came around so often.
Spike barking distracted the twins from their conversation and they hopped off our bodies to go ruffle the patient collie's fur. Holding the prized ball in his mouth, he wagged his tail as he stared at Teren, eager for his master to throw it again. The kids attached to his sides, Nika burying her face in the fluff around his neck.
Luckily for us, Spike adored the children. He'd even tolerated the months of being yanked and pulled and poked without ever yelping or biting. Sometimes, when the twins had been infants, he'd made a sound that I could have sworn was a sigh, and then he'd look up at me with those large, tired, puppy dog eyes. I'd had to laugh at the poor canine. Sure, dogs couldn't emote, but at those times it was obvious that he'd been wishing for the tactile stage of the kids' development to end.
Teren sat up, shifting my body so my legs were over his lap, and ruffled his dog's fur. "Hungry, boy?"
Spike thumped his tail against the floor as he sat down. The kids giggled as they adjusted to the floor with him. Dropping the ball, he barked again. Teren smiled. "Alright, let's get you something to eat."
He looked back at me on the couch. "I could use something too, how about you?" He smiled warmly at me and I took a second to appreciate the beauty of him before answering.
Eyes the color of a perfect spring morning gazed at me; they were the warmest eyes you'd ever see on a person. Whoever created this image of vampires as soulless, bloodthirsty creatures, had clearly never met one. They were people, same as any people, and while some were bad, as wicked, sick, and twisted as any human could be, some were good, exceptionally good. Teren...was exceptional.
"I would love some, thank you."
Knowing my husband only tolerated an all plasma diet, I knew he meant blood when he spoke of food. Dead vampires couldn't handle anything else. It wasn't just that their bodies couldn't digest it. No, eating wasn't something they could do for show then cough up later. Their vampiric bodies rejected food like it was poison. It was extremely painful and uncomfortable for them. I'd seen Teren do it once...I never wanted to see him do it again.
He nodded at me, his black-as-night hair shining in the fading rays of the sun. Bringing his attention back to Nika and Julian, who were now showering Spike in kisses, he leaned forward, so he was closer to their level. "What about you two? Who wants some blood?"
As a young person, the thought of what you'll be like as a parent occasionally crosses your mind. It certainly had for me when I'd been plowing through my job, wondering who I'd eventually marry, and fantasizing about how many of the imaginary man's kids I'd have one day. But what I'd never envisioned, ever, was hearing myself or my husband ask those delightful little beings if they wanted a steaming glass of cow's blood. Those are just words you never expect to hear spoken to a child. But then, when you marry a vampire and have vampiric children, it just sort of comes with the territory. Besides, it was the best meal on the planet, and what parent would deny their child the most delicious thing on earth?
They both agreed too, loving and craving the nutrient as much as any vampire I'd met. Although, for them, it wasn't as high on the list of snacks as it was for us. Truly, they got more excited about getting cotton candy at the fair. But...it was right up there.
Jumping up and down, they both started saying, "Me, me, me!"
Teren laughed, extraditing himself from my body so he could prepare meals for everyone. He loved to take care of people. It made him a pretty fabulous companion since, from the very beginning of our relationship, he'd spoiled me with homemade dinners; he usually even cleaned up too. That was just his way. And he was equally attentive to the kids, even going so far as to cut their sandwiches into fun little shapes. He was sort of, well, Mr. Mommish. I was a very lucky girl.
Wading through a sea of eager toddlers and a hungry dog, he laughed as he walked out of the living room into the kitchen. I stayed where I was on the couch, smiling as I listened to a family that I could hear, but no longer see. With my blood sense though, I knew exactly where they were. That was such a comfort to me, knowing exactly where my children were. I couldn't imagine not knowing their location at every point of my day. I couldn't bear the thought of leaving their sight and not knowing, with every fiber of who I was, where they were. I think I would worry myself into insanity if that were the case. Honestly, I didn't know how human mothers did it. They sort of amazed me.
Listening to my husband pop open the fridge, I heard my children start to play with the magnets on it. As Teren grabbed the pitcher of plasma in there, he helped them start to spell words, calling out different letters so they could arrange the shapes into the words that they used most often - mom, dad, dog...blood.
I smiled and shook my head when he spelled out that one for them. That probably wouldn't be in a normal three-year-olds vocabulary, but it was one of the first words they'd said, right after Dadda, actually. They could even say it in Russian, along with a few other simple phrases. Teren was teaching them as they grew, so I was starting to finally pick up a few things too. I liked that soon I'd be privy to the private conversations he sometimes had with his family. I hated being kept in the dark, even if it was unintentional.
As he warmed it in the microwave, he sped away to get the dog some food. He was back before the fifteen seconds had gone off on the timer. Nika giggled at the display. "Again, Daddy." Teren chuckled, and I heard him place a kiss on her. The kids loved the blurred visual of us moving fast. They could do it too, in very short bursts, but it generally led to one or both injuring themselves, so Teren and I tried to dissuade them from doing it. Plus, that was something they could absolutely not do around humans. We drilled that into them constantly.
In fact, just after I thought it, Teren reminded them that that was something that only happened at home with family. They both automatically replied with, "Okay, Daddy," as Teren set the blood for another warming cycle.
Smelling the warmth of that blood drifting out to me, I inhaled it deeply, my smile a satisfied one. My stomach, less satisfied, even after the chicken and vegetables the kids and I had eaten earlier, rumbled loudly. Everyone in the kitchen laughed, clearly having heard it.
"Mommy's noisy," Julian gigged.
Sighing at my super hearing family, I stood and shuffled off to the kitchen, stretching languidly with each step. Teren smiled at me as I stepped through the archway into the room. "Yes, Julian, she sure is."
He raised his eyebrows suggestively, and I bit my lip, knowing he was not talking about what Julian thought he was talking about. Being that there were impressionable little vampires in the room, I couldn't even smack him for his dirty talk. Flushing slightly, I settled with discreetly pinching his butt.
"Am not," I muttered as I kissed his neck.
The kids clamored around our legs as Teren tested the blood then poured some into two sippy cups. "Are too," he muttered back, adding, "and it drives me crazy."
Blushing even more, I pinched him a little harder.
He chuckled but didn't act like I was hurting him in any way. Nika looked up at him, her dark brown eyes a mirror image of mine. "What's cr..a..zy?"
Teren laughed softly as he handed her a bright pink cup. "Nothing, sweetheart. Drink up, it's almost bedtime."
She grabbed the cup and swished it back eagerly. Teren handed a light blue one to an also eager Julian and the both of them were silent for a moment as they enjoyed their dessert. Teren made tall glasses for us and we clinked romantically before tipping them back as well.
The smell hit me first - heavenly, heady, life-giving. Then the taste - sweeter than you'd think, like candy, but with an interesting tang to it. The vampire in me growled in contentment, a similar noise echoing from Teren. Pausing in my drink, I watched him. His fangs had dropped down and noticing me staring, he took a second to flick his tongue over one. It was unbelievably hot. I had to look away.
Glancing down at our kids, I watched their little fanged faces. Julian smiled around his cup as he looked up at me, his fangs tiny, little more than slightly elongated and sharpened canines.
Smiling, I looked over at the carbon copy of me. Her hair was still lighter than my current dark shade, but my mom assured me that Nika's sandy brown hair was exactly the color mine had been at her age. She smiled up at me too. Opening her mouth with a long "aw" sound, I could see the red of blood on her tongue and her small, dainty fangs.
It had surprised me, but their fangs had been the first teeth to come in, and they'd come in as a matched set, both breaking through the skin at the same time. For a couple of months, they'd both sort of looked like they had serpentine mouths. It had been pretty humorous and I'd often wished I'd been able to take a picture of it. But, until the other teeth had dropped down around them, it had just been too obvious what they were.
I grabbed their cups as they finished them, rinsing them out and putting them in the dishwasher. Teren kissed my neck. His still extended fangs grazed the tender surface, making a shiver run down my spine that had nothing to do with the chill of his lips.
Giving him a warning glance to behave himself, I watched him chuckle at me and slip his teeth away. My exceedingly normal looking husband then scooped a child in each arm, plopping them over his shoulders. They laughed at first, then started to squirm in protest when they realized that he was getting them ready for bed. I kissed each pouting face before he shuffled off with them.
At the stairs I heard, "No, nigh-nigh, Daddy," from Nika, and, "I want Mommy," from Julian.
Calmly, Teren replied with, "If you two are really good, I'll tell you stories."
They instantly quieted. "Mommy and Daddy stories?" Nika asked.
I heard Teren set them down upstairs, heard their soft feet scramble to find their pajamas. "Yep, Mommy and Daddy stories."
I finished cleaning up the remnants of the day in the kitchen, then lickety-split cleaned up the rest of the house. Picking up broken crayons, missing puzzles pieces, and small piles of goldfish crackers was quick work when you could move at nearly the speed of light.
As I was putting the tricycle back outside for the hundredth time, I heard Teren trying to convince the kids that brushing their teeth was fun. Laughing at his attempt, I slowly made my way upstairs. By the time I got to the bathroom, he'd convinced Nika to give it a try. Julian had clamped his mouth shut though. They didn't like the brushes sweeping across their sensitive fangs. I understood. Even retracted, they were just more attuned to vibrations and movements than the teeth around them.
Shaking my head at Julian, I squatted in front of him. "I know it feels weird, honey, but it's important." Raising an eyebrow, I very seriously added, "You wouldn't want your fangs to fall out, would you?"
His little eyes opening wide, his mouth soon followed suit. Teren gave me a wry smile as I scrubbed Julian's teeth to a pearly white.
As soon as we were done, they stormed off to their room. Since birth they'd shared one, at the far end of the hall from ours. We'd talked about splitting them up, but they preferred to be together for now and we let them. We were pretty sure that they would let us know when they were ready for their independence from each other. And surely, by puberty, they would want independence from each other.