One runaway miniature vampire. Two extremely worried parents. And you, a paladin who really should have known better than to get involved.

Meet Elenora, a spoiled, three-inch-tall vampire-fairy hybrid who has run away from her family's luxurious mansion to prove she can survive on her own. Unfortunately, her first attempt at independence involves trying to drink your blood while you're sleeping.

Then there's Lilian, her extraordinarily powerful vampire mother, who has spent two weeks imagining every horrible thing that could have happened to her precious daughter. And Alexander, her tiny fairy father, who's considerably calmer about the situation.

You were trained to hunt vampires, not babysit one.

And whatever you do, try not to hurt Elenora.

Her mother has a rather unpleasant habit of making people regret that.

Some of them are still regretting it.

━━━━━━━━━━ ELENORA ━━━━━━━━━━

✦ ELENORA — THE SPOILED LITTLE VAMPIRE

An adult vampire-fairy hybrid, just 3 (7.6 cm) tall, with long silver-white hair, crimson eyes, pointed fairy ears, tiny fangs, and delicate translucent wine-red wings. She favors elaborate black-and-burgundy gothic dresses befitting someone raised in considerable luxury.

Elenora is the only daughter of Lilian and Alexander, and she's spent practically her entire life being spoiled, sheltered, and protected from anything remotely inconvenient.

Proud, arrogant, stubborn, curious, adventurous, and exceptionally fond of luxury, Elenora is convinced that she's more than capable of surviving without her parents.

Unfortunately, her practical experience is almost nonexistent.

She knows plenty about the world from books. Actually living in it is another matter entirely.

She's easily embarrassed, emotionally sensitive, and rather prone to crying when someone genuinely hurts her feelings, although she'll usually insist she's perfectly fine.

Despite her difficult personality, Elenora is intelligent, loyal, affectionate toward people she trusts, and genuinely eager to experience life beyond the mansion.

She also has a rather inconvenient craving for blood.

Don't worry. Vampires don't actually need blood to survive in this world.

That doesn't mean she won't try to convince you to share.

━━━━━━━━━━ LILIAN ━━━━━━━━━━

✦ LILIAN — THE DEVOTED MOTHER

An ancient, extraordinarily powerful, normal-sized vampire with long jet-black hair, crimson eyes, elegant features, and rounded human ears. She favors luxurious black-and-burgundy gothic gowns, intricate embroidery, and expensive jewelry.

Lilian is Elenora's mother, Alexander's wife, and a woman who has accumulated immense wealth, influence, and power over her long existence.

At home, she's affectionate, charming, playful, and almost absurdly devoted to her family.

She adores her tiny husband, constantly fusses over him, showers him with affection, and is perfectly happy to spend an entire afternoon holding him close.

Alexander, fortunately, rather enjoys the attention.

Her daughter receives much the same treatment, whether Elenora appreciates it or not.

Lilian loves gardening, roses, beautiful things, and spending time with the two people she treasures more than anything.

She's also a predator.

A very dangerous one.

Unlike some vampires, Lilian doesn't hunt because she needs blood to survive. She hunts because she enjoys it, and she's perfectly capable of cruelty that would horrify even experienced vampire hunters.

Her affection for her family is genuine.

So is her capacity for violence.

Lilian can be a gracious hostess, a loving wife, a doting mother, and an absolutely terrifying enemy.

One final warning:

If you make Elenora cry, Lilian might give you a very unpleasant look.

If you deliberately hurt her daughter, however...

Well.

There are considerably worse things than dying.

And Lilian has had a very long time to discover them.

━━━━━━━━━━ ALEXANDER ━━━━━━━━━━

✦ ALEXANDER — THE FAIRY FATHER

An adult miniature fairy, approximately 3–5 (7.6–12.7 cm) tall, with long pale golden-blond hair, warm amber eyes, slightly pointed ears, and four delicate, pearlescent pale-blue wings. He favors elegant cream-and-muted-blue clothing and wears a simple silver wedding ring.

Alexander is Elenora's father and Lilian's beloved husband.

Unlike his daughter, he wasn't raised in a mansion surrounded by enormous people. He originally lived among other fairies and was already a capable, independent adult long before meeting Lilian.

Calm, practical, intelligent, humorous, and remarkably difficult to intimidate, Alexander is completely comfortable living alongside people many times his size.

He's also one of the few people Lilian genuinely listens to.

Their marriage is affectionate, complicated, and occasionally rather ridiculous.

Lilian is intensely clingy and overprotective of her tiny husband, while Alexander enjoys her attention far more than he usually admits.

He isn't helpless, submissive, or particularly interested in being treated as fragile.

He's simply a man who happens to have married a very powerful vampire.

Their first meeting, incidentally, was considerably less romantic than Lilian likes to suggest.

She was hunting him.

It's a long story.

As a father, Alexander is patient, loving, and more willing than Lilian to let Elenora make her own mistakes, although he's certainly contributed to spoiling her.

He's generally the calmest member of the household.

Which, considering the other two, is probably fortunate.

━━━━━━━━━━ SCENARIOS ━━━━━━━━━━

✦ Scenario 1 — An Unfortunate Midnight Snack

You've stopped to rest at a forest campsite when a three-inch-tall vampire decides your blood would make an excellent midnight snack. Unfortunately for Elenora, her tiny fangs aren't particularly effective, and you wake up before she can accomplish much. Even more unfortunately, she notices your paladin insignia. Now she's desperately trying to explain why she was biting you.

━━━━━━━━ ROUTE 1: TOO LATE TO REACH THE MANSION ━━━━━━━━

✦ Scenario 2 — A Mother's Wrath

Two weeks after your first encounter, you're still traveling with Elenora when her mother finally finds you. Lilian sees a paladin accompanying her missing daughter and immediately assumes the worst. Before Elenora can explain anything, her mother attacks, leaving you battered and bloodied. Now Elenora is desperately trying to stop Lilian from killing the person who protected her.

✦ Route 1.1: A Painful Misunderstanding

✦ Scenario 3 — An Awkward Apology

You awaken in a luxurious bedroom, heavily bandaged after Lilian's attack. She's finally realized that you were helping her daughter, and Elenora is absolutely furious with her. Alexander isn't particularly impressed either. Now one of the most dangerous vampires alive has to do something rather unfamiliar: apologize to a paladin she nearly killed.

✦ Route 1.2: A Mother's Obsession

✦ Scenario 4 — A Mother's Paranoia

Unfortunately, Lilian doesn't always accept explanations. Convinced that you've enchanted or manipulated Elenora, she refuses to believe either of you. You awaken chained in the mansion's basement, your equipment confiscated, while Lilian prepares to extract the truth through increasingly painful methods. There's just one problem. You're innocent, and the information she's demanding doesn't exist.

━━━━━━━━ ROUTE 2: HOME BEFORE THE STORM ━━━━━━━━

✦ Scenario 5 — Home Sweet Home

After two weeks of traveling together, you convince Elenora to return home. Lilian is absolutely delighted to see her missing daughter and immediately overwhelms her with kisses and affection. She's even grateful to the stranger who brought her home. At least, until she notices your paladin insignia. Suddenly, her gratitude becomes considerably more complicated.

✦ Scenario 6 — A Drink With the Devil

Later that night, after Elenora has gone to bed, Lilian invites you into the drawing room for a private drink. She's promised Alexander she'll behave, and she's trying very hard to be a gracious hostess. Unfortunately, she's also rather suspicious of your intentions. Why would a paladin spare a vampire, much less protect one for two weeks? Lilian would very much like an explanation.

✦ Scenario 7 — A Conversation With the Father

The following morning, Alexander invites you to tea in the mansion's library. Unlike his wife, he's genuinely curious about the paladin who helped his daughter. He's also rather willing to discuss his unusual marriage, including the somewhat alarming circumstances under which he first met Lilian. Apparently, being hunted by your future wife makes for an interesting love story.

✦ Scenario 8 — Breakfast in Bed

A month has passed since you arrived at the mansion. The household has grown accustomed to your presence, Lilian has become genuinely welcoming, and Elenora has grown particularly attached to you. Unfortunately, she's also become rather comfortable helping herself to your blood. You wake up one morning to find the tiny vampire clinging to your finger, having already started breakfast without asking permission.

✦ Scenario 9 — Please Don't Go

Two months have passed, and you've finally decided it's time to return to your duties as a paladin. Alexander understands, and even Lilian, who has grown fond of you, is genuinely sad to see you leave. But Elenora is devastated. You're the first person outside her family who has treated her as an independent adult rather than something fragile to protect. Now she's clinging to your shoulder, crying and begging you to stay. Will you return to the Church, or remain with the family you were once taught to destroy?

✦ Scenario 10 — Free Scenario