"Hey, what are you doing looking at your communicator?" Cia asked, in the middle of making herself a quick sandwich, "You’ve been doing it a lot."
Throughout the entire ti, Peter had constantly stole glances at his watch, while also simultaneously keeping an eye on Layla. Unfortunately, Cia had been quite suspicious of the two, which he couldn’t bla as he certainly felt suspicious. He wasn’t expecting to be suddenly thrust into the role of Layla handler after a tense day with the dalki.
"Uh, um," Peter mumbled, looking at his watch again.
"Oh yeah! It’s the curfew, isn’t it?" Cia said, pointing at a digital clock on the corner desk.
Peter looked at the desk clock, already painfully aware of the ti, "Oh, yes, right, the ti! I was thinking that it was almost ti for to leave!"
"Well yeah, maybe you should leave, I’m about to head to bed," Cia comnted as she headed into the bathroom.
The mont the door was closed, Layla’s grip on Peter’s hand grew tightly.
"I’ve been imagining biting her head off this entire ti," Layla whispered, then grimaced in disgust, "I keep telling myself that the guts afterwards are just a really convincing cake made out of cranberries."
"What am I supposed to do about it?" Peter harshly whispered back, just as worried, "I’m new to all of this vampire stuff, should I just... give you my blood or—"
Layla covered her face, and shook her head frantically, whispering harshly, "Don’t give ideas of eating you!"
As she said that, her body froze up, and the mory of Erin’s command recalled in her mind. That gave her a small bit of peace knowing that there was at least a barrier preventing her from doing sothing she’d regret.
"Where are they? It’s been 32 minutes," Peter whined, still trying to keep his voice low.
That was when Layla perked up, and she heard the door to the dorm room open.
"We’re back," Erin called the mont she stepped inside.
In both her and Quinn’s hands were bags of raw at.
"What took you so long?" Peter asked.
"We ca across a... roadblock," Quinn replied, setting down a bag on the kitchen counter.
With Quinn there, Peter was relieved as he didn’t need to keep an eye on Layla anymore. They quickly said their goodbyes, and left both Erin and Layla alone.
Judging by the sounds of a shower running in the bathroom, this gave the two girls so ti to speak to themselves. Erin had cut out a small slab of raw at, and put it on a plate in front of Layla.
Looking at the plate, Layla’s mouth couldn’t help but drool. Ignoring the knife and fork on the side of the plate, Layla ravenously dug into the piece of at, her teeth elongating and sharpening allowing her to tear it much more easily.
Watching Layla gobble down the red at so effortlessly, Erin couldn’t help but think how unlike herself Layla was being. She had seen Layla eat before, and while she wasn’t trained to have perfect table manners like a lot of people, she certainly didn’t eat like a starved dog.
After Layla had finished her food, the wave of realization hit her.
"Oh my god... Did I really...?" She whispered, not even sure if she was herself just then. The insides of her mouth were still a bright red from her al.
Erin just grabbed another piece of at, and placed it on Layla’s plate.
"Just keep eating," Erin said.
Suddenly, Layla felt compelled to finish eating. She had eaten the entirety of the next piece of raw at, and looked up to Erin with concerned eyes.
"What just happened?" Layla said, having an idea that it was related to their newfound vampire connection.
"That was your family bond," the system said, "because she is blooded to you, she would have to follow your every command... up until a certain point. You can feed her your blood to make her more obedient so she’s less likely to go against your word."
Strangely enough, Erin wasn’t liking how that sounded. The idea of commanding soone in a way where they couldn’t argue back was a bit too much, even for her.
"If her hunger grows too strong, then she will no longer obey you," the system inford, "That is one limit of the family bond."
’Is there any other way to make sure she doesn’t need to eat human at?’ Erin asked the system.
"Aside from animal at, no," the system stated, "If she does eat enough human at, then she will evolve into a subclass that won’t need to consu human flesh regularly, unless injured."
This is what worried Erin. She had done everything she could to save Layla’s life, but Layla might hate her forever for turning her into a monster. Even if she did want to be turned, she didn’t deserve this kind of life.
Erin explained to her the whole deal about their newfound family connection, which didn’t take much convincing as Layla felt it too.
"I thought thralls were ant to follow their turner’s every word?" Layla attempted to joke, wiping her bloody face with a napkin.
Despite this, the idea of needing to follow Erin’s every word did concern her a little, especially considering how she acted during the first assessnt.
"Ah, so she knows about thralls," the system comnted, "they’re one of many potential evolutions a human can beco, but not one that Layla can beco. I’ll explain more about the evolution process later."
Layla had finished a good chunk of raw at, surprised by how tasty it was. With that done, they cleaned up and headed to bed. Their roommate was none the wiser.
—
The next morning was a free day. With the whole dalki incident on planet Caladi, students didn’t need to go to classes for two days.
Cia had left the dorm room quite early as she did have an early night, and she didn’t spend a lot of ti in the dorms, leaving Erin and Layla alone in their dorm room.
"Do you feel any hunger right now?" Erin asked, as she was getting ready for the morning.
Layla, sitting on her bed, nodded no, "Even though I’ve been on so strange diets, I haven’t tried a raw at one."
"Do you feel like biting anyone’s head off?" Erin bluntly asked.
Layla grimaced a little, "...no?"
Erin nodded, "Good. What about your ability?"
When Erin had turned into a vampire, she had lost her ice ability, but there was a slight chance that she was a fluke.
Layla looked at a pencil at the desk, and lifted her hand up, concentrating hard to lift it, to no avail.
"Just as I thought," Erin said, looking at the still pencil.
"I’m back to square one," Layla sighed, "Is it even possible for to relearn my old ability again?"
As she asked that, a thought passed in Erin’s mind. If there had been a wall of shadow protecting Layla before the sword pierced her, then maybe Layla wouldn’t have gotten mortally wounded. Of course, Layla was a bit too far away for Erin for her to make one, and it wasn’t like she could be in two places at once, but perhaps there was a way around that.
’System, could a ghoul learn how to use the shadow ability?’ Erin asked.
"I don’t see why not, a ghoul is blooded and has vampire blood in them. Not only that, but you did read the basics of the shadow ability."
"I could teach you my ability," Erin stated.
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