Vampire Fetish (Yumikuri)

12. "Meat" The Family

Ymir sat with them at lunch again the next day. Her arm was around Historia the whole time.

"So, my family wants to meet you," Ymir said, standing in the school's carpark after class. 

"They do?" Historia asked. She opened her car door, and got in. 

"Yeah. They want you to come around tonight." Ymir blocked Historia from closing the car door.

"What, to kill me?" Historia joked. Ymir laughed.

"No, just to meet you. They're vegetarians, Historia."

"Who said they were going to eat me after they kill me?"

"I'll pick you up at half past three?" Ymir said. 

"Okay, fine, I'll come and meet your family," Historia said, playfully rolling her eyes. She closed the door, and looked back at Ymir in the rear vision mirror. Ymir was smiling - a real, genuine smile.

--

Half an hour later, Historia was sitting in the passenger seat of Ymir's car. They were driving through the woods, trees towering overhead. 

"So we've all been vegetarians for a while now, but Bertholt is the newest to the lifestyle. So if he has to leave he isn't being rude, he's just catching his breath because your scent is so intoxicating," Ymir explained.

"Um, thanks..?"

"If Annie's rude to you, well, that's just how she is. There's no helping her. Reiner's the complete opposite, however. He'll welcome you in straight away. Tell me if he makes you uncomfortable, I'll deal with him. And mom... she's mom. If you're nice enough she'll probably adopt you. I mean, even if you're rude she'd probably adopt you. I wasn't an angel, and she adopted me."

"So you were always a bad girl?" Historia teased. 

"Ha, I guess so. I ran away from home and nearly died of a heroin overdose."

"Oh my god," Historia said, putting a hand over her mouth. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea..."

"Don't worry. I'm not an addict any more. Dina found me on the street and turned me. When I woke up, I wasn't addicted to heroin any more." Ymir turned to Historia, and flashed her teeth. "I was addicted to the taste of blood."

She said the last word in a mock Romanian accent that made Historia laugh, which made Ymir smile. 

"She was lonely, I think," Ymir continued. "She'd lost her husband and her son years ago. It was a difficult feat, to turn me successfully."

"Wouldn't she just have to bite you? Isn't that how it works?"

"Yes and no. I mean, all it takes to inject the venom is a bite, but when you taste the blood, it's nearly impossible to stop."

Historia looked away. "And what about the others? How do they fit into the picture?"

"Well, I've told you some of it already, but for a while it was just Dina and I living together. One day, she brought home some other street urchin. I guess she thought we were going to fall in love or something, but Annie was a bitch. Bertholt and Reiner just showed up at our house one day, and we took them in. Reiner's the brother with the prophesy power I told you about."

"Do your other siblings have powers too?" Historia asked.

"Nope." Ymir turned off the main road. "Just us. We think it's because of drug influence or something. We don't know for sure, though, because Reiner doesn't remember life before being turned and we aren't about to test the hypothesis."

Historia hummed in understanding. Soon a large minimalistic house came into view. 

"Woah, you live here?" She asked in awe. 

"Yup." Ymir pulled up in front, and got out of the car. In the blink of an eye she was opening the door for Historia.

"Hmm, maybe chivalry is dead," she said immediately, which caused Ymir to burst out laughing.

"That's brilliant!" Ymir said, in between laughs. She grabbed Historia's hand, and led her to the door. "Come on, let's meet my family."

Historia let herself be dragged into the house, admiring it. "It's very light," she said.

"Yeah. What, you thought we lived in a castle? Slept in coffins?" Ymir asked mockingly.

"No, I - I'm not sure what I expected," Historia answered. Whatever it was, she hadn't expected this. "I guess you don't have to worry about hiding your sparkle out here."

Ymir took Historia into the kitchen, where the other vampires were. Each of them was in some stage of preparing food; Bertholt was waiting by the microwave, Reiner was chopping onions very finely, Annie was holding a glass bowl of spinach, and Dina was putting chicken into another bowl. She was the first to look up when the two girls entered the kitchen, and she smiled. 

"Hey, mom," Ymir said awkwardly. She gestured between the two of them. "You've already met, so I don't really need to introduce you."

"It's lovely to have you over, Historia," Dina said. Reiner waved at them with the knife he was holding. "You've given us an excuse to use the kitchen for the first time."

"Oh," Historia said, not wanting to decline their hospitality. "Um, I've already eaten."

Her attention was caught by the sound of glass shattering. The bowl in Annie's hands had cracked. She dropped the remaining shards on the floor and stormed off.

"I'm sorry," Historia mumbled. 

"Don't worry about her, she has a stick up her ass," Reiner said, though he too looked mildly disappointed that their efforts had been in vain. "She won't hurt you, though."

"Hey, Historia, why don't I show you the rest of the house?" Ymir offered, quite loudly. Historia nodded, and trailed behind Ymir. 

"Well that was certainly a good first impression," Historia muttered. 

"What do you mean?" Ymir asked. "Because of Annie? Like Reiner said, she's always like that. I guess she's just jealous of you or whatever."

Annie? Jealous? Of me? Historia couldn't think of something more unbelievable. 

"She just wants to be a normal girl," Ymir continued. "Plus, I think she's scared you'll attract unwanted attention to us."

They passed through the hallway, past several decorations that caught Historia's attention. One was a collage of trencher caps, presumably from past schools the Fritzes had graduated from. Historia couldn't stand the idea of having to repeat school that many times. A framed photograph sat on a hall dresser; it was old, possibly from the 1800's, and depicted a young couple and a small boy. The couple looked awfully familiar. Historia could place the woman as being Dina, albeit in old-fashioned clothes. She wasn't sure how she recognised the man.

"Dina's family," Ymir said, as if reading Historia's mind, even though she technically couldn't. "Come on. I'll show you my room."

---
Important note: this story will have a short hiatus while I focus on another project. The next update will be on the 3rd of December, a week from now. Sorry about the wait, but I just want to sort things out first. Thanks so much for reading, and I'll see you soon!