Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire Chapter 575: Captain Zaila (1)

The door opened and Caius walked in while the Guards remained outside and promptly closed the door, leaving him alone with the Captain.

Caius did a sweep of the room first and it was clearly a Study with the many shelves stocked with books and scrolls. Most of the books had their titles etched across their spines and reading them, Caius had a feeling a lot of what was on the shelves was military works. He wondered if that was a requirement because this was a Garrison or if those were just the kind of reads the Captain preferred.

There was a door at the other end of the Study, behind the Captain’s chair, and Caius could tell immediately that it led to a living area for the Captain. He imagined that was for convenience and also to better utilize the space of the Garrison by reducing needless corridors that could just be an actual space that served a purpose.

Arcane symbols were glowing all over the door leading to the Captain’s quarters and Caius allowed himself a smile at how she was really taking no chances of that private space of hers getting intruded upon.

"Please, sit," Captain Zaila said with a gesture at the chair in front of her desk.

"Your politeness is quite unlike that of your underlings," Caius said as he sat down.

"You prefer it?" Captain Zaila asked.

"It’s neither here nor there," Caius said.

"What do you mean?" Captain Zaila asked.

"Outward show of politeness can be misleading," Caius shrugged, "For all I know, you might be lulling me into a False sense of security, in which case, I think I’d prefer open hostility."

Captain Zaila leaned back in her chair.

"Have I not accorded you grace so far?" She asked.

"You have," Caius said with an acknowledging nod before he then added with implication, "So far."

Captain Zaila frowned.

"I’ve definitely accorded you more respect than any other in my position would, don’t you think?

You created such havoc in Northern-Star..."

"All of which we are willing to pay to fix," Caius interjected.

"... while still keeping your identities secret as only a criminal would." Captain Zaila pressed on with gritted teeth and a sharpness in her icy blue eyes.

There was a pause then.

"We retain the right to keep our identities to ourselves," Caius said.

Captain Zaila’s eyes were so piercing that it seemed she was trying to see right through the mask.

"I had an interesting chat with those who attacked you," she said, "Apparently, you and your fellows are known as the Gold-Black Vampires. A Coven that is infamous at Capital City."

"They are according us with far too much fame," Caius said casually, "We haven’t done anything remotely enough to be known that well."

As calm as Caius sounded, his mind was a flurry of activity; The identity of the Leopold Coven as Gold-Black cloak wearers was known only to those who had been present at the fight against Brogan Kraxia and his forces.

Sure the detail could have spread—after all, no one had forbidden the Hellsingers from speaking of it—but Caius couldn’t help but wonder if Leonce Duval might not be responsible for this entire ordeal as he had once thought. Maybe the one he had to blame for this was his cousin, Alexia Von Helsing.

"That’s not what they told me," Captain Zaila said.

"And what did they tell you?" Caius asked.

"They told me you’ve been responsible for many deaths in the Capital including a violent outbreak of newborn Vampires," Captain Zaila said with shrewd eyes.

Alexia? Caius wondered again. While going out of her way to get rid of vampires wasn’t something he would put past his cousin, Caius didn’t think she would go as far as to orchestrate such a long-distance attempt. Or maybe he just didn’t know her all that well.

’That’s probably it,’ Caius admitted.

Alexia wasn’t specifically mentioned in [To Kill A Demon Lord...] and was more like a part of the extended Khione family and their detests for Vampires. In other words, Caius had nothing to draw from to be sure of her nuances.

"Well, they lie or at least are mistaken," Caius said, "We had nothing to do with that outbreak besides working to stop it. It was we who stopped the creator of those Vampires."

"Ah, so you’re heroes then," Captain Zaila said.

Caius thought he heard some sarcasm in her tone but he dismissed it as something he was imagining because of his skepticism.

"Not really," Caius said with a shrug, "We weren’t being selfless. Brogan Kraxia was a threat and making living difficult for us so he had to go. It’s what anyone would do, vampire or human."

"You could have just taken the compliment," Captain Zaila said.

"Not with this one, no," Caius said in a low voice.

He wouldn’t say it because it would do him no good here, but in a way, he was responsible for what happened at the Capital; He changed things from the established Canon and drew the threat of Brogan over because he was the one the Vampire Baron had been after. Capital City was just collateral damage.

Caius got momentarily lost in his thoughts so he didn’t see how his avoidance of praise had lessened some of the intensity coming off Captain Zaila.

"Did they tell you how they found us?" Caius asked then.

It was a question he and the Leopolds would have asked the Attackers themselves if they had the chance.

"As a matter of fact, they did," Captain Zaila said, "They received a Dead or Alive bounty describing your carriage, with your last known location being Revron County."

"Revron County?" Caius started with some confusion that cleared up the next second because he realized that must be referring to the County where they had fought the Emissary.

"Yes," Captain Zaila said with her eyes narrowed almost to slits, "I contacted Revron County and learned of an incident of pure carnage; holes in walls and ceilings, blood splattered all over, and multiple bodies.

A Carriage was seen driving fast out of the County right after. A Carriage whose description very much fits yours."

’That was how they knew!’ Caius exclaimed in his head, not particularly caring about the look of inquiry Captain Zaila was giving him,

’Someone saw the Carriage and put things together. News of it spread and reached the Capital where someone—Alexia?—issued a bounty.’

Caius allowed himself a moment to acknowledge how ’funny’ it would be that the money paying the bounty to bring him in dead or alive was from his father’s coffers.

"Do you deny this?" Captain Zaila asked.

"Do I deny what?" Caius asked.

"Do you deny your involvement in the carnage at Revron County?"

"No, I don’t," Caius said, "Just like what happened here at Northern-Star, we were also attacked at Revron County and we had to defend ourselves."

"You were attacked by the County Guards?" Captain Zaila asked.

"No, we didn’t attack any County Guards," Caius answered.

"Well, multiple of them died," Captain Zaila insisted.

"Must have happened after we left," Caius said, "The only ones we fought were a vampire and his minions. We couldn’t beat the vampire and had to leave him trapped so we could get away.

He likely killed County Guards when he finally broke free of his bounds."

"Uh Huh," Captain Zaila made a skeptical sound, "So, two cases of havoc and you’re completely blameless."

Caius frowned at her tone.

"Yes. Unless you believe we should be persecuted for not standing by and letting ourselves get killed," Caius said, "We chose to come here with you rather than fight it out—"

"You would have died if you tried," Captain Zaila said.

"Maybe," Caius shrugged, "Maybe not. Either way, I assure you that you and your fellow Militants wouldn’t have managed unscathed.

But we didn’t attack. We surrendered. Because we are not out to cause and create trouble. We simply have somewhere to be and would prefer to get there without any more interruptions."

"And where do you have to be?" Captain Zaila asked.

"I can’t tell you," Caius answered.

"Tight lips won’t help you here," the Captain said.

"Believe me, if I could tell you, I would," Caius said.

"I bet you’re off to a prime hunting ground," Captain Zaila said and then squared her shoulders, "In which case, letting you leave here would be condemning many innocents to their deaths. Even as tolerant as you might think the Khione Duchy is to vampires, my conscience might just not let me do that."

"Your conscience should be safe then, because we’re not in search of hunting grounds," Caius said,

"I don’t even kill at all."

That made Captain Zaila pause and then she scoffed.

"You don’t kill?" She asked and her skepticism was palpable.

"Not when I feed, no," Caius said calmly.

"So what, you hunt your targets, feed on them, and let them go?" Captain Zaila asked.

"Well, for one, I don’t ’hunt’," Caius said, "I have all I need from those who are willing to give it to me."

"And who would those be?"

Caius shrugged.

"Those who can understand that there can be no greater connection between two people. Well, there is one other connection that compares but with me, they’re practically inseparable so my point still stands."

Captain Zaila looked confused.

"What are you—?"

"My Lovers provide me with all I need, Captain," Caius cut in to clarify,

"And I would not dream of hurting them."