Chapter 505: Regardless of what Caius wanted

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The meeting Caius had with the Leopold Coven Council ended with the decision to continue to lay low as they already were. Thanks to Caius being a Von Helsing, they would have access to Alexia’s findings and thus, didn’t need to do anything that could expose them prematurely.

Caius walked into his tower at the Underground Coven and climbed the spiral stairway leading to his room on the highest floor. There he found Arlette sitting at his desk— well, it was also her desk in a way.

...

When she began to spend more time at the Coven after the battle against Brogan and his Coven, the Leopolds had offered to prepare a chamber for her to stay in which Caius found ridiculous. He had far too much space to himself in that tower and saw no reason it should be his alone.

"We’ve been ending up living together a lot of late," Arlette had said with a little smile, "Any more and I’ll start reading meaning into it."

"You haven’t already?" Caius had asked her before he swept her up into his arms,

"You really aren’t that observant, are you?"

Arlette had been about to form a retort but it fizzled when Caius’s lips pressed against hers and they then spent the next few hours celebrating her moving in.

...

As Caius approached the room, he expected Arlette to be poring over reports from the various ’Ophiuchus’ bases. The bases really ran well with very little supervision; There was a Vampire turned by Kerwin as the head of every base and so they couldn’t so readily betray the Coven’s interests. That security only got more ironclad after Caius secured their subservience by Divine Ordinance.

However, while the bases ran well, most decisions couldn’t be made unilaterally by a base leader. They needed permission for everything, down to every tiny bit of money that was spent to run the bases.

And taking care of all that— dishing out permissions and ensuring bases don’t clash during various orders, was Arlette. Caius knew she wasn’t going to ask for help even though she so clearly needed it so he took it upon himself to ensure she had assistants.

He picked members of the Leopold Council for the task. Arlette was handling a job that used to l fall to them whenever Kerwin decided to delegate, so a lot of them had experience already.

The chosen Assistants ended up being the most enthusiastic volunteers; Kyre, Meline, Nadine, and Roxanne Leopold.

Had he not just left all four assistants behind in the Council, Caius might have thought they were the ones Arlette was talking to on the Loqui-Link which she was speaking into before he arrived.

"—Yes," Arlette said to the one on the other end of the Call, "I understand."

The communication ended then right as Caius placed his hands on her shoulders, working his fingers into what felt like tense muscles before he leaned down and planted a kiss on her smooth cheek.

"Hey," he said, "Missed you at the meeting."

"Oh, you didn’t need me there. And you can just tell what you all discussed now anyway," Arlette said and there was something about her tone that made it sound like she was pushing the topic aside to talk about something else.

"What is it?" Caius asked her as he saw the look on her face.

"That was Lochxen," she said, gesturing with her Loqui-Link.

"Huh," Caius said.

"The Semester resumes in three weeks," Arlette said with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Wow," Caius said without much amazement, "That’s so soon."

"Soon?" Arlette repeated with an incredulous smile, "It’ll be a Month next week."

"It was a demonic attack, Arlette," Caius said lightly and in jest, "The break could go on for a year and it’ll be justified."

"It won’t be practical though," Arlette said with a shrug,

"In any case, it’s official. Professors are being tasked to prepare ahead of the Semester. Students and their guardians will be informed in the coming week."

"Hmm," Caius let out.

It didn’t take long at all for him to feel pleased with this news. While he wasn’t particularly keen on returning to Lochxen—as classes would cut into how much time he could spend at the Coven and remain involved in the goings on—he was really looking forward to some wonderful reunions.

And to pick things up where he left off with a certain Combat Magic Professor. Really, schoolwork might be dull and uninteresting but relationships will always make up for those failings.

"And I was just getting used to the routine too," Arlette said with a sigh.

"Not excited about teaching again?" Caius asked with a smirk.

"I guess I’ve grown lazy," Arlette said and Caius laughed.

He reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the chair and into his arms. He replaced her on the chair so she was sitting on his lap now. The feel of her supple asscheeks on him quickly directed blood flow to Caius’s member.

With a deep moan, Arlette wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing his lips and then his neck and then all over his face.

"I mean, you could quit," Caius said in between her adoring kisses.

"Hmm, could I?" Arlette asked.

Caius had mostly said that in jest but he really couldn’t think of any reason why she couldn’t.

When he told her this, Arlette became thoughtful.

"Quit... And leave my dear students at the mercy of an unfamiliar teacher?"

"I think I’ll be alright," Caius chuckled.

"Just you? I’m talking about others who show promise. For instance, there’s Aylin. That girl has never gone three days without calling me. I fear sometimes how many explosions she may have caused. She has talent and drive but she strikes me as overeager sometimes." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"Ah," Caius let out in realization, "Right."

He couldn’t believe he had forgotten the closeness Arlette and Aylin Khione had developed before Lochxen went on break and the fact that they had continued to foster that relationship. Hell, during this break, Aylin spoke to Arlette almost as much as she spoke to Caius.

Just almost and certainly not more but still... It’s amazing and never really failed to draw a chuckle from Caius lips.

But soon, chuckling became the least of the things Caius wanted to do as he thought of Aylin... Her breasts— so large his hands could never quite contain them. Those icy blue eyes that chilled others but shone bright at the very sight of him. Her perfect round...

’Ah, damn it,’ Caius let out.

There were certain thoughts he didn’t allow whenever he thought of his partners— certain triggers that wrought feelings he usually didn’t have anything to do with and left him very frustrated and really didn’t do him any good on account of their distance.

Like the way Eloise’s moans could cause an unconscious activation of her Sound magic, creating beautiful magical notes that dazzled the atmosphere and almost wrenched Caius’s attention away from the suppleness of her skin.

Or the way Kaya’s Nature Magic was infused in the taste of her blood. The way her slightly pointy ears twitched in reaction to her pleasure. That delicate and perfect beauty of hers, and her breasts, a wonderful fit for his hold.

Or the way Delia’s walls came crumbling down in the moments of intimacy they had shared. The way her emotions had grown about as chaotic as her Storm Magic, dousing them in rain, and had conjured as they twisted together on the ground.

Or the way Cynthia’s body undulated with his as they performed her Focus-gathering dance moves. All the while, he wondered how much more effective a different kind of dance—a potentially horizontal one—would be for her focus.

Those were thoughts that Caius kept sealed in a treasured part of his mind to only be properly explored when he could truly work through them properly rather than just being left unsatisfied and filled with longing so deep it ached.

A tightening of her arm around his neck pulled Caius back from the brink of falling into those thoughts. He became very present in Arlette being here with him. The distance from the others sucked but he would never not be grateful for how much time he had gotten to spend with the grey-eyed beauty in his lap.

The end of the break was going to throw a wrench in all that ample time they spent together. It created a conundrum where Caius both wished the next three weeks would pass quickly for the reunion and also hold off a bit for more time with Arlette— keeping the status quo of the past couple of weeks for much longer.

If time passing hinged on Caius being decisive in the moment, it might have stalled for eternity.

So it was fortunate that, regardless of what Caius wanted and his indecision, time was going to keep chugging along...

... No matter what.