Chapter 105 (2/2)

“I don’t think Battie is that bad,” Lily said as she nodded. “She even cooks for me everyday. I don’t know what’s the deal between werewolves and vampires. I was alone when I grew up. Battie is the first and only vampire I know, and I think she’s okay. Besides, there’s a reason I’m staying at Mr. Landlord’s place. He….I mean, I can’t just leave. It will cause a lot of trouble.”

Lily at this point, was pretty much penning her magnum opus. You would not have expected a husky to have the appetite for such a game of words. Plus, she just skimmed the parts that could not be spoken of. Hao Ren quickly added into the mix, “I don’t see you two as evil. Maybe you were just here to recruit your kin. If you two will stay out of trouble here, we’ll call it even. Sides, in terms of combat ability, my side is way stronger than you think. Vivian is only our second best fighter. The overpowered one is not even here…”

Vivian coughed. “Why are you even telling them that?”

Casar and Ewen Ebben looked at each other. From the gleam in their eyes, they realised the disparate state that they were in. They were covered in blood with their shirts torn and their hair burnt. It was an odd situation that they had never found themselves in before. It was also odd because they ran into a weird vampire and a weird werewolf. They even had a weird human along with them to boot. It was pretty telling that staying would have been a waste of time.

“Geh, I thought this was just going to be a recruitment mission…” Casar Ebben shook his head. “Fine… We’ll leave but, our clan will hear of this. I’ll be frank, the things that happened here, the Ebben Elders will be interested. Especially, the reappearance of the Countess. There may be a few Elders who will be keen to say hi.”

“Oh? That’s fine by me. Haven’t seen any familiar faces for quite some time.” Vivian shrugged. “Half the time I meet them, it ends up in a fight anyway. But just to give Mr. Landlord some face, if those old furballs are willing to talk nicely, I’ll talk. Oh right, how many of those old furballs are still alive?

“Not many.” Casar Ebben smiled bitterly. “The Ebbens are the last of the werewolf clans and we have attracted the attention of the demon hunters. We have been expanding quietly for years and the struggle to do so has claimed many of us.”

Hao Ren was surprised at Casar Ebben’s candor. All of them were enemies just a moment earlier but now, they were talking about their familial matters like nothing happened. A sense of irony lingered but, from Casar’s resigned tone, Hao Ren realised that while it was true that the werewolves and vampires do not see eye to eye, they still retained a rational instinct of self-preservation. Both did not like a battle with nothing to gain. Furthermore, with demon hunters hounding their steps, there would possibly come a time where the two races call it quits and join forces.

Perhaps Hao Ren was naive in his take of things. Surely, a normal person would have struggled to understand the minds of these ancient monsters, shaped by centuries of conflict. Yet, he could sense that even so, it was not as simple as a ‘you live, I die’ sort of relationship. It was much, much more complicated.

“Speaking of which…why did you guys come here?” Vivian suddenly asked. The question had been bugging her for quite some time now. “I remembered that the Ebbens were active in Europe and Latin America. There are very little wild werewolves in Asia to warrant such efforts. Just look at you two, so much effort spent for a half-breed who doesn’t even want to leave.”

Lily’s nosed wrinkled at the word ‘half-breed’, clearly detested at being called that.

“It’s not just us.” Ewen Ebben looked at Vivian. “How long have you not been in contact with your kin? There are plenty of other species who are active now, recruiting their scattered kin. The Ebbens are just one of them.”

Vivian was stunned for a moment. “Recruiting their kin? What for? To build an army against the demon hunters?”

“That, I don’t know.” Casar Ebben gritted his teeth. “I’ve only heard that something big is coming and many are preparing for it. Perhaps it is what you say, a counter-attack…”