Chapter 64 An Important Conversation
"I love you too," I said. I did. While we had spent a lot of time together in that week after we first met, it had still only been a week. But there was a saying that goes, "distance makes the heart grow fonder." I found it to be true for me here. The month I spent in confinement, when I wasn't cultivating, I was thinking about Victoria.
I grew to appreciate all of the little things about her that I liked. Then I grew to love her. Do I know if that's true love? Is that the way love is supposed to develop? I don't have those answers, so don't ask me those questions.
All that I new is that I loved her now. And it seemed that over that same month, she had been thinking about me, and now she too loved me.
"I know you wouldn't ask this even if you were thinking it, so I'll answer it. I couldn't have drank blood to regenerate. I didn't have a stomach left to process the blood into life essence. I needed to extract life essence directly and I needed to do it fast. That's why I did it," she said.
"You don't need to explain yourself to me. I trusted that you did it because there was no other way. I have some doubts about whether I should be trying to inhibit your nature at all, actually. But, if its self imposed, I will say I don't think you have anything to worry about as far as hands and mouth are concerned," I said.
"You have to feed somehow. There's no way around that. You can't keep starving yourself for me. That said, I may have found a way around you having to do it sexually or by sucking blood."
"Oh, good, because I hate sucking blood," she said.
"You would prefer to suck something else. I know," I said. Why did I say that? That is such an asshole thing to say right now.
"That's really not funny," she said. "Not right now. Not while I feel like an absolute piece of sh*t."
"I know. I'm sorry. I won't do it again," I said. "I love you." I kissed the back of her neck.
"Thank you," she said. "I love you too." She kissed one of my hands that was wrapped around her.
"What's this new method of feeding you figured out?" She said.
"Oh, right. Tommy. He's an alchemist now at the Lich sect and he figured out how to extract the life essence from blood and turn it into a pill. Each pill should last you a day, and I have fifty pills left. You can have them," I said.
"I don't have access to more right now, since I can't visit Tommy anymore. I've been trying to get access to the underground some other way than through the Vampire Association, but so far no luck."
"Oh! So it was you who alerted us," she said. "The Vampire Association heard that some human had a gold giblet, so we came in to cover things up and make sure no one found out about the underground."
"The Vampire Association covers up their secrets by murdering everyone involved? That's kind of messed up, don't you think?" I said.
"Yes, but there's a reason monsters have stayed a secret this long," she said.
"You don't agree with that, do you?" I said.
"No, but I don't have any other choice. I live under the protection of the Vampire Association, so I have to follow their rules," she said.
"You mean you didn't have any other choice, right? You're not going back there, are you?" I said, concerned.
"I. I don't know. I hadn't thought about it," she said.
"They killed your boyfriend. They'll try to do it again, if they find out I'm alive. And you won't be able to see me anymore," I said.
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"I could still visit you on the outside," she said.
"On the other hand, if you leave, you'll be able to see me all the time. You'll be able to help me find a way to save the world from the dungeon monsters. And we'll able to build a life together. We'll be able to build a bloodline together," I said. "Don't you want that?"
"Yes! Yes I do!" She said.
"Then what's stopping you," I said.
"Nothing, I guess," she said.
"Good. Then it's settled. You're staying topside with me," I said. "Unless you don't want to. This is your choice."
"No, I want to. I'm just afraid," she said.
"Of what?" I said.
"Change. Losing the friends I've had for hundreds of years," she said.
"Change can be bad, but it can also be good. And you'll make new friends. Ones that won't stab you the moment you turn your back," I said.
"Ok. The more that I think about it, the more that I like the idea of this change," she said. I could hear the smile in her voice.
"Good. I would hate to find out later that I'd manipulated you into something you didn't want to do," I said.
"No. I could never see you doing something like to me. Other people sure, but not me," she said.
"That's because I wouldn't," I said.
"I know," she said.
We laid there for a while longer but I kept feeling 'hotter' and 'hotter' until I couldn't take it anymore. "Do you want to maybe feed again, but this time on me?"
I hadn't integrated any of the life essence I got from the fight at Johnny's into my crimson core so I had a lot of excess life essence she could feed on. Probably somewhere around 50,000 excess life essence if I had to guess. I pulled up my status screen in the system.
[Status]
[Dylan Sanguis]
[Species: Omni-Vampire]
[Bloodlines: None Active]
[Age: 21]
[Cultivation Stage: Peak Soul Domain Formation stage]
[Accumulated Life Essence: 2,605,000]
[Excess Life Essence: 50,000]
[Stolen Bloodline Abilities: Daze, Venomous Bite, Venom Immunity, Ink Generation]n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
[Skills]
[Undead Soul: Soul Beast]
[Soul Domain: Advanced]
[Soul Aura: Advanced]
[Blood Manipulation: Advanced]
[Vi Manipulation: Expert]
[Shadow Manipulation: Beginner]
[Swordsmanship: Advanced]
[Lockpicking: Adequate]
I was right. I did have 50,000 excess life essence. Maybe my intuition was connected to my system somehow.
"I thought you would never ask!" She said, as she turned over and started kissing me.
"Chad, I'm going to need you to take a walk around the block. Actually, have a full meal on me at the diner across the street. I'll reimburse you. Just keep the receipt," I said.
"Ok," Chad said, and he left the room.
Victoria and I proceeded to have our fun and we had a lot of it. I was really pent up since we'd been apart for a month. Victoria felt it too. She felt all of it. And that was how I saved Victoria from starvation.