Chapter 291: You sure like the attention.

"You are here."

Garrick spoke as he glanced at Lucian, who was walking towards him. Lucian nodded at him with a smile, he then nodded at the Vampire who had been guiding him around the estate, the Vampire nodded back and excused himself.

For the past two hours, Lucian was busy exploring the estate, Garrick and Hadrian completed their conversation, Garrick and the other Enclave Hunters rested for a while and now—

Now they reunited at the Vampire Gala.

Lucian kept looking around, the place was filled with Vampires. Which, obviously, was to be expected, still, seeing so many at once was a little... overwhelming.

The enormous ceremonial hall that looked almost empty when he passed through it earlier was now filled with unreasonably good-looking men and women dressed in expensive suits, gowns, and formal clothing that ranged from completely modern to styles Lucian was fairly certain had gone out of fashion about a few decades or even centuries ago.

It felt... strange just to think about it.

To think a man who looked like he was barely thirty might be older than a few countries, or a woman who looked in her twenties might have watched entire generations of humans grow old and die.

Age simply wasn’t something one could judge here.

In the end, Lucian just adjusted the cuff of the suit he was wearing as he stepped further inside.

He expanded his senses, listening to the music in the background, several groups talking as they gathered around the tall tables, others sitting in more private arrangements along the edges of the hall.

There were also a few human attendants who moved between these Vampires with trays of drinks.

It was the same again, wine, champagne, water and... blood.

Of course, he had seen these people drink blood from a wine glass so many times that the sight did not surprise him, still...

Seeing the thick blood slowly moving from the glass to their mouths was... never something he could get used to.

"Still weird, huh?"

Garrick noticed his expression and chuckled.

Lucian smiled.

"It is."

He nodded.

"How did the exploring go?"

Garrick asked. Lucian looked at him and became... strangely thoughtful.

"I... learned a lot."

"You did?"

Garrick raised an eyebrow.

"I did."

Lucian nodded.

"Well, that’s good."

Garrick did not say or ask anything.

A Vampire Estate was a beautiful place, that was obvious. It was far better than most forts or castles humans today visit as tourists, but...

Things that happened in a Vampire Estate weren’t particularly... pleasing to the eyes, especially to human eyes.

After all, it was very common to see human servants or even slaves inside a Vampire Estate, there were also captured addicts who caused trouble, humans who had recently been turned into Vampires and were causing trouble.

There were multiple things.

Of course, Lucian obviously did not see everything in the two hours he had, especially when he had an attendant following him all this time, but as observant as Lucian was, Garrick knew he still would have seen things.

Things he must not have liked.

But—

"You should know these things."

Garrick spoke, Lucian looked at him and the Warden Seat continued.

"You’ve spent most of the last few months fighting supernatural beings. This is the other half of the world you joined."

At those words, Lucian looked around again, noticing everything that was happening around him.

Politics.

Families.

Money.

History.

Entire societies hidden from the rest of the world, societies that were... far stronger and more influential than the rest of the world even realised.

All this while, Lucian only cared about the Demons, not only were his missions mostly related to them, in his case, it was also... personal.

But...

Demons were only a part of the Supernatural World.

Actually, they were one of the smaller parts of the Supernatural World. After all, demons existed in the Demon Realm, their influence on Earth was significantly weaker.

Vampires, however, were very different.

They were very much a part of Earth and they were not weakened. They may hide themselves, yes, but that doesn’t mean their influence was any less either.

They held a few of the world’s most renowned corporations, the money in their deposits was far higher than what anyone could imagine and their influence in human politics was also top-notch.

In some areas, they controlled virtually everything.

The Arcelis Estate, obviously, was one such example.

"So keep looking."

Garrick spoke as he placed his hand on Lucian’s shoulder.

"Talk to people if you want to."

"I should talk?"

Lucian seemed surprised.

He did not think Garrick of all people wanted him to open his mouth.

Garrick could practically see what he was thinking and laughed.

"Yes, talk. People here will want to have a conversation or two with you."

"Ah right.

I am apparently popular."

Lucian nodded in realisation.

"You are enjoying this, aren’t you, kid?"

Garrick smiled.

Lucian smiled back.

Then, with a genuine look on his face, Garrick nodded at him.

"This is a good opportunity to make connections and connections help."

"I’ll keep that in mind."

"Then I’ll leave you alone."

Garrick nodded again as he raised the glass of champagne at him.

"Enjoy the Gala."

"You too."

"And be careful."

Before leaving, Garrick did give Lucian a final warning.

"People here are strong, far stronger than you or me.

So don’t be rash."

"I understand."

With those words, the two moved away from each other, enjoying the Gala individually. Lucian continued looking around, then, his eyes fell on a passing attendant carrying drinks, he took a glass and before drinking, he stared at the red liquid inside.

"Wine, sir."

The attendant clarified on his own.

As someone who was used to having human guests, this was not uncommon.

"Thank you."

Lucian smiled, he took a sip, the wine was... well, tasty.

Lucian wasn’t much of a wine guy, he couldn’t say flowery words after taking a sip, he just needed something to drink as he continued observing the Gala.

And of course, while he observed the Gala, the Gala was observing him as well. Some gazes were more subtle, others were... not.

A few openly looked towards him while talking.

And Lucian—

He obviously heard pieces of the conversations.

There were talks about his Blood Density, it was the third or fourth time he had heard it. He guessed it had something to do with the High Incubus Blood he drank.

Unlike Humans, it seemed like Vampires could sense the truth behind the blood flowing in his system. Enclave’s lie about him being an Incubus-Class Blood-Altered Human wasn’t holding any weight here.

In fact, some Vampires here were certain he was actually a demon.

Of course, together with this, there were also talks about how he defeated Varek, fought Rhydan to a standstill and whatnot.

The talks about his strength and the fact that he had only been part of the Supernatural World for a few months only made claims about him being a demon even stronger.

The fact that he also failed to contract Aevrienne despite clearing the Trial and reaching the end also gave the claim more strength.

Not that any of it mattered.

Lucian just liked to eavesdrop when people talked about him.

It was like a hobby.

And as he continued to enjoy this hobby of his, he waited for a few of the interested parties to approach him. They weren’t exactly hesitating, just that the Gala had just started, they said it was rude to open a conversation with someone you did not know right at the beginning.

Lucian could see that most people interested in him were mostly just waiting for someone else to make the first move and Lucian—

He was actually considering making the first move himself.

Heck, he even had a plan.

He would visit the particular group who had been eyeing him for a while, but were clearly not interested in talking.

They were like a group of introverts and Lucian—

He was planning on walking right into them and making them uncomfortable.

Though before he could put his vile plan into action...

"You sure like the attention."

Lucian heard an amused, beautiful voice.

He turned towards the voice and the moment he did—

He froze.

The woman was standing just two inches away from him with this easy, casual smile on her face and he—

He did not sense her at all.

No footsteps, no movement of the air, no shift in clothing, nothing at all.

It was as if... she just appeared out of nothingness.

And as Lucian saw her smiling at him, he... couldn’t help but notice how... beautiful she was.

She looked like she was in her late twenties, perhaps early thirties, she was tall, slender, graceful. She had pale skin that was so smooth that it almost looked unreal under the warm light of the hall.

Her long black hair fell down her back, she had sharp features, a narrow nose, soft lips and... deep, hypnotic wine-red crimson eyes.

Lucian stared at her for more than a few seconds and that only made the woman’s smile wider.

"I thank you for that stare, it has been a while since someone looked at me with such intensity."