After figuring out that Cindy may be up to something, Peter had stormed out of the room before even thinking about his next set of actions, or talking it out with Layla.
"Wait!" Layla shouted, but Peter had already closed the door behind him, not listening to what she had to say.
She thought about what he had said and wondered if it really was a big deal. When Layla had gone over to see Cindy, she had been nothing but nice to her, and she still believed that Peter was a little out of order.
'The leaders see each other all the time, and maybe the other one was just visiting Cindy trying to convince her? Who was the leader that Peter was going on about anyway?' There were times when Layla had chosen to stay in the room while Peter left constantly to spy on Cindy.
Layla still didn't have a clear idea which leader Peter was exactly referring to.
'Arghh! You can't just run out like that and not say anything. Now it's going to drive me nuts!' Eventually Layla left the room as well in search of Peter, as she couldn't leave him be, but he was nowhere to be seen. The castle was vast after all.
Eventually, after some time wandering around, she spotted Cia instead, who lately had been doing her own thing more often than before. When the two of them met eyes, Cia gave a brief wave. The interaction between the two just seemed a bit off compared to before.
'Didn't Cia meet with Cindy as well? Maybe she can give some insight?'
"Hey, you met with Cindy along with Nate recently, right?" Layla asked. "Do you mind if the two of us talk about it, it would also be nice to catch up as well. It's been a while."
Cia had no problem and agreed to have a chat. The two of them went off for a short walk while talking with each other, and eventually Layla popped the question about Cindy.
"What did you think of her, when you saw her?" Layla asked.
"She seemed nice, actually she was really nice to me. I didn't really see any problems with her. Why, is something wrong?" Cia asked, knowing full well the question wouldn't have been asked for no reason.
Layla took a second before thinking about what to say. She was still deciding whether she should mention it or not, but looking at Cia, she could see the good friend she had made in the last year. The two of them had even gone through many trials together.
"It's about Peter, he thinks that she may be up to something because he saw her with one of the leaders, but I'm really not too sure myself." Layla said.
She was expecting a response, but Cia had just remained silent, deep in her thoughts for a while.
"So… you think somethings up as well?" Layla asked.
"No, no not at all. I was just thinking about something unrelated. I'm sure it's like you said, just an over reaction. Anyway, I'm feeling a little tired so I'm going to go ahead and take a nap." Cia said. Soon after, she quickly took off down the hallway to where her room was, but once she had lost sight of Layla she no longer headed towards her room. Instead she was heading out of the castle and planning to meet a certain person.
'Is Peter planning something, if so I should at least inform Cindy of it, right?' Cia thought.
———
Being escorted by Muka through the underground tunnels, Quinn was staying cautious. Muka was the leader that had access to the codes that allowed him to travel between each family area, and it certainly was something that would be of use if one was to attack the other families.
No matter how nice Muka was to Quinn, he couldn't clear him off as one of the suspects.
After walking through a maze of complex tunnels, they eventually came to an area Quinn had never been to before, even the tunnels looked slightly different and were wider than the last before.
"Criminals imprisoned for petty crimes are kept near my castle at the moment, but for those who have committed crimes that are more severe, they are sent here." Muka said, as he unlocked another one of the tunnel's locks.
The tunnel led them to the surface, and when they got out, Quinn could see that they were now standing in front of a castle that had clearly been left untouched for a long time.
"The fourteenth castle." Quinn blurted out.
"Yes, before criminals would be brought here regularly. I don't know if you know much of our past but there is a reason why executions aren't done by certain families." Muka started to explain.
Of course, knowing about the reason why Arthur was made punisher in the first place, Quinn knew about the original vampires.
The two of them carried on walking through the abandoned castle, eventually coming across several more locks. Whenever Muka would open these doors, he would use a specific glove.
'Is this to do with his ability, does it allow him to unlock all the doors or something?' Quinn wondered as he watched.
'No,' Vincent replied. 'The ninth family's ability is a little unique, let's just say an element of luck is involved.'
As usual, Vincent liked to speak to Quinn in riddles, even if Quinn thought it wasn't the appropriate time for it.
The two of them didn't enter the castle's numerous rooms but instead arrived in the inner castle area, where there was a large square building in the centre. The outside had no windows at all and there was only one entrance at the front, with the same lock system the tunnels had.
"I know you didn't get a chance to look at the reports, but the criminals in here have been here for a long time. And trust me, if they are in here they have done terrible, unspeakable crimes." Said Muka.
"Then why did Fex receive such a harsh punishment?" Quinn questioned.
"A lot of that was pushed through Bryce, as stated I felt like he had an ulterior motive back then just as he did now. At the same time, the difference was his crimes were to do with the leaders, whereas crimes composed of just vampires between themselves aren't as publicly punished as others."
Eventually, Quinn and Muka had entered the strange building, and walked past a variety of different types of creatures in cells. There were many creatures that Quinn had never seen before.
"What are these?" Quinn asked.
"When the punishers left, some of the subclasses that are uncontrollable were kept here, and in some instances they could be used for fighting. Don't you remember when Paul's men came and how they sent an army of Wendigos? Well this is where they kept them."
"Do you have an interest in these creatures as well?" Muka asked.
"No, these are just wild beasts." Quinn replied.
The truth was, he couldn't use the skill shadow eater on anything but other vampires.
In front of the two, there was a cell and inside there were ten vampires, whose eyes appeared dead. They had no reaction whatsoever to Quinn or Muka entering. They sat there completely still and lifeless. They looked hungry, it was clear they were only living on the minimal amount of blood to survive.
"Did you want me to bring them over to your place, or is there something else you wish to do with them?" Muka asked.
"I just want to make sure, you stated that these criminals have already been told that they will live here forever, suffering. There will be no punishments for what I do to them…" Quinn stated.
Muka was now wondering just what Quinn was trying to do before answering, but the deal had already been made and no one cared what happened to these criminals.
Seeing how weak they already were, Quinn had no need to do anything else.
"It's up to them what they want to do after this." Quinn said as he threw both of his hands together and activated the giant shadow eater skill.
They didn't try to run, and they didn't try to fight back as the shadow monster gobbled them up. A few seconds later and screams of pain were heard from them all. Not looking at them, Quinn turned around and was ready to head back to his castle.
[Shadow eater skill successful]
[100 MC points has been added]
'I need to catch up to Arthur.' Quinn thought.
*******
