1643 The only one

Walking slowly, Peter could see the city on site, it was the area where most of the Vampire Corps members and some humans would live. The reason the Wight was currently out there was due to the fact that he had been suddenly left stranded out in the middle of nowhere on his own.

Peter had been patiently waiting for Quinn, something he had no problem doing after spending more than a thousand years doing it already, however he was particularly annoyed at his best friend right now. After being dragged out to this place, the vampire had left his shadow and Peter was getting ready to transform, to show off the new-found powers Quinn appeared to be interested in, yet the first thing he had been told was: "The others are in trouble, Minny has used her shadow powers.."

It was the only explanation he got, before the Celestial Vampire used his Shadow link to disappear. Now, usually Peter would have run to the others if they were in trouble, but given the strength level of those they had met ever since they had woken up, the Wight was sure that there was no need for him to assist.

'Honestly, I hope there's someone there to give that guy a good slap in the face for treating me this way…'

As he entered the city, Peter quickly realised that there were quite a lot of vampires that were paying attention to him. Most of them seemed to be wearing Vampire Corp gear, while a few of them were just their family members.

"It really is him, he was the one that got the special award, you can tell from his little badge on his shoulder."

The odd comments on his way back made sense to him, but the attention he was getting didn't. In the end, he could only assume that the little emblem badge that he had received was a bigger deal than he took it for.

After finally reaching the room, though, Peter was greeted with an empty, partially destroyed room. Not a single person was inside.

"What is going on?" Peter asked out loud, hoping someone was still there that could answer his questions, but there was no reply.

"Man, is everyone just forgetting about me or something?"

——

A few moments before Peter had arrived, General Yaddy looked to be over the moon that he had discovered Jessica. The initial frown that was there when he first entered the room had turned upside down. However, Quinn quickly noticed that Jessica herself wasn't too pleased about being recognised. In fact, she looked frightened and was hugging one of her arms.

"Jessica, I can't believe we finally found you after all this time. Andy has been looking for you everywhere. He'll be over the moon to hear that you're safe and sound." Yaddy stated, but after saying these words, even he could tell something was up.

"Actually, I was hoping that you could keep this a secret from Commander Andy?" Jessica replied with a half smile. It looked like she was trying her best but couldn't.

Listening in on the conversation wasn't just Quinn, but Lucia as well. However, the human woman was busy taking care of Minny. She was giving her more of her own blood, so the little girl's arms would heal slightly faster.

While she was doing this, Minny was hugging her tightly, having turned around to not look at the one she had called Dad. Lucia felt that the girl was slightly trembling. Not that Lucia could blame her in any way. After what they had all seen, everyone had mixed feelings towards Quinn.

'Wait, do they not know she's a Dhampir?' Lucia wondered. 'Or is that why they want her? Could Jessica actually be an important person to them or something. I guess she had a reason for running away all the way to the Graylash families…'

"I'm afraid I can't do that." Yaddy eventually shook his head. "We were instructed to immediately report if we found you. Honestly, I never knew you ran away… I have to report this matter and see what they say. I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to come with me to the base. We can't lose sight of you again."

Hearing this, Jessica, tried to move out of the way as the Vampire Corps members came up to her. It looked as if they were about to treat her like a fugitive. When trying to move she didn't have much luck, after all she had already used a lot of strength in the fight.

"No…what do you plan on doing with sister Jessica?! Why does everyone want to hurt her?!" Minny protested, tears in her eyes.

Before the guards could even get close to her, Quinn took a step forward to stand in their way. Knowing what he had done earlier in the day with just his Influence skill, the two immediately stopped what they were doing.

"May I remind you that right now she is travelling with me? To me, it looks like she doesn't want to go along with you guys." Quinn stated calmly, yet everyone clearly understood this to be a warning.

The happy face once again turned sour, and it was due to the same person yet again.

'How many times in a day does this vampire intend to upset me? I'm just following official orders… I can't go against this guy no matter what, but I can't let Jessica get away either.' The General was at a loss at what to do.

"Fair enough." Yaddy let out a sigh. "In that case, might I invite all of you to the Vampire Corps base. I'll just make the report, and when they arrive if you wish to talk to them then please do. If that is alright with you."

It was still somewhat hurtful for Yaddy, having trained and fought for so long to get to the position he was in, and in one day he had to treat someone he didn't know as if he was superior to him.

Quinn looked towards Jessica to see if she was okay with this proposal, to which she nodded a few times. Honestly, she was already happy that Quinn had done this much for her, even after knowing what she really was.

The agreement has been reached, so Quinn and his group followed Yaddy to the base. He informed them that he would give them housing there to prevent more incidents like the earlier one, though everyone seemed to understand that it was mostly to keep Jesscia close to them.

'That reminds me, the other two Dhampirs are still in my shadow space as well.' Quinn remembered as he saw Hannah being taken away.

——

A short while later, and the whole group was at the Vampire Corps base, where they had been given a more standard small bunk bed like room, compared to the apartment room they had before, to rest for the night.

At first, everyone sat there in silence for a bit. Everyone had questions for the others, about what Quinn had done, his Shadow powers, the Punishers in general. Then there were all the questions that surrounded Jessica as well.

However, since no one spoke up, they understood that unless they were ready to share their own secrets, they shouldn't ask the others. In due time, they were sure that they would tell each other their secrets. It was then that Quinn realised something.

'Oh crap, Peter! I completely forgot to leave him a note or anything about where we're going. How could I have forgotten about him.' Quinn stood up, ready to leave the room to bring back Peter, before that, though, he turned to Minny.

"Minny, will you come along with me? We need to get your Uncle Peter here. Your sisters did a good job protecting you, but they need to rest now, and I can look after you better this way." Quinn said in a soft voice.

For a second, Minny looked a bit hesitant, but in the end, she ran over to Quinn as she usually would have, opening her arms for him to pick her up. As always he placed her on his neck. Seeing that she didn't resent him, a big weight fell off Quinn's heart.

He didn't even realise why he felt so tense at a child disliking him. Either way, the truth was Quinn wanted to explain his actions to the small girl, while looking for Peter. Fortunately, given his shadow powers, he could sneak out of the place without having to deal with anyone else.

After the two left the room, it didn't take long for Lucia to fall asleep. The human woman had been exhausted, and Jessica followed suit. …at least she made it appear like she was doing the same. Once she heard some light snoring sound from the other bed, she got off the bed and headed for the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Lucia asked, who had only pretended.

"I'm sorry." Jessica stated. "I didn't think it would come to this, at least not this soon. I don't want to drag any of you into my personal trouble."

Lucia couldn't help but laugh at this comment. "In trouble because of you? Have you completely forgotten how much trouble we already encountered while travelling with the three of them? …besides, you saw him right? What trouble do you think could arise that he couldn't handle?"

Jessica paused for a second, as if she was really pondering her option. Ultimately, she clenched her fist and teeth, having come to a decision.

"No, I know he's strong, but there is no way he can get me out of this. I have to leave now before it's too late." Tears started to flow down Jessica's face, showing that she was truly upset at this fact. "I'm sorry, I've enjoyed spending this time with all of you, but I'm afraid the only one who could help me now would be the Hero himself, Quinn Talen."

With that, she stormed out of the room.

*****

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