I've Turned Into A Fox Girl?

<Later that night?>

Alice finally finished her tour of the place, which was mostly uneventful. We stopped by the grand hall door, which was located at the very back, making it rather simple to get to. As for the other places, I couldn't care less, but it was nice to know. 

A detail I noticed after a few hours had gone by was that there was no change in the atmosphere outside, as if it were forever nighttime. The Alice in my head said they had a normal day-night cycle back then, so it must be the dungeon keeping things in a perpetual state. 

"If you need anything Elysia, I'll be in my room for a while." Physical Alice waved her goodbyes while walking into the darkness of the hallway. I waved back and entered my room to get a little rest before infiltrating the grand hall. 

I may not have fought much, but I was mentally exhausted from all the running and stress of pretending to be someone I'm not.

'Don't rest for too long, I can only keep the protection up for about a day and I rather you got here earlier than later.' Alice gave me a deadline, which was pretty tight, but with how easily I was able to mingle with the vampires, time shouldn't be a worry. 

'Alright, just scream in my head to wake me up after an hour. So without further ado, it's nap time!' Letting myself fall into the coffin bed, I got some much-needed shut-eye.

*

<Dungeon Alice POV> 

"She has fallen asleep. It seems she really was a lost vampire." Observing through a stone in my room, I could see that Elysia had gotten comfortable in bed. After she randomly appeared out of nowhere I was worried that she would be here with ill intentions, especially after mentioning the grand hall. However, that didn't seem to be the case. 

Despite being a little bit of an airhead who loses focus from time to time, she was quite nice.

"It looks like Alucard's suspicions were unnecessary, though she certainly arrived at poor timing." I turned away from the stone and laid down in my own bed. 

'Kind of wish she was, it sucks being here without much to do.' I rolled around for a bit, bored out of my mind and disappointed that Elysia didn't turn out to be the intruder. 

I probably spent a solid hour doing nothing, before getting up and checking on Elysia one last time. It may be creepy to just watch someone, but it was better than waiting around doing nothing. 

"Hmm?" However, when I checked the stone, she was nowhere to be seen in her room. 

'Hang on, this might be interesting.' I may have assumed too quickly that she wasn't a threat, but maybe that is for the best. I wanted something to happen, but if I were to report it to Alucard, he would just instantly kill her, which isn't what I want. 

'Where could she be heading… Oh the grand hall of course, she specifically asked where it was so she must know something.' I had no idea what could be in the grand hall as there wasn't anything valuable in there. Alucard did make it off-limits but from the few times I had been in there, I didn't see why. 

'Let's follow her and see where it goes.' 

* 

<Elysia POV> 

'Urgh, did you have to wake me up exactly in 1 hour? I could have used an extra 5 minutes.' I sluggishly made my way to the grand hall, still feeling half asleep. 

'You said one hour so I made sure to wake you up after exactly one.' 

'I am killing you as soon as I see you.' On top of wanting some more nap time, I had an annoying pest in my head. 

'Hehe~ yes please.' 

*

<Outside the grand hall> 

'Looks like we made it. I thought we would encounter vampires roaming the halls, but it feels more abandoned than lived in.' It was a smooth walk to the grand hall with zero interruptions. I haven't even ran into a single person on the way here.

'Most of the time it is rather quiet in here due to most vampires living on the top floors of the tower. This place is reserved for Alucard almost exclusively, so only a select group of vampires reside here, which includes myself.' 

'Makes sense, but enough lore, I should get inside before my luck runs out.' Walking up to the grand hall door, I pulled on the handle and slowly opened it up. Slipping inside, I was greeted with a vast, open room. Pillars that were 10 times my height stood tall to either side of the room, creating a walkway way down the middle. 

Towards the end of the hall, there was a massive insignia on the floor, with a statue of Alucard almost the same size as the pillars standing just a few meters after it. I could see why it received the 'grand' moniker, as this room was decorated to the teeth with gold ornaments and imagery of vampire history along the walls. 

'Just as I remember. Behind the statue is a secret lever that will make the insignia in the middle descend. This should lead you directly to me and finally, you can inherit my power.' Alice's voice became solemn for a moment as her time alive was about to come to an end. 

'Having cold feet?' It was understandable if Alice was having second thoughts about dying, especially now that the end was close at hand. Our time together has also been surprisingly enjoyable, so perhaps I've accidentally rekindled her will to live. 

'Not really, my desire to just die is strong, but I can't deny that if I had the choice of sticking around in your head, I would. However, that is not an option. Even if I weren't restrained, no magic I possess is capable of such a thing.' I didn't know how I should feel about Alice wanting to continue being my mental companion, but this adventure would definitely have been boring without her. 

If we had spent more time together, then maybe she could have filled the role of some kind of mother. 

'Hey, let's not dwell too deep on it, otherwise I really might just lose my resolve.' Alice knew if our bond grew too deep, it would make killing her all the more painful. 

"Yeah, you're right. Let's hurry before it's too late." I finally began walking down the hall and towards the back of the statue. 

If there were any onlookers, it would definitely look like I was desecrating the statue by climbing on top of it. 

'The button should be a brick that is slightly poking out on the base.' Following her instructions, I crawled through the statue's legs and looked over the base. The brick she was referring to was right in the middle and, with a light push, it activated the elevator.

Quickly jumping off, I stood on the insignia as it began to descend. As I got lower, what little light there was got dimmer and dimmer until I couldn't even see the way back. It was only after 10 minutes that I finally saw where we were. 

It was an open underground cavern that was completely disjointed from the castle above. There was a bright red magic circle that was the width of a small field and in the middle was a person. 

"Well look who it is." Alice spoke loudly from the middle of the magic circle, confirming that it was her.

**

<Dungeon Alice POV>

'Who the hell is she talking to?' I listened through the door, wondering what Elysia was doing. It sounded like she was talking to someone, but I was certain no one else would have dared step inside. 

'Sounds like she is moving away from the door.' Moving the door as slowly as I could to not make any noise, I stepped inside the room. Quickly moving to one of the pillars, I watched as Elysia climbed onto Alucard's statue!

'What the hell is this fiend doing!?' I couldn't believe Elysia was casually climbing on the statue of Alucard. With this level of disregard she was undoubtedly the intruder, but how is she able to stay undetected? Alucard should be able to easily tell our fellow vampires apart, unless Elysia really is just a rebellious vampire up to causing a disturbance. 

*Click* 

'Huh?' A massive click echoed from a hidden mechanism as the insignia of the vampires at the center started to descend into the ground with Elysia on top. I had no idea such a thing existed yet Elysia seemed to know exactly what was going on.

'Is she a high-ranking vampire in disguise?' The whole situation was getting more and more confusing, but if I wanted an answer, I needed to follow her. 

Approaching the hole in the ground, I could hardly see Elysia anymore as the elevator moved at quite a fast pace. 

'What the hell could be down there?' A part of me knew I should report to Alucard, but my curiosity was getting the better of me.

'Here goes nothing.' Spreading my bat wings, I jumped into the hole and slowly floated down. I made sure to go slow so as to not accidentally be spotted and have this whole operation go to waste.