CHAPTER 73

Days passed and so far nothing had changed. His night hunts became more prominent just in case Jackson tried killing someone. Unfortunately for him, Jackson did kill another person on the night he decided to stay inside.

Whoever it was that was controlling Jackson tried his best to limit his interactions with Tristan so apart from the first they interacted with each other, they had never taken control of Jackson's body in front of Tristan. Maybe for fear that he'd kill their precious servant should it prove too annoying or just out of spite. 

As far as anyone else was concerned, Tristan was just another bloodthirsty creature. 

Right now however, said boy couldn't be less bothered by what was happening around him or the talks had behind his back as he was currently focusing on his bloody exercise. 

"Damn it! Why can't I just have some sort of beginners guide to using new abilities" He complained but his audience, Malia and Lori, only let out derisive snorts at Tristan's self-proclaimed misfortune. 

In front of Tristan was a tree so big that he couldn't even wrap his hands completely around it. One noticeable thing about the tree were the numerous claw marks that decorated it. Some faint, some an inch deep. 

The other noticeable thing about the tree was that all around the claw marks were splatters of blood that made it look as if the tree was the one being bled. 

Ever since the day he became knowledgeable of this ability of his, he made sure to practice it every day and the progress in it was very apparent that when compared to the viscous blood that he used to cover his fingers for the first time, now his fingers were covered in blood that looked like red crystals. 

The only problem was that it still wasn't strong enough to the level Tristan wanted it to be. 

With his claws still out, he balled his hands into a fist and opened them again only for them to be coated in a bloody red crystal from half the finger up. Rather than always slashing himself and wasting his blood, Tristan settled for puncturing his palms by balling his fists and then draw out the blood from that small puncture and coat his fingers with it. 

"I still don't get what you're actually complaining about." Lori said as she swung her legs from the tree stump she was sitting on. "Is it because you think your powers are still coming up slowly, or because Jackson didn't give you a good enough reason to kill him? Or maybe it's related to Allison?" She said, listing off a few reasons she knew Tristan had at least a modicum of interest in. 

Tristan, who was about to break another set of his blood-coated claws, paused mid-motion and mulled over her words before slashing down at the bark of the tree with a higher level of irritation. "Yes and yes to the first two and no to the third."

Not even batting an eye to another durability failure, he coiled his fist and started driving punch after punch into the tree with heavy thuds. 

His naked upper torso glistened with sweat as his hands started blurring against the tree while producing deep thuds in rapid succession.

The pain, the adrenaline and the burning sensation of an intense workout session all flowed through him, making him lose himself in the feeling as he felt even his frustrations flowing out of him with every punch. 

By now his knuckles were bloodied but no one said anything or even showed concern for it, already used to a sight like this from Tristan over the years. 

With his eyes closed, Tristan felt that he could feel the blood more clearly now than he could before, almost like that night, and so he wiped the blood that covered his entire fist to wrap around his fist and when they did, without even knowing if they were solidified enough, Tristan slashed down his claws but instead of his claws scratching against the bark of the tree, something else happened. 

Before Tristan's hands came down fully, the blood casing around his fingers all shot out in the same projected direction and created five long slash marks on the tree. 

Tristan opened his eyes after feeling a sense of relief wash over him and saw the long slash mark that was different from the rest. "Looks like something new, or rather a new application of what I could already do."

"Yo Trist, was that normal?" Malia asked, having caught sight of what had happened with the last slash. 

Tristan shrugged as he cracked his already healed up fingers. "First time it happened. But I guess a lot of firsts have been happening lately so maybe this is nothing new."

"I can't decide whether you were trying out a joke with that or you were being sarcastic." Lori cringed as she pictured a scene of a socially awkward vampire Tristan stuck in a conversation between high school students. 

Ignoring Lori's words, Tristan grabbed his shirt and started walking towards their house. 

"Got somewhere else to be?" Male asked in confusion, seeing as how Tristan finished up his training earlier than usual. 

"We got a visitor." Tristan said. Though they were a good distance away from their house, not too far and not too near, Tristan's sensitivity towards blood was on another level if he's actively trying. 

Hearing Tristan, the two girls pushed themselves off their seats and jogged to catch up to Tristan. "Who?"

"Derek. And two other wolves, neither McCall nor Jackson." 

Just like Tristan had said, upon getting to their house they saw Derek along with two other teens, both of which Tristan and Malia recognized. 

"You must have smoked a fake courage pack to come to my house early in the morning along with your cubs, Derek." Tristan said in a dry tone, letting Derek know just how much he didn't appreciate this impromptu visit.

Instead of being put off by Tristan's words, Derek laughed despite knowing fully well that Tristan meant his words. He looked at the new girl with them since this was his first time seeing her with them. 

Catching Derek's eyes on her, Lori calmly introduced herself in the simplest way she could. "I'm Tristan's and Malia's sister."

He immediately understood who she was and nodded at her before turning back to the person he came to meet. 

"These are my two betas. You already know Isaac," He said pointing at the transformed teenage boy behind him, "And this is Erica." Said girl confidently flashed Tristan a teasing smile which earned her a side eye from Malia and a stink glare from Lori. 

"And the reason you brought your pack to my house, disrupting my morning workout, is?" Tristan asked again, staring pointedly at the Alpha in front of him. 

"The Kanima, or whatever you called it, attacked us yesterday, or rather it attacked me and the both of them got caught up in it." He said. 

"Well that isn't comforting to hear. Since you're here it means it royally kicked your ass right?" Tristan asked while showing the smallest hint of a smile, something neither Isaac nor Erica has seen since he started school. 

Derek didn't answer Tristan's question since it wasn't even a fight after he fell for the poisoned claws of the Kanima. "I wanted to ask you since you obviously know more about the Kanima, if Jackson is to die what will happen to the master?"

"Nothing." Tristan shared. "It's vice versa. If the master dies, the kanima will seek out a new one."

"Someone seeking revenge." He muttered. 

"Interestingly there are rules in their master-servant relationship that one is not suppose to cross, more specifically the master." Tristan then told them about what he heard about the kanima from Satomi. Basically the master is not allowed to carry out his own vengeance when contracted to the kanima. Meaning he's not allowed to kill anybody himself but with the help of the kanima. Doing so is seen as trying to usurp the position of the kanima and the curse of the kanima will fall upon him, slowly turning him into a kanima himself. 

"I don't know about an antidote to Jackson's paralytic toxins so there's very little we can't about it but I'll advise you to wait until you find the kanima's master before you proceed to killing them. Not to mention that killing the master is far more profitable since if you are lucky enough, you might be able to form a bond with the masterless kanima." Tristan gave them a basic rundown of what he knew of the kanima and what he heard from Satomi. 

"But there's no way we can know who the master is, more less draw him out." Derek complained. 

"Uhm… what about the people he's killed?" Isaac timidly voiced his opinion. 

"Hmm, that's a good idea but who wants to do a little Sherlock Holmes? I don't know about any of you but I'm not about to investigate it or do whatever it is you plan to do." Tristan said, making it clear that he wanted nothing to do with it. For Tristan, his main goal was now the mastermind behind the kanima and his patience wasn't something anyone could keep up with. 

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