[Y/n] slowly began to slip into wakefulness, the natural alarm clock of screaming children causing her eyes to crack open. It hadn't registered at first that the noise was real and not a figment of her imagination until she sat up and remembered the metal bed that had essentially destroyed her backbone. She leaned forwards and it cracked multiple times. The wailing never ceased.

"Yeah," [Y/n] croaked groggily, "I'm coming," she muttered under her breath. Oddly, they seemed to quieten at this. Only a couple remained crying. The girl stood up, looking down at herself and sighing. She was still wearing her pyjamas from when she'd been kidnapped and there was no wardrobe or drawer in this room that would suggest she'd have anything else to wear. Hell, she was bursting for the bathroom but she hadn't seen one of those either. She probably should've checked the whole house before going to sleep.

Glancing around the room once more, she spotted a patch of wall that had a rectangular cut around it in the shape of a door. It didn't quite look like a door because instead of a handle, there was just a hole where a handle should've been. [Y/n] walked over to it, pulling the "door" open. She feared she might just find a storage closet or a boiler or something, but - much to her relief - the cubicle she'd been hoping for revealed itself. There was a sink (with the tiniest bar of soap that would probably only last three days) and a toilet, thankfully with three rolls toilet roll stacked beside it. Like the rest of the house, the walls and ceiling were white and the floor copied the plain theme, though this time with some plastic-feeling tiles. The toilet and sink were slightly grimy, akin to those of a public bathroom, but they were much better than nothing. [Y/n] took this newfound liberty to quickly freshen up as much as she could with a tiny bar of soap and a sink. Her hair was already getting greasy - she'd have to ask for shampoo and conditioner and just... shower in the sink. Eh, she'd done it before, she could do it again.

After having left the "bathroom", [Y/n] walked back through her room, opened the door to the corridor and walked down it again, looking at the doors with an element of fear as though something was about to jump out of them and rip out her throat. Three doors sat along the corridor, two on the right wall and one on the small sliver of wall at the very end of the corridor. She knew the first door led to the kitchen. She hadn't opened the second door yet, however she knew she ought to check the kitchen first for anything in the metal box. She'd feed herself after feeding the still screaming children.

[Y/n] pushed the first door open, walking into the kitchen with a shudder. It was cold and her bare feet on the kitchen tiles didn't help her warm up. It also smelled musty and ridden with damp, despite there being no damp in sight. Though supposedly the accommodation was quite good for the victim of a kidnapping. She couldn't be too disappointed - she still had her limbs, after all, and none of her organs had been harvested for some strange dark magic. Bonus.

Pushing her morbid thoughts aside, she moved over to the metal box, pulling it down and open once more. Inside sat six new bottles of blood, much bigger than the ones from yesterday, and another note supposedly from Nyais. It read:

'Dear [Y/n],

I hope you slept well. I understand the beds aren't good quality but it'll have to do for now. I shall bring some hygiene products and changes of clothes when I visit later. Please try not to skip meals like you did last night - I understand adjusting isn't easy but you need to keep yourself safe and well.

- Nyais.'

[Y/n] couldn't help but be surprised by the letter. Nyais didn't seem like a bad person - it was very easy to forget that she'd been abducted. His words brought her some reassurance as she scooped up the lukewarm bottles and once again struggled to close the metal box and carry them through to the children. Despite the suggestion of her not eating alluding to the fact that he had been watching her, [Y/n] felt quite neutral about the whole thing. So what if she was being watched? At least his reason for watching her wasn't to get off on watching her die slowly. He seemed to be giving her advice, so that was always appreciated.

When she pushed open the door to the children's room, her eyes widened and she stumbled a little, almost dropping the bottles. They had all practically doubled in size and they had hair on their heads. The bodies of two year olds. [Y/n] took in a deep breath; she knew they aged a year per day - Nyais had told her - but the reality of it was quite terrifying. It truly cemented the fact that she had been plunged into something so unknown, so untouched by human society, that she truly had no way of understanding her situation.

Pushing her frets and newfound fear-of-the-unknown to the back of her mind, [Y/n] walked over to Laion (who now had tufts of light blonde hair), bottle in hand. The child watched her for a moment, quiet, before letting out a sort of gargle noise that suggested he could smell the contents of the bottle. [Y/n] knelt beside the crib, her hand reaching inside to allow Laion to feed. Though it'd been too quick for [Y/n] to see with her own eyes, Laion had shot up and latched onto the bottle. The female blinked a couple times, utterly bewildered. She had to remind herself that these were vampires, not ordinary children.

Not like she knew the first thing about human children either. She was gonna fuck this up so bad...

He drank the bottle dry within seconds. [Y/n] practically battled with him in order to get him to release it. When she finally got it back, she rubbed her arm, now sore from the game of tug of war. Like taking candy from a baby, except the baby's stronger than a tank and the candy's made of human blood. The old saying was certainly ironic here.

Laion was unimpressed. He began to cry, reaching for the empty bottle. Suddenly feeling guilty, [Y/n] carefully placed the empty bottle back inside the crib. Laion, clearly appreciative of this, grabbed it just as quickly as he had done the time before. [Y/n] shuddered at this before moving on to the next child.

Next was Kori, his cold blue eyes unblinking as he watched [Y/n]. He now had light-ish grey hair protruding from his scalp, which would undoubtably darken, though it was strange to see a child with grey hair. For a young child, he seemed to already have the eyes of a grown adult. Cold and calculative. [Y/n] couldn't help but fear that he'd take her hand off with the bottle. Slowly, steadily, she lowered the bottle into the crib and held it before him for him to take. Unlike Laion, Kori moved towards the bottle with the speed of an ordinary child. Perhaps out of suspicion, or maybe just because he wasn't as impatient as Laion. The [h/c] haired female couldn't tell.

Kori had practically inhaled the contents of the bottle the moment he allowed his lips to touch it, however [Y/n] was no longer surprised. 'Vampires,' she reminded herself, 'they're vampires. Blood is normal. This is all normal.'

Draka was next; he'd shown himself to be a brunette with vibrant red eyes. The fearsome hues deeply concerned [Y/n], however once again she chanted her mental reminder: 'it's normal. They're vampires'. Draka had been the most normal of them all, drinking at a normal speed and burping when he'd finished. Then it was Aytsa, the black haired baby who'd been continuously crying the entire time. He had soft green eyes that [Y/n] couldn't help but smile at; they seemed a lot more welcoming than Draka's red ones.

[Y/n] placed the bottle inside the crib to allow him to feed however the wailing baby wouldn't so much as look at it. [Y/n] sighed, picking the child up and gently swaying him from side to side, humming a little tune until he began to giggle instead. [Y/n] then reached for the bottle and allowed him to suck it dry; alike to Laion and Kori, it took him hardly a second to drink the bottle dry. [Y/n], once again slightly unnerved, softly placed Aytsa back in the crib.

Next was a light blonde haired (lighter than Laion), blue eyed child named Seishin. Seishin, alike to Draka, acted perfectly normally when feeding (much to [Y/n]'s relief), leaving her with one more child. Mitzu, the silver haired, amber eyed devil-child who wouldn't stop thrashing when [Y/n] tried to put the bottle near him. She tried the same approach as with Aytsa, however Mitzu simply wouldn't stay still. [Y/n], not exactly a guru on child behaviour, stood there for a while not quite knowing how to act with the unnecessarily angry child. So, she went back to her other technique - humming. She hummed a tune she'd heard many times in her childhood, swaying the crib slightly as she did so. The amber eyes of the thrashing child grew big and full of wonder as he slowly ceased his actions, a smile growing on his face.

Letting out a small sigh of relief, [Y/n] finally finished humming and placed the bottle in the crib. Mitzu slowly but surely latched onto it, drinking it at a pace even slower than a normal child. Regardless, he eventually finished it, and [Y/n] had six bottles to go and put back into the metal box.

She left the room with the bottles in her arms, walking back in the direction of the kitchen. Her stomach groaned and she was reminded of her need for food. She managed to open the metal box and she placed all the bottles inside, letting out a huff of triumph when she stood with her back against it. She looked over at the fridge. Pulling on the fridge handle, she opened the large contraption, yellowing from age, pulled straight from the 70s, with the whirring mechanics on the inside much louder than the more modern fridges at home. There was a flickering light on the inside that simply gave up after feebly trying to come to life for a few seconds, so [Y/n] had to rely on the light from outside the fridge to see what was inside.

Several different types of human food were in the fridge and [Y/n] couldn't help but laugh at how many things were in there that shouldn't be in there. She immediately pulled out a can of baked beans, a box of cereal and some bread, shaking her head at the thought that vampires were really that clueless on the subject of human food. She opened a cupboard (which to her satisfaction was empty) and placed most of the things inside, leaving out the cereal. All she could really bring herself to eat at this point in time was cereal, though that wasn't new — she'd lived on a stable cereal diet back at home, too. Her parents would always comment on her laziness but sometimes cereal is all a girl needs. She found some milk in the fridge and poured the two into a bowl, rummaging through draws until she found the cutlery and placing a spoon in the bowl before proceeding to put everything away.

Bowl of cereal in hand, [Y/n] decided to explore the room of the house she hadn't been in yet — the living room. The girl opened the door to peer into the room. There were two sofas and a sofa-chair, as well as a bookshelf and a plain glass coffee table. There was a TV stand but no TV, which was a bit of a shame but she doubted they could even get signal for such a thing wherever they were.

At the end of the living room, slightly hidden from sight, sat another door. She walked over to it, opened it, and - to her satisfaction - a second wild bathroom appeared! The placement of the bathroom was certainly odd - it was almost as though vampires didn't need to use bathrooms. Then again, thinking about it, it kind of made sense. Did vampires even excrete at all? They live off blood - if that followed the same principals of human anatomy, it was diffuse straight into their own blood stream, would it not? She'd have to ask Nyais.

After examining the bathroom and contemplating her life decisions, [Y/n] made her way back to the kitchen, stopping in the living room for a moment to look around it. [Y/n] glanced back down to her still untouched cereal in her hands.

Just as her first taste of cereal connected with her lips, she heard the click of her door. "[Y/n]?" called a familiar voice. "[Y/n], are you here?" it called again, and the individual in question's footprints began to grow closer to [Y/n].

Swallowing her mouthful of cereal, she called back. "Nyais, I'm in the living room." The brunette male opened the door and peeked into the room, before allowing himself in fully.

"[Y/n], good to see you," he dipped his head with a smile. Smiling wasn't like Nyais at all. Neither was checking up on the humans to "give them things" or whatever it was he was doing. Why was he doing this? For some reason Nyais felt a familiarity about the girl that he'd sought after for so long. She was clearly intelligent and kind, and Nyais couldn't help but feel a strange urge to protect her. To help her through these 21 days. Was he being overly sentimental? Yes. Was that like him at all? No - a vampire of his rank shouldn't so much as have to look at a lowly human, but he'd been given this job as a form of punishment and he already sucked ass at it. Emotional attachments with humans... he wanted to punch himself for his stupidity.

"Nyais, I've fed the children — I was wondering, do vampires...uhh, excrete? Just because I haven't needed to change their nappies or anything and I didn't want to make a mistake—" The young girl was cut off by Nyais' hearty laugh. He placed his cold hand on her shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile.

"We don't, so you don't need to worry about any of that. Just don't feed them any human food... not that they'll want to eat it anyway. The smell alone is repulsive to us. Oh, and I'm sure you've considered this already, but the children should learn things like language and basic general intelligence when they're sleeping. From what I remember, it's a sort of telepathy that allows them to learn when they're asleep. Vampires are also naturally much quicker learners than humans," he explained.

"Oh... so, if you don't mind me asking, what is my purpose? Am I just supposed to feed them and... tell them off when they do bad things...?" she asked, a little lost. If that was all she was good for, then what was the point? Nyais looked away for a moment, before looking back at [Y/n].

"I'm not saying your inclusion in all of this is by any means fair, however studies have proved that vampires with strong childhood family bonds end up stronger than those without. What your bond with these children becomes, however, is up to you. Some of the past women have been like mothers, other like sisters, and some even alike to lovers. Though I wonder if those who seek a romantic relationship with the children are alright mentally... they usually don't live long anyway," he chuckled nervously, "I would personally recommend not labelling your relationship with them. Often younger vampires get obsessive about things like nicknames and titles."

"Am I going to die?"

Nyais' blinked at the sudden question. Usually answering this question was easy, but for some reason looking at her slightly hopeless expression made him feel a sharp pang of guilt. 'Yes,' he thought. "That's up to you," he responded carefully. "Many of the women doing this job do die. You must be aware that it is dangerous. However, you have me to protect you through these 21 days," he said quietly.

"21 days..." [Y/n] echoed. "I suppose that when those days are up, I'll be useless." Her gaze bore into his. Nyais couldn't quite believe her; she was the only woman brought here to ever understand her position and not completely break down. He couldn't help but admire her greatly for that. In fact, he couldn't help but want to go to the king at once and beg him to allow her to live alongside the vampires. A stupid thought, and definitely a pipe dream, but ideas of how to convince King Olli to keep [Y/n] alive flooded his mind.

"N-not necessarily," Nyais stuttered.

"Please be honest, Nyais," [Y/n] said quietly, very little light left in her expression. In truth, her hope had drained the moment she'd woken up. She knew already that she was going to die. "What will happen to me on the 21st day?" Nyais looked down, an inaudible sigh leaving him. "Are you going to kill me when I'm no longer useful?"

"Yes," he said gently, looking back up at her. "I will. But it'll be painless and quick— in fact, according to the few who survive, it can feel quite blissful. It's supposed to be a but like hypothermia. You'll just feel-" he cut himself off when he noticed the shaking girl place the now empty bowl on the table, the loud clink of ceramic on granite causing him to blink a few times thanks to his acute hearing.

"How... how do you know... that I won't be in pain...?" [Y/n] whispered. "How do you know...?" It seemed, now, like the thing [Y/n] feared wasn't death itself but the pain she might feel in her last moments. Nyais wasn't quite sure what to do about the trembling girl before him.

"Yesterday, when we first spoke, I took to you like no human I've ever met before. So... so I've decided that, on the 21st day, I will ask the king to allow me, personally, to be the one to kill you." He looked away, not wanting to see [Y/n]'s wide, fearful eyes. "I know that some of the vampires here play with their food and I want to view your end as more than just a feast. I want you to go painlessly — I want you to know what you will have accomplished."

[Y/n] shut her eyes for a moment before wiping her tears away. She nodded slowly. "I... thank you..." she whispered. "I don't want to die, but... but thank you for your mercy, Nyais," [Y/n] looked down. She didn't want to thank him. The words ate away at her pride. She was talking to her future murderer. 'Stay on his good side my ass... he'll kill me whether I act nice or not.' But [Y/n] still couldn't be cruel to him. In his own way, he was being kind to her. She wasn't yet resigned to her fate, but she didn't want to hate Nyais either.

Silence lingered between the pair for a while before Nyais finally broke it, looking over at the door. "I brought your clothes and some hygiene products as promised. There's also a notebook and notepad. If you ever need anything, write it down on a sheet of paper and put that paper in the metal box." He bit his lip to keep his voice steady, obviously still upset by the conversation they'd just had.

[Y/n] nodded her head at this, muttering a "thank you" to him. Her lack of emotion showed that she was done with talking. Nyais clearly took the hint and dipped his head, waving as he left the room. [Y/n] traced his footsteps to the door, before everything fell silent.

She stood there for a while, not quite sure how she'd spend the rest of the day. She eventually decided to find a book to read - she only hoped they were in her language.