​Chapter 1644: A real daughter
General Yaddy did exactly what he said he would: making a report to the main base of the vampire corps unit on Earth. He thought he would need to do this as quickly as possible to get a response about what to do next.
However, what he did refrain from in his report was about the troublesome vampire whom Jessica was currently travelling with. He had debated with himself what to say, but no matter how he phrased it, Yaddy felt it would make him look reckless, and it might show him as an erratic leader who couldn"t handle the situation.
Many members in the Corps were after his position, mainly the vampire Corps Generals on other planets; this was because, in a way, being the leader of the vampire Corps unition Mars made him the Number Two in the vampire Corps, and if he were to report about Quinn, his rivals would make sure to take advantage of the situation.
"Let"s see what they say; I don"t believe he will try to go up against the whole vampire corps unit. No matter how strong he is, going against the whole Corps isn"t something he is capable of."
Standing in the command centre in the vampire Corps unit, Yaddy soon received a response from the main base on Earth. And the answer he got only made his heart beat faster, which was not a normal reaction from a vampire.
"No... no... he"s coming here... he"s coming here to see her personally. That means he will meet that vampire too... What will happen now?"
It was safe to say that Yaddy had gone into full panic mode because he realised he had made a mistake when re-reading the message.
"Wait... he"s not coming here...he is already here!"
Presently, Quinn was peacefully walking back the way he had gone before, hoping to run into Peter somewhere. He had already checked the room they were in previously and no one was there, so he could only imagine that Peter perhaps had remained at the same spot as before.
"I mean, he stood in the same place for a thousand years, so it"s not far-fetched to say that he"s right now in the same spot where I left him."
Quinn felt slightly strange walking through the city. The night sky was out, and beast crystals were being used as a light source in different ways, such as street lamps, being carried on personnel, or hanging the lamps outside the barracks, to light the whole area.
Normally, almost everyone would go to sleep once the night darkens, but vampires need less sleep than humans; they could go a few days without feeling tired at all before going to sleep.
It was usual for Quinn to see that in the vampire settlement, but this place wasn"t the vampire settlement.
"Da... dad..." Minny finally spoke. This was the first word she had said since coming out of that place. She had realised that Quinn was hiding his appearance and didn"t want to be called by his name, and rather than mess up and call him Nate, she chose to call him dad.
"Why... Why did you do that to that man?... Why did you hurt him so much? He was screaming so much he must have been in pain, right?" Minny asked hesitatingly.
Hearing this question, Quinn thought it was perhaps time for him to talk to Minny. He looked around and soon found a quiet alley between two buildings. Ordinary people probably wouldn"t think this was the best or safest place to talk to a child, but then again, Quinn wasn"t an average person.
Putting her down on the ground, Quinn looked Minny in the eye. He then held her hands and calmed her down with a smile.
"Minny, you were scared, weren"t you? I want you to know that I will never hurt you. You have to understand that."
"You were precious to Arthur so, much so that he had done things he thought he would never have even considered."
"You know, I believe that if Arthur were looking after you and was in the same spot as I was in earlier, he would have done the same thing. Do you remember what the war was like?" Quinn asked.
Minny nodded her head. She wasn"t very involved in the war but had remembered when the Dalki originally came to attack everyone and had taken her away.
"Do you remember how it felt back then when they were hurting everybody? When they took you away, do you remember how your mother felt?"
"Today, I felt the same way your mother felt when those Dalki took you from her. I never want anyone to hurt you. And not just you; I don"t want anyone in our family to get hurt."
"I needed to make sure that not just him but none of those in that room tried to do something like that again."
"I didn"t enjoy doing that, Minny; in fact, that"s the reason I did it. If I make an example of one, then I won"t have to do it again."
Quinn"s explanation was a bit all over the place. Of course, his anger had consumed him at the time, and perhaps just the shadow eater skill would have been enough to deal with the said person, but it was a feeling he couldn"t explain himself.
He just felt a bit more protective over Minny compared to the others.
"Okay... I think I understand. Mummy used to go really worried whenever I nearly got hurt, so I understand your reaction. I know Daddy cares about me like I care about everyone else. But Daddy, what about Mummy? When are we going to go look for her?" Minny asked.
It was the question Quinn had been dreading, but he thought now was a better time than any to tell her. He placed both hands on her shoulders and prepared to tell her the truth.
"Minny, you have to understand. I care about you a lot, and I promise to give you whatever life you want, but you see, when you were in that shadow with Sunny... a thousand years pa.s.sed in the outside world. You know, your mother, she was a human... so it"s unlikely that she... she... is still alive, but I promise I will look for her and find out what happened to her." Quinn quickly stated after.
He had somewhat expected Minny to start balling her eyes out, but instead, she just tilted her head and smiled, but it wasn"t a smile of happiness. What Quinn saw was a smile with pain and sadness hidden underneath.
"Thank you for looking after me... Quinn." Minny had noticed that there was no one nearby.
Quinn coughed and turned away for a second. A visible tinge of embarra.s.sment appeared on his face under the moonlight shade.
"You... you can keep calling me dad if you like... I mean only if you want to."
"Sure, thank you, dad." Minny said as she stepped forward and gave Quinn a big hug.
"Don"t worry, Minny, if we don"t find your mother, I"ll make sure to take care of you!" Quinn inwardly promised.
The two of them soon resumed their search through the city for Peter, or Uncle Peter as Minny called him. The first location was of course the spot where Quinn had left Peter earlier, but to his surprise, when the two of them reached that spot, there was no one there.
Quinn frowned and observed the area. There were no signs of any scuffle or anything, this relieved him. He was worried that Peter might attract unnecessary attention, and from how he usually was, it wasn"t wrong to say that he might get into a fight with just anyone.
"Where could he have gone?"
Since there were no signs of anything out of ordinary, it was clear that Peter had left the spot on his own.
"Looks like I will have to look through the whole city." Quinn sighed and resumed his search.
Minny noticed the change in mood, and couldn"t help but ask, "Dad, what happened? Is Uncle Peter alright?"
Quinn rea.s.sured her, "Yes, he will be fine. There are only a very small number of people who can hurt him."
Saying this, he increased his pace and began to look through the city.
And just when Quinn was about to think otherwise, he suddenly heard some cheering coming from one of the dining establishments.
"That sounds like people are having fun. Maybe Uncle Peter went in there?" Minny had noticed the noise too, thanks to her sharp hearing.
"Well, I guess there is no harm in looking at what"s going on. Although when I think of Peter, the word fun doesn"t exactly come to mind." Quinn thought.
Either way, Quinn walked through into the large establishment. It was a bar, one of the biggest in the city. There were quite a lot of bars because, for some reason, the taste of alcohol felt somewhat the same regardless if one was a human or a vampire.
There were many tables in the bar, where one could sit in a square ordering their drinks and playing games. However, Quinn noticed that everyone was focused on one thing: a boxing ring.
And in the boxing ring was Peter.
"What on earth is he doing here?" Quinn smiled.
Just then, loud words spread throughout the bar.
"Everyone! Give it up for our winner, ZombieP. Is there anyone that would like to go next against our contestant?"