Erin jumped back, and immediately unsheathed her sword for combat.
'Pretty tasty?!' Erin thought in disgust, 'He probably told Leo he was on the side of humanity because we're just a tasty snack to him!'
Fex upon seeing Erin's immediate aggression quickly raised his hands up in defense, "Woah, woah, woah, woah, we're one and the same, we need the same source of blood! Don't you use Quinn for feeding?"
Even though Fex knew that Erin drank from Layla, what he was thinking was that it didn't seem to be a good practice to only drink blood from one person. The human body could only replenish so much blood within a short time frame. It was why he had drunken from multiple people while he had been at a human school.
Erin, however, only ever drank a single droplet of blood from Quinn. The idea now felt a little weird due to her associating feeding on someone with something else. Perhaps she had been drinking Layla by the neck a bit too many times.
"What are you saying? Of course not!" Erin spat out with disgust.
Quinn was standing off to the side, now stopping his exercising since he noticed that Erin and Fex were visibly arguing with each other. The plan today was for them to train together.
'What's going on here?' Quinn thought before walking over. There was a worry that something might've gone wrong.
"Oh," Fex said, "Here I was thinking you didn't get permission to turn Quinn yet, or that you had yet to develop your influence skill. Well, if he isn't yours then I'll take him."
It was right at that moment that Quinn was able to hear Fex's last sentence as he entered ear shot, and blurted out a "W-what!?" in shock.
"No way, he's not yours to take!" Erin defended, "And why would I turn him? We'd both drink Layla dry of blood."
Fex looked at Erin like she had two heads, then remembered that Erin wasn't exactly a normal vampire. For some reason, Erin's turner had abandoned her, and left her not with a lot of knowledge about how vampires worked, or their culture. She was initially human after all, and probably felt a closer kinship to them than to vampires.
"Alright, alright," Fex put his hands up to defend himself, "I wont do anything to him, but you should be aware that since he knows about us, you either have to turn him at some point, or remove his memories of vampires."
Both Erin and Quinn's heart sank hearing that. Did they really not have much of a choice? Right now Fex didn't seem very particularly threatening, but the system video did once mention that vampires might come after them. Despite how much they've trained so far, both Erin and Quinn doubted they could take on multiple vampires if Fex was anything to go by.
"There's no way I'm going to remove his memories," Erin coldly spoke, a scowl creasing her eyebrows.
Erin held her sword tightly, and was prepared to use it if she sensed any form of ill will from Fex. Similarly, Quinn's mud rings moved to his hands, forming mud gauntlets, but surprisingly, Fex took a step back.
"Okay, I'm sensing the hostility," Fex carefully said as he pressed down on Erin's rapier with a finger, "Those are just the rules the vampires have in place for themselves, but you're lucky in that I don't really care for vampire law. If you're worried I'll snitch you out to a vampire knight or even a lord, then just know I wont. I swear it."
Quinn squinted his eyes, glaring down Fex, "How can we be sure you'll stick to your word?"
Fex awkwardly scratched the back of his head, "Well, uh… I might as well tell you guys since Erin saved my life, but… I broke a few rules myself, and if I told a vampire knight about you guys, then I would be in MAJOR trouble for those things first. Whatever is going on with you guys is not my business."
"Hmm… I think he might've left the vampire settlement without permission. There was a rule back then that only those with rings made were allowed out of the vampire settlement, and he did admit to not being able to defeat 10 deathbats," the system explained, "You might be considered an illegal to them. Someone who was turned without permission from a vampire lord."
{Quinn} Is Erin an illegal?
"Don't worry, she isn't an illegal," the system said, "However, I didn't expect to need to tell you about this so soon since Erin hasn't turned anyone yet. If she did, then she would've been able to make a new family."
{Erin} The error! It said that Quinn was part of my family.
"Correct, but I do believe that is a glitch from you two sharing the same system. Erin isn't yet a vampire leader, nor is she powerful enough to back it up. If you want to live, then don't reveal this information to anyone else but us, as both the vampire, and whoever they illegally turned will be executed once found out."
Both Quinn and Erin understood what the system had said, and the two were beginning to learn a little more about Fex and vampires.
"I still don't fully trust you, so I'll have Quinn stand by to watch," Erin crossed her arms.
"That's fine by me, but I don't quite see how you think a human like him can beat me," Fex replied.
Quinn dropped to the floor with his palms spread across the ground, and immediately controlled the earth under Fex to create two giant rock hands to form. They grabbed at Fex, causing the vampire to narrowly jump out of the way. The whole move caught him off guard.
"You still think that way now?" Quinn taunted.
Fex looked genuinely surprised. He still remembered the last time that Quinn was brutally beaten by the second year, Momo. To think that such a human was capable of growing so much in a short amount of time was surprising to say the least.
It made him think that Quinn would make for a better puppet than Erin.
—
Erin stood in front of Fex, her back facing his front. He activated his ability by inputting 12 of his strings into her body while Quinn kept watch on the side. When the strings were inserted, she had felt something click in her brain, and the strings disappeared from view.
"Okay, so the idea is, I will control your body using my strings. Now what you need to do is focus on the feeling of each movement— Hey! Stop that!"
Erin was shuffling her body, feeling quite uncomfortable with the fact that there were strings inserted in her body. Not only that, but it was different this time, like as if something was off, tugging at her brain, "You did it wrong!"
Quinn, upon seeing Erin visibly uncomfortable, began to act, but then Fex quickly held his hands up to indicate he wasn't doing anything.
"Guys, calm down! The strings are still embedded in you the same, but this time I made them invisible so you could still move around just fine."
Erin grabbed at her sword, and glared at Fex.
"Look, you probably didn't recognize this before because we had bigger beasts to worry about, but back then, I was using my strings in a more manual way. Its quicker to do, but gives less precise movements, and I have to be in the same area while they're attached. This time I embedded the strings in a more special way where I can control your body at any time, even if I'm away." Fex explained, "Now then, I'd like to continue my lesson."
Erin and Quinn glanced at each other before they relaxed a little.
"Okay so, every sequence of moves starts off somewhere and ends somewhere. You need to put these things together like building blocks. It's better if I control you, as you'll experience it yourself, and your body will build the muscle memory for it."
It was then that Fex began moving his fingers, and Erin's body began moving on its own. At first, Erin didn't recognize the new set of moves Fex was doing as it was different to before. Right now, she was attacking the air with a focus on quick jabs and range, and didn't understand why, until he started explaining.
"Your weapon is different than before, so I'm trying to accommodate. A rapier is lighter, bendier than a broadsword, which means its harder to block heavier swords."
"But that doesn't mean it has no advantages over a bigger sword. I've seen some people with rapiers beat those with heavier swords, sometimes by disarming their opponents." Fex explained.
Quinn, while watching couldn't believe his eyes. It was hard to watch, but Erin's speed was so impressive, he couldn't fully keep track of it. It was like she was a blur of motion.
Her body would shoot forward, and her blade would fling around, almost wildly, before jumping back again in just a second. Looking at it further, calling the sword movements wild was a disservice, it looked practiced, and disciplined.
Watching her made Quinn imagine what it would be like if he was in a fight with her. He would need to come up with a way to counteract her range. Perhaps by utilizing his gauntlets' advantage of grip, he could try grabbing the blade, but it was so narrow and smooth that doing so would be tricky with just human strength. Even if he used the earth to encase the sword, Erin might be able to break out using her vampiric strength.
She was already out matching him, benefiting so much from the system, and Quinn couldn't help but feel like he was missing out.
"I have an idea. I knew you were disappointed last night to see that the combination skills were inaccessible to you because you don't have blood skills," the system spoke only to Quinn, "But there may be an alternative way you can use your ability instead."
While Erin was taking in Fex's lesson about rapier fighting, the system was explaining something to Quinn. Namely, that with Quinn's new mud pouch, he could use mud as a substitute to blood.