*********************

The High Priestess

*********************

Luna threw herself to their marriage bed and wrapped herself in the blankets.

She had already made up her mind to give her virginity to her husband.

When she thought about it, there was nothing worth fighting for in this Realm except for herself, but Luna didn't have much to say in this matter when the Vampire King owned her mind, body, and soul.

It wasn't worth it.

Sex was fairly pointless anyway.

The Vampire King never learned.

He was as stubborn as a mule, and he believed that the Consortium—women, in general—were mere puppets expected to dance into his tune no matter what.

Of course, that included her.

What made her think that she was special even as his Empress and as his blood mate?

That was wishful thinking on her part.

Luna had already resigned her fate to the goddess of Hecate--whatever it may be.

She must strive to be happy and be contented as the wife of a man who had bedded multiple women, who had far more experience in sexual congress and had a Harem.

This wasn't her Kingdom in the first place, and she was just a mere chess piece in this game who had a specific role to play for Apollyon's advantage.

There was no use fighting for something that she was sure she would lose when her husband, the Vampire King, was the enemy.

Luna exhaled and decided to let everything go--the plans and goals she kept close to her heart.

They didn't matter anymore.

She had given up her control.

The Vampire King was free to do whatever he wanted to her.

Luna wouldn't strive to be his equal or even try butting heads with her husband.

Clenching and unclenching her fists, she relaxed her tense jaw as she buried her face in the pillow, trying to hide her screams of outrage and frustration.

She will be meek, silent, and obedient like what was expected of her, like what a concubine would do or a submissive Empress should be.

Her whole body was shaking as her mental faculties had gone down in a helpless spiral.

Luna released all the dark power inside her system—all the negative energy--and let them go with her every exhales.

It was the ultimate liberation to be free from the dark rage clawing in her chest, perpetually seeking revenge.

She really tried to bring herself back.

Luna cried herself back to sleep.

===========

DREAMS

===========

Luna's vision blurred as white-hot tears stung her eyes.

Thinking of Apollyon was anguish and agony at the same time.

Invisible fingers seemed to caress the edges of her mind, trying to get inside.

Luna stilled and didn't even breathe as she felt Apollyon's invasion.

"High Priestess." The sound of Apollyon's voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

The Vampire King was here.

Luna recognized his voice and turned toward him.

There was so much energy inside her, and it hummed like a song in her blood every time Apollyon was near.

Still, every time Luna tried to block him out and push him away, being physically, emotionally, and mentally apart from him was torture.

"Your Highness," Luna said as she strived for a calm tone. "You better stop this."

Luna rubbed the sleep from her eyes, blinking at the brilliance of his annoyingly magnificent face as he hovered over the bed.

She briefly wondered how long her husband had been standing there watching her sleep.

As she studied him, Luna saw that his energy had pulsed erratically, scattering all the other energy around him.

Colours winked around him, twinkling stars of crimson and azure.

Luna was in awe of his energy, and she wanted to own it, absorb them to her advantage, leaving the Vampire King with nothing.

So lovely.

So pure.

Except hers.

Hers was too strong.

Her gaze narrowed on the Vampire King.

She reached inside his chest with a mental hand and squeezed so tightly that the previously unused powers hidden inside her recoiled.

'I loved you, High Priestess.' The Vampire King stood, hate bleeding into his eyes as she read his thoughts. 'Is this how it was going to be?'

Apollyon gurgled out a pained breath as he rubbed frantically at his chest, his skin growing paler by the second.

Still, Luna held firm with her mental hold around his heart.

The Vampire King's voice hit her in a rush, laced with panic and frustration. "I will let you continue to hurt me until you are satisfied if you can't even accept my apology."

With that sudden realization, Luna released her grip on his heart.

The Vampire King was panting, sweating.

Horror flooded her as she realized from her daze.

Why did she try to kill her blood mate?

She couldn't allow that to happen.

********************

The High Priestess

*********************

Luna awoke from her nightmare with a warm male body snuggled against her back.

Although she was still more than half asleep, she knew that she felt an erection digging into her ass.

Luna remembered exactly whose warm body it was.

Her eyes flew open.

The Vampire King covered her body with his own, and Luna couldn't roll over at all.

Ah, Luna remembered that the Vampire King had needed sex.

When it comes to Apollyon, who treated women as his playthings, everything was and will always be about sex.

He was no different than the Blood Beast.

Ravin must have left psychic imprints on Apollyon from all those millennia of possession and attachment.

Luna didn't really know anything about her husband.

They didn't even attempt to know each other before Apollyon's sexual demands.

The Vampire King didn't talk anything about himself—childhood memories—or who he was before the High Priestess had punished him for not choosing her to be the Empress.

Her husband was in a hurry to claim her right away.

Apollyon was seeking oblivion even sweeter than sleep.

But was he sleeping behind her, though?

No.

As she stirred, Apollyon slipped one arm around her waist and drew her even deeper into the hard planes of his body.

His hand also moved shamelessly inside her nightclothes and cupped the softness of her naked breasts.

Although Luna wouldn't have thought it physically possible, he grew even harder.

Luna had turned and looked over her shoulder, and Apollyon's face emerged, peering at her.

The Vampire King was watching her with an intense gaze, much as a large beast of prey might watch the rabbit it was eyeing for dinner.

"You must have spilled your seed on the concubine's mouth, then?" Luna said sarcastically as she sank back to the pillows while Apollyon kept rubbing himself on her back.

Luna squirmed in return to the bulge of his…

Ah, Luna realized he wasn't wearing any clothes anymore.

The Vampire King was ready, but he wasn't doing anything.

"I was late," Apollyon said quietly as he suddenly turned on his side, away from her. "I didn't do anything with the concubine."

He rolled back over, and a minute later, he was on his stomach.

The Vampire King was obviously uncomfortable, but that didn't stop his palm from kneading her breasts.

Apollyon had his priorities straight.

He continued, "I sent her to the healer to cure her splinters."

Luna dug her fingernails into her thighs to anchor herself, trying so hard to refuse even to face him or acknowledge his existence.

"I don't really care, Apollyon." It was nothing less than an order, her tone a blade that whispered warning.

The Vampire King's antics no longer entertained Luna. "Just put your cock inside me and be done with it because I'm sleeping."

Luna got up from the bed and started removing her clothes to get it over with.

The Vampire King's blue eyes widened with shock as he abruptly sat up, pulled the hem of her shirt back, nudged her arm away from him, and pushed her back to lie on the bed. "I'm not going to fuck any woman when they are in a bad mood."

There was an indefinably masculine scent wafting from his warm skin as he curled his hand around her stomach, just a fingerbreadth away from her quim.

Apollyon said in an unnatural silence. "I abolished the Consortium."

Luna blinked.

She didn't know what to respond to that.

She had flinched a little, but that's about it.

Luna wouldn't give this emotional manipulator the reaction he needed to make him feel in control over her.

"The Consortium. The girls." Apollyon confessed slowly, and Luna could sense the sincerity of his words. "I gave them to Jon."

Luna didn't collapse in relief—the air continued to hang heavy with the promise of menace.

"What do you mean you gave them to Jon?" Luna asked as she finally turned and faced him.

"He can do whatever the fuck he wanted with them." Amusement was evident in his tone, but it was tempered with a knife's edge stroking against her skin.

Clenching her fists, Luna was trying really hard to hold her fury back whenever the topic was about the Consortium. "You aren't setting them free?"

She looked into her husband's perfect face and knew she had never met a more deadly being in her life except for the Archdemons, of course.

If she displeased him, the Vampire King would kill her as easily as she might swat a fly if he really wanted to.

Luna should be smart to remember that, no matter how the knowledge infuriated her.

"I didn't think they wanted to be set free, wife." Apollyon's eyes shifted to look at her lips before moving back to her eyes. "They loved the lifestyle of a Harem girl."

She unclenched her fists now that the danger was gone.

The force of the blood rushing back into them made her white knuckles gain colour.

"But for what reason do you keep the Harem then?" Luna asked, her eyebrows knitting together. "We could have spent the budget for the poor masses instead of lazy girls who didn't want to work their ass off."

"I'm planning to gift them to the nearby Realm in case some of their royalties needed young and beautiful concubines to spoil." The Vampire King's expression remained unchanged as if what he had suggested was the most natural thing.

"Apollyon. You really had a twisted view about women." Luna enunciated every word clearly so that it would sink in and pierce his patriarchal mindset that didn't make any sense. "We are not objects or toys that you could play with and throw them away when you didn't need them anymore."

The Vampire King nodded as if he understood, but he had that distinctly satisfied expression on his face that made her want to stab her husband in the eye. "This is already a tradition, wife. The ancient Vampire Royalty before me had started this, and we were merely upholding them."

"This is bullshit," Luna muttered.

"You are the wife of the Vampire King, and in the Vampire Realm, we uphold certain archaic beliefs and traditions. A woman is created from the ribs of a man. A woman is the source of sin and temptation. Women didn't know how to think and fend for themselves. We live in a vampire civilization where women and men aren't equal and will never be even if you are my queen. "The Vampire King's tone made it clear that that was all the answer she was going to get.

"Then what do you call me, husband?" Luna asked in response to the silent mockery on his face. "Aren't you in a little bit ashamed that it was I who saved you from the curse? A woman who must remain your subordinate and not your equal? Who must do the things you ordered like a child because I can't think and fend for myself when I have been doing that my whole life?"

"Ah." Open interest showed in his face. "You are different, wife."

"What do you think made me different?" Luna asked.

"I think you are a Black Moon Lilith descendant."