Sixth Bloodline [BxB]

CHAPTER 03: CERA [NOT EVERYONE IS FIT TO BE A PARENT]

CHapTER 03:

CErA

[BeCaUSe NoT EVerYoNE iS fiT to be A ParENt]

   NOW, NOW, Mikhael steeled his determination and all; but still immediately fell asleep the moment he met his new lover — bed, rolling underneath the blankets and and forgot all about his unfortunate imprisonment.

Yet just as Mikhael sank into a deep slumber, not even two hours later — he woke up due to the call of nature.

Fuck!

He chased that bloody vampire for weeks and barely had time to go to bathroom! Today especially; he chased him for hours, missed the goddamn train, got caught and dragged to some vampire city, waited on streets for few more hours and got fired — so how the f**k could he have time to take a piss in this situation!?

He angrily sat up and faced the cold air.

   "..."

He immediately went back under covers.

His body being the way it is makes sure to refine all kind of impurities from his body before they even have time to form. Even if he ate bones, they'd turn into purest form of energy with no waste at all. But for some reason Mikhael doesn't understand — even if he doesn't have to deal with this nature call, he still has to pee!

It makes no sense.

It's purely illogical!

Even if he was tempted to get rid of his kidneys, they'd just regrow!

With a sigh, he eyed the warm bed under him and made the most difficult choice of his life as he resolutely turned his eyes away from it, then stood up.

Nature call is of greater importance. He was trying to limit his body functions to those of humans right now — it was still damaged to the point where he can't even fight a Pureblood.

But...

Where was the bathroom?

   "..."

That Varus guy didn't happen to forget about it, did he?

   "Come to think about it, he only showed me the way to this room..." Mikhael's room was even better than a five-star hotel. To begin with, in a fully functional castle in twenty-fourth century — rooms are definitely nothing to look down on.

Big king-sized bed, huge balcony and window, crystal chandelier... Well, the Pureblood brother had money to burn — so Mikhael can't complain. It was definitely better than any hotel he could have possibly picked himself. There were many old-fashioned lamps on the walls, using the authentic... Mana infused candles that can burn for quite long period.

The whole room itself was full of mana devices, temperature regulated and he even had a nice view on the night sky, yet no electricity. Mana devices were created around hundred or so years ago when spell-casters began to suddenly awaken one after another.

They didn't harm the environment and lasted longer, so Mikhael also really liked them — not to mention that their functions weren't restricted by their shape. He touched the wall and few lines appeared on it like the blue neon lights, illuminating his room.

And the best thing was that one didn't need to be a spell-caster to use them. These devices themselves were modified so that hey could be used by ordinary people, so from mana circuits to inputs and controls, all is simplified and ready to use with a single touch.

The floor was made of old stones and cement since it was an old castle after all, but it had a good carpet made of some unknown fur spanning through the entire room.

   "Well, it's good as long as it's dead and soft." He didn't want to know what it used to be while it was still alive.

Vampires had no real preference to cold and warmth, but most of them would dress conservatively. Mikhael, however, really couldn't stand cold.

He touched the wall where those light lines were once again and his room began to warm up. He was so tired earlier that he had no time to properly check it out, but now he really came to like this room.

Life sure is easier with mana around.

   "For someone lodging in here for free, they sure do treat me well..."

How evil, being rich sure is nice!

Since he went to sleep naked, he needed to put on some clothes first. But dressing up properly just to find the bathroom and then return and undress to sleep again...

   "How bothersome!"

He simply raised his hand, and his palm disappeared through the void. It looked like it was immersed in a pool of invisible water, spreading translucent ripples as he moved it around.

Vampires who had good control over blood could use it to create clothes from it, but it was too excessive for Mikhael who often got in trouble and had it ruined. Once they used blood to make the clothes they want, that blood becomes useless. It can't be retrieved at all, only discarded.

In the end, he pulled out a simple shirt and shorts before quickly putting them on and then went out to find a bathroom. He already got used to the temperature so he felt that this was enough — anyway, bathroom should be close to rooms, right?

He didn't even bother with his messed-up hair.

For sure, there will be a vampire or two strolling around here to guide him.

Unfortunately... Mikhael didn't meet anyone even after wandering around for solid five minutes, so he got even more tired. He forgot that things like bodyguards have no place in this mansion. Nor that vampires are beings that are active at night, so they definitely won't stay at home.

Moreover... He had no idea how to go back to his room.

   "..."

   "Seriously?"

It's not that Mikhael had bad memory, but he rarely got lost in the past and when going inside more complex buildings for missions, he'd usually check blueprints before stepping inside. Moreover, if he somehow did end up getting lost, he could just use mana to find his way back, but now...

   "I'm just an useless vampire. I don't know how to go back."

He couldn't blow up his cover!

He even considered jumping outside to try and find his room's window to sneak back in. Unable to fight tiredness, Mikhael yawned while his hair tumbled around, covering most of his face. Almost at the moment, the doors next to him suddenly opened that he had no time to react when someone trapped him on the wall.

   "Mikhael!"

The low, yet coarse voice called out his name and he widened his eyes. But before he could ask anything, the other person pressed his lips on him, successfully silencing him.

   "!!!"

He doesn't recall telling anyone his name!

But he couldn't focus further on that problem as the stranger bit on his lower lip, seeking an entrance. Mikhael stubbornly refused which earned a grunt from the other party, but as if he couldn't see his protest, the man stubbornly insisted.

Mikhael didn't mind kissing a stranger, but once he properly opened his eyes and saw the face of the one kissing him — he truly wanted to hit himself few times to check if he was still dreaming!

   'f**k, it's the crazy Pureblood! Don't tell me he's moon-walking on top of everything!?'

The one who was daydreaming ended up being someone else.

Without much thought, Mikhael decisively raised his leg intending to hit the other man in his groin, but Ethan whose instincts were sharp noticed the malicious intent and caught that leg before it managed to touch him.

At the same time, his mind cleared up and he pulled away.

   "It's you..."

Although Mikhael couldn't pick any emotion from that indifferent voice of Ethan's, he still covered his mouth in case the other party decided to go for round two!

   "Who else did you expect to see?"

Holly s**t! He got attacked in the middle of the night!!

   "..."

   "Who, indeed?"

Ethan sighed.

When he opened the doors and saw this little vampire's messy, yet sleepy figure —he mistook him for someone else. But once he properly looked at those widened blue eyes staring at him with guard and confusion, he was immediately doused with cold water.

The face was not the same. Neither were his eyes, nor the way the boy stared at him. If it were that person, they certainly wouldn't be guarded with him...

It was just, this vampire had similar height as that person and similar unkempt hair, that's all. Not to mention that Ethan worked for few weeks without taking a break because the Higher Noble responsible for new vampires was busy — and others had to prepare the city for the arrival of someone important.

There were also preparations for the upcoming Banquet of Night.

It must be because of all that that he mistook this juvenile for that person.

   "What are you doing here?"

   "Trying to take a piss, but got lost."

   "..."

   "Why are you looking at me that way? It can happen to anyone, OK!?"

   'Do you want me to punch you instead? I really will, don't test me! When I get angry, I scare even myself!!'

   "Your room shouldn't be on this floor," he narrowed his eyes.

   "I'm on a different floor?" How the hell?

   "..."

   "..."

   "You ask me?"

   "This is your home, not mine. Who should I ask if not you?"

   "..."

True.

   "My Lord, I've brought the person..." At that moment Varus appeared, with a beautiful white haired woman behind him. Both Mikhael and Ethan turned to look at them before the four came to an awkward deadlock.

   "This isn't how it looks like," Mikhael was the first to speak. He can't let this situation sully his reputation!

He definitely wouldn't make a move on a Pureblood!!

Varus only looked at Ethan who still had Mikhael trapped to the wall and then at Mikhael's slightly swollen lips.

   "..."

   'Sure, I f*****g believe you! It's my eyes that are wrong!'

   "I feel like you just cursed at me in your head," Mikhael have him a stinky eye as Ethan finally released  him.

   "You haven't guided him around properly. He got lost," Ethan acted like nothing happened as he came next to the woman instead.

   "My Lord," she too, seemed unfazed by the sight she witnessed. She only came here to give her blood to Ethan anyway, what the Lord Pureblood did was none of her business.

   "Come inside," he guided her to his office and then closed the doors.

   "..."

   "What a fickle man!" Mikhael flipped a bird at him before turning to Varus, "So, like... Where is the bathroom anyway?"

   "You have one connected to your room."

   "..."

Really?

   "Where is my room then?"

   "..."

Varus could swear that up to this moment, he never met a vampire more stupid than Mikhael!

But it was fine. He's dealing with all kinds of brain-dead vampires all year round — so he had no big expectations of Mikhael either. He merely sighed before guiding him so naturally as if he's already done it countless times before.

After the small incident, Mikhael embraced his bed once again and sank into another deep dream. As for kiss or whatnot, Mikhael wasn't an innocent teenager that would lose sleep just because he got taken advantage of!

Unfortunately, even his sleep didn't last for that long.

Vampires, again, don't necessarily have to sleep — but Mikhael was someone who was rather fond of that process. Of the peace and tranquility when one fell asleep, not to mention that it saved up his energy and he felt no thirst for blood!

Yet, apparently, those who have more blood donors per day than Mikhael had years, didn't abide by those rules — seeing how they just love to waste all the blood they had fed on and didn't require to sleep!

And so, just as his dream started to get to the good part...

   "Wake up, Flame. You have work to do!"  time.

...he heard this sentence making him open his eyes.

   "..."

Then saw a pair of scarlet eyes above his face, staring at him with indecipherable expression.

En. He glanced around as the gears in his brain started to move at an incredible speed.

This seems to be his temporary assigned room.

Even the bed was the same bed he fell asleep on — his body was still in one peace so he's sure he didn't posses anyone or something.

So why was this guy leaning above him and staring at him with such indifferent face?  Mikhael didn't hesitate as he grasped the pillow to his right and swung it at Ethan — who casually caught it in mid-air.

   'Oh, he's not a ghost either.'

His gears turned even faster.

   'A nightmare, then.'

So he closed his eyes again and turned around before falling asleep once again.

Ethan silently looked at the person under him, as something in his chest stirred. He recalled how he mistook this juvenile for that person and once again — the two figures overlapped in his mind making him frustrated. He doesn't know why he came here this morning, nor what did he expect to see.

But as he held that pillow, he knew that these type of thoughts should be buried before they could even sprout.

   "Flame."

He wasn't frustrated because Mikhael. Or perhaps his pride was pricked because he was ignored a bit — he can't be certain.

But even more so, he was angry at himself who searched for replacement of his dead lover in another man.

   "Go away, I don't like you. I wanna sleep," he complained through the yawns, and true — Mikhael was one of those rare people that could fall asleep the instant they touched the bed — or any time he wanted, for the record.

And he wanted it now.

With Ethan gone!

Since he decided to lay low and see what those scheming bastards plan to do, Mikhael decided to sleep and rest until they made a move.

His room was nice, his bed warm, he had no need to worry about food. It's not bad place to settle down. Maybe he should also get a lover? He did get fired after all, he remembered.

Before he could continue with falling asleep again, the blanket tucked around him got roughly pulled away making him fall out of the bed in a rather uncomfortable position.

   "..."

   "Get dressed in five, or I'll take you naked!" Ethan didn't really mean anything aside from what he said, but with Mikhael's mind that has gotten too rotten by hanging around wretched people, got took in that "take you naked" in a dirty way.

Especially when he recalled the kiss from earlier.

With a groan, he stood up and turned to face Ethan, but apparently Heavens heeded to his prayer and made that guy leave.

   'Why did I even bother with him?' Mikhael wondered. He didn't need a Pureblood to babysit him!

Didn't that bastard have anything better to do other than come and bother him the first thing in the morning?

With that in mind, Mikhael began to dress and coincidentally picked one of his favorite shirts.

The "I HATE VAMPIRES" was truly his favorite logo, and the one that perfectly described his emotions at the moment.

But because he didn't want to get into trouble, he also picked a nice and warm jacked before zipping it, hiding these words from the outside world.

He felt content being the only one that knew what's written under it.

   'Okay, okay...'

Imagine the situation where some fucker came to interrupt your comfortable sleep first thing in the morning — and then f*****g abandons you all alone, without leaving behind a person to lead the way!

You would've been pissed just as much as Mikhael was, no? Oh, did he forget to mention that it was Sunday? And bloody half past four in the morning!!!

   'I'm gonna crucify that bastard!'

Despite it not having any real effect on vampires, being hanged on a cross with your blood leaking constantly underneath a scorching heat of the sun were examples good enough as to why one shouldn't provoke church and vampires.

Vampires were fond us using this type of torture methods for their traitors while Vatican... Eh, those guys really can't be provoked, they aren't sane.

Befriending them will save you a lot of trouble in the future and make sure that you won't have some crazy priests hunt you across the globe for days just to stab you!

But Mikhael really liked to annoy this bunch, so he unfortunately couldn't ever reconcile with these guys.

They always had some good stuff to loot — cough, to borrow. They were a generous bunch helping those in need, anyways.

   "Stupid spider!"

'   A spider could be found in the Pureblood's residence?'

Mikhael's next focused on the person that uttered those words. He wasn't mistaken, it sounded like a child.

   'Why is there a kid in this place? Is there something illegal going on here that I do not know about?'

Well, young vampires are valuable so they'd be kept around in secure places — and Pureblood's castle was a good pick.

   "Let me go, you stupid!"

   "..."

   'Don't go. Do not go there! You dumb moron, remember the last time's [don't go or you'll get in trouble] which didn't end well and DON'T f*****g GO!!'

...or so he told himself, but the curiosity was one of his few weak points as he found himself already walking towards the direction of that voice.

Was someone really that afraid of some tiny, little—

   'Ah, I knew that there was a catch!'

As Mikhael stood in front of a twenty-something feet giant spider neatly rolling a little girl into the cocoon in a special way spiders do — he could only sigh realizing how unlucky he got once again. He didn't even have strength to complain.

   'Little, my ass! I'm going back to sleep!'

   "This place seriously needs some pesticides or some s**t against those spiders. I've heard of them taking over one's house, but this really is on a completely different level." Level, Mikhael never faced against before, despite being older than pesticide itself.

Both the spider and the girl stopped moving as they focused their eyes on Mikhael who was stuck between glancing between the two and rubbed his chin as if considering an important decision.

   "Well, have a good day," Having come to one, he turned around — about to leave as the girl spoke again.

   "Wait! Don't leave! Please help me, Ty-Ty will get mad if he sees me like this!"

   "..."

   'And who the hell is this Ty-Ty!?'

Pausing in his steps, he only turned back before glaring at the eight-legged, red-eyed creature which obviously regarded him as better food as compared to the skinny little human from before.

As if it had the ability to think, it simply threw away the girl after losing interest in her before its hind legs found their way around Mikhael. And then, it began to weave a cocoon around him instead.

He knew that he should've stayed in his bed and as much as he needed to get away from that huge spider, he was too lazy to do so. Moreover, he was a vampire — he should be able to survive in that cocoon for years before the spider left him alone or someone found him before that. Perhaps, he could enjoy his sleep without getting interrupted this time!

Since that sounded like a good plan — with a smile of an benevolent person, Mikhael only gave thumbs up to the spider who suspiciously continued with his work not understanding why his food wasn't fighting back.

   "I told you not to eat random things, you stupid creature!" Mikhael didn't know if he should be offended by the way someone called him a 'thing' or amazed that there was actually someone capable of sending that spider flying through the walls and outside with a single flicker. It kinda looked somewhat familiar.

   "..."

Oh, it was this guy. First, this mosquito left him all alone and now he let his pet eat him? What was with that big spider? A familiar? Shiki? Sprite!?

   "Ty-Ty!" The girl from before excitedly ran over to Ethan. "You're up!"

   "And you, I already told you not to offer this guy some suspicious food or play around its mouth. Look, he tried to eat you because you bled!" He took her bloodied hand before healing the cut on her finger.

This confirmed Mikhael's doubts — that spider was definitely something abnormal. Perhaps a familiar? They do require blood to function. But why would one let a child play around with a familiar?

To sum it up, familiars could be summoned by a vampire — but they need their blood in order to work and function. There were two types of familiars, actually. The real familiar which is the type of special move for some vampires — those guys were quite rare, but pretty powerful. And then there were blood breeds — monsters made by giving them vampire blood, weird experiments or failed attempts to call upon a familiar which then took possession of a nearby animal corpse.

The spider belonged to a later category.

Real familiars only used blood of their summoners.

Then there were sprites and shiki — one belonged to a bloodline of beings from 'that side' while others are summoned creatures from human side, like onmyouji or spell-casters.

Spell-casters are good at making these guys, and they can change ownership easily. It's a good way to earn some money and even vampires could use them — so they like these pets.

But not Mikhael.

He had twelve decent familiars and simply no blood to spare for more of these guys! It's not easy being powerful, indeed.

   "And you! How could you let yourself be eaten so easily?!"

   "..."

   'Why am I getting yelled at again?'

   "Why not? It was willing to make me a comfortable bed so I accepted it with gratitude."

Ethan couldn't believe his ears. He glanced at his little niece who was probably the most reckless creature he knew of and realised that the day when he met someone even worse finally arrived! This guy was crazy!!

   "Are you... Perhaps, an i***t?"

Mikhael was too lazy to even reply. What good would replying even do?

   "Just leave me alone, I want to sleep," and without any warnings, he fell asleep in the half-finished cocoon around him.

In the next moment, he also flew out of the hole in wall made by that spider earlier.

   "Alright," few minutes after Mikhael fully sobered up and climbed back, Ethan continued to preach, "I might hate your guts, but you just happen to be a vampire and as a Pureblood, it's my duty to take care of you."

   "..."

   'Well thank you, for flicking my body twice in one day! This level of injuries is something I could sustain even if I willingly sought death for entire month!'

   "I don't need your care, just leave me alone! Also, didn't you say that you're not benevolent?" Mikhael, of course, wouldn't have it any other way because he was a real man that treasured freedom more than anything else.

   "Nice try, but no. You're an useless newly turned so if you want to work, you need to reach the most basic standards for a vampire." Newly turned, his ass — but it wasn't something Mikhael could tell to that Pureblood.

   "By the way, what's your name?" Mikhael asked, realizing that he never heard it — he was never really interested into people he was running from anyway. Vampires, especially old ones, also had no habit of casually giving away their names. Some would even take on a different name intentionally, then use it for eternity.

   "Ethanasios. Ethan is fine," he didn't mind this detail. In any case — his subordinates would use 'Lord' when addressing him and no one would say it out loud in front of him other than his siblings.

His name was old-fashioned just like all other Purebloods who — although weren't blood related, were around the same age... Give or take few hundred years.

   "And this one?" He pointed at the little girl.

   "Cera." He glanced at the girl. Well, her identity wasn't really a secret. "Her parents were assassinated when she was younger, but she survived. Still, she might remember the perpetrator's face, so I'm keeping her around just to be safe. If there's a single hair missing on her head, I'll skin you alive."

   "..."

   'OK.'

He didn't want to know why this guy would keep some random human child, but as someone who was hiding and pretending for eight hundred years — Mikhael knew what shouldn't be asked and when is the time to pretend to lack the common sense. So he simply disregarded this topic.

Ethan didn't go into details, either — merely warning Mikhael to not attack the only human in this castle.

   "Ty-Ty! I'm hungry!"

   "..."

But it was really difficult to keep this hyperactive human child in a city full of vampires.

   "I'm also hungry."

   "..."

This kid as well.

Humans that came to donate their blood to him were brought from the outside city after having their identities checked. He doesn't let a single one stay over in his place. Unless necessary to bring over a human, he'd drink blood from his subordinates.

Blood of vampires isn't lethal to him, but vampires can store intentions inside their blood. It wouldn't hurt him, but drinking blood that would suddenly act up with intention to kill or harm him was tiring. So if was better to drink from ordinary humans or Higher Nobles.

But Cera was different.

If not for that person asking a favor from him, Ethan would've never taken her in.

   "Don't interrupt, we have some more important things to do." Cera only angrily bit the insides of her cheeks as Ethan ignored her — and even Mikhael followed as he realized that he, too, got ignored together with a little child.

   "As I was saying, you're a vampire and you're dumb. If I were to leave you alone in this city, you would die in less than thirty minutes, max!" Well, Mikhael was glad that Ethan wasn't asking about his past or making him fight in some underground death ring — but this doubt was really beginning to get on his nerves.

   "Which is why—" just as he was about to get to the main point, Cera interrupted him again.

   "But I'm really, really hungry!"

At that moment, another man joined the room.

A vampire, probably a Noble from the way he carried himself and how the air brimmed with arrogance around him. High-ranking vampires had unique auras around them —  not to mention that their appearance was so outstanding that they were easy to spot with one glance even in the crowd of thousand vampires.

They were all too f*****g white!

This one had a white hair as typical for vampires — Nobles rarely dye their hair because they took pride in it. Tall figure, strongly built as usual — bodies of vampires were naturally optimized to keep their best conditions for various reasons.

But!

White boots. White shirt. White pants. White gloves. White coat! White f*****g everything as if he ran out of print color!

If they could chose, perhaps even their red eyes would be white!

   "The cook still haven't arrived. Try and hold on until then," Ethan rubbed her head who only angrily glared at him in turn before touching her belly. She wanted to eat. As Cera needs human food and vampires won't bother with cooking, Ethan had a cook arrive early in the morning to prepare food for her.

Keeping humans in his territory was simply impossible, so they're brought over from city.

But this little devil sometimes woke up so early that nor even vampires could defeat her!

Mikhael sighed. Those dumb night-walkers have no idea how bodies of human beings worked.

Wait until the chef came?

She'd starve to death until then, it wasn't even decent time for humans to wake up! Who knows how longer will they have to wait for the chief to arrive!?

Who lets their kids wake up this early!

   "Hey, human child," he called out, she turned her head to him before tilting it a bit. Was he... calling for her?

   "Yes, you. I might not be a professional, but I can make you something decent if you take me to the kitchen."

Well, if he looked at this from another viewpoint, Mikhael tried to live as human as much as possible — so he preferred to eat human food as well. The only sad part about it was that it got burned as fuel the moment it touched his belly, so he could never truly be satisfied with it.

But even so!

He gets to enjoy the taste!!

   "You can?" Cera's doubt only made Mikhael sneer at her before she corrected her mistake, "I mean, you would do something this nice for me? Not that I doubt your skills or anything, but you almost got eaten by a giant spider earlier!"

   "..."

Mikhael already loved that kid, she was a savage!

   "Of course—" before he could continue, the same annoying voice of the Pureblood that's been getting on his nerves as of lately interrupted him.

  "Why do you think that you can do as you please? I said that you'll be training here and now!"

A moment of silence followed. If Mikhael hated anything more than waking up and action, it was training.

   "Actually, you didn't. You just said it now and seeing as it was her who asked me to do something first, you should wait for your turn. If you need to train so much, go ahead and do it on your own. Don't drag us innocent people into it."

Ah, how good it felt to tell off that Pureblood, Mikhael will never be able to explain.

   "Do you really want to die, brat?" he hissed in anger before taking few steps towards him, Mikhael only shrugged with his shoulders.

   "Fun fact, I already did."

That made Ethan pause in his steps. Most of humans, despite the treaty and all, were unwillingly turned into vampires — especially during the Great War and against their will. And in order for human to become a vampire, they had to die first.

   "Fine, you can do whatever you want, but first—" The catch! There always had to be some f*****g catch to everything good happening around Mikhael!

   "I have to kill you?" Mikhael finished for him, with hopeful voice. Alright, that sounded alluring and he could legally end Ethan's life without being chased for eternity.

   "...no, I wouldn't dare to beat a dumb beginner like you in fear of making you even dumber." Ethan pointed at the guy that came in just now, "First, you have to beat this guy over here, Frederick."

Ethan wasn't worried at all. It will take at least two years for that newbie to be able to stand his ground against Frederick he called over earlier— if he fought him for ten hours a day, however!

As for being able to defeat him... Heh!

If a little vampire of dubious origin could defeat a Noble so soon, Ethan's view on this world completely fall apart! Turning around, he headed for the exit — since it was about time he went on his usual strolls around the city.

Those guys in South were being restless once again, so he should take a trip over there and beat them into submission. He's been silent for a long period that they forgot his true nature.

Ethan had an important Hunter coming in two days and he couldn't afford to screw it up. This city was getting messier with each passing day, and no matter how much it bothered Ethan to work together with those sly bastards — he had to, if he wanted to protect its peace.

   'This city... Was also what he wanted to create.'

So Ethan couldn't give up on it.

But before he even made five steps forward, he heard a loud sound of someone falling to the ground and sighed. That should be enough to teach that brat a lesson.

   "Alright, chose kid: Mediterranean, Italian, Spanish, French, Balkan, Chinese, Russian or Japanese food? What will we have for breakfast today?" Hearing Mikhael's voice made him stop in his track and turn around, only to become speechless at the scene unraveling before his eyes.

Frederick whom he never witnessed losing easily against other Nobles just lay there on the ground, without consciousness. Above him was Mikhael who looked unfazed by it all; glancing at Cera before cracking his neck and walking towards her.

Vampires... Theoretically speaking, it's possible to knock them out — but it was easier to kill them than have them lose consciousness.

   "What's that? I just want some pancakes!" Cera replied before offering her hand which Mikhael grabbed.

   "Don't be a picky little brat, just chose one out of those on menu."

"Who is being picky? Just offer me something normal. What is even this spinach food?" Cera questioned as she began to lead him away.

   "..."

   'It's Spanish, not spinach!'

   "Wait!" Ethan called out to them and Mikhael turned with a frown.

   "What? You ain't getting any, I only cook for my young human friend today!" It was his fault that he acted like an asshole when they first met, Mikhael wouldn't cook for him even if he offered him money!

Well... If the amount was decent enough, then perhaps he could show some forgiveness.

   "What just happened? Why is he on the ground?"

Rolling his eyes, Mikhael replied as if it was the most obvious answer in the world. "Why else? I defeated him."

Ethan turned his head to Cera, as if to confirm Mikhael's words and she nodded.

   "..."

   'A kid's words are more reliable than mine, really?'

   "He was there and in next moment there was a WHAM and BOOM and then he was on the ground," she moved her hands explained how Mikhael got Frederick before shrugging, "And he won."

Ethan couldn't believe it. Should he reassert this kid?

   "Oh?" Mikhael moved toward one part of the room and picked up a silver cross from the ground before examining it. "What is this?" His eyebrows furrowed at first, but then his eyes widened in disbelief.

   "The hell is— " but before he could say another word, Ethan soundlessly appeared behind him and snatched it from Mikhael's hands without giving him time to react.

   "Don't touch that!" His voice was cold, enough to make Mikhael's tense uo. But as he turned his head and looked at the former with wide and curious eyes, Ethan's voice couldn't help but sigh.

   'Again. I search for him in another, again!'

   "It's something important. So don't touch it," but he couldn't resist. He was unable to kill this juvenile who stirred those emotions in him.

This little vampire was innocent.

   "Ah, okay," Mikhael didn't know what else to say. But he confusedly clenched and unclenched the hand he used to hold that cross with.

Somehow, it seemed familiar.

But he never made anything like that before.

And still, it was the same dead mana Mikhael researched in the past that was used to create that thing.

   'Whatever. It's not like I'm the only Half-blood in the world. Another could've easily made it as well... since it's a simple toy even among Armaments.'

Observing Mikhael, Ethan was just about to add something else, but his phone ringing interrupted him. Silently cursing, he took it out but then became silent — he really didn't need a call from the executive of W.E.R.P..

A call from this bunch meant trouble, and he really didn't need trouble at the moment!

   "This is not over yet," and with that, he walked away from the two before answering the call.

   "No need to return! More food for us, then!" Mikhael happily rubbed Cera's head.

He finally got rid of that annoying mosquito!

   "Ah, I forgot to ask how he knew my name! Did I accidentally say it out loud yesterday? Was it that annoying PA on the phone that said it, perhaps!?" He really couldn't remember.

But, the real question was... Just what kind of food should he make today?