Chapter 286: He would not cause any trouble at all.

"We are here."

Garrick spoke as he looked outside and Lucian...

"We are...?"

He frowned.

He looked outside again.

Nothing seemed different, there were tall buildings, hotels, restaurants, cars moving through busy roads, it was all normal.

Though of course, from what Lucian had read so far, he knew that was exactly how the Vampires lived.

Garrick looked at him and smiled.

"The Arcelis House owns the companies that own the companies that own most of these buildings."

"That sounds... unnecessarily complicated."

Lucian frowned.

"It is supposed to."

Garrick chuckled.

"We can’t have normal people looking into the records and finding that every single one of the buildings here is owned by a single power, now can we?"

"I thought big companies like these had public shares with different investors."

"They do."

Garrick nodded.

"Most of those investors are just different fronts the Arcelis use."

"...ah."

Lucian nodded.

Their car continued, there were two more Enclave vehicles driving ahead of them, and behind them was the reinforced transport truck carrying Varek, followed by another escort vehicle.

Lucian continued staring outside, if he couldn’t see it before, now it was clearer. The people on the streets, many of them did not have a heartbeat.

Vampires.

He also noticed that quite a few of these vampires did not have the crimson eyes Vampires were usually known for.

Low-Blood Vampires.

Lucian tallied everything he saw with what he had read so far, it was... an interesting experience.

Soon, however, a frown appeared on his face.

"...why are there humans here? They do not seem like hunters either."

He asked with a frown, his eyes noticing more than a few normal humans.

Garrick actually laughed out loud.

"No hunter is foolish enough to enter Vampire territory without a proper permit. As for the humans here..."

Garrick stared outside as well, at the humans who seemed completely normal, a woman pushing a stroller, two teenagers eating outside a cafe, an old man carrying grocery bags, there were even a few office workers and some tourists.

"Quite a few of them know the truth."

The Warden Seat revealed the truth.

"They know?"

Lucian blinked in surprise.

This many people knew?

"Again, not everyone."

Garrick clarified.

"But there are a few normal humans who know the truth.

Look."

He pointed towards a particular couple.

Lucian turned and saw a pale woman walk out of an expensive clothing store while talking to a man. The man carried several bags for her, she said something, he laughed, then she reached over, fixed his collar and kissed his cheek.

The woman was a Vampire.

The man was not.

"So he knows?"

Lucian asked.

"He most probably does.

Vampires are arrogant, they do not pretend to be human, those they interact with usually know."

"That’s ironic, considering they are buying things through a network of companies."

Lucian couldn’t help but point out how strange this sounded. Garrick shook his head.

"They have no choice. No matter how arrogant they are, they still couldn’t reveal their existence to humans and cause panic, that goes against the supernatural world. This is also the reason they rarely leave their territory, they do not like explaining things, so they mostly work with people who know the truth."

"What about humans?"

"What about them?"

"I’ve always wondered this, even when I used to watch several Vampire shows. Why do humans work for Vampires? Especially when they know they are Vampires. That’s like inviting death to your doorstep, no?"

And just as he asked that, his eyes fell on a particular modern glass building. There was nothing particularly unusual about it, clean white exterior, large windows.

People regularly walked in and out of it and Lucian noticed that the people who walked out... their heartbeats were a little erratic.

He narrowed his eyes, he stared at a particular woman, there was a small square patch on the inside of her elbow. The man behind her had the same patch.

Garrick noticed his gaze and nodded.

"That’s a blood centre."

And Lucian’s face changed.

"So it really does exist..."

Garrick only smiled.

"So these humans are selling their blood for money?"

"Some are."

Garrick nodded.

"Vampires are not stingy when it comes to blood. Though not everyone goes in just for money, some donate their blood for free."

"They... donate it? Why?"

Lucian tilted his head.

"To curry favour, make a good impression, there can be many reasons, you can’t be certain about it."

"Hmmm."

Lucian nodded, he kept staring at the building since their car had slowed down.

"How much do they get?"

He asked.

"It depends."

"On?"

"Health. Age. Blood type. Diet. Supernatural compatibility. Certain Vampires develop... preferences as well."

"Preferences?"

"Taste."

"...right."

Lucian nodded.

"It is actually quite common, wealthy Vampires pay people several hundred thousand a year simply to maintain a specific lifestyle and provide blood exclusively to them."

"People have really made a career out of this, huh?"

"You’d be surprised, there are families built on this career."

"Well...

It is far better than Vampires hunting down Humans."

Lucian shrugged.

Since they weren’t forcing anything, who was he to judge them?

Several hundred thousand dollars was quite an amount, most people do not make that. Heck, Lucian knew a few people who might willingly take this job for the money, not to mention there were additional benefits of having private healthcare, food and protection.

"Then there’s also pleasure."

Garrick dropped the bomb.

"Oh?"

That immediately got his attention and Garrick noticed that.

"Do not sound that interested."

He laughed.

"I am naturally curious."

"Of course."

The Warden Seat laughed again.

"Certain Vampire bloodlines produce compounds through their saliva when feeding, some of these compounds induce relaxation, some cause... pleasure, euphoria or... emotional attachment."

"So Vampire bites can be addictive?"

Lucian’s eyebrows rose.

He did not like the sound of that.

"Some, yes."

Garrick nodded.

"And we do not do anything?"

Lucian tilted his head.

"There is very little we can do inside Vampire Territory."

Garrick spoke, looking at Lucian with a meaningful look on his face and Lucian understood. Vivienne specifically instructed him to be careful about what he said here and he...

He was going to follow that.

He would be careful.

He would not cause any trouble at all.