Hell's Consort

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Archdemon Empress Luna

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Their cabin was under attack.

"I told you we were running out of time." The Summer Faerie closed her eyes and exhaled.

When she opened her eyes, she bit her lower lip in regret or was it indifference?

As the girl's warm caramel eyes zeroed in on Apollyon's clothes from last night with laser-like focus, she held out an open palm and fisted them abruptly as if she was crushing something in a pulp.

The rumpled fabric, which was soaked in blood, burst into flames.

"There." She said.

Luna's eyebrows raised in amazement, for she had set the garb on fire without affecting the wooden floorboards underneath it. This mysterious messenger had strong Fae magic in her blood. "I have erased evidence against you, brother."

"I have a great time chatting with the both of you." The girl's hand went limp. "I should have made us tea while we are it."

Apollyon narrowed his eyes at her in annoyance. "You deserved to be left in here so that the Spring Courts could tear you to pieces, little girl."

"Why would they hurt me when I did nothing wrong?" The summer faerie blinked with innocence. "Have you heart about the saying, 'not to shoot the messenger'?

Luna couldn't help but smirk.

This young girl was sarcastic even in the presence of danger.

Just from this brave attitude of hers which was almost heartless, Luna could tell that she and the young lady would get along.

Large arrows made of iron hit them from the sky through the roof, creating holes and craters on the damp floor.

When she glanced up, her eyes widened when two arrows directly descended and almost landed on her forehead.

Apollyon, who had sensed them in an instant without even a glimpse of where the metal arrows were, pulled her towards him on a split second before they fixed on the ground.

They almost stumbled from the momentum, but Apollyon quickly regained his balance and supported her weight with her fast reflexes.

Luna knew they had been surrounded from above and around them. Apollyon helped her stand properly before caressing her face.

"I will make create thick aerial barriers to protect this house for the meantime." Apollyon said calmly, breathing hard. "—but I can do this forever."

Luna knew that her husband had done something about their attackers from above because no more arrows had infiltrated the cabin.

Apollyon straightened his spine, and she noted that he was sweating profusely from the exertion of keeping the aerial barriers in place.

Barriers take a long time to prepare to protect and nullify any kinds of magic but who knew that the Faerie Realm would attack them anyway?

Not wasting any more time, Luna's claws lengthened, and she slashed her left palm with it, making her blood drip on the floor.

She attracts spirits who were bound to this Material Realm for some reason—those who couldn't go to Heaven, Hell and the Underworld--because of her blood.

It gave them strength and vigour when these spirits whose real rotten bodies served us soil nourishment in this Realm feed on her.

The blood of an Archdemon was so potent that these spirits trick themselves into thinking that they have acquired a real form, giving an illusion that they were alive.

Dark shadows with spherical caps as heads crawled out of the woodwork.

They flew around in a frenzy passing through the walls of the cabin, searching for the blood she spilt with their acute sense of smell.

When some of them found her offering, they positioned themselves better on the drops of blood on the ground,  their black tongues licked the wet floorboards, fighting against the rest to get a taste of her.

After consuming the ichor, all of the ghosts rested on the walls while their head and their eyes stuck out, watching them with large and eerie glowing orbs, frozen in place, waiting for her commands.

His lips parted in wonder at the eerie ghosts who were as still as the statue.

Apollyon watched her with a brand new set of wide eyes.

He didn't need to ask because Luna already knew what he was on about.

"The Spring Courts already painted us the bad guy." Tilting her head, she smiled at her husband. "Might as well play the part right."

The Vampire King and his Empress might fall, but they will do everything to rise again.

Bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people.

As impersonal as it may sound, it is the way it is.

When Luna watched the summer faerie, it appeared like she became one of her summoned souls because, like them, she didn't move an inch.

Her hunched shoulders were cowering in fear as if she was making herself small so that the souls wouldn't target her.

She looked at her like she was a monster.

Was being an Archdemon imply that she was a monster?

Luna didn't know if she should be amused or feel pity towards her.

Where did her earlier confidence go?

The summer faerie pointed at one ghost who was creeping on the wall with a trembling finger. "Are those dangerous demons at Ostara?"

Luna took a deep breath before explaining. "No. They aren't the shape-shifting demons like the one at Ostara. These are dead souls trapped in these mountains. They wouldn't do any harm. Some of them can touch things in this Realm, but the best thing they can do is scare the Faerie Sentinels away with their forms and illusions. I will order them to mimic like the fear-eating demons at Ostara, but that's about it. They wouldn't possess anyone because these are mere soul—not demons."

Apollyon grinned even if his eyes looked tired and sleepy."You are brilliant, beloved. These chilling phantoms work like a scarecrow in the fields. They can buy as more time to think about our next move if they hovered around the barriers and scare them away."

"Daemones in figura," Luna uttered the words, and the souls moulded into the same image of the demonic legion at Ostara.

The young girl finds watched them shift and released a blood-curdling scream.

"Ire," Luna commanded.

The souls were quick to disperse from the walls and vanished, fulfilling their mission as gratitude for her Archdemon Blood.

"Husband. You must strengthen the barrier." Luna looked over her shoulder to tell Apollyon. "There's something I want to try."

Beads of sweat trickled from his forehead, and Apollyon had collapsed on the bed, feeling exhausted from keeping the barrier in place. "You want to try teleporting us in the middle of nowhere?"

"I will see if I can find a way to get us out of here." She replied. "In addition to that, your head still ached from what you drank yesterday. Leave this up to me."

Apollyon's response was a raised eyebrow. "Are you telling me that I can't multitask?"

"No, Apollyon." She shook her head. "I'm not looking down on you right now just because I want to feel superior—that I am powerful than you because I'm an Archdemon. Think of this as a wife caring for a husband when he was feeling under the weather because of his shenanigans last night."

"Alright." Apollyon nodded, grinning. "No offence taken."

She stared at the spot where her blood flowed and shifted her gaze at the gash she created with her claws, realizing she had to do it all over again because her wounds have healed fast.

She didn't want to tell Apollyon about this, but she guessed it was better to show it to him.

This will be the first time she will create a portal to another Realm by herself.

Magic without a Master to help her ground her energy to give her intense focus on one thing was difficult because when she didn't concentrate, the magic will tend to scatter and fail its intent.

She desired to be successful at it, but by being a good Portal Creator, the Archdemons would chase her to the ends of these Realms to get their wicked hands on her.

Luna might be powerful as both an Archdemon and a Vampire, but that didn't exempt her from avoiding hardships and misfortunes in her life.

It was quite the opposite.

The more her knowledge and abilities on new types of magic increase, the more she became a magnet for bad luck.

Did she become indestructible because of the bad luck fate kept throwing at her, or did the bad luck—the stumbling blocks—followed after becoming indestructible?

She had no idea what came first because both were strongly attached.

It was like the argument 'What comes first—the chicken or the egg?'

Because of this, Luna concluded that greater power and misfortunes come hand in hand.

Should she be thankful for having Archdemon Magic when she had to pay the price of being tricked by the Archdemon of Lust? At the same time, the Archdemon of Envy lived free rent in her body—using her as a physical vessel for her dark, twisted games Luna wasn't privy about?

She would have to learn if she could access Lilith's brain, or better yet, she should learn how to exorcise the bane of her existence first without telling Apollyon about this.

Luna would also forget her bargain with Sloth so that Apollyon and Luna would live happily ever after.

More knowledge must mean more obstacles to overcome because her understanding of how everything worked also increased.

She turned towards the summer faerie. "Come here and offer me a memory of the Summer Courts, young lady."