Being an original and being the leader of one of the 9 vampire families, Edvard had spent a lot of his time awake in the castle. At the same time he had been called to countless meetings between the others.
Seeing them really didn't put the nicest smile on his face, as he also never had the fondest memories of them. After learning what had happened to the others though, the originals seemed more inclined to fall in line.
However, it had been a strange day for Edvard to say the least. In the last month or so that he had been awake, the most interesting thing had happened to him. Because of it, he felt restless in his castle and in the end he had decided to leave and walk in the streets.
Due to his particular choice in clothing and style, he was easy to spot. In a lot of cases, it was safe to say that Edvard was one of the more well known originals. So being out for a few seconds would bring a lot of attention to him but today he just felt like he had to.
Which was why he had been brought to a particular place... To the vampire assessments. He had come here thinking that there might be a chance to meet a particular person, but he didn't count on it as he imagined the chances were low, yet here he was.
'I guess my luck is going well today.' Edvard smiled.
"It's Sir Fortuna!" the judges said, as they stood up from their seats and started to bow down.
The rest of the public that was watching had bowed down, and was ready to get on their knees in front of the original.
"Please don't! That's an order!" Edvard said in a normal voice but it carried to everyone relatively easy. "I rarely come out and this is part of the reason why, I would much rather you all just act normally, as if I'm not here."
The rest of the judges sat down, and tried their best to continue the assessment and that's when they realised that the person from before was still here.
"Ah yes!" One of the judges cleared his throat. "The Fortuna family wishes to welcome you into their family, do you accept?"
Quinn hadn't even shown any of his skills, and yet this man had wished to still invite him. In his mind it meant one thing, that Edvard definitely remembered his face.
Still, Edvard hadn't made the others aware of what happened, nor was he acting rash now of all times. Which made Quinn think the situation still wasn't as bad as it could be, but he wanted options at least.
"Are there not any offers from any of the other families?" Quinn asked with a smile.
One of the female judges was tempted to put her hand up after seeing Quinn's smile, but how could she go against an original. All the rest of the judges had the same thought, if Edvard wanted him, then they wouldn't get in the way.
Their own leaders would understand, it was unlikely that a vampire was so special that they needed to be brought into their own family at all costs.
"Excellent!" Edvard clapped. "Well, let's welcome you into the family, and get away from here."
Edvard started to walk away, and with a sigh, Quinn thought that it was best if he followed him. As he did, there were a number of thoughts running through his head, he had just promised Layla that they would try to live a normal life and now this had occurred.
'Will I have to secretly keep the original in my shadow lock, or keep him in a cell somewhere? I mean that could work right? People would get suspicious for a while but they would soon forget about it right?'
Close to the 9th castle, Edvard had entered a shop, when Quinn followed, he was surprised to see that everyone was starting to leave the shop. This included the ones that worked there as well.
The shop looked like a coffee shop back on earth, but the vampires didn't really drink coffee, so it seemed to just be styled that way. At one of the tables that allowed two to sit down, Edvard sat in his seat and gestured for Quinn to sit in the other seat, which he did quite quickly.
"You really are an interesting one. There was no hesitation entering this place even if it was a trap, and you followed me with no problem at all. I guess that's just how strong you are, right?" Edvard said.
Quinn didn't reply but it was quite accurate, whatever Edvard had planned whether it was a trap or not, Quinn could get out of it. He would just need to change the plan on the go if something like that did happen.
"I cleared the place out, because I thought it would allow the two of us to talk a bit better without anyone listening." Edvard smiled. "Quinn, if that is your real name, I'm really interested to know who you are. I asked Muka whether she had heard about you but she had no recollection at all.
"She was a vampire that has been awake during this time, yet she doesn't know a vampire as powerful as you are? And when you asked me to ask her, you were very sure of yourself. Which is why I am asking now… who are you?"
Quinn scoffed at the question and looked away with his eyes.
"Even if I told you the truth, you wouldn't believe me anyway, and it could make the situation worse for me. It would be best if you just forgot the incident. It was my mistake anyway."
Edvard wasn't happy with that answer, so he decided to push for more.
"You know, I wasn't like the other originals." Edvard started to explain. "Believe it or not, in the past I ran quite a big organisation myself. I never got involved with things to do with the originals. I lived my own life, but there was one person I always got on with… Arthur.
"The two of us fought side by side against the Werewolves back in the day."
Hearing that name did get a slight reaction out of Quinn, making him realise that he must have seen the shadow travel skill.
"Are you a Punisher, or a student of Arthur's?" Edvard asked.
Quinn chuckled.
"A Punisher, a student of Arthur's… I guess you could say I was those things. I already told you the truth when we first met, and like I said, if I told you everything you wouldn't believe me anyway."
"Try me." Edvard replied, as he tilted back.
The persistence of the Original was annoying Quinn a bit, and he thought he wasn't going to let up any time soon. One thing that Quinn couldn't get out of his head was why he hadn't reported their interaction from before.
"Your current leader, Jim Eno, is a sham. He was a vampire that was ousted from the tenth family a long time ago. I know this because I am also part of the tenth family as well.
"At some point I became a punisher due to my involvement with Arthur, and after that I became king of the settlement. I was in eternal slumber for a long time. When I came back, the vampire settlement was no more, and I went missing for a while and have come back to this.
"Everyone seems to have forgotten about me. They have no memory of me ever existing, and Jim Eno is suddenly the leader and taking credit for everything I did.
"So do you think I'm crazy, do you believe that wild story?"
Edvard was thinking about it for a while, as he had a finger on his chin.
"So almost like a mass influence skill was used on everyone. One would have to be incredibly powerful to do that, and a punisher as well as king…"
"As I thought, you don't believe me." Quinn replied.
"Whether I believe you or not is not important." Edvard replied. "But let me say this, I don't completely not believe you. A vampire as strong as you, stronger than the originals, what you say makes sense. You have the shadow power, the ability of the punishers, and the absolute blood control.
"If anything, you have the credentials to back up what you are saying. Whereas Jim Eno, to us originals he is someone who wasn't even part of our life back then."
"However, what I do think is important is what you want to do from now on. I want to know your answer to that." Edvard asked.
"I…" Quinn paused for a second, and thought about it for a while. "I have a family. I want to look after them and protect them. As long as I can do that… then I will be fine."
After hearing Quinn's answer, Edvard stood up and headed toward the door. He turned around before leaving.
"I will grant you your wish Quinn Talen, the event from before I will disregard, and I only have one more thing to say. Welcome to the family."
****
For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below.
Instagram: Jksmanga
P.a.t.r.e.o.n jksmanga
When news of MVS, MWS or any other series comes out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I'm not too busy, I tend to reply back.