Chapter seventeen

      P.O.V. - Lidia

     "Mom?"

      "Ah... I see you are still living in this disgusting hovel. Well , what are you waiting for , aren't you going to invite me in?"

      I was sorely tempted to just say no and slam the door in her face, but I grit my teeth and let the condescending bitch into my home.

      "So where are the trash you collect to make yourself feel better about yourself? They didn't all get arrested or something did they?"

       "They are not trash they are orphans and I don't collect them to make myself feel better , it is my duty as a member of the church to help people in need."

        "Don't talk to me about duty, I gave birth to you and raised you even though you were a talentless runt. God gave you one gift, your beauty , and it is your duty to use that gift to help our family. You should be flattered that someone as talented as Cynthia even noticed you, let alone ask for your hand in marriage . She's from an eldritch family, don't you know what this could mean for us? You can finally contribute something to our family instead of just being an embarrassment."

       "Mother I don't even like Cynthia...., you know what ,this is pointless. We're never gonna agree on this and I don't see the point in arguing anymore. Why are you here mom? "

       " I came on business with the high priestess to hunt a heretic, since you were in the area I thought I would try to make you stop this foolishness and come back home."

      "I am home mother."

     " ...... I see, well then there is no point staying when my presence is not wanted."

     "Goodbye mother."

    After my mother left I started thinking about what she said. There hasn't been a heretic hunt since the great purge 300 years ago, and it must be serious if the high priestess herself came all the way to Britain.

      Then I suddenly remembered the coffin with the heretic technology and the elder vampire and wondered if there was any connections between the vampire and the heretic, maybe a heretical vampire. I shuddered at the thought then I turned to the only thing that never fails to raise my spirits recently, thoughts of my mysterious hero John and wondered what he was up to since his store closed. With the smile returning to my face I went about my daily chores with a little extra spring in my step.

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P.O.V. change - John ( The M.C.)

   "So if you won't let me have a succubus what can I have? And on a more serious note, where would this creature even come from ?"

     I was really excited about the summoning , but I wanted to know exactly what I was summoning and from where it originated. I didn't want to end up with something strange or worse, dangerous. 

    "This is where it gets a little abstract so bear with me, from what I glimpsed of the ether it is a place where infinite versions of our universe exist simultaneously . Imagine the ether was an object and our universe was a shadow, then mana is like the light that created the shadow. Now imagine if  you could manipulate how the light hits the object then you could change the shadow, that is the concept behind the magic you have performed so far. But the ether is not empty, it is inhabited by things that fluctuate between being real and imaginary, things people call spirits, angels , demons, and even gods. I'm not sure whether they were spawned from people's belief or not  but we do know mana responds to thought so I think it is a strong possibility. What you are going to summon is one of these creatures. There are a wide variety of choices for you to make, I have rituals to summon anything from the  fey to an archduke of hell, here are the choices."

       She displayed for me hundreds of what she called 'viable candidates' . after carefully reading it I made decision,

       " I choose ......."