CHAPTER 103: WHERE TO START

Lucian’s spear blazed with his rage.

"What game is she playing?" He asked, convinced the Vampire was still here and convinced that whatever her plan was, it was still ongoing and involved his son.

"Father—" Caius started to say when the army of Hellsingers arrived.

Lucian turned to them,

"Comb the Castle and the perimeter. If you find anyone, report to me but DO NOT ENGAGE!"

"Yes, Lord Von Helsing!" The Hellsingers chorused before breaking off into groups that went all about the castle grounds, running through the blood that had flowed into various rooms and corridors beside the one right outside the Throne room.

Lucian approached Caius now and his Spear vanished into his storage ring as he held a hand out for Caius to take so he could pull him to his feet.

"Father, seriously, I’m fine," Caius said.

"What did she do, Caius?" Lucian asked his black eyes glaring into his son’s purple orbs,

"I know she was here."

"And she’s gone now," Caius said, "Also, she saved me."

Now Lucian looked surprised and he narrowed his eyes as he glanced back at the bodies he could still just see past the doorway.

"She killed them all, didn’t she?" He asked.

"She did," Caius answered.

"And these, the ones she killed, they took you?" Lucian asked.

"They did. By order of a Vampire Lord called Anton Orlock,". Caius said.

There was still rage in Lucian’s eyes but he was willing to put it aside to understand exactly what had happened today.

"Anton Orlock, I’ve heard of him. I might have crossed his path during my expeditions. Hunted his spawns. Is that why they came after you? For me? And that whore— Athenodora had to come save you?"

Caius looked into those eyes asking him for answers and wasn’t sure what he should say. How much should he reveal here?

He wasn’t worried about Athenodora. He would be foolish to be because she was more than capable of taking care of herself. The hundreds of dead Vampires just past the Throne Room’s doorway said as much. Lucian might have been written to be her eventual killer but Caius was sure today was not going to be that day.

Also, while mentioning her ploy and how she had used him as bait might upset his father, considering he already hated her so much, would this one more ’callous’ act from her change anything? He didn’t think so.

Caius let out a sigh.

"It wasn’t because of you. Anton Orlock simply wanted my Blood."

"To feed??" Lucian asked.

"No, not to feed," Caius answered, "He can’t exactly feed on me. And he already knew that."

"He can’t. Then why—?" Lucian started to ask before his eyes widened slightly in realization. What blood would a Vampire Lord want and couldn’t feed on if not that of a Vampire like himself?

There was still the question of what made Caius’ blood of so much interest to the Vampire Lord though.

Lucian nodded now.

"Let’s leave it at that for now," he said and retrieved a cloak from his Storage ring to wrap around Caius in place of the uniform jacket and shirt that had been ripped off him,

"We’ll discuss this at a more... secure location."

That was fancy speak for ’We’ll talk when we get home’.

Just as Caius had thought, the Hellsingers were unable to find any traces of Athenodora and after an hour waiting to make sure the search was exhaustive, Lucian decided it was time to leave for home.

A carriage was waiting to take Caius home and he entered it, sitting beside his father as they were driven back home to the Von Helsing Estate. Anton Orlock’s Black Castle wasn’t anywhere close to the Capital. It was basically at a very remote corner of the Acheron Empire which really put into perspective just how far Caius had been flown to get there and how long it took to return. Especially since the massive entourage of Hellsingers in Massive Carriages themselves ensured they journeyed slowly and carefully.

"How’s Gareth and the others?" Caius asked his father after an hour or so of traveling in silence.

"Gareth suffered a terrible head wound but reinforcements arrived and got him help before it was too late. The other three Hellsingers that made up your Guard are also well. It seemed the Vampires didn’t stick around much once they had you."

"That’s good to hear," Caius said.

"They were unable to protect you," Lucian pointed out.

"Against unexpected enemies. Enemies that studied them quite a bit before making their move, I think they did pretty well," Caius answered.

"Their job is not to do ’Pretty well’," Lucian said, "You realize we wouldn’t be having this conversation if, gods forbid, you’d died? And it would have been their fault."

’No, it would have been Athenodora’s fault,’ Caius thought but didn’t say out loud.

Now was not the time or place to evoke that name and at the end of the day, Athenodora’s involvement or not, the attack still happened and the blame would be on the Guards still. At least as far as Lucian was concerned.

"You’re not changing them, are you?" Caius asked.

"I’m taking things under advisement," Lucian said, "We’ll see how things feel come morning."

’Uh oh,’ Caius thought.

This had to be the one outcome of the events of the day that he was looking forward to the least; Overprotectiveness to the point of being annoying and hindering.

•••

—The Von Helsing Estate—

Caius was allowed to go up to his room the moment he arrived and he was given a canister of Beast Blood under the allusion that he must be thirsty.

"We’ll talk more in the morning," his father said.

"Morning? But I’ll be going to Lochxen," Caius

Lucian mused for a minute before he said slowly,

"I was thinking maybe you should stay home from school. One day without learning won’t hurt, will it?"

Caius thought about that. If ’school’ weren’t Lochxen, a day off would be absolutely welcome. But it was Lochxen and he had quite a bit invested there. Still, he agreed. He could do with one day of ’rest’ and spend that getting better prepared for what came next.

"Alright," he said.

"Good," Lucian nodded, "Off you go now."

In his room, Caius took off the cloak he had been wearing, stripped out of the rest of his clothes, and took a soak in the warm bath that had been prepared for him.

He closed his eyes and just enjoyed the feel of all the dirt being disintegrated right off his body.

"You’re back," he said without opening his eyes. He had sensed the moment he was no longer alone and he knew already who it was.

Samantha smiled.

"I am," she said.

"How long had you known that crash was going to happen before you warned me?" Caius asked.

Samantha shrugged with a smile.

"A while," she admitted, "But that was hardly a warning. I was just making conversation. You know, we were talking about surprises involving things that didn’t happen in the original story and I thought that was a fun one."

"’Fun’ is not a word that I’d have used when it all started and I was feeling confused," Caius said.

"But isn’t that the Average ’character experience’? Not knowing a higher power is manipulating things and potentially fucking your life up," Samantha said with a chuckle.

Caius smiled. It was easy to all casual about it all now that it had passed and while he was being soothed by the bathwater.

"And was that ’higher power’ you in this case?" He asked, "Was that why you were smiling when you warned me? Because you knew I’d be fine?"

Samantha chuckled.

"Kind of. But also, not really.

When things don’t follow my established canon—what I wrote—I’m almost as blind as you are. The one edge I have is that I can sometimes sense a story change coming. Like an intuition or a hunch. But a bit stronger. A bit more concrete. But maybe not always clear.

I have this edge because these are all still my characters. This is still a world I created and molded for years of my life. I know it well. I know them well. Even better than I realize because not everything I think or want them to be actually goes on the page..."

"Like you were saying before the crash," Caius interjected here to say.

Samantha nodded.

"Exactly.

The feud between Athenodora and Anton was something I came up with on the fly while I wrote the battle where Caius and Aurelius were facing off against the Vampire Lord. It has very little, or maybe even nothing, to do with the plot of the Novel as a whole but I thought it added more flavor to the battle. Made it just a bit more personal. Like a Son inheriting his Mother’s enemy...

So when I sensed the change to that event coming, when I saw how Athenodora was planning to use you, and when she was going to get involved, I wasn’t too worried. I knew you’d be safe with her.

And at the end of it all, you’ve made another decision I did not expect. Another change in the story to disrupt my canon.

You’ve become a Vampire Lord."

Caius laughed a little then.

"A Lord with no subjects," he said.

"What do you plan to do about that?"

"Change it obviously," Caius said with a confident smile,

"And I know where to start."