Riley Hayes | A Vampire Novel | Book 2

Chapter 6 - the less you want the richer you are

"Ouch, be gentle..." I hissed in pain as I had offered Damian my finger which he latched on immediately. He was quite demanding when it came to my blood. "And put those eyes away."

He looked at me with his bright red eyes while he nibbled on my finger. There were different methods the feed a vampire baby but all the time they would crave their mother's blood.

Damian grew fast and thus he needed a lot of blood, he was picky as well. Unfortunately, vampire baby's grow crazily fast and in a matter of seven months, he already looked like a human toddler.

Leuca had mentioned something like that in the past. He considered human babies so weak, that even human children still needed their mothers. Vampires only needed their mother in the first few years. They grew fast in the first four years and then their growth would gradually slow down to almost none. "Mommy, play!" He demanded after he had drunk his fill.

"Want to go to the playground then? Maybe auntie Aria can come too..." I wiggled my eyebrows, he adored her.

"Yay! Please, can she?" His big green eyes looked up at me and he fished for my hands so he could hang from my hand like a monkey. Such a wild child already.

I dialed her number and waited for a little until she picked up. I invited her to the playground but she still had to work for an hour and then she could go, Damian didn't need to be told twice so he asked if he also could go see Nana.

I didn't have money for a babysitter and sometimes when Marley, Aria, or Logan had a day off they volunteered to look after Damian but sometimes they couldn't and I had no choice but to take him with me.

The fun thing is that Damian had picked up on me working and tried to help as well, even a simple task of handing me a cloth made him proud. He didn't make a fuss about it, it's as if he knew I didn't have a choice. He had that a lot like he knew what I needed or how I felt.

Sometimes I'd be looking for my phone and he just comes to help me search for it. Or during cooking, I would need a certain spice and he would vampire baby climb up the kitchen to give me the spice.

I held his hand as we walked to the diner, it was just a ten-minute walk with a child hanging from your arm and especially Damian who liked to jump on everything and splash in puddles.

Though he was a bit distant during the walk, I wasn't used to him just focussing on the surroundings. Maybe his senses were getting better? There was barely any human in Damian even though he is my child, the vampire genes are strong in him and sometimes when he throws a tantrum even Aria couldn't subdue him.

Marley had advised me to take precautions when it came to such tantrums, a full blow could easily shatter my bones. But as I looked at him smiling, I couldn't imagine him hurting me. He was so careful when it came to me.

"Good afternoon!" I called when Damon and I walked into the diner. Most customers were regulars and recognized me right away, they also asked how Damian was doing. No one even ever dared to ask about a human mother and vampire son, but they all always smiled at us.

Usually, Damian would also greet everyone but he didn't. He didn't seem like himself so I pulled him in the back and knelt in front of him. "Hey, what's up sweetie?" I held onto his chubby cheeks and combed his black hair back with my fingers. "Damian?"

He then looked around again and even started putting his hands over his ears while he started crying. "It won't stop mommy."

"What won't stop?" I asked, he was clearly in pain and I didn't know why.

...

"Damian?"

His eyes were glowing red also, which was a big no, no. He couldn't do that in public. The red was a sign of royalty and that wouldn't go unnoticed. "Put those eyes away Damian, you know you can't do that in public!" I whispered at him.