Legendary Vampire in the Apocalypse
Chapter 36: Where My Family Is

Chapter 36: Where My Family Is

Once she had been finished cleaning up all of the corpses, Anastasia walked over towards the counter.

"My lord, should you have needed a drink, I would have prepared it. You must rest. Allow me to pour it for you."

"Anastasia," Dion pulled one of the bottles he had taken, and then the other three. He glanced briefly down to the labels as he continued, "You want to learn more about me, right?"

"Yes, My lord."

The alcohol within them shifted, stirring the light that they caught within them, from a rich amber colour to an almost glowing red and lastly a red-brownish colour. ’Bourbon, Campari and Sweet Vermouth.. They certainly had a taste for alcohol.’

He had only pulled them free by instinct, and internally he smiled at the memory of him and Shijo working as bartenders. Shijo had back then left the job after only two weeks, and he had stayed on to work for a year alongside his other part-time jobs.

He looked up from the bottles and gave the faintest, confident smile, "Then pay attention and wait a moment while I make us a drink."

Dion lifted the bourbon, and opening its lid, he brought its mouth before his nose to take a brief whiff of it.

"...Very well," she said hesitantly, then her expression fell particularly serious.

Once Dion had set the bottle down, he walked over to look for the glasses, rinsing them under the rushing water of the sink.

’There is no escaping who the garden has made me at this point, and there is no leaving behind the few unique ones I had gathered in it over time. To survive, reach my family and make a place where we can be safe, I have to accept it all and go along with the reincarnation story.’

"Before we get into everything else, there is something that needs to change," He said, turning back as he dried the 250ml glasses with a cloth. Then the glass clattered over the table as he muttered, "This world is called Gaia, and it is far different from where we are from, as you have seen. There are no kingdoms or empires here, and I am sorely lacking in strength, so my identity, as well as the existence of Babylon, must remain secret from everyone but those we trust. This also means you cannot call me ’my lord’ here."

Anastasia’s eyes gradually widened as he spoke. She had moved herself to take a seat over the chair that stood behind the counter so that she was directly before the bottles that he had spread out.

"My name in this world is Dion Borealis. So, call me Dion from now on."

Her lips parted, and then came together again, pursing faintly.

"...My lord," she began with some reluctance, her eyes lowering a little in thought, "to address you by your given name, even should it be necessary for the preservation of your identity, I do not believe I am yet worthy to do so. It is... an intimacy I would not presume to claim."

Dion looked at her silently, his hand having stopped where it should have grabbed the neck of the Campari bottle. For those few moments he didn’t know if he should find her objection amusing, or troublesome.

"Consider it the right you have earned for saving my life then. It is your reward."

There, Dion glanced around the kitchen as her eyes rose to him.

They seemed to shimmer under the light a little, any yet still she restrained herself, her hands clasping ahead of herself on the table.

He walked back towards the sink where a broad glass jug rested upside down. It wasn’t a mixing glass, but it would have to do.

Dion walked himself over, and he continued, "If that still troubles you, then I’ll allow you to call me Dionysus instead. It is only a nickname of mine, but it was my mother’s inspiration for my real name."

"...Inspiration? Might I ask from whom or what?"

"A Greek God," Dion answered as he turned, then he walked down the other end of the kitchen where a fruit bowl sat with two bananas, an apple and a single orange, "one of wine, theatre, resurrection, madness, savagery and divine ecstasy."

Dion took the orange and brought it back towards the main counter where he rolled it beneath his palm, loosening the oils within its skin.

He raised his brow faintly, looking at the appreciation on her expression.

"Why do you look so beholden?"

"I am only thinking how felicitous it is that the great Lady who brought you to life once more also possesses a rare intuition that she may not be aware of. It is difficult to consider the resemblance accidental. Be that as it may, it would be an honour to use the name." Anastasia gave an elegant smile. Then she paused briefly, considering her words, "...And might I ask if I should prepare to meet Lady Borealis soon?"

"..."

Dion’s hand stopped briefly at the question, his lips tightening as did his jaw. Anastasia’s gaze had been focused on him, and thus, had not missed the flickering of his gaze.

"We are currently in the nation of Ostos," he said finally, "in a city called Lullin. My family—my mother, Hera, father, Romeo, and younger sister, Lucina—are all in Balerno City, over in the country of Aspain. They are on the same continent—named Aspain as well—but there is an expansive stretch called Pontheugh separating the two."

Dion lifted the orange, squeezing and releasing it in his grasp as if it were a stress ball, continuing:

"Before the records descent, it would have been little more than a few hour airplane travel because Pontheugh is neutral, undeveloped land through which land travel is barred. Reaching them, regardless of how long it might take is our main goal."

History classes had taught him how Pontheugh had been sealed off after the last war between Ostos and Aspain about three hundred years ago, closed under the Treaty of Pontheugh.

However, it was not entirely accurate.