The Fallen Vampire

When Taira and Inadu finally arrived at home, they crossed the stone bridge with a bit more of an awkward atmosphere between them than before.

And the first one to notice such a thing was the ever curious Keran, who had been tending to the cavern garden at the moment of their arrival.

A large, black fox with golden eyes and nine black and silver tails strode up the two of them.

"You both were certainly gone for a long time… how was your visit with my mother?"

"She scolded Ja'Zaki and I for our mutual dislike of using front doors." Taira answered.

"Oh? Tell me then, did you see something that you shouldn't have?"

"Like what?" He asked sincerely as he tilted his head.

"...Nevermind, beloved."

Taira felt a bit like his wife was treating him with kid gloves but since he had something somewhat important to talk about, he elected to put the matter on hold until later.

"Where are the rest of the girls? There's something that I'd like to talk to all of you about."

"Training hall, settling on a wager... Would you go ahead and tell them first and leave me alone for a moment with Ina?"

Inadu glanced at Keran's large white fangs hanging out of her mouth and she felt a chill running down her spine.

In that instant, she prayed to the fallen god Astaroth that Taira would not leave her alone with this very large creature whom she could not hope to fight against.

"Oh? Alright then."

'T-Taira!'

Oblivious to Ina's inner thoughts, the vampire made his way up the steps of the compound and headed to go and find the rest of his wives.

Though not before giving Inadu one last look over his shoulder as he walked away.

Once he was out of sight and Keran was certain that he wasn't listening in, she turned back to normal and encircled Inadu somewhat playfully.

However, the spider demon was absolutely certain she was about to be hazed.

"I-I just want to say that I have not betrayed your trust, Keran.."

"You don't need to shake so terribly… I'm not going to harm you and I am certainly not angry with you."

Inadu looked down at her hands in surprise and it was clear that she didn't even realize that she was shaking.

She just couldn't stop herself.

Her friendship with Taira's wives meant everything to her and she desperately didn't want to lose those special bonds because she was being greedy.

Her breathing became ragged, and her vision began to darken as if she was falling into a tunnel.

"..na…Ina!"

When Inadu snapped back to normal, Keran was embracing her tightly around her neck and her own eyes were wet.

"H-How long…?"

"Around four minutes this time…"

After hearing that, Inadu nearly fell to her knees as she felt all of her strength leave her body.

Today had given her the false hope that she was past all of this.

She thought that she was farther on the road to putting herself back together than she actually was, but it was easy to believe in that lie this was the first time she had felt so normal.

Only now was she realizing just how much help she still needed, and just how much farther she needed to go.

-

Taira followed the sounds of crashing and banging all the way to the training hall where he smiled as soon as he poked his head inside.

However, the only one who payed attention his sudden arrival was Enyo.

"Honey~!"

His first wife ran up to him from her place against the wall and she rubbed her face against his chest happily.

Immediately Taira felt his mood soar even higher as he wrapped his arms around her lovingly.

"Seems you're the only one who missed me, love."

"Ah, that's not true. The girls are just a little… focused right now."

"Yes, I see that."

No more than a few feet away from Taira was the ruckus that was echoing throughout the entire cavern.

Lucia was locked in a heated struggle against Vermeil where both of them seemed to be pushing themselves as much as they could without going all out and destroying the cavern.

Due to the length of Lucia's weapon compared to her own, Vermeil was having difficulty closing in the distance between the two of them to land any sort of meaningful attack.

And even when she could get close, there was another weapon that the human woman had to contend with.

Lucia's new tail.

The long and powerful appendage would easily knock her off her balance and threaten to undo her entire chain of attack and leave her open to a near devastating counterattack.

But Vermeil was very flexible to due many years of…. Gymnastics, and she was constantly bending her body at a number of odd angles to acclimate to Lucia's extra appendage.

Both girls were putting on an exceedingly impressive performance.

"What brought this on?" Taira suddenly asked.

"The girls were having a little… disagreement about which of them was more qualified to be your equal."

"What a foolish thing to argue about… you are all my equals, I hate the thought of there being some sort of hierarchy between all of you."

"Yes, I know… are you going to tell them that?"

Taira glanced at his wives once again and felt his earlier resolve waver just a bit.

Their assets were jiggling inside of their tight black outfits and drawing in his attention like a moth to a neon white flame.

And then there was the sight of their cheeks slightly flushed, and sweat dripping down into the crevices on their chests.

…He couldn't bring himself to cut this short.

"I… don't believe it would be right to interrupt them at this moment. They certainly are giving it their all afterall."

Enyo followed Taira's openly lustful gaze and smiled helplessly.

"Are we in for a long night by chance?"

"Most likely."

Out of the corner of his eye, Taira spied Aveena leaning against the wall of the training room and watching the battling girls with somewhat of a dark gaze.

Unused to seeing her like this, he immediately slipped beside her and intertwined her hand in his.

"Ah, husband? When did you get back?" Aveena asked in surprise.

"Just now… are you alright? You seem a little tense."

"Really..?" Aveena asked in clear surprise. "I'm alright, just a little tired is all."

Taira knew that his wife was not being entirely honest about the reason for her mood at the moment, but he was a firm believer in not making people talk before they were ready.

For right now, all he could do was make it known that he was ready when she was.

"Alright… but I have something to help you that I think might cheer you up."

"Tonkatsu for dinner..??" She asked hopefully.

"If you like, but that's not what I was getting at, no."

Taira leaned in so that his lips barely grazed her ears.

"I want to have a child with you, Aveena." He whispered.

""""WHAT?!?"""""

Everyone in the room came to a dead stop at the same time as they heard Taira utter words that they had never heard from him before.

The culprit of their shock looked at all of them with a mischievous smile, not wanting to elaborate any further.

"Oh, and I also forgot to tell you all that Ayame sends her best wishes."

""""NOT IMPORTANT!!""""