Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire

Chapter 544: It should have been me

•••

Caius stopped at a tree, far away from the Carriage but still well within the boundaries of Roxanne’s protective Formation. He leaned against the tree, pressing his head against it and looking up at the canopy of branches above.

He closed his eyes and let his mind drift a bit. At some point, he wondered if they shouldn’t have left the inn—and the Noble Emissary—behind as they did. Maybe they should have questioned him as Meline suggested. Maybe they could have taken advantage of the Emissary being trapped by the ‘Circle of Retribution’ Formation to try to kill him.

That second thought made him scoff because there actually hadn’t been a conceivable way they could have done that. Right after Roxanne pulled Meline and Caius out of the Formation, the boundaries became impenetrable. That was why she had been so worried and said she wouldn’t have been able to pull them out a second later.

Why was the Formation impenetrable? Well, it was designed that way.

Caius had given it some thought, and he understood why;

The Formation is a trap a Human was to lay down and lure a Vampire into before activating it with their blood as a sacrifice. And when that happens, the Vampire will be held down, trapped, and unable to move while swarmed with revulsion toward itself. But the Human would still be able to move freely and could then use the Formation to attack and kill the Vampire.

However, there is a chance that the Vampire has allies, and while they might be wise enough not to cross into the Formation and suffer the same fate as their comrade, they might decide to attack from outside the Formation. So the boundaries of the Formation need to be impenetrable— not for the Vampire trapped within but for the human who wishes to deliver a final death blow to their bloodsucking enemy.

And so, to attack the Emissary within the Formation, Caius, Roxanne, and Meline would have to destroy the Formation themselves, essentially. In other words, there was no win for them in that confrontation, and escape was the wisest option.

But even though he was confident they had been able to shake off the Emissary, Caius couldn’t shake the feeling that it was not the last time he would see that Vampire. And he didn’t like that thought.

The sounds of footsteps alerted Caius first, and he opened his eyes before he then sensed who was coming, both due to the vow of servitude that bound them to him as well as just their scent, which he was familiar with.

“Meline,” he said in a low voice, “You followed me.”

“We were worried you’d wander,” Meline said with a sheepish smile.

“I’m not an idiot, you know,” Caius said.

“Yeah, well, the incident at the Inn has left us all… shaken,” Meline said. “Imagine Roxanne had not been there when the attack began.”

‘I’d probably have survived still,’ Caius thought, ‘At least long enough for the Leopolds to eventually come and help.’

Caius had a feeling, from the way the Emissary had dealt with him, that that incident had been in search of information more than it had been an assassination. The Emissary seemed more interested in knowing where Athenodora was than he was in actually fighting any of them.

Still, without Roxanne, who knows what could have happened. Caius could have been carted away to be questioned elsewhere. Because of this, he didn’t voice his thoughts to Meline and just let his silence show that he agreed with her.

“This journey we’re on,” Meline said slowly, “It has something to do with your creator, doesn’t it?”

Meline had the sense not to actually say the same out loud.

Caius looked at her with a raised brow.

“Why do you say so?”

Meline shrugged.

“It makes sense. We’re on a journey to a destination you can’t tell us, and we were attacked by someone demanding to know where your creator was… seems too much of a coincidence,” she said.

“And the others share this deduction of yours?” Caius asked lightly.

“I’ll guess so,” Meline said, standing in front of Caius and eyeing him, “We haven’t spoken of it to each other, but if I figured it out, they probably did as well.”

Caius laughed a little.

“I haven’t confirmed anything,” he said. “How do you know you’ve ‘figured it out’?”

Meline smiled lightly, her red eyes searching.

“So I’m wrong?” She asked.

“I can’t tell you that,” Caius said.

Meline nodded. Caius had practically just told her ‘Yes’ because he wouldn’t have to keep quiet if she hadn’t spoken truth— A truth he was unable to speak himself.

“So you’re bound by a creator’s order, huh?” Meline said, and she looked sympathetic.

Caius smiled ruefully but didn’t confirm or deny. Again, it was basically a ‘Yes’.

When the look of sympathy in Meline’s eyes grew deeper, Caius decided he had to speak but chose his words carefully.

“I’m not doing anything I don’t want to do,” he said.

He had told Athenodora that the order for him to be silent and for him to come and help her was unnecessary when she gave him this task in the first place. Despite what his father hoped, Caius had no strong hate for Athenodora and didn’t detest what she turned him into. He also didn’t have any interest in her death and was going to try to prevent it in any case.

But of course, untrusting as she was, Athenodora had made her order. So fucking annoying.

Meline’s eyes were on him again, and then she nodded in understanding.

There was silence for a while, and she began to brush away the snow with her foot while Caius was starting to sink back into thoughts.

“So what was Roxanne doing in your room anyway?” Meline asked.

Caius blinked as he was pulled out of his thoughts.

“Why don’t you ask her?” Caius asked with a slight twitch at the corner of his lips.

Meline smiled.

“Didn’t seem necessary,” she said. “It was easy to figure out.”

“Then why ask me?” Caius asked.

“Seemed a nice way into the topic,” Meline said, “And it worked. We’re talking about it, aren’t we?”

“Barely,” Caius chuckled.

Meline’s eyes were on his, and after holding her gaze for a while, Caius let his sight wander. Meline was very beautiful—as it was practically customary for every Leopold woman to be—and unlike Roxanne’s vivacious and seductive allure, Meline’s beauty was a bit more mysterious. It looked natural and unnatural at the same time.

Youth is something that lasts a long time in this world. Even humans, who on average have a lifespan of 150 years, can avoid aging until toward the very end of their lives.

But becoming a Vampire reverses whatever aging has been endured. For example, Kerwin had been so aged when he became a vampire, and although he returned to his youth, it was an unnatural kind of youth and still made it clear that he’s definitely ancient.

Meline was not like Kerwin, and no one would think ‘ancient’ when looking at her, but the unnatural, lethal youth that accompanies becoming a Vampire was still present. Her beauty worked a kind of magic on the mind, lulling one into an unnatural state of comfort and relief and trust— not to mention desire.

And when Meline smiled and showed off her fangs—fangs that showed her lethality and how ready she was to drain her victim of their blood—that unnatural comfort remained, convincing the victim to surrender themselves to her bloodsucking allure.

Meline’s platinum blond hair shook as she drew closer to Caius, who allowed himself to be captured by her allure. He wasn’t threatened by it and thought it was only fair that he should indulge in her beauty when she was taking in his own face with such hunger.

“I should have been there,” Meline said in a breathy voice.

“Why, to protect me?” Caius smirked.

Meline rolled her eyes and continued.

“I don’t know why I held back. I suppose I allowed myself to be intimidated by your brooding.”

That confused Caius.

“I was brooding?” He asked.

Meline waved her hand vaguely.

“All through the journey to the County. You seemed to have no room for any… pleasures. I don’t think you even cracked a smile once.”

As she spoke, Caius realized he had no counter. She was right. He had been very focused at the time and had even pushed against the idea of staying the night at an Inn.

In fact, Roxanne had said almost exactly what Meline was saying right now when she came to his room, though she thought he was like that because of her ex-partner, Lorton.

“I admired the focus, and I tried to stuff down my desires and needs to not distract you from your goal.

But Roxanne clearly thought differently…” Meline paused, and now her hand was on Caius’s chest, moving up and down as her eyes flicked down to his lips and back to his eyes,

“… It should have been me.”