Chapter 17
The beads of blood continued to float above his palm, as if waiting for his command.
He stared at them in disbelief. It almost felt like a dream.
“I don't know what is real and what isn't anymore.”
“And that damned crow refuses to explain anything properly.”
The blood mirrored his anger, trembling with unrest. The vibrating blood beads seemed ready to pierce anything that Asmodeus would want them to.
“Huh… they react to emotions. New information.”
Asmodeus let out a tired sigh. And that was reflected by the blood with a smoother movement.
“The crow is of no help. The subspace doesn't even feel like a proper subspace. Mom and Dad don't believe in vampires. Nathan is trying his best to make sense of whatever is happening to me.”
“And all I can do is lie over here and move blood around.”
“How the hell am I even supposed to know about vampires, if the only source has a habit of leaving out important information?”
“And why even build an empty training ground if your descendant cannot use any kind of blood magic there?”
“At this point I don't even want to go there anymore. It has zero uses for me.”
The sound of footsteps interrupted him.
“Heels? Female? Who? Wait what if it's Mom, and what am I supposed to do with this blood?”
In panic, Asmodeus swung his hand towards the window and the blood followed his orders.
But to his shock, it pierced a hole in the tree outside his window.
The hole was too clean, as if something sharp had stabbed the wood.
“...”
“What the…? Blood can do that?”
The door clicked open, and there she was.
“Asmo… what are you talking about?”
“Mom~”
Asmodeus gave Cassandra a guilty smile.
“What were you doing?” Cassandra glared at him.
“Nothing much, just looking out the window…” Asmodeus stuttered glancing at the hole his blood had just made in the tree.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
‘It's the blood's fault, not mine.’
“Huh? Did you try to do any experiments in here?”
‘How does she know?’
“Nope. Not at all.”
Asmodeus’ expression was now completely calm, as if he was actually innocent.
Cassandra stared at him for a minute, then studied the room to check if her son had done something.
‘It doesn't seem like he did do anything.’ She thought, while the tree quietly stood out the window.
“I'll let you off this time.”
‘Thank you, my pretty face.’
“Mama, you said you had work. Why are you so early?”
“You see there is this tailless monkey who I'm worried about. Tell me, how can I focus on work? So I came here.”
“You can focus on work by providing the tailless monkey with ice cream.”
Asmodeus stared at her with expectant eyes, and a playful smile.
*BONK
Cassandra bonked him on the back of his head.
“You just think of that, don't you?”
“But it's good… and I like pista…” Asmodeus grumbled between rubbing his head.
“I know, kid. But you are not allowed to eat it yet. Wait till you get discharged, okay?”
Cassandra patted her pouting son's head.
“How are you feeling now, sweetie?” she sat beside him on the bed.
“My butt hurts and I'm not allowed to bathe properly.”
“Well, why don't you ask for something to soothe your pain?”
“It isn't painful enough for medicine but I still wanna complain.”
“If you’re that bored, why not watch your tablet?”
“Cause it's dead, I forgot to charge it.”
“This monkey…” Cassandra muttered under her breath, but Asmodeus’ now sharp hearing could pick it up rather easily.
“I don't have a tail, so I'm not a monkey!”
“Alright, tailless monkey… happy now?” a tired sigh slipped out of Cassandra.
Asmodeus beamed in response.
“Mama, can I see the designs?” Asmodeus asked with glowing eyes and a childlike smile.
“I knew you'd ask. Here, I got you photos.”
“Yay!”
Cassandra handed him her phone, and Asmodeus swiped across the screen, mesmerised by his mother's newest collection.
“Wait… Mom… this one looks weird…”
“Ahh… right. There we were trying to use two different fabrics and the colours weren't coordinating well.”
“Is it because of the shiny fabric?”
“Yes, sweetie. That is the one causing all the problems.”
“Then why not layer it?”
“Because it's not supposed to be layered. We want it to flow down as if it's a single fabric.”
“Then why not get it woven like that?”
“That's… something I haven't thought about. Wait, can it even be woven like that?”
“What does trying cost?”
“Time, effort, money, resources, and a lot of other things…
Kid, you can't experiment on everything.”
“Oh…”
‘But that's what I've been doing though…
Alright, I never heard Mom say that.’
Before either could notice, it had already been 3 hours since Cassandra came to visit him.
Asmodeus heard footsteps again, and on the cue, the door creaked open.
“Hey, puffer fish. How are you doing now?” Vincent had left work early as well, and was now here carrying a small plastic bag.
“Dad~”
“Vince, listen to this kid, he says we should make the fabrics gradient at the part they are stitched together so they don't clash.”
“I have no idea what you both are speaking about but good job.” Vincent said as he sat on another one of the visitor's chairs.
“Dad, why say good job when you don't know?”
“Hmm? Because if you both came up with it, it'll be good.”
“I don't get it, Dad.”
“It's okay, kid. Anyway, here Asmo, it's for you.”
“Whaat?~”
He opened the plastic, inside was a cold cup containing what he desperately wanted.
The moment Asmodeus saw it, he launched himself at Vincent in the name of a hug.
“DAD! THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS…”
“Kid, take the cup away from my face, it's cold…”
“Vincent, wasn't he not allowed to eat it?” Cassandra enquired in worry.
“Well, I called the hospital on my way to know if he can have ice cream, and they said yes. Also, William is bringing solid food tonight, so it's okay.”
“Well, then it's fine…”
Asmodeus on the other hand, was devouring his pistachio.
William had arrived with dinner for all three of them. Once the dinner was over, Cassandra and Vincent left for the night.
Asmodeus was now all alone, and his eyes naturally focused on the tree outside.
His eyes could now see easily in the dark.
“I was shocked in the morning but now that I think of it, it seems something was present in that blood.”
“I've sensed it before. But where?”
“...”
He thought for a while.
A deafening silence filled the room.
“Wait… tha- that baby… and even that dog…”
“But… why is it in my blood?”
“Even if I think it's related to vampires, why would a dog have this… whatever it is?”
“Did that ex-vampy mention it?”
“...”
“I don't think he did. Or did I miss something.”
The more he thought about it, the more unsure he became.
A chill ran down his spine.
He ignored the pain in his biopsy site and curled up to hug his knees.
“C-can Mom and Dad stay here at the hospital? Can I call them to come back?...”
Asmodeus stared for a while at his tablet, wondering if it's a good idea to call them this late.
‘If I call, they'll come back for me. But…
…should I call?’
‘It- it could also be just me seeing things. And I might just worry them for no reason.’
‘It's better for me to sleep.’
He lay in his bed, burrito’ed in his blanket.
It wasn't even five seconds yet and he opened his eyes, reaching for his tablet.
“Maybe one clip…”
One clip became another.
Then another.
And it was well past midnight, when he finally turned off his tablet to sleep.