CHAPTER 142: WILL YOU GIVE IT?

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The stares eventually became so intense that Arlette grew uncomfortable. Plus, she had gotten some of the need out of her system and that would tide her over until she and Caius were next alone.

He allowed the Council on their feet now and a reconstruction of the Hall began. Though it didn’t really involve anything more than a replacement of the U-shaped desk that had been destroyed.

During the Desk replacement, the comatose Vampire Councilwoman who was still lying on the ground close to the wall stirred and awoke. Her body was already on the mend and her healing was furthered along by her chugging down a vial of blood she retrieved from her Storage ring.

She had missed the moment Caius won the duel and claimed rule of their Coven but considering she had spent her comatose state reliving the few seconds he had lain on her thighs and smiled at her, she might have accepted the results before any other member of the Coven.

At the replacement U-shaped Desk, Caius sat in the position that Kerwin used to occupy. A second chair was provided so Arlette could sit by his side. Now Kerwin started the line of Council members on the right arm of the U-Shaped Desk, trying not to feel more deposed than he already did.

But at least he understood why Caius was seated at that spot. The woman beside him, admittedly very beautiful, confused him though. He could feel the unique signature caused by the ’Ophiuchus’ sanctioned Interpretation of the Arcane Codex all over her which identified her as a member of the organization but her role here was still a mystery.

"My... Lord," Kerwin said, looking like he was struggling to get the word out.

"You’ll get used to it," Caius assured him with a smug smile.

"I expect I will," Kerwin said and he didn’t sound thrilled at the idea as he continued, gesturing at Arlette,

"May I inquire about the young lady by your side?"

Arlette had been looking at the surface of the desk when her head snapped up as she was addressed. She raised a brow like she was wondering why she was getting pulled into a conversation between a Vampire Lord and his Vassals. She sat here because Caius invited her and she was still responsible for his safety. She had ferried him out of the Academy, after all, and was going to ferry him back.

Caius looked taken aback and gestured at the Lochxen Uniform he still had on.

"Seriously? You haven’t deduced who she is by what I have on. You haven’t deduced that she’s the one ’Ophiuchus’ put in charge of the all-important task of infiltrating Lochxen to grant your Mercenaries eventual access?" He asked.

"I have deduced that, My... Lord," Kerwin said, again struggling with the honorific but pushing past it quickly as he continued,

"I just don’t think that has granted her the right to sit in on these proceedings."

"Oh, it hasn’t?" Caius asked with a raised brow.

"It hasn’t," Kerwin said and then added a few seconds late, "My Lord."

"Ah," Caius said then with a hand to his chest, "That’s my fault. I forgot to mention that she oversees you now."

"What?" Arlette asked and blinked.

Caius reached out and patted her hand which she had placed on the surface of the desk but his eyes were still on Kerwin Leopold expecting resistance.

"She oversees us?" Kerwin asked slowly.

"Yes," Caius answered silkily, "I’m a student. I’m eighteen. I have class all week and all of my own shit to worry about so I don’t really have time to babysit you all. Arlette will do it for me. When I give you a task, you’ll report to her on the progress of it through the channels ’Ophiuchus’ has always used to keep tabs on her mission progress."

"If you weren’t going to be able to be in charge, why go through all this?" Kerwin asked and he would have been seething if deference to Caius didn’t force him otherwise.

Caius chuckled at that.

"The fact that I can’t be bothered to stay here and sit in on all your meetings and jibber-jabber doesn’t mean I don’t want to rule you."

"So you won’t be staying here with us?" A Councilwoman piped up now. She was seated at the right arm of the U-shaped desk. About three members away from Kerwin.

[To Kill A Demon Lord...] had talked about the seating arrangement of the Council.

Those most closely related to Kerwin—like his children and his siblings—sat at the Right Arm of the Desk.

Those not as closely related to him—cousins (close or distant) and Nieces/Nephews—sat at the Left Arm of the Desk.

The earlier they were turned, the closer they sat to Kerwin when he used to be seated at the center of the table. Although it still applied even now that Caius had taken that seat.

Anyway, counting three people from Kerwin, the Councilwoman who just spoke was one of the first of Kerwin’s closely related siblings to accept the gift of Vampirism.

"What’s your name?" Caius asked her.

She looked taken by surprise and flushed as she answered,

"Roxanne Leopold."

Unlike Kerwin who got turned with months left to live, the other Vampires of the Coven had become immortal before their lifespans ran that low.

As such, they had the eternal youth and grace granted by Vampirism without looking artificial like Kerwin did.

In other words, Roxanne Leopold looked hot. Draped in the Council’s ceremonial robe—worn during their meetings to further their feelings of self-importance—her assets should have been covered up completely. The fact that her breasts pushed out the front of the robe made her very appealing.

"No, Roxanne, I will not be staying here," Caius said, "But I will try to visit."

Roxanne nodded, looking pleased. She wasn’t the only one. Every woman in the council reacted the same. It was almost uncanny how quickly they accepted the status quo and allowed themselves to be swept away by Caius’s face.

The men reacted almost completely in the opposite way. They accepted the status quo as well, they just hated the look of Caius’s face and how their female counterparts were reacting to it when just a few minutes ago they had all hated his guts together.

This was especially the case with the man sitting almost directly opposite Roxanne at the Left arm of the U-shaped Desk. However, there was also an extra bit of intensity in the look on his face and the way his annoyance fought hard against his deference to the Authority Caius now held over them all, that it was easy to guess he was Roxanne’s partner and was being jealous.

Kerwin pulled Caius’s attention and mind away from all that quickly enough.

"Very well. You don’t have to deal with our ’jibber-jabber’ but I’m here. I’ve led the Coven and, by extension, ’Ophiuchus’ for centuries. I can continue doing it while ultimately answering only to you.

I don’t need an overseer.

And certainly not one whose only qualification is that you suck each other’s faces."

Caius looked to the side at Arlette and smiled when he saw she was looking at Kerwin having listened to his words but her expression didn’t look hurt. She looked amused.

And then she looked at Caius.

"Why are you offering me this role?"

Caius shrugged.

"I’m a sucker for cliches. ’The ’Henchman’ taking over the whole Operation’ is a classic.

But really, I’d say I should use the power I now have to set you free of ’Ophiuchus’ but you’ve chosen to be a part of it thus far. Why not continue under new leadership? Under leadership that has you answer to no one else but me.

I want your help, Arlette. Will you give it?"

Arlette stared into his eyes.

"This is just dumping a bunch of work on me," she said.

"Then you delegate. Just as I’m doing right now," Caius said and gestured at Kerwin with his thumb,

"Dump whatever work you don’t want to do on that guy and his council. So long as it’s your decision and you’re not obeying orders or receiving sanctions from anyone."

Arlette smiled.

"Alright then," she said never actually needing time to process all this before giving her answer,

"I’ll do it."