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Vampire King Apollyon

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"Who are you?"

Apollyon didn't recognize the girl on the wolf's back, who seemed a bit young when it came to faerie age. Maybe, she was around Cederic's appearance when Lilith cursed him.

He narrowed his gaze at the girl because she didn't look like a Faerie from the Spring Courts.

If ever she was standing in a crowd of spring faeries at Ostara, she would stick out like a sore thumb with her tanned skin, burgundy bodice with a black corset wrapped around her waist, and long, colorful skirts with green and orange triangular patterns all over it.

Apollyon glanced at his wife to see if she knew her.

Luna raised her head a bit to see the stranger, but there was no recognition in her frown.

"Brother--"

Apollyon's temper flared up at the word as he gritted his teeth.

He was supposed to be patient in front of his wife to prove that he was a changed man but early morning, a migraine, alcohol, and an eyesore are the necessary ingredients to make a time bomb.

He didn't like strangers—especially random faeries—calling him like this with ease to create the illusion of closeness.

He wasn't about to let it slide, even if it's a young girl.

Prince Aspen was the only exception to that because he was an ally.

He abruptly cut her off with a snarl. "Don't call me brother, faerie!"

She bowed her head in an instant. "I apologize, Your Highness."

The young faerie's long, straight and shiny dark brown hair, which flowed like chocolate waterfalls, wasn't the only thing that surprised Apollyon; it was the faerie wings on each side of her face where her ears should be.

Those wings on her head were yellow and green hues with midnight black on their edges as if they belonged to a monarch butterfly.

There was no way this girl must have flown through the atmosphere with her head.

Apollyon almost snorted at how that would look like from the people below her, and he was curious to see that but maybe in his dreams.

He still wanted to sleep.

He hadn't seen this kind of faerie in the Spring Courts before, so it would be safer to assume that maybe, she was an enemy.

Satisfied at the apology, he explained to the young faerie, "Just because I am half-Fae didn't mean I'm everyone's family relative."

Apollyon wasn't convinced if the large white wolf's fur, which the young girl's fingers had held on to, belonged to a werewolf—a wolf shapeshifter—or was it just a typical large animal in the Faerie Realm.

Not all animals and things were normal here in the Spring Courts, so Apollyon must still be careful.

Without taking his suspicious eyes of the strange faerie and her wolf, his hand carefully groped the duvet and covered his wife's exposed breasts.

His wife's body wasn't for anyone's view—not even a thirsty shapeshifter hiding under that mass of white wolf's fur.

Apollyon must play the role of Luna's protector at all times so that there wouldn't be any repeat of some other man going past his wife's defenses just because he wasn't present.

He needed to guard his treasure—his pot of gold--from all those greedy hands so that they couldn't get a piece of her and her Archdemon Magic.

"Husband." Lifting a hand, Luna stroked his chest in a soothing motion, and Apollyon hummed in approval, basking in the touch of his vampire mate. "Give the child a break." Her lips moved closer to whisper in her ear. "Curb your sarcasm and keep it to yourself."

He barely kept his frustration in his voice. "My head hurt from last night, wife."

Luna's lips parted in surprise as if she recalled something awful. "Ah." Pinching her lips together, she averted her gaze to hide her expression. "I think you drunk too much alcohol yesterday that you fell asleep on me."

"Yes, drinking with Prince Aspen was the last thing I remembered." Apollyon raised her chin with a finger as he breathed in her mouth, "You have to kiss me better so that the pain would go away."

"I think this isn't the time to—"

The girl cleared her throat to interrupt her flirting as she swung her leg high enough so that she could safely dismount off the white wolf. "I am a Faerie from the Summer Courts."

A pause.

She must have expected Apollyon to be shocked by that smug smile of hers.

"I don't care. " Apollyon raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Who gave you the permission to disturb us early in the morning?"

He placed a hand to rest behind his head, showing the summer faerie that he couldn't be bothered.

She clenched her fists as she kicked his bloody cloak on the floor with her shiny black shoes, and he didn't know if he did it on purpose."I'm here to send you an important message."

"Of course, you would. You have wings on your head like the Greek God Hermes." Apollyon observed as he gestured at her face. "I'm guessing you are here to alert us of our impending doom."

He wondered if he had seen her last night when he couldn't remember what he did after drinking the 'White Stag.'

What Prince Aspen told him yesterday at the Will O' Wisp was wrong.

How could he observe the effects of the 'White Stag' if his brain would shut down on itself if he reached the threshold?

Only the Faerie Prince knew what he was capable of after drinking the cursed spirit.

A year had passed from the Hanging Tree Forest incident, and the bastard would still insist that he figured it out himself.

The summer faerie began. "The King of the Summer Courts—King Oberon, your grandfather--have sent spies on the Spring Courts after they have heard about what happened at Ostara--"

"Oh. Are you here to blame us for that? The rumors must have scattered like wildfire! I find it interesting that everyone in the Faerie Realm knew how evil we are from saving these ungrateful bastards!" Apollyon let out a sarcastic laugh. "After all, we were the ones who sent the demons all over the Spring Courts to wipe them out of their existence."

He clicked his tongue in annoyance. "There is nothing new with your message. Couldn't you wait for us to get dressed to get the audience of the Vampire King and the Empress? "

"Young lady," Luna asked for clarification. "Did the Summer Courts figured out the real story of the whole ordeal, or did you come here with the belief that the rumors were true?"

The young faerie placed her hands on her hips as she glowered at them like she had the right as Luna and Apollyon lounged on the mattress without a care in the world. "That isn't important right now, Your Highness!" Did this little girl have to shout at them like this was a matter of life and death? "We are running out of time."

Luna threw her a confused look. "Why would time be running, summer faerie?"

"The Spring Monarch's militia will be here soon to capture the both of you."