Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire

Chapter 526: Days on the Road…

“Full Marks!” Professor Raoul yelled as Aurelius began to get back up, and Delia’s feet touched the ground again.

Raoul encouraged the rest of the class to applaud the display, which they did with fairly unanimous enthusiasm. Meanwhile, Aurelius had a slight smile on his face as he looked at Delia in front of him.

“I overcommitted,” he said while rubbing his chest slightly. The practice Warhammer hadn’t actually hurt to be smacked with, but Delia had still been coating the weapon with traces of her Storm Magic.

“Good spar,” Delia said with a hand held out, and they shook once.

True to his word, Professor Raoul awarded them both full points, so their total Semester Grades were perfect scores.

And so, the Semester ended.

There was to be a two-week break, and then the Second Semester would begin.

The ladies, Kaya, Eloise, Aylin, and Delia, sat together the day before the break, talking. It really did feel like they had only just returned, and they were packing up their things again to go home for another break.

And still, no one had heard from Caius.

It wasn’t just the girls who were concerned.

Arlette had more information than anyone, and even she had no idea where Caius was. The vampires with him had not sent word back, clearly obeying Caius’s order, and if they made any contact with any of the ‘Ophiuchus’ bases, no one had volunteered the information.

Still, Arlette couldn’t help but feel it might be for the best that Casimir wasn’t around at the moment. The Task Force was still sniffing around the Von Helsing Estate— the official reason was to follow up on the invitation they had extended to Alexia, but Arlette knew it was more than that.

Alexia had also ramped up how many times a day she asked where Caius was, going from ten to thirty, and still Arlette insisted she had no idea.

“He can take care of himself,” Arlette told Alexia when they argued about it one time.

“He’s Nineteen!” Alexia retorted.

“What does his age have to do with this? How are you so sure he’s doing something dangerous?” Arlette had asked.

Alexia paused, and Arlette seized the opportunity.

“He said he was secluding himself for a breakthrough— Why isn’t that enough?” Arlette asked,

“Unless— have you perhaps already begun to agree with the Task Force? Is this about the inquiry?”

“How dare you?!” Alexia snarled, her black eyes flashing.

“I dare!” Arlette answered imperiously,

“Caius is fine. He has the right to stay away for as long as he wants, and neither the Task Force nor you can ask him to return before he feels like returning. Don’t dress up your suspicion of him as false worry. He has nothing to fear, and he’ll return when he wants to!”

Alexia just stood there staring at Arlette. Her mouth opened and closed a few times like she was struggling to find words to counter all that Arlette had said.

Arlette felt a bit bad for accusing Alexia, but while she had mostly said that to throw Alexia’s mind into disarray, Arlette did believe the things she had said to an extent.

Arlette no longer lived at the Von Helsing Estate. Even now that Lochxen was on another break, she hadn’t returned. Even without Caius around, she was very much still welcome, but what would be the point? She would be in a place constantly under scrutiny with no real upside.

She was, however, okay with visiting the Estate sometimes, mostly to talk to Alexia, and she had noticed how the Von Helsing Lady’s opinion of Leonce Duval started to change. She had noticed that the Militants of the Task Force no longer seemed unwelcome and were often treated like guests.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Alexia was beginning to sympathize with Leonce Duval’s cause, even if she still didn’t fully agree with his methods.

Arlette had also begun to notice Alexia being a lot more suspicious of her. It was why Alexia didn’t seem to believe her when she said she didn’t know where Caius was.

All in all, even though Alexia’s heart was in the right place, Arlette couldn’t help the feeling that they were both now on opposite sides and, whether she knew it or not, the Von Helsing Lady was starting to see her cousin as an enemy as well.

When Arlette left the Estate that day, Alexia was more convinced than ever that Arlette knew something and just didn’t want to tell. She also knew Arlette wasn’t going to return, and if she wanted to learn what Arlette knew, she’d have to be aggressive and take her on as an enemy.

It would involve questioning and maybe the threat of a trial.

But did she want that?

Friends had been scarce for Alexia back home in the Von Helsing Duchy. Being the Treasured Princess of the Duke puts you at a social status that very few around can meet. And she just never got along with the few who did meet her social status.

It was so long ago that she decided she didn’t need friends. She had a career in monster hunting to look forward to despite her father’s objections and hoped to one day lead an army of Hellsingers.

She hadn’t known Arlette for that long and wouldn’t delude herself into thinking this was some great friendship, not when feelings were marred and getting complicated with other… stuff. In any case, seeing Arlette leave and knowing it was maybe the end of a short friendship hurt Alexia more than she expected it to.

But it was the best option available.

The friendship had failed, but she wasn’t going to go after Arlette as an enemy. She wasn’t going to go that far. Just as it was those many years ago, she had something to look forward to;

The hunt for the Gold-black Vampires.

Who needs friends when you have a noble cause?

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***

Caius couldn’t drive totally without breaks, even though he had advanced to the Fourth Circle. He needed and did have a few rests along the way on their drive to the North.

There had been no incidents, and the drive had been quite smooth, actually. So smooth that Caius was beginning to wonder why he even had the Five Leopolds with him.

After six days of driving, they finally neared the outskirts of the Northern part of the Acheron Empire. They had mostly kept to forest paths and mountain terrains because that was the path Athenodora had shown him.

But then, her directions led them right into a bustling County.

“We should take a break, My Lord,” Meline said right then, but there was something about her tone that made her words sound practiced.

“I agree,” said Kyre Leopold then, and the others nodded emphatically, all wearing very similar expressions.

Caius realized they had been discussing this for a while. Probably in whispers during the times he had let himself go into a trance where he hardly saw the road through his eyes and instead through Athenodora’s directions.

Caius would have preferred they just keep going, but he was due for another rest, and since they were at a civilized location for the first time in days, they might as well get an actual place to spend the night.

“Alright,” he said.

“Yes!” The five chorused, and for the first time since Caius had known them, they didn’t seem like centuries-old vampires with a wealth of experience but rather like children who were growing bored of being cooped up.

“Do we access an ‘Ophiuchus’ base?” Nadine Leopold asked in her mild voice.

“An Inn should be fine,” Kyre Leopold said, “Right, My Lord?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Caius said with barely an enthusiastic wave.

And so, they soon found a place to stay. It was a massive seven-story building that seemed the height of luxury. Kyre left the Carriage to take care of the Lodgings while Meline left to scout the area with stealth.

“All clear!” She announced when she returned.

“All done!” Kyre, in turn, announced.

Caius left the Carriage and went to his room, which was massive and brilliantly furnished. He wondered if the others had rooms just as good and didn’t see any reason why they wouldn’t. They might have cut themselves off from all support, but weren’t lacking in monetary resources.

Caius let out a breath and began to undress.

The carriage had included a bath, and magic could clean someone well enough, but he had missed a truly relaxing soak for days, and despite how he hadn’t been all that enthusiastic about staying here, he welcomed some relaxation.

In a minute, he was in a large bath, the water soothing him. For a minute, his mind was blank, and then it became filled with thoughts. Thoughts of his partners— of Kaya, Eloise, Aylin, and Delia, who were now back at Lochxen.

He thought of Cynthia. He thought of Alexia and the last time they had seen each other.

But, like a bully, thoughts of Athenodora arrived and pushed the others to the side. He hadn’t heard her voice since the day he started driving, but she always made her presence known like this just to fill him with a sense of hurry.