Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire

Chapter 524: Good to know he has sense

“I—” Aurelius’s mouth fell open, unsure how to respond to that.

When Aylin’s eyes kept widening, and she kept indicating with her head that he should speak, Aurelius let out a little abashed laugh.

“There’s no schedule,” He said, “I was making a joke.”

“And why would you do that?” Aylin asked in such a lofty tone that Aurelius looked a bit sheepish.

“No reason,” he said and then gathered himself, “Look, it doesn’t work on a schedule, and I don’t get informed when the next one will be beforehand. At least, it hasn’t happened yet.

Why don’t you ask Caius, though? He seems to know a ridiculous amount more about this than I do.”

“Oh, I’d love to,” Aylin said wistfully, “But he’s not here.”

“Why don’t you call him then?” Aurelius said, “I’m sure he left you a way to.”

“Yeah, but he isn’t responding. Wherever he is, whatever he’s doing, he’s not responding to his Loqui-link,” Aylin said with a hint of resentment sipping into her wistfulness now.

“Oh,” Aurelius said.

Caius had given Aurelius his Loqui-link contact, but Aurelius had never once thought to use it, so he had no idea Caius couldn’t be reached right now, which made him a little upset.

“So, assuming there was an emergency and I needed his help, which he offered enthusiastically, mind you, he would just not be available?” Aurelius voiced out in annoyance.

“Hello?” Aylin called to him, and when he looked at her, she gestured at herself,

“What do you think I and the others are here for? For that matter, why do you think I’m asking when the next trial is if not to help?”

Aurelius opened and closed his mouth a few times, and the abashed expression was back. Fortunately, before Aylin said anything more to him or he became required to speak again, the Portal Gate appeared.

When Professor Arlette stepped out of her Portal Gate to teach the class, Aylin forgot all about Aurelius and had to stop herself from standing and giving the Professor an energetic welcome. She had really become fond of Arlette over the break.

Aylin’s strongly growing love for Arlette was put to the test, though, when the lesson started, and she and the rest of the class were being drilled harder than ever on Alchemical processes. There was a rush to the lecture and very little room for mistakes.

Arlette wasn’t even her usual easy-going and lightly flirtatious self and seemed actually to be in a bit of a mood. Maybe it was because she, like the students, thought it was stupid that they only had two weeks to get through a month and a half worth of work.

Despite being the best student in the class, Aylin couldn’t avoid a few mistakes and was more than happy when class finally ended, and it was time for Break.

Aurelius stood up with a deep sigh and began to gather his things. The busyness of the class had kept Aylin from drilling him for answers he didn’t have, and he was trying his best to leave the classroom as fast as he could.

Aylin didn’t pay him much mind. For one, she accepted she wasn’t going to get much or anything from him, and for another, she couldn’t take her eyes off Arlette’s weary face.

So she approached Arlette after the rest of the class had left.

“Professor?” She called.

“Hi, Aylin,” Arlette greeted with her first smile of the day, “How was your Mid-semester break?”

“You know how it was,” Aylin pointed out.

During the break, she had kept up with the Professor, and while they had started strictly with Alchemy, their talks eventually shifted to more casual things, and soon, there was nothing interesting that happened to her, few as that was, that Aylin didn’t tell Arlette.

Arlette nodded with a smile.

“Right, right,” she agreed with a little laugh, “So then, how has your first day back at school been?”

“Besides your stressful class?” Aylin said, causing Arlette to laugh again, “It was just a big wad of propaganda nonsense.”

That caused the smile on Arlette’s face to slip a little.

“What?” She said.

“Leonce Duval— you might know him. He was here talking about Vampires and such,” Aylin said dismissively.

“He came to your class first?” Arlette asked then.

She had been informed, along with the rest of the staff, that Leonce would be doing a short lecture circuit all over the Academy for a few days, but Arlette had been so busy preparing for her class that she hadn’t had time to tap into the Staff room and learn which year he started with.

“Yes,” Aylin said slowly as she now noticed the look on Arlette’s face, “What is it?”

“Come with me,” Arlette said, and the Portal Gate appeared to admit them into her office.

A few minutes later…

“No!” Aylin said with wide eyes after Arlette just revealed something to her, “Professor, you— and Caius?”

Arlette was sitting at the edge of her desk in front of Aylin. Her hands were gripping the edge as she shrugged her shoulders.

“I can’t believe it,” Aylin let out, “How could I have missed it?”

Arlette said nothing and just let Aylin take in the reveal. Arlette wondered if Caius had been hoping to reveal this information to Aylin himself, but felt she had earned the right to make the decision herself after how close she had gotten to her best student.

“Oh, this is wonderful!” Aylin said and leaped to her feet to pull Arlette into a firm hug,

“I knew there was a reason I was so drawn to you!”

“You’re taking this well,” Arlette noted with a chuckle.

“Oh, Caius can have such bad taste, namely Kaya ’cause she annoys me sometimes and is so competitive,” Aylin said,

“But with you— Oh, it’s so good to know he has sense. Between you and me, he really knows how to pick ’em.”

“My goodness, that’s a lot of praise,” Arlette said as Aylin finally released her.

“Oh, we have so much to talk about,” Aylin said then.

“We do?” Arlette asked, skeptical. She wasn’t deluded into thinking she knew everything about Aylin, and vice versa, but Aylin had spoken as though the reveal added even more to the list of what they didn’t and should still get to know about each other.

“Of course!” Aylin said excitedly, “First, when was it? How was it? It was incredible, wasn’t it?”

Arlette blinked as she noticed a trend in the series of questions Aylin now had and, not that she was shy to talk about it—she really wasn’t—but telling Aylin about her relationship with Caius had only been a pitstop on the way to more serious matters— to why she called her in here.

“Before we talk about that,” Arlette stopped Aylin, who was already getting carried away, “We need to talk about Caius.”

“What about him?”

“I believe Leonce Duval is after him,” Arlette said,

“I’ve been suspecting since I learned Caius was wanted for an inquiry. That was already pretty damning, but then for Leonce Duval to pick the First-years to start his lecture—

I think it would have been normal for him to start with the older years and only visit your year as more of a courtesy. Magically, you’re young, and there is very little risk that a vampire would be hiding among your midst. At least, as far as he’s aware.

Unless he had cause to visit the first years first. Like maybe he suspected there was one among you…”

Arlette rambled a bit, but Aylin hung on every word. She found it interesting that the only thing Arlette had confirmed was that she had a relationship with Caius, and she, Aylin, already knew that meant Arlette knew what Caius was.

It was common sense, of course; As far as Aylin knew, every romantic and sexual partner Caius had gained, he had revealed himself to. It’s essential and helps smooth things over when he eventually sinks his fangs into their neck.

“Tell me everything that happened,” Arlette said, and Aylin instantly launched into all that had happened in the Combat Magic classroom.

The more Arlette heard, the more trepidation she felt.

“He’s trying to create an atmosphere no vampire can thrive in. An innocent and important thing to do when hunting a vampire, but it doesn’t bode well for a harmless vampire.

If he’s after Caius, I worry it won’t be long before he turns his attention to you.”

Aylin didn’t seem worried. She just sneered.

“I’d like to see him try. The Khiones won’t go down as easily as his victims in the capital have,” she said, and she actually sounded menacing.

“I would hope we could keep things from escalating to the point of involving your families. If things reach that point, it might already be too late.

But not to worry. Things haven’t reached that stage yet. And fortunately, or unfortunately, we might now have an in with the Task Force.”

“Really?” Aylin piped.

“Yes, Caius’s cousin,” Arlette answered.

“Oh, that’s great,” Aylin said.

“Not really, she hates and hunts vampires,” Arlette said.

“Oh,” Aylin said, a bit downturned.

“But she is our best bet to stay ahead of all this,” Arlette said,

“So for now, just behave as you normally would and let me handle this.”