Chapter 88: Beauty in a lost cause

As he hit the ground, covered by Gareth’s body, Caius saw what remained of the carriage. It didn’t look like it had exploded but more like it had hit something. Except, it made very little sense for anything to have hit it in such a way that it’d break open like it had. The Carriage was fortified to survive powerful collisions and break through most, if not all, obstacles. This clearly had not been caused by some loose rock. This was Magic. ’Duh,’ Caius told himself, ’What else would it have been?’ "Young lord, are you alright?" Gareth asked as he eased his weight off Caius’ body and got on one knee, looking him over in concern. "I’m fine," Caius said with a huff as he pulled up off the ground. He had the wind knocked out of him and was a little shocked but otherwise, uninjured. "Good," Gareth said and his serious tone made it sound anything but. He cast his eyes about and the other guards were stirring. No one had been injured and they were all looking about for the cause of their crash. Gareth looked like he had already figured it out as he said in a grave tone, "An ambush." Almost as soon as he said that, symbols appeared all around them. They seemed to have been etched into the ground with deliberate purpose but Caius could have sworn they hadn’t been there until that very moment. The circles became connected by strings of Mana and let out a thrumming sound as they began to erect a Dome intent on shutting off the inside of it from the outside. Before the dome was completely up, figures began to ’appear’ so they could be sealed within along with Gareth, the other confused Guards, and Caius. ’Appear’ being the tentative word to be used here because Caius was sure the figures had been lurking and simply chose now to jump into view. They had moved too fast for him to see their movements but something about their poses told him they didn’t just materialize out of thin air. The figures wore dark cloaks, complete with hoods. But they didn’t really try to hide their faces from view. Their faces ranged from fairly good-looking to average, to displeasing but they had had the same set of eye-catching details; Bright red eyes and fangs. "Vampires," Gareth said through gritted teeth and one hand on the hilt of his sword. His voice was so deep with hatred that it took Caius by surprise. And then he remembered that these were all members of his father’s monster-hunting force who had had many run-ins with Vampires and battled quite a few of them. He had gotten so comfortable that he forgot they didn’t know what he was. All in all, yes, the cloaked figures, were indeed all Vampires. And not the kind like Caius who was moving through his Vampirism with light amorous feeding on a few willing partners. This bunch had killed many and siphoned all that they had. It was clear in the bloodthirsty aura that oozed from their bodies. From the way their tongues licked their lips. And from the extra tint in their Vampire Red eyes. That was another thing. They had nothing to hide. For Vampires to have their eyes and fangs so out on display could mean either pride in what they were or a readiness to do battle. It was sometimes both as Caius was sure was the case here. "You were too harsh," One of the Vampires snapped at another by his side. The admonished Vampire flinched, "What?" "You could have killed—" the angry Vampire started with a snarl and then his red eyes glanced at Caius for a second before he looked at the Vampire he was angry with to try again, still angry but more collected, "We’re to take him alive." "He still is," the admonished Vampire said and shrank into himself before lowering his head, "I apologize, Geron." A few things were clear to Caius from that exchange; One, the admonished Vampire caused their crash as was the plan but went too hard with it. Two, Geron, the angry Vampire, was in charge here, and finally, Three, Caius was their target. Although to be fair, he and the Guards had guessed as much. It was why they looked so agitated. Geron must have sensed that agitation because he looked at them and smiled. He almost looked handsome. Almost but there’s so little a charming smile can do for a below-average face. "Peace, brethren," he said with his hands raised. He had his claws out and his moonstone ring was not at all enchanted like Caius’ to be subtle and undetectable for what it was. "We’re no brethren of yours," Gareth said, and unsheathed his sword. The other Guards did the same. Still, Geron smiled. "Very well. We still mean you no harm. Simply give us the boy there and we’ll be on our way. No one needs to get hurt." "Ha," Gareth laughed without any joy, "Negotiate with a Vampire? With my Young Lord as a bargaining chip? I’d rather die." Caius frowned. He was sure he had heard the name Geron before and he kept repeating it over and over in his head trying to remember when the Character had shown up in the original story. Then his eyes went wide when he remembered. At some point in [To Kill A Demon Lord...], after Caius and Aurelius had long graduated from Lochxen, they had gone up against Geron, a Vampire in the service of his creator, the Vampire Lord, Anton Orlock. The arc had been very Caius-focused because Anton, being a bit of a mad scientist was all about experiments with Vampire Blood which Caius, even while stubbornly remaining a Vampire Spawn, had. But putting aside the larger impacts of that arc and its implications for Caius and Aurelius’ shift from kinda antagonists to sort-of friends—Because that was when Aurelius learned he was a Vampire and didn’t shun him for it—it should not have been happening yet. Caius was sure he hadn’t done anything to draw the Vampire Lord’s attention to himself. This was an enemy that had nearly killed both Aurelius and Caius even while they fought him together when they were well past the Seventh Circle. It was not the sort of enemy you’d have a student just two weeks into his first school year at Lochxen facing. ’What in hell—?’ Caius started to ask and then remembered Samantha. Specifically what she had said right before the crash. ’Is this the surprise you meant?’ He asked her in his head but she didn’t respond. Probably most annoying was that he was sure she was paying attention and heard him but just wanted to be silent and invisible. Eventually, he was frowning and pulling himself together. Getting hysterical was stupid at this point. Samantha had been smiling when she ’warned’ him of this and with their united goal that he should not die, that had to mean this was a winnable situation. There must have been some factor he wasn’t seeing clearly enough yet. But what was it? Geron’s smile slipped at Gareth’s response and he shook his head disappointed before he gestured at the Nine Vampires with him who were numerically more than the Four Guards including Gareth. "You’re not thinking clearly. Look around, you’re outnumbered. We’ve studied you all for days. Studied your route. Studied your security detail. We’ve spent the weekend learning all about the Von Helsings in preparation for this. Do you seriously think you can win?" Gareth smirked, again without any joy but with his eyes bright in confidence, "Many have spent years ’studying’ the Von Helsings and they’ve fallen all the same but you think a few days is enough? Ha! And let’s assume you did study and you did learn, that’d only make you more foolish for doing this anyway. Because if you knew anything about Count Lucian Von Helsing and we who serve his house, you’d know, we work best against your kind. Hellsingers, To me!" The three other Guards stepped forward in a tight formation that looked pathetic against the enemy of Vampires that more than doubled their numbers and yet, for some reason, looked impressive as well. There’s a beauty in a lost cause, it seems. "Your funeral," Geron said and sighed like he truly was sad they couldn’t come to an agreement. With a flick of his index fingers, he ordered the other Vampires to surge forward and the battle began.