Chrissy POV

  I sat down on the ground, bathed in the noon sun as sweat dripped down my brows and I concentrated to the max. I held an orb of blood between my hands, and three smaller orbs rotated around me. Another small orb broke off from the one between my hands and joined the ones rotating around me. I took a deep breath before launching one at the bulls eye nailed onto a distant tree. The small orb hit the center of the bulls eye, melting a hole in it and I sighed in relief. I have been doing this all morning as well as practice flight and misting. I was at my limit, but luckily,Vivian and grandma returned with Victor’s blood. I quickly downed a blood bag and some colour returned to my cheeks, but even while satiating my hunger, I didn’t forget to keep the blood orbs stable.

  “Not bad.” Alaric said as he walked over towards me

  “Now try creating a jet of blood, like water spraying out of a hose.” He said and I groaned

  “Can’t I take a break? I’m exhausted and I don’t have as much magical energy as the rest of you.” I said and he frowned

  “You have your little boyfriend’s blood, so it’s not like you’re going to die. And you need to learn these skills, you are going to encounter hostile magical creatures eventually and you are going to need your family ability if you don’t want to die. Not all magical creatures are like us, not all of them are peaceful. More than a few of them are willing to butcher you or sell you for a few coins, so you need to be prepared to defend yourself.” Alaric said, with a pained expression on his face and I didn’t understand why. Both Alaric and Vivian were over two hundred years old and everyone else, except mom, were even older. I’m sure they would have accumulated a lot of experiences in that time, both good and bad. It also made me realize once more that I didn’t know much about my family’s past.

  “Have something like that happened to you before?” I asked

  “……Yes, but that isn’t relevant. What matters is that you make sure it doesn’t happen to you.” He said and created shards of hail in his hand and sent them flying towards another target, perfectly hitting its center.

  “I would suggest you learn all you can about your ability and everything else. There is no telling when you are gonna need to use them against an opponent.” He said and I nodded my head as he walked away.

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  Alaric POV

  After I talked to Chrissy, she started practicing her ability in earnest once more putting in more effort into it. Her control was remarkable and seemed almost effortless, but I wasn’t gonna tell her that, no use boosting her ego too much. I’d wager that her control was due to how vivid her imagination is, due to the constant nightmares she’s been having for the last eighteen years, although they seem to have stopped. This made me think back to my own nightmares, after all, anyone who has lived as long as I have should have more than a few.

  An image appeared in my mind, the figure of a beautiful girl with purple hair and red eyes, the most telling characteristic of a vampire. Then….I heard the screams, the screams as that figure, so beautiful and lovely, was turned blood red as she was savagely ripped apart by those damned dogs. I remember how I too was ripped apart, but luckily I was saved, but Rebecca…. wasn’t so lucky. I remember the black robes of the helsings who saved my life that night, and the symbol that adorned the back of their robes. A green skull surrounded by red clovers, the symbol of the Peace Corps. Or as we called it the supernatural police.

  “Rebecca.” I mumbled under my breath

  “That’s a name I haven’t heard in a while.” Vivian said as she walked towards me with two glasses of wine in her hands an handed me a glass.

  “Thank you.” I said and took a sip, before going back to observing Chrissy.

  “Do you still blame yourself for your girlfriend’s death? Or are you still traumatized? Either way, get over it, it has been a hundred fifty years.” She said and I looked at her

  “You wouldn’t understand, it’s not like you’ve ever truly loved anyone before.” I said and took a big gulp of wine, finishing and placing the glass on the railing.

  “Oh, I’ve loved many people, a lot of them died, killed by other people I once loved or worse.” She said and took a gulp of her drink and I knew she wasn’t lying

  “You know, you still haven’t told us where you were during your century long absence?” I asked again. Around a century ago, when the 1800s were just coming to an end, she left saying that she needed some time to herself. None of us expected that she would gone for a century, but a two years before Chrissy was born, when Elliot and Lilian were still dating and she was a human, she came back. Drunk, blood on her lips, her hair a mess and dark circles under her eye, making her look like a crazy person. She lazily blew a strand of hair out of her face and walked inside, with only one thing to say.

  “We’ll talk tomorrow.” Before falling into a random bed and falling asleep, snoring through the entire night. In the end, we didn’t get any explanation and mom told us not to press her about it.

  “I did tell you, I was around, traveling and sightseeing.” She gave the same answer she always gave, but we all know it was bullshit.

  “Fine, don’t tell me.” I said in huff and walked away.