"Eew!" Tilly exclaimed and suck out her tongue in disgust. "What are you doing?!"
"I second that question!" Aurora grimaced. "What are you up to?!"
Damian smacked his lips and shrugged. "Just seeing who I'm dealing with is all…" he muttered absentmindedly.
Suddenly, his crimson pupils expanded, turning his eyes into puddles of blood. Aurora's distrust increased, but Tilly's eyes twinkled with surprising curiosity.
For a moment, everyone, including the suspended bruisers, stared at Damian with varying levels of curiosity, horror, and fury. Then, his pupils shrank again. Whatever he'd done appeared to be over.
"Interesting…" he muttered with a mysterious smile.
Aurora's eyes rapidly switched between Damian and her son, frantically searching for any sign this man had done something to Crash. Tilly, however, kept her surprising trust in him.
"That was so cool what you did with your eyes…!" Tilly muttered with astonishment. "Is that some kind of augment?! What did it do?!" she asked, grinning widely, and practically hopping in place.
Aurora turned to her daughter and gestured helplessly. "Can you stop treating him like a friend?!" she exclaimed desperately. "Your brother and his friends are hanging upside down right now!"
Tilly pouted stubbornly as her face fell. "Damian won't harm them, Mom… And besides, they kind of deserve it! I know Big Brother just wanted to protect us, but he shouldn't let that one goal blind him to everything else!"
She looked at Crash sadly. "If… If you'd killed someone whom I invited into our home, someone who's been nothing but helpful and polite, it would have harmed our relationship forever… At that point, what would you still be protecting?"
Silence fell. Everyone's attention was on her now, as both Crash and Aurora looked at her with wide eyes. Meanwhile, Damian grinned at her. "Couldn't have said it better myself, Tilly. That's why I suggested he should have kept his intentions a secret!"
"That's not better!" Tilly immediately cried out indignantly, now turning her attention to Damian. "You told me about your own little sister last night. Would you lie to her?!"
Damian instantly smirked wryly. Of course, he wouldn't, but then again, Lilith would likely ask to participate in the killing, rather than advocate against it. Which he had no problem admitting. "Well, she wouldn't have actually objected to killing an intruder, but… you're not wrong on the broader point."
"Hmpf, of course I'm not," Tilly nodded proudly, arms crossed in front of her chest. Just as any good sibling would, she delighted in the look of regret on her brother's face after making him realize the mistake he almost made.
Aurora, too, looked at her wryly. Somewhere inside, she really wanted to blame Tilly's behaviour on that strange pill she'd swallowed, but… she knew her daughter had always been this way. She'd judge someone's intentions, and then stubbornly stick to her guns about them, for better or worse.
Their attention remained on her for a little while longer, but Tilly's cheeks started heating up more with every second that passed. "S— Stop staring at me!" she complained wryly, before glaring at Damian. "You were just about to explain what you did!"
Damian, still lounging casually against the sofa's backrest, chuckled and shook his head. "Nice try, Tilly, but you know I wasn't." Tilly's pout returned, but an amused Damian only continued chuckling. "Hehe, if it makes you feel any better, I'm now convinced Crash isn't half-bad."
Suddenly, he waved his hand, and the row of upside-down hanging factory workers moved like a rotating hanger rack, until one of the others was floating in front of him. This was Echo, the woman who had previously explained their day to Aurora.
"That Zenith or whatever really did lie about Crash and brothels," he smirked, his eyes flying over the sturdy but still alluring body of Echo. Despite the ragged clothing and grime covering her body, her good looks remained obvious.
"Your brother's feelings for this woman are quite strong, and his morals simple," he explained thoughtfully. "I doubt the thought of cheating on her would even occur to him."
Despite her predicament, an embarrassed blush slowly spread on Echo's cheeks. She couldn't stop herself from pausing the hateful glaring she and her friends were aiming towards Damian, to instead glance at Crash.
The latter was now twisting and struggling wildly against the tendrils binding him. His panicked gaze switched between Echo and Damian as muffled protests escaped his closed mouth.
Damian understood his meaning and chuckled. "Don't worry, I won't do anything inappropriate to your girlfriend here." As he said that, however, he flicked a long, shadowy nail across her skin as well, extracting another drop of blood. "Now, let's see if she feels the same way."
A quick sip later, Damian's pupils once again expanded, much to Tilly's fascination. When they returned to normal, Damian was nodding with a note of admiration. "It seems you do… Let's hope you two make it."
"They've been inseparable for years," Tilly giggled mischievously, seemingly unimpressed. "I could have told you that much!"
Damian shrugged with a smirk. "It's always better to confirm things yourself."
"Speaking of which," he continued, as the long, shadowy nail extended itself again. "Let's continue!"
One by one, he drank a drop of blood from each of them. After the first three, it started to dawn on everyone that Damian could somehow extract some information about them by doing this.
Bloodsense was an inherent ability of Bloodkin, which had carried over to whatever Damian had become. Every kintype had one or two inherent abilities, and so it was for the Bloodkin.
Essentially, bloodsense allowed someone to discover another's inner feelings and desires. It was a powerful ability, but it needed experience and training to get the best results, which Damian was still lacking. Some things could really only improve with age, and so it was with bloodsense.
By virtue of this ability, Bloodkin were the main infiltrators and spies when the Eldkin were still enslaved by the Xelthari. In modern Eldkin society, this is also what made them the most adept at manipulation and intrigue.
Fortunately, even with his lack of experience, Damian managed to create a clear picture of each of their surface-level thoughts and desires, making the next part easier.
"Alright," he muttered, before waving his hand again. Instantly, the bodies shifted again, until Crash was once again floating right in front of him. "Let's talk, shall we?" he smirked lazily, before finally unmuting Crash.