Chapter 620: Lord and Subjects

***

Philips stood with his arms folded outside the double doors as stiff as a statue during the couple of hours that had passed since Athenodora and that nuisance of a vampire had gone into the room.

But when he heard one of the doors pull open, Philip couldn’t help but react even though he could already sense that it wasn’t Athenodora who was stepping out. Sure enough, it was the nuisance, dressed the same as he had been when he went in.

Why Philip would expect him to be dressed differently, he had no idea.

Caius paused at the door and he continued to eye Philip as he closed the door. Once the door was closed and it was clear Athenodora wasn’t going to be stepping out, Philip turned away and reassumed his statue-like stance.

Caius kept eyeing Philip for a few more seconds and then he walked up the stairs to return to the Palace’s ground floor and start reaching out to the Leopolds. It had taken some practice but Caius had learned to feel for the emotions of the Leopolds, using those to gain access to their minds.

After a week working on it, it was fairly easy for Caius to reach out to their minds and ask them to convene for a meeting of sorts. He couldn’t yet maintain the connection for too long and having a mental confluence seemed like a surefire way to get a splitting headache so the meeting might as well be in person.

Unsurprisingly, they were in his room before he got there.

"This is about that ’Philip’, isn’t it?" Meline asked the moment Caius closed the door.

"He’s a part of it but it’s a lot more than just him," Caius said as he regarded them all and then got right into it,

"There is a way to cure Athenodora."

"Really? Great," Kyre clapped, "We won’t have to stay here for a Decade, after all."

Hugo hit him with his elbow and Kyre stumbled over his words.

"Not that I’m complaining, My Lord," he said, "I’m more than happy to be here to protect and support you."

"I was actually starting to like Venuzze," Nadine said, "There’s an air of community here that I think is missing at the Empire."

"You’ve spent a couple centuries in the coven, Nadine. Underground. How would you know the air of the Empire?" Roxanne asked with a raised brow.

Nadine flushed.

"Oh come on, I’m sure you’ve sensed it too," she managed to retort.

"My Lord, what exactly is this cure?" Hugo asked in his low, calming voice just as Roxanne opened her mouth to respond to Nadine.

Caius let out a breath.

"That’s the tricky part. Who among you has heard of the ’Blood of Strigoi?’" He asked.

When the Blood became something to vie for in the original canon, the Leopolds had already attempted their takeover of the Acheron Empire, lost, and had been killed to the very last vampire so it was unclear if that lately added plot point involved them at all.

"Some vampire Artifact promising great power?" Meline mused, "I think I read it somewhere."

Caius eyed her. He wondered if she’d remember exactly where she had read it. Vampires are notorious for having good memory and being greedy for power so information about the Blood is something that should stick in the mind.

The fact that Meline sounded unsure made Caius wonder if she was experiencing a sudden influx of information that had occurred in canon to suddenly create a widespread hunt for the Blood. This could be further evidence that the plot for the Blood had truly been sped up.

"Yes," Caius said.

"It’s real?" Meline said, sounding disbelieving.

"It very much is," Caius said.

"Wait, what does the Blood do exactly?" Roxanne asked.

"That doesn’t matter as much as the fact that there will soon be many people after it and I— we intend to get it before they do," Caius said.

Meline leaned away, her eyes shrewd.

"Something tells me that ’we’ doesn’t involve us," she said, pointing to herself and the rest of the Leopolds.

"No," Caius said with a sigh, "It doesn’t. It’s too dangerous."

Instantly, there was an uproar of protest.

"My Lord, you can’t be serious!"

"Too dangerous? That’s exactly why we’re here!"

"We’re supposed to protect you!"

Those were just some of the highlights of the protests and Caius let it go on for a while before he waved his hands in placation.

"Listen, getting to the Blood is an undertaking fit only for someone at the Eleventh Circle," he said.

"Which you are not," Roxanne pointed out.

"Yes, I’m not. And that’s enough of a risk without adding you into the mix," Caius said.

Meline and Roxanne looked insulted. The rest of the Leopolds looked like they had similar feelings but couldn’t bring themselves to show it the way Caius’s lovers could.

"Is this a suicide attempt?" Roxanne asked with her arms folded beneath her ample tits and a disapproving look on her face.

"Of course not," Caius said and now it was his turn to look insulted, "Do I look like someone with a death wish?"

"Yes!" Meline snapped.

"It’s just, if you’re confident you can handle it, My Lord, then surely us being with you helps your chances," Hugo said in a slow calming tone to counter how agitated Meline had sounded.

Caius sighed.

"It... doesn’t quite work that way," he said, "It just doesn’t."

"So who will be going with you?" Kyre asked.

"Well, Athenodora. She is the one in need of the cure

and won’t stand to stay out of it. And Philip."

"Him but not us?!" Meline flared up.

"Yeah, because I don’t care if he lives or dies," Caius said in a hard voice.

There was silence for a few seconds. It was broken by Hugo.

"But why him in particular?" He asked.

"Because he’s after the Blood as well. That’s why he came after us so he could find Athenodora who he believes knows where the Blood is," Caius said.

"And does she?" Meline asked.

"Sort of," Caius said, "She knows its location."

"But you know more," Roxanne said. It wasn’t a question but a statement born of shrewd observation of the way Caius had been speaking so far.

"I know enough to know it’s unwise to bring you with me," Caius said, "And you don’t have to worry. I plan to make it back."

"If Philip wants the Blood, why bring him along?" Nadine asked.

"Because he has the strength we’ll need to get the Blood," Caius said and he could see on the faces of the Leopolds that they looked unsure about any of this.

"I have a plan," he said to reassure them, "Trust me."

The Leopolds exchanged looks before looking back at Caius. It was clear from their expressions that they were trying their best to muster up as much confidence as they could in their Lord. But Caius was only at the Fifth Circle thinking he could outsmart a Noble Emissary who had just shown himself to be capable of facing off against entire Militant Squads all on his own.

Still, they knew the best they could do was appeal to Caius’s senses. If he ordered them to stay, then stay they shall by virtue of the vow that bound them all to his command. Him taking the time to speak to them and get them to understand what he felt he had to do was more of a courtesy than anything else. He didn’t have to do it but he respected them enough to not just order them and treat them like inconsequential goons.

It added to why the prospect of Caius dying on this quest of his didn’t at all spark relief.

A couple of months ago when Caius first arrived at the Leopold Coven, the Leopolds here—maybe besides Roxanne who had already been smitten by then—would have hoped he died so they could be free of their obligation.

Now though, Caius dying and freeing them of their obligation to serve him didn’t seem so welcome. Why?

Was it because he had introduced them to vampiric concepts they had been ignorant of in the form of Vampiric Nobility?

Was it because, he had led them in the vanquishing of a rival Coven wreaking havoc on their City?

No, not really.

For the second one in particular, Caius had admitted to kind of being the cause since Brogan Kraxia did it all to draw his attention.

No, it wasn’t about what Caius had achieved or what his very presence and his existence being tied to them had promised to accomplish. It was about him as a person— It was about the fact that he had charmed them to care for him. Charmed them to treat matters concerning him as matters concerning the Coven as a whole.

He asked for volunteers to come with him on this quest. He hadn’t ordered them even though he could have. And these five here had been just a few of those who had been ready to depart with him. He was their Lord and they were his subjects. His victories were theirs and his losses would be theirs as well.

And realizing that only made it harder for the Leopolds to consider letting Caius go and face this dangerous task on his own with only his cursed creator and a murderous Noble Emissary as companions.