Life as a baby

During the first few days of my days as a baby, I couldn't do much due to my physical limitations as a baby. But I had a very strict routine which took away most of my time.

My routine was to *eat, sleep, poop, and repeat*. I came to realize that I couldn't do much about it and decided to first learn the local language before starting my journey of conquering the novel.

During this period, I was isolated in a room where a few maids were placed to take care of him.

The room had a childcare theme that was girlish. According to the information I heard from the maids, it used to be my sister's room until she turned three years old. It had toys, children's picture books, and fairy tales.

For the first few days of this period, I was fed with bottled milk by the maids.

--Bleurgh--Baby Orion spak the milk out of his mouth, while mumbling something very peculiar" bubu .. chi...win ....bubu"

'Give me a goddamn *chicken leg piece*, what the hell is wrong with parents around the world? Don't they know that milk is bland and tasteless, at least give me a chocolate flavor one with a bit of ice cream.'

"Why is this child not drinking milk and why is he mumbling so aloud, hey! brat do you think you are a big shot or something, currently you are just a baby so shut it or else no food for you."

'Don't mess with me women and take that' baby Orion showered the maid with his *holy water*.

'Ah ... you are quite lucky to be blessed by me, your holiness Bu ... bubububuu'!

"Braat you!" she was fuming with embarrassment while other maids were laughing aloud at her. "Brat wait till I make your life miserable." and then she left with holy water dripping from her dress.

'Sigh how foolish? I guess she doesn't deserve to be peed upon, such a shame.'

Milk was kind of bland to drink, and my father didn't even visit me once, not that I expected him to but still I sympathize for Orion for the lack of love from his only parent, "huh, you lived quite a sad life, didn't you Orion even your father didn't come to see you even once."

"Why do we take care of this cursed fellow when his own father doesn't care about him?"

"Shh... be quiet. If the head butler hears us, he will punish us."

"Don't you know the head butler has left Duskandale with the patriarch to visit the central continent for Table of Rounds? They won't be able to return for several weeks. In the meantime, we don't have to take care of this baby, and we can come in shifts by sharing the work among us."

"You mean the 'The table of Rounds,' isn't it conducted for every five years, but isn't it a bit too early for this one."

"Mind your own business, don't you know what'll happen to ordinary people like us if we poke into a noble's nest."

Saying so, the maids decided to take turns to visit and feed him. For the first few days, it was the usual, but after a week, the maids stopped visiting him abruptly, leaving him with hunger.

"Argh... grumble I am hungryyyyy. Where is the food, and why haven't the maids visited me? It has been days since I last saw them." My stomach was making growling noises. My clothes were dirty, and I was losing consciousness.

Vampires can't die of hunger as they have huge vitality stored in their blood and tend to hibernate during this period of time to conserve energy and recuperate from severe injuries but if a child were to go to hibernation they will lose a huge deal of vitality, thus crippling their future growth.

"Maybe this was one of the reasons why, despite being the son of the Nightshade family, Orion was weak. He had lost vitality as a child. No, I can't let this happen. I must find food. Argh, I am losing consciousness. I have to hurry. I want something to eat, anything."

Saying so, I crawled out of the cradle and

--Thud--

"Arghh! That was painful, my knees they hurt!"

I took a 360-degree look around the room to find milk and searched every inch of the room as I crawled with my injured knees all around but found nothing.

"Come on something, argh my stomach it hurts my vision is blurring I can't see clearly"!

Then, I caught sight of it—a raven, its black form silhouetted on the balcony, its red eyes gleaming in the moonlight. The sight awakened something primal within me. My nails stretched out, turning into claws. Fangs filled my mouth, growing larger by the second. I crept through the hallway, stalking the raven like a predator in the shadows.

And --thud-- slurp -- slurp --

"Ah, delicious." And then I felt unconscious as euphoria hit me.

It was morning, and as the sun's first rays touched me, I woke up with pain all around my body, at the same time it appears as if the body became sturdier.

"Oh, my head hurts! What happened? Why am I sleeping on the balcony?"

As soon as he noticed the raven beside him, its lifeless, blood-sucked body elicited a visceral reaction. He clasped his hands in a gesture of gratitude, "Thank you for the delicious blood, *Mr. Crow-San*. Or should I call you Mr. Dead Crow?" He cringed at his own antics.

Then, a searing pain coursed through his skin.

"It seems my strength and senses are enhanced. I'm able to stand on my own feet. Guess I better find proper food this time before hunger kicks in. I don't properly remember the last night's events."

Orion decided to explore the layout of the mansion and approached the door. Despite his efforts, he couldn't open it.

"Oh, shit! The door seems to be locked by the maids. Those morons don't even know how to take care of a baby. Then how can I find food?"

After much contemplation, Orion opted to exit through the balcony. Height posed a concern, so he searched the room for a rope and found his sister's clothes in the cupboard.

"Hmph! How many expensive clothes does she have? Even I have only two pairs of clothes. The audacity of these people! Hehe, Watch what I do with these clothes."

He tied her clothes together to form a long rope.

"Cheh, my clothes stink of poop. Better change them as well," he remarked, changing into his other pair.

'The world is full of conspiracies and manipulators, so it

's better for me to hide my strength than being an open target for troubles'

"In the novel, Orion was weak due to losing vitality by hibernating. I will also portray the image of a weak kid, hiding the fact of being awake, making the maids think that I have been sleeping for the entire time as a weak baby."

"I must not come in contact with any people during this time. So, the best time for me to hunt would be at midnight. I can venture near the outskirts of the mansion to find prey."

During the day, confined within the room, Orion decided to level up his baby skills. He turned to his sister's fairy tale books, mainly for the pictures, and, of course, the alphabets. The girlish room transformed into his intellectual dojo, where Baby Orion mastered the art of ABCs with the finesse of a baby genius.

As the sun bowed out for the night, Orion felt a change in the air. Donning a makeshift black cape (courtesy of his sister's wardrobe malfunctions) and with his eyes glowing a shade of 'I-meant-business' red under the moon, he stood there like the pint-sized Batman of the Nightshade mansion.

In a voice that was more cute than menacing, he declared, "You know what time it is; it's hunting time. Awooo!" You could almost imagine the baby fangs gleaming in the moonlight.

And so, this pint-sized vamp-tective embarked on his nightly adventures in the outskirts, armed with an alphabet book, a cape that was a bit too long for him, and an insatiable appetite for...well, not justice, but definitely a midnight snack. The night was young, and so was Orion, the vampire baby on a mission. Watch out, bloodsuckers, the Bloodhound is on the loose!