Chapter 852: A little pig Cindy took a moment to calm down a little, then she asked Cia to clarify what exactly had happened in her vision. Fortunately, a banshee’s vision was merely one of the possible futures, so it wasn’t like it was set in stone. Nevertheless, Cindy needed to find out as much as she could about how one of her future selves’ demise came to be in the first place. ’He felt stronger than last time, but how could a boy like him possess enough power to kill me?’ Cindy pondered. "I’m sure you understand that your vision is making me a little nervous after hearing you say that. Could you tell me more about it. Even a tiny little detail could help me avoid such a fate." She requested with a smile, only unlike earlier this one was more forced to hide her slight worry. "Of course, only... the vision was incredibly short. I saw Quinn, with his hands covered in a lot of blood. He himself was badly hurt, looking like he had been through a rough fight, the kind where one false move could decide life and death. Beneath him was your body, surrounded by a pool of blood. I didn’t really see much else, other than that. I’m sorry." Cia apologised, luckily the pain in her head had just as quickly subsided as it had appeared. After hearing this, Cindy placed her hands behind her back naturally. At the same time, she placed the recording device that had recorded Cia’s memories from before inside the band that held her dress from the waist. "Now could you please tell me where I am and how I got here. Are we back at.." She turned her head a few times but decided to still ask. "Pure?" Cia whispered. Hearing this, Cindy had come up with an idea. Before reverting her memories, Cindy had made Cia tell her everything the others had told her about her former self and what the ’supposed’ reason was for Quinn messing with her memories. Now, armed with that knowledge, the second family leader told Cia about everything, only she made sure to give the story a dark spin, by making a certain person sound far worse than they were. "In the end, after already having removed your memories, he chose to turn you, to make sure you would remain loyal to him. He chose to turn you into what he was. It was the same for Layla but it seems like she has grown quite fond of him based on what your ’other self’ had told me. The other you that wanted to save her, show her the error of her ways. The other you confided to me that you had a feeling it might have been your mission from Pure to do so." Hearing all of this, especially about where they were now and the part about turning into a vampire was shocking, but she could tell her body was different. It didn’t feel like it belonged to her, like she wasn’t quite herself anymore. ’My mission... Was it to look after Layla? That’s probably why I went as far as I have done to stay by her side. I have to complete it and return to Lucy somehow?’ Cia thought as she tried to fill in the gaps. Of course, there were some details that hadn’t even been recorded on the device, so she was unaware of what had really happened with Quinn or Pure. ’Quinn how could you turn both of us?’ "Why did you choose to tell me all this? Aren’t you and Quinn on the same side? I mean both of you are vampires after all?" Cia asked the woman. "Oh my, so straightforward, getting right to the point, I like it~. Well you are correct in that we are both vampires and at least for the time being we should be on the same side. However, Quinn is originally a human and I just can’t bring myself to trust him. By doing you a favour I was hoping you could help me in return. Although your other self had agreed to my request, it wouldn’t be fair to force you to do something you can’t even remember." Cindy explained as she patted the girl in front of her lightly on the head. "Of course, now that I have heard your version, it’s safe to say I no longer trust him as much as I did before. As such allow me to ask the current you, would you be willing to keep an eye on him for me." Cindy didn’t doubt that Quinn would vote for her, as the boy didn’t seem to type to easily cross others. Besides, his hatred for Bryce should ensure that they would be on the same side, at least for the foreseeable time. There wasn’t anything concrete she wanted Cia to do for the time being, but having Cia act as her eyes and ears would be helpful for a variety of reasons. Most of all, to find out what had led to the events of the vision. Why would he attempt to kill her? Around twenty five minutes after she had entered the throne room, Cia came out and the doors behind her were quickly closed, preventing Nate from seeing Cindy again. "Hey, are you okay? She didn’t do anything strange to hurt you or anything?" Nate asked as he looked all over seeing if there were any injuries, but also made sure not to touch her. "Bug off!" Cia replied, slapping Nate’s hand away. "Come on, just take me back to Quinn." Although Nate didn’t like how Cia was treating her, after dealing with the leader he imagined something must have gone on between the two to annoy her. As such, he chose to ignore it as they both left the castle. In reality, Cia couldn’t even remember Nate’s name. Cindy had never bothered to learn Nate’s name in the first place, so she had merely informed Cia that someone from Quinn’s family was already waiting for now. For now Cia opted to keep the fact that her memories for the past year had been lost a secret. The two of them waited outside, and eventually Quinn came to pick them up. When he popped out of his shadow, he looked at Cia awkwardly for a few moments. "Are your memories back? Do you remember everything again, everything you wanted to know?" Quinn asked, a bit unsure what outcome he should be hoping for. "Of course." Cia nodded happily. "Cindy did a great job. Thank you Quinn, for helping me get back my memories." With no time to waste, Quinn used his Shadow travel and was already heading back to the tenth castle. Between the three of them the journey was silent. Each one had a lot on their mind. Quinn was still undecided whether to trust Muka or not, but even if he didn’t trust him, he definitely didn’t trust Bryce. It was also quite likely that the first castle would have something inside of it to bring more light into this confusing mess. Still, it would have to be him choosing to infiltrate the first family because of his own decision, not Muka’s. When they finally returned Quinn spotted something lying in front of the castle doors. It was black in color and looked like a dead animal. Coming out from his shadow, Quinn quickly approached it. "What is that?" Nate asked. "Is it a dead bat?" Not wanting to touch it directly, Quinn eventually used his foot to lightly flip it over, revealing a large nose with a ring around it. "That’s Ham!" Quinn shouted in excitement. He went down and picked him up immediately off the ground. "It’s Fex’ familiar, but what is he doing out there? Did Fex return?" When picking up Ham, Quinn noticed he was incredibly hot, and at the same time covered in sweat, not to mention unconscious and not responding to anything they said. A familiar’s energy was different compared to that of a human or a vampire. Even using Qi wouldn’t work to wake. All Quinn could do was place him somewhere safe and hope he would wake up soon, hopefully with some answers. Going inside he asked Paul about any news regarding Fex. Once again while there was no direct news, the Vampire knight received an update from Leo and Silver and the two of them were currently heading back to the castle. Ham was placed in one of the beds, and was kept under watch, with strict orders to inform Quinn as soon as that happened, no matter what time it was. Right now though, he felt like he could do nothing but wait, either for the news from Paul and Silver or that from Ham. ’As long as Ham is still alive, I can be sure Fex is also out there alive. I promise, I’ll find it, wherever you are!’ Finally, both Leo and Silver had arrived at the tenth castle, and they had some news. ******