•••

Caius didn't return to his body.

He was still in the mental space Athenodora had pulled him into. She just no longer had control of what was happening. Something—an existence far more powerful and far more connected to Caius than she was—had ripped the control away from her.

At first, Caius was confused. He looked around at the deep, incomprehensible darkness, wondering what was happening, when he felt eyes on him. From that darkness, something—someone—was watching him.

He took a deep breath to calm himself. His instincts were immediately struck by reverence, but he kept that at bay. He couldn't afford to crumble now.

"So what?" He asked those eyes he could not see but could sense,

"Did you bring me here just to stare?"

Silence…

"Seems a bit rude actually," Caius said in jest and laughed a little. He was surprised the sound came out so easily because he was working so hard not to succumb to the fear that was creeping up on him.

The Divine seed within him was roused by the fear. Or more accurately, it was roused by the power that governed that fear. The Divine might that backed it.

The Divine Power of the goddess of Primordial Darkness. One who was known commonly as Anyxyl but known by her Vampire subjects by a more familiar-sounding name;

"Nyx."

The eyes within the darkness reacted to Caius calling out that name and although he didn't really need confirmation to know in whose presence he was at the moment, Caius didn't mind that he got one.

Caius had known this was inevitable. He just hadn't known it would happen so soon.

Vampires are bound to Nyx. She is their maker and forever their Patron. From the moment a person is turned, their soul belongs to the goddess. Regardless of whatever and whoever they are and become, they are and will always be under her control.

It's what makes making vows by her name so binding; Because there is nothing more sacred to a Vampire's existence than the goddess who let their kind even come to being.

In a way, Vampires are Nyx's greatest creation. At least on the Mortal realm. But that was just the thing; Despite their immortality and how removed they are from the 'normal' ways of advancements for humans/humanoids, Vampires are still mortal.

Even worse, because of what they had traded for the power and advantages they had, they could never ascend beyond their 'mortality'. They could never become something more.

This becomes a plot point down the line in the original story and starts a hunt for an artifact known as the 'Blood of Strigoi' to attempt to break through this limitation but even that is fruitless. It is while the Vampire Nobles begin to kill themselves off for the artifact that it is revealed that they can never succeed.

Because, by a whim and with a single thought, Nyx could strip any Vampire of their life and power. She could strip them of the 'gifts' she had granted them. And none could ever be free of her hold.

There was a reason Caius never went after the 'Blood of Strigoi' despite the fact that he knew how to find it thanks to reading the original story. He knew it was pointless for what he needed and would still lead to a dead end.

What one needed, if they wanted to ascend, was to have a meeting with Nyx. Not a meeting like some devout surrendering all they were at the feet of the goddess but as someone with something of value to offer. Someone who actually mattered.

Caius had read how Nyx treated devouts. He knew how expendable they were to her and knew that was the wrong path to follow so he had to change things up.

It was why gaining Divine power mattered to him. It was the one act of insolence that could grab the goddess's attention but hold it just enough that she wouldn't just strike him down.

Caius felt the eyes in the darkness become intrigued, not because he called her name—as a Vampire, it was a given that he'd recognize her presence instinctively—but because he called it like he wanted her attention.

Caius waited.

Surely, he had roused enough interest that she'd say something to him.

He hadn't planned for this to happen yet. He actually expected her to ignore him creating a Divine Seed since his existence was still under her control anyway and his mortality was far from interesting to her Divine self, but since she was here, she had to have something to tell him.

But what?

Caius wasn't sure what she'd say or if he'd even want to hear it.

Still, he waited.

The darkness stilled.

And then it rumbled and Caius was gone.

His eyes flew open with his fangs still in Kaya's neck. His hands were still on her body.

His audience with Nyx was over without her saying a single word.

•••

"Caius, are you alright?" Kaya asked.

Caius had just stayed as he was for a minute. Not feeding but not taking his fangs out of her neck either. Neither did he move his hands.

The way Kaya's question sounded made it seem like she had asked that a few times already though he hadn't heard it or responded.

Caius pulled his fangs out of her.

"I'm fine," he said with a sigh and rolled onto his back, his still-erect cock exiting her insides as he asked, "How long was I still?"

"A couple of minutes," Kaya said as she moved closer to him, placing a hand on his chest to look into his eyes, "What happened?"

Caius let out another sigh, this time raising a hand to his face. He had kept his claws from appearing despite shifting so he wouldn't pierce Kaya's body as he held on to her while feeding.

"I'm not sure," he said, "I got some attention I thought I wanted but now I'm second-guessing it."

Kaya looked worried now.

"Dangerous attention?" She asked.

"No," Caius said with a smile.

If it were dangerous, he would be dead already. There was no fighting or resisting Nyx's power over him. If he was still breathing, then she had spared him. Or she simply saw no reason to bother with him.

Funny how despite the two reasons leading to the same result—him still breathing—the former gave Caius hope while the latter was disappointing and disheartening.

Kaya seemed to catch that. That perceptiveness of hers must have come to play because her eyes were imploring now as she searched for what could be wrong and what Caius was not telling her. And then she smiled and reached her hand down to grab his hard pole.

Whatever her thoughts were and whatever conclusions she was arriving at or working towards, she decided to put them aside for the moment and not push Caius on the matter.

Instead, she gave his cock a few strokes. She had come down from her orgasmic high but she was all too happy to return. To experience the new peak this day and this moment had in store for her.

"You're not tired, are you?" She asked with a pretty and delicate brow raised as she straddled him while still stroking his cock.

Caius chucked as he reached out and grabbed her waist, grabbing hold of her as she lifted herself and lined herself up with the head of the massive organ.

"Tired?" Caius said with his eyes on her breasts, "Never."

His eyes flicked back up to Kaya's face as she flashed him an adoring smile and took in the head of his rod and then descended further to take half and finally the entire thing.

Caius groaned at the pleasure and sensitivity of the moment, jerking his hips upward once while reinforcing his firm grip on her waist.

Kaya opened her mouth and let out a gasp before she fell forward and took his lips in an intense kiss. Caius moved his hands from her waist to her ass which he took firm hold of as Kaya began to rise and fall for self-thrusts that wracked Caius with delicious, spine-tingling pleasurable delight.

One that soon had him arching his back against the bed of vines beneath and groaning into Kaya's mouth as their kiss continued well through her impactful self-thrusts.

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