•••
Caius had known he would have to prove his identity. The last ti he had been seen and known in public, he had been thirteen and had done a lot of growing in the five years since. Plus, even then he hadn’t made it a habit to take trips to Noble houses.
Anyway, he had co along with a seal stamped with the Von Helsing Family Crest in preparation for this little snag in the plans of the day. He was still eyed with suspicion because, at best the insignia identified him as soone carrying a ssage and at worst, it identified him as soone who just wished to lie about his affiliation to a noble house to enter the ho of a second Noble house.
He and Arlette were told to leave their Carriage just outside the Estate’s massive Gates and were then escorted to the main buildings.
Arlette twirled her fingers and a purple haze surrounded her and Calus’s heads.
"So what’s the plan?" She asked and sounded annoyed that this was the first ti she was asking that.
Why the heck had she been going along with all this so easily without even knowing what was going on most of the ti?
"They can’t hear us?" Calus asked gesturing subtly at the Guards.
"They can’t," Arlette said.
"Alright.
To gain access to the Leopold Coven, we need to first gain deeper access to the Leopold Estate. We could have tried sneaking in but it would have been too much of a hassle. And if things go well, we’ll be led to where we need to be anyway."
"All thanks to your Von Helsing Na," Arlette said with a little smile.
She, of anyone here, would know the benefits of that na. After all, it was one of the factors that had convinced her to nurse his Vampirism just last week.
"Nah," Caius said, "You saw what happened, they nearly didn’t let us in."
"Anyone else wouldn’t have been given the benefit of the doubt," Arlette insisted.
Caius didn’t argue.
"So what’s the plan after we gain access to the Coven?" Arlette asked.
Caius paused and then smiled lightly.
"Talk so sense into them?" He said but it ca out sounding like a question. Like he was wondering if there was sothing else to do other than that.
Arlette opened her mouth, probably to question how such a vague ’plan’ could possibly have any rit, when Caius interrupted.
"Hey, you rember the ’Ophiuchus’ Oath, don’t you?"
"You know about that?" Arlette asked with wide eyes and instead of answering Caius just gave her a look and she frowned and anded by saying,
"Right."
Of all he had shown to know—whether completely proven or not so far—his knowing about what she had been made to recite during her initiation into ’Ophiuchus’ had to be least surprising.
"I rember it," Arlette said, "I could never forget it."
"Good," Caius nodded, "We’re going to need it."
Arlette canceled her silencing spell cast then as they had now been led to a large waiting room.
"Soone will be with you soon," one of the Guards said, and, deciding they might as well show so courtesy in case Caius was who he claid to be, they gave him short bows before they left and closed the door behind them.
"They’ll just leave us alone?" Arlette asked in a mumble.
"Nothing here worth stealing," Caius said, "Not according to the Uber-rich Leopolds anyway.
That said, we’re still being watched."
As he was speaking, Caius brought to mind the passages of [To Kill A Demon Lord...] where the narrative had followed a couple of mbers of ’Ophiuchus’ in a visit to the Organization’s headquarters.
He pointed at spots all over the large waiting room and Arlette followed his eyes to spot what he was pointing at;
"Surveillance Crystals," she realized.
"They record all we do," Caius said, "And that’s why we must be quick."
He was walking all over the center of the room now. He began taking asuring steps. Casting his eyes around to make sure he wasn’t wrong. He needed to be precise.
"What are you doing?" Arlette asked, not demanding, just curious.
"Searching for sothing," Caius said, "I think I found it. I hope I’m right. I’m not entirely sure how much I’ll be allowed to bleed."
"Bleed...?" Arlette started to ask when she noticed Caius now had the claw of his index finger out.
Caius cut into the palm of his other hand and let two drops of the blood slide and drip to the ground. When the drops of blood made contact, they didn’t splatter and were instead swallowed up. Like the ground suddenly stopped being solid for a second.
Caius smiled.
"Nice," he said, "Arlette, the Oath. Recite it now."
Arlette was only confused for a second before she started reciting in an ancient-sounding Language. Vampiric Tongue.
It was this language that Athenodora had used when she did the ’Rite of Noble Ascension’. Only that had been a much more powerful version of it. The ones that left Arlette’s lips were very watered down.
Arlette didn’t understand what she was saying. How could she? Even Vampires had to study it to know it. Kinda like how one would study the Arcane Codex.
[To Kill A Demon Lord...] had spoken of the Oath and its true aning as the password into the underground Leopold Vampire Coven but it didn’t actually write out the words. Caius was always going to need Arlette for this.
And the fact that she didn’t know what the words she was reciting ant didn’t matter for what they needed the words for.
The alternative would be to break through the ground but that would be foolish. The Leopolds had spent Centuries fortifying it to withstand the greatest of might. Well beyond what Caius and Arlette were currently capable of.
Also, their destination wasn’t just underground. It was so subterranean that the Leopold Estate Mansions had multiple levels deep underground to keep their treasures safe and they weren’t close to touching the Coven’s domain.
A blood-red Arcane circle appeared and began to glow.
"Arlette," Calus called and she leaped toward him so he could wrap an arm around her waist and pull her close against his body.
The doors into the waiting room slamd open then as the Guards charged in. The Arcane Circle’s appearance had not been noisy and there hadn’t been a massive disturbance of the magical energy in the atmosphere. They were clearly there because they had been tipped off on what was happening behind the closed doors.
"See you again soon," Caius called to them with one hand raised in greeting right before he and Arlette were sucked into the Arcane Circle and it vanished with them.
•••
It didn’t feel like walking through a Portal Gate.
It felt like Caius and Arlette were sinking.
For a few seconds, they were in free fall and then both of their feet hit the solid surface of a platform whose surface was etched with the Arcane Circle that had granted them entry. The platform began to descend and Arlette, who had closed her eyes while they were in free fall, opened them and gasped.
"Holy shit!" She exclaid.
’Holy shit’ was right.
It was like an underground City and sohow seed to stretch beyond the Leopold Territory above ground. Of course, it didn’t. It just looked that way because of the congestion and grandness of the buildings.
Structures—all grand and all hewed from dark stones to match the dark and moody aesthetic of the underground—stood tall and proud. The tallest of them all was still a hundred feet below the underground ceiling and was at the center of the large expanse of Vampiric Territory.
Arlette’s expression went from awe to seriousness in the space of a second.
"Caius, we’re being watched," she said.
"Well, of course," Caius said, "It would say so much of their shoddy security if they couldn’t even detect a couple of new arrivals to their domain.
Plus, we used the staff entrance so they’d be paying attention wondering what goodies we’ve brought with us."
There were multiple points of entry into the Coven all over the Leopold Estate but they were all in the private chambers and Study of the important mbers of the Family. The one in the large waiting room was ant to be used by mbers of ’Ophiuchus’ not privy to enter those rooms.
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