Chapter 212: Burgeoning Alchemist

"What would I do?" Caius said slowly now within a foot of Lea’s body as he would arm around her waist, right above her belts, and pulled her closer.

Her body making contact with his hurt a bit but he endured it which was quite easy when he had those large mounds of hers pressing into his chest. Fractured as his chest was.

"I suppose," he said still slowly, "I’d work to turn that disapproval into an approval."

"Hmm," Lea said, "And how would you do that?"

"What does it matter how I would when you’ve not exactly been clear?" Caius asked, "Do you disapprove?"

Lea studied his eyes but didn’t say anything. She just furrowed her brows with a smile still on her lips.

Caius leaned in close and took a whiff of her scent. Her skin smelt sweet and wild but it was the blood that flowed beneath it that pulled Caius’s attention the most as his mouth watered for the wonderful taste of it.

"Keep in mind," he said in a slavering sort of tone, "I met her before you."

"No, you didn’t," Lea said.

"I had Magi History before Study of Magical Beasts. An entire day before actually," Caius pointed out.

"Well, technically, you met us during Orientation and that would mean it was at the same time," Lea rebutted.

"Hmm," Caius said and admitted in a low voice, "Perhaps."

He pulled back from sniffing Lea’s skin then and looked into her face.

"So... your disapproval-" he said.

Lea let out a sigh and leaned her head back to direct her exhale of breath upward rather than at Caius’s face before she said,

"It’s not disapproval, per se. I actually approached you because of her at first. I just got swept away by..."

Lea trailed off but Caius knew what she meant; she got swept away by the feelings she enjoyed in the moment they shared and whatever original goals she might have had were quickly washed away.

Lea was looking into Caius’s face again as she shook her head before looking off to the side.

"In any case, I don’t disapprove. Not really. It’s your and her decisions to make and what happened between you two should be between you two. I’m just not used to seeing her so... satisfied.

It’s been an experience.

It only happened yesterday and she could hardly even bother to hide it from me. Oh well..."

Caius said nothing and just watched Lea as she was clearly working through something. When Lea realised he had been silent for a while, she looked into Caius’s face again realizing she may have been sounding a bit pissed than she actually felt.

"You must think I’m selfish," she said with a smile.

"Not particularly," Caius said believing that if he were to affirm such a thought, he’d come off as a douche since he was the subject of the conversation and the reason Lea was even having those thoughts at all.

Besides, why say or change with words what you can show and change with actions?

With that philosophy in mind, Caius spread his fingers on Lea’s back. The effect of his touch easily went past the material of her shirt and caused Lea to shiver with delight as she pressed herself even more against him than she already had.

Caius leaned in again and instead of just sniffing her, he placed his lips on her neck and kissed it lightly.

Lea’s knees went weak. It had been quite a while since she and Caius had had a moment together. She was more than happy to get it on right then but she couldn’t quite help the question that came to mind and she just had to ask.

"That aura you had and fought the Bullcroc with," she said while trying not to let her sentence get too interrupted by moans of pleasure escaping her lips at the same time as her words,

"That was because of a potion, right?"

"Yes," Caius answered.

"Are those the kinds of cheats you plan to implement during the Mid-semester Tests?" Lea asked.

"’Cheats’ is a little harsh way to look at it, no?" Caius asked smiling against her skin.

"But that’s what it was though," Lea said.

"I’m studying Alchemy. What would be the point of that, if I can’t make use of products I make with that knowledge?" Caius asked gently.

"You make that potion yourself?" Lea asked.

"Yes."

"With Blood Alchemy?" Lea asked.

Caius paused here. He was going to voice out his surprise for Lea knowing about Blood Alchemy but then he decided he’d be silly to be surprised that she knew about that. Blood Alchemy was obscure because of its difficulty but it wasn’t some rare or abominable practice that was spoken about in hushed tones.

Besides, if a person knows of Vampires, they are likely to also know that the only sorts of potions they could intake and use, were those made with Blood Alchemy.

Caius shelved the unwarranted surprise and just answered.

"Yes," he said and got back to kissing her neck.

"Really?" Lea asked.

"What, you don’t believe me?" Caius asked.

"It’s just, I’ve heard of the difficulty of Blood Alchemy. Seasoned Alchemists avoid it like a plague. Didn’t think a student would be giving it a go," Lea said.

"Heh, it’s difficult as anything is difficult. Okay, maybe a little—a lot more—than anything else is difficult. But it’s not impossible. Ultimately just terribly stressful and annoying," Caius said,

"That vial I used today cost me hours and many failures to make."

"Interesting," Lea said and there was a contemplative tone in her voice that caused Caius to pull back from his kisses and observe the expression on her face.

It looked... opportunistic.

"What is it?" Caius asked slowly.

Lea shrugged.

"Nothing. I’d like to watch your process one of these days," she said and gripped the sides of Caius’ uniform.

And then it clicked. Blood Alchemy was best used by creatures whose strength and magic lived mostly in their blood and an example of such creatures—one of which Caius himself had used in creating the potion he just got himself beaten up trying to collect data on—were Magical Beasts. I.e Lea’s forte as a Beast Tamer.

It was clear that her mind was quickly calculating what the benefits could be to already have an ’in’ with a burgeoning Blood Alchemist whose products could be of such great help to her.

Caius smiled then.

"I see," he said.

Lea didn’t even bother asking what he meant. She knew she hadn’t been all that subtle and also wasn’t ashamed of seeing him as an opportunity.

"If you did refine that potion, you have a gift," Lea said, "I’d like to be there to see you nurture it."

Caius laughed a little and then nodded.

"Alright," he said, "I welcome your observation of my process."

"Great," Lea said and the look in her feline blue eyes was ecstatic as she used her grip on the sides of Caius’s uniform to pull him harder toward her. She saw him wince and remembered he was injured.

"Sorry," she said and then smiled, "For someone who’s in pain, you’re spending more time kissing my neck and not enough time biting into it."

Blood sucking is a suitable enough way for a Vampire to acquire pain relief and even a bit of healing even if it’s nothing compared to what they can get from actually drinking a Healing Potion refined with Blood Alchemy.

"You’re not wrong," Caius said and his purple eyes turned Vampire red as his fangs extended and he sank them gently into Lea’s neck. Her blood seeped from the puncture holes, and the volume of seepage increased when Caius increased his suction.

He loved as her blood flowed down his throat. It had quite a bit of Arousal charge within it because that was basically a given when he was this close to Lea’s body but it was far too little to be enough to add to his Evolution meter. Still, he enjoyed the taste. He relished it even.

And Lea relished him feeding off her. She grabbed the back of his head and leaned her head away to grant him even more surface area to nestle his blood sucking face into.