Seraph

21

Serafina continued playing with the hatchet, spinning it in her hand while looking at the Hellsings. They just watched, unsure if this was some threat. Serafina also eyed the other items on the table but knew better than to go near the sachets again. She was curious about the book, thinking they might be those trade secrets mentioned before. Although she was interested, she left it alone for now.

"These look pretty old." Serafina finally said, in regard to the hatchets.

Vera nodded, "They've been in our family for centuries. Our ancestors brought them when they immigrated from Europe to America. Even when they took our family's original surname of Van Helsing, they still allowed us to keep those." she proudly informed her.

Serafina nodded, slightly impressed, "What do you have as the edge on these? I thought a vampire's teeth, but it looks like one solid piece."

"They're werewolf claws. Teeth were tried in the past, but it didn't work out. They're too small to work with. But werewolf claws can rip through vampires too, and they're a lot easier to file down to the shape you want." Vincent answered with a smile, seeming to enjoy discussing weapons. Either that, or he just liked the thought of harming vampires.

"The sachets?" Serafina asked. She noticed their silence, "Are these those secrets you can't share? I'll have you know there's a retired botanist who tends the gardens in town to pass the time. I could always ask him. Walter loves anything to do with plants. I'm sure he'd enjoy it," She shrugged.

"Then do that because that is a secret we can't divulge. We swore. Even if you have a botanist, it's unlikely he can identify everything. Even if he did, you'd never be able to duplicate it." Vera answered. All three with stoic faces to show their determination in staying silent.

"What if I just went over to that book and read about it for myself?" Serafina gestured to the book on the table. Standing up and making her way over to it.

"No, please don't," Vance's eyes lit up as he watched Serafina approach the book with her hand outstretched. A small smile flickered on his face before an exaggerated look of worry replaced it.

She grinned at his eagerness. "Your boys are so innocent; they can't lie to save their lives. Literally," She shook her head with amusement. She stopped and retracted her hand from the book. She was instead leaning casually against the table.

"They're young. They'll learn." Vera said with a loving smile while glancing at her boys. The young men were confused and couldn't help looking at each other.

"Can you tell me how you turned a book into a weapon?" Serafina decided to ask.

"We didn't. It was gifted to our family by witches; it's just as old as our hatchets. Maybe older. To be honest with you- almost everything our family knows about your kind was taught to us by witches. They gifted us the book with a unique protective charm and basics on the most troublesome monsters of the time: your kind and werewolves." Vera informed her, "Everything else was added after that and learned by trial and error in our family. We've killed many other monsters as well."