Dr. Camilla Alucard groaned loudly, then pushed back from the desk, raised her arms over her head, and stretched. Cramped muscles popped in her neck and shoulders, and she arched her back, feeling the pull all the way down her spine. A long sigh of relief pushed itself involuntarily from her lips.

"Um, Doctor, w-would you like a c-c-cup of t-tea?"

Camilla turned in surprise. The high-pitched voice belonged to the shikigami that did the housework and upkeep in her laboratory. The stammering was because the shikigami was a paper doll, animated by the power of her Servan employee Kaede, and liquids were such a creature's natural enemy.

She offered it a warm though weary smile.

"I appreciate the gesture, but it's all right. When my brain starts getting this tired, it's time to quit for the night. That's the third time I've misread that phrase in this book."

"Oh. Well, you should get some rest, then. You still have another round of reports to the Curia to finish in the morning."

She pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Don't remind me. I swear, every time I get another message from those bureaucrats I start to wonder if we should have just let the Moon Queen win. Though with mu luck, if I fell into eternal slumber I'd just dream about paperwork."

She was about to get up, but because she was who she was, she couldn't resist taking one last look at the passage her brain had blurred out on, just because she didn't want to walk away from the table on a point of confusion.

There it was again.

"That's impossible."

She was strangely tempted to clean her monocle to see if that changed anything, but knew that would be a silly gesture, and vision wasn't the issue anyway.

But it was right there. The inference was unmistakable. It was oblique, yes, not directly stated, but it was there.

Camilla drummed her fingers on the page.

This book was almost fifty years old. How was it possible that no one had noticed this before? Groundbreaking discoveries didn't just pop off of the page after decades passed.

Then, she smiled.

"That's giving those people too much credit."

"Doctor?"

"Sorry. Thinking out loud."

This book was her grandfather's work. He'd been a brilliant scientist, but his social skills had been somewhere between "tree moss" and "rabid weasel," meaning that his rivals tended to have considerably larger backing to push their work over his. Too, he tended to be interested in the study of fiends in a comprehensive manner, while even among the Curia most people were concerned with things like "what powers does it have?" and "how do I kill it?" The esoteric details of fiendish life cycles and how the Blue Blood affected them were of largely academic interest, several steps removed from practical application.

There was also the question of how many researchers were capable of understanding Professor Alucard's work, but snippiness was probably not the best attitude to have towards her colleagues.

Probably accurate, though.

"And if it's true…"

Her mind processed the implications like lightning.

Those other references…I need to cross-check…

Camilla started flipping back through the book with one hand, while the other reached for pen and pulled several stacks of note-paper into reach. All thought of aching muscles and sleep alike had vanished, completely drowned out by the thrill of the chase.

~X X X~

It was just over an hour later when Camilla emerged from her laboratory. That door did not lead into a corridor of a research facility or even to a hall that connected with a private house, but into a luxuriant world of polished parquet, shining wood, and gleaming brass fittings, all throwing back the chandelier's light like a thousand mirrors so that rich brown and glowing gold tones filled the environment.

A luxury hotel was not the most obvious place for a scientific laboratory, but it made perfect sense in this case: the Curia owned the Hotel Eterna, and Camilla managed it for them. So the door next to the front desk led to the manager's office like in any hotel; it was just that this particular manager had more use for biomedical research equipment than ledger books. Kaede handled a good ninety percent of the actual hotel management end of things, anyway, and did a better job of it than most of her human peers, which Camilla considered the perfect arrangement.

Camilla was in luck. The person she wanted to see was right there in the lobby, at the bar across from the front desk despite the lateness of the hour.

Though the time of day isn't going to make a lot of difference in Eurulm, now.

Camilla's boot-heels clicked off the floor as she crossed the room. "Arnice, could I speak with you for a minute?"

The silver-haired woman at the bar turned and gestured hello with the china cup she held in her left hand. The delicate porcelain looked faintly ridiculous in the clawed fingers of the black steel gauntlet, but then, the battle gear of the Nightlord wasn't really designed for peacefully taking a cup of chocolate in a fancy hotel.

Camilla's life had never exactly been normal, but from the moment the body of Aluche Amatoria had been brought to her lab at the Curia, the absurdities had grown almost daily.

"Sure, Doctor. What can I do for you?"

"I have a favor I'd like to ask."

"It's not to examine my body, is it?"

"What would make you think that?"

"Let's just say that I have past experience with researchers named Alucard."

Camilla chuckled.

"That does sound like Grandfather, When he got the bit between his teeth on some research project, there was no stopping him."

Arnice blinked.

"Grandfather, really? That's kind of hard to believe."

"You don't see the family resemblance?"

"Actually, that monocle you wear looks just like his, though his was for the other eye. Though I don't need to tell you that. It's more…it's just hard for me to imagine Professor Alucard with a family. He never really seemed the type. Nothing ever seemed to distract him from his fiend research."

Camilla smiled.

"I know what you mean. He was the one who first inspired me to become a scientist, and his opinion of humanity never really got any better. But no, I'm not asking to examine you—not that I'd say no if you offered, since I can only imagine what I could learn from the Nightlord, particularly in comparing the transition from a natural half-demon to a full demon as compared to an artificially-created one. I could use Muveil as a counter-reference and…" She broke off, noting that Arnice had edged back against the bar. "Sorry; scientific enthusiasm is an occupational hazard. The favor does have to do with my grandfather, though."

"Oh? What about him?"

"Could we talk somewhere a little more private?"

"All right. Just wait a sec, okay?"

Arnice lifted the cup and drained the last of her chocolate drink.

"Can't let Eleanor's hard work go to waste, after all!"

They took the elevator up to the rooftop, where the sweet scent of lavender flowering in large ceramic tubs added a comforting touch to the solemnity of the church altar.

"It's really impressive," Arnice said, inhaling. "Flowering plants kept alive and thriving even though there's no sun. You were the one who prepared the special fertilizer, weren't you?"

"Aluche and Liliana brought me the ingredients. By using the bodies of those fiends as a source of nutrients, I hoped that the plants could absorb trace quantities of Blue Blood."

"Eh? Wouldn't that make the plants into fiends, too?"

"No; lavender has natural properties of repelling the Blue Blood, which prevents it from overwhelming the plant's fundamental nature, so long as the quantities are sufficiently minute. But by absorbing those trance amounts, the plants become sensitive to the existence of the Azure Moon, and can photosynthesize in its light. Of course, it was largely speculation that it would work, since I can't perceive the Azure Moon for myself, and that makes it almost impossible for me to directly test the light's properties."

"It sounds pretty inspired to me."

"Well, it seemed important to Aluche and Liliana."

Arnice looked up at the sky.

"It's still full, in case you were wondering."

"I wasn't."

Arnice chuckled.

"Yeah, I wouldn't be, either. Not knowing those two."

"It's too bad that humans can't see it, though. A visible symbol that the love between a demon and a human is what's holding back the Night might help to prevent tragedies like Malvasia and Alstromeria's from happening again in the future."

"If the Curia didn't just tell more lies about it."

Camilla arched an eyebrow at her.

"I didn't think you were the cynical type."

"You should have known me when I was an agent. My Guide back then was one heck of a shady character." She chuckled again, as if she'd said something funny, though Camilla didn't understand the joke.

"But humans and demons being able to make peace with one another would be the first step in ending the Land Without Night. Isn't that part of what you've been doing from your side of things as the Nightlord?"

"Do you know why the Curia exists?" Arnice answered her with a question.

"To protect humanity from the fiends unleashed by the first Nightlord's Blue Blood." Camilla gave it one beat before adding, "That, and to amass as much sociopolitical power and influence for the organization and its ruling elite as it can."

Arnice shook her head.

"That isn't it at all—although no one knew it except perhaps the very highest strata, if anyone at all. It's kind of ironic. You know how the image of Alstromeria striking a demon down in battle is a lie told by the Curia to hide the truth? What if I told you that the First Saint Ludegert striking down the Nightlord was the same lie?"

"What?"

"There was never an invasion of Eternal Night. Ludegert was terrified by the increasing violence and warfare that were tearing humanity apart, setting country against country. She tried to provoke a war with demonkind, but the original Nightlord wouldn't cooperate, so she overthrew him and took his power—and unleashed the Blue Blood that created the fiends. And then she founded the Curia based on the legend of her 'battle' with the Nightlord, to genuinely help to protect people from the unleashed fiends, but mostly to insure that humanity banded together against their common enemy."

Camilla drew in her breath with a hiss.

"So when you defeated the Nightlord—"

Arnice gave a single, sharp nod.

"The Nightlord I defeated was the woman you call the First Saint, and the former Pope of the Curia."

"My God." It wasn't an exclamation Camilla used often, but the situation seemed to call for it. The frightening thing was how much sense it made. Camilla knew it well enough from personal experience; the Curia's half-demon research project that she herself had brought to its highest level with the creation of Muveil and Aluche was as much about amassing power for conflict with other nations as it was about fighting fiends.

That's why we're now starting to win battles against the fiends and recapture parts of our world. It's not because they're getting weaker or Arnice is holding them back. It's because for all those centuries, the Curia was never actually trying to win.

"I can almost sympathize with her," she said. "It's hard to know what would be worse, the World Without Night, or a world full of human strife."

"Which do you think?"

Camilla sighed.

"I don't know. But if I had to pick, I'd at least rather have a world built on the truth, not a lie. And look what's happening now. Ludegert didn't solve any problems, she just delayed them for eight centuries while substituting one kind of suffering for another. But then, you must have come to the same conclusion."

"Ehhehheh," Arnice gave a nervous little chuckle while rubbing the back of her head. "I wish I could say that, but honestly, I just wanted to protect Lilysse. The other details could work themselves out on their own."

In spite of herself, Camilla found herself laughing.

"You really are a lot like Aluche, aren't you?"

"Well, you did give her my blood for a reason, right?"

"I wish I could claim credit for that prescience."

"But it's true, too, what you said. I don't think it's possible to make any real, lasting change based on lies and deception. You might solve the immediate problem, but unless you get right down to the real truth, it'll all fall apart the instant you stop applying pressure. That's something I've had to learn since becoming the Nightlord." She clenched her fist, the armored gauntlet's plates clinking slightly as they closed. "No matter how much power you have, you can only make real change when you understand something down to the roots. I guess people like you and the Professor knew that all along."

She paused, then smirked at Camilla.

Of course, there's a whole lot of intermediate problems along the way that you can only solve with the direct approach. Just because the fiends were unleashed by the First Saint, not the Night, doesn't mean that humans don't need to be protected from them when they run wild."

"Indeed." Camilla liked to think it was one of the areas where she differed from her grandfather: a sense of practicality, combined with the willingness to take direct action when necessary.

Arnice leaned back against the wall, folded her arms beneath her breasts, and crossed her legs at the ankle.

"So, then, what's this favor you wanted to ask? This is a fun talk, but I figure you've got more urgent things on your mind than things that are decades or centuries old."

"As a matter of fact, it actually does concern something from around fifty years ago."

"Oh, really?"

"I was looking through some of Grandfather's published work, and I kept finding oblique references to something that I thought was impossible. It's not certain, but if I'm understanding the implication correctly, he was talking about a way to extract the Blue Blood from a fiend."

"You mean, a way besides killing it?"

"Exactly. Of course, we've used various technologies such as the Rosier Clock to absorb Blue Blood from slain fiends, and to manipulate it through various methods, and demons and half-demons can absorb it vampirically, but I've never before heard of a way to extract it from a fiend, where the Blue Blood was completely integrated with its original form."

"Neither have I. So far as I know, it isn't a demon technique, either."

"I thought so. But the way Grandfather wrote, it was as if it was a settled matter. In fact, that's part of why the references are so obscure; he doesn't treat it as anything that needs to be elaborated on." She twisted her lips into a grimace. "So often, he reads like he's just collated his research notes instead of actually writing for someone else's benefit. Which is actually what happened some of the time. His superiors in the Curia would yell at him to produce something, and he'd throw them one of his journals and it would be left to his assistants to edit it into something vaguely like a book."

Arnice grinned at her.

"That sounds so like the Professor!"

"He was a unique character," Camilla said, not bothering to hide the warmth in her tone.

"You said 'was'…he's passed on, then?"

"Yes, for seven years, now."

"I'm sorry to hear it."

"Thank you. It's good to know that at least his memory will live on with someone besides me." After a moment's pause, it struck her that given who she was talking to, that living memory could end up being for centuries or millennia.

Of late, Camilla's perception on time had been challenged in a lot of different ways.

"Anyway," she shook off the personal ruminations, "my point is that Grandfather apparently managed to find a way in which a fiend could be transformed back into its original state without destroying it. The implications of that are astonishing. Even if there proves to be no direct practical application, the knowledge we could gain about how the Blue Blood interacts with an environment could be groundbreaking. I need to follow up on this."

"How can I help? I mean, I'd like to, but I never understood half of what he was going on about when he was right there talking to me."

"Don't worry, I'm not looking for a laboratory assistant. This is about fieldwork. From what I understand, Grandfather's research notes should have the details in them. I just need to retrieve them."

"You don't have them already? I mean, even if they're not archived at the Curia, wouldn't you have them as a family matter? I'd assume he'd will them to you, since you followed in his footsteps."

Camilla nodded.

"He did. In fact, he willed me his private laboratory and all of its contents, which included all of the research notes that he hadn't delivered to the Curia, both supporting details and fresh work. The problem is that, apart from things that I actively needed in my own work, I left his materials there."

"Huh. You didn't have room for it or something?"

"No, it's more…well, on the one hand I didn't trust the Curia—"

"I can't argue with that."

"Honestly, I think they may have gotten worse. From what you just told me, while Ludegert was Pope, whatever evils the Curia may have done, they were at least directed towards achieving what they believed was a good end. Now, too much of the organization is dedicated only to power for its own sake. Too many of the rank-and-file are self-righteous fools, fat with their arrogance, not even knowing that they're tools of those who use them. And those with true compassion and dedication to help people, like Aluche or Liliana, they're made tools, too, all the more for it."

The night wind stirred Camilla's hair, giving her the weird, illogical sense that somehow her friends has heard her mention them and were chiding her.

"But then, who am I to judge other people for arrogance and vanity? That's the other reason I left Grandfather's books where they were, after all. I was the genius, wasn't I? What did I owe those idiots, who couldn't follow half of what I was doing and made fun of what they didn't understand?"

"Huh. I guess you got more from the Professor than a monocle and a love of science."

Camilla winced theatrically.

"Demons are harsh creatures."

Arnice just chortled.

"Well, I was young and stupid," Camilla continued. "But there it was: the notes from the relevant time period are there at Grandfather's laboratory…which was part of what was overrun when the fiends claimed the capital and the surrounding area four years ago."

"So you can't get to it?"

Camilla nodded.

"It's in the middle of fiend-controlled territory, about two days southeast of here, and I have no idea what kind of fiends have taken up residence there. The Curia's Survey Corps confirmed that it's fiend-occupied, but there was never any justification for sending knights there. I can't even blame them: securing a route back and forth would be extra effort beyond merely liberating the place, and it's not worth the resources. More importantly, it wouldn't be worth the risk to knights' lives."

"I see," Arnice said, but she was frowning.

"You and I together, though, shouldn't have any real trouble, especially if it's just to go in and retrieve the necessary documents. Though there may also end up being more to it than that, because I definitely don't remember coming across anything along these lines when I initially went through his library, which means that I'll likely have to end up searching the place carefully."

Arnice sighed.

"I'm sorry, Camilla, but I can't go with you. Maybe one of the others? I'm sure Veruschka or Muveil would be glad to help."

"I know they would, but…they and Ruenheid are all with the Lourdes Order. It was one thing to work together with them when it was to stop the Moon Queen, but now, and for a private matter, it could put me in an extremely tenuous position."

"But working with the Nightlord wouldn't!?"

"Consorting with demons versus consorting with the Curia's rival organization? Oh, that isn't even close."

Arnice smacked her palm against her face.

"Politics…"

"So you see why I was hoping you could help me. Eleanor is off on another ingredient-hunting expedition and won't be back until next week. Going it alone would be an option, but without any reliable reconnaissance of the area I really would prefer a partner I can trust so we could watch each other's backs."

Arnice pushed off the wall to stand upright before her.

"Those are all good points, but you're just going to have to wait for Eleanor. I'd be glad to help you, but Chris and I are already late getting started on our journey. Lilysse is out there waiting for me, and now that the world is safe from Malvasia I don't want to waste any more time in going to find her."

Camilla supposed that wasn't surprising. After all, this was the same person that Arnice had just said she'd fought the previous Nightlord for the sake of protecting.

"Do you even know where she is?"

Arnice shook her head.

"I only know that she went east. I have some clues, though. There are places that are special to us, things we've done together over the decades, and I know she would have left messages for me there, like the one in Eurulm, at any place she could reach."

She turned away from Camilla, looking up at the sky again.

"She's out there somewhere. She managed to escape on her own from Malvasia's followers, from Valderossa and all her other minions, and to stay ahead of Malvasia's pursuit. Telling me that Lilysse was dead was the only thing the Moon Queen could do, because she didn't have her to threaten any more." Arnice hugged herself. "And I failed her, Camilla. I believed what Malvasia told me and let despair consume me. I should have trusted Lilysse. I should have known she'd never make it so easy for anyone to kill her. All this time, Lilysse has had to run, to hide, to stay out of the way of any pursuit, never knowing what became of me… She gave me my chance, and instead Chris and Aluche had to save me from myself."

Camilla shook her head.

"No, that's not true."

"Huh?"

"Obviously, I've never met Lilysse, and Grandfather barely mentioned her since she was human, but…she's still with you after all these years, isn't she? That's not a person who would have false expectations, or hold it against you that you're not human."

"Of course not, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Demons are fundamentally creatures of emotion, much more so than humans are. You might not have realized it because you started out human, then lived as a half-demon while maintaining your humanity by sheer force of will, but I'll bet that Malvasia knew exactly how extreme your reaction would be to her telling you of Lilysse's death. More so, even, since she had experienced that sense of loss for herself. Lilysse loves you even though you're a demon; she's not going to hold it against you that, well, you are one."

Arnice scratched her head.

"You're probably right, Doctor. And thanks for the advice. It almost seems unfair; I'm turning down your request, but you're helping to lift my spirits."

"Well, I'm hoping that things can still balance out."

Arnice tapped a foot, her boot clicking on the stone roof.

"I'm not going on your expedition as a thank-you."

Camilla had a feeling that her grandfather had heard some variation of that line quite a number of times.

She wasn't her grandfather, though.

"Obviously not. But from what you just said, your search for Lilysse is going to involve a lot of guesswork and blind luck. You don't know how closely she was pursued, which direction she went, even where you might start looking. You could go to a dozen places before you finally found the right one."

"And?"

"Well, I'd like to point out that the Curia happens to have the widest-reaching investigation and intelligence network on Earth. We have a presence in nearly every country on the planet, and it's entirely possible that a woman on the run from the Moon Queen's followers might well show up in some of their reports. That kind of information could easily narrow your search, even if it doesn't give any direct answers. I have the contacts to know who can retrieve and curate that kind of information for me, and more importantly who can be trusted to keep it quiet so that you and she don't find yourself harassed by agents."

"You're offering to trade a favor for a favor, then? Your help in finding Lilysse for my help in retrieving the Professor's research?"

"Of course not," Camilla said immediately, not without a little satisfaction at watching the mounting anger (her talk about demons and emotions had been quite accurate) wiped away by confusion before it had even gotten a chance to fully take hold of Arnice.

She gave the confusion a couple of seconds, though, before she finished the explanation, because she was by no means immune to the urge to tease a little.

"Friends don't horse-trade when they have the chance to help with something important. But, I thought that if you did want my help, and since I estimate that it will take about a week for my contacts to finish sifting the information in a way that extracts anything useful and doesn't expose them to risk, then you would be staying in the Eurulm area for a short while longer…"

"…and so long as I was going to be here anyway, then there's no reason why I couldn't help you out?"

"The thought had crossed my mind. In all seriousness, though, if you think that you have a good lead of your own to start from, I can send whatever I learn to a prearranged drop point by messenger. I'd also suggest consulting Loergwlith, the leader of the Lourdes Order. Her power to see the future isn't as controllable as she'd like it to be, but she might be able to offer insight. And since she accepted Muveil into the Order, you can be confident that she doesn't have any per se objection to demons."

"I appreciate it. But like I said, my ideas are pretty vague so there's no point in me running off. Whatever place I pick to start is as likely to be in the wrong direction as the right one. And hey, getting out on a short road trip sounds lots more fun than just sitting around the hotel for a week!"