Nightclaw: Blood Moon Apex

Chapter 4: Friendly Fangs

Carla's eyes widened. "You guys are vampires?!"

"Yes, we are!" Lily said.

"Well.....I suppose if my daughter can be a werewolf, there's enough room for there to be a couple vampires here and there....." Dave muttered with a shrug.

"What can I say? It's a fantastic world out there," Esther chimed in. "Perhaps Carla will get along with them. Would be cool to have a werewolf becoming friends with vampires.....werewolves and vampires are portrayed as rivals and enemies way too often in media."

Valeria smirked. "I second that, Esther."

Dave, Valeria, and Esther looked over to see that Carla, Lily, and Theo were already happily chatting with each other about their lives.

"Why don't we leave them be and let the young ones be young?" Valeria suggested. "Then we adults can head to the dining room, have some cups of tea, and hold a talk of our own?"

Esther's stomach growled. ".....Maybe I could use some cozonac with that tea....."

Dave raised an eyebrow. "'Cozonac'.....?"

"A type of bread found in Romania, as well as other places," the countess elaborated. "Esther and I will show it to you."

As Valeria, Esther, and Dave began to depart Lily and Theo's guest room, Dave checked in with Carla one more time. "Hey, I'm going to head downstairs with Valeria and Esther. You going to be okay up here?"

Carla looked at her father, having maintained a sincere smile for the longest that she'd ever had since Murray's death. "Yeah, I'll be fine!" she chirped. "You three have fun!"

Dave then slipped away from the doorway to join Valeria and Esther, leaving Carla, Lily, and Theo to talk.

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"Your father said you were a werewolf....." Theo noted. "Wait.....no. You can't possibly be.....!" 

Carla grinned. "Yes! I am Carla Rosenblood, a.k.a. Nightclaw, one of the eight Paragons usually spread out across the U.S.!" 

"'Nightclaw'?!" Lily exclaimed. "The werewolf superheroine Nightclaw?!" 

"The one and only!" 

"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh! Theo, are you hearing this?! We're actually meeting a Paragon face-to-face!" The flute-playing vampire sounded like she was going to explode with joy. "Tell me everything! What was your favorite rescue? What's it like working with the Paragons? Is there any kind of limit to your powers, or do you have to rest every now and then?" 

"Yeah, and are you really nigh-invincible? Can you kill someone with one swipe of your claws? Are you able to change forms any time?" Theo added excitedly. "Can you switch for us right now?!" 

Lily hopped up, unsheathed her silenced pistol, and shot Carla right between the eyes, with the bullet simply plinking off harmlessly without any reaction from the girl herself, much to Lily and Theo's astonishment. 

".....Quite a risk taker, I see....." Theo commented, regarding Lily's behavior. "Imagine if she was an imposter....."

"Oh, umm.....no....." Carla muttered as she looked away shyly. The way the two vampires eagerly bombarded her with question after question after question reminded her of how she initially saw The Viper; as nothing more than an excitable fan who would not shut up about her exploits. "I'm not exactly 'on active duty' at the moment.....I retired indefinitely after.....after....."