The Reincarnated Vampire Just Wants to Enjoy Her New Life

Chapter 150: Dolls and Song

"So, how about this?"

I wiggle around something I made for my two cute daughters as they sat on the soft bear fur rug.

"Uiiiii!"

With a wide grin, Alicia grabbed the handmade doll from me.

The doll itself was something simple that roughly resembled a man with slick black hair, bleached skin, a white shirt with a black tailcoat and pants. His eyes were red and had protruding fangs.

Originally I would have made a doll of some sort of generic girl, but as I worked on the shape, I just ended up recreating the legendary vampire. The one from Stoker's book, not the one known for his arithmomania.

Then again, it was said in legends that all vampires had arithmomania. It was a good thing I didn't have some sort of urge to count things as it would prove to make it really difficult to get through my day if I did have it.

Fate looked on at her sister, having the march taken by Alicia. The little provisional milk sucker held the doll's arm, and after looking at it curiously for a few moments, swung her arms up and down gleefully with a squeal.

The doll went flying as she lost her grip on it, but I quickly retrieved it with a tug of telekinesis.

"Aaaaa!"

With her own charged voice, Fate reached out to grab the doll before her twin could monopolize it. This time it was Alicia's turn to stare at what her sister was doing.

Fate swung her arms, the poor count being pulled violently around.

"Iiieee!"

And, whether deliberately or not, the doll went flying through the air again before I caught it and placed it in front of the two babies.

This time both of them raced to grab the stuffed toy. Alicia caught its arm and pulled it towards her. Fate, a fraction late, managed to catch the doll's leg and pulled it her own way, causing the toy to be caught in between.

The twins looked at each other for a moment, and almost as if they were communicating something with nothing but their eyes, they both swung their arms up and down, pulling the doll this way and that as they joyfully squealed.

I watched on with a warm feeling bursting from my chest until the two's violent jerking caused the doll to tear, separating its upper and lower body and white fluff flew into the air.

""Aaauu!""

Alicia and Fate sat there shocked at the unexpected turn of events and watched the puffs of white stuffing fall through the air. But the moment the last one reached the ground and stopped moving was the moment when the two vampiric babies lost interest in the doll's lost internals and moved on to stuff a part of the doll they had claimed into their mouths and gummed at it. Their eyes radiated contentment as dark drool stains slowly grew across the doll's remains.

"I guess not even the great Count Dracula could best a pair of four month old vampires."

"Count who?"

"Count Dracula. A fictional vampire said to have lived amongst humans before he got caught."

I turned to Elli who was watching me play with my babies from the door of my room.

"I have never heard of such a man. How would a vampire even become a count within human society?"

"Well, it's fiction, so they kinda gloss over that. I mean, he even creates minions by draining them of their blood."

"Would they not die from that?"

"Right? It's just something some people imagined. Nothing like the real thing."

That said, vampires didn't even exist back on Earth in the first place, so it wasn't like there was anything real to base the character off of. Just a whole bunch of old legends and folk tales jumbled together than re-imagined.

"For such a thing to be told on the light side, their tales must be quite strange."

"Well, Count Dracula was one only told in a remote place. It's not something told in any of the cities I've been to in those lands."

(If Dracula failed, I wonder if Alucard would fare any better?)

As I absent mindedly thought about making another doll to see if it would fare any better with the twins, I continued on the conversation.

"Is that so? Then maybe the light people have a decent grasp on what true vampires are like?"

"I don't know. You'd have to ask Peitho or the fairies. I never really asked while travelling through their lands."

Frankly, the amount of information I got regarding what was common knowledge regarding vampires in the eastern lands was quite slim. Though I didn't really work that hard on getting that information in the first place, so maybe quite a lot of accurate information about my kind was actually wide spread and I simply never heard any of it.

At the very least, while my information about vampires was slim beyond my personal experiences, at least most of the things regarding babies had been accurate so far. Not only Elli, but quite a few others had given me lots of useful information when it came to Alicia and Fate.

That said, babies strong enough to tear a doll apart while playing with one was probably beyond their expectations.

"Even still, is their strength normal amongst vampires?"

"I don't think there's such thing as a standard for our kind. But they are level sixteen, so looking at things from that angle it's not really a surprise that the doll ripped."

"Level sixteen you say?"

Elli closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Your twins are only four months old and their levels are as high as some adults."

"I told you before that they were born at level fifteen right?"

"Yes, you did. However many times you mention it, it is still something hard to wrap my head around."

"I guess that's true, since you're not a vampire."

As far as I knew, it was a unique feature of us vampires. Maybe spirits had something similar, but the fluffballs didn't have a strong enough awareness to understand such concepts and I've never gotten around to asking Claret details like that.

"The thought of them getting into fights with other children using skills more appropriate for veteran hunters is a little worrisome."

"...Please don't say such scary things."

There was a limit to how much I could control how Alicia and Fate's skill set would grow. While I was concentrating giving them skills that were more civil in nature, the monsters which I got them from also generally had at least a few combat related skills. At this point, they had weapon skills that was as high as someone who had been properly training for a year despite my best efforts.

Even worse, I also wanted them to increase their HP and MP as much as possible while they were still little in unlikely chance something unimaginable happened, they could easily survive it.

Even without any malice involved, there was still the risk of accidents.

But beyond the thought of both preventing such a possible occurrence as well as reducing the damage as much as possible, the very thought of either of my cute daughters being hurt for any reason made my chest tighten until it became painful.

Of course them hurting another, by accident or because of a fight, was bad, it was a given that I would completely prioritize their safety over others.

Whether that was a normal response for a mother, or something was just weird about me, I didn't know, but had to accept.

Both Alicia and Fate, after having enough fun exploring the torn doll's body with their mouths, their gaze started to wander as they absentmindedly gummed at the fallen count.

"Look! It's your favourite! Blocks!"

With as bright of a voice I could manage, I pulled out a set of dye stained wooden blocks in various geometric shapes from my dimensional pocket space and placed them in front of my girls.

The moment the brightly coloured blocks entered the babies' eyes, they threw away the broken doll like a dirty rag picked the blocks up with excited squeals before banging them against each other. I couldn't really understand why they enjoyed such a thing so much, but as long as they were happy, I was happy.

I caught the flying pieces of the former count and flew them into my hands.

"Is this really alright?"

"Do you mean the toys?"

"Yea. I mean, they're just wooden blocks. They're not even using them to make anything, just banging them against each other."

Frankly, it wasn't like I could remember how I played when I was a baby, nor did I have knowledge of how other babies played aside from the occasional scene in various shows and movies. But even in them, when a child played with blocks, they used them to make all sorts of structures, or at least organize them to make some sort of picture like a face.

Seeing them gleefully bash them against each other, I couldn't help but have a niggling worry. What if they had autism or something?

"Is that all you see? Perhaps you should observe more closely."

That knowing smile Elli gave me irked me a bit. This was my babies she was talking about. There was no way I wasn't observing them. Watching them happily play was a for of joy for me, and was one of the reasons why I hadn't taken up most of the duties I was originally responsible for, nor matter how much Peitho bugged me about it.

I was going to enjoy this maternity leave, and milk it for all its worth.

But even still, Elli was rarely wrong in many things. Especially when it came to dealing with any problems I had regarding caring for Alicia and Fate, her advice pretty much always hit right on.

But even focusing everything on my babies, I wasn't really sure what I could have been missing.

All they were doing was taking one block and hitting it against another. Sometimes one on the ground, or against one in their other hand.

There wasn't really anything which stood out from what I could tell.

But when told that there was more to it than just randomly hitting the blocks, it felt like there was some sort of truth to Elli's words.

There wasn't any sort of coordination between the two girls from what I could tell, so maybe each was doing their own thing?

I first concentrated on Alicia's banging.

*Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack!*

Alicia turned to a different block before repeating, this time instead of the cube block against the cylinder, it was the cube against the rectangular prism.

She repeated the same action once more on another different block, pausing once in a while to squeal in delight to herself.

(Huh?)

It felt like there was a pattern there.

There was the feeling of almost grasping something, but I was still a little short.

Turning my attention to Fate, I observed the same thing. Four bangs, then four more bangs on a different block.

(...)

That feeling was stronger than ever. Just like Elli said, there was more than what I had realized.

"Freude schner Gtterfunken Tochter aus Ely~sium..."

In a low voice, I lightly sang out a few words.

"What are those words?"

"Oh, they're from an old language. But they're lyrics to a song I know."

It was one of the few songs I knew by heart which was in a language I couldn't actually speak. But they were world famous lyrics back on Earth.

But singing those lines concreted my thoughts.

(Four four time signature?!)

While it could just be a coincidence, the pattern which the two girls were performing was similar to the most common time signature in music on Earth, and the same time signature used in many of the songs I sang for them, from lullabies to general entertainment. Not like a lullaby could make them fall asleep, but it was still something I wanted to do as a mother.

The realization made my eyes sparkle, and I couldn't help but pull the two girls into a hug as I excitedly looked towards Elli.

"They're geniuses! They were performing music, weren't they? That's what you wanted to tell me?"

At four months old, even before they could form a coherent word, they were already performing a simplistic music. If that wasn't a sign of genius, I didn't know what was.

"Wir betreten feuertrunken, Himmlische, dein Hei~ligtum! Deine Zauber binden wieder Was die Mode streng geteilt; Alle Menschen werden Brder Wo dein sanfter Flg~el weilt!"

Pulling my adorable, genius daughters into my arms, I continued to sing Ode to Joy out loud, bouncing them up and down as they squealed in joy.

At the same time, I shut out from my mind the wry smile Elli gave me before she left the room.

"Yet with each descent, do we rise again. To our hearts' content. Fa la la la la la!"

I sang, splashing warm water onto Alicia's back.

"Fly away my friend, for a day and then. We'll begin again. Fa la la la la la!"

I sang, splashing warm water onto Fate's back.

"Till do~wn turn the skies. Wonted qui~et, wanton si~lence. For lo~ng do we lie~. Wond'ring when we'll be~!"

I looked Alicia in the eye, then Fate in the eye as I stroked their soft locks.

In these last few months, their hair had grown considerably. From just a handful of strands which was little better than simply confirming that they were capable of bearing hair on their heads to a proper mop that had to be trimmed to avoid it from getting in the way for the little twins.

""Aaaaiiii!""

Almost as one, Alicia and Fate thrust their arms up and down, splashing around the warm water we were soaking in. Seeing the hot water splash about and spill over the edge of the bath tub made them both giggle with joy.

I did a quick check to confirm that all the soap bubbles had been rinsed off of their bodies before I returned their adorable smiles.

Ever since I realized their musical talent, I redoubled my efforts to sing for Alicia and Fate.

Whether that genius talent was actually true or not, I didn't want to stifle their future by ignoring the possibility.

Not just music, but also the skills I had been giving them. The numerous non-combat skills in addition to the combat related ones had been rising slowly. By the time they were old enough to learn to actually use skills, they would already be in a position to quickly rival those who had spent their youths learning those skills the traditional way.

Keeping their windows open as much as possible so that they could chose the path they wanted themselves was what I hoped the most.

Whatever it took to give them the ability to become as happy as possible.

I sat in the bath tub with my cute little twins on my lap as I lightly splashed the warm water on their bodies. The water level was unfortunately quite low and not nearly enough to submerge my shoulders in it, but bathing with such high water levels would be far too high for Alicia and Fate. I didn't want to risk anything happening, so it was a sacrifice I had to make for the foreseeable future.

That said, it wasn't like I couldn't enjoy this form of a bath either. In the end, a bath was a bath, and sitting in the warm water was relaxing even if it wasn't high enough to allow my boobs to float.

"Mmmmm...! Mmmm...!"

"What is it Alicia?"

This weird expression of my daughter's was something she had started to do once in a while. It looked a little like constipation, but there was no way she could be suffering such a condition. As Fate didn't do the same thing, I couldn't help but get excited every time she did this, as it might have been a sign that her past memories were surfacing.

Not like I had any real evidence of that. I couldn't tell at all how much her previous memories were preserved, or she was even capable of accessing at this point.

But even then, it didn't dampen my hopes in the slightest.

And I was keenly aware of that fact, so to avoid favouritism, I tried my best to give Fate an equal amount of attention as well.

As for how successful I was at it, I wasn't really sure. It really wasn't something too measurable without someone else to do the observations. Instead, I mostly just did it by given them both my full attention whenever I had the time.

After all, I really wanted to avoid Fate growing up thinking that I didn't love her as much as I loved Alicia. It wasn't true after all.

In a sense, I had an even more keen awareness of being Fate's mother than Alicia's mother, as Fate never had anyone else to care for her before me unlike Alicia. The whole of Fate's existence depended on me, while a portion of Alicia's existence depended on someone else I barely knew.

When I thought about that fact, I felt a bit frustrated and jealous. But as it wasn't really something I could do anything about, I simply tried to ignore it whenever possible. In the end, while Alicia was raised originally by different parents, we did spend a lot of time together, and she had already had plenty of opportunities to be dyed by my own colours.

"Mmmm...!"

I continued to look on at whatever it was Alicia was trying to do. I was extremely excited to see what she would surprise me with, while a part of my mind chided that part of me, as it was possible it wasn't time for Alicia to actually so something to amaze me.

"Ma....ma!"

"Huh?"

I sat there dumbfounded.

(Surely, that isn't what I thought she just did, was it?)

I didn't want to get my hopes up, but the very thought that perhaps she had just done what I thought she had, that it wasn't me mishearing or imagining it.

"Mama!"

Alicia repeated what she had just done, with far more confidence than before, complete with a full faced grin.

I wasn't hallucinating at all! Alicia really did say her first word!

Or rather, her first word of her new life, but even still, it was so amazing!

"Amazing! Alicia, you did it! C'mon, say it again! Say Mama again!"

"Mama!"

Everything became blurry as my chest overflowed with warmth.

Rather than simply overflowing, it was more like my chest was ready to burst.

Unable to simply sit there, I pulled my adorable little babies into my chest and jumped out. I had to share this wonderful bit of amazement with someone! Anyone!

*Bang!*

"Elli! Look!"

I slammed open the door to Elli's study, where she was doing some rare work as an elder.

"Scarlet, you are making a mess. Please wipe yourself if you are...wet?"

The fellow elder looked up from her papers and froze as she looked at us.

"That doesn't matter! Look! Alicia, do it again!"

"Mama!"

Complete with her arms raised, Alicia practically shouted out her first word, as if announcing it to the entire world.

"I see. That is quite a thing, and I understand how you feel. Especially as your child said her first word earlier than normal."

"Right? Right? Alicia's such a genius! She's so amazing!"

"Ahem! Perhaps it is true. But that does not excuse one thing."

"No, but it does, doesn't it? Who cares about anything else! Maybe Fate'll say her first word soon too?"

She didn't have the advantage of having any previous life memories, but even still, maybe Alicia's influence would allow her to develop faster than normal?

"Scarlet, it does not excuse the fact that you had entered my room entirely in the nude. Or perhaps that was a deliberate action, one to show off your figure to me or some such?"

"Huh? Oh, umm...sorry."

Having gotten so excited, I had forgotten I was in the middle of a bath. Not only had I tracked in bath water around the house, but the three of us were in our birthday suits in front of Elli.

"I am sure you did not intend to use this time to show how much your body had recovered from your pregnancy already, have you?"

At the reminder, my hand ran across my belly as I used the other to securely support Alicia and Fate against my chest.

Certainly, almost all traces of my pregnancy had disappeared from my belly. It was almost as flat as it was before I was carrying Alicia and Fate. The only leftover traces of my pregnancy on my body was my milk laden boobs. But that wasn't something which would go away for a while anyways.

Not at least until I've finished weaning Alicia and Fate.

"Sorry. I'll clean this up too."

My cheeks, now as hot as my chest was full just moments earlier, I quickly slinked out of Elli's study and returned to the bathroom to wipe our bodies down and get clothed before something else happened.

Despite everything though, I gave both my babies a kiss on the forehead before giving them both a squeeze.

"I wonder what you two will surprise me with next."

The future looked bright.

The only darkness was the fact that I didn't have access to a camera. Or else I would have already filled its memory with pictures and video of my precious babies several times over.