Beyond the Bloodline

“Isn't your blood poisonous?”

“It is when I want it to be.

If it was poisonous all around, don’t you think your friend Nelo would have died by now?”

His words made her remember that Nelo had indeed taken his blood, even if it was just a drop and had shown no symptoms of being poisoned.

‘It weakened a Legendary in mere seconds, a Grandmaster like Nelo would normally be dead three times over.’

After rationalising it in her head, the girl made a decision and opened her mouth to reply.

“I-”

“Davina, where’s Lord Ja-Oh, you guys were in this room.”

Her brother’s sudden words cut her off as he and Wanete emerged from the other door in the room. Seeing them, Jamie clapped twice and spoke.

“Think it over properly and give me an answer later.”

Turning around and opening the door wide, he continued with a louder voice.

“But for now, We Move! And our first destination is a clothes shop!”

“Clothes? You’re not selling the dragon materials?”

In response to David’s inquiry, Jamie pulled on the jacket of the tracksuit he was wearing and spoke as he walked out into the hallway.

“This—is NOT my style.”

◇ ◇ ◇

“This—IS my style.”

Jamie’s words echoed once more as he looked at his appearance in the mirror, nodding to himself upon seeing how good he looked.

And seeing him right now, the twin siblings could understand why he said that.

The tracksuit he had was now sprawled on the floor inside one of the changing rooms, and he was now outfitted in a simple but classy combination of a Dark grey Turtleneck, with black trousers and a similarly coloured blazer.

He tossed in a pair of black sneakers he found to add a hint of ‘causality’ to the outfit.

“This turtleneck isn’t so bad…”

When he removed his hand from his collar, Davina was fairly surprised to see a silver chain necklace with a beautiful cross-shaped pendant on it.

“Hmm? Excuse me, where did he get that?”

She posed the question to the nearest shop attendant, but the woman who was staring at Jamie with dazed eyes failed to hear her.

Sighing softly, she snapped her fingers in front of the woman’s face, bringing her back to reality.

“Huh? Oh! I’m very sorry. What can I help you with?”

Instantly realising she may have ignored a customer, the woman hurriedly apologized, before inquiring about Davina’s request.

“Don’t worry, I can understand.”

‘I’m sure the reason why I’m not like ‘that’ is because I’m a Vampire with a certain degree of resistance to Charm-type abilities.

Making his passive Charm less effective on me than others with lesser resistances like this completely normal human woman.’

“The necklace on his neck, what section did he get that?”

Confusion flashed across the attendant’s face as she did not recall having a necklace added to Jamie’s list of items, but she still turned to confirm, making sure to keep her gaze away from his face.

“That wasn’t from here. He most likely brought it in with him.”

“Oh, no problem then.”

Just as she spoke, Jamie who had finally settled on picking a few more similar outfit combinations, passed the list on to another attendant who hurriedly went to process the order.

“What’s up?”

“…I was just wondering where you got the necklace, nothing serious.”

“Oh, this.”

Jamie held up the pendant in his hand as he spoke, to which Davina informed him of her intention to acquire a similar type of pendant as she liked the design.

“Well, not so sure if that’d be possible.

The person who made this for me has been dead for millennia, after all.”

As he held up the pendant while speaking, David who was on the side noticed a crest at the back of the pendant, one he was unfamiliar with.

‘Wait up? Isn’t that from a Witch Clan?’

The Vampire teenager began scanning his memories, trying to find out which particular clan had the crest he had just seen while Jamie was dealing with the Shop attendant’s sudden request for his photo.

“What for?”

“To use you as a model! You’d definitely draw in customers!”

The woman’s enthusiasm made Jamie chuckle lightly in amusement, but just before he could agree, the little fight he had with the dragon two days ago came back into his mind.

‘Come to think of it, there was that Clan amongst them that hated my guts.

If she wants to use my picture to draw in customers, then she’d have to spread it somehow and with the information network of that oversized lizard, it would not be hard for him to zero in on my location.

This new network they call the ‘internet’ makes it easier to send information over long distances even faster than the Magical signal formations network we used back then.

It would not take long for him to find me with that and I don’t want any noisy nuisances while I’m enjoying this little sightseeing trip.’

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to decline your offer. Personal Reasons.”

‘Like my peace of mind.’

“Oh…”

“Yeah. Sorry about that.”

The woman’s enthusiasm deflated like a balloon upon Jamie’s reply, making the Hybrid smile wryly as he moved over to the twins and spoke.

“Now that I’ve gotten my starter outfit settled. Let’s begin touring now, shall we?”

And so began the trio’s tour under the glow of the morning sun.

The city was filled with an air of excitement and anticipation, and the new year festivities still at their peak made the city to be adorned with vibrant decorations all around.

Under the festive banners fluttering in the gentle breeze, the figures of the Hybrid and the twin vampire siblings stood out quite a bit.

They easily navigated the lively streets with the aid of the travel brochures they got from the hotel, their heightened senses allowing them to soak in every aspect of the celebration.

The city’s main square, having been transformed into a grand spectacle stood with an enormous stage at one end where talented performers showcased their skills in music, dance and acrobatics.

On the opposite side of the melodic tunes, was a trade fair with a variety of products being sold by different vendors.

The food stalls lining the streets offered an array of delectable treats with their scents wafting through the air.

But while Jamie was able to enjoy sampling some of the local dishes, the same could not be said for David and Davina whose constitution prevented them from enjoying food normally.

It’s not that they could not eat it at all, just that their bodies would reject it later on and it was an experience that was just as uncomfortable as being tossed under the sun for hours on end.

Besides, they had no idea how long they were going to be outside and neither really wanted to deal with any sudden urges to throw up.

Back to their little sightseeing trip, Jamie could not help but notice the mixture of various racial and cultural styles in the city’s architecture.

‘It really gives off the vibe of a ‘Neutral’ continent. I wonder what happened to warrant this.’