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The Empress Luna

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The moment Luna dropped to the deep well, the crimson world she had seen in Ravin's Kingdom had started to crumble into the pitch-black void.

She couldn't see anything at all until it brightened after a few minutes.

Something caught her peripheral vision, and that made her hurry up.

Icy fear shot down her spine.

Was that a giant beetle?

Luna had the mistake of glancing behind her.

Series of black holes popped from different directions, releasing a green puddle of goo.

Luna wrinkled her nose because of the distinct rotten smell.

Goddess, will she ever remember this moment, look backing at while laughing until her stomach hurts, thinking a mere Amazon like her could time-travel, skipping from dimension to dimension?

She watched as monsters resembling centipedes, cockroaches, and hairy bumblebees slowly came out of these black holes from nowhere.

These behemoths appeared like they didn't see her, though.

Luna assumed these creatures were the low-ranking demons the Archdemon of Gluttony had told her about.

She felt another one of those falling sensations, and in that blink of an eye, and in between Ravin's Kingdom and the black holes where demonic creatures had passed through, Luna realized that maybe she had already arrived at her destination.

She felt it in her gut that there weren't any creepy crawly monsters lurking around anymore.

Luna jerked her eyes open, only to find out that she wasn't in her body.

She could see herself from a different point of view—as she had turned into an apparition.

The whole room in the ivory tower had changed, not in the sense that everything was rearranged and more furniture were added, but it was the same as what she had seen in Ravin's Kingdom, but this time, the atmosphere was in a lighter shade of crimson.

Luna looked around and blinked a few times, checking if it was her eyes that were the problem.

It had remained the same.

Everything was crimson when Luna arrived--from the furniture, walls, ceilings, even the air was in that same shade.

She glided through the fancy wcurtains which had reached the ceiling and approached the Vampire King, who stood near the window as he stared at the glowing red moon and the sky.

She floated in the air, creeping like the spectre she was.

Luna found the Vampire King standing near the window.

The balmy wind whipped the dark veil of his hair from his face, revealing features as soulless and foreign to her, bearing little resemblance to the man Luna had called her husband.

She wondered what Apollyon had been staring blankly at.

He was too lost in his own thoughts that Luna pondered if he had the castle's gardens, the forest, and the courtyard in mind, for he had gazed at everything with a sorrowful vacancy that worried her.

Luna didn't know what else she could do so that she could come back to her body.

Whether her soul would come back in the Vampire Realm and reunite with Apollyon again was a mystery.

It might be impossible, but Luna prayed for even the slightest chance of a miracle.

Luna shook her head and wrapped her arms around her chest.

She knew better than to be afraid.

An abashed giggle escaped her, then another.

She cupped a hand over her mouth, but the torrent of mirth refused to subside.

Soon she was laughing aloud, laughing until her sides ached and tears streamed down her cheeks.

Luna might as well play with Apollyon as revenge while she could still do it without consequences.

Apollyon wouldn't have proof that it was her, anyway.

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The Vampire King

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A soft female sigh grazed Apollyon's nape.

The sigh escalated into a ghostly moan echoing throughout the room.

Apollyon turned back to the sleeping Empress on the giant bed.

He had thought that the sound came from his wife's throat, indicating that she had awakened from her vegetative state.

The curtains began to flap wildly from its beams, and Apollyon backed away from the window, stricken with terror when he saw a female apparition he couldn't quite make out.

But he knew it was a female from its voice alone, even if he couldn't see it in her fullest form.

The moan rose to a piercing wail, and Apollyon clapped his hands over his ears.

He wasn't sure if the keening protestations were real or perhaps, it was an auditory hallucination where he was the only one who could hear it.

Apollyon was alone in this Ivory Tower, and he couldn't bring anyone here to test that theory.

Were these lamentations from his female ancestors who had suffered and died in the hands of all the Vampire Kings in their bloodline, or was this Luna's ghost, playing with his fears just for the sake of revenge?

Apollyon tore his hands away from his ears and bellowed, "Stop it!"

The shutters of the tiny window slammed shut, and the howling had stopped abruptly as it had begun, leaving Apollyon in total silence.

He searched for the shadows quietly just in case some dark creature would jump in front of him, thinking that would scare him.

With a dark gust of breath stirring his hair, Apollyon paused and waited, and the shutters swung open with a creak. A shrill whistle assailed his ears, escalating into a tormented shriek.

"Maybe, it was the wind," Apollyon muttered in his breath. "There are no ghosts of my female ancestors in here seeking revenge."

Apollyon's feet led him back to the corner of the room where there was a cabinet for Luna's medicine intake that he had religiously given her according to the High Priest's instructions.

He searched for the liquid containers and vials for the potion and brought it to the Empress.

Apollyon stood beside her by the bed, holding a glass vial containing red liquid, looking down on her form with hunched shoulders.

He heaved a long, low suffering sigh.

Apollyon had thought about feeding her with more of his blood mixed with the High Priest's magic concoctions.

Fei was a green warlock who had much more experience in the Healing Arts.

He had spent almost all his life learning about herbal magic than Apollyon, who had no interest in the field, so he had trusted him to do anything he could to bring his wife back.

After uncorking the glass tube, Apollyon directed the small vial containing some red liquid and poured the perfect amount into her mouth, filling her hunger while she slept.

It didn't work.

He clutched the vial with almost an intensity that could break the glass.

Every single day and night, he fed her with the blood vial mixed with a magical potion, he prayed that it would be the last time Luna would drink, but it wasn't. He was too close to despair.

Apollyon glowered at the High Priest's useless blood vial with his blood in it.

He thought about throwing it to the wall in anger, but he placed it gently on the table near her, instead.

If the glass breaks into tiny shards, it would be a mess to clean up and hurt the Empress by accident.

Lifting the knife from his shaky hand, Apollyon sliced his wrist with a clean-cut, and with open palms, he let the red liquid flow into her open mouth as he held her small chin.

There was no other way for Apollyon to feed his starved wife.

He prayed that this amount of blood would be enough for her survival.

Suddenly, he felt his head throb, and he pressed his temples together to make it stop.

Apollyon's ears were so sensitive he could heart the pitter-patter of his of the blood dripping on her pink tongue as if in slow motion.

His senses became one thousand times heightened.

'Apollyon.'

Turning his head around to look at the space enclosing him, Apollyon swore he heard his wife's voice just now.

'Apollyon.'

He stayed still and ignored it.

'Apollyon, I am here.' The unknown voice insisted, and it kept on calling his name.

'Apollyon, it's me, Luna.'

The longer he heard the voice, the more his headache intensified.

'Help me I can't--'

"Stop fooling around, whoever you are." Apollyon bellowed, but the voice didn't go away.

He continued quietly in a desperate whisper, and his deep voice sounded broken. "Don't get my hopes up if you wouldn't come back to me and wake up, Luna."

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The Empress Luna

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Luna heard a snap.

Her mind and body have awakened from the dream-like state she was in just a second ago.

A seemingly heavy invisible weight she didn't know she was carrying was lifted off her shoulders, but she can't stop herself, licking the red liquid from his veins.

The liquid was as sweet as melted chocolate and honey.

She closed her eyes and moaned in bliss as she swallowed.

Every drop of blood became sweeter, and it made her crave for more.

Luna unclasped her mouth from his pale wrist and licked her lips, savouring the taste by rolling her tongue.

She can only drink the blood of the mate she had bonded: The Vampire King, Apollyon.

She should be jumping for joy, now that her soul was back in the Vampire Realm.

Luna raised both of her arms to reach for the Vampire King.

Still, she had wondered why she had felt a burning sensation on her skin, only to find out that her entire body was covered with tattoos--intricate ink-blank and golden tattoos spreading around her chests, her stomach, her legs and arms like thorns.

They looked extremely similar to the Ravin's.