Anton was smoking a cigarette while observing this community living in complete happiness. Perhaps he had once sought something similar—a quiet place to live out the remaining years of his life. Yet, the world still needed a ShadowBane; the current world demanded it, so there was little he could do about that. Just as he was about to return to his cell phone, he received a call that turned out to be from his father.
Feeling the call to be a bit unusual, Anton tossed the cigarette to the ground and asked, "What do I owe the pleasure of your call, Dad?"
"I just wanted to know how you're doing. Can't a father check in on his son?" Sebastián grumbled in his usual tone, complaining about the interrogation from his son as soon as he called.
Sebastián, after that conversation with his son at the hospital, came to understand that no matter how many dark entities they had to face, they always needed to be close as a family. With only the two of them, it was important to stay united and connected to at least withstand this tough battle called life.
"I just wrapped up a case, quite disturbing with the victims we found without realizing... How about you, Dad?" Anton also wanted to get closer to his father. His solitary life needed some color, and talking to his father at least helped with that.
"Hmm, nothing new lately..." Sebastián had been following in his son's footsteps, now keeping track of his work to take care of him until he was emotionally strong enough to stand on his own.
Anton, unaware of this, asked, "Where are you right now?"
"In Canada, investigating some recent cases of vampires..."
"So, what exactly are you studying?"
Sebastián pondered for a moment. "You know about vampires, right?"
"Vampires?" Anton's eyebrows furrowed slightly as he remembered the incident with the werewolf that turned out to be a vampire. How could he not know about them after having killed so many?
"That's right." After saying that, Sebastián pointed out, "My latest research topic is why vampires heal so quickly, even though they don't look any different from humans."
Anton guessed that this was how certain cases were investigated—many didn't understand how they reached an equal footing to face a werewolf. Behind the effective weapons against supernatural creatures were people like his father, conducting research.
"Are you planning to develop a healing injection based on vampires' regeneration?" Anton posed a question, not exactly sure why his father was delving into this topic.
"We could obtain injections with gigantic evolutionary improvements. If we don't evolve now, we might not stand a chance against dark entities later on." Sebastián feared that after his death, his only son would be left fighting alone until death, just as he had been doing throughout his life.
Anton smiled slightly and said, "That would be seriously incredible, but do you think it's a breakthrough?"
"I only have the foundation; it's too early to draw evolutionary conclusions... Well, you should get back to what you were doing now. It reassures me to know that at least you're getting some downtime."
"I'm fine, Dad; don't worry," Anton said before ending the call.
For some reason, they now have a closer relationship. Everything Anton and Sebastián needed, they could get from each other as family. However, as if problems could never end, Anton looked at Alexander's face and asked before he arrived, "What's the problem?"
"A dark entity has been reported. Exorcists were sent to handle it, but somehow they've been reported missing." Alexander's expression was far from good.
This meant a lot of trouble. If an exorcist was besieged, it meant they were about to face something powerful and many problems.
Anton knew this perfectly well, so he asked, "Is it far from here?"
"No, it's not far."
Knowing this, Anton walked towards his truck, which was now back in his possession. Upon getting in, he said, "This time I'll drive. Get in and give me directions."
"Yes, sir!" Alexander got into the truck, and in a matter of minutes, they were on the road heading towards a town where the dark entity was supposedly located.