Old Habits

12 - Peace

They found it. Whatever it was.

The militia were watching from a distance. Just as Tam had predicted, the beast was sleeping, curled up in a hairy ball.

Underneath it, there was some kind of nest. Filled with necklaces, cutlery, and anything else the beast had managed to pillage from Lydelian households, it positively sparkled. The monster had burrowed in to the pile of loot, and was partially covered in shiny objects. It seemed to be comfortable, but looked very peculiar indeed.

“A vampire which sparkles?”

“It looks ridiculous!”

“Where’s the crypt? This isn’t what the legends say.”

The soldiers were baffled. They hadn’t been sure what to expect, but it hadn’t been this.

“Or is it?”

Once again, Tam was the centre of attention.

“Think about it. Dragons are meant to hoard treasure, aren’t they? If you think of it that way, this actually makes a lot of sense. It’s not the only animal to exhibit this behaviour, either; this thing is just like a giant, hairy magpie. With teeth.”

“There’s more to it”, Calba added. “This isn’t just any old treasure, it’s silver. You said that silver is what kills them. By stealing all of our silver, the creature has disarmed us; it makes it safe to attack us again.”

“I suppose that’s possible. I did say that they were intelligent!”

Intelligent or not, the beast was asleep, and bizarrely wrapped in jewellery. It seemed much less of a threat; the party stepped closer.

What they saw stopped them dead. The nest contained something which, to the men, was even more surprising than the silver.

An infant.

A baby vampire. A werewolf pup. They logically had to exist, of course, but Tam had never really thought about them. They were certainly never mentioned in the legends.

The soldiers, having had a similar experience, were taken aback. This changed everything.

Before, they were hunting an it, a lifeless shadow. Now, they were watching a living creature. A mother, and her child. Not an it, but a her. A them.

“A mother.” One soldier spoke, but his thoughts were unanimous. “Somehow, I never expected that.”

“We don’t know that it’s a female”, Kaida chided him. “We shouldn’t force patriarchal gender roles on other humans, let alone non-human animals. In this species, like many, the father could look after the young. Alternatively, both parents could take turns…”

“Sister”, Tam stopped her gently. “She’s a mammal, and she’s female. The pup has been suckling.”

He was right. This was definitely a mother. Everybody, even Kaida herself, had assumed the beast was male. Somehow, when it comes to monsters, people always do. To complaining humans, a spider is a he, and a mosquito is a him; however, the largest and most dangerous of these species are female. Kaida knew that people preferred to view threats as male, and hated herself for making the same assumption.

Tam was also questioning himself. Seeing the creature like this, all curled up and comfortable, he couldn’t help pitying it. This was a mother, alone, desperately providing for her only child. She had stolen his pig, but why was that? The Lydelians had taken over this region, long ago, and terrorised the wildlife. They had seized all of the fertile land, captured all of the tasty animals, and kept them locked up under their supervision.