Luna had been trapped for what felt to her like weeks.

She had become so desperate she even closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep, hoping to never wake up in her bed ever again.

It didn't work.

She had to ask for help from the Archdemon of Lust.

Maybe, he knew how to remove his fellow Archdemon from the Vampire King's body.

Do Archdemons know how to exorcise a fellow Archdemon, though?

This was confusing her, but Lux was her last resort.

The Vampire King must be rid of the Blood Beast's curse so that he wouldn't become obsessed with her, chase her, catch her and imprison her in his lair for the rest of eternity.

Her mate must be separated from the Vampire King to avoid these complications.

Luna had preferred the materials she would use for this sole activity tonight.

Closing her eyes and focused on her mind with deadly intent, she practiced casting spells, chanting them in her mind silently before she released these powerful incantations to the world.

She couldn't afford to make any mistakes such as releasing another powerful Archdemon in the Vampyr Realm.

Luna barely had control over the Blood Beast even if she possessed his true name, and to think that the Archdemon of Gluttony was her mate.

Luna made a make-shift altar, covered in a symbol-adorned cloth she made herself, through the resources she had found in Fei's underground shelter.

She also prepared other ritual items like incense, wands, chalices of water, cauldrons, and candles.

Thirst, hunger, and the crushing loneliness she had suffered—these were the worst kind of punishment.

Hell didn't need lakes of fire to torment.

Time and solitude were enough.

As Luna accessed the memory she acquired from the Blood Beast of Lilith, the first High Priestess of the Vampyr Realm, she replayed the procedure again, on what Lilith had done to summon the Archdemon of Gluttony multiple times.

Luna slowed down on the important scenes, taking notes carefully so that she wouldn't make the same mistakes again.

She had no creature to sacrifice their precious lives except herself, her blood as an Amazon, and the magic flowing inside her as the High Priestess of Hecate mixed with Ravin's essence coursing through her veins.

She had acquired the true names of the Seven Princes of Hell from the goddess Hecate's grimoire stored in her mind.

Would that be enough to summon the Archdemon of Lust?

Will it be alright if she wouldn't follow the summoning ritual Lilith did and make her own instead?

Luna knew she could either make it now or suffer.

She wouldn't know if she didn't try.

Luna painted the talisman on the ground using blood magic, an effective form of sorcery used mostly with dark malevolent, and harmful intentions.

It was an inverted star at the center of a large circle, also known as Hecate's pentagram used for summoning spirits from the Underworld.

It took her thirty repetitive slashes on her wrists before she could draw the entire talisman with her blood. As a newly transitioned vampire, the more she lost her blood, the longer it took her to heal.

White spots crowded her vision, and several times now she had almost passed out from hunger and fatigue. Her thirst for her mate's blood. She hadn't had any blood for so long.

She planned to conduct a séance, a ceremony used to contact spirits or other entities, including the dead.

Luna didn't know if the Archdemon of Lust will show up in her circle.

She started to doubt if this ritual was too weak compared to what Lilith had done.

She performed protection barriers over her pentagram before uttering the incantations she had practiced. Luna couldn't afford any blunders or she would summon the wrong creature.

A noise in the background interrupted her: the sound of something falling, shattering, something heavy striking.

Like something being knocked over—a heavy object striking the floor with a dull thud.

Silence answered her. No, not silence—a noise sounded through the underground shelter, raising the short hairs along the nape of her neck.

The thud was followed by a dragging, slithering noise—and it was coming behind her.

Stomach contracting in terror, Luna turned her head slowly.

For a moment she thought there was nothing behind her, and she felt a wave of relief.

Then she glanced up.

A long, scaled creature with a cluster of flat black eyes set dead center in the front of its domed skull hung against the ceiling.

It had a thick, flat snout and a barbed tail that whipped menacingly from side to side with multiple legs bunched underneath it as it readied itself to spring.

A shriek tore itself out of Luna's throat.

She staggered backward, tripped, and fell, just as the creature lunged at her.

She rolled to the side and it missed her by inches, sliding along the floor, its claws delving on the deep dirt.

A low growl bubbled from its throat.

Did she accidentally open a portal from Hell?

She was quick to her feet but she had nowhere to run and the thing was too fast for her.

It sprang again to the ceiling again moving closer to her where it hung like a gigantic malignant spider, staring down at her with its cluster of eyes.

Its jaws opened slowly, showing a row of fanged teeth spilling greenish drool. A long black tongue flickered out between its jaws as it gurgled and hissed.

To her horror, Luna realized that the noises it was making were words.

"Girl," it hissed. "Magic Blood. To eat, oh, to eat."

Fuck.

Luna hadn't even completed the spells yet.

It didn't take a genius to know that she had summoned the wrong demon.

Luna could hear herself screaming as if from a distance as the demon began to slither slowly down the wall.

Getting a hold of herself, she recovered her composure by breathing evenly as she advanced in the opposite direction of the demon's movements.