Caius and Kaya dressed in silence, taking their time, sneaking glances at each other and smiling whenever their eyes happened to cross.
When they were done, the bed of vines flaked away into Mana, and the door was unsealed. Caius grabbed the handle and made to pull it when Kaya's mind set off into a storm of thoughts. She had so many questions. Most of them were about Vampires and what it meant that Caius was one and others were about them;
What were they now?
Was this going to be a regular thing? She hoped so.
She was about to open her mouth to ask at least one of her questions when the Caius opened the classroom door and on the other side, waiting for them with both her hands folded beneath the eye-catching rise of her well-developed breasts, was Eloise Nightingale.
Eloise was frowning and her feet tapped against the ground so impatiently that Caius almost thought she had been standing there the whole time.
"You missed Break!" Eloise said sharply.
"Oh, um, sorry," Kaya said and glanced at Caius as she added, "I guess we lost track of time."
Eloise's frown relented a bit and her expression became one of suspicion,
"What were you two doing in there anyway?"
"Umm—Errr—" Kaya tried to think of something, but her mind was drawing a blank, so she looked over at Caius again, her eyes imploring him to cut in with a good lie.
Caius reacted with a sudden start,
"Wait, Eloise, did you say Break was over?" He asked.
"Yeah. And for a while too," Eloise said, her beautiful face still with a suspicious expression.
"Oh damn, I have to get to class," Caius said.
"But we have Mage-Knight training," Kaya said like she truly did not expect anyone to actually be taking that class seriously.
"Yeah. And I'm taking it," Caius told her easily before turning away.
Kaya reached out and grabbed his arm,
"Wait—" she said and the look in her eyes was almost pleading.
'Don't leave me to explain all of this to her by myself!' She almost yelled out loud, 'At least do it before you go!'
Caius smiled and he had to try hard not to laugh. He pulled Kaya into a surprise hug before whispering into her ear,
"You'll be fine. Don't worry."
With that, he pulled back and planted a kiss on her lips. Taking a few seconds to make sure it looked and felt deep. It became almost sensual when Kaya's arms started to wrap around him to pull him against her body. In that moment, she suddenly forgot Eloise was standing right there.
Speaking of Eloise, her amber eyes were wide in shock and her mouth fell open as she stood there, speechless.
And then Caius released Kaya's lips and whispered,
"I'll see you later."
And then said in a louder and almost teasing tone because of the stunned look on Eloise's face,
"Goodbye, Eloise."
It took a while before Kaya recovered her voice and strength but Caius was already leaving. He half-sprinted down the hall with his Student Map in hand to direct him to the Mage-Knight Training Classroom.
The ladies watched him go. Even after he turned a corner and was gone from their sight, they still stared. And then Kaya closed her eyes. That kiss Caius gave her before leaving was only going to make things harder for her and she was sure he knew that.
Eloise didn't just look stunned anymore. There was a hint of something else in her eyes now—Jealousy?
"Here, I saved you some food," she said, handing Kaya a wrapped parcel she just took out of the storage bracelet on her wrist.
"Thank you!" Kaya said and she meant it. Her stomach felt close to rumbling. Apparently, doing what she and Caius just did caused hunger. Who knew?
Opening up the parcel, Kaya took a big bite out of the food while Eloise just kept eyeing her as a teasing smile stretched across her lips.
"Of course, you're hungry. Must have been tiring doing what you two were doing," she said wiggling her eyebrows but Kaya just filled her mouth even more so she wouldn't have to talk.
Eloise rolled her eyes and grabbed Kaya's arm to lead her away while saying in a voice oozing with the anticipation for gossip,
"You're going to tell me everything."
"Oh gods!" Kaya groaned through a mouthful of food. Her brain was already working hard to separate what she could say from what she couldn't.
•••
Caius felt a bit bad leaving Kaya to deal with Eloise alone but he knew she could handle it. Besides, he wasn't always going to be there with her and Eloise or anyone else so he might as well let her start getting used to keeping his secret.
Mage-Knight training was important.
In the original story, Caius hadn't taken the class. If he had, he just might have survived the assault on the Demon Lord that killed him. But of course, he had a reason.
You see, as a Vampire Spawn, Caius was doomed to have his physical strength always be as low as it could be. The only hope he had of getting stronger physically was to evolve his Vampirism which he swore he would never do.
It was like a trade-off; Being a Spawn made his Vampirism so weak that he could still use the 'Arcane Codex' to advance in Magic Circles but it also left him too weak physically to ever follow in his father's footsteps and be a Mage-Knight. One of his many silent sorrows.
Caius was still thinking about that—with passages of [To Kill a Demon Lord…] coming to the forefront of his mind—when he arrived at the door of the classroom. He pushed it open and walked in, interrupting the ongoing lecture.
There was a silence as the eyes of everyone in the class turned to him. It was reminiscent of yesterday. The only real difference was the attitude of the Professor who grinned at Caius and held out his arms in a welcoming pose.
"Mr. Von Helsing. I was starting to worry you wouldn't show," the Professor said in a delighted tone.
He looked like a man in his late forties and was in the best shape of his life. He had spiky brown hair and intense but kind brown eyes. He had his robe tied around his waist to show off an impressive upper body in a sleeveless form-fitting shirt that showed off rippling muscles and toned abs.
A Gym bro. That was what Caius likened the Professor to. Down to the smile that looked like he was about to tell him to get down and give him fifty pushups like it was no big deal.
"Sorry, Professor," Caius said. It's easier to apologize when someone is not staring at you with dislike.
"Tah, come off it. You can come in whenever you like," the Professor said, "Don't know if there's even anything I can realistically teach you."
"What?" Caius asked, surprised by the Professor's words.
The Professor took in his surprised expression and threw his head back in a hearty laugh before clarifying,
"You're the son of the great Lucian Von Helsing. What could I teach you that that absolute legend hasn't already?"
'Is he serious!' Caius asked himself. It was so easy to take what the Professor was saying as sarcastic. He seemed sincere and earnest enough but it was really hard to tell.
And then the Professor stepped forward and grabbed Caius' hand to shake it energetically.
"My name is Raoul Raoul. But you can call me Professor Raoul," he said with a grin.
And now Caius was sure the Professor was serious about everything he just said.
In the original story, Caius hadn't interacted much with the Mage-Knight Training Professor because he didn't take the class but the few times they did meet, had shown Raoul Raoul for who he was;
A Longtime fan of Count Lucian Von Helsing.