Tatiana the Sleepy Vampire

In the far away land of monsters and ghouls lived a family of vampires atop an ancient hill in a magnificent manor. Among the many residents of this manor was the youngest daughter of the Count and his wife: Tatiana.

Tatiana was the baby of the family, the youngest of fourteen brothers and sisters, and was also the one who was easily frightened. Every time it was time to go to sleep, Tatiana would be afraid of humans coming in to stake her in her sleep and always ended up sleeping in her parent's coffin. She was teased by her other siblings because of this but her oldest brother, Alexander, didn't tease her.

"Tatiana, why do you fear that humans will get you in your sleep?" Alexander asked.

"That's what humans do, biggest brother. They burn you with silver and then stab you in the chest!"

"Only vampire hunters will do that, and they couldn't get that far easily. Humans can't find this place."

"But they still could! I'm just so scared to sleep by myself."

Alexander rubbed his hand on his chin and, with a snap of his fingers, figured out a solution. When it came time to go to bed, Alexander came into Tatiana's room and looked around. He then nodded and shook his head at many things in her room.

"What we need to do is make your room safe from those pesky humans," Alexander stated confidently.

He took some of Tatiana's stuffed toys of goblins, mummies, and wild cats and placed them against the window. He then hung some spiders and bats on strings from the ceiling. Finally, he gave Tatiana a cap gun. Tatiana looked around her room and was confused why Alexander did this.

"Biggest brother, why did you do all this?"

"I did this because while humans can be scary they are also easy to scare, my sweet Tatiana. I placed your stuffed toys against the windows because no human would dare open a window protected by kings and lions. If they snuck in and opened your door, they would surely run away in fear from the bats and spiders since humans don't like those. And if they were brave enough to face such terrors, they would surely lose courage when you have a cap gun in hand because humans hate loud noises. It would wake us up and we'd come to save you right away!"

"You never teased me for this, biggest brother. Why is that?"

Alexander gave a smile and hugged his baby sister.

"Because there's nothing bad about being afraid, sweet Tatiana. Your older brothers and sisters forget what it's like being so small in the world when everything is so big and scary, but in the end there's nothing to worry about. A family who loves and protects you is no match against any monster."

"Thank you, Alexander," Tatiana said with a big yawn.

Tatiana entered her coffin, feeling assured with her security measures that her brother set up, and fell asleep soundly. There did come a day when she no longer feared humans coming in but she never forgot her brother's words and how it wasn't the toys or the cap gun that brought her peace of mind but the support that she was given to stave off her fears.