Hayley walked over and extended a plate in front of Ethan. "Here."

On them were pastries.

Ethan took it with a nod. "Thank you."

She sat beside him and began eating her own.

It was still a bit weird between them, but at least they were talking.

Ethan narrowed his eyes slightly, as he had only just realized. "Where is everyone?" he asked. "I only saw Jeremy earlier. Haven’t even seen Phoebs."

Hayley answered. "I took Phoebe to our aunt’s place, she’ll be back tonight. The others went out with my father."

"Okay, now I have to ask.. why?" Ethan said. Percival hadn’t explained it in the text, and with everyone else also gone, it only made him more curious.

She explained why, and Ethan listened, reacting with intermittent looks of surprise as she spoke.

"That’s... really weird" he said, "And speaking of weird, Audrey came to the guild."

Hayley looked at him, and listened as Ethan this time explained how the meeting went

She frowned after hearing that. "That woman is evil"

Ethan nodded. "And when I get back today, I need to talk to Eduardo, so that we can start devising a few plans of our own.

Hayley nodded. Right then, Ethan’s phone rang. When he glanced at it and saw [Perc 🐺], he showed it briefly to Hayley, then picked up.

"Ed—" percival and suddenly, the line cut.

Ethan pulled the phone away with a puzzled expression, and redialed quickly. But it failed to connect through.

He then glanced at Hayley who gave a light shrugged.

——

In Percy’s car...

"Shit... shit... shit..." Percival gripped the wheel, glancing at his phone to see dead battery icon blinking.

Due to the poor cell service earlier, he hadn’t been able to connect all this while. And by the time it finally did, the arcphone’s power, already low from not being charged all day, had given out.

He hit the accelerator hard and kept the car surging forward back home

——

Eduardo’s car rolled into the street and slowed to a stop. The place was... off.

It was a normal road at first glance. Houses and shops were on both sides; some gated and some open, with a few parked vehicles at odd angles.

Both Eduardo and Valerie stepped out of the car, scanning through the weird looking surrounding.

They had been told to meet at a specific address here, but there was barely anyone around; only a few pedestrians were passing through.

However, that was also the strange part. Everyone was moving in the same direction.

A man still wearing an apron from restaurant walked past them slowly, like he had just abandoned whatever he had been doing.

A woman followed behind him. Another man crossed from the opposite side of the street, all moving same direction.

No one was exchanging any talk, and they all had that same sheepish look. Like they weren’t thinking.

"Something’s really going wrong here." Valerie said.

Eduardo didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he walked toward one of them, a woman.

He stepped in front of her and held her lightly by the arm which made her stop and slowly lift her head to looked up at him.

Her eyes were blank, but her lips murmured. "I have to walk out of this place...I have to stay a long distance away... just keep walking..."

Eduardo’s eyes narrowed as he let go of her.

She continued walking.

He turned slightly towards the rest of them and listened in to their murmurs, only to hear every single one of them saying the exact same thing as the women

"...walk out of this place..."

"...stay a long distance away..."

"...keep walking..."

Over and over, like a broken loop that it began to resemble something really similar to a Zombie apocalypse.

The butler sighed. "Compulsion...They’ve all been compelled."

Then he called out to Valerie. "We’re leaving."

She gave a nod and turned back toward him—but in that moment, they were surrounded almost instantly.

Ten figures stepped out, forming a circle around them. Some looked middle-aged, others much younger, but even though they were ageless vampires, it was clear each of them were still old.

A number of them had glowing red eyes, while others bore hard amber gazes.

Most of them were family leaders, and the rest who weren’t were direct siblings of the absent family heads.

Eduardo’s eyes widened at the sight of them.

Valerie’s voice came out shaken. "W-What’s happening, Mr. Eduardo...? Why are the family leaders here?"

Eduardo didn’t answer immediately as he looked at them with a stern expression, wondering how he hadn’t sensed their magic at all while entering.

Then his eyes land on Silvana Orien of the Orien family.

He had faced her before, and knew well that this vampire matriarch was a powerful caster with extremely strong cloaking and concealment spells.

Eduardo exhaled, and said. "Valerie, fly away from here. They came for me."

Valerie hesitated, having this level of uncertainty in her eyes.

Eduardo’s gaze turned cold. "If you stay, you’ll only get in my way, go!"

Without waiting any further, Valerie immediately cast a spell that sealed the effect of gravity around her as she shot upward, disappearing from sight.

Eduardo turned back to them, with a smile now forming on his lips.

"All you had to do was ask for a rematch," he said. "Using petty tactics to lure me here was unnecessary."

A tall, broad man with flowing black hair and glowing red eyes, stepped forward. This was Lord Omar Gerach, leader of the Gerach Family.

"We have come to bear witness as an abomination is finally rid from this world." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Eduardo sighed amusingly. "There’s only ten of you. Last time there were four more, and still, it wasn’t enough."

His smile widened slightly. "This will be over quickly."

In the next instant, a figure blurred toward him, striking in the same motion and sending the butler flying back until he crashed into a building.

Andrea who was the one that had just made an entrance, had a devious smile on her face.

The other family leaders watched with approving expressions.

But then, Eduardo blurred forward from the rubble and struck back, sending Andrea crashing into another building.

Now his eyes burned a reddish-amber color, with fangs visible on his dirt-smudged face.

The leaders stiffened, looking apprehensive. But Andrea stepped out of the debris, dusting off her clothes.

Eduardo’s eyes narrowed as he noticed that something was off. Her scent carried traces of several families at once.

He also didn’t recognize her as Tudor’s child, or any one he had once encountered.

Andrea noticed the look on his face. "Are you surprised?" she said. "That someone else has been made into what you are?"

She spread her arms. "No... I am the upgrade."