Artemis had gotten lost in her speechmaking, a nasty habit of hers, when she was suddenly drawn out of it by Vlad's sudden appearance so close to her. An audible breath could be heard as she gasped in surprise, and her threat level went up noticeably as fear seeped into her. Artemis was fine with the man being across the room, but being closer to her than Ajax was was not something she had prepared herself for.

Drawing in another breath and placing her hand on Ajax's back helped her steady herself, and her threat level dropped, though not to where it had been when she'd entered. Of course for Artemis, a 35 was on the high side, so a "high" threat level wasn't very dangerous. "Cerberus was also respected and feared, though he did not always know it." she added, though the time to discuss the guardian of Tartarus had passed.

As she had continued to talk about understanding, the closeness between them allowed her to meet his eyes, and she could see that he was listening. Though Vlad made it look as if he was not interested in her words, the fact that his eyes had yet to glaze over told her otherwise. There was a challenge there, between the two of them. Tangible, and probably a bit stupid on her part, but Artemis wasn't about to disregard it entirely. She'd remember it, and she would speak to Vlad in the future, of that the young brunette was certain.

Fortunately for her sanity and her threat level, Vlad backed away once the topic strayed to books. It was safe, harmless to discuss a book. Much less sensitive than discussing the morality of a thinly veiled metaphor. "That's what I had assumed on it's accuracy. That's usually how those books are. One that truly captured the mind of the darker side would be too frightening to publish in this society. For if we accurately understood the intents behind the crimes, would we not be able to empathize ourselves? And the where would our system of threat levels put us?" She mused, her voice lowering to a whisper as she finished speaking. Seeing the smile taunt her as it threatened to show itself, Artemis couldn't help but start to have a small smirk of her own.

"That is the eternal question isn't it? The moment we understand our enemy and can truly defeat them is the moment we begin to love them. That's from Ender's Game, a very interesting novel if you've never read it. So I would not doubt that he did end up on the very side he was trying to explain." She finished. Reading his body language and responding to how he'd behaved earlier, Artemis did feel it was time to say her goodnight. "Well Vlad, I have taken up more of your time than I am sure you wanted me too. Thank you for the conversation, and I hope you enjoy your books. I must be taking my leave." She said politely, placing her hand on the door to open it and leave him to his candles and city.