“So you’re telling me… you’ve been dating a vampire,” asked Aunt Charlie with a toothy grin on her face. She stood next to him, leaning on a tree with her arms crossed as Sean himself sat under the shadow of the tree, on the grass —where he’d been sitting before. Except, this time he wasn’t looking at the mansion, and instead the other way.
They were back at the mansion now, Max being treated by Sean’s mother. They could have used Fairy Blood on him, but they didn’t. If you constantly rewound time whenever you were damaged, your experiences would also fade —that wasn’t a good thing. Apparently, it also caused amnesia if used repeatedly. And he’d used that to heal his eye less than a week ago.
“We weren’t dating,” said Sean. He was confused but he felt a sort of bitterness now. It was like the regret last time, but it wasn’t as strong as the one he felt when he thought Clara was dead, it was a similar one.
While the people that were outside to meet them had their mind control canceled, Mr. Ishida and his family weren’t there. Sean could only assume they’d been killed or worse yet, shipped off somewhere.
“And she’s a Daywalker, too,” said Aunt Charlie, “That means she’s a big shot. So… did you do that? I’d assume they’re better than normal ones, with mind control and all.”
He wanted to be alone but someone always managed to come out and annoy him. This time, it was Aunt Charlie, trying to infect him with her optimism.
Maybe, just maybe, he had to leave the manor and his family to be alone.
“Aww, the little brat’s turned into a grown-up, all shy and that,” said Aunt Charlie, “You can tell me just about anything, you know? And I have more experience than you in just about everything.”
“Not in magic,” said Sean, “And why are you here and not there? With the other adults.”
The other adults and everyone that were staying in the manor were now at the haven, securing it.
“Doing what I do best —babysitting,” she said, “Because apparently, you suck so much at that that you managed to make it there faster than us. Good job there.”
“It’s the daytime. The monsters shouldn’t be out,” said Sean. There should be no reason to babysit him at all.
“Well, you kids ran into a Noble so I’m basically looking after you so that you don’t start burning down the house or something. With their Charms and all,” said Aunt Charlie.
That made sense.
Sean’s Presence negated the vampire’s Charm so he was safe. He didn’t know about Liz and Chris but Sean heard that she and Rex had a skill that protects them from the mind-controlling effects. Said that it was a Class Skill, like his Mana Sight.
“Aaaaaaaaand,” started Aunt Charlie. She did that whenever she wanted something.
“And what?” asked Sean with a sigh. He couldn’t just say no or chase her away. And even if he did, Sean doubted that she’d just go away. She was the clingy kind, always managing to annoy people until they gave in. That’s the tactic she’d used on Uncle Edmund.
“I want you to fix up my baby. Like you did with the motorboat,” she said, “Then there are all the other cool weapons in the second basement.”
“Second basement?” asked Sean, his eyebrow raised. He didn’t know that there was something like that. Heck, he didn’t even know there was any basement before he had to look after Chris and Liz.
“Well, yeah. It’s practically impossible to open without electricity. You might be able to, though. It’s one of those high-tech ones with facial recognition and all. Technically, we could have smashed our way in but you know, the stuff inside is basically unusable,” she said, “Your Uncle Edmund’s made most of them so they’re more or less one-of-a-kind. Except, now you can at least fix up my bike.”
“I’ll try,” said Sean.
What he’d done with the boat wasn’t using electricity. He’d just poured Mana into it like a moron and had managed to make it work. Hell, he didn’t even know how he thought it’d work. It somehow did, due to some miracle.
“So, how’d you do that? How many can you fix?” She asked, extending a hand to help him get up. She almost casually pulled him up to his feet as if he was a rag doll. That was welcome.
“I don’t even know. It has something to do with petrol being charged up with Mana so I guess as much as I want?” explained Sean. He didn’t know how much Mana he needed to ‘restore’ it to the fuel, “I don’t know how much it’d need, though.”
Aunt Charlie chuckled and shook her head, “Damn, using the word magic so casually feels weird. Well, I guess you kids can do some nifty stuff now. Way more impressive than those creepy cultists.”
Cultists?
Wait, was there… Magic that humans could use before the System?
Well, at this point, he didn’t even care. His family was full of monster hunters, there were monsters everywhere and he’d found out Clara was a vampire. Now, you could even say that the gods existed and he’d believe it.
“What was it like?” he asked as they walked back to the mansion. They were heading for the basement, after all, “You know, Magic. Before the System came.”
“Weird, I guess. It was creepy,” she explained, “They had to do weird rituals and prayers and stuff and created fire and stuff. It was mostly discreet effects, though. Like hexes, teleportation and all.”
Hexes?
Teleportation?
And she called that discreet?
“I guess you can call what those fairies do magic as well. They can create the elements and control them way better than that girl in Jason’s group. To be fair, I liked to think of it as superpowers back then. It was easier on my sanity,” said Aunt Charlie, “Now, I’m thinking that I’ve been fighting Magic all along. Since you can use it and all.”
If Sean remembered correctly, Uncle Jeremy’s Class was Ranger and his father’s was Slayer.
Sean used Appraisal on her —Aunt Charlie and his mother were the only ones he hadn’t appraised. Hell, he hadn’t even thought of appraising her. Whenever you were with her, chances were, you’d be too annoyed and want her to go away or enjoy it enough to not remember about your worries.
Skill ‘Appraisal’ has been activated!
Name: Charlie Turner
Class: Slayer Lvl 9
Title(s): Survivor, Messy Eater, Fearmonger, Reaper
Mana: 360/360