Chapter 372: Who’s coming?

"Oh, don’t worry."

Suddenly, a big grin appeared on Lucian’s face as he closed the distance between them even further.

"What I intend to do won’t be nearly as fun if you don’t have the power to take it.

I need you at your strongest."

The next few seconds passed in silence.

The Incubus and the Vampire continued looking into each other’s eyes, with their lips dangerously close to each other.

The High Elder watching it all play out with his own eyes had no idea how he was supposed to react.

Should this even be happening in the first place...?

He wondered in his head.

But when he saw the sparks forming as the two beings stared at each other, he just closed his eyes.

Nothing was going to happen if he didn’t see it.

Yes, the High Elder was having a mental breakdown.

The worst part was that both Lucian and Aurelia couldn’t care less about his situation, he was actually pretty sure they couldn’t even tell if he was there.

They were... too busy playing this game that had apparently started between them. The sparks were there and they were dangerously real.

Finally, a small, amused smile appeared on Aurelia’s face.

"You seem confident."

"Very."

"Looks like whatever new strengths you have gained have made you more arrogant."

"Oh, you have no idea."

Lucian chuckled out loud.

Then, the two laughed out loud and ended the strange contest that had just changed the very air around them. After all, both of them understood one thing, this was not the proper time or place.

They needed... more privacy for what would come after this.

Lucian also needed some style.

Almost all of his clothes were torn off, he was barely wearing anything right now and while he fully intended to be that way soon enough, that time was not now.

Aurelia took a few steps back as she looked around.

"This will get messy."

She commented.

"Indeed."

Lucian nodded, his eyes, however, did not move away from her. He kept staring at her, then at the Vampire standing beside her, then back at her.

To think that even in a situation where an entire Ancient House was close to collapsing, she still had a way out...

Then, when he thought a little more about it, for some absurdly bizarre reason...

It all made sense...?

Of course someone like Aurelia would have another card.

Why wouldn’t she?

She was an Ancient Vampire who had been investigating this entire thing for far longer than him, she would very obviously have one or more ways to protect herself.

In fact, Lucian wouldn’t be surprised if she had some other way to protect herself in case the High Elder failed to.

"...you are terrifying, you know that?"

He spoke out loud.

"Am I?"

Aurelia tilted her head at that.

"But I am just a beautiful woman."

"...right."

Lucian shook his head.

Then, the two of them laughed again.

Around them, the Arcelis Estate was in a bad state. Smoke was coming out of countless ruined structures, there was blood all over the roads and broken walls.

The Vampires were slowly regaining their strength, many of them had already started rescuing the injured. The Crimson Hearth was back to normal, Neroth was gone, so was Varek.

Project Crimson Crucible failed spectacularly and...

For the first time in what felt like a few days, Lucian had absolutely no idea what came next.

So, he turned back towards Aurelia and—

"Alright."

He spoke with a curious, amused look on his face.

"What now?"

And Aurelia—

Her face changed.

All the amusement she had on her face was gone, to Lucian’s regret, she no longer tried to flirt with him but the Vampire didn’t disappoint him.

Her eyes looked at the ruined Estate, her eyes turned cold as her very persona changed. She looked nowhere close to the woman Lucian saw just a few seconds ago.

Lucian had seen that expression before, for a good few seconds, he couldn’t put his finger on it, then, when he kept thinking about it, he realised it.

Those fragments of Neroth’s memories he saw.

That was where he saw this expression before, right before she declared war on an Archdemon.

That made Lucian look forward to what the Vampire was about to say.

And she...

"Now, we speak with Cassian."

She spoke out loud and the instant he heard those words, the look in Lucian’s eyes changed.

A lot happened here today.

The Arcelis lost their strongest formation, most of their territory was destroyed, there were even a few Vampire casualties.

But what was most important of all wasn’t the damage or how Lucian fought the enemy and won.

It was the enemy itself.

Neroth.

Nine hundred and eighty-three years ago, Aurelia entrusted Neroth’s Heart to House Arcelis, she explicitly instructed them to properly destroy it.

And House Arcelis—

They went against her direct orders.

Not only did they not destroy the Heart like she told them to, they preserved it and then they experimented on it.

They fed an Archdemon’s Blood to different Vampires and unknowingly prepared a body that would allow the Archdemon to resurrect in the World and, with the resources he had, possibly kill every single person present here.

This was... not a small matter.

Aurelia had her suspicions all this while, but now, now she had concrete proof and she was going to act on it.

The more he thought about it all, the wider Lucian’s smile became.

"When are we leaving?"

He asked curiously and Aurelia—

She turned towards him and...

"You aren’t coming.

There is no ’we’ here."

She shook her head.

"You just said we."

Lucian was definitely sure about this.

"I wasn’t talking about you."

"Then who else were you talking about?"

Lucian narrowed his eyes and Aurelia—

She looked in a particular direction, Lucian turned towards that particular direction.

He could sense several powerful beings coming from that direction, he still couldn’t get any more information about them since his head was still a mess.

"Who’s coming?"

He asked.

And Aurelia—

"House Veyr."

She gave an answer, expecting Lucian to be surprised, awed, or at least excited, but...

Lucian didn’t react.

That made her frown. Aurelia turned towards him and as she did, she noticed how he had frozen on the spot.

He sensed something.

Aurelia frowned, she turned around, then, she expanded her senses and now she sensed it as well.

Together with the Veyr Vampires, there was one more person coming with them.

A complex, strange existence that Aurelia instantly recognised.

Vivienne Everhart.