•••
"So… sleeping with your Professor," Alexia said.
She and Caius were sitting at a pavilion in one of Capital City's many large parks. Her carriage was parked close by, and she told Caius she had chosen it because it was the closest to their goal.
"Hmm," Caius said as he raised a cup to his lips and drank a sip of the drink within.
According to Alexia, the drink was a concoction that sharpened one's senses. The effect could last hours and well into the nightti. It also helped boost one's constitution. It had no effect on Caius being a Vampire but of course, he didn't tell her. Alexia insisted that he drink it.
"It works better if you've undergone 'Induction' but you should be able to feel so of its effects," she had said.
Caius could at least enjoy the taste. It wasn't bad.
"How does Lochxen view your relationship?" Alexia asked with a smirk.
Caius said nothing and just looked at her over the cup while taking another sip.
Alexia took that as an answer.
"So a secret, then," she said while nodding, "Got it."
"I'll appreciate it if you don't allude to it in the presence of my father," Caius said.
"He doesn't know?" Alexia asked, amused.
Caius wasn't sure how to answer that. He didn't think he could realistically hide anything from his father. But they hadn't acknowledged it so they were in this sowhat weird space where Lucian knew and at the sa ti didn't.
"I'll just appreciate so discretion," Caius said with a light smile.
"You got it," Alexia said, "My lips are sealed."
A few minutes of silence passed and was eventually broken by Alexia,
"How was it to fight a Demon?" She asked.
Caius raised his eyes to hers. He wasn't surprised that she knew. Even if his father hadn't told her—and he probably didn't—the demon attack was a big deal. It affected Noble families all over the Empire and the news of it had spread widely.
The footage that had been seen by parents and guardians had circulated by now and while the gri, dirt, and blood might keep people from associating him with the footage of him doing battle against Belron, those who knew, knew.
"Terrifying," Caius answered honestly.
"I can imagine," Alexia said and she sounded sympathetic and then she brightened up a bit as she went on to say,
"And that's why I think you should be inducted sooner rather than later."
"What?" Caius said, almost surprised by the turn this conversation had taken.
"The 'Induction'. Where you finally co into your own as a Von Helsing. Triggering your latent gifts will help you better face threats like that," Alexia said.
Caius frowned. The Induction would definitely reveal him for what he was. No Moonstone Ring, no matter how many protective enchantnts it had, could keep that from happening.
"It's not going to be right this second, of course," Alexia said as she saw his look of worry,
"And you have nothing to worry about. You're a Von Helsing. You'll survive the process for sure."
'I doubt that,' Caius said in his head.
•••
Ti passed surprisingly quickly.
Alexia had so much story to tell. She had spent over a decade of her life monster hunting and so never ran out of sothing to say. Caius didn't even have to share anything, which was great because his life was far more boring in comparison. Or more accurately, what he could tell was very interwoven with sexcapades. Though he had a feeling Alexia would like that.
Nightfall arrived and they returned to Alexia's carriage. Inside, Alexia grabbed the steering wheel and closed her eyes. Caius felt the aura spread from her form again and knew she was back to tracking.
The aura tried to instigate him but the Moonstone Ring resisted it even better than it had done during the day. Like it was strengthened by the presence of the moon which seed expected given its na.
Fifteen minutes passed with Alexia tracking and then her head twitched. She angled toward a direction and stayed that way for another five minutes before a grin ford on her pretty lips. Her mouth opened so much that her perfect teeth flashed. Like a predator that had caught the scent of its prey.
"Got you," she said to no one and opened her eyes as she started her carriage and tore down the City streets.
She made many turns. At tis she went in a direction and then stopped short to throw the carriage in reverse and go a different route.
Caius had just thought she might be on a wild goose chase when he heard a scream cut through the air right as they turned into an alleyway where a figure was crouched over soone and leering in a way that suggested either a kiss or sothing much more decadent and deadly.
Alexia was out of the carriage so fast that Caius could have sworn she teleported. She had her sword drawn and a slash struck out.
Caius noticed that the slash was like the kind she had used in their duel but far stronger. This one was backed with her true Magic Circle and then so.
Before it connected, the Vampire leaped off their whimpering target and turned around, not annoyed at being interrupted, but rather excited. At least until it saw Alexia.
"You're not a City Guard," the Vampire noticed. The voice was male.
Rather than answer, Alexia stepped and vanished, the next second she was swinging her sword at the vampire's neck. He leaped away to avoid the swing only to suffer a barrage of slashes. He couldn't dodge them all and a couple cut through his cloak, slashed his skin, and drew blood.
The Vampire snarled and magic energy exploded from his form in a red haze:
The Sixth Circle.
He swung his clawed hands and Magic circled, flashing before lances of Dark Magic went flying at Alexia who sliced through them all and went charging at the creature to again try to behead it.
Caius watched the fight build up and beco so fast he couldn't follow it. And then he noticed Alexia had moved the fight away from the Victim that still lay trembling on the floor. He hadn't known Alexia long and this was the first ti they were doing this but Caius was sure it was intentional.
He stepped out of the Carriage and walked over to the victim. She was female. She looked about fourteen and was so terrified she couldn't even think of moving.
Caius frowned. He was very accepting of the Vampiric lifestyle. After all, while he didn't go about killing to feed, he had a coven that did. In fact, the Leopolds were arguably even worse in the sense that they fard blood. I.e They kept their victims for a long ti, drawing from them, letting them replenish what they had lost, only to take from them again.
So Caius had no right to resent the Vampire Alexia was fighting. It would make him a hypocrite. And yet, he couldn't help it. Seeing such vulnerability, he felt like he had been struck in the face very hard with the reality of Vampiric existence.
"You're alright," he told the girl in a soothing voice and felt her trembling slow but she still didn't speak and her eyes were bugged.
He gathered her up and carried her to the carriage,
"Is your ho close?"
She said nothing.
"Just nod yes or no," Caius said gently, "Is your ho nearby?"
The girl shook her head.
That caused Caius to frown.
"How far is it?" He asked, "Very far?"
The girl looked around first and even though she still didn't say a word, Caius understood the look in her eyes; unfamiliarity. She didn't recognize anything about this place.
Eventually, she confird what he had noticed with a nod.
'She doesn't live close by,' Caius thought.
The way Caius saw it, if the Girl didn't recognize this place, she hadn't just strolled here and gotten assaulted. Sure, maybe she noticed the Vampire stalking her and ran, thereby getting lost but that made no sense because that Vampire was at the Seventh Circle and this girl was barely at the Second. She would have been caught the mont the Vampire caught sight of her.
So if she didn't co here on her own, thus not recognizing it, then she must have been brought here.
'Staged!' Caius realized with wide eyes.
He rembered what he and Alexia had talked about earlier today;
The Coven wanted to be predictable. They weren't hunting to feed but to kill and capture.
With that in mind, Caius deduced that the Girl had been taken from a different location at a different ti, maybe during the day, only to be brought here at night to lure the City Guards with her screams.
And if it was planned, then…
Shadows passed above and Caius sensed powerful presences coming so he put the girl in the carriage and closed the door. Locking it just in ti to face the duo that had landed from up high and glared at him with their Vampire Red eyes that glowed with malevolence.
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