Chapter 378: You are... investigating?

"When you gave me the Heart, I intended to destroy it.

I truly did."

Cassian repeated because he could see Aurelia did not believe him.

"But before that happened...

We examined it."

He looked right into Aurelia’s eyes, then, with absolute seriousness on his face.

"The Heart was dead, Aurelia.

There was no consciousness, no active Will, no response, there was absolutely nothing."

Aurelia’s expression didn’t change with those words. Cassian noticed that, and he continued.

"But the blood...

That was still stable."

Those words made Valerian frown a little, Cassian looked at the Veyr Vampires and continued,

"It was perfectly stable, even after Neroth’s death, the physical properties of his blood remained. Strength, regeneration, adaptability, energy tolerance, everything that made an Archdemon’s body what it was...

Was inside that Heart."

He spoke as his eyes returned to Aurelia.

And Aurelia...

She understood what the Arcelis Patriarch was trying to say.

Cassian noticed that, that little understanding in her eyes gave him hope and he continued speaking.

"At first, we only preserved samples, then we studied them, then...

We tested them."

He spoke after a small pause.

"Crimson Crucible."

Aurelia spoke in a cold, flat tone and the moment she said those words, Cassian’s face changed.

How did she...?

He wondered in his head.

Then, after giving it some thought, he realised it.

Her people got to those documents.

Cassian still didn’t know how they did it, their very existence should be something no one even knew about.

He hated it.

After all, an Ancient Vampire did not like being pried upon, especially not when he was the Patriarch of an Ancient Vampire House with... many secrets to hide.

Right now, however, this wasn’t something he was going to question.

"Yes."

He just nodded, continuing the conversation, regardless of how much he hated what he had just heard.

There was no point hiding it, not anymore.

He just placed one hand on the table in front of him and—

"You saw Neroth, Aurelia."

He started speaking.

"You know what beings like him are capable of."

"I do."

"And you also know there are other beings just like him."

Those words made Aurelia raise an eyebrow.

"So that’s why you did it? So you could deal with future Archdemons if they appeared and protect everyone?"

She asked but from her voice, it was clear she did not believe him.

This was not about protection.

This was purely about power.

Cassian did what he did because he could not resist the temptation of power in front of him.

Cassian could sense what she was thinking and he still continued.

"We survived because we were fortunate, I had no intention of allowing House Arcelis to remain dependent on luck.

Our Houses may be of the same Rank, but you know we do not share the same strength. House Veyr holds the power to contain Archdemons, we do not.

I wanted to change that.

I wanted my House to be strong enough to be able to hold its own against an Archdemon’s full descent."

"...so you wanted your House to be stronger than it currently is, so you decided to preserve the being that you fear?"

"I only preserved his Heart."

Cassian corrected.

Aurelia, however, kept staring at him, then, in a voice louder than before, she cut him off.

"No."

She took another step towards him.

"You preserved him."

"We did not know that."

Cassian answered as his jaw tightened and Aurelia—

"That is exactly the problem."

She spoke directly.

For a moment, the Hall turned silent. Cassian didn’t say anything, he... couldn’t say anything.

Aurelia, however, did not stop.

"You experimented with something you did not understand."

"We understood enough."

The Arcelis Patriarch tried to maintain his stance but—

"Did you?"

Aurelia’s simple question silenced him, especially when Aurelia looked around the Hall they were standing in, that made Cassian lower his gaze for a moment.

"Because less than an hour ago, the dead Archdemon you said you ’understood enough’ took control of one of your descendants and turned your own House against you."

She spoke.

The words were... humiliating.

The Arcelis Vampires lowered their heads in embarrassment, the worst part about all this was the fact that Aurelia didn’t even have to present any evidence to support her words.

The very place they were standing in was evidence enough.

Aurelia didn’t stop there either, instead, she turned towards one of the Arcelis Ancient Vampires, a man with long grey hair.

He had been responsible for Crimson Hearth for centuries, Aurelia knew that much, so she—

"How?"

She asked.

The Ancient frowned.

Aurelia looked right at him and—

"How did Neroth gain control of the Hearth?"

This was a question that had been bothering her for a while now. Neroth’s resurrection was one thing, but the fact that he managed to gain control of Arcelis’s strongest Formation and even managed to alter it to his benefit made this entire ordeal much more terrifying.

It made one think about how strong an influence Neroth had on House Arcelis and...

Was that influence actually gone?

Was... a part of Neroth still alive?

Aurelia didn’t have any answers to those questions, so she looked at the Arcelis Vampire, hoping he might be able to give her something but...

"We are investigating."

The answer was very dissatisfying.

Aurelia stared at the Arcelis Ancient and the Hall became very, very quiet. The Arcelis Vampires now seemed even more uncomfortable.

"You are... investigating?"

She repeated those words in a way that made them feel even more uncomfortable.

"Yes."

The Arcelis Ancient could only nod. He tried to give her something but—

"The Hearth returned to normal only minutes ago. We have already dispatched—"

"Neroth seized control of the central Formation protecting one of the oldest Vampire Houses in existence."

Aurelia interrupted him before he could come up with any excuse.

"He suppressed every Vampire registered to it, he sealed the entire Estate, he activated your defensive formations, detonated weapons buried beneath your own ground, used the suffering caused by your own Formation to feed his Authority and...

And your answer to me is...

You are investigating?"