Frank felt a bit weirded out, but Matsuo was the most shocked when a skeleton wearing a butler outfit emerged from the ground, opened the door for them, and then serving them a cup of tea.
The gothic, old-looking manor was very charismatic on its appearance, and had an amazing vibe and atmosphere of an old, haunted manor that was finely decorated with many paintings and statues, and beautiful furniture.
He had to admit that, while drinking the tea and looking at the talking skeleton, this place was somehow really cool.
"You're very welcomed to our house, so please feel right at home," the skeleton said with a very gentlemanly voice."
"Uh, what is the name of this skeleton again?" Erika wondered.
"My name is Sebastian," said the skeleton. "I used to be my master's human servant. When I died, back then when she was as young lady, she felt so sad that she used Necromancy Magic to reanimate my skeleton, haha! Isn't that cute? Since then, I've been serving her for hundreds of years."
"Sebastian! You don't have to go around telling everyone that story!" Harumi felt embarrassed. "Ugh, yeah mom was like that when she was young, apparently... Anyways, I don't think we should just sit down and have tea. Sebastian, didn't I had a meeting with my mother?"
"Yes, she's coming right now," nodded Sebastian.
"E-Eh?! She's coming here?! Wait, we don't have to go to her throne room to-"
RUMBLE!
As the group of friends drank the tea, a tremor surged out of nowhere, and powerful footsteps approached the living room where they were siting.
They immediately froze as they felt a tremendous aura approaching them, Frank felt even the air of the room becoming thicker.
Something was right in front of the door, and Sebastian ran to open it.
"Ah, welcome my lady, you look as tenebrous and beautiful as ever!" Sebastian praised his lady.
"Sebastian... Good work, you can leave now," the voice of a mature woman echoed, which had a certain coldness to it.
"Yes, master," Sebastian suddenly turned into will-o-wisps and disappeared completely. POOF!
At the same time, the woman finally stepped in, her red aura so strong it filled the entire room with a thick atmosphere of tremendous power. A beautiful, mature woman stepped in. With pale white skin, long dark red hair cascading down, she wore a huge dress of red and black color, as if she was the daughter of some noble in medieval Europe preparing for a ball.
Some of her hair was tied behind her, and then decorated with many silver and red jeweled ornaments, her sharp crimson eyes glanced at the children in front of her, as she smiled slightly.
Her aura slowly turned back towards her, allowing the children to breathe, and her daughter to complain right away.
"Mother! Why were you that rude? They're my friends!" Harumi complained.
"Harumi," her mother spoke.
Harumi froze the moment her mother addressed her with her own name.
"I never requested you to bring them here, did I?" she asked.
"I... Uh, yeah..." nodded Harumi.
"You know that our manor is a very secret territory, an highly confidential area for our entire family, if our coordinates and protection ward formulas were leaked, we could easily get raided," her mother said. "Be more careful from now on... For now, I will trust you and your friends."
"I-I understand..." Harumi nodded. "Sorry mother."
"It's alright," her mother nodded. "Nonetheless... Hm! Indeed, you've brought quite the group of interesting humans here... Oh, and Erika."
"H-Hi auntie..." even the carefree Erika was nervous when addressing the Vampiress.
"Hello," the woman nodded. "Now, children. Why, just why have you come here together, and called for an audience with me?"
"It's serious, I swear, mother," said Harumi. "Right guys?"
"Aha!"
"Y-yeah."
"That's right!"
Harumi's mother squinted her eyes as she glanced at them in silence.
"You seem to not be lying or exaggerating, pray tell, what was it? I do not have much patience
so be direct," the woman said, as a little will-o-wisp brought her a cup of fresh blood, and she drank a bit of it, licking her red lips. "Speak."
"The only way I could describe him was..." muttered Harumi. "A monster stronger than you, mother."
Crack!
The cup gained a crack as Harumi's mother remained serious and in silence.
"Stronger than me? Are you sure? Who is he?"
"Professor Noah, he's... he had the aura of a Vampire, right guys?"
"Yeah, yeah!"
"He possessed incredible charm too; the entire classroom instantly loved him." "His scent had such a strong odor of... death and blood, that I almost puked right there." "Hm..." Harumi's mother remained in silence. "Harumi has never seen my true power though, so she doesn't know how strong I truly am... But if she's saying he's beyond me..."
"He truly is mother!" said Harumi. "He's a monster... When I saw him, his Aura... it felt like I drowned in a sea of blood, and then I saw as if the entire void swallowed me! He's a monster... and he's dangerous! I don't know why such a monster appeared in the middle of the school! Wasn't this entire territory protected?"
"Indeed," said her mother. "Calm yourself down, my daughter. As long as you're here you and your friends are safe... But if you're so serious about this... I might have to investigate myself- or well, our family should start investigating, actually. But if that's the truth, then a person of this caliber certainly has an agenda here."
"I wish we could show you something to tell you more but..." muttered Harumi. "Well, I guess we can tell you how he looked and everything."
"No need," Harumi's mother said. "Simply think about that memory again, and I will see it." Her mother waved her hand, as a pink thread connected her head with Harumi.
Then, with such powers, she saw inside of her daughter's memories.
And saw what she saw.
Her eyes widened, seeing the same aura, the same man, and feeling the same sensations her
daughter did.
"Ugh...! What a sinister aura! This is...?! I can't believe it! This being is no vampire! He's no human either! This being is something... it is not from this world! A Devil? No! A Demon?! An
Evil God- not even that! Just what...?!"
Her reaction was so surprising that Harumi felt even more terrified of Professor Noah.
They had just opened a big can of worms now.
Was he friendly?
Did he intend to destroy them?
They will have to find out, before it's too late.