"Who said anything about a coven?" Caius asked when his father just stared at him for a minute without saying a word.

"Well, then, why don't you tell me why the Leopolds would seek you out?" Lucian asked in a firm voice.

"A misunderstanding," Caius said, "Nothing more."

"Really?" Lucian asked, "Then what was the misunderstanding about?"

"Hmm?" Caius intoned unsure how to answer.

Lucian frowned,

"The Leopolds and the Von Helsings have had strained relations for decades. We have never had any dealings even on the business side and for 'reasons', they know better than to approach a Von Helsing," he said.

"What 'reasons'?" Caius asked, resisting the urge to gulp.

"Just one really; For Decades, we—mostly me—have suspected the Leopolds are harboring Vampires."

Caius couldn't help but raise his brow at that. This was never once said in [To Kill A Demon Lord…]. Sure, that story had been so much focused on Aurelius' journey and only, if ever at all, extended to Caius's perspective so there was little room to explore inner motivations of certain 'side characters' like Lucian Von Helsing.

Still, considering how much of a role Lucian had played in quelling the Leopold threat in the original story, Caius felt everything important had been explored.

Apparently, that was not the case.

And that worried him.

"Why would you think that?" Caius asked his father then, suppressing the thoughts running in his head.

Lucian shrugged, still frowning,

"An hunch," he said, and then his eyes seemed to be boring into Caius with the lens of the magical glasses he had on as he continued,

"Kerwin Leopold.

There are records of how success hungry he was and how much he strived to achieve the highly elusive peak of magical excellence. At his funeral, it is said that there was an entire show to lament how he had failed at this task as death now claimed him.

He was laid to rest and was the last Leopold to strive for magical excellence. That never made sense to Alecxi Von Helsing, the head of the Von Helsing family at the time who had continued what our family, even then, had become known for; Monster Hunting."

Lucian paused here. He had been studying Caius's expression as he recited this piece of history and he was looking for any moment Caius's eyes would flash with recognition at any element in the story.

That almost happened at the mention of Kerwin Leopold but as Lucian went on, it became quite easy for Caius to appear surprised because… well, he was.

He knew of Alecxi Von Helsing from the original story but nothing to apparently so closely tie him to Kerwin Leopold.

Lucian continued.

"Alecxi believed there should have been more Leopolds to pick up from where Kerwin had left off. If for nothing more than to make that elusive dream come true and bring honor to Kerwin's memory.

Alas, as time went by, the Leopolds became more invested in being merchants. Building wealth and nothing really about furthering magical excellence."

"And he concluded that the Leopolds are colluding with Vampires because of that?" Caius asked.

Lucian raised a finger and wagged it once.

"Colluding? No. But that they ARE Vampires? Yes. At least a bunch of them anyway.

Before Kerwin's death, there were talks, no more than whispers because the Leopolds suppressed all news of it, that Kerwin was seeking means to cheat his coming death. Unnatural means. Vampiric means.

Alecxi believed Kerwin had succeeded. And that he dragged the rest of the Leopolds into the Abyss with him.

After their shift into being Merchants, members of the Leopold families began to vanish. First, away from the public eye and then away from 'existence' entirely. Every few years, a funeral would be organized at the Estate with no body. Or, at least Alecxi believed it was not the bodies of the supposed dead.

And that's where all this leads. Centuries of speculations with hardly ever any real proof. As much as Alecxi, and now I, suspect the existence of Leopold Vampires, they have never been seen. They have certainly been feeding but there are other Vampire Covens besides their supposed one so their actions can slide under the radar.

I believe they also make use of human contractors for their feeding, further avoiding scrutiny. But we've never seen anyone being smuggled into their Estate. Though, that should be expected. Such would only call attention to them.

In fact, I expect the Vampires don't even stay at the Estate. They stay far away to allow the still-human members of the family to avoid scrutiny."

At this point, Lucian looked to be musing to himself. Somewhere along the line, he stopped talking to Caius and began using him more like a sounding board to bounce ideas off. It didn't even matter that Caius wasn't speaking. Just having someone to listen to his theory was probably helping.

But on the Leopolds though, Caius was faced again with just how good their operation was. Diversifying into 'Ophiuchus' helped them recruit the human contractors Lucian suspected they were making use of but had clearly not nailed down in terms of details just yet.

The way the blood was moved too, by having it get siphoned from victims and then mixed with goods that were to be transported to the Leopold Estate added another layer of protection. Ensuring the Leopolds never had to leave their underground Coven.

Caius wondered how long it would take for his father to realize just how much of a massive Operation a possible Leopold Vampire Coven would have had the chance to become in the centuries since it had been first established. If we went by the original story, then that realization wouldn't happen at least until the Leopolds were ready to go public with their plans to take over the Acheron Empire.

With Caius quelling that threat, and this accusatory curve ball getting tossed at how things had gone in the original story, it's anyone's guess where things are headed now.

Still musing, Lucian said,

"Wherever they are must be subterranean. Vampires generally prefer that. Little to no sunlight gets through and they can be secure. The question though has been, where is the Leopold Coven's subterranean lair located?

Maybe they ARE at the Estate after all. Or more accurately, underneath it. Their ground is protected by the Imperial Family with whom the Leopolds have curried favor for centuries. It would take so much 'proof' to gain approval to ransack the grounds for a search.

To attempt it without gathering proof ahead would be akin to treason and that risk would only be mitigated if we actually found something and that's not guaranteed. Also, who knows what we would unearth? It's just generally unwise to attack an enemy whose strength and potential you don't know.

They have had centuries to bolster their ranks and even going by just the Leopolds that have 'vanished' and 'died' since Kerwin, there's bound to be so many of them by now.

As such, it has all remained as it was since the days of Alecxi Von Helsing; A hunch."

As he said that, Lucian looked at Caius and the look in his eyes made it clear that he believed it was more than just a speculative hunch. Just a truth that had yet to be proved. Which led to why he was involving Caius in this at all.

And sure enough…

"At least, it was just a hunch until this morning when I received the report of that little meeting you had.

Things finally snapped into place…"

"Father…" Caius started slowly, knowing where this was headed.

Lucian ignored him and continued,

"… What would the Leopolds want with you, a Von Helsing? What misunderstanding would drive them to get close to one who could bring the Vampire-hunting scrutiny upon them and why would it require a quarter of an hour to be cleared?"

"Father…" Caius called again.

Lucian addressed him now but continued,

"You've spent all your time at Lochxen or at home. At least, so I have assumed since your every move has been secured and under watch. Though I suppose it's only possible to ascertain your security when you're at the Estate. Elsewhere, I'm placing the task of your protection in the hands of your Lochxen Professors…

… and yourself."

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