“All the rooms that aren’t protected by arrays and our living space are this dirty if not worse.” Nok tried to take off the mask, but even without the dust, the stench of death still made him nauseous.
“Which means most of the house! I only protected my labs and libraries since it takes just a few minutes a week and chore magic to keep everything crystal clear. How could you let this happen?” Scarlett snarled.
“I’m just a Byk, Auntie. I used earth and darkness magic to keep the dirt out, but once I turn stuff into dust it stays there.” Nok showed his huge clawed paws to her. They were great at killing and ripping flesh, but useless to hold a broom.
“What about your sister? The last time I checked, she had hands!” Scarlett sighed while using magic to conjure a wind that spread fresh air throughout the house and drove away most of the disgusting smell plaguing the place.
“Nyka? You know her, she thinks that Mom is always right. On top of that, she’s getting cranky with age and says that she’s not going to waste the few hours a day that she can actually live cleaning something that would sooner or later get dirty again.”
Nok used his darkness magic to give the finishing touch and make the room inhabitable.
“Order and Chaos, are you telling me she has reached puberty?” Scarlett shivered at the thought. The worst moment for every parent wasn’t when their cubs left their den, but when they hit their rebellious phase.
“No, Nyka has always been fully grown. Yet now she complains about everything, she says that I don’t understand her because I have fur instead of brains, and she thinks to know best about everything.” Nok shook his head.
“That’s puberty, you moron. Growth is just a side effect of pups turning from adorable furballs into conceited assholes. Only one thing doesn’t add up. How come she supports your mother instead of nagging at her?”
“It’s hard to nag at someone that you never see.” Nok sighed with sadness. “Whenever Mom comes out of the lab, we’re so happy to see her that we even stop bickering.”
“Which makes me the responsible parent. Worst homecoming ever.” Scarlett facepawed herself and went to Nyka’s room to check how bad the situation was.
‘I got back from less than five minutes and I already want to run away. I don’t dare imagine the mess she’s made if she has taken after her m-‘ Scarlett choked on her thoughts the moment she touched the handle and a powerful electric discharge hit her.
“Sorry, I forgot to warn you.” Nok said amid laughs. “Gods, your hair standing up makes you look like a Scorpupine rather than a Scorpicore.”
“How hard can it be so hard for someone named Nok to learn to actually knock?” An angry female voice came from inside. “You’re a rude dimwit and- Aunt Scar!”
Scarlett was proud of her flaming red fur after which she had named herself when she had evolved into an Emperor Beast and the first of her kind at that. Yet now it was reduced to a burnt mess.
She had been away from home for years and the welcome she had received so far consisted of filth, stench, and now of a bolt of lightning that ruined her mane. The fury that coursed through her body lit her eyes of a violet light that demanded blood.
Yet her rage faded away when the young vampire hugged her with a face brimming with joy.
“I missed you so much. Mom said you had gone out fetching dinner, but you never returned. I have been so worried about you.” Small bloody tears streamed from her eyes, breaking Scarlett’s heart.
“I swear that I would kill your mother if not for the fact that it would actually help her research.” She said, making the vampire chuckle and bringing a smile to her face. “Let me take a look at you, young lady.”
Nyka looked like a young woman in her mid-twenties, around 1.7 meters (5’7″) tall with raven black hair and emerald green eyes, both emphasized by her rosy skin. A vampire was pale only when unable to properly feed and that wasn’t her case.
In life, she would have been considered far less beautiful than Friya, but undeath gave her smooth, delicate features and kept her body lithe. Every one of her movements was graceful and sensual, even when she wasn’t attempting to flirt.
Nyka wore a white shirt and brown pants over leather boots, an outfit that noblewomen used to go hunting. Together with her long hair held up in a ponytail, it gave her a tomboyish look.
“You look stunning. What were you doing in there alone?” Scarlett asked, surprised to not see Nyka walking around stark naked like usual.
“There’s not much I can do around these parts. Everyone is scared of me, beasts included. Neither of us can use dimensional magic so I have no way to reach an inhabited place and get back before dawn. All I can do is practice magic.”
Nyka showed the Scorpicore a dark yellow array the size of a handkerchief that floated above her palms. It represented a six-pointed star inscribed inside a circle very similar to Silverwing’s Hexagram, but instead of holding the power of all six elements, it contained solely air and darkness.
“Is this your mother’s work? It’s really ingenious of her.” Scarlett said. Vampires could use all elements with fake magic like humans, but they could also use air and darkness as true magic like a magical beast.
“No, this is something Solus invented for me. This way I can practice true magic with minimal energy consumption and maybe learn how to perceive the flow of world energy to Awaken.”
“Who is Solus? Also, why do you worry about spending mana? As a vampire, you can get it back just by eating.” Scarlett said.
“Lith’s companion. We are good friends. As for the blood, with the amount of practice I have every day, I would need to kill so many beasts that the new Lord of the Forest would hunt me down.” Nyka replied.
“A vampire being friends with a Royal Constable is really dangerous these days. Also, I’m pretty sure she’s not a mage.” Scarlett scratched her head with confusion.
“That’s his girlfriend, Kamila. I’m talking about Solus!”
“Who?”
“The stone ring!”
“The ring has a name now?” Scarlett was flabbergasted.
“Yes, she does! She bought me these clothes…” Nyka opened a wardrobe full of different outfits suitable for a young lady.
“…she taught me about magic, and she takes etiquette lessons from Tista with me.”
The amount of sudden information gave Scarlett a headache that put that caused by the earlier stench to shame.
“Great Mother almighty! How could Kalla leave the education of her only daughter in the hands of that thing?” Scarlett blurted out in frustration.
“Solus is not a thing, she’s a wonderful person and-”
“I’m talking about Lith! He’s the dangerous one between the two. Now come with me, I’m going to give your mother a piece of my mind. And when I say mind, I mean spells. And when I say piece, I mean the beating of a lifetime.”
