There was a baby in his doorstep. Vladek felt his knees gave up for a second. He closed his eyes not believing what was happening; hoping that it was all a hallucination, a trick that his tired mind was playing on him. But when he opened them again, the baby was still there.

The baby was inside a basket, her body covered with blankets. She had stopped crying but tiny sobs escaped from her lips, and her face was totally red, probably tired of having been crying for a long time. She hugged, in her tiny arms, a white plush bunny and she was looking at him with a big pair of amber eyes. But the thing that shocked the vampire the most was that when she was looked directly at him, a big smile appeared in her face as she giggled happily.

He could tell she was a human baby and she didn't appear to be older than one month of born. What kind of parents abandoned their baby in a vampire's home? No. What kind of parents abandoned their baby at all?

He knew the answer already. The desperate ones.

He looked at Lucifer not knowing what to do, he approached the baby girl, smelling her, and she just laughed at the tingling feeling of the wolf's fur.

"I guess we can't let her here alone," Vladek said, taking the basket, being careful to not drop the baby. He brought her inside.

He felt asleep watching Lucifer play with the baby...

Vladek woke up, and abruptly, he incorporated himself off the couch. An intense crying was the reason for waking him up. Slightly dizzy for the sudden movement, he looked in the direction of the baby.

She was crying, almost screaming, while kicking the air, big tears running down her chubby cheeks. From the corner of his eyes, he saw the wolf looking at the baby stunned and confused, Vladek assumed that he had fallen asleep too.

He picked carefully the baby, hugging her against his chest, and started to swing her gently.

Many years before, he had seen a young mother calming her baby that way; swinging the newborn in her arms, meanwhile, she sang a sweet melody.

In a way, it worked. She stopped screaming and kicking, however, the tears didn't stop and she began to sob due to the previous crying. She took his finger with both of her hands and started to suck desperately.

The vampire, suddenly, felt stupid. The baby was hungry. He felt so guilty, how much time since the baby has eaten?

He rushed to the kitchen, took a banana and peel it. Then he grabbed a spoon and started to smash it on a little plate. The baby was now watching all with big eyes, attentively.

He smiled and proceeded to sit on the couch with her on his lap. And he started feeding her. In a matter of five minutes, she had eaten the whole thing.

She was really starving…

He signed, for a moment he thought that she was too little to eat solid foods.

Now, she seemed sleepy, her head falling from the sides, at the same time, her eyes didn't seem capable to stay open. He hugged her and slowly, he lay down on the couch with the baby on his chest. He began to rub her back, trying to help her to fall asleep.

In seconds, she was completely asleep.

Lucifer watched the scene, absolutely quiet, relieved that the awful sound of the baby crying stopped.

Vladek smiled and reached the wolf with the hand that was not holding the baby and pet him.

What now? He thought. He wasn't able to take care of a human baby, but he couldn't leave her alone either. If the parents decided to leave their baby there, it´s because she was in some sort of danger out there. He sighed, looking down at her, she was now drooling and her chubby little hands clung to his shirt tightly.

If he was going to keep her, he needed to prepare himself first. When they first arrived at the mansion, he saw in the basement a lot of dusty things that maybe would be helpful, however, he wasn't completely sure, he hadn't gone down there in a very long time.

Slowly he got up of the couch, still holding the baby in his chest; he carefully put her in the basket and covered her with the blankets.

“Lucifer, keep an eye on her.” He said as he walked downstairs to the basement, he lighted a candle and entered in the darkness of the room. Vladek found the small window and opened it, the warmest of the sun entered and the delicate light shined dimly through the basement. The dust floating in the air and the humidity were making the oxygen heavy to breathe, even to him.

He looked through the stuff, searching for things that would be useful. In a few minutes, he indeed had found it. A cradle, a few feeding bottles, diapers, blankets, clothes, and a few toys.

The vampire sighed; this would take time and effort to get upstairs.

...

Vladek stretched his muscles, exhausted. It took him half an hour, but he made it. First, he carried the things to the courtyard and cleaned them, removing any residue of dust and disinfected them, baby humans were really weak to bacteria and diseases, so he made sure everything was spotless. Then he carried them to the room that was next to his and put everything in their place.

He went to the living room, where the baby was still fast asleep. He smiled, if he thought about it, he was now, somehow, a dad. A really young and inexperienced dad, and above all, a vampire.

He saw the baby open her big amber eyes, that immediately searched for something and when she didn´t find it, a sob sounded, threatening to become a crying.

“No, no, no...” He whispered, taking her in his arms. “Shhh...” But the sobbing did not stop. Vladek looked around and he found the plush bunny on the couch. “Is this what you want?” He asked, reaching the bunny and giving it to her. Instantly, the sobbing stopped, and a laugh came out of her lips as she hugged tightly the bunny. “It is...” He sighed, the baby laughed again.

The vampire realized he couldn't still call her baby.

“I have to give you a name, right?” He said, stroking her cheeks. “What about Victoria? Do you like it?” The baby smiled and started making mumble noises. “Yes, I like it too...”

Vladek smiled. Having company, aside from Lucifer, in that huge mansion, would brighten up, even if it is a little, that dull place.