<h4>Chapter 176 - Rising Suspicion</h4>


    Mnie stared at Simon''s green eyes, that looked slightly curious, and then her eyes went back to look at his arm. With her words hanging mid-air, she went to ask, "Earlier, when we were in the forest, there was a wound—"


    Her words were interrupted when her mother appeared with a ss of orange juice in her hand, entering the living room, and she offered it to the red-headed boy.


    "Where did your father go, Mel?" asked her mother, and Mnie suddenly noticed the flicker in Simon''s eyes, as if the look in there had changed and it seemed colder.


    Breaking her gaze from Simon, she turned to look at her mother and said, "He went to attend to Conner''s father. He said he will be there to make sure that the creatures had not done something grave while inflicting the wound on him."


    "I see. Poor Rob, but we are lucky that we have him and the others who are still alive. We never expected the rogue vampires to show up. Especially with that many numbers. The rogues are usually one or two in count, but who would have thought that we would have a dozen of them," said Mrs. Davis grimly. "You aren''t hurt are you, Mel?"


    Mnie shook her head, "No, I am good. The vampire tried to take a bite from me, but he couldn''t."


    A sigh of relief left from Mrs. Davis'' lips, and she then looked at Simon, "We are very grateful that you saved our daughter''s life today. If you need any help in the future, we would be more than happy to offer it."


    Simon gave a slight nod while holding the ss of juice in his hand. He politely smiled at the woman and said, "Mnie is my junior in the university, and we are friends. This was something I would have done for any juniors of mine or ssmates. It is how Veteris has thrived until now, to look after each other is what we were taught."


    Mnie had a nk expression on her face, and her eyes kept moving to look at Simon''s arm while he spoke to her mother.


    "It is nearly two in the morning. I think it would be best that you stay here with us tonight. Have breakfast with us before you leave," said Mrs. Davis with a slight smile.


    To Mrs. Davis'' words, Simon shook his head slightly before he said, "I wouldn''t want to impose on you or your family. That would be rude of me. The motel I am living in isn''t too far from here. I was around only to help Conner with his project work this weekend."


    "How rude that Conner didn''t invite you to stay in. But that doesn''t matter," said Mrs. Davis, and she gave him a nod as if it wasn''t up for discussion, and the woman stepped out of the house as if to go see what her husband was up to.


    Seeing her mother leave, Mnie turned to look at Simon, whose eyes were quick to shift to her, and he asked, "Is there something you would like to ask, Mnie?"


    Mnie noted how Simon had dropped his usual yful tone of poking people or her. He didn''t call her princess, and he used her whole name. She was sure she had seen a wound on his arm earlier, so where did it go?


    Could it be? Asked Mnie to herself, and she couldn''t help but continue to stare at his green eyes.


    "The guest room is on the right. Let me show you," said Mnie, instead of confirming what she saw.


    She could feel her heart pound, picking up its slow and steady pace. Though she tried to keep a passive expression on her face, her heart betrayed her, and Simon caught on to it. His vampire hearing skills picked up every skip of her heartbeat and how it tried to race.


    "Please," Simon said to her, finishing the juice given by her mother.


    Right now in the house, it was just the two of them, and Mnie walked in the front while listening to Simon''s footsteps on the floor, which was following right behind her.


    "How do you feel after the first hunt of the rogue vampires?" questioned Simon, his voice sounding nonchnt, but Mnie felt a slight dread seep into her body.


    "I…I don''t think I am that fond of it. I feel like I have been thrown inside the TV screen or myptop screen," Mnie''s words were nothing less than a mutter.


    "Is it that hard for you to digest that things like those exist?" Simon continued to ask her, and Mnie wished he would stop asking her. She wondered if there was a way to ce an unbreakable lock. Not to lock the guest room where he would be staying, but her own room so that no one would break in when she was sleeping. She doubted she would be able to get a wink of sleep tonight.


    "How would you feel if someone said Frankenstein exists, and so do werewolves? Do werewolves exist?" Mnie turned her face to the side while not actually looking at him, but at the same time wanting to look at what expression was shown on his face.


    "There are spections that the werewolves exist, but I doubt any of us havee across them," Simon and Mnie nodded her head.


    Once they reached the guest room, Mnie opened the door and pushed it open. She said, "You can sleep in here. Let me know if you need anything." All she wanted to do was bolt away from there, and get to her room. But Simon stopped her.


    "I would like warm water. Do you know how to boil water, princess?" questioned Simon and Mnie turned to look at him with a slight frown.


    "I do know it."


    "My throat feels a little scratchy," Simon brought his hand up to point to his throat that looked slightly tan, but that wasn''t what caught her attention. It was the way he ran his long, slender fingers on his throat, and Mnie softly gulped. "I wonder if I caught a cold or something in the forest.


    "I will get it in five minutes. You can find clothes in the cupboard if you would like to change," informed Mnie. "They are my cousin''s clothes, who sometimes drop by here and use this room."


    "I would have never thought that there would be a day where Mnie Davis would be hospitable towards me," smiled Simon, as if it had been his life''s purpose and now that it was fulfilled, he could continue with his life in peace. "Don''t tell me you areing to like me now."


    "You must have your head somewhere else to think that," the frown on Mnie''s forehead deepened, and Simon chuckled.


    "You think I don''t affect you?"


    "No, you don''t," Mnie''s words were firm.


    When Simon started to walk towards her, Mnie suddenly felt her heart speed up as if it was going to make a hole in her chest and run away from the growing tension.


    "Are you sure?" asked Simon, who hovered above her by a few inches in height.


    "I think you should stop overthinking about things. I will go and get water," said Mnie, and she quickly made her way out of there before ending up in the kitchen. Once she was alone, with silence filling around her, she wondered if it was possible that Simon was a vampire.


    She was positive that she had seen blood smeared on his hand, and now that it wasn''t there, she wondered if he had wiped it, and it was only blood. But what if it wasn''t? Should she have let her parents know about it? That there was a living and breathing vampire in their house, who was going to live through the night.


    But then why did he save her? He could have let her die at the vampire''s hands, or he could have killed her himself. And he hadn''t done either of it. Not to mention, she hadn''t seen his eyes change color, and they were still green.


    Once she heated the water warm enough to drink, which she let boil before pouring it in the ss, she went back to Simon''s room and noticed he was using the shower. cing the ss on the side of the table, she went through his things, but she found nothing that could point that he was a vampire.


    Her parents returned from Conner''s house, and Mnie asked, "Is he going to be okay?"


    "Yes, it''s just a silver bullet," replied her father, and he said, "Where is your friend?"


    Friend… he was far from being called her friend, thought Mnie to herself and somewhere, she wanted to bring up what she knew or saw, but at the same time, she couldn''t bring herself to do it. What if it was just a false rm? The things she had seen today, she doubted she would be able to brush it away.


    "He is in the guest room," answered Mnie, and her father stared at her, making her wonder if he knew something.


    "Mel," her father used that stern tone that she hadn''te to hear in a long time. She had always been the good girl, listening to her parents and behaving the way they wanted her. And it held to both when they were present, and without their presence, she had trained herself that way. "What is your rtionship with that boy? Do you like him?"


    Huh?


    "What?" asked Mnie, blinking at her father and not knowing if she had been dropped in a parallel universe. She couldn''t help butugh, but seeing her parents stare at her, the smile died down from her lips. "No," she shook her head. "I do not like him in that sense. We just hold a senior junior rtionship, and he''s Conner''s friend more than mine."


    Her father didn''t respond to her immediately, and Mnie wondered what was going on.


    "What''s going on?" Mnie voiced her thoughts.


    "We were just curious, dear," replied her mother with a kind smile. "We know you have grown up and you havee to an age where you can date any boy, but we cannot help but worry. You are our little girl."


    "Actually, we hunters, we like to hold a close knitted group and don''t like outsiders mingling in our family. We don''t know if a vampire wille to infiltrate by using someone," stated her father, and Mnie stared at her father. "Conner''s father and I have already spoken when you were children, and we decided that to keep things within our circle, it would be right to have both you and Conner together."


    As ecstatic as Mnie would have been in the past to hear about it, she didn''t know why, but this news made her feel ufortable. She wasn''t sure if it was because her parents had decided to choose even this for her or because her feelings towards Conner had started to evaporate.


    "I think we should speak about it another time. I am too tired and don''t want to think about getting together with anyone," smiled Mnie, and her mother gave her a small nod. "I am going to bed."


    "Sure, honey," said her mother and Mnie kissed both her parents'' cheeks before wishing them goodnight.


    Getting into her room, Mnie closed her room.


    Mr. and Mrs. Davis didn''t stay around and walked to their room, which was soundproof. Once the doors and the windows were locked, Mrs. Davis turned to look at her husband and said,


    "I gave him the Silverwater."


    "Any reaction?" asked her husband, and the woman shook her head.


    "None so far, but it is a slow reacting Silverwater. We''ll get to know in the morning."


    Mrs. Davis had made sure to offer the boy a ss of juice with Silverwater in it. Over the course of the existence of vampires, the humans who were aware of these leeches like being, they had tried to find a way to tackle and attack them without having to turn into a sacrifice.


    The Davis'' family had tried to alter the existing Silverwater in a way where it could be used to affect the vampires the way they could.


    Mr. and Mrs. Davis stepped out of the room, making sure the guest and their daughter were fast asleep before they went to the secret room.


    Mr. Davis, who was the only one who had the key to this door, unlocked the door. He and his wife stepped into the narrow passage that led to another built basement. Turning on the lights, they made their way to the hall, where unconscious vampires were sitting on the chairs. The night creatures'' hands and legs were tied in sharp barbed wires.


    A growl erupted from one of the vampires, who was weak but in his conscious state—ring at the humans.


    "Looks like we have only one awake," said Mr. Davis, and Mrs. Davis went to the equipment recording the fluctuations taking ce in the vampire''s bodies. "How is it going so far?"


    "Looks like the new product is yet to take effect. I injected it in the morning, and his body has shown nothing but positives instead of negative qualities for a vampire," replied Mrs. Davis. "We should have gotten another assistant in here. It is hard to know if there''s any fluctuations because the devices in here don''t capture them."


    "You just need to wait for a few weeks or months. Soon Mel will be joining us, our own people should work for us instead of the useless hospitals," responded Mr. Davis.


    He took note of the other three vampires, who looked dull and weak, theirplexion worse than the other. "Do you need these?"


    "Not anymore. They have turned into rogue or corrupted vampires. I was wondering if you would need them," answered his wife, and Mr. Davis picked up the wooden stakes,ing to stand in front of them before he pushed the wood into their chest where their heart rested.


    Soon the vampires'' bodies turned brittle as if the slightest touch would crumble the bodies into dust.


    "What are you nning to do with me?" came the feeble voice from the only survived vampire.


    "We are trying to find if we can create a cure for the vampires, who were obviously once a human, who is now infected with the disease of wanting to suck people''s blood out. Once we are able to do it, you will be a free man," exined Mr. Davis in a nonchnt tone.


    "There''s no cure for us vampires. Once turned, you continue to live as an immortal. I didn''t do anything to you," came the ragged voice of the vampire.


    "That is because no one has ever created a cure, all everyone has thought about is to stake vampires. But imagine the number of people we could bring back to their original human self and remove the entire race of these vampires," said Mr. Davis with a light chuckle. "My wife believes it is better to sever your head than let you live and do this hassle like a job. But I said why not give it a try."


    "So you have turned me into an experimental rat," the vampire sneered in anger.


    "You don''t have to feel that bad about it. Consider it to be something where you are being useful to the society," said Mrs. Davis, walking to where the vampire was. She stabbed something into the vampire''s neck before pulling out the syringe. "The vampires have been nothing but problematic. I lost some of my family members because of you people. It is either we get the cure, or we kill you," she offered a spine chilling smile to the vampire.


    In a matter of a few seconds, the vampire started to convulse, and ck blood started to drip out of his mouth.


    On the floor above, Mnie had locked herself in her room. Sheid in the bed with the nket pulled up till her nose while her eyes kept darting towards the door and the window. Even the slightest sound had her eyes dart in the direction.


    Unable to keep her eyes open for far too long, Mnie slowly drifted to sleep, were the fears that had emerged creeped into her dreams.


    In her dream, she ran past the trees, her feet trying to move as fast she could while she heard the growlsing not too far behind her. Her chest heaved for air, and she tried to breathe, but it felt like her lungs had exhausted the possible oxygen in her body. She was surrounded by darkness, and when she turned around, she saw It was Simon, whose fangs had appeared and his eyes bright red, and he opened his mouth as if ready to take a bite from her. But before she could run more, she twisted her ankle, and she fell backwards, on the ground.


    Simon pounced on her.


    Mnie shrieked in fear, waking up from her sleep and pushing the nket from her chest and sat upright on the bed. Sweat covered her forehead, and her pillow had turned wet too. She softly gulped while looking around her room, where themp that she had left to glow earlier had been turned off.


    She was sure she wasn''t the one to turn it off. Pushing the nket to the side, she slowly bent forward to lean and check below her bed before sitting upright again. Feeling a little anxious, she stepped out of her room and made her way to where the guest room was. It seemed like her parents had gone to sleep.


    Reaching the front of the room, she turned the knob as carefully as she could before opening it and taking a peek inside. She saw Simon''s silhouette sleeping on the bed, and she let out a sigh of relief. Vampires didn''t sleep, did they? At least one would not be looking that peaceful while sleeping, thought Mnie.


    Maybe she was only overthinking about the situation.


    With that thought, Mnie closed the door and went back to her room to sleep.


    Back in Veteris, the three Elders and the headmistress of the university were in one of the mansion rooms. Luciano made a disapproving sound in his throat and said,


    "Enoch has left too many bodies and we have no trace of where he had disappeared to. How hard was it to catch a vampire who was weak?!"


    "It is what Donovan said, Luciano," replied Castiel, who sat with his back leaned against the chair, with his legs crossed.


    "Hmph, who knows maybe Donovan purposely let him go because he wanted to. Why isn''t he even here with us, when we have pressing matters?" questioned Luciano, jerking his head to the side, where his blonde hair moved to the side. "When I asked the servant here, the person had no idea where Donovan was. Maybe he went to meet Enoch after helping him run away."


    "Aren''t you going a little ahead with your imagination there, Luciano," remarked Castiel and Luciano sent a re at the Elder vampire, who sat on the other side of the room. "Donovan might have worked with Enoch in the past, but whatever happened in Willow Creek, Donovan had nothing to do with it."


    "You might not believe me, but I can bet on your heart that he''s up to something," harrumphed Luciano.


    "Have you heard anything from Wace?" questioned Remy.


    Dante nodded, "He''s entered one of the hunter''s houses. They have involved their children into the group."


    "I believe it is time you find a reason to have the two hunter''s children to be kicked out of the university," stated Luciano, crossing his arms and watching the vampiress.


    "It is not how things work here. And taking such sudden actions will raise suspicion in the hunter''s minds," replied Dante in an even tone. "Who knows we might get an advantage by having them around. I will arrange for someone to keep a closer look at them. Someone should have spotted Enoch, somewhere."


    When they stepped out of the room, Castiel asked Remy, "Did you hear anything from Donovan?"


    Remy stared at Castiel with his expressionless face, before he replied, "He seemed a little excited.. My guess is he''s probably gone to see Moltenore."