Chapter 326: I can’t.

"So, what am I doing?"

Lucian asked with an excited look on his face and Aurelia—

"You will do what you were told before.

Sit back and do not attract attention."

"...you are still not bringing me?"

Lucian couldn’t believe it.

"I cannot."

"You are being unreasonably selfish, you know?"

He complained.

"It’s not that I don’t want you to come, it’s more that I can’t."

"What does that mean?"

"The places I need to enter are protected, the people I need to speak to won’t talk if there’s someone else with me. If I alert someone during any of it, I need to be able to leave without anyone noticing.

I cannot do any of that with you following me."

"Because I’ll hold you back."

Lucian spoke directly.

Aurelia paused for a small moment, then she nodded.

"That is correct."

"Huh..."

Lucian turned silent at that.

"That was humbling."

He spoke.

He didn’t take it to heart. Aurelia was an Ancient, he never once believed they were on the same level, he just wanted to join in the fun.

"Alright, I give up."

Lucian finally raised his hands in defeat.

"But you will tell me when you find something, correct?"

He asked with a hopeful look on his face.

"I will think about it."

Aurelia smiled playfully.

"Wow, you will do this to the person you owe two favours to?"

Lucian complained, Aurelia looked at him for a moment, then she walked back to him with this seductive smile and leaned down.

"Is that truly... how you wish to call in your favours?"

She whispered, bringing her mouth close to his ear.

Lucian froze again.

Only this time, he was more prepared, so he brought his mouth close to her ear instead and—

"Stop tempting me, Lady Aurelia."

He whispered back.

"If you continue doing so, I might lose control and call in the favour for something entirely different."

That made Aurelia pause for a moment.

Lucian grinned, happy that he got her back but the next instant, she did something he was not expecting at all.

She leaned even closer, closing the last bit of distance between them, before she slowly settled onto his lap, her body pressed against his as she faced him. Lucian gulped at the sight.

"And what if I want you to call in the favour for something entirely different...?"

She asked in a low, seductive voice as she looked into Lucian’s violet eyes.

Lucian’s friend down there twitched, his hands, however, moved unusually boldly and grabbed her waist.

Aurelia didn’t mind, she just smiled when she felt his hand.

"I really would call it in, Lady Aurelia."

"Aurelia."

"Hm?"

"You wanted me to call you Lucian, did you not? It’d be strange if I did that while you kept calling me Lady Aurelia, unless, of course, you like it that way."

She smiled playfully.

The two stared at each other for a good few moments, Aurelia’s hand, which was on his shoulder, moved towards his bare neck. Lucian lifted his chin, letting her do what she wanted.

The Vampire’s eyes burned.

"You asked why I was being extra generous to you, right?"

"Are you finally going to answer?"

Lucian asked as his hand felt her lower back through her gown.

"I didn’t lie to you. House Veyr truly believes in your potential and wishes to extend a hand of friendship."

She whispered softly, leaning even closer to him.

"But those are only House Veyr’s intentions, mine are different."

"Oh?"

Lucian’s face changed.

"And what are they?"

"Your blood is special."

"Yes, I’ve heard it a few times now."

Lucian nodded.

Aurelia’s hand moved from his neck to his hair, Lucian’s hand touched her thigh, the Vampire then leaned closer and—

"I want your blood."

Lucian stared at her.

In these past few hours, he had learned quite a bit about Vampires, especially noble Vampires from strong Houses—

Vampires like Aurelia.

Just like how he needed Demonic Energy, Vampires needed blood, and not just normal blood, they needed... supernatural blood.

And the stronger the Vampire, the stronger and purer the blood they required.

The problem was, Vampires could not drink other Vampires’ blood, this created... a dependency. Vampires were dependent on other supernatural forces for survival.

And Vampires as strong as or stronger than the Ancient Vampires?

They had it worse.

They were dependent on the elites of the other Supernatural Races, people who... did not particularly need the resources these Vampires had to offer in exchange for blood.

This created a scarcity in the blood Ancient Vampires could consume, this was also the reason there weren’t as many Ancient Vampires in the world as one would think.

Most put themselves in Coffin Sleep to stop their bodily functions and silence the thirst for blood.

So when Aurelia said what she had just said—

"My Blood, huh..."

Lucian understood the meaning.

His blood was special, it was far purer than the blood inside any other Blood Altered Human.

Pure Blood of a High Incubus.

To Vampires, his blood was indeed desirable, as desirable as the Blood of an Alpha Candidate.

And as he thought about it all again, Aurelia’s interest in him finally made sense. His blood might not be as good as the blood of an Alpha, but it was still something she could work with, if given in enough quantity.

That made Lucian sigh again. Honestly, all this while, he still felt some level of discomfort whenever he interacted with Aurelia, especially since he couldn’t seem to grasp the reason behind her unnatural interest in him, but now, when the reason was clearer, he was much more confident.

"And what do I get in return for giving you my blood?"

He asked with a big grin on his face and Aurelia—

She looked straight into his eyes and—

"Since you are giving me what I want, I’ll give you what you want."

"And what is that?"

"Energy of Desire."

She made an offer.

"I’ll let you harvest Energy of Desire from me, whenever you desire."

She spoke, clearly knowing the meaning of what she had just said. Lucian stared at her, his violet eyes burned with desire as he stared at the woman in front of him. Her impossibly beautiful face, her perfect, hourglass-like body, her long, lascivious hair, her beautiful crimson eyes...

To think a woman such as her was offering herself to him, it was an offer any man would jump at, an offer no sane man would say no to.

But Lucian—

"I can’t."

He did say no.