The Fallen Vampire

Chapter 44: Surprise Answer

"I'll have to decline." Indra suddenly said.

"Glad to hear it! From today on you should start calling me... wait what?"

Ja'Zaki wondered if his elongate ears were deceiving him, but Indra was firm in his decision.

"Your offer is appreciated but I'd like to see how much I can accomplish on my own. I'm rather uninterested in having a teacher."

At his side, Enyo and Keran were both suppressing smiles.

Indra claimed to be uninterested in having a teacher and yet he had accepted Lucia's deal to teach him arcane.

Evidently, Indra merely distrusted the strange dark elf who'd shown up out of nowhere and he wouldn't be going anywhere with him.

Ja'Zaki stood frozen in place, completely stunned and unable to think.

Had he really just been rejected?

Him?

He was one of the last leaders of the fallen race!

And yet Indra seemingly couldn't care less as he declined his offer without a second thought.

"Ha! Serves you right you damn elf!" Ayame yelled as she cackled madly.

He was acting all high and mighty a second ago, yet he wasn't able to gain Indra as a subordinate either!

Was there anything that could have been sweeter than this?

Suddenly, Indra grabbed Keran and Enyo by the hand and began leading them out of the throne room.

"Wait! Where are you taking my daughter?!" Ayame asked.

Indra only paused briefly to glance over his shoulder before he continued walking.

"It's very clear to me that you don't want her around. So I'm taking her off your hands."

Keran's face became hot as she was pulled along by Indra without another word, and the three of them left the throne room without stopping to look back.

Leaving both Ja'Zaki and Ayame locked into a stunned silence that was practically comical.

-

Once outside, the trio found Lucia and Vermeil waiting with the twins and their father.

"What happened?" Leopold asked. "We heard the sound of an explosion."

"Irrelevant." Indra said dismissively. "Girls, we're leaving."

"Already?" Lucia questioned. "Where exactly are we going?"

"Anywhere but here."

Indra wasn't particularly concerned about having somewhere to stay, as he was fairly confident in his ability to find decent lodging just about anywhere.

Besides, with all of the trinkets and things they'd taken from his castle, they were more than capable of selling them and walking away with an extremely hefty sum.

Lucia and Vermeil shrugged before following behind Indra, Keran, and Enyo, but Kohaku and Kuro came to a stop at their father's behest.

"If you're running away with the princess, my daughters will have to stay behind."

"What?"

"Father, why?!"

The lion shook his head as he pointed to the crest on his armor.

"We've sworn an oath to the queen, not the princess. If she does not give the order, you are not cleared to follow her."

Kohaku and Kuro looked uncomfortably at each other, and then the princess.

They were technically her servants, but the three of them spent so much time together that they were closer to best friends.

It would be unbelievably hard to watch her leave their lives without saying anything.

"Please... be well, princess."

"You have to take care of yourself until we can meet again, okay?"

Keran seemed like she was having just as hard of a time as the girls were, but the truth is that she was taking it much harder than them.

These two were her rocks, and before she knew what she was doing, she'd thrown her arms around them in a desperate hug.

"This won't be forever..I'll come back for you both, I promise...!"

Because Keran was crying, it made it that much more difficult for the girls she was hugging to keep their composure.

Indra suddenly heard a sniffing sound and felt a familiar body take his arm of her own volition.

Looking down, he found Vermeil with red puffy eyes and a trembling bottom lip.

"D-Don't you just hate sad goodbyes, Mr. Hot Vampire?"

"..."

Indra ignored Vermeil's attempt to win his attention by being vulnerable.

His eyes were firmly locked on her exposed clavicle within her dress.

After being shredded to pieces and healing himself without any trouble, he once again felt a very familiar itch in the back of his throat.

He had never been interested in Vermeil before but now he had to admit that she smelled really good..

Unfortunately, she noticed this new look of hunger he was giving her and mistook it for something else entirely.

Her expression changed to one of slight discomfort as she hesitantly looked him up and down.

"Just wondering, but.... Are you one of those weird guys who gets turned on by watching women cry..? Cause I think I'd like having my hair pulled but anything else would be..."

Pure unfiltered exhaustion could be seen in Indra's eyes.

Almost as quickly as his interest in her formed, it was dashed away like a simple illusion.

Ignoring his hunger, he gently pushed her away towards the stone-like Leopold.

"We'll be leaving this one with you too."

"Don't joke like that!"

"Joke?"

"You are so mean! Can't you be all charming and dashing and stuff?"

"Do I look like a character in one of your novels?"

Vermeil looked Indra up and down without missing a single detail.

Soft chocolate skin, long and beautiful hair that was even more impressive than her own and a sculpted body that looked like it was chiseled out of marble.

"Yes. That is exactly what you look like." He was literally every wet dream she'd ever had come to life.

"The two of you seem to have a most unique relationship for a master and a servant." Leopold suddenly said.

Vermeil looked up at the hulking lion-kin and her eyes became focused on his proud fluffy mane and adorable ears.

She twiddled with her thumbs for a moment before she posed a rather bold request.

"Don't take this the wrong way but... can I pet you?" She asked cutely.

Coincidentally, the lion's eyes also showed the same traces of exhaustion as Indra's now had.

He gently pushed the white haired human girl back over to Indra and made her his problem once again.

"We cannot keep this one. Please take it and leave." His tone was respectful but internally he was practically on the verge of begging.

"Hey! Why am I an it?!"

'Damn it.'

Indra started walking away with Enyo's hand in his and Lucia wrapped around his neck.

Keran finally finished saying her goodbyes and she also ran to catch him, taking his free hand.

He silently hoped that Vermeil would not follow them but she did much to his dismay.

But when he recalled the pleasant smell emanating from her mere moments ago, he thought that maybe bringing her along wouldn't be all that bad.

That is, if he could ever get used to her crude mouth.