After collecting the beast crystals from the defeated hounds, Quinn had suddenly recived the message about obtaining exp. He had figured out that the exp he just gained must have been from Peter.
It was the only thing that made sense, and would also explain why the system had used the word "Share". This meant one thing. That Peter was close. He didn't know how or why Peter was down here as well, but if he had to guess Peter probably chose to come down here to follow him.
It was strange though, even though the system was able to pick up the exp points from Peter. Quinn was still unable to sense Peter's presence like he could when he was above ground.
"What's wrong?" Fex asked as he could see it looked like Quinn was deep in thought.
Quinn wanted to go searching for Peter. He didn't know how far away he needed to be for the system to pick up the exp, but the fact that he even got experience points in the first place, meant right now he was fighting other beasts.
"I think I might have spotted a strange looking building over in that direction." Said Quinn. "Do you mind if we check it out first before going to the tower?"
Fex shrugged his shoulders and replied. "Hey, it's not like we know how to get out of this place anyway."
Both of thier eyesights were as good as each other. Nearly all vampires could see as well. The only thing that improved as they grew stronger where thier senses. Perhaps a stronger vampire would be able to sense energy in a specific direction, but in terms of how far or well they could see in the dark, it was near all the same.
When looking in the direction that Quinn had pointed to, Fex could see nothing that looked out of the ordinary. Still, Fex he was curious why the sudden change in direction.
As they were closer to the tower, the area around it wasn't as wide. If Quinn was to go in a circle, perhaps he would be able to spot them. Without his senses, there was no way to tell which direction to go in. As Quinn was thinking about it, another message appeared.
[5 exp shared]
The message just confirmed that Peter was still in combat. Peter was strong, but if he was surrounded by multiple basic tier beasts like they were just moments ago, he wouldn't get out of it unscratched. Even with his super healing. It would mean he would eventually have to consume human flesh once again. So Quinn picked a random direction and headed off.
*****
Slowly, Layla's eyes started to open, her vision was blurry at first but what stood out to her was the pain on the back of her head. She instinctively placed her hand, and the stinging was worse. When looking at her hand, dried particles of blood had rubbed off onto it. It was hard to see in the dark, but she knew from the feeling.
"Are you okay?" Vorden asked.
As she looked up, her vision had returned, and she could see the person who had done put her in this situation, standing right next to her.
"Get away from me!" Layla said in a panic. She pushed her feat of the floor against her, and once again, her head had banged into the wall.
Vorden did as asked and slowly backed away, seeing that she was panicked. She had already been hurt, and Vorden didn't want to cause any more pain.
"Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you," Vorden said.
The sound of sobbing could be heard, Layla had planted her head between her knees and let out all the emotions away. "Why are you only like this to me?" She cried.
Seeing Layla like this, Vorden felt ache and pain in his heart. He never wanted her to get hurt.
"I'm...Sorry." Vorden said.
The sobbing started to stop, and Layla began to get a grip on her emotions. It seemed like Vorden was back to his usual self. The air around him that she noticed in the past was no longer there. But she knew it could flick like a switch. It was as if he was bipolar.
Seeing that Vorden was okay now, and not wanting to step on his toes, she thought maybe she could find out the reason. It wasn't normal to be like this, and at the Pure base, she had seen cases similar to him.
It was going to be hard for her. Her hands couldn't stop trembling, as someone far more powerful then she stood right in front of her. A wrong move or a word could end her life, and she really felt like it.
"Vorden are you okay, sometimes it seems like, you suddenly change. I want to belive you when you say you don't mean to hurt me. But when I end up like this." As Layla spoke, her voice was shaky, she tried her best to hide it, but Vorden could feel the fear.
Lately, the changes happening to Vorden had become more frequent. In the past, he remained in control most of the time, but thier were plenty of times recently where he needed to rely on the others for help.
And now for the first time in a while, Sil was actively asking for a seat. As these changes happened, it was expected that people would start to notice. The worst thought in his mind was the possibility of one of the others taking control of the seat.
They didn't have the social skills that Vorden possessed to keep up his image. If they took over, he wouldn't know what to do.
"When I first met Quinn, I knew he was different," Vorden replied. "Perhaps, for the same reasons you were attracted to him, I was too. He was plain, a level one user, but had this look in his eyes that said he still had fight in him, not like the others. Of course, at the time, I didn't know he was a vampire.
"In my old school, there were quite a few Quinn's. They were the same, they still had hope, still had fight in them, but eventually, they were broken down and beaten, submitted to the system just like everyone else. It was rare to see someone make it into military school without already being broken. You could even see it with Peter.
"I was sick of it, sick of everything and decided if I could at least save one person, it would be enough for me. Maybe I could show Quinn that even as a level one user, not everyone treated you the same, and you could make it through in the world. Then I got wrapped up in all this vampire business."
It was a good explanation, and Layla could tell thier was some truth behind Vorden's words, but she could also tell that he was missing out some key points and details. The question was, why though?
"What does that have to do with me though, can't we both get along with Quinn?" Layla asked. "Are you jealous or something."
"Not me..." Vorden mumbled, too quiet for Layla to here.
"I haven't exactly had the best of experiences since coming here," Vorden replied. "I was tied up and beaten by the second years, shoved to a red portal planet, and now stuck down here. I think it's normal to be a bit unstable after what we have been through."
As Vorden finished what he was saying, he took a step forward. Layla reacted by shuffling her Knees closer towards herself, curling into a ball. The sight of this reminded him of Sil, and in a sweet calming voice, he did what he usually did without thinking about it... Vorden started to sing.
"It will be okay, I will make your worries go away...I am by your side... I will always be kind." As she listened to the soft angelic voice, without realising it, Vorden was already next to her once again.
Her hands had stopped trembling. "What was that?" She asked. "An ability?"
Vorden started to laugh. "It was a song my mother used to sing to me to calm me down."
He gently lifted his hand and touched her head, bringing it down and closer towards his chest. All his movements were so soft as he inspected the wound. It was a side of Vorden she had never seen before.
"I like this Vorden." Layla said.
*****
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