Chapter 37: like mother, like daughter.
Violet's perspective, a few minutes before Victor woke up.
Going through the portal, Violet realized she was at her house.
Just as she was about to leave her house and look for Victor, she heard a cold voice:
"Lady Violet, you finally came home."
She looks at the voice and sees a maid with short white hair and blue eyes, she was the personal maid and head maid of the Snow Clan.
"Oh, it's you, Hilda… Anyway, I'm leaving!" Violet starts running towards Scathach's mansion, she passes by Hilda's side.
"Wait," Hilda grabbed Violet by her shirt collar.
"Ugh!" Violet was almost hanged, then she turns to face Hilda. "Are you going to get in my way too...?"
Seeing Violet's lifeless eyes, Hilda said coldly, "Of course not."
"But as a maid, I have a duty to do." She started walking as she dragged Violet by her shirt collar:
"And my order was that when you came home, I should take you to meet your mother."
"Let go of me! I don't want to see that old woman! I'm going back to my Darling!" Violet tried to free herself from Hilda's grip, but it was a futile attempt.
Hilda has stopped walking, she looks at Violet, her blue eyes change to blood-red, "...You did the ritual..."
Violet puts on a smug expression, "Of course I did!" But soon, her expression crumbles, "Although there were some unforeseen events."
"Oh? This is something your mother should know." Hilda started walking again, she pulled Violet and held her like a sack of potatoes.
"Ugh...!" Violet began to struggle, "Let go of me!"
Hilda ignored Violet and continued walking, "In all the millennium I've served the Snow family, I've never seen anyone as reckless as you..." Hilda puts a hand to her face as if she's thinking about something and keeps talking in the same cold tone, "Coming to think about it, you have the same personality as your mother when she was younger; although you are less aggressive than her..."
"Annoying…" Violet muttered angrily; Violet's body began to become covered in fire.
"Oh?" Hilda looks at the fire in Violet's body: "Your powers have grown stronger... That's good news."
Hilda smacks Violet on the ass.
Slap!
"Ugh..."
"Don't be a rude child; you know the rules, right?" She spoke in a cold tone as her eyes glowed red.
"Can't use powers indoors, right?" Violet snorted and continued, "I haven't forgotten! Now, let go of me! The only one who can hit my ass is my Darling!"
Hilda sighed, "I think it's because you're only 21 years old, and because of that, you're really spoiled?" Soon she started walking.
Violet got angry again, "I'm already an adult by human standards!"
"But to us, you're still a newborn baby…" She looked around and even looked into her shadows, "Where's Kaguya and Natalia? Shouldn't they be protecting you?"
Giving up on running away, for now, Violet sighed and said, "Kaguya is protecting my Darling, and Natalia stayed behind with Ruby and Sasha."
"The Fulger heiress, and the Scarlett heiress..." She puts her hand to her chin and continues, "I heard they were in that town too."
"What happened to your 'Darling'?" She asked in a neutral tone.
"He was kidnapped by Ruby's mother." Violet started to get angry again.
"Oh, looks like Countess Scathach took an interest in your Darling."
"Of course, she would be interested in him! He has great potential!" She squealed proudly.
"Oh...?" Hilda displayed a small smile.
...
Hilda enters a room, and then she puts Violet on the floor:
"Lady Agnes, Lord Adonis. I brought Lady Violet."
"Hmm...? Oh, good job, Hilda."
Violet looks at her mother, who was sitting on a sofa. She was a curvaceous woman with big H-cup breasts and skinny legs, she had pale vampire skin and golden eyes, a very unusual eye color even for vampires.
She had long white hair that reached to her waist and wore simple glasses, she was wearing black leather pants and a long black shirt.
"Are you still wearing those glasses, Mom? It's not like you have a vision problem," Violet commented.
"But I look good in glasses, right?" Violet's mother, Agnes, spoke with a narcissistic smile.
"Whatever," Violet snorted.
"Heh, you're still in the same bad mood... I thought meeting your 'darling' would calm you down a bit." She sneered at the word 'darling'.
Violet, hearing the obvious tone of contempt, didn't like it one bit.
Violet looks at her mom, and slowly her eyes begin to darken, "...What did you say, bitch...?"
Agnes's face distorted when she heard her daughter call her, "Are you that attached to those cattle?"
Violet's eyes changed to blood red, and she looked at her own mother like she was about to jump her neck at any moment.
"Daughter, don't fight with your mother in my room, okay?" She suddenly heard a gentle voice, gentle as if blessed by heaven itself.
"Agnes, don't tease our daughter; she's different from you," He spoke a little coldly as his eyes glowed a little violet.
"H-Humpf," Agnes turned her face away.
Violet ignores her mother, then looks at the bed and sees a pale, frail-looking man with short white hair and violet eyes.
Despite looking like a frail man, he still displayed a supernatural 'beauty' that was far superior to any woman and man Violet had encountered. Violet thought; 'my dad is handsome, but my Darling is prettier!... But I'm a little jealous; I wish I had inherited just a little of that supernatural beauty…'
Violet looks at her mother's breast and thinks; 'I should have inherited those breasts too! Why are genes unfair!?'
Violet was still a woman, she still had few insecurities, especially now that Ruby had become Victor's wife.
Adonis had a gentle expression on his face as he looked at his daughter, "Come here, daughter," He called her.
Violet nodded and walked towards the bed; when she got closer to her father and saw how weak he was, she said, "... Are you okay...?"
Although she didn't show it when Scathach asked in the past, she was still worried about her father, she was closer to him than her very narcissistic mother.
He smiled gently, "Yes, I'm fine, I just need to drink blood, and I'll be brand new."
"Liar…" She whispered, "You always say that, but you never get better."
"Hahaha," He laughed in a weak voice, he slapped the bed with a gesture for her to go up, "Come here, tell me about your 'darling'"
Violet bites her lip, she wanted to talk to her father, but she wanted to find Victor first!
Seeing his daughter's expression, he asked, "Hmm? Are you worried about something?"
"I need to see my Darling! He is in danger!"
"Oh? Tell me what happened"
"Mm" Violet started to explain what happened to Victor, and without realizing it, she started talking more about Victor to her father.
Agnes' body shook, and she quickly said, "N-No! You are different from those humans!"
"Oh…? How am I different?" he asked curiously.
Agnes' face glowed in possession, "You're mine, Darling~,"
"..."
Adonis just displayed an ironic smile.
Chapter 38: Pepper is an airhead girl.
A few minutes later, in the personal garden of Scathach's mansion, despite calling it a garden, this place looked more like a forest than a garden...
"Cough" The girl in front of me pretended to cough, she massaged her throat a little, she was trying to thicken her voice:
"A-A-B... Testing, one, two..."
She looks at me with a serious face and speaks, "My name is Pepper, as per my mother's orders, I'm responsible-"
I interrupted her, "Aren't you going to change your clothes?"
"Fue?" She looked confused for a moment, she looked down and saw that she was still wearing a towel, "Oh..."
Suddenly I hear a small explosion, and I see her face turning bright red, then she disappears with surprising speed.
At the same time that happens, my shadow expands, and soon Kaguya comes out of my shadow:
"Lord Victor."
"Oh, Kaguya, what happened?" I asked as I stroked her head.
"Mm," She doesn't say anything and just stays silent.
Feeling her black hair in my hand, I smile contentedly and say, "While we wait for Pepper, do you have any training tips?"
"Hmm... believe in yourself?" She said.
My smile threatened to break, "Is that supposed to help me in any way?"
"Noble vampires instinctively know how to use their powers when they are born; the only problem we have is 'controlling' the output of our power. After all, depending on the noble vampire's bloodline, their power can reach absurd levels."
"I see... So you are born geniuses," I continued stroking her head.
"You are wrong." Kaguya spoke, she thought for a moment and continued: "It's like a baby who instinctively knows how to cry or ask their mother for food... With our species, it's the same. We instinctively know how to use our power, the only problem we have is to control, and improving that power to new levels."
"I see," I understood what she said; it's like moving your arm. You know instinctively how to move your body, right? It's basically something like that.
Suddenly, I see a red silhouette, and soon I see that Pepper has returned wearing new clothes; she's wearing a red uniform and black tights.
She looks at me with her face a little embarrassed, "... Let's continue."
She intends to ignore everything that happened, huh?
"Okay," I said as I stopped stroking Kaguya's hair.
"Cough," She coughed again and explained in a cute voice, "Let's skip the basics; after all, you already know what your unique powers are. So what we're going to do today is learn to control the basic powers of a vampire."
"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.
"It's something like this" She looks like she's going to demonstrate something, she looks at a tree in the distance and says, "Pay attention, I'll just run 'normal'"
Pepper suddenly positions herself, her body starts to be covered by a fog, and she disappears and then reappears in front of the tree, and soon she returns to the same position again.
"See? This is a basic skill for all vampires. As creatures of the night, we can blend into the night easily; what I've demonstrated now is 'fog walking'."
"That was cool… Can all vampires do this?" Despite speaking in a neutral voice, my eyes were gleaming with curiosity.
"Yes, it's a basic skill." This time, Kaguya answered me, "The basic vampire skills are fog walking, bat transformation, night vision, and claws," She said.She points her hand at me, and I see her hand has changed, her nails have gotten sharper and more deadly, and her hand has seemed to grow stronger.
Pepper looks at Kaguya with a pout on her face; Kaguya just looks at Pepper with a stoic look.
Pepper puffed out her chest in annoyance.
Boing! Boing!
And they swayed like crazy...
For a moment, I see Kaguya's black eyes turning blood red, she looks annoyed at something.
Soon Pepper goes on to explain, "Noble vampires usually ignore these basic abilities and focus only on the powers they inherited from their parents, for example."
She pointed to Kaguya, "This maid, she has the power to control the shadows, and using those powers, she modified the basic vampire abilities to fit her power."
I remember Kaguya's fight with Mizuki, and I nod in agreement, she seemed to 'walk' in the shadows in that fight.
"Oh, do you know Kaguya?" I asked, curious.
"Yes, she was always around when Violet came to visit Ruby."
"Why doesn't Lacus know Kaguya?"
"Lacus... She's really lazy, she just stays asleep and only wakes up when something interesting happens..." She looked uncomfortable for some reason. "Because of that, she doesn't know the people who visit our house."
"Oh…" I didn't know what to say; this seemed to be a family issue, something like having a child who is a 'NEET'.
"..."
She looks at me with neutral eyes, then continues, "Why don't you try to get used to the basic powers first? Try to use your basic vampire powers, and when you get used to them, we'll train the powers you were born with."
"Why should we train these powers if they aren't used a lot?" I asked with genuine doubt. After all, I haven't seen my wives using these powers.
"My mother always said that the basics are the most important; you need a strong foundation to build the pillars for your strength in the future..."
"Hmm... I'll try," That sounds interesting too. I feel like those men in the comics who are discovering their powers.
I position myself to run, and before I can do anything:
I heard Kaguya warning me, "Remember Lord Victor, don't use your unique powers, just use your racial powers!"
"I know, I just have to turn into mist, right?"
"Yes," She confirmed.
Let's try... Pepper said I must know how to use this ability instinctively; I close my eyes and think of the image of Pepper running, focusing on what I should do. Then, I open my eyes, and I try to imitate what Pepper did.
I put some strength in my legs and run towards the tree...
...
Lacus and Siena, who were drinking tea, suddenly hear an explosion as if a lightning bolt has fallen to the ground.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
"... What is it!? It is not raining!" Lacus was startled by the sudden noise.
Siena just looks at her sister with a neutral expression, she drinks the 'tea' which contains a red drink, and explains, "The noise came from the garden, I think it's our mother's guest-"
Siena stopped talking when she saw Lacus had left, she sighs, "She's too rushed."
...
Pepper and Kaguya heard an explosion as if lightning had fallen to the ground, and soon after, they saw the tree destroyed and in pieces; then, fire started to come out of Victor's body, and soon he slammed his body into a rock...
"... Well, I knew it would happen, but... The destruction is bigger than I expected," Kaguya commented.
"Wawawa, the forest is on fire!" Pepper was freaking out.
Kaguya hits Pepper on the head.
"Ouch!" She puts her hand to her head and looks at Kaguya with a face that could cry at any moment. "W-What? Why did you hit me?"
"Calm down, and use your powers," Kaguya spoke.
Suddenly, Pepper's expression lit up, "Oh."
Pepper steps on the ground, the ground broke with the force she put in, and soon a massive amount of water started coming out of the cracks.
She points her finger at the forest and yells, "Ey!"
The water she was controlling rises to the skies and began to fall into the forest as if the place were raining.
As a surprising display of control, Pepper just doused the spreading fire.
"Good job," Kaguya said.
"Hehehehe," She laughed as she scratched her head.
Kaguya uses her speed and runs towards Victor; seeing that Kaguya is gone, Pepper follows her example and uses her speed.
...
"Lord Victor... Didn't I tell you not to use your powers?" Kaguya asked.
"I didn't try to use my powers..." Victor muttered as he got up from a crater that was more than 1 KM wide; he didn't seem to be hurt. Then, realizing he was wet with water, fire started to come out of his body, and soon he was dry again.He looks at his clothes and thinks; these clothes are amazing, they are quite resistant...
Kaguya looks at the ground around Victor and sees that the soil was filled with small pieces of ice.
'Hmm… Maybe?' She seemed to be thinking of something.
"I tried to run like Pepper, but for some reason, it happened." He pointed at the crater.
"Fue...?" Pepper looked surprised, she looked around and said, "You tried to run like me and created this giant crater...?" She asked with an expression of shock.
"Pepper, what was that noise." Lacus suddenly arrives, and she looks around, "Wow, this is big."
"...Lord Victor, can you do something for me?"
"Yes? What is it?" Victor replied in a neutral tone.
"Follow me," Kaguya said and started to run.
Victor started following Kaguya, and soon Pepper and Lacus, who were curious about what was going to happen, began to follow as well.
Kaguya stops in front of an ordinary tree.
"See that tree? I want you to pull the tree out of the ground and throw the tree in a random direction."
"...?" Victor didn't understand the purpose of this, but he did as Kaguya asked.
Victor approaches the tree trunk and puts his hand gently on it; somehow, he can instinctively sense that using one hand was enough. So he pulls the tree out of the ground and lifts it with ease.
He looks at an empty spot and throws the tree.
Everyone watched the tree that was suddenly frozen in the air; when that tree fell to the ground and broke the ice around it, a fire started to be created, and soon lightning fell from the sky...
"...!?"
"…As expected…" Kaguya seems to have figured something out.
"... T-This is bullshit!!" Lacus suddenly yelled in frustration, she looked like she was freaking out.
"Fue!?" Pepper was startled by the sudden scream.
Victor puts his hand to his ear, "Why are you screaming, woman?"
Lacus looks at Victor, "Don't you understand what you just did...?"
"...?" Victor looked at Lacus confused:
"I threw the tree, and suddenly it turned to ice; when the ice fell to the ground, the ground started to catch fire, and suddenly lightning fell from the sky even though there were no clouds in the sky." He explained what he saw aloud.
"..." Lacus just looked at Victor with an expression that said she didn't believe what she was seeing in front of her.