175 My word

With his arms raised, it truly did look like Fex had already surrendered. Not only that, but Erin was freed from her constraints and could move by herself again. As soon as she felt the weird connection leave her body, she had decided to take a few steps back and was now standing near the door beside Peter and Layla.

"Come on in, Quinn!" Vorden shouted. "With the two of us, we can easily take this guy out!"

However, Quinn was still cautious, having no intentions to let his guard down. He remembered fighting Fex last time and also saw him go up against Leo. If Vorden had seen these things, perhaps he wouldn't have been as confident as he was right now either.

"There is no trick." Said Fex. "You can ask the girl who I have broken off the connection with. I have done what I wanted to do. All I wanted was to show the girl what it would be like if she was to become my puppet. I just presented the power and skills that I would share with her. And in return, I was going to ask for some blood. Was I in the wrong?"

Quinn then pulled out a flask from one of his trousers' pockets and threw it over to Fex, who was able to catch it. Fex opened up the lid and could smell the sweet fragrance emitting from the bottle.

"If you need more blood, then you can just come to me," Quinn said. "Just leave us be and I won't get in your way and obstruct you in your mission, so you shouldn't get in the way of mine."

Fex then took a gulp of blood from the flask as a huge grin slowly made its way to his face. "Wow, it's pretty fresh, but as I told you before, getting blood here isn't a problem for me. Look, I didn't want to sour the relationship between us two. As I have said, this is all a misunderstanding. Did I ever hurt her?"

"You took control of her body and you forced her to attack me," Vorden said. "Just get rid of whatever you put into her body. In that way, you won't be able to control her again."

"It looks like I've hit a nerve with one of you. I didn't realise she was already taken." Fex said. "As fellow vampires, we should be looking out for each other. As a sign and the start of our friendship, I shall do as you ask and remove the needles."

Quinn was wondering why Fex's tune changed so quickly. Before, it seemed as if he was ignoring him, and now he wanted for the two of them to be friends. It just didn't make any sense for him. Could he have realised that Quinn was different from the other vampires?

But the real reason why Fex had changed his mind about the whole thing was because of Quinn's shadow abilities. He had seen them being used before but didn't see much of what it could do. During the short confrontation with Erin, he noticed something about the shadow and how it was possibly a lot stronger and useful than he thought.

"If he goes through with the process, are you able to tell me if he does anything suspicious?" Quinn asked the system.

"Not really, but Erin should be able to tell. When the needles are removed, she should know." The system replied.

The group decided to go through with it, but only if they could stay by Erin's side. At first, she wanted Fex to use it on her once more to allow her to experience the feeling and skills he had shown her again.

However, after being used to fight against her comrades, she felt disgusted with herself. She was so weak at that moment and everything had been done against her will. Even she wanted the needles to be removed.

Erin's back was facing against Fex while the others stood by her side, with Layla holding her hand. Peter, Vorden and Quinn were ready to jump in at any moment if he was to do something fishy.

The strings were connected to Erin once more and she felt the tingling sensation at the back of her mind. Fex then yanked out his hand and at the same time, all twelve needles that were attached to her body were pulled out simultaneously.

"It's done!" Fex said.

The others saw the needles had been removed and Erin could no longer sense a strange feeling inside her body. "If you ever wish to become a puppet of mine again, then feel free to find me."

"Come on let's get out of here," Layla said as she started to walk off with the others towards the exit.

"Wait, don't you want help with your ghoul situation?" Fex asked.

Quinn had thought, since Fex hadn't got what he originally wanted, that there was no reason for him to keep his side of the deal. His words right now were a surprise to him.

"I may not follow many of the vampire's traditions, but I do follow one, and that's to always keep my word. You did as you said and you brought her to me. Now, in return, I will help you."

The girl carried on walking ahead, Layla had decided she didn't want to be a part of any of this anymore, and it looked like Erin was worn out by the whole thing. If the boys wanted to go through with the original plan, then she trusted Quinn to make the right decision.

"We can't trust this matter to him," Vorden said. "I'm telling you."

But time was running out. It was night time and they didn't have much longer until the curfew. Vorden would have to go through the pain of having his limbs removed again. Also, so far, Fex had kept all of his promises, so why would he suddenly break one now?

"Please," Quinn said. "Help us."

"Very well," Fex replied. "Follow me."

*****

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