Chapter 1795:
Wake him up.
There was a reason why no one quite knew what happened to Erin, and that was simply because Erin had blocked all contacts without any explanation. Based on what Leo had told them, they knew she was a Dhampir and had trouble controlling herself, but that was it.
Shortly, she returned, saving some of their lives during a crucial moment in the war against the Dalki, only to turn and kill the first vampire leader. But there was something that everyone was pretty sure about.
She was the reason for the uprising of Dhampirs and the reason behind the rift between the two groups. How it started though, was something hardly anyone had an answer to.
"As I said, I don't know the answers to the question you have, and for that, I have to apologise," Layla stated.
"The thing is, it's clear that it's Erin's anger, not the urge that's behind her actions. It's as if she genuinely hates vampires, which makes no sense."
"When I think about it more and more, it reminds me of the old Erin?"
"The old Erin?" Lucia asked.
"Ah!" Vorden said, realising and tapping the side of his head as he figured out how to explain. "I guess you are not aware of it, but Erin isn't just the queen of the dhampirs to us, but she is actually an old friend."
"You see, we had a group, me, Layla, Peter, Quinn, and Logan, from time to time. We were all cla.s.smates at the same military school. Which is why this whole fight is too personal for us." Vorden explained.
When the others heard of this, they couldn't even be surprised anymore. After every fact they learned about Quinn, they would be left speechless. And now Vorden was basically saying everyone who had worked with Quinn had become some giant influential figure, good or bad.
Leader of the Red Vampires, Queen of the Dhampirs, Leader of Earth, and even a high-ranking person in the Blade family. Although, they couldn't understand why the fact that Erin was part of Quinn's group had never gotten out.
"Haha, and you're forgetting that Quinn was the one that turned Erin into what she is," Peter added. "So in a way, this is all Quinn's fault."
Even if it were somewhat true, no one would say it. At least they wouldn't word it in the same way Peter had expressed just now.
"Anyway, I have a theory," Layla said, interrupting the awkwardness.
"There are only two events I can think of that could have ma.s.sively influenced Erin's mentality. One of them is the disappearance of Quinn."
"However, even then, she seemed sane enough to leave for fear that she could hurt us. Then the only thing I can think of, which might have affected her drastically, is Leo's death."
Leo was influential not just in Quinn's life but also played a big part in Erin's life. He was her mentor and teacher and even helped her through all her troubles. Because of this, the others understood the importance of Leo in Erin's life and somewhat agreed that his death could have been a trigger.
"But what happened to Leo?" Peter asked. "Quinn tried to find out around. We know it happened while they were fighting against Pure, but when Quinn fought with Chris, he said that Leo died before him, although he wasn't the one who did it."
"In fact, from the sound of things, it sounded like Erin was the one that killed Leo."
Layla sighed and tried to understand the situation.
"The whole thing doesn't make sense. Erin is strong, strong enough to find a way to get rid of the dhampir urge, yet she was the one that killed Leo?"
"Her hatred for vampires had a turning point, and I can only a.s.sume it has something to do with Leo. The anger she is feeling and how she acted was similar to how the old Erin used to react whenever she came across any Dalki."
"Could it be that a vampire killed this Leo guy?" Jessica suggested. This was also a good possibility and could validate the reason behind Erin's hate against Vampires.
"Maybe. We can't say for sure, but there is someone who might know the answer to all our questions." Layla replied.
"Who? Pure?" Vorden asked. "I mean, Chris was there. We could ask him what happened that day if he doesn't attack us the moment we step in front of him."
"Not. Don't forget that Leo didn't attack Pure alone. He was with someone else at the time, this guy, Sera."
"That guy could raise the levels of any weapon to the demon-tier level. He is the person I am talking about."
Now that Layla mentioned it, Peter and Vorden started to recall him as well. Although Vorden wasn't directly there at the time, he had heard about Sera.
"Ah yes, I remember him. He was indeed very powerful." Muka also remembered the person in question.
"In fact, I would find it hard if there were many that could take him on back then. Maybe one could now, but it was a different story back then."
"Anyway, I am sure he must have survived the war. And perhaps even travelled with Leo for a bit, helping him take care of Pure."
"But the question is, is he still alive? Isn't he human? He would have died long ago, even with Qi."
Layla shook her head once again and raised her sword.
"The sword told me that Sera wasn't a normal human. He is similar to Laxmus but not quite the same. He should still be alive, but I have no clue how we can find him, nor do I have any leads."
The group thought about it for a while and discussed it as they tried to rack their brains. Now that Erin had the Red Heart, and based on her words, she would soon be moving out against the other vampires. Maybe even targeting the Vampire Corps next.
"I just realised something, Layla. Why are we trying so hard to find out what happened to Erin?" Peter asked.
"Do you still see her as your friend? Because either way, if we fight her again, we will have to use everything at our disposal to have a chance of winning a fight against her, unless you guys want to end up like Laxmus and be by my side."
It was true because the simple solution was to kill Erin and take the Red Heart back to stop her and the Dhampirs from accomplis.h.i.+ng their goal, and only then can they try to make peace between the humans and vampires again.
"Even if you turn Erin normal again like she was before, that doesn't change what she's done either," Vorden added. "The Dhampirs have killed many people, including Fex's wife, Samantha."
"I know," Layla said, clenching her fist. "But we must know what happened to stop it from repeating to us and others around us. After finding out about these Celestials, it just makes me feel that something bigger is happening, and they're all trying to use us.
"I don't want to lose any more people, and before I decide to pa.s.s on, I want to know what happened to Erin. I don't want to pa.s.s away with regret, not after living this long."
Many understood what Layla was saying because they had felt the same way.
"Although I'm not sure if he will know about Sera or not because he is a human, there is one genius that might be able to figure out how we can locate him."
"Or how we can perhaps get Quinn back with us as well." Xander chimed in, holding up the crystal in his hand.
"Well, take Vincent back to Logan, see if he can get the former back to how he was, and maybe Vincent would have a better idea for what we have to do next."
"After all, he stayed in hiding for a very long time, and I bet he might know a few facts that we're unaware of."