Chapter 304: So she was an Ancient.

[What?]

"That is a very warm way to answer your beloved student."

[It is four in the morning.]

"Ah."

Lucian nodded in realisation.

"I didn’t check."

He admitted.

[I noticed.]

Vivienne’s voice remained as cold as ever.

[Why are you calling?]

She asked directly, clearly not wanting to spend more time than she had to. Lucian leaned back against the backrest of the bed and—

"I had a dream."

For a moment, Vivienne did not say anything, then—

[Go back to sleep.]

She spoke, ready to disconnect the call but before she could—

"Wait."

Lucian stopped her.

"It was a suspicious dream."

[All dreams are suspicious if you are stupid enough.]

"Teacher."

[What?]

"I am serious."

He spoke in a serious tone and for the first time, Vivienne decided she wouldn’t cut the call in the next few seconds.

Lucian smiled at that.

However cold she acted, she was, in the end, always there for him, even if it was four in the morning and she was in a very bad mood.

[Explain.]

She commanded.

The annoyance in her voice faded a little.

And Lucian did exactly what he was told to. He told her about the darkness, how he couldn’t see anything other than himself, the voice, how it wanted him to leave and once he finished retelling everything—

[What did you feel after waking?]

Vivienne asked a question.

"Nothing."

Lucian shook his head.

[Nothing?]

"I thought it was a Dream Demon, I didn’t sense any demonic energy, neither did I sense any foreign presence. I also checked my body, there are no weird marks."

He spoke as he looked down at himself again.

[You do not feel anything out of the ordinary? Your energy, blood, mind, any missing memories, unusual hunger?]

"No, nothing. I checked everything."

[Did anyone enter the room?]

"Not that I noticed, no."

He shook his head again.

Vivienne turned silent.

Lucian waited for her to say anything, but seeing she didn’t, he asked instead—

"So?"

[So what?]

"What was it?"

[I don’t know.]

Lucian frowned.

"That isn’t very useful."

[You have a dream in a Vampire estate, call me about it, and expect me to identify its cause over the phone?]

"When you say it like that, it does sound unreasonable."

[It is.]

That made Lucian sigh.

He thought about it for a moment and—

"It was not just a dream, Teacher. My instincts tell me it was something more, something was trying to warn me."

[Do not ignore your instincts.]

"So someone is trying to warn me?"

[I think something happened that your mind considers important enough to warn you about. It doesn’t necessarily mean your interpretation is correct, but it is something you should look into.]

"So let’s say I am correct, then...

Who is warning me?

And... who are they warning me about...?"

Lucian wondered out loud and once again, the same name came to his mind.

"Could it be... Aurelia Veyr?"

He asked, honestly he wasn’t expecting Vivienne to say anything, especially when she already admitted she did not know but the moment he said Aurelia’s name—

[It’s not her.]

Vivienne shook her head.

"What?"

[It’s not Aurelia Veyr, neither is she secretly trying to warn you, nor is she the one you are being warned about. You do not need to worry about her.]

"You know her?"

That answer came so quickly that Lucian’s expression changed.

[Yes.]

Vivienne nodded.

"How well?"

[Well enough.]

"That’s a very helpful answer, thank you."

Vivienne completely ignored the sarcasm and—

[If Aurelia Veyr wanted to harm you, she would not need to invade your dreams.]

"Right, she is strong."

[Yes, much more than you think.]

"Is she stronger than you?"

Lucian asked curiously.

He didn’t know why.

But he found it very interesting to compare strong beings he met with his teacher.

[No.]

Vivienne shook her head, just as Lucian expected but then—

[But she is close.]

And those words made Lucian pause.

This was the same woman who dismissed an Archdemon like she was nothing, heck, she even invited her to Earth for a battle.

And now...

She was admitting Aurelia was ’close’.

Coming from her, even that seemed like praise.

"She is that strong?"

[Yes, and she personally accepted responsibility for your safety.]

She spoke.

Vivienne obviously knew everything that happened, both Lucian and Garrick reported to her.

[More importantly, she did it publicly, under House Veyr’s name.

Vampires care about such things, especially the old Houses.]

"So you are saying she’d protect me because hurting me now would damage House Veyr’s reputation."

[Yes.]

"And you trust she will keep her word?"

[Your existence may have become highlighted because of recent events, but it isn’t important enough for an Ancient to discredit herself and her House’s word.]

"So she was an Ancient."

Lucian nodded to himself.

Vivienne did not say anything.

Lucian too brought his focus back to the topic at hand.

"So Lady Aurelia isn’t secretly planning to drain me dry."

[If she wished to drain you dry, you would already be dry.]

"...why did you word it like that?"

[I answered your concern.]

"...right."

Lucian leaned his head against the wall.

"So Aurelia isn’t the problem."

Vivienne remained silent, Lucian took her silence as an agreement.

"Then what is?"

[I already told you, I do not know.]

That made him sigh again, he stared at the suite he was in for a few seconds, then—

"I still don’t think I should ignore it."

He spoke again.

"I know it could very well be just a dream, that I might just be overreacting but...

Something about it still bothers me."

He muttered out loud.

"It... feels important.

As if... if I pretend nothing happened, I might regret it later."

And as he continued speaking his mind, Vivienne finally said something else.

[You can come back.]

Lucian paused.

"What?"

[If you believe the situation is dangerous, return.]

She spoke in her usual calm voice.

[No one is forcing you to remain there.]

"Come back...?"

Lucian stared ahead, thinking if he should consider that option.

But just then—

[If you believe you should leave, leave.

Just do not tell anyone you ran away from House Arcelis because of a dream.

If you want, I can even come and take you with me.]