Dhampir

===Status===

Name: Aarick Laupier (Dhampir)

Rank: E- [Potential S]

Strength: E-

Agility: E-

Stamina: E-

Intelligence: E+

Mana Capacity: D-

Blessing: Gravitational Bond - Level 2

Elemental skills: [Inherent gravity], [Pull]

Bond skills: [Blood Frenzy]

==========

'This... is me?'

I wasn't quite sure where to even begin to dissect what I was seeing on the status in front of me, but I had a good feeling that I needed to understand what kind of demon I was first.

However, it appeared that I was not the only one in the room that wanted to know what race I belonged to. For some weird reason, Dona appeared to be even more impatient than me in this matter.

"So? What kind of demon are you?"

There was no use taking any time preparing myself before telling her, as I didn't know enough about dhampirs to even start a train of thought by myself.

"I'm... a dhampir."

For less than a split second, merely a moment, I saw her bountiful body react, and even though she smiled gently at me, I had a feeling that there was something about what I told her that she didn't like.

Despite this, she just played it off and started her explanation of what I was.

"Simply put, dhampirs are a lower form of a pure-blood vampire. Though pop culture has framed them as being the offspring between a vampire and a human, you are simply at the beginning of your ascension chain."

Her explanation was... way too simple for me to believe that she wasn't hiding a lot of things from me. At the same time, I didn't want to ask either. Not right now at least. Instead, my mind quickly remembered a certain situation, a time when I had just woken up from my coma.

'So... I was a vampire, after all? Haha... you lied to me, Lucifer..."

"Then, what does this mean for me?"

Crossing her arms, looking quite pleased that I just quietly accepted her explanation without questioning it, she started talking about what I was going to have to do in order to live as a normal human. And this started with her pointing down at my hands.

"First of all, you need to make sure to always retract those."

"Hmm?"

Looking down, I finally noticed that my claws were for some reason out and ready to go. A bit confused, I looked back at Dona, waiting for an explanation.

"They are part of your natural form now. So now you have to make sure to keep them retracted if you want to be able to use your hands normally. The practice you have already done should be enough for that to not be much of a problem. However..."

Then, her finger rose a bit, now pointing toward my face instead.

"You will also have to practice retracting those."

"Those? Ouch!"

Retracting the claws on my right hand, which luckily felt incredibly natural, I was surprised to feel a sudden sting when I traced my face with it. Standing up, I quickly walked to the bathroom to see whatever it was on my face that I had suddenly stabbed myself with.

In the mirror, I got to see the new additions to my body in the form of two large fangs.

'I'm a vampire...'

Seeing them like this, there was no denying what I was. Because if anything, those fangs were the absolute evidence to prove the existence of a vampire. Walking back to the couches, I couldn't help but keep fiddling with one of the fangs with my finger, not quite sure how I felt about it.

"Are you done inspecting your fangs? If so, then you might understand why you need to hide them. Even if your claws can be passed off as a part of your blessing, those fangs are too connected with the image of vampires for you to ever allow someone to see them."

Confirming her words with a nod, I sat back down, this time feeling a little more light-headed than before. However, there was still a question I needed to ask.

Because while there were some more differences in my status, like my new ability related to my blessing, there was just one thing that I truly didn't understand left.

"Umm, Dona. Do you know what kind of demonic trait Blood Frenzy is?"

Taking a sip of her coffee, she did seem to have an answer to my question.

"Though I haven't seen a demon use it, it's a demonic trait inherent to vampires. More or less, it's an ability that heats up your blood with mana to strengthen your body more than what normal mana-enhancing is capable of. However, the downside is..."

Having already figured out what she was about to say, I finished the sentence that she seemed to struggle to complete.

"It uses my blood as a resource? Drawing from that, I'm assuming I would have to consume more blood to compensate or something along those lines.

"Yes... that's right..."

It hurt to see Dona feeling guilty about my situation again, as there was once again a situation that would result in me having to consume blood. However, thinking about drinking blood now, I no longer felt any sort of disgust with myself.

No, thinking about it now, I couldn't even stop the hairs on my pale arms from rising in excitement. Remembering the sweetness of the life-giving substance, it almost felt my fangs themselves start aching, restless in search of something to...

"Aarick, control yourself!"

"Huh?"

Bringing me back to reality, my teacher's face was now right in front of me, her face painted with worry about whatever I had done. Or rather, what I wanted to do.

"This... is unfortunately another part of being a vampire. Even though all demons have to consume blood or human flesh in order to survive, vampires are the demons that... have by far the strongest urges..."

'Ah... I guess I lost myself there for a second...'

It was understandable that my teacher was worried that I had gotten strayed from the real world just by thinking of blood, but I never could have thought it was to the extent that it made her come to this decision.

"You aren't going to the academy tomorrow. We are going to be staying here until we are certain that you have enough control to be around humans."

"How?"

Though it sounded like a good plan, and I readily agreed with it wholeheartedly, I was still not sure how we were going to make sure of that.

Standing up, she brought out her phone and quickly sent a message to someone. Someone I assumed would be part of her plan of making sure I would not lose control around humans. Having sent the message, she once again turned to me with a comforting smile.

"Simple. You just have to practice being around a human until you can control yourself. After that, we will be testing out your control by taking short walks around the city."

More than confused to hear her talk about her plan, there was one key thing that I truly didn't understand how it would work.

"How can I practice being around a human right now if we have to keep it a secret that we are demons?"

"Simple. There are certain humans that know that I'm a demon. More or less, you can call them fans of mine. They are also the patrons that allow me to live comfortably like this."

Thinking a bit about it, I tried to picture just what kind of relationship she could have with these kinds of people to make them willingly donate money to her just like that. After a couple of moments of pondering, I believed that I got an answer for myself.

"So.... like Simplyfans?"

"NO! NOT LIKE SIMPLYFANS! Tch! Anyway, they will arrive tomorrow. As you shouldn't push your body right now, just rest for today. I also have to make a couple of calls to the academy tomorrow, making sure no one thinks it's suspicious that we are both absent at the same time."

****

[Dona's Pov]

Even though he had consumed several liters of blood, his body still needed plenty of rest to recuperate from the forced ascension so I had sent him to his room quite early during the evening to sleep.

However, once again the young man had come out of his bedroom, now instead sleeping on my lap on the couch.

Stroking his white hair, I believed myself to know the answer to his sudden meekness, and also the reason why he only became like this when he was going to sleep.

'Because previously, Lucifer was at his side...'

Before his ascension, I guessed that hadn't felt alone even when he was by himself. But now with Lucifer having to recover her power, he was all of a sudden flung into a situation where he would have to be alone for the first time in years.

No matter how persistent he was, there was no way someone could just accept losing someone who had been so close for so long, and so he was currently replacing her presence with mine to be able to sleep.

So, I just kept stroking his soft, white hair, trying to suppress the warning bells ringing in my head as I knew what kind of being he could become in the future.