Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire Chapter 587: I look forward to it

•••

Led by the Northern-Star Militants, Caius returned to the area of the Garrison where he and the Leopolds had been allowed to stay.

The door opened and the heads of the Leopolds all turned toward the doorway, all on high alert and all looking like they hadn’t sat back down in all the hours Caius had been away.

"My Lord!" Roxanne exclaimed first, as she and the others eyed the Militants like they expected trouble.

Caius raised his hand to call for calm and then turned back to the Militants.

"Please, get our Carriage ready to leave."

"We’re not your servants," scoffed one of the Militants who had been particularly annoyed with Caius since she had found her Captain naked in bed.

"Of course, you’re not," Caius said with a gracious bow, "But still..."

"I understand," the Militant interrupted harshly, "Your Carriage will be ready to ferry out of the Garrison and hopefully out of Northern-Star entirely.

"That’s the plan," Caius said with a smile.

"And the fine?"

"We’ll have it ready," Caius said, "We just need to coordinate our finances."

The Militant eyed him and then eyed the Leopolds before letting out another scoff as she turned and marched away. The others followed, with one closing the door behind Caius as he stepped into the residence.

"What happened?" Meline asked immediately.

"We’ve been allowed to leave," Caius said.

"Really?" Nadine asked slowly like she wondered how her Lord had managed that feat.

"Really," Caius answered slowly, "The Captain was... reasonable."

"Ah," the Leopolds all chorused and leaned their heads away like that everything now made sense.

"What?" Caius asked, suddenly feeling defensive.

Even with their masks on, Kyre and Hugo looked abashed. Nadine was clearly smiling though as she said,

"Well, My Lord, it’s not a secret that you have your ways."

Caius just looked from one masked face to the other, focusing on the emotions their eyes displayed before his eyes went and stayed on Roxanne’s as she spoke next.

"So she knows who you are, then?"

"Hmm?"

"Well, you have a very distinct face," Roxanne said.

"Yeah, if she didn’t recognize you immediately after you lifted that mask, she’ll figure it out later," Meline added, "Your face is unforgettable."

The others nodded in agreement.

Caius shrugged.

"Well then, there’s nothing to worry about," he said.

That made them all pause.

"You... kept the mask on?" Kyre asked, sounding dumbfounded.

"All through?" Hugo added with the same tone.

"How did you manage that?"

Their eyes now showed they were impressed.

"Never mind how I managed it," Caius said and he sounded amused at how they were reacting to this when they just seconds ago, sounded like they had expected it. Was he keeping his mask on that much of a unique detail to make them so surprised?

"What matters is I convinced her that we mean no harm. And that we’re not guilty of anything we’ve been accused of..." Caius continued.

"Wait, what have we been accused of?" Meline asked.

"We’ve been accused of letting the newborn Vampires loose on Capital City. There is now a bounty on our heads and a detailed description of our carriage as it was seen driving out of Revron County," Caius explained.

His explanation only seemed to confuse the Leopolds all the more as they said together,

"What?!"

So Caius told them the conversation he had with Zaila. By the time he was done, Caius was pacing back and forth, his hand on his chin under his mask as he went into some deep thoughts to sift through things himself.

"Leonce Duval, that bastard!" Meline snarled, ripping her mask off like it was limiting her ability to express herself.

"It’s all to further his agenda with the Task Force," Kyre said in a bit of a musing tone.

Caius didn’t say anything. The way he laid things out must have tagged Leonce as responsible considering that was where the heads of the Leopolds were now. Caius didn’t mention that he had—and still?—suspected his Cousin. He didn’t think it was necessary to mention given all his doubts.

After all, Alexia, as a Von Helsing and daughter of the current Duke, should have access to a better network of vampire hunters than the group that had come after them. No, it had to be Leonce. It all pointed that way, right?

With all his political dealings, Leonce Duval should surely have a good network of informants to tell him what happened at Revron County and then relay his bounty offer to the bounty hunters.

There was no reason to consider Alexia as definitely responsible. For now.

"Well, we can’t take the Carriage now," Roxanne said.

"Do we have a choice?" Caius asked.

"Well, yeah," Roxanne said, "We can commandeer another one. Or buy one."

Kyre shook his head.

"Not a very easy process and it could take at least a day to get the kind that will serve us as well as the one we have right now.

Also, I’ve been thinking: I don’t think the Northern-Star Militants got every one of those bounty hunters. And if they didn’t, then the free bounty hunters may have seen us being brought here so who knows how well they’ll be monitoring any movement in, out, or around this place?

They might find out we’re changing Carriages anyway."

"We have to try," Roxanne insisted, "We can’t keep going in a marked vehicle."

"Kyre is right," Caius said, "There is no guarantee a Carriage change will help us."

"We can contact an ’Ophiuchus’ base or wait to be contacted by one. With all the commotion we’ve caused and our recognizable cloaks, I expect a base to already be alerted to our presence here," Roxanne said and pulled off her mask as she stepped closer to Caius hoping her face would convey her points better and convince him.

Caius admitted, it moved his heart a bit to see her alluring face but he remained firm.

"We’re not getting ’Ophiuchus’ involved. The fact that they might try to contact us is just one more reason to get going," he said.

"Waiting a day for extra security is worth it," Roxanne said, her red eyes searching his.

"But the point is that it probably won’t afford us extra security so we’ll just be losing a day for nothing," Caius said, "I can’t lose a day.

I can’t stay here any longer."

There was such conviction in that that Roxanne paused because she began to suspect there was more to Caius’s firm stance.

Rather than get pulled into the look in Roxanne’s eyes to the point of revealing what was troubling him, Caius looked away to the others.

"They’re preparing the Carriage. We’ll leave tonight, once it’s ready. If the bounty Hunters come after us, then I’m confident they’ll meet their end."

"Wait, tonight?" Meline said then, "Weren’t we supposed to rest the night?"

"You can rest in the Carriage," Caius said, "I’ll be driving."

"My Lord..." Kyre started.

"You’ve done well, Kyre, but going forward, the path won’t be as intuitive and I won’t be able to tell you where to go anyway," Caius said and then smiled as he tried to inject some levity,

"It’s about time I stopped being lazy and got back behind the wheel, don’t you think?"

"I would never..." Kyre said reverently.

"Besides, with me driving, you’ll be free to join in attacking any pursuers. At the Fifth Circle, I won’t be out-speeding them anyway," Caius said.

Now he looked at Roxanne and Meline.

"It’ll be fine," he said reassuringly, "We’re close to the finish now."

They still looked unsure.

Next, they piled up the money they had. The cost of the fine ended up being more than half of all they had brought along but Caius didn’t think it mattered. He had a feeling that where they were headed, money wasn’t going to be needed. And if it was, he believed they still had enough.

•••

Less than thirty minutes later...

The Militants opened the door and accepted the fine, counting to ensure it was complete, and then making official reports for the Captain to read when she woke up and to then be sent up the chain of command, eventually to reach the Duchess.

"Your Carriage," said the Militant who still turned a sour face at Caius.

"What’s your name?" Caius asked her and it seemed to take the Militant so much by surprise that she blinked.

And then, she smirked.

"What’s it to you?" She asked snarkily.

"Just curious," Caius shrugged.

"Will you tell me yours?" The Militant asked still with a smirk.

Caius laughed.

"Touché," he said, and as he walked to the driver’s side of the Carriage and pulled the door open, he didn’t notice the look the Militant was giving him.

"It’s Adria," she said then and Caius paused and turned to face her.

"Hmm?"

"My name is Adria," she said, and feeling she had acted too friendly, decided to add in a harsh tone,

"Remember it if you ever think to cause trouble in Northern-Star again. I, Adria will stop you."

"I look forward to it," Caius said and despite the smile in his voice, he sounded like he did take her seriously.

He and the Leopolds entered the Carriage and turned toward an exit out of the Garrison that would take them closer to the border. Behind the wheel, Caius was focused;

There would be no more stops until they reached Athenodora. He would make certain of it.