".....hm, I see." Jaden replied.

'I don't seem to sense any mana within her.' he thought to himself.

'At least, if she has any, it's foreign to my own senses...' he went on.

'But... why are my vampiric instincts sending out danger signals?' he then wondered.

He snuck a quick look at Darrel, and he could see that his son was feeling a little on the anxious side as well. As though he could sense it, too... but he didn't seem to be as bothered by it as Jaden.

"Well, fair enough, I suppose..." Jaden then muttered further.

Jaden raised an eyebrow when he heard that.

"Eh?" he muttered.

"You're not?" Darrel asked.

"But that doesn't make sense." he said.

"I can clearly sense-" he started to go on, before Jaden cleared his throat, interrupting him.

"Wait." he mumbled.

"What... part of what Desiree said is untrue?" he asked.

"The 'hunter' part... or the 'half' part?"

Jaden crossed his arms over his chest, and looked at Abby.

"....two hunter lines." he said.

"One from the Judgemental Eye, and the other of the Silver Tongue..." he went on.

"...Discerning Eye..." Darrel corrected him quietly.

"Both are correct, one's just more commonly used." Jaden told his son in a bit of a blunt tone.

"Regardless, it seems you were truly born to hunt those like us down." he said to Abby.

"...but... she hasn't..." Darrel started to protest, causing Jaden to merely sigh.

"Indeed, which makes it even more impressive that she hasn't actually done anything, despite having had a number of opportunities." he commented.

Jaden's jaw almost dropped when he heard that.

"The... MORTAL adoption system?" he asked.

"Good Emelie Almighty, we're lucky you didn't turn into some raging hunter, blindly killing anything and everything that wasn't mortal." he commented.

"Just... the absolute fortuitous coincidence of being adopted by mages in that system." he then muttered.

Darrel then sighed, and shook his head.

"So...." he muttered.

"What do you do?" he asked Abby.

"Where are you at in life?"

"....a Hunter?" Darrel asked.

"So. A Guild Hunter." Jaden commented.

"What sort of track record do you have?" he asked her.

"Even guilds that aren't so great do have SOME impressive hunters and hunts under their belt." he reasoned.

"How successful ARE you?"

"Ok, let me reword that." Jaden said.

"Forget about points and scoring." he said further.

"What's the hunt you're most proud of?" he asked. "What's the hunt that you feel gives you any sort of bragging rights?" he inquired.

"Every Hunter has at least ONE."

"Indeed." Jaden agreed.

"A feather in the cap for ANY Hunter." he said.

"Whatever guild you work for is lucky to have you, even if they don't realize it." he went on.

At this point, Darrel had clammed up, and had slowly moved to one of the corners of the room.

He crossed his arms over his chest, and merely waited.

Darrel shook his head.

"It's not that." he said.

"...then what is it?" Jaden asked.

"What's got YOU seemingly all moody?" he asked further.

"......" Darrel was silent again, before sighing.

"So... you're pretty successful and a big deal, huh?" he then asked Abby.

"....you say that, but you already have such impressive stories..." Darrel replied.

Jaden was silent, thinking for a moment, before something came to him.

"Wait a second..." he said.

"Are you... threatened by Abby?" he asked.

"I know she won't hurt me." Darrel responded.

"You KNOW what I meant." Jaden commented. "Are you feeling intimidated by your sudden older half-sister that seems to have an exciting life and-" he started to say further.

"N-NO!" Darrel interrupted with a stutter.

Darrel just sighed.

He knew she had a point.

Jaden then cleared his throat.

"Well then." he said.

"Maybe we should go." he suggested.

"You two probably have more to talk about." he reasoned, referring to Desiree and Abby.