Nothing really made sense. For starters, why was she on the wrong side of the road? The small car bumped softly along. Then she noticed the sky; a purple hue, despite the sun being at its peak. Or was it the moon? She couldn't really tell. Then, the road morphed into something like a black river of tar and [Y/n] was no longer in a car but on the back of a screaming horse. There were six monsters crawling in the tar, their eyes red and their skin white but stained. They reached for the horse's legs, dragging it down, down, down...

[Y/n] awoke with a start, her breathing rapid as she took a moment to calm herself down. Her hand automatically reached for her phone on her bedside table. Only air was in its place. There was no phone, no bedside table, and - as [Y/n] began to come to her senses - she realised there was no bed either. In fact, she was laying beside what appeared to be a bed, though looked more like an operating table: a slab of metal with a duvet and pillow.

[Y/n]'s head shot up as it suddenly dawned on her: she wasn't at home. God, she didn't have a clue where she was. At the sudden movement of her head, she felt a harsh collision with the wall behind her, causing her to yelp.

"Be quiet, would you?" a harsh masculine voice sounded from across the room, though there was still some element of softness to it. [Y/n] froze, the voice unfamiliar. He sounded annoyed, but also not. It was hard to place. 'I've been kidnapped... oh god, I've actually been kidnapped,' she thought in a frenzy. Silence remained between them for a while before a small, amused - yet non-menacing - chuckle emitted from the presumed male. "Hm? No questions? You might be the first human who's ever listened to me," he mused. "You should get up. There are spiders on the floor," he said, causing the already startled female to shoot up from her place on the floor.

The pair locked gazes. At the other side of the rather spacious (yet terribly bland) room sat a brunette male with violet-magenta eyes and skin paler than snow. He seemed to hum to himself, placing the book he had been reading down and standing up. He gestured for her to sit on the 'bed' which, reluctantly, she did so.

He nodded in approval, clearly satisfied that she wasn't being difficult with him. His job wasn't always... easy. [Y/n] didn't know whether she was supposed to feel reassured or concerned by the look which erred on praise and, perceivably, threat so she maintained a poker face. "I may as well cut to the chase as useless talk will get us nowhere," he began with a frown, "you are one of twenty other women of your age. You have all been selected meticulously from the age of three and raised in a manner that would prepare you for this moment."

"B-but... how? What about my parents...?" [Y/n] whispered, suddenly more confused than she was before. What did he mean 'selected'? Selected for what? And what on Earth was he? He had the youthful features of someone her age but the eyes of a monster much, much older.

"Your parents were still your parents. Before you go getting a trust complex, all your friends and family were indeed who they said they were, so don't go killing yourself because you think your life's been a lie. We've had far too many cases of that over the years," he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "We merely raised you by helping to influence your thoughts. Little things like the imaginary friends you had as a child, the values you began to believe as you grew older... stuff like that."

"Why are you telling me this...?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Didn't you want to know?" the male asked, confused. Then he understood what she was getting at. "Oh! Haha, no, we're not planning on hurting you if that's what you're worried about," he chuckled. "You have a task we need you to do. That's what you were selected for, after all."

"We...?" [Y/n] whispered. He then put a finger to his lips as to indicate that he wanted her to stop asking questions. The girl opened her mouth to protest but quickly saw sense and shut it again. At this, the man before her seemed to relax. Questions were always difficult to answer this early on.

"Your task is to raise the six infant children inside this nursery. They are your sole purpose until you die. Do you understand?" his calm expression dropped to a far more serious one and he eyed her carefully; his expression was one that radiated authority. [Y/n] slowly nodded her head and the threatening aura was gone as soon as it came. "Brilliant," he dipped his head, "brilliant."

[Y/n] didn't know that much about hostage or kidnapping situations. Why would she? There didn't seem to be any need for it. Of course she cursed herself for not reading up on the do's and don't's while she had the chance. She took a moment to think as she stared at the stranger before her. He didn't seem evil, but by no means could she assume he was good either. By the sounds of things, she was going to die after the job was done. So she'd have maybe ten more years to live? Maybe longer... if her job was raising kids, she'd be given a lot of time to work out a plan.

For now, she'd "act nice" and get on this strange person's good side. She didn't want to shorten her lifespan any more than it had been already. She met the stranger's gaze once again, his eyes — a ring of violet on the outside and magenta on the inside — baffled her. And his pupils, which were slitted instead of round, were... inhuman.

"Sir... I-if you don't mind me asking..." she began hesitantly, looking more carefully at him to gage his reaction, to which he simply tilted his head in offer for her to continue, "w-well, it's just that... earlier, you referred to me as a 'human'..." she murmured, "a-and your eyes aren't like any I've ever seen before... w-what are you...?"

"Most humans don't work it out until the third or fourth day," the man observed, a pleasant look of surprise on his face, "your realisation may have just extended your life." He took a few steps over to her, sitting beside her on the metal slab. "I am a vampire," he explained calmly, staring over at the door on the far side of the room. He noted her look of confusion so he let out a small huff and took her hand in his, allowing her to feel the bitter chill of his palm, which should've been warm to the touch.

"Vampires..." [Y/n] trailed off with wide eyes. Though she didn't want to believe it at first, his skin touching hers said everything she needed to know. "And the children...?"

"Also vampires," he smiled. "The only living beings who are not vampires or food are the chosen twenty," he explained. Well, that was a drastic simplification as there were beings in the kingdom that don't fit into those three categories, but that wasn't necessary information for a girl who'd only be around for a short period of time. Everything clicked into place and [Y/n] felt stupid for not realising it earlier. In all the books she'd ever read, vampires were a species that ate their way out of the womb. That would explain why she needed to care for them now.

The pair watched one another for a while, both with different intentions. While [Y/n] wanted to work out what exactly was going on and how to look after a species she didn't even know existed until today, the man before her was watching her with a strange, succinct sense of admiration. He'd never felt at all fond of a human before. He'd never met a human with trust as blind as hers - hell, he'd never met a human who didn't try to throw themselves at the door upon seeing him. He understood that she was definitely just playing this situation like a game — choosing the best actions for the best outcomes — but even with that being the case, he still admired her for her intelligence in a situation such as this.

"Sir," she began quietly, fetching the male's full attention once more. He tilted his head again, urging her to continue. "D-do vampires have names...?"

At this, a smile graced his pale lips before it morphed into a grin. This close to him, [Y/n] could easily see the pointed canines that would have no trouble ripping her apart if they so pleased. "Yes, we do," he said gently. "Their names are on their cribs. Oh, and just so you know, your task isn't so much to keep them alive - they can do that for themselves," he trailed off, "no, your task is to shape them as people. Of course, they'll already have their nature, however you need to pass on your humility to them. Teach them manners and so on. We wouldn't want them to become mindless savage beasts after all, would we?"

[Y/n] nodded at this, a newfound confidence in her gaze. She'd live. She'd make it. If living and raising a few children came hand in hand, so be it. Then, randomly, another question came her her mind. "W-What is your name...?"

This caught the pale-faced male completely off guard, his violet eyes widening drastically. Very rarely did a vampire ask his name - in fact, knowing a vampire's name was either out of fear for their superiority or out of respect and friendship. Asking a vampire's name was their way of saying 'I like you, let's be friends', but vampires weren't exactly the type to do much of that. So for a human, a human of all things, to ask his name... it was unheard of.

"Nyais," he said quietly, his eyes searching hers. Though the female didn't smile, her eyes lightened a little and it was clear that she was smiling on the inside. Quite possibly out of a sense of victory — the smallest bit of information superiority, which boosted her ego considerably in this bleak time.

"I will do my best to fulfil my duty, Nyais," [Y/n] said solidly in response. The brunette male smiled at this and stood up once more, walking away to the windowless plain white door on the far side of the room.

"I'm sure you will. If you need me, call my name," he hummed, dipping his head to her before opening the door and shutting it behind him. [Y/n] heard the sound of a click as the door locked, however it blocked out enough sound to mask his retreating footsteps.

After sitting around for a moment, [Y/n] stood up and followed the room to a wooden door that she figured she could open. She turned the doorknob and it creaked, leading into a plain white corridor with wooden flooring. There were two doors that branched off the corridor, and at the end another door. [Y/n] opened the first door and saw a kitchen. She walked inside and looked around. It was like most ordinary kitchens: a table big enough to seat eight people in the middle with a fruit bowl in the centre; a counter with built in cupboards and drawers running along the walls, a cooker breaking up part of it; a fridge in the corner with cute alphabet magnets stuck in a nonsensical sequence and a few appliances scattered over the counter. What was a little odd, however, was the big metal box that sat in one wall with no counters. There was a handle on the top of it, suggesting it could be pulled down.

[Y/n] hesitated as she placed her hand on the cool metal handle, before using a lot of force to yank the thing down. It folded open. Inside sat six baby bottles filled with a familiar warm red liquid and a little note. The note read:

'You don't have to feed the children with your own blood. We'll post the necessary supplies for the day down here each morning. The fridge is filled with human food - don't panic yourself about living like us. Also, just so you know... the children do all their growing at night so if you want to be saved from the horror of it, don't enter their room from 3am to 6am. They grow a lot quicker than human children - by day 21 they should be fully grown. Good luck - stay safe. - Nyais'

Scrap '10 years' to live. Make that 21 days... well that's just tragic. [Y/n] decided to try and distract herself by instead focusing herself on the other contents of the strange metal box.

The warmth of the bottles and the fact that the brunette male's name was signed suggested that these had been posted down in that short moment of time between him leaving and her opening the metal box. 'Just how fast are they...?' [Y/n] found herself thinking with a shudder. She hesitated before reaching into the metal box to scoop up the blood-bottles. She shut the metal box with her shoulders and head before continuing down the corridor, stopping at the door on the end and missing the one next to the kitchen. She pushed the door with her knee, relieved that it simply creaked open without her having to turn the doorknob (which she'd be unable to do anyways because of the bottles in her arms).

The room was white - pain white, alike to her own - and long. It went back a fair distance, about five times the size of her room. Evenly spread across the far wall sat six cribs. Each had a name on the end.

'Laion',

'Kori',

'Draka',

'Aytsa',

'Seishin' ,

'Mitzu'.

[Y/n] took in a deep breath in order to collect herself before making her way to the first baby. Unlike a typical infant, these six were deathly silent. Moving, but completely quiet. Well, at least until [Y/n] began to feed Laion. Aytsa began to wail frantically, probably having picked up on the scent of blood. [Y/n] finished with Laion and made her way down the room to comfort the screaming child. She sat by the crib and placed the bottles down, before rocking it gently and humming a soft tune. Quite quickly did Aytsa calm down, his sweet little pale face instantly softening.

[Y/n] quickly came to terms with the fact that she had zero experience with kids. No younger siblings, no family with infants, no friends with infant siblings... she'd never even held a young child before. Thank god they could mostly survive on their own — she had no idea where to start.

After that, she continued to go around the room, bottle feeding the small beings. She expected that today would be her only relatively quiet day; one of the only days where she'd have time on her own. And so, the moment she was done, she returned to her room (her ears sharp to pick up on any unusual noises from the children's room) and mulled over how she'd gotten into this situation to begin with.

No unusual noises came from the children's room. No conclusions reached her many questions. No windows meant there was no sense of time or place, though a small clock on the wall informed her that it was half ten in the evening. With that, [Y/n] faded off into slumber.

[ Next chapter: Day Two and a Bunch of Screaming Children. Thanks for taking your time to read this! Really means a lot to me. ^^ ]