Chapter 23
Asmodeus and Lucy entered the study.
Asmodeus sat on Vincent's chair that he had stolen and Lucy sat beside him on Asmodeus’ chair.
“Alright, let me write what I need to do first, then I can note down what I've learnt about vampires until now.”
[To-Do:] he wrote at the top a fresh page in his notebook.
[To-do:
Learn how to make petals out of blood.
Learn how to control nether.
Access black market and get blood.
Confess to Mom and Dad.
Get ready for second year.]
“Damn I'm busy.”
Asmodeus scratched the back of Lucy’s ears as he stared at his To-Do list.
“The hardest one might be convincing Mom and Dad that I'm a vampire and I don't need a psychiatric ward.”
“...”
“I'll start with blood petal first.”
“First, let's make an outline for a petal and then I can fill the inside of it.”
Asmodeus called out his blood.
The blood levitated just above his right palm, as if waiting for his instructions.
As he concentrated and moved the blood around, it felt much easier than the last time.
A few seconds later, an outline for a petal was complete.
He called out more blood and filled the inside of the petal.
“Great, one is done. Now next one.”
Asmodeus carefully shifted the petal to his left palm and brought out more blood from his right.
As he concentrated on the second petal, the first one wobbled.
“Arr… don't move.”
As he stabilised the first one, the second one wobbled.
“Now why are you moving?”
“No!”
“Stay there.”
After a bit of difficulty, both the petals stabilised.
“Now the third one.”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
He carefully shifted the second petal towards his left palm, making it float beside the first one.
“One and two, stay in place. Three, make an outline.”
“...”
“No! Petal, not potato.”
“One, what's wrong with you?”
“Three, stay!”
“Damn you, two.”
After a while, Asmodeus had three petals floating above his palms.
“Great, I stopped till here last time. This time, I'll make at least five petals.”
With his newfound determination, Asmodeus set out to make five blood petals.
“Now the fourth petal.”
“Arh, one and two are merging.”
“No, don't merge.”
“...”
“Four, stay.”
“Mew?” Lucy called out to her vampire.
“...”
“Three, stop trying to make a baby with two.”
“Mrw, Mrw.”
“...” Asmodeus ignored her again.
“Mraaaw~” Lucy nudged against his arm, trying to get his attention.
“Lucy, no!”
“Petal, no!”
“Mreew?”
“Lucy, I'm doing something harder than rocket science, so no play.”
“One and three, why are you both so obsessed with two?”
“Maaaw~”
“Lucy, shut up!”
“Four, get filled properly!”
“MREK”
Lucy bit him in retaliation.
“ARH! LUCY!”
*splat splat
“...”
The moment his attention diverted, the blood spilt on the table.
“I worked so hard…”
“You damned cat! Go, get out of the room! You are distracting me!”
“Mreeew!” Lucy claimed innocence.
“Don't protest. You know what you did.”
“Mraaa.”
“Shoo now. Go annoy Dona. She didn't give me ice-cream.”
Asmodeus escorted Lucy to the door.
“MRRAAAW!”
“No, you are indeed guilty. Shoo. And go to Dona. Leave William alone, I need him to help me shopping unnecessary stuff.”
“Mrew.”
With that, Lucy left the room and Asmodeus returned to his table.
“Ahh… now I have to clean this.”
“...”
“My To-Do list looks like a crime scene.”
“...”
“Table is fine, but how do I remove blood from paper? I don't want to write all of it again.”
“...” Asmodeus stood there, staring at the mess in disappointment.
“You know what? I'll pretend this blood is my body part and try to remove it from here.”
To his surprise, the blood did move as he wanted.
“...”
“Damn. It even came out of the paper.”
“I don't even have to clean the paper. It literally came out of it.”
“...”
“I'm not sure if I should be amazed or grossed out…”
“Whatever. If I can move you too like my arms then just become petals and obey me properly.”
To his surprise, the blood blob did become four petals as he initially intended.
Asmodeus froze. His eyes widened in disbelief.
“W- wa- wait…”
“I DID IT!”
At that moment, the petals wobbled again.
“No, don't go.”
“...”
“Phew… They're fine.”
“So it all comes down to concentration and that weird feeling where I don't consciously think about doing it but do it.”
“Now how do I recreate that feeling for the fifth petal?”
“Let me try to make my head blank.”
At this moment, Asmodeus had stopped thinking about his surroundings consciously and instead, he focused upon guiding his blood to make the fifth petal.
It did work. And more importantly, the other four petals still remained and didn't wobble even once.
“So this is what it feels like…”
“Just, move the blood. No need to argue or negotiate with it.”
“It feels so weird… I can't even describe the feeling…”
“Crow said nether needs concentration. But what if it actually needs someone to just guide it properly?”
“What if nether isn't like mana from those fantasy books I read?”
“Maybe nether too requires less thinking and more doing…”
“...”
“Let me first write down everything that has worked till now and stuff that I assume. Then I'll investigate nether.”
[I know works:
I can extend and retract my fangs like extending my tongue.
I can make petals out of blood as long as I treat it as an extension of myself instead of something I need to command.
Crow-space is real as I have been there so many times but I'm not there physically as Mom and Dad could see me in hospital despite me being in Crow-space.
I can see UV as the UV pattern shown in the internet on flowers are more or less similar to the ones that I see but I see it as a weird purple.
Christopher is Dad's grandpa and hence most of this is real.
I might also be sick, otherwise Dr. Nathan wouldn't have poked me in the butt.]
“I know all of this, but I don't know which is true and which looks true…”
“Arrr…” Asmodeus scratched his head in frustration.
“Let's not scratch my head or I might become bald before Dad.”
***
Somewhere in a board meeting, Vincent had an unexpected sneeze.
“Are you alright, Sir?” the CFO asked.
Vincent adjusted his glasses.
"Yes, yes. Continue.”
‘I wonder if Asmo returned my chair. Well, I'll know after going home.’
“Go back to the previous slide.”
***
Asmodeus was now spinning on Vincent's chair while rereading the list of things he believed he knew.
“I hope Dad doesn't sneeze when I think about him. Or people might think a nuclear weapon was fired there.”
*knock knock
“...”
“Gotta hide the blood petals, but where?”
“...”
“The vase will do for now.”
“...Young master? Are you in there?”
“Yes, yes. Come in, William.”
When William entered the study, he has a hardened expression.
“...” He looked as if he was searching for the right words.
“William?” Asmodeus sat upright on the chair. “What's wrong?”
“Dr. Nathan called to inform that the lab results were back.”
“This soon?”
“Well, master Vincent did ask it to be sped up.”
“I see. So what does it say?”
“...”
‘What's wrong? If it were something simple William would say it.’
“William? It's fine. I can take it.”
“But-”
‘Am I gonna die? Is this why William is so distressed?’
“If he told I'd die, I don't really mind. I had a good life. I just demand unlimited ice-cream.”
“ABSOLUTELY NOT! PLEASE DON'T SAY IT SO CASUALLY!”
‘I got scolded…’
‘I'm never guessing again.’
“Alright, alright. Calm down now.”
“Ah… he said you might have…”
“Hmm?”
“You might have a-”