The audience below continued to look at Quinn as he stood there speechless, unaware of the message that he had just received. It was only when he noticed Bonny and Void each giving him a pensive look that he remembered that he was about to give a speech.
Putting the content of the message to the back of his mind, Quinn finished the whole recording speaking his lines, like a professional actor would have, but as soon as the whole show was over, he disappeared to the side, followed by Fex.
"Did you receive the order to head back to attend a council meeting as well?" Fex asked to make sure.
"Yeah, and their timing could hardly be any worse. The planets are still under the attack of the Dalki and they won't just stop if we're gone. I have a feeling that it might be Arthur." Quinn shared his own thoughts on the matter.
Soon, all of the Cursed leaders could see the concerned look on Quinn's face as he walked off to the command centre. They knew something was up and started to follow after him, waiting for him to tell them the reason for this sudden change.
"Sach, I'm sorry, but it seems like something has come up. I'm sure you can take the rest from here. You have been a big help to us and we'll let you know if we encounter any other problems." Sam said with a nod and the Supreme Commander understood not to ask any questions.
Although a message hadn't been sent out to him, the connection inside him had flicked for a second, almost resonating with Quinn's worry.
———
Judging by the confused looks on the others' faces it seemed like the only ones who had actually received the message had just been Quinn and Fex. Either Jil lacked a way of communicating with the others, or only those two were regarded as true vampires among the Cursed Faction. Whatever the case, Quinn quickly told them about the order.
"So they want you to go back, but they didn't tell you the reason?" Sam asked after listening to Quinn's explanation.
"Council meetings between the leaders used to be a rare thing, since the leaders could deal with their own vampires in their own families." Fex started to explain. "It was only later when Quinn and the worry of the Punishers was causing a ruckus that the Council would have regular meetings. If the Council is meeting up again, I can only imagine it is something serious.
"But Quinn there was something strange about the message. It said that you could send a proxy in your place. Do you think Bryce did that out of consideration knowing that you might be busy? Or do you think he just doesn't want you to come?"
'Could this be an important enough matter to inform me that there was a meeting but at the same time he doesn't want me to be present? But if that's true, why even inform me in the first place?'
'I'm not sure how much the other vampires know about Arthur's Involvement with Jim and the Dalki. Maybe he's worried that me and Arthur are still close because we worked together in the past?' Quinn wondered.
"I..I don't think it's a good idea for you to go." Layla spoke up. "Whenever we go to that place there always seems to be a problem that you end up getting dragged into. If it happens again, then that means if the Cursed faction or the others find themselves in trouble we won't be able to help them!"
"Still, you have to keep in mind that no matter what, at some point the vampires will get involved in all of this." Sam added. "There's no way around it, not with the other half of the Demon tier beast in their possession. The Dalki may be focusing on the one on Earth, but at some point they will go for one in the Vampire World as well."
Both of them made good points, and the group started to discuss amongst themselves what the best course of action would be. Given Quinn's Shadow travel he could quickly get out if needed, but that would mean he would have to go alone, something the others weren't too keen on.
After all, nearly all of them were now involved in the Vampire World, they too were considered vampires!
"Let's contact Paul first. Maybe he has an idea why this meeting has been called." Quinn suggested. "Without knowing anything about the importance of the meeting, we might just be making a big deal out of nothing."
——
The call was being made to the other side and everyone was nervous as they could hear it ringing a few times. It not being answered right away was a sign that something serious must have happened, yet Quinn wasn't too worried, for he had neither gotten a message nor a Quest from the System about anything happening to the tenth or fourteenth castle.
"I was expecting a call from you at some point, but it came earlier than I thought." A voice eventually answered from the other end. Hearing that Paul was the one that answered, all of them felt relieved.
"We just received information about a council meeting, I'm sure you have been reading the reports I have been sending out from here." Sam said. Sam thought it was important that Paul also knew the situation in the human world.
From time to time, Sam would also contact Paul asking him for advice on what tactics to use or implement. After all, Paul had more experience when it came to these types of things.
"Yes I have, so I understand you're in a tricky situation. Let me get straight to the point then. The other day, the third leader was murdered. At the moment, there is no known suspect, but that has to be the reason for the meeting."
"Does it have anything to do with Arthur?" Quinn asked immediately before anyone else could say anything.
"Quinn, I fully know the situation over on your and our end. At the moment, there has been no signs of Arthur being involved. The way it happened, I'm not sure if it is something he would do, but the panic in place… From my point of view it appears that whoever killed the vampire leader, did so to create fear in the vampire community. If you wish, I can handle it, and I promise to inform you when it gets too much." Paul replied.
Honestly, there were more than a few reasons why Quinn didn't want to return to the Vampire World just yet. If Arthur was really on the other side, what could he even do to stop him? As a Vampire Lord he had been unable to do much against a weakened Slicer on his own, so what chance would he stand against the original Punisher?
On top of that, there were still the Dalki Quinn wanted to mark to give him a boost whenever possible. Lastly, the Cursed faction leader hadn't really gotten any closer to Paul's own request about turning his men human again.
Paul was doing a good job, and it seemed like he was taking things seriously. Quinn was aware that his Vampire Knight wouldn't blame him for not finding a way replicate something that only Vincent had succeeded in, in such a short time, but Quinn wanted to reward his diligence, feeling a little embarrassed that he had nothing to show for his time away.
'Quinn, I agree with you. Now isn't a good time for you to return. It would halt all the progress we are making here at the moment. Besides, you could find yourself in the middle of a fight between Arthur and Bryce.' Vincent said.
"Paul, I will leave things to you then!"
——
All the odd jobs that needed to be done had finally finished on Planet Caladi. Some of those that were in the Cursed faction had decided to stay on the planet, believing it was safer, while others decided to leave on the ship again now that repairs were done.
The idea was the Cursed faction would try to send support where it could not stay in one sector too long. The good news was that the teleporters that they had tested so far were a success so in reality they had a plan to support the Cursed faction and Helen whenever it was needed.
Aware about what was happening in the Vampire World, Quinn was more determined than ever before to get to work as quickly as possible. He left on a ship to the planets in the Earthborn group, hoping to fight some Dalki gaining exp and catching more Marked.
He chose those planets, to avoid meeting Graham again. After landing on one, it didn't take long for Quinn to use the amulet powers obtaining his first Dalki again.
'Your power will become my power.' Quinn thought, looking at the one spike. 'So I need you and the rest to grow as strong as you can as quickly as possible.'
———
Meanwhile, Graham himself had actually decided to move out of the Cursed faction planet area. Currently, he was in the Graylash faction, inside one of the Dalki motherships.
"The plan so far has proceeded splendidly. It's over a bit quicker than we expected and now the humans are on the defensive. Now all we need to do is decide which one to attack first, I hope you won't fail this time?" Turning around, Graham was looking at another green liquid filled container, and inside it was a Dalki that was heavily wounded.
It had slashes across its body, broken bones on the outside and ripped scales all over. It was clear the markings were not done by a human and looked more like one done by a Dalki.
"They got rid of a single five spiked Dalki and look how much they are celebrating. Well I wonder how they will feel once they see you. Don't fail us for a third time, Green Horn, otherwise I will have to deal with it again myself." Graham said as the machine was activated and soon the Dalki's body was starting to heal.
******
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