Author's note: This is from Seraphina's point of view

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I entered the guest bedroom where Duke was lying and found Maria who was taking notes on Duke's vitals.

I was thinking of transferring Duke into my room, but I didn't want to move him unnecessarily and potentially worsen his condition, and there are these bulky machines for monitoring his condition, so I kind of moved into this room.

I sleep next to Duke, and I shower in this bathroom.

It's painful to see him like this, but it's also painful to stay away.

"Anything new?", I asked Maria when she kept the tablet down.

Maria shook her head. "He is the same. The brain activity confirms Mr. Orsini is in deep sleep. His body is fine. I'm confident that he will wake up soon.", she assured me.

"Thank you, Maria.", I responded with a smile, even though I knew that her assurance was just to pacify me.

I knew that Duke could wake up any minute, or he could stay like this for years. With some weird twist of fate, Duke was in his own eternal sleep, and I feared that unless I find a way to jolt him awake, he will stay like that forever.

"Miss", Maria called to get my attention. "Zeiroi asked about your whereabouts."

I let out a long breath. In the last few days, I was brushing him off.

I was planning to tell him about the mansion we are fixing up and that he can move there with us soon, but now that this mess happened, I didn't have time or the energy for Zeiroi.

With every passing day, the possibility of Duke waking up was diminishing, and the question sprouted in the back of my mind, what would I do with all that land and the mansion if Duke is not around?

Luckily, I didn't have any action items related to the reconstruction of the mansion. Duke and I discussed plans with the construction manager, and even Aldus gave inputs about underground facilities, so the work there is happening without our involvement, otherwise, I would need to handle that as well and my head might explode.

"What did you say to Zeiroi?", I asked Maria.

"I told him that you are busy and that you will find him when you have time."

I smiled a little. Maria is amazing. "What would I do without you?"

"You would starve and neglect yourself.", she deadpanned.

"Freshen up, Miss, and I will bring you food."

I was not hungry, but I didn't refuse her offer of food.

The hot shower helped me relax a bit and I took a few bites before crawling into bed next to Duke.

I was not tired. I was mentally defeated.

Now that Maria left, I had time to think about what happened in the lab.

After numerous attempts, I managed to confirm that I can feed off the vitality of living creatures.

What I did to Ari was not a fluke. I did it. I was hungry and enraged and I wanted to harm her, and it happened.

This is not an ability that got unlocked. I think it's better to call it a side-effect from sealing my ability. If my theory is right, and I manage to remove the seal Aldus placed on me, the side-effect should go away also.

However, I don't know how he did it or if removing the seal will make me go haywire again. I need to properly analyze my condition because I can't risk endangering myself. There are so many things that are waiting for me; if I end up unavailable, the sky might fall down.

I put together everything I know and came up with a good analysis of what's going on.

Even before Ari insulted Zoe, I was irritable and hungry. Ari's behavior acted as a trigger and my body reacted on instinct, thinking that Ari is prey.

It was just as when my father did it. The victim (aka food) rapidly ages while its energy gets into my body.

Luckily, I stopped with Ari on time, otherwise, I don't know how I would live with myself if I killed her. Yes, I was angry, and I don't like Ari in general, but I don't wish to kill her.

If I committed murder, how I would explain that to Fynn and his gang?

The animals in the lab lasted much less. Within a second, rabbits ended up like dried-up corpses, and as much as one doesn't provide noticeable nourishment, after forty, I could feel the difference.

My father could impact living organisms from a distance of ten meters, maybe more, while I need to be very close to my 'food'. My radius of influence is about five centimeters, and it's all around me, not just my hands.

Luckily, Zoe was further away when I sapped Ari's vitality.

It didn't take me long to master taking in vitality from bunnies intentionally. I already had practice with releasing vitality from my body and capturing life essence from other creatures, so this was on those lines, but without runes and complex incantations I used previously for experiments.

I wonder if this was why Aldus was making me practice extracting life essence from creatures previously. Did he know that this might happen? I would say that it's impossible, but then… that's my father, and his way of thinking is unfathomable.

But back to my new ability (aka the side-effect).

As long as it doesn't happen involuntarily, I should be fine.

I can assume that if I get too hungry, it will trigger automatically or maybe at the slightest irritation, but as long as I keep myself sated, it will be OK.

I remember Aldus's story about his ability. It triggered when he was starving, and later he learned to control which lifeforms are affected in the area of his influence like he can select one target among many.

He told me that it works like a funnel and that the smaller endpoint is, the stronger is the suction force. That explains why Ari aged just a bit over a few seconds, while my father could completely dry out a werewolf in about the same time.

If I learn to focus this on a certain area of my body, I could master it like my father.

Who would want to control this crap!?

The good news is that rest and regular food help in delaying hunger, so with a mixture of regular meals and an occasional glass of blood, I can keep myself sated.

If I think about this as feeding on vitality, aka energy, maybe I can find another source.

There are several alchemic pills that enhance energy, so I will try them out and see if they could replace blood.

Of course, the materials needed for those pills are astronomical in cost, but I need to confirm if that would work. If I end up traveling, asking for a sip of blood won't be practical and I don't want to leave a trail of bodies behind.

Asking, "Can I suck your blood?", won't work, because I don't have fangs, which is a pity because I think that's the most awesome feature of vampires.

I think about this as a disease. I got infected, and I hope that I can find a cure and stop this madness.

Maybe I should think about this as a good thing.

Feeding off vitality can come in handy if I'm in danger. I could kill my attackers, and they won't know what happened. Thinking about it is one thing, but the practice is different. Can I even kill people?

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