Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire

Chapter 611: Mutual Vulnerability

"After thousands of years of fruitless search— after every corner of the world has been scoured and no stone has been left unturned to the point where many have stopped searching, you now believe I, somehow know where it is?" Athenodora asked, taking her eyes off Caius for the first time in a while.

"If anyone could do it, it was bound to be you," Philip said.

"Flattery will get you nowhere. I don’t know where it is," Athenodora said.

Philip paused and then smiled.

"I’m not leaving here until you tell me what I need to know," he said.

"Then make yourself comfortable. It’s going to be a long wait. A decade or so before I inevitably die. Maybe then, you’ll believe I’m telling you the truth," Athenodora said with a smirk.

"We’ll see," Philip said and stood to his feet.

"Elena will get a bedchamber prepared for you," Athenodora said.

Elena stiffened but didn’t argue though she continued to glare at Philip.

"No need," Philip said and raised a hand, "I do not need to rest so I do not need a place to lay my head.

I’m not here for leisure, Dora. As long as I’m here, I’ll make sure I’m always informed of your location. You will make no move without my knowledge."

"You think dogging my every step will loosen my tongue to reveal something I don’t know?" Athenodora asked with a laugh.

Philip put his hands behind his back, straightened his back, and stood straight like he was making a point to establish how attentive he was about to be to Athenodora’s location at all times.

Athenodora chuckled at his display.

"Suit yourself. Just stay out of my chambers. I’d like at least that much privacy," she said and then swung her legs off the luxurious sofa as she added,

"Caius, we were interrupted before I got my fill. Come with me so we can rectify that."

"Okay," Caius answered.

Athenodora and Caius descended the steps into the underground of the Palace until they stood in front of the double doors of her cocoon.

The doors opened, and Philip stuck his head in and did a quick sweep of the room, confirming it had no windows and no opening that could be used to exit while the doors were closed. Assured that Athenodora’s only way out was through the double doors, Philip decided to honor her wishes by not invading her privacy and instead stood guard by the double doors, which closed after Caius and Athenodora walked through.

Behind the closed doors...

Caius walked even deeper into the room than Athenodora did and then he turned around to see she had been eyeing him— studying him.

"Dora?" Caius inquired.

"What about it?" Athenodora asked with a smirk.

"It sounded so tame is all," Caius said with a shrug.

"Ah, and you’re just an expert on names today, aren’t you?" Athenodora said with a smile on her perfect lips.

Caius chuckled.

"I knew a Philip once and he didn’t look or act like he could hurt a fly. So to learn that the Noble Emissary who nearly killed me—who I barely managed to survive—had the same name and carried that much violent and killing intent was... interesting," he said.

"Names have no bearing on how a person could act. How could they when they are chosen for you when you’re but a newborn and no more than a bundle of potential that is difficult to predict," Athenodora said.

"Hmm. So ’Dora’ might be tame but you’re not," Caius said.

"’Dora’ was—is—an affectionate name I answered to in simpler, happier times. Some who knew me then often have difficulty letting that period of our lives fade into memory," Athenodora said.

"So you hate being called that?" Caius asked.

He hadn’t seen Athenodora react negatively whenever Philip had called her Dora but he knew that didn’t mean much. She was a master at keeping her intentions and thoughts hidden. It was why her lies so easily passed for truth.

Athenodora sighed.

"When someone calls me Dora, they are often trying to evoke those early memories and emotions in me— trying to appeal to my supposed milder nature by invoking nostalgia. They do it to gain power over me.

I find that manipulative and misguided," she explained in a low voice and stepped closer to Caius before she continued,

"But I don’t correct them. To do so would be to reveal to them that their attempts at manipulating me affect me and that just gives them power over me in a different way. Better to let them continue, keep them guessing on whether their manipulation has succeeded or not."

"Power, manipulation, tactics— it all seems like a sad way to view the relationship between family and friends," Caius said.

Athenodora laughed.

"But it’s realistic. It’s very prevalent among vampires as our very nature fosters a desire for control but humans aren’t all that different. Emotions can never be trusted and nothing is ever truly organic.

It’s all just cultivated to either remain in control or be controlled."

"Hmm," Caius intoned.

"What, do you disagree?" Athenodora asked.

"I think it sounds paranoid as fuck but no, I don’t disagree. It’s just that a romantic would argue with you and say that’s exactly what makes Love so beautiful."

"Love?" Athenodora laughed but she genuinely looked curious.

Caius shrugged.

"It’s all good to be above all manipulations and only ascribe to emotions when they can be used to control another. But what if the one you ’control’, ’controls’ you as well? Mutual vulnerability: The crux of a hopeless Romantic’s hope for ’True Love’."

"The crux of a fool, you mean," Athenodora said.

"Indeed," Caius nodded in agreement.

"Is that what you are? A fool?" Athenodora asked with a smirk, "Those ladies you had screaming, do you practice this ’mutual vulnerability’ with them?"

Caius smiled and then looked down at her feet as he laughed.

"What?" Athenodora asked.

"It’s just that I should have known you and Philip were related when he broke into my room with his feet as bare as yours," Caius said with an amused chuckle.

"We’re not related," Athenodora said. She didn’t miss that Caius had changed the subject rather than answer her question but rather than press him, she just played along.

"Yeah, right," Caius said with a few nods, "He’s just an old friend who has been sent to get something from you. Something you insist you don’t have."

"Exactly," Athenodora said.

"But he seems very very convinced you know where it is," Caius said, "Why else would he be so dedicated to hunting you down otherwise."

"He could be mistaken," Athenodora shrugged.

"You said ’could’," Caius noticed.

"I did," Athenodora said.

"So he’s not mistaken then. You do know where to find this ’Blood of Strigoi’," Caius said.

"You don’t have to say it like it’s unfamiliar to you," Athenodora said and cocked her head to the side, "You already showed your hand at the lounge."

For a minute, neither of them said a word.

"How likely is it that he can hear what we say outside those doors?" Caius asked to break the silence.

"None," Athenodora said.

"So you can speak freely then and tell me exactly what you know," Caius said.

"You first," Athenodora said and folded her arms beneath her breasts, heaving them higher up her chest as she struck a domineering and relaxed pose.

"I’m not the one who’s dying," Caius said.

"What’s that supposed to mean?" Athenodora asked.

"It means that I finally understand," Caius turned away from her with an arm across his chest and his hand placed in front of his lips as he continued in a musing tone,

"I knew it. I knew there was no way you were truly going to accept death. If there is anyone who would fight death to the bitter end, it’s you."

"Thanks for the compliment," Athenodora said.

Caius continued like he hadn’t heard her.

"But I thought; What could it be? What could be your chance for survival if every Blood Alchemical resource had been well and truly tapped out?

*Sigh* To think I considered the Blood myself but was somehow completely blind to the fact that you might have marked it as your target already."

Caius closed his eyes now as he mulled over this oversight. He truly hadn’t thought the Blood of Strigoi would be a plot point for anyone in the story right now. It shouldn’t have been... and yet it was.

If Philip’s Lord was already going after Athenodora as the one person who knew how to find the Blood, how much longer before someone else just randomly popped up with the information as well? After all, that was how it happened in the original canon. Someone just suddenly made a breakthrough in tracking down the blood and things snowballed from there.

"All that talk of me keeping you alive for ten years was just bullshit, wasn’t it? This arrangement was never going to continue for that long, was it?" Caius said and he turned around to face Athenodora who smiled and simply answered.

"Yes."