You, the apocalypse and me! [YiZhan FF] Fantasy

Chapter 24 - Little Prince

It was the simplest bed I had ever slept on, but never before had I slept so well as on this bed made only of straw, hay and old blankets. I was more rested than I had been in a long time. And even though there was so much going on around us while we slept, I didn't wake up in between and slept a full 12 hours. Just like Yibo and He Peng.

And I also woke up with an unprecedented hunger. My stomach growled so loudly that one of the elf vampires, who must have been sitting 10 or 15 feet away from us, could hear it. He looked at me thoughtfully for a moment, I looked back in embarrassment, and then he got up, walked away, and came back with a big cob of corn and a piece of the meat that I still didn't know what animal it was.

One of the vampire children then also came to me with a cup of water, sat down next to me and let me scratch his back. Of course only under strictest observation of its mother. Only after about 10 minutes she was probably convinced that I would not do anything to her child and concentrated again on her sewing. It looked like she was working on a pair of trousers.

After Yibo and He Peng also woke up and strengthened themselves with food and water, we looked around for my blood brother, but he wasn't there. I asked one of the elf vampires about him, but he didn't know who I meant at first. Because somehow all the elf vampires look the same. At least the men do.

It's really interesting when you consider that they all look alike and yet there is never any confusion. However, I noticed during my observations that they seem to recognize each other by their smells. Also, I have to mention again that on the one hand these creatures look scary and dangerous, but on the other hand and on closer inspection, they are actually really attractive. If there were not their long pointed teeth and their claws instead of fingernails, yes, they would look insanely good and could turn the head of many a woman or man.

And they are very affectionate with each other. Not only the couples, but all of them. The children are also raised by all of them and not only by the parents. And there are same-sex couples among them as well, but no one looks at them strangely or is bothered by it. It seems perfectly normal for them. Experiencing them like this makes it harder and harder for me to call them creatures anymore. They are different from us, but not as big monsters as some humans.

I walked through the cave area, looking around for the first time, and saw that there were several other passages leading deeper into the cave. They were dark because there were no torches there. From one of the passages I heard soft rushing of water, which explained where they got the fresh water from. From another of these passages I heard soft voices, not understandable to me.

As I was also examining the third passage, one of the women approached me. She held out a linen cloth and a bar of soap, pointing to her body, indicating that I could go in there to get myself cleaned up. I thanked her and she smiled. I am sure she did not understand me, at least not the words. But she was happy because I showed her gratitude.

I went back to Yibo and He Peng, told them where we could clean up, took a change of clothes from our bags, and then the two of them also each got their own linen cloth and a bar of soap. It smelled of chamomile and honey, by the way.

We walked together through the cave passage about 10 meters long and came out in another, much smaller, cave with a small lake in the middle. We stripped down to our underwear and I dipped my hands in the water and gasped, "Oh damn this is cold."

For his part, Yibo now tested the water and nodded. "Very cold."

He Peng laughed, dipped his hands in the water and threw a load of the bitterly cold water on his face. "It's not that cold." He said. Stupid show-off! I saw exactly how he was clattering his teeth!