Hell's Consort

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Vampire King Apollyon

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A huge advantage for making a faerie born with a golden spoon in his mouth swore their allegiance to the Vampire Crown.

Apollyon and Luna would come first before the Summer Monarchs after swearing on his real name in Mister Henry's heart and mind.

Mister Henry will be compelled to serve them for the rest of his life for breaking the curse.

Luna laid out the ground rules that instant and Apollyon was charmed at how quickly she handled the negotiation without letting Apollyon cut in and interfere.

These were when Luna desired to appear stronger and dominant, showing to the innkeeper that she had the upper hand now.

Why would Mister Henry swear his allegiance to the Vampire Crown in the first place if he kept dancing around what was expected of him?

'God's blood!' Apollyon mused. ' The summer faerie was playing with fire.'

He wanted to escape them because he inadvertently subjected himself to their power as a summer faerie should. Faeries—either from Seelie or Unseelie Courts--were slick creatures.

Even Prince Aspen— a man he considered a friend who was now demoted to a stranger—was the same.

When  Mister Henry diverted the subject while he wiped the sweat on his lip, Luna slammed the table in ire, forcing the innkeeper to promise in details and specifics through a verbal contract.

Apollyon fixed his stare at his beautiful wife, who morphed into this cut-throat fierce warrior towards Henry in a span of a minute when he tried playing her through ambiguous words.

He clicked his tongue at the poor innkeeper in amusement.

Apollyon didn't want all that rage from his wife directed at him.

He always desired peace between Luna and him to have access to her every minute of her life.

He also vowed to himself that whenever they argued, they should resolve it within the day so that they wouldn't lay down the bed together while the resentment festered in their heart and darkened their thoughts.

Apollyon could see Mister Henry's life flashed before his eyes when Luna flung the dagger to the wall behind the innkeeper in her frustration to keep their new subject in line.

He raised a curious eyebrow, not expecting this thirst for blood from his wife.

Blood trickled down Henry's neck as the blade grazed his bluish-gray skin while he froze on his couch, his breath bursting in and out.

The glass didn't shatter.

Thin vein-like cracks on the white solid walls could be visible while the light continued to bend and bounce inside the room.

"I don't have a good aim but my goal was to pin your midnight wings, Henry." His wife lowered her voice so no one from the outside of the room could hear what they did in the innkeeper's receiving area.

She was smiling at him along with that frosty glance. "Do you want me to prove that I can hit them the second time?"

Leaning back on her chair and crossing her legs like an impressive queen in her throne, Luna told him about his responsibilities as a subject to the Vampire Realm, reassuring the innkeeper that vowing his allegiance to them would not make him a slave.

Mister Henry's role will strictly be an informant of whatever was going on with the Summer Courts, including facts and rumors circling the village.

Neither would they order him to do something dangerous such as killing other Summer Faeries for their benefit of the Vampire Realm or make him hide dead bodies in the future.

Apollyon let out a little snort at the latter as he played with the golden chalice he grabbed from the desk. 'It was too early to say that.'

The tavern might be a questionable place to gather information.

Still, they have to exploit that since intoxicated tongues can turn loose, and Vinca Inn, the most famous inn, in the Summer Courts will be under the Vampire Realm's control— invading one establishment at a time.

Apollyon already learned his lesson from the Spring Monarchs.

They couldn't let their guard down from the Summer Monarchs even if he was a part of the royal family and having a powerful Fae bloodline running through his veins.

Nobody in the innkeeper's office noticed how he turned the chalice upside down and poured the last drops of his wife's blood into his mouth.

Apollyon licked his lips as he fixed his stare at the bowl.

He was fine with other creatures drinking Luna's ichor if it was for healing purposes and removing demonic spells, but if it was a secret lover….

Apollyon squeezed the stem of the chalice, and this time it broke.

He let out a short, inaudible gasp. Yet, Mister Henry and Luna argued with the promises, throwing aggressive words as sharp as knives, glossing over the fact that Apollyon broke a property of Vinca Inn.

Summer Faeries, especially innkeepers, abhorred broken tablewares in their inn.

Xerxes and Princess Sapphire blinked at him with wide innocent eyes, and he shrugged, "Oh well."

Mister Henry couldn't turn Apollyon and Luna down if they asked for help, providing them with their needs—the best room in the tavern, horses and stagecoaches, horses servants, clothes and connecting them with powerful and wealthy people aside from the Summer Monarchs.

Mister Henry was a genie in a bottle who should grant their wishes in the Summer Realm.

He was sweating bullets on his forehead.

Apollyon dispelled the poor innkeeper's fears and told him that there was nothing to worry about and abuse faeries who did their job well.

He said that particular line when the verbal contract was being forged.

Apollyon rested his elbow on the desk to cradle his head, watching Mister Henry's clenched fists until his knuckles went white.

It felt like he wasn't expecting that his wife to be successful in getting rid of his malediction, and now, the innkeeper's tendons stood out from his thick neck, realizing he had bitten more than he can chew.

Then, he inconspicuously placed the detached cup and the base under the table to hide it.

Apollyon sighed with relief when the meeting ended, which was singlehandedly done by his wife while he listened, demanding specifics here and there once in a while.

Both parties were satisfied with the agreements made, and three of them stood and shook hands.

A Faerie's word and acquiring his real name was enough—no blood pact needed.

That might put Mister Henry in a deeper hole more than he needed to be in.

Nobody knew aside from him that his wife was an Archdemon.

+++

It wasn't only Luna who dislike being indebted to other creatures.

She only allowed herself to beg if her life was on the line.

If he could compare the Summer Fae's appearance to that of a human, the innkeeper who turned out to be a decent older man in his forties.

He read in a book that Fair folk in general also hated being indebted to any creature, so they overcompensate, offering a lot of things to their helper until the debt would be passed to the other.

After turning keys to the knob, the menservants opened the double doors to the best suite in Vinca Inn.

They handed them a golden key with a design so special it would be considered as an art and made themselves scarce--pronto.

Apollyon was the first to cross the threshold as he glanced around the sky blue walls hand-painted with flowers and delicate curlicues.

His gaze landed on a giant emblem sculpture installed on the wall itself above the bedchamber—two eagles attached while each of them only had one wing stretched in mid-flight.

Two swords pierced their heart at the center while an imperial crown sat at the top of their heads.

Apollyon didn't have time to examine them closely when someone with supernatural strength and speed—stronger than an ancient pureblood Vampire like him—attacked him from behind.

Everything happened so fast that he could hardly make sense.

He was pushed against a wall with long claws digging unto the chest where his heart was to keep him in place.

The walls of the chamber shook a little from the impact.

The next thing Apollyon felt was sharp fangs sinking into his shoulder, and he groaned, his arms wrapping around the attacker not to squeeze her to death but to embrace.

He bent his head down so that she would have easy access to him.

When he opened his eyes to peer at the attacker between his lashes, he saw her mouth drooling with his blood, slurping, drinking him in huge gulps as her fingers clamped hard at the nape of his neck, preventing him from escaping her clutches.

Luna's green eyes were no longer human as the whites morphed into complete black.

"Husband." Luna murmured in a snarl, and she clawed at his tunic to rip them off him. "You're really good at trying to make a devil out of me."

"You attacked me in broad daylight without even locking the door—not caring anyone who saw us." Apollyon growled as his hands roamed around the soft curves of her body, squeezing one breast.

Pulling at his collar to bring him closer, Luna's voice became a harmony of two pitches, and it sent shivers down his spine. "I'm hungry. I have been fighting this thirst at the waterfalls so that your sister wouldn't know how savage I am."

He could barely think when Luna pulled at the bands of his waist, turning his lust into a raging storm. "That's a long journey."

She breathed. "At least I had a taste of you now."