Chapter 53: The Journey Begins

"I'm leaving," Monica said, smiling at Howard as he awoke to the morning sun. "Una told me we had to leave before it reached noon." Do-do you mind taking her off you for a minute?"

Howard looked down seeing Jenny's head on top of his chest, and blushed before pushing her gently aside. Standing up to face Monica, she blushed and immediately leaned in, kissing him with such force that he felt a powerful Ki travel through his body.

Looking into her eyes, watering, he brushed back her green hair and thrust her head into his one more time, causing her to fall into his embrace.

"Uhm, you better behave. This-this I did not expect!" Monica pointed down at Jenny and grinded her fist. "I-I can only allow certain things! Her biting you is already near my bottom line!"

"I'm sorry," Howard said, gently kissing her one more time and looking deep into her ever changing expressions. "I-I wouldn't have got that shot yesterday if I thought it was a trap!"

Howard felt like he had made a huge mistake allowing Jenny to drink his blood. He planned on going to the Ki Reservoir as fast as possible, and then immediately run to Cantron. However, because of Jenny, they'd have to be incredibly careful. Seeing her frail body that still lingered in the F rank, he sighed, looking at Monica one more time before pushing her shoulder.

"Anyways, your brother is waiting. Heh, I had another dream, and I think he knows you're coming. He's very excited." Howard pushed her one more time and pointed at the door, seeing Una leaning on the side with a darkness spreading down her body. "Just be careful, okay? No drinking and driving."

"Are you kidding? Is that a joke," Monica shook her head and kissed him one more time on the cheek before spinning to the exit. "I will remember you Howard. Every day, I will squish Una to death at night pretending she's you!"

"She means she'll take one shift watching at night, and I'll take another," Una waved, "Howard, be safe. Don't do anything stupid."

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Three hours later, Howard walked outside with his stuff packed only to find Jenny staring at him with her teeth extended out of her mouth. To her right, Barabin gently rubbed her back, trying to calm the passion burning inside of her.

"Howard, it's time. Come over here," Barabin gestured to Jenny and rubbed his hands together. "This-this is going to be annoying. Reece, you handle this tomorrow, okay?"

"What-what's happening to me," Jenny wiped the sweat off her head as her knees shivered under the weight of her cravings. Looking at Howard, her teeth kept growing larger and larger. "I-I don't understand. Yesterday, I-I just had a single drop…"

"It's a powerful thing. Cravings," Barabin watched Howard stopping in front of him, and gently brushed aside his hair. "Here, we can't have you weakening Howard too much. Bite this vein," Barabin pointed at Howard's arm, near one of his veins. "Drink slowly. Once the craving goes away, stop."

"Howard, can I?" Jenny's teeth gently appeared as she leaned in and grabbed his wrist, slowly moving towards his vital point. "I-I got to say. You're much better tasting than I imagined."

"Sure, just be gentle," Howard smiled, seeing her teeth gently extend and stab towards his arm. Feeling her teeth pierce his skin, Howard smiled, looking up at Barabin as he seemed to study her form.

"Hmmm, slower. Drink slower," Barabin tapped her on the back as the last bags got loaded into hte bus. "Too much, and you'll feel sick. Too little, and you'll feel empty inside."

"Okay," Jenny's body gently warmed as she drunk Howard's blood. A few seconds later, she finally managed to quench her thirst, stepping up before a large fire seemed to spread inside of her.

"What? What is happening?" Jenny stepped back, seeing a fireball appearing floating around her. "Make it stop! Make it stop!"

"Howard get on the bus. NOW!" Barabin pointed at the door. "Tell Reece we'll be leaving in 5 minutes!" Barabin expected this reaction from Jenny, but still didn't have much time to deal with it. The time to get to the Ki Reservoir was limited, and every minute counted. In addition to the fact they were taking a bus instead of running at their max speed to avoid attention, they also needed Howard at full strength to go through the Authoritarian's territory.

If they sensed Howard was injunred in anyway, rather then letting them through they might kill everyone else. Authoritarians ranged in power just like humans with dominant Authoritarians possessing strength in the S rank.

However, the scariest thing about Authoritarians is how many of them had achieved enough strength to kill Barabin in a single attack! Hundreds of Authoritarinas in the Furnace's one hundred points could easily kill him. Because of Jenny, they had to take an immense risk! For this reason, he had to make sure that she drank only a certain amount of blood!

Not only that, Howard's blood had qualities different from every other Horned. Seeing Jenny's body swirling in flames, Barabin knew this could only get worse. Howard's blood had extremely strange cells that when entered into her body caused this extremely abnormal reaction! Patting her on the back, Barabin could only try and get her to calm down. Only by focusing, would she be able to completely control the Ki swarming inside her.

The Ki from Howard had an extremely strong nature, and spread through Jenny's body quickly causing to immediately sense the frequency of Ki swirling all around her. Normally, for a person like Monica that didn't need to feed on other's blood, from a young age she would have gradually attuned to this as her horns slowly grew towards the surface. However, because of Jenny's peculiar situation, it's like she went from being a baby to an adult all at once!

Holding out her hand, Jenny screamed before a large fire shot into the air, causing the chaos in her body to slowly die down. However, at the same time, she instantly felt tired. Sensing something strange entering in and out of her body that seemed to possess an indescribable heat and force.

"Your body is starting to sense the frequency of Fire Ki," Barabin patted Jenny, wiping off her leather jacket that he'd given her the night before. "It feels weird at first, but you'll get used to it. It's sort of like being married haha! It gets better and better!"

"Ugh, I want more. Is Howard in the bus," Jenny smiled, rubbing her teeth. "I get more tomorrow right? I-I already forgot how bad a reaction I had! I-I want to get to know Howard so well! Cna I sit next to him?"

"Unfortunately, you have to," Barabin pushed Jenny onto the bus and pointed over at Howard's seat. "Everyone, Jenny is not to leave Howard's side! When she goes to the bathroom, Reece, you're in charge of watching her."

"Closing the door," Harley said, pulling a lever and yawning. "This is great. You have a third girlfriend Howard. I guess this means I'm moving up in the world."

"Very funny!" Howard said, stomping his feet on the floor. "I-I'm only doing this because Jenny needs it! Not because I want to date her or anything!" Howard gently moved over, seeing Jenny wipe the blood out of her mouth, as she gently scooted in next to him and reached for his hand.

"Barabin-Barabin said I should hold your hand to be calm. Thank you Howard." Jenny smiled, and took out a small device in her pocket. "Oh yes! I have your blood on me! I can tell you if the experiment worked! Hold on!"

"Well then, we're going," Barabin patted Harley on the back. 'Let's get this iron horse moving, shall we?"