Chapter 897: Aftermath of the tenth It was impossible to keep what was happening to the tenth family a secret from the other vampire families. After all, two of them had been involved with the attack. However, the result was contrary to what everyone had expected, and it had quickly become the talk of the whole settlement. "Wasn’t the tenth family weakened from the attack with the Bloodsuckers? I heard they made the eighth family and second family retreat." "Stop giving the tenth family all this credit. It was under the King’s order that they retreated!" "But it’s true! Have you not seen what happened to those that come back from the eighth family? Many from the pooling area had joined them for the attack, but only about half of them had returned. No one wants to mess with those in the tenth family now!" "I heard it’s all because of their leader’s special construction. Those towers we saw last time, there are more in the inner circle areas and I heard they have deadly statues that are actually beasts." "What’s going to happen now? Do you think the other families will form a bigger army and attack them together?" That was the question on everyone’s mind, especially for the tenth family themselves. Paul was in one of the large dining rooms they often would have a meeting in, while the others were still busy completing his given tasks and looking after those that had been hurt. Paul had just informed Leo about everything that had happened during his absence, catching him up on why exactly they were after Alex. The biggest shock to the first Vampire knight being the fact that Quinn had been captured. "I see, so it’s difficult for us to make a move currently. I wonder if what we found out will be enough to let him out. Have you had an update from the King?" Leo asked. "No." Paul shook his head. "I’ve heard nothing and it looks like you might know more than me. Usually we would get an update through Jill, but I have this feeling she won’t be speaking to us anytime soon after what has happened. So what about you? How come you knew what was going to happen? Did you discover some information during Fex’ rescue?" "Yes, we definitely found things, but it has nothing to do with Fex. It was just like his familiar said, someone had removed all his memories. It would be best for me not to say anything just yet, at least until we hear back from Silver on how things will proceed." "For now, we should keep an eye on those in the castle. Quinn brought a lot of these people together, and without him they are being torn apart. They will have to find something else to rely on and push forward. They are young and have never experienced things like this before. Even in my time I did things I regretted." Leo was right, there were many of those that had been affected by the loss of their comrades. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂 Walking down the hallway, Peter was looking at the gloves that he had taken off Paul. Paul had asked for them back, but so far Peter had ignored his request and was happily testing them out. He had never used a weapon but these gloves suited him quite well. There was a time when playing the VR game power fighters he had tried multiple weapons but couldn’t quite find the right one. Peter mainly fought with his fists similar to Quinn, but Quinn also had many options to fight at range due to his shadow and blood abilities. Although the gloves wouldn’t give him a big range, they were perfectly suited for his current fighting style and gave him an extra bit of power, especially against vampires. Suddenly, he picked up the sound of sobbing coming from one of the rooms. It was a voice he recognised. He placed his head on the door for a few seconds. Deciding whether he should go in or not. ’Urgh, this is something Quinn would be better at...but he isn’t here right now.’ It wasn’t that Peter was a completely unemotional person, but ever since his evolutions his emotions had become far more dull. Even now, he didn’t feel much empathy personally, but was more aware that he should feel bad and try and cheer the person inside, as that was the proper thing to do. "Surprise!" Peter tried to act cheerful, but his voice came out quite dull. Rubbing her eyes, she looked up to see who it was. "Oh Peter, I probably look horrible." Layla said as she was rubbing her eyes with the bed sheet. It wasn’t hard to guess why she was crying. Not long ago they had just lit a fire for those who had passed away, including Cia. The fact that Layla was currently under Cia’s bed sheets was all the evidence one would need. "You look the same as always." Peter said, not realising that this actually hurt Layla’s feelings. If a girl thought she looked horrible, it would be a man’s job to deny it, not confirm it. But Layla was far too upset to even care, especially since it was Peter. Seeing Layla continue to sob was kinda annoying Peter, so he decided to say what was on his mind, whether it would help her or not. "Layla, crying for the dead is fine. It’s good to let out your emotions, but it will do nothing. You should focus on those that are alive like Quinn, and try to do what you can to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen to him." Peter stated bluntly. This had just caused the water works to come out from Layla even more. She was emotional not just because of her, but also due to the race of the vampire she was. It would amplify her feelings. Grabbing the pillow off the bed, she threw it towards Peter as hard as she could. He didn’t move and as it hit him on the face it fell to the floor. "Would it make you feel better if I pretended I was hurt by that?" Peter asked. "Just get out!" She screamed, and Peter was on his way to the door. "Before I go, one more thing. Cia could see visions of the future, right? So if anything she should have been able to avoid her death. If she saw herself dying, she probably knew this was going to happen, so in a way this was her choice. If she saw you now, she might be thinking she made the wrong choice." Closing the door, Peter was gone and he shook his head a few times. ’Yeah, let’s not try to do that again.’ Peter thought. Continuing on his way to where he was originally heading. Peter was now walking towards the research lab. During his spare time he enjoyed helping Logan out with his things, since their personalities allowed the two of them to get on well. Neither of them liked talking about things, and Peter could stay up all night helping him. When he entered the research room, he could see Logan, checking up on Borden, trying to see if everything was okay with him. The little guy was plastered with white circles all over his body, which were linked up to a computer screen. He looked to be fine. There was a little worry as it took him a while to wake up. "Everything is registering okay on the computer. The equipment says you are good so I don’t see any problems." Logan reported. Still, Borden didn’t seem happy about that answer and was deep in thought. "Everything is okay, but it’s not, is it? I’m not the way I used to be. I’m not even the same size. I know I have a short life span like all the other Dalki, but why can’t I fight for longer than ten minutes?!" He shouted in anger. This was something that Logan wasn’t really clear on. "Please Logan, I know you have a great mind. There’s nobody else I can ask. I want you to make it so I can fight for longer than ten minutes, so I can bring out the same power as I had before. Isn’t there anything you can do? I don’t even care if it makes my life shorter. Alex got taken away, and Sil nearly died because I was too weak!" Of course, this thought had run through Logan’s mind many times, and there were things he wanted to try, but experiments were risky, potentially damaging or costing the life of a subject, especially without any prior research. ’Research...’ Then something came to mind. In the lab where Logan’s parents had originally helped create the Dalki there should be information that might help. Given Logan’s identity, he had access to the place. There was all the past work he needed that was performed by his parents on the Dalki, and maybe he could find something to help little Borden. The question was at a time like this, could he really afford to leave this place? Remembering the strength of the vampire that had attacked them, Borden had done a good job, yet it had been the time limit that had made him lose. If they had to go up against someone like that to save Alex and Quinn, they did indeed need more help on their side. "There might be something we can do." Logan said with a smile. "Peter, you want to accompany us on a little journey outside?" *****