Caius blinked.
"What?" He asked, confused.
Lucian's black eyes looked over the blue-tinted lenses of his gold-rimmed glasses and directly into his son's confused eyes.
"Do you resent me?" He asked.
"I don't understand…" Caius said slowly.
'Did I do something?' He asked himself and looked down at the canister still in his hand.
"Is it because of the blood?" He asked out loud.
Lucian didn't answer but his silence was enough.
It was because of the blood.
Eventually, he let out a sigh,
"Five years I've been a coward. Five years I let you shut yourself off from the world—from me—because I couldn't face it. I couldn't face what I caused you to become. It was not you who was hiding; it was me.
And to see you now…" Lucian paused and he looked like he was in pain,
"… To see you gulp it down like some exotic wine. I can no longer hide from it. From what I've caused."
"I'll put it away," Caius said and made to send the canister into his spatial ring.
Lucian raised a hand.
"No," he said gently, "Don't put it away. That'll just be letting me off easy.
"There's nothing to let you off of," Caius said and the canister vanished into his Spatial Ring. He was not all that enthusiastic to drink it anyway. Even before this turn of events.
Lucian's tortured expression subsided a bit and he managed a smile,
"You're so kind. Just like your mother."
A few seconds passed before Lucian continued.
"I miss her every day, you know," he said.
"I believe you," Caius answered.
"That was when it all started. That was when I first failed you. When I couldn't save her."
"No one could," Caius said.
There wasn't much information about the illness that killed Caius' mother in the original story but it had been very emphasized that it was incurable which was incredibly rare in a world of magic such as this.
His words didn't help Lucian's expression of guilt,
"After, I should have been there for you. Like a good father would. But I wasn't.
I was too much of a coward to face your pain. I threw myself into my work. Made enemies I could easily have avoided and when one of them sought you out in retaliation, making a joke of the security the Estate has prided itself on for decades before, I wasn't there.
And you were turned into… into…"
"A Vampire," Caius said the words his father was struggling to get out,
"A Monster."
Lucian pressed his lips tightly together.
"You're not a monster. You're my son."
A full minute passed before Caius broke the silence in a light tone.
"This is a very heavy topic for our first meal together in five years."
Lucian laughed a little but his eyes were dark.
"I apologize. I wasn't planning on an outburst. I was going to have the Wyvern Blood delivered to you in your room as usual but I decided I couldn't hide anymore.
I was sure I could handle watching you feed. Clearly, I couldn't."
"No, I think this is good," Caius said picking up his cutlery to eat a bit more, "It can't have been easy to keep all that in for years."
Lucian shook his head.
"Whatever anguish I feel, I deserve."
"I don't agree," Caius said, "None of it was your fault."
Lucian studied Caius's face and realized his son truly believed those words. Some of the burden on his heart was alleviated a bit.
But only a bit.
"I've searched for years for a cure. To at least make right one of my failures."
Caius paused but wasn't bothered because he knew what Lucian was going to say next.
"I couldn't find any."
Of course, he couldn't.
A Vampire change, even a partial one to make a Vampire Spawn is irreversible. The only escape for someone who wanted to escape that fate was death.
Lucian was clearly never going to consider that. For as many Vampires he had hunted and would still hunt, he would hypocritically never do the same to his son.
Speaking of hunts, Lucian's eyes got even darker and he released a blood-curdling aura,
"I never forgot her name, you know. Athenodora…"
Caius knew the name. Athenodora was the Vampire who turned him.
Lucian continued,
"… She's eluded me for years but her luck is bound to run out soon. When next I meet her, the blade of my sword through her neck will be the last thing she feels as I wipe that cocky smile off her sickening face.
I guarantee it!"
•••
After the show of killing intent for Caius' Vampire creator, Lucian calmed down and now that he had let out the pains he had held tight inside for years, he could finally appreciate dinner with his son.
They were there for over an hour. Even after they were done eating, neither wanted to be the first to get up even though there wasn't much to say. Caius couldn't go into details about his day and that was the only thing worth mentioning after five years of inactivity.
When he finally started to leave the dining hall, Lucian called to him.
"I'm happy we did this son," he said, "Let's do it again soon."
"Right," Caius said with a nod and walked out of the hall without haste.
Walking through the Estate corridors, up the stairs to higher floors where his room was, he passed Estate workers. All of whom bowed to him in respect but also looked weary of him but he paid no attention to them.
He pulled the canister of Wyvern blood from his Spatial Ring and took sips while he thought back to [To Kill A Demon Lord…] and remembered this dinner had happened in the story as well. The details had just not been explored.
Caius assumed the original would have given the same answers he did though. Nothing in the memories he inherited pointed to Caius ever blaming his father for the tragedies that befell them.
"Athenodora though…" Caius said in a musing tone.
In the original story, Lucian did meet the Vampire again and they battled. He lost an arm and an eye but he managed to cut off her head. Just as he just vowed to do at dinner.
'I wonder how much that'll change due to the choices I make,' Caius thought before taking a more substantial gulp of Wyvern Blood, now at the large doors to his room.
He pushed it open and walked in, letting the memories he had of the place guide him. He took off his uniform, laying bare his slightly skinny body, and changed into something more home-friendly. Looking at himself in the mirror while doing it.
His handsome face stared back at him. His jet black hair was just the perfect wave of tousled. The violet eyes of his reflection were almost charming him which was a very weird thought even if a little interesting.
It would be all too easy for someone with this sort of face and such charm concentrated in their eyes, to be narcissistic to the point of unnaturally loving themselves.
But Caius just scoffed and looked away. That was a weirdness he didn't even want to consider.
"Admiring the upgrade, Kevin?" Samantha's voice came from behind.
Caius looked at the Mirror and saw her sitting on his large bed. She might have just appeared or she could have been there all along. He wasn't too sure.
"It's not too bad," Caius said.
Samantha snorted,
"Not too bad," she repeated in mocking mimicry and rolled her eyes but then she became focused on the bed.
Again, as it had been with the chair in the carriage, it didn't look like her body was actually touching it but she had a look in her face like she was feeling the texture.
"Hmm, so soft," she said in a low voice, "It's an amazing thing to glean pleasure from something you create."
"I can only imagine," Caius said with a nod as he took another sip of Wyvern blood,
"I've never been the creative type."
Samantha looked at him,
"Is that such a bad thing?" She asked, "Maybe some people are born just to enjoy the works of others. That's value in itself. You give meaning to the creations of the creatives."
Caius laughed,
"Maybe. But it sounds like mooching if you're not contributing something back."
"But you do contribute," Samantha said, "You read. You wrote comments. You gave reviews.
One of such reviews is what set all this off."
"And I'm not complaining," Caius said.
Samantha chuckled. And then her eyes clouded over as she said in a somber tone,
"Plus, creativity can come with burdens."
For a while, Caius said nothing. He drank the rest of the Wyvern Blood, sent the Canister into his Storage Ring, and walked up to his bed to lie down on it. Almost as soon as he did, Samantha was lying down by his side, on her back staring at the ceiling.
"Your burden as a creative has to do with this world being real, doesn't it?" Caius asked.
Rather than answer, Samantha smiled which felt like an answer enough.
"Does my making sure I survive the death you wrote help?" Caius asked.
Samantha looked to the side at him and her smile dazzled him.
"It's a start."
Caius nodded.
"Alright, then," he said, placing one arm above his head and his other hand over his midsection before slowly closing his eyes.