Vampire Nightlife

Lukas mostly said whatever was on his mind and was able to get away with it. People were more willing to let things slide with him because they liked him or believed that he was not as educated as them.

However, if there was anything that made the entire group suddenly look at him as if he was demented–it was those words.

"Mix with them?" Theodore looked at him seriously. "Are you trying to be funny, Lukas? The settlement of Umbra has already been considered questionable because of the belief that some Vampires have married with Lycans and you're proposing that?"

"Working with humans is one thing, but choosing to mix with them?" Alexei frowned. "Even the Vardoken House who has been accused of such a thing wouldn't lower their stations and do something such as that."

Lukas blinked at the sudden responses from the two Vampires–they were much stronger than he expected.

"Well that's…"

"You might have misunderstood Theodore's words. What he meant to say is that we were able to gain a regular source of blood." Chaerin said. "In the past, we'd have to fight lycans, dragons and other dangerous individuals to live–but the existence of humans has made it easier to repopulate."

"Right… yeah." Lukas scratched the back of his neck and nodded.

When Lukas glanced in Stacy's directions, she also didn't seem too stricken with the words of the others too. Somehow, out of everything that Lukas ever said or did for more than a month of him being a Vampire–he discovered the taboo.

"They're quite insistent on this huh." Rhea mused aloud to Lukas, the only one more sympathetic to what he said. "It seems like this thought has been ingrained in them for generations upon generations. Which makes it quite questionable–"

Out of everyone who reacted in the group, there was only one individual who chose to remain firmly silent–even when she was the one who seemed to have more experience in this.

'Drusilla?' Lukas quietly asked.

"... I refuse to speak on this subject." Drusilla said.

'I guess even she doesn't want to speak about it.' Lukas sighed.

"The more that they reject this, the more it's clear that it's simply denied or something." Rhea rolled her eyes and floated in front of him. "There's a lot of reasons why people choose to hide their shameful past, you know?"

'I'm aware…' Lukas pursed his lips. He didn't think about it before, mostly stuck on his current life–but this was farther from the case when he was a human.

There was a lot of available entertainment, media and literature available that held the wishful, and even erotic fantasization of other species, real or fictional.

"Anyhow, that is the reason why the Vampires were able to overtake the other species and become one of the largest populations in the entire world." Theodore chose to change the subject. "That is perhaps why some other races also disappeared."

"And then it was the humans again that became the reason why we diminished?" Lukas asked.

"No. We had many enemies from all sides and various races–even the environment itself sometimes acted against us." Theodore shook his head. "The Nox City is the one bordering the Dire Lands, and not to mention the sun itself, but I digress. Numerous races had to keep us in check, which eventually led to humans gaining a foothold in recent years."

Lukas found that a lot more reasonable.

If not, even incredible that Vampires were able to stand toe to toe with Lycans, Dragons and Demons.

Except it still didn't answer as to why Vampires grew weaker over time and lost their touch with magic. Who were the ones responsible for that?

However, he didn't expect any answers to come from them–because if they did, then magic wouldn't have been lost in the first place.

Instead, Lukas chose to ask about something else.

"And where is the Blood Wilderness found?"

"Near the in between of the Nox and Sanguis." Theodore finally said.

"So, it's City of Nyx then–"

"Sanguis, but we won't need to enter Nox or even go to the Dire Lands." Theodore said. "Going there is completely unnecessary and dangerous."

"I don't think that thought ever crossed into anyone's mind." Alexei snorted. "We're not going to put ourselves into any risk–at least far more than what we already have."

"As much as I recall, you did not extend much assistance during our time in the Veil Forest." Theodore pointed out in a matter of fact tone.

"Come on, we're not going to talk about contributions now or anything, right?" Lukas tried to shut the conversation down before it dissolved into any bickering. "That's a little too much. Like Chaerin said, let's not dwell on the past, yeah?"

"We'd rather not have any deadweight around here." Theodore darkly said.

"Well, I'm sorry that my sister hasn't done much–" Alexei said.

"Hey!" Stacy became red-faced and elbowed her brother in the gut. Hard.

But that was somehow enough to ease the tension. If a little.

"Now I completely forgot what we were going on about," Theodore sighed and shook his head. He focused on the roads ahead of them and didn't actually stop the van at all. Unlike what he told the rest earlier.

Alexei looked like he almost wanted to rub that fact in, but he was still rubbing his sore gut.

Chaerin was still distracted with thoughts of Chelsea, and yet the bickering in the group made her smile a little.

If there was anyone else in the group who knew more about the destination that they were going through besides Theodore–it was Chaerin.

Although, she preferred not to speak too much about it.

"It's going to be still quite a while till we get to Nyx." Chaerin muttered mostly to herself.

"Have you ever been there before?" Lukas asked. It was easy to presume that she was mostly cooped up, but he could have been wrong.

Chaerin glanced at him and she spoke with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Yes."