The other Vampires in the room all felt Sergeant Faye's heart began to race as she said the last part, and she was now visibly sweating.
The other Vampires all thought that she was simply over-reacting, but that was only because the didn't know just how over-protective of Tsukuru Shizuka was.
While Sergeant Faye had once referred to Shizuka as a "helicopter parent", the term "momma bear" was immensely more accurate.
She had seen just how zealous these "protective instincts" of Shizuka's were, when Shizuka had threatened to "bury the Second-Years in a hole so deep, they'd be FOSSILS by the time they were located" back when she and Shizuka had been alerted to the existence of the "Assembly Hall Incident".
Shizuka remained silent for a moment.
'So, Tsu-Tsu knows about the existence of these 'Vampires', as well, huh?' she thought. 'I guess it does make sense, him and that 'Talen' boy are almost always together.'
However, Shizuka's eyes then narrowed, as she remembered something.
Earlier tonight wasn't the ONLY time she had noticed a certain…gap…in her memory.
"Faye," Shizuka growled in a low tone, turning to look at Sergeant Faye with a dark expression.
Sergeant Faye let out an instinctive "Eep!" when she saw the look, and jump back, feeling as if she just had a heart attack.
"Tonight wasn't the ONLY TIME you've used this 'Influence' Skill on me, was it?"
Earlier in the week, when she and Sergeant Faye had tracked down Tsukuru, who had the already-mentioned 'Talen' by with him at the time, to have him go create the "Salvage Materials" after the failure of the mission, something…strange…had happened to Shizuka.
One second, she was standing right next to Sergeant Faye, and the next, she was holding the Talen boy's hand as she stood on the third floor of the Student Dormitory.
And she hadn't had ANY IDEA how she had gotten there, until the Talen boy explained to her that Faye had told her to "escort him" to Logan Green's room.
Sergeant Faye started laughing nervously, glancing away.
But this only made Shizuka tighten her face.
She wasn't laughing.
A moment later, Sergeant Faye looked back at Shizuka, and saw the expression on her face, and even worse, her hand gripped tightly on the handle of her rapier.
Sergeant Faye gulped.
"Alright, yes," she replied, bowing slightly and putting her hands together into the form of a "prayer". "I've used the Influence Skill on you before. I'm sorry! I just…"
She glanced away, looking guilty.
"...I needed to speak with Student Hikiko ALONE to see if he knew anything that could be…of value to my investigation," she replied. "And I knew that, seeing as how your brother was involved, you would have most likely gone with me."
Still wearing a dark expression, Shizuka's eyes narrowed.
Seeing the look, Sergeant Faye's heart jumped.
The next second, Shizuka's arm lashed out, and grabbed Sergeant Faye by the scruff of her military uniform.
She held Sergeant Faye up in the air, holding her slightly above herself on the ground.
"You used this 'Skill' of yours on HIM as well, didn't you?!" she growled in an accusatory tone.
The other Vampires in the throne room looked completely dumbstruck, their eyes wide and their jaws dropped.
They couldn't believe what they were seeing.
Normally, this kind of interaction would be the other-way-around, with the Vampire holding up the Human by their shirt.
But, they were all ignoring two major factors.
First, Shizuka had been right next to Sergeant Faye, making it easy for her to grab her.
And secondly, Sergeant Faye had been momentarily stunned with slight fear from the look on Shizuka's face, making it hard for her to respond in time.
It was essentially as if a Vampire had used the "Daze" Skill on her.
Hearing Shizuka's words, Sergeant Faye glanced away.
If Shizuka was having this bad of a reaction to just the idea of her using the Influence Skill on Tsukuru, then she knew that she absolutely couldn't tell Shizuka how she had essentially man-handled him, holding him in, ironically enough, the same way that Shizuka was currently holding her.
"I…attempted to, yes," she replied in a nervous tone that made it sound like she was walking on egg shells.
Shizuka gritted her teeth in fury.
"You 'attempted to'?!" she snarled. "What the hell does THAT mean?!"
To Shizuka's surprise, her question was answered by Muka, instead of by Faye.
"It means that this brother of yours, this 'Hikiko Tsukuru', seems to be completely immune to the Influence Skill," she replied. "It's the primary reason why I've asked Faye to keep an eye on HIM, as well. I'll be honest, the boy has…piqued my interest. There's never been a recorded case of ANYONE, Human or Vampire, who has been immune to the Influence Skill."
Sergeant Faye looked at Muka in wide-eyed shock.
Whether she knew it or not, Muka had just, quite literally, "thrown Sergeant Faye to the Wolves", as it were.
She turned back to Shizuka, and the girl looked like she was trying to burn a hole into Sergeant Faye's head.
"So, you're keeping tabs on little Tsu-Tsu, too, huh?" she asked in a low tone, her grip tightening around Sergeant Faye's military uniform, Shizuka's skin turning white from the effort.
Sergeant Faye held up both her hands in front of her in a gesture of surrender.
"I swear, I mean Student Hikiko no harm!" she replied. "Do you really think I would try to mess with him after how you almost KILLED the last Higher-Up who DID?!"
Sergeant Faye let out an exhale of air, trying to calm herself down.
"And as for me 'attempting' to use the Influence Skill on him, Student Hikiko seemed more AMUSED by it than angry," she replied. "Besides, do you really think that he would be giving me food every morning if he was holding some grudge against me for trying to mind-control him?!"
Shizuka's face softened somewhat, as she took in Faye's words.
She did recall that as of late, Sergeant Faye had been "taking trips" to Tsukuru's table, and returning back with what appeared to be a bowl full of some kind of…cubed pieces of meat.
But, the words of the armored individual on the throne did make Shizuka think about something.
'Why would Tsu-Tsu be IMMUNE to this…'Influence' Skill?' Shizuka thought in confusion. 'Does it…have something to do with his 'System' of Mom's? Like a firewall on a computer?'
Shizuka was snapped out of her musings, as she heard a chorus of snickering coming from the others.
Looking back towards the back of the throne room, she saw that all of the Vampires around Muka were all trying to suppress their snickers.
"Wow, Faye," one of the female Vampires replied. "You need a HUMAN to help you find food? How embarrassing!"
Her words made the snickers of those in the room get even louder.
"That's enough," Muka's voice replied, her calm voice slicing through the laughter, making it come to an abrupt halt.
The Vampires all turned back to Muka.
"Faye has only been a Vampire for a short while, and she has spent her whole life eating Human food," she replied. "It's only natural that she would find it hard to find foods that would be…compatible with our physiology."
Muka then turned to look at Sergeant Faye, who was looking at her, despite still being held up in the air by Shizuka.
"And seeing that this 'Hikiko Tsukuru' boy has spent the most time around a Vampire out of anyone who knows of their existence on the base, he is likely the best person to ask," she continued.
All around Muka, the Vampires all let out low grumbles of dissatisfaction.
They honestly couldn't tell if the way Muka was treating Faye was just because she had been turned less than a week ago…or if she was showing FAVORITISM toward her due to Faye being an extremely-rare Subclass.
Muka then turned her attention to Shizuka.
"Miss Shizuka, please release Faye," she replied.
Shizuka narrowed her eyes at Muka, before then turning her attention back to Sergeant Faye.
To be honest, most of the fight in her had pretty much leaked out of her, and she was starting to run out of reasons to be hostile towards her.
It was apparent that she wasn't a threat, neither to the military, nor to Tsukuru.
And, as far as the higher-ups in the military were concerned, she was still a model subordinate.
Shizuka let out a sigh, and released her grip of Sergeant Faye, causing her to drop back down to the floor.
Muka nodded in approval.
"Thank you," she replied, before turning her attention back over to Sergeant Faye.
"Faye Dallum, I've made my decision," she replied.