Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire

Chapter 414 414: Stay right there

Caius just leaned against the carriage looking through the window at the girl inside. She had gone to sleep now and the entire ordeal must have tired her out because the cries of pain splitting the air didn't wake her.

Once she had learned all she could—i.e., once her victim was too maimed to tell her anymore—Alexia slit his neck and let him hit the ground where he choked on blood until he stopped and his body just slumped, lifeless.

"The sun will take care of the rest," Alexia said with a frown, "Or the slow fucking City Guards will come to collect the remains."

"Think they're sitting it out because you accepted the request?" Caius asked.

"They had no way of knowing where I would be or if I would even be here today. They should have been here," Alexia said and got into the carriage to start it up.

Caius entered as well and the sleeping girl finally woke up.

"Hey," he told her with a kind smile, "Ready to tell us where you live now?"

Some of her fear seemed to have passed but not completely. Still, she nodded and her lips moved. Caius didn't hear what she said but Alexia nodded.

"Got it," she said and moved the carriage out of the Alley.

Alexia was hardly familiar with Capital City, but there were more than enough signs to point her in the right direction. And whatever description the girl had whispered must have told her the signs to look out for.

No one said anything the entire ride. They didn't ask the girl any questions because they didn't think she knew anything Alexia hadn't already found out from her torture victim. And even if there was, she seemed too traumatized to say anything.

Soon, they were pulling up to a mansion and the air of restlessness was palpable. The guards at the gate couldn't even stand still in their agitation.

Alexia asked for someone, a guard asked why and she gestured at the carriage. The Guard looked in and his eyes widened when he saw the girl. Instantly, he turned into the Mansion to deliver the news and in a minute, a slew of Guards walked out, led by a frantic mother.

At this point, Caius had led the girl out of the carriage and the moment she saw the woman, she ran into her arms and cried as hard as her voice could allow. The woman was quieter but what looked like hours of worry and fear and despair seemed to melt away as she stroked her daughter's hair and repeated,

"You're alright. You're safe," over and over again.

When she was able to pull herself together, she seemed to finally notice Alexia and Caius, and even in her state of reunion, she did a double-take at Caius's looks.

"Thank you," she said in a voice thick with emotion, "How could I ever repay you?"

"You don't need to," Alexia said lightly, clearly trying not to be pulled into the emotional moment, "Please, be well."

And with that, she turned back and entered the carriage. Caius was about to follow when the girl looked over at him and raised a hand to wave. He waved back, offered her a smile, and entered the carriage so Alexia could pull and drive away.

"Where next?" He asked.

"It's a coordinated operation. The group we met didn't know where the other groups were exactly, only general areas of the City. That should help me pin down my tracking. With any luck, we'll catch them in the act."

But they weren't lucky.

Not for the first three locations they arrived at anyway. At some locations, there were only victims that had been fed on out of impatience and spite because no one came to stop them.

In one area, there was the lifeless body of the victim but also that of City Guards as made obvious by the armor the corpses had on. Caius had a feeling that the Vampire Group in charge of that spot had gotten away with a captive or two.

Alexia was growing more and more annoyed. The aura coming off her body was so great that Caius worried his moonstone ring would not be able to protect him from instigation.

When they came close to her next tracked location and heard sounds of ongoing combat, he actually pitied the Vampires. Poor fools had no idea what was coming.

Alexia turned toward an intersection in a fairly remote part of the city. It didn't have any residential buildings and whatever use the denizens of Capital City found for it was during the daytime and not at nighttime. Thus making it perfect for Vampiric operation.

They saw the battle ahead and Alexia didn't stop her carriage. She sped up and slammed into one of the cloaked figures and kept driving until she slammed him into the wall, cracking more than a few ribs.

The Vampire snarled but before the sound could even permeate the air, Alexia was already out of the carriage and sliding her sword through its neck so the head dropped onto the front of her carriage, bounced twice before falling to the ground. The headless vampiric corpse fell forward onto the carriage then.

Alexia was already turning toward the rest of the battle, swinging her swords to unleash slashes that were dodged or shielded against while the Vampires growled at the arrival of another party into their fight.

The City Gaurds who were already doing battle with the vampires before Alexia's arrival looked at her like a savior, with many of them nursing many injuries already, and tried to slink off to safety.

Caius stepped out of the carriage and watched as Alexia became locked in battle against three Vampires. All swinging their weapons and their claws at her.

He did a quick count. The City Guards were easily distinguishable in their armor so they were instantly excluded from the count. And without them, the battling vampires were Eleven.

The number exceeded what he would have said was in a group (3-4) considering the only other active group he and Alexia had run into already. Also, he identified them as 'battling vampires' because he noticed they were also fighting against each other.

"Two groups," Caius realized, "Two opposing groups of Vampires. Two covens?"

One of the covens had to be the ones responsible for all of this. So who was the other?

Caius was just asking this in his head when a spell came flying at him. He stretched his hand out and let loose a quick-cast spell he had prepared for exactly this kind of situation.

The spell erected an earthen wall. It was fairly weaker than ~Galleon's Gate~, which required a bit more cast time, but it did the job of intercepting the attack so Caius could leap to the side.

The Vampire that had attacked him became clear when it stepped out from the ongoing battle to nail him with its bright red eyes.

Caius thought that any of these vampires focusing on him when they had a more serious concern (Alexia) to worry about was silly but this was fine.

With a focused swing of its wand, the vampire conjured spell circles. All purple and teeming with Sixth Circle Magic.

Dark Magic.

'Of course,' Caius said with a slight smile.

Becoming a Vampire robs one of any possibility of an affinity with Light Magic but in return, they are guaranteed an affinity with Dark Magic. Of course, affinity level still differs.

The fact that it's rare to see someone with a high affinity with Unique Elements (Light and Dark) doesn't change because one becomes a Vampire which is why not every Vampire uses Dark Magic because they could have a high affinity with one of the basic elements and thus feel more natural using those.

Caius couldn't guess the affinity of this Vampire from these spell but if they were willing to use it while in a situation as serious as this, it had to be at least Mid.

Sure, they may have underestimated him because the defensive spell he just cast was at the Fourth Circle but again, now would hardly be the time to dilly dally. It would be far wiser to go as hard as they possibly can and do away with him and reduce the number of additional enemies they have.

Then again, the vampire had an Arcane tool (a wand) to help it cast the spell, so who knows?

Feeling the aura coming off the spell being prepared, and knowing Alexia was likely not to turn in his direction, Caius prepared to take care of the situation on his own. With a deep frown, he cast ~Hellsong Stomp~.

The spell was his best movement spell and was well past what a fourth-circle spell should be capable of because of its instability. However, to a Vampire at the Sixth Circle, he might as well have been moving in slow motion.

"I see you," the Vampire said and primed their spell to activate. Once it did, Caius had no doubt he would get hit faster than he could dodge.

Which was why he didn't dodge. In fact, he went right toward the Vampire and once he was close enough, he shifted. His Red eyes struck fear into the heart of his target.

"Stay right there," Caius ordered.

The smile slipped off the vampire's face. Replaced with horror as it was held in place by Vampiric Noble authority just as Caius leaped, casting a spell circle that sparked his entire arm with electricity that formed into a Lance.

~Lightning Spear!~

Against a stationary enemy with no defense, the lightning spear tore right through its target's head, instantly robbing it of life.