Demon Infiltration

-----Ilfa's POV

Ilfa: "Wait. So you're asking me if I want to meet your family?"

Fabian: "Kind of, yeah."

I will admit, I am curious what his family is like. I've never had a family that is given to you for free, or more like I never got the chance to. Sure I have one now to an extent, but I'd love to see how Fabian acts around his family in comparison to mine, and the thought of that gets my heart racing.

Ilfa: "Sure!"

Fabian: "Then I guess we're waiting for Kaede and Mai then."

Mai has given me one lesson on the spatial magic she uses, but I still can't wrap my head around it. I can tell she's quite knowledgeable, but I could tell immediately that she isn't a simple familiar. She also has the ability to hide her presence completely and adjust her mana output, something no living thing should be able to do without some sort of special equipment like those black soldiers. Whoever this Mai person is, I for sure don't want to get on their bad side. Which only makes me value Kaede more as Mai seems to follow Kaede's orders without question. I'm thankful I chose this path rather than deciding to fight.

...

Lunch time soon came around as Fabian and I moved down to the kitchen area. And right on que, Kaede and Mai arrived. The elves seem to be used to their presence now as they no longer become startled from their sudden appearance.

Kaede: "Alright, I'm here. I brought over some flour in order to make some dough. I figured we can try and make some dumplings this-"

Ilfa: "That won't be necessary."

I know it might be rude of me to cut her off, but I also don't want to trouble her by taking out anything only to put it back in her bag.

Kaede: "Oh?"

Fabian: "Ilfa agreed to come over to your place."

Kaede: "Wait... Right now?"

Ilfa: "Is that a problem?"

Kaede: "Uhm, no. But we were expecting a much longer wait than this."

Fabian: "Yeah... Ilfa seems to be eager to meet my family."

Ilfa: "Of course I am! You were so happy when you came back last night, we barely got any sleep."

Fabian: "Th-that's!-"

You sure are cute to tease, Fabian. I wonder if his family is the same. Wait... What if I end up falling for them as well? What exactly is a family? Do they share the same personalities? I'd prefer only having Fabian, so now I'm feeling a little nervous... But I know I should meet them either way. They're important to him, so that makes them just as important to me as well.

Kaede: "Well~ We can go now if you like."

Mai: "That would mean you have to hold onto my neck again."

Kaede: "..."

Mai: "Hehe. Don't fall off this time. You could've been seriously hurt if it was any earlier last time."

Kaede: "Then don't cry if you're unable to breathe."

Wait, maybe this will be a good opportunity. I've never experienced teleporting before, so maybe with some hands-on experience, I might be able to make some progress.

Ilfa: "Alright! Let's go then!"

I take hold of Mai's hand as Fabian goes to grab her other hand. I know that this is just for the sake of teleporting, but for some reason, seeing Fabian hold hands with someone else bothers me. But before I could voice anything, Kaede wraps her arms tightly around Mai's neck from the back.

Mai: "Okay. Here we go then."

I feel Mai tightening her grip around my hand, and in the next moment, my vision goes dark. I feel an absurdly dense amount of mana surrounding my body, almost like it's squishing me into a tight ball, only for the feeling to immediately disappear as my vision soon returns. But I'm no longer in the kitchen, and instead in what appears to be a house of sorts.

?: "Mom? That was quick."

And it seems like we're not alone. Kaede ends up letting go of Mai's neck as she soon approaches the stranger in front of us.

?: "Wait... That's"

Kaede: "Ah, right. Mell, this here is Ilfa. Oh and Fabian, I guess this is also your first time meeting my daughter."

Fabian: "Daughter?!"

I can sense that this person is a vampire, much like Kaede. I'm not sure how many people Kaede has turned, but I should keep my guard up. Especially considering the hint of bloodlust coming from this vampire called Mell.

Ilfa: "Nice to meet you Mell."

Mell: "..."

I guess it looks like she's angry with me. I'm not sure what I did, but I guess she might feel threatened by my presence? I try to smile even softer but that still has no effect on her.

Kaede: "There are others who live here, but they're all at the cabin right-"

Black Soldier: "Kaede?!"

Suddenly, the familiar black soldier appeared around the corner, interrupting us.

Black Soldier: "You brought the demon queen here?!"

Kaede: "It's fine, don't worry. You told me to take care of things, so that's what I'm doing."

Black Soldier: "I didn't expect you to bring a demon into the city though!"

Now this one I can understand. I did nearly kill them when they harmed Fabian back then, so I can understand that they would hate me.

Ilfa: "I promise not to do anything while I'm here."

Fabian: "Ilfa's just here to meet my family."

Black Soldier: "I swear... Kaede. You need to give me a heads up with these surprises of yours."

Kaede: "Hehe. Then that wouldn't be much of a surprise now would it?"

It really does seem like Kaede is the boss around here, seeming to be making all the decisions. I guess as long as I remain friends with her, being here might not be that big of a problem.

Fabian: "I'll go get my sister and mother then!"

Ilfa: "Hmm? And I'm not supposed to follow?"

Fabian: "Well, this was the arrangement."

Ilfa: "Okay. Don't be too long though."

Fabian: "Mm! I'll be back."

And with that, Fabian left through the front door, leaving me alone with Kaede, Mai, Mell and the black soldier. Honestly, if it weren't for Kaede, I can imagine myself already getting into a fight with these two, so maybe having Fabian the one to go was the right choice. But even still... I'm feeling a little lonely already. This time is still suppose to be our time.

...

Mell: "...So-"

Breaking the silence, Kaede's daughter looks my way.

Mell: "You're mom's friend?"

Ilfa: "I guess."

Mell: "Yet you still hurt mom."

Ilfa: "That was before we came to an understanding."

Kaede: "Y-yeah~ Wait. How come you knew that Ilfa hurt me?"

Mell: "I felt it. She stabbed mom in the side, right?"

Kaede: "How did you know that?"

I do remember slicing into her like that, but I would've sensed a powerful being like Mell there if she was there. Which leads me to think that Mell is somehow connected to Kaede.

Mell: "I felt the same pain you felt, mom."

Kaede: "Wait. What do you mean."

Mell: "It's... Hard to describe."

Fascinating. I've known about ancient vampires that gained power from increasing their numbers. It's a trait passed down from royalty if I remember correctly. I don't know the inner workings of it, but seeing Mell somehow knowing about Kaede's fight with me leads me to think that Kaede is of some sort of royal decent. But that doesn't make sense. Those vampires never could bleed, yet Kaede definitely did bleed during our fight. I'm so glad that Kaede wasn't serious back then, I could've easily died if my theory is true.

Kaede: "...We'll talk about this later, okay?"

Mell: "Mhmm."

...

Soon after that, we hear the door knock as Fabian is the first to enter, followed by quite a few people. Two of the women have the same hair color as him, however there also seems to be another soldier and what looks to be a maid. Seeing Fabian surrounded by all them makes my chest feel tight, but I try and ignore that for now as Fabian ends up standing between them and me. All of them look at me with a mixture of emotions. The maid stood behind one of the red haired women, seemingly scared. The soldier looks to be ready to draw her rapier at any moment. And both the red haired women look to be thoroughly inspecting me, looking at me from head to toe.

Fabian: "R-right! Ilfa, this here is my family. This here is my mother, Iris Leinhart."

Iris: "Pleasure to meet you."

Fabian: "And this here is my younger sister, Ellen Leinhart."

Ellen: "Or you can call me Yui. It's nice to meet you."

Fabian: "And this here would be Alice. And the maid behind my sister is Natalie."

Natalie: "N-nice to meet you as well!"

Ilfa: "Nice to meet you all as well."

I have to say, I didn't expect Fabian to have such a cute looking family. But I can't help but notice something peculiar about his sister. I'm not sure what is it, but I can tell that something isn't right about her. She strangely has a very weak aura, yet she stands there so confidently in my presence. Normally people that weak would die from an aura like mine, yet she's still standing despite her weakness. No, she's clearly hiding something.