Hell's Consort

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Vampire King Apollyon

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Apollyon's breath caught when a grudging moonlight sparkled over the sleeping beauty's innocent face.

Apollyon caressed his wife's forehead as he watched the rise and fall of her breasts, breathing softly.

Two weeks had passed in the Vampire Realm, and the Empress hadn't awakened in his Castle's Ivory tower yet.

Being a warlock was Apollyon's second nature.

He had tried to heal her of her ailment but to no avail.

Apollyon didn't know what was wrong with Luna even after consulting the High Priest to heal her with anything he could think of.

Nothing and no one could ever wake her up from her slumber.

Not loud sounds.

Not even a shake of her shoulders.

Not even persuasion from Apollyon, the Faerie Prince, the Shadow King, could do it despite increasing the resonance of their voice persuasion or even by magic.

Hell, even if Apollyon dropped her from the small window of the ivory tower, the Empress wouldn't probably wake up since she would be temporarily broken from the fall itself.

Apollyon rose from the chair beside Luna's bed.

He couldn't stand it anymore, not knowing when her sleep would last.

Would this be permanent?

Wouldn't he be able to see her mismatched eyes again?

Will he ever witness her charming strength, which both turned him on and irked him, every time she defied him?

Would it be too late?

One thing was for sure; Apollyon would be patient.

He was willing to wait for his Empress to get back to him even if it would take an eternity.

Apollyon would take great care of her and prioritize her needs above his own.

How many times had he told himself that?

Why did he keep hurting her without meaning to?

Why was he so callous?

As the Vampire King, was he really this selfish for his Empress that he couldn't be considerate of her plight?

Was it that hard to care for another creature aside from himself?

He was determined to try it this time and make it work.

Why didn't he think of this sooner?

Now Luna was lost.

Apollyon didn't know where she had gone, and he couldn't recover her soul.

Was she taken by the Archdemons, then?

Nobody can answer the questions running through his mind.

The Kings who visited in the Vampire Realm had understood when he told him the truth.

As the Vampire King, he had owed them an explanation.

The Feline King Panterra had slid off the incident since he wasn't harmed; only his pride took a tiny hit.

The six Kings took a vow of leniency to let the issue slide as all of them made a blood pact in the Council Room.

Apollyon had brought each of them to the Ivory Tower to see the Empress since she couldn't attend her own Coronation.

He also asked them for help, but nothing they did was effective, either.

The event was postponed for the meantime, not until she woke up.

The Vampire King had fulfilled his promise to his wife this time, handling the Marriage Auction by himself for the past two weeks.

If his wife was there with him, Apollyon was sure that it would make Luna happy, seeing him handle the Consortium and the Kings quite well during the Courtship rituals.

With the help of Jon and Cederic, who had given him strange looks, Apollyon made the month-long event as wholesome as possible, acting as a strict headmistress for the group of ladies, preventing them from having sexual congress with any of the Kings like what Luna had wanted.

The royal Kings from the other Realms didn't like this rule, but since Apollyon had gained their loyalty to follow his Kingdom's protocols just so they could acquire the ladies they wanted, the Kings decided to play along.

Apollyon didn't feel good about using the Empress's deathly slumber to manipulate them and play with their conscience just for them to obey his orders.

Luna's condition made a fine bargain, holding her condition over the Kings' heads to do what Apollyon tell them to do in this month's duration.

They were also part of the reason why this tragedy had happened--even if Panterra wasn't aware that Luna was the Empress the first time he had seen her and claimed her as his own.

Everyone had a part in this tableau, so they might as well do something and help fix the mistakes Apollyon had made.

Every action had a corresponding reaction of cause and effect.

The series of unfortunate events had tumbled over each other until it reached a boiling point where nothing was irreversible.

Apollyon wished Luna was here with him, observing the Kings behave themselves during the Courting Rituals.

Cederic's military guards were everywhere--in every corner of the Vampire Castle--guarding the Kings and the ladies from the Consortium on their personal meetings.

The Kingdom's spies were allowed to watch any pair who would try to have a wild rendezvous at night--stopping them from doing the deed--or the Kings would be sent back to their Kingdom, and the lady involved will be banished from the Vampire Castle.

So far, nobody had broken the rules Apollyon had implemented, and that was good.

Sometimes, Apollyon wondered if someone did ever break the rules and was just too good at hiding it.

The Kings had magical abilities, and some were just good at sneaking around, especially those who had been raised as a predator, but who cared about what they do as long as they weren't caught yet.

That wasn't part of Apollyon's business anymore.

'Ah,' Apollyon thought. 'I wish the Kings had severe blue balls like me if they had followed my rules and didn't fuck around with any of the ladies from the Consortium, yet, but I doubt.'

Apollyon hadn't had any sexual congress in two weeks.

That was the longest case of severe blue balls he had experienced as far as he could remember.

Vampires were sexual creatures, and he sincerely contemplated fucking his wife while she was sleeping, not in the sense that he liked fucking women who wouldn't respond, nor did he practice necrophilia, but he dabbled at the idea that maybe it would wake his wife up from her deep slumber when she experienced the sensation of being pleasured.

Apollyon threw the outrageous notion out of the window because he wanted to show Luna the respect she deserved. That included not doing anything to her person without her permission.

Cheating with the ladies from the Consortium—even just for a night—was out of the question too.

His mind had no business straying from the thought of using other women just for him to bust a nut.

Apollyon will have to wait for the Empress to do his wifely duties even if it will take her an eternity.

Sighing, Apollyon watched his left palm and mused, 'I guessed my hand would suffice for the meantime.'

The Vampire King hadn't gone back to his Vampire Lair.

He stayed with the Empress in the ivory tower, not wanting to abandon here alone in the darkness, with only the burning wax candles and the moonlight streaming through the small window as her source of company.

If Luna woke up in this ivory tower, she would be surprised to see the alterations Apollyon had made to make her feel happy the moment she opened her eyes.

Apollyon smiled as he imagined what will happen in their future reunion.

The fantasy he had created in his mind was so vivid that he had believed it would come true.

The Empress' room in the Ivory Tower became the most luxuriously appointed chamber in the entire castle.

It possessed a fine elegance of a young, bright-looking immortal Empress--her beautiful body wrapped around in the finest velvet and silk sheets.

He had placed fancy curtains at the vaulted ceiling as they billowed like veils of white snow fur.

There was a magnificent chest resting on four carved claws perched at the foot of the bed.

He brought servants over to fix the massive four-poster bed and revamp them, hanging velvet ribbons from each of the thick carved bedposts.

Apollyon caressed one absently as he wondered.

Now, the Empress had lain on this opulent bed in its brocaded splendor, crowned with a gilded pedestal in the center of the room.

Apollyon ran a finger over the drawer, and he smiled in satisfaction.

The servants had done their job properly, removing any dust and dirt on every surface.

He even bought the Empress' more gifts from the market he had chosen.

It was an expensive silver comb with her name carved on it, scent bottles female of all ages loved to own, gold, diamond brooch, and ruby and emerald gems.

Still, it didn't take away the fact that this Ivory Tower was an opulent prison before.

It wouldn't be a prison when he had already decided to sleep here for two weeks, expecting the Empress' return.

Apollyon paced in the Empress' chamber, his footsteps muffled by the thick carpets, rugs, and tapestries surrounding the walls.

Wind battered Apollyon in his eyes as he narrowed his gaze on the small rectangular window just enough to for a woman to hurl herself out of.

This was also the reason why he couldn't allow leaving her alone, sleeping with his Empress every night.

He directed his attention on the panoramic view of his courtyard down below, bathed in a silvery quilt of the moonlight.

A soft female sigh grazed Apollyon's nape, faint yet audible enough to make the fine hairs of his skin stand erect.