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"How do I get glowy eyes like yours?" Matilda looked up at the very tall man as he was cleaning his guns. She was supposed to be in bed. All dressed up in her nightie and everything. He blinks down at the little redhead, frozen mid-loading. He slowly sets the cartridge down.
"What?"
"How do I get glowy eyes like yours? I want glowy eyes too," She pouted. She had noticed it a while ago. That Alucard's eyes glowed a bright orange when they hit the moonlight just right. She thought they were so pretty and she wanted hers to be like that too.
"You don't want your eyes to glow," He tells her as he goes back to cleaning and loading his guns. "Trust me."
"Why?" Once again he paused so he can look at her, his eyebrow cocked.
"Because you have to do bad things to get your eyes to glow."
"Bad how?" Matilda asks while drawing closer. He lets her climb into his lap so she can watch him expertly take apart the weapon and then put it back together.
"Bad. That's all you have to know." The child blinks before tilting her head up and asking him,
"Do they glow cause you're a vampire?" He does not answer straight away. He finishes loading Jackal first before settling a hand on top her head and rustling her hair. That was enough answer for her. "Then I wanna be a vampire too!"
"No." The answer comes out firm and spooks her a bit, jumping a bit in his lap and staring up at him with wide, frightened eyes. He is almost glaring down at her, his hand moving from her head to settle heavily on her tiny shoulder. "Don't you ever say that again, Matilda."
"But I-"
"Glowing eyes isn't worth the price you'd pay!" He doesn't mean to snarl at her and he backs off when he sees her shrink away from the sound. Sometimes he forgets she is still just a kid and doesn't know what she's saying. He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Kid, trust me when I say this. You don't want to be a Vampire. You got a good thing going for yourself here. Keep with it." She pouts but nods anyway. His fingers tap on the arm rest for a moment before he reaches up, plucking his hat from his head and placing it on Matilda's own, much smaller cranium.
"You can't have the eyes," He says while she peeks out from under the large brim with a grin. "But you can have the hat."