Vampire Nightlife

Anastasia dis Vardoken, otherwise known as 'Stacy' to Lukas and the majority of the people in Lux City found herself at strange odds with her brother Alexei.

He was giving her a pointed look that seemed to say:

'Are you really going after someone with a girlfriend already?'

"Oi, Lukas." Alexei decided to talk with the Vampire because Stacy refused to say anything.

"Um, yes?" Lukas, who had expected a lot more hostility from Alexei, was a little surprised but also willing to listen to what the man had to say.

Alexei did help in his own grumpy way by flinging him towards the giant sand worm so that had to prove that maybe teamwork and cooperation was possible in the group.

"So, this Lily girl or whoever… is she your best friend or something?" Alexei crossed his arms. "You're risking your life and your girlfriend's just to be here. That Assassin boy, I can understand–"

"This Assassin has a name." Theodore said from the driver's seat.

"I thought you didn't care about any of that, Theo." Lukas grinned and looked at the Vampire who grunted and instead focused on the road. "But to answer your question, Alexei…"

Stacy's older brother stayed silent, waiting patiently.

"Um, Lily's my–"

"His girlfriend too." Theodore said and scoffed. "Unbelievable isn't it? I don't exactly know what my cousin sees in him–and so do you, Atticus."

"Why Lukas is incredible!" Chaerin frowned and quickly came into his defense.

"Really, tell me why?" Theodore snorted.

"There's a lot of reasons why," Chaerin said. "And I could tell you–"

"Not interested." Theodore said.

"Not cool man." Lukas sighed. "I thought you liked me when we first met."

"I said that you had a potential to become a great Hunter is what I said," Theodore explained. "That doesn't mean that I like you or anything."

"... Tsundere." Lukas muttered underneath his breath.

"What did you say–?!"

"Nothing. I said keep driving with your eyes on the road, Theodore. We don't know what we'll end up driving towards. Maybe some other giant sandworm will come and block our way–or what if there's cactuses that throw thorns?"

"The cactuses here explode." Theodore said in a matter of fact tone. "It's their one last ditch effort to avoid being eaten and it's also their way of spreading their seeds."

"Okay, let's see. Strong, got a mouth and actually with a half decent face," Alexei said at last. "Is that it?"

"Hey, Alexei!" Stacy hissed at her brother.

"Half decent?" Lukas rubbed his chin. "That's what the owner of the bar said. Daddy Jones or whatever said I'm not half bad to be exact… so you gave me more positive feedback. Thanks."

Alexei rolled his eyes and glanced at his sister again. His face seemed to express the thought of 'Seriously, this one?'

"On the topic of relationships and such," Lukas said. He knew that the mission was serious and grave, but it didn't mean that they had to act all brooding and stuff. "What's your love life like Alexei? You don't look so bad yourself."

"Hah!" Alexei said and crossed his arms over his chest. "Why… all of the women in Lux chase after me, but no woman is actually good for me. So I've had to leave many heartbroken."

"Please don't listen to him." Stacy rubbed her face and pinched the bridge of her nose.

Lukas glanced at Stacy's direction and couldn't help but smile. It was actually rare to get a reaction out of her even after they've known each other for more than a month so it was nice to see her be far more comfortable.

"I've never seen such a bad liar." Theodore muttered. "No women in their right mind would ever approach a Vardoken. So unless you've actually been hiding your identity all this time then–"

"Stop the van, mate." Alexei sat up and glowered in his direction. "If you're going to be a massive prick throughout this entire mission, how about we just settle things and get your head out of the gutter, shall we?"

Theodore glanced at the rearview mirror and scoffed.

"Do you really want to do this? Just because you came from some noble bloodline doesn't mean jack shit to anyone here–"

Stacy decided to intervene and waved her hands placatingly to Theodore. "I apologize for his behavior–"

"Don't say sorry to this guy, Stacy!" Alexei said. "Let him come right at me. I don't care if you use those pointy blades of yours at all."

"Pointy? Why, I'd love to introduce you to them. Give me a second and I'll–"

"Do the two of you really want to waste your time fighting, expanding your energy and risking the fact that we could end up in far more trouble in a future occasion just because the two you decided to fight?" Lukas rubbed his forehead. "I expected Stacy's brother to be hot headed, but not you, Theodore."

Lukas knew that it was during crises that one's personality showed itself and he was actually pretty damn disappointed that Theodore couldn't hold himself back.

"Do you honestly care about Lily?" Theodore narrowed his eyes at Lukas. "I can't understand why you're so level headed and calm about this–"

"The best way that I can show my love for Lily is to not mess things up." Lukas frowned. "It means holding myself back from letting my emotions run rampant and bring us into more trouble than necessary. And it also means making sure that you don't end up hurt too, idiot."

Theodore stared at him silently for a moment before he turned away. Alexei also chose to calm down and sighed.

Lukas scratched his head and glanced in Chaerin's direction. "You, okay?"

"I'm just impressed with this group." Chaerin laughed a little and hugged his arm. "Don't want to add unnecessary kindles to the flame too."

Lukas's expression softened a little and he kissed her head. It was another thing that he learned from his girlfriend today–she was fun, but also not too big on confrontations. But yeah, maybe it was best not to force cooperation.

He could also focus on other things.

'System–'