Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire

Chapter 483: You look spiffy

...

"Caius, say something," Kaya prodded him. It had only been a few seconds since she dropped her bombshell of a speculation but she was anxious for a response.

"I- I’m not sure what to say," Caius admitted.

Because he had been so deep in thinking about the original canon, something that had no basis in it threw him off a bit. He quickly collected himself though and asked.

"Why don’t you tell me why you think so?"

"I don’t know. The magic is Elven. My mother was—is—an Elf," Kaya said, sounding a bit exasperated.

"So you’re basing it on just her being an Elf?" Caius asked with a little smile,

"Seems a bit racist."

"Caius, be serious," Kaya snapped.

"I am," Caius assured her, "Mostly. I’m just saying you need more to point a finger."

"Do I really?" Kaya asked with her leaf green eyes glaring now, "She gave me away!"

’To your father,’ Caius thought but didn’t say out loud. He had a feeling it would seem a bit patronizing and knew she didn’t need that right now.

"Kaya, don’t let anger cloud your judgement. I know you. If you’re making that speculation, there’s a deeper reason. Or am I wrong?" Was what he actually said with narrowed eyes.

"You’re not," Kaya said and sighed deeply,

"I feel... kinship with the Magic within the emotions. Even after it has been stripped of my father’s sentience, I still feel... connected to it. On my Elven side. It’s how I know what kind of magic it is...

... and why I suspect my Mother did it."

Caius nodded.

"Now, we’re getting somewhere," he said.

"You think I’m crazy?" Kaya asked, a little worry on her beautiful face.

"No," Caius assured her, "I think it makes sense. Your father spent time with Elves, he might have become ingrained in their culture enough to... um, catch something."

"Was that a joke?" Kaya asked and cracked a smile.

"Maybe," Caius told her, returning the smile before his face became serious again,

"All I’m saying is it makes sense."

"And my mother?" Kaya asked.

Caius gave that some more thought. Kaya’s mother hadn’t had as much of a presence in the original canon. She was mostly meant to be the light at the end of Kaya’s dark tunnel at the time. A happy ending after all the suffering she had endured up until that point in the story and a way to ease some of the trauma she felt for her part in her father’s death.

There just wasn’t enough about her in canon for Caius to absolve the woman of any wrongdoing.

"It could be her," Caius eventually said.

Kaya just looked resigned to that truth and hung her head.

But Caius wasn’t done.

"However, your reaction might still be premature. We don’t know how it happened and how much of the fault lies with your father still.

The magic that gave his emotions life might be Elven but the emotions were still his. The magic didn’t do that, he did. For all we know, the magic is benevolent and his pain twisted into something malevolent.

I mean, you now have the magic, don’t you? Have you gone on an emotional rampage?"

Kaya was smiling again.

"No," she admitted.

"There you go," Caius said.

"So I need to investigate," Kaya said, "I could speak with my father and retrace his steps. Maybe even learn when exactly he made contact with the magic."

"Good idea," Caius agreed.

A minute passed with the two just staring at each other until Kaya let out a breath.

"I miss you," she said, her voice steeped with longing.

"Of course, you do," Caius teased and Kaya rolled her eyes.

When they had separated at Lochxen, Kaya had expected the separation to be difficult but it was harder than she could have ever dreamed. She longed to see his face but whenever she did, it wasn’t enough and she wished to touch him. Which she couldn’t do. She had been directing her pent-up energy to Magical Enlightenment and the amplification of her Divine Seed. It helped. But only barely.

Even as they spoke with the Loqui-Link, she would have liked to keep it going for hours longer but it had to end eventually. Which was why she hung on to every word Caius said, letting his voice wash over her while determined not to miss even a syllable.

She listened as he spoke about Brogan Kraxia and what he was dealing with at the moment, wishing she could do more than just be emotional support and offer a few words of advice.

The feeling was of course, mutual.

After all, that particular conversation happened a week ago and yet, here Caius stood in the Arena, in the middle of his short break from exercise, thinking about it and looking forward to the next time he got to talk to her.

And then there were the others as well.

Distance was such a bitch.

•••

Time flew quickly and once the sun had set, Caius heard a knock on his door, pulling it open to see a Maid holding out a Garment bag.

She flushed at the sight of Caius in a bathrobe opened slightly at the top with some moisture from his bath still clinging to his chest.

"Thank you," Caius told her kindly as he took the garment bag from her.

"I- I could help you put it on, Young Lord," she said and stood on her tiptoes to lean closer like she was really hoping he would take her up on her offer.

"It’s alright. Thank you," Caius said and while the words were dismissive, he did sound genuine. Even if his eyes were mostly on the garment bag as he closed his door.

He opened the bag and within was what looked like a ceremonial suit. It was a very deep navy blue with red braided cords on the shoulders. The cords were purely decorative though or at most, just showed off Noble Status rather than some military rank.

The buttons on the shirt, upon closer look were actually rubies, glittering in a blatant show of affluence. There were enchantments woven into the fabric that made it more sturdy to offer better protection against attacks. A staple in high-society wear.

On the lapel were tiny etched insignias of the Von Helsing Family.

"Garish," Caius said with a light smile as he eyed the suit.

He put it on and minutes later, opened his door and almost walked into someone who had her hand raised to knock.

Caius said ’someone’ because even though he was looking at her face, he almost didn’t recognize her;

For the first time since he had ever known her, Caius saw Alexia in makeup. Eyeliner, eyeshadow, a navy blue lipstick... the works. Her cheeks were also a lot rosier than usual and seemed to grow redder for every second Caius stared at her.

"Paint me, it’ll last longer," Alexia said with a scoff.

"Oh, I would if we had the time," Caius said lightly.

"We could blow off the Function," Alexia said with a little sneer, "That’ll give us time, I bet."

"And deprive the world of your dolled-up face?" Caius asked, sounding like it was a true outrage,

"Heaven’s forbid."

Alexia rolled her black eyes.

"’Dolled-up’ is exactly right," she said in a low seething voice, "I don’t like it."

"Then why did you do it?" Caius asked, refusing to believe anyone could have forced his Vampire-Hunting cousin to do anything against her will.

"It comes with the territory," Alexia said and gestured at the rest of her.

Only now did Caius look past her face to her gown. It was very dark blue—darker than the blue she usually wore—with specks that upon closer look appeared to be lotus flowers. The tiny flowers were designed in such a way and in such a beautiful cluster that one would think it was a representation of a galaxy. The dark blue looked like the blackness of space to complement this.

The design was so wonderful that Caius was almost distracted from how the dip just past her neck revealed Alexia’s cleavage as the bodice of the gown pushed her already ample assets a bit further up.

"I always dress/look like this for functions," Alexia explained, "It’s how I was taught. ’Prim and proper’ and all that nonsense."

"Well, it looks good on you," Caius complimented.

Alexia’s face sans make-up was absolutely perfect and the make-up didn’t detract from that. It complemented it nicely.

"I know," Alexia said lightly, "I’d hate it even more and never wear it if it didn’t."

She stepped back so Caius could walk out of his room and close his door. She also eyed him as he turned back to her.

"You look spiffy by the way," she said.

"Thanks," Caius answered with a curl of his lips.

And together they headed out of the Manor.