The Vampire Prince's Toxic Consort (bxb)

Chapter 26 Return to The Citadel

It only took Lucius and Florian another one and a half hours to get out of the cave and steal back to the manor. Miraculously, none of the vampires showed up on their way back, and the whole chamber fell back to dead stillness.

Florian took off to return the "borrowed" items before anyone noticed their absence from the display room and took care of the security camera recording from last night. Lucius didn't know exactly how Florian would do it, but given that he had been a government agent for most of his life, he should have his way.

Lucius quickly returned to his room. To his relief, Dorian hadn't been back. He peeled off his blood-soaking shirt and examined the wound on the shoulder. It was deep and definitely needed some sewing, but luckily the knife was sharp, so the cut was neat.

"How am I supposed to hide it from Dorian..."Lucius grumbled in frustration as he tried his best to clean off the blood. He didn't know how to sew a wound, so he used almost all the gauges and bandages he could find to staunch the blood, making a huge mess in the bathroom. At the end of it, he was feeling dizzy and exhausted from losing blood and had to sit down for a while so he won't faint.

Too many things had happened, and he had no time to process any of it. His mind was as blank as a piece of white paper, couldn't focus on any thought.

"I have to clean up...Dorian will come back at any time now..." He vaguely thought but just couldn't pick himself up from the floor. He dozed off for a short minute until a knock on the door startled him.

"Are you alright?" It was Florian's muffled voice.

"I think I need some help." Lucius struggled to get up and unlock the door. Florian was by his side at once, ruffling through the first aid kit and finding the needle and thread.

"Let me."

Lucius sat on the bathtub's edge and let Florian sew his wound close. He took some painkillers beforehand, but it still hurt like hell that he had to bite his lips hard not to cry out.

Florian saw how pale he was and tried to distract him with some conversation, "so, do you play any sports?"

Lucius glared at him, "are you serious?"

"I assume priests still play sports sometimes, right? Thinking of something that gives you pleasure can ease the pain. Trust me, it works."Florian never stopped while talking, and Lucius hissed in pain as the needle pierced the skin again.

"Alright, um...I like climbing sometimes, but not super hardcore, just the regular gym route climbing and bouldering, that sort of stuff."

"Never tried outdoor climbing?"

"No, never got the chance...Ouch!"

"You know, there is a very nice outdoor climbing site near my hometown Elkwood. The cliffs are not too high but have many interesting and challenging structures. Maybe one day we can go there, rent a cabin, have some bbq, and just have a climbing vacation."

A climbing vacation...renting a cabin in the woods...bbq...it all sounded like things from another life. Especially considering Utharia had fallen, who knew what happened to those small towns. But it was a hopeful and conforming prospect, and Lucius smiled, "I sure am looking forward to it."

"All done." Florian cut the thread, wrapped the bandage on top of it, and then put a spell over the bandage so that it would seal the smell of the blood from vampires' acute olfactory senses, "this may leave a scar." He remarked after finishing everything.

"I need to find a way to explain it to Dorian..." Lucius scoffed flatly, "or just never have sex with him again."

Florian gave him a strange look, and Lucius realized that he had let too much of himself resurface, as Julian would never say the word "sex" with such ease. Even though Florian never knew Julian well, it must be weird to hear an ex-priest talk about sex so plainly. He cleared his throat and looked at his bloody shirt, "how should we get rid of these?"