Chapter 20 Caesar

"Watch and be amazed!" Kai touted.

It was our lunch hour between classes, and I had been pulled into the glass-partitioned research lab in the section where the heart of engineering took place for the school. There were all sorts of machines and devices of every size and shape pushed to the sides. Only a handful of them were out, as a few dedicated students were working on projects for Kai's class.

"Would you get on with it already?" I groused. "Having to see you in your smart clothing isn't exactly what I'd had in mind when you said you wanted to show me what you've been working on."

Kai gave me a sly grin, snapping his fingers. "You'd rather see me in no clothing, then?"

I rolled my eyes. "Kai, that is hardly—"

"Trust me, that's precisely what you're saying," Kai cut me off.

He brought the hand he'd held behind his back forward. Clasped between his fingers and palm was a skinny, tubular object that had a cable sticking out at the top.

I glanced at the device, then back at Kai. "It looks like a stick of dynamite. "

His sly grin broadened. "In a way, it is. You know why? Because it's going to blow your mind."

Before I could complain about the corny joke, Kai slid the cable into one of the inputs on his smart clothing. In an instant, the parts of the kitsune covered by his clothing completely disappeared, leaving only Kai's head and neck, his arms from his biceps to his fingers, and his legs from just above the knees down to his toes, visible.

"Whoa!" I breathed.

Kai looked down at his missing body parts, then made eye contact with me again. "Mind blown?"

"Sufficiently," I mumbled in agreement.

"Can you imagine what we could have done back in our glory days with this kind of tech?" He held the device in front of him. "Jade would still be alive."

I stiffened at the mention of our fallen comrade, my heart melting at the look of grief that passed over Kai's features. Jade had been my friend, but she had been Kai's lover. He had lost more than I did when she died.

Kai cleared his throat, his expression returning to its usually playful demeanor. "Remember our infiltration of the theater in Pierre? Hadrian wouldn't have even known what hit him. We could've stopped him in his tracks back then."

"If only," I said with a sigh. "This invisibility tech is a masterpiece and will be extremely helpful. The military will be particularly overjoyed to put it to use."

"What new useless trinket will we be overjoyed to use?" a skeptical voice sounded from behind us.

I closed my eyes and let out a heavy breath through my nose. Now, of all times ?

Opening my eyes again, I gave Kai an annoyed look, then turned around. Arthur Dracul was approaching, Nikolai Candida awkwardly trailing him, looking like a mer out of water.

"General Dracul, what a pleasant surprise," I greeted as nicely as I could without sounding too fake. I gave Nikolai a warmer expression. "Welcome back to the Dome, Intern Candida."

Niko sent me a grateful smile while Arthur nodded his head in acknowledgment, looking past me and observing the various parts of Kai that were visible.

"Is this some new phasing technology?" he asked with exasperation. "Don't tell me you're in two places at the same time. I'm not quite sure how useful it is to have your body in one place and your head, arms, and legs in another."

Kai snorted. "If I've made the brilliant Arthur Dracul believe that this trinket is a phase-inducer, then I'd say the invention is quite a success. Wouldn't you, Caesar?"

A scowl formed on the general's face. "It must be a sad life, trapped in this prison you helped form, unable to fight the real battles that are waging in the real world every day."

Kai opened his mouth to give a retort, but I stepped in.

"Is this how the military trains their recruits and interns?" I asked. "To be belligerent and disrespectful?"

Arthur's scowl darkened as he shifted his gaze to me. "We train our recruits and interns to show respect to rank—something I hold, and the lowly engineer does not."

Electricity crackled behind me, and he knew Kai was about to make a grave mistake. In front of me, Arthur held a dancing flame above an outstretched hand.

"That's enough!" I shouted. "We already have enough enemies—we don't need to start attacking each other. "

The static behind me slowly fizzled out, and the flame before me extinguished.

"That's better," I said, feeling like I was dealing with a couple of juveniles. "Now then, the device that Kai has invented integrates with smart clothing that has cloaking capabilities."

Kai patted his stomach, and for a moment, what seemed to be a ripple hung in the air, then went back to the emptiness it held before.

Arthur's hard features softened as he looked Kai up and down again. At last, he straightened his stance and pulled his uniform down at the stomach, removing the bunching that had formed during his heated moment. "Forgive my harshness, Mr. Inari. Your latest creation is quite remarkable and useful."

Kai's scowl was replaced with proud humor. "Apology accepted."

After pulling the camouflaging device free from his smart clothing, his whole form reappeared.

Arthur's eyes stared greedily at the cloaking gear. "When will it be prepared for field testing?"

Kai looked up, as if in deep thought. "Well, it's only in the prototype stage right now. And we'd have to get Celeste to approve bringing in more resources—which won't be cheap."

"I'm sure she'll be just as impressed with your research as I am," Arthur replied.

Kai raised a finger. "I should mention that the invisibility has a few limitations."

The general nodded. "Technology usually does. What sort of limitations are we talking about?"

"It works great when a shifter is in human form, but it doesn't work at all once the user has shifted. "

Arthur's expression solidified like a rock. "You call that a limitation? It sounds useless! What are we supposed to do? Fight vampires while in human form?"

The dragon shifter's tone brought forth another scowl from Kai. "At this point, Lord Dracul, I would categorize the cloaking device as reconnaissance hardware. It's great at getting your soldiers in and out of dangerous places undetected."

No retort came from Arthur, which I was quite grateful for.

"Technically," Kai added, "this isn't a limitation of the cloaking device. It's a limitation of the smart clothing. I'm not going to go into the nitty-gritty of how the smart clothing works, but it should be noted that smart clothing doesn't rip and tear like normal clothing because it essentially tricks the shifted body into believing that it doesn't exist. It phases until the body is returned to human form."

I nodded in understanding. "So the cloaking device phases along with the smart clothing."

Kai smiled and snapped his fingers again. "Harvey, we have a winner."

Pulling at his already-straightened uniform again, Arthur said, "The military would benefit from having these. I'll inform Celeste that we have requested your latest creation."

"Outstanding," Kai replied with an unamused tone.

I subdued the smile that was trying to cross my face. "Well, Arthur, I can't imagine you came all the way to the Dome just to check in on Kai's inventions. Is there something I can do for you?"

The general eyed Kai before returning his gaze to me, likely debating with himself whether or not to speak in front of the kitsune .

"It's about the siren," Arthur said at last.

I should have guessed.

"She has a name, Arthur," I corrected. "I presume you've come to check on Arya's progress?"

"On the contrary, I've come to give her one-on-one training," Arthur replied.

I shouldn't have been shocked by his abruptness, but I was. "It's been just over one week since your last visit. We've escalated her combat instruction, but Arya is not ready for military training."

"No one ever is," Arthur said, looking over his shoulder at Nikolai. "Are they?"

The Candida boy straightened his back. "It's hard, sir, but it's worth it."

Arthur turned back to me and raised his hands to the sides, as if they were a weighing scale. "We could wait weeks, months, even years before you feel like the girl is ready. But you know as well as I do that time is not on our side."

"I can't deny the urgency," I replied. "But at the same time, if you try to force somebody to wear shoes much too big for them, you can guarantee there will be tripping and falling. And if those shoes are even bigger than we believe them to be, Arya might not be able to get back up."

Confusion splashed across Arthur's face.

"We might break her," I clarified.

The general tilted his head. "If the girl is the prophesied siren, she will not break."

It was apparent that Arthur wasn't going to be swayed. He hadn't come to the Dome to ask permission, but he'd at least had the decency to talk to me before going straight to Arya .

I set my jaw, momentarily looking at the students working hard on their projects, a few more trickling in. Thankfully, the glass walls were soundproof, and the commotion that had occurred between Kai and Arthur hadn't drawn their attention.

I wondered if I'd done Arya a disservice, bringing her to the Dome. Her life had been in constant flux since the day she'd arrived. Throwing the military at her now would be another whiplash.

At the same time, the military general brought up a good point. When would Arya be ready? If the vampires did decide to lay siege on the Dome, the school would be in grave danger. No training I could provide would help Arya—or the school for that matter—if such a thing occurred.

I need an update from Julian . See if he knows what the vampires are planning.

Sighing, I brought my eyes back to Arthur and raised a single finger. "You can have one session with her. This afternoon. In lieu of the exercises I had planned for her. She can show you her progress."

This small victory showed on the strong features of Arthur Dracul.

"But I will be there to monitor everything," I added. "As will Celeste. If I find anything to be...excessive, I'll put the session to an immediate end."

Arthur nodded. "I am amenable to those terms."

I had an extreme desire for Arthur to leave the research lab. His authoritative presence was exhausting.

I cleared my throat. "In the meantime, feel free to visit the dining hall if you're hungry. If food doesn't interest you, I'm sure somebody is in the simulation room testing their abilities. You could always go and observe potential recruits. "

Saying those words made me sick to my stomach. The last thing I wanted to do was have more students pulled early from the school. But I would've said anything at that point to rid myself of his presence.

"Thank you, Director," Arthur said, bowing slightly. "My intern and I could use a bite to eat."

Niko anxiously shuffled his feet behind the general. Perhaps being back in the Dome was an uncomfortable experience for him. He hadn't been gone that long.

"Come, Intern Candida," the general instructed. "Show me the way." Looking once more at Caesar, he said, "I'll see you this afternoon. And Kai? Good work on your latest creation."

Lord Dracul turned around and made for the exit of the research lab, and I gratefully turned my attention back to my kitsune friend.

Kai folded his arms proudly. "You know, I think that's the first time he's ever called me by my name."

I chuckled dryly.

This day was not going the way I expected. I hadn't heard from Shea since I texted her that we should talk, which was making me more anxious than before. Had something happened to her? Should I check on her?

And now I had Arya's safety to worry about. She didn't deserve this life we'd handed her. She was young and innocent. Her biggest worries should be her grades and boy problems, though hopefully not even those. I didn't want Arthur digging his talons into her, but seeing as she was our greatest hope against Hadrian, none of us had that choice. Not even her.