As he looked up back to his reflection in the mirror, his eyes were back to the normal blue ones.

Nobody dared to stop the Vampire King as he handled his food, all animal strength, and reflexes.

Any creature who crossed his way can't speak anymore when he ripped their throats in a flash.

He stretched his neck, side to side. He didn't care anymore.

The Beast was hungry, and no creature can satisfy that hunger in his goddamned castle.

He might as well start killing his subjects and burn his Kingdom down.

Hmm, he could look for the High Priestess himself and kill her for running away, for disobeying his authority. But his weakness was also his strength, for if his mate dies, then he would die too.

"Maybe, we could burn in Hell together." The Vampire King heard the thought in his mind.

It was an obvious statement as if it was his thought and not the Blood Beast…or was it his own?

The Vampire King's coattails flared out behind him as he held annoying royal vampires by the neck.

The Vampire King didn't appreciate them when they try to tell him what to do, pacifying the cold rage he felt inside.

Until this cold rage had turned into indifference.

His apathy had overwhelmed the anger.

The Vampire King was deadly beautiful in the moonlight, his face twisted into a snarl, his big body pummelling some ugly vampire dukes in his free time.

Cederic didn't think twice when he realized what had become of the Vampire King. The Military General knew right away that the Vampire King wasn't acting like himself.

As if he had changed over the week.

He used to be an organized psychopath who knew what was right and wrong, but he always chooses to do the right thing.

Always.

Now, he was possessed by another type of psychopath who didn't give a fuck and continued killing creatures without any reason.

It must have been the Blood Beast controlling his consciousness, but then, Cederic noticed his feline eyes were still in the shade of dark blue instead of the golden ochres.

The Vampire King, Apollyon's real soul, was nowhere to be found in that ruthless form.

Cederic had to do his job and fulfill his promise to his great King, who used to be his friend when he was a young boy and someone he looked up to until now.

If Apollyon acted wrongly, which compromised the safety of the Vampyr Realm and the entire race, then he must be put down by any one of his close circles and by any means possible. This was the promise he made as he swore his allegiance to the Vampire King.

It wasn't treason to kill the Vampire King.

He just had to fulfill the promise he made to Apollyon the moment he became his Military General.

Cederic ordered his marksman as they shifted into firing position at the top of the castle's tower. They aimed at their King's heart, who was about to kill another vampire in his midst.

Cederic could not bring himself to pull the trigger as he recalled the memories he had with Apollyon, his friend. Apollyon, who didn't have royal responsibilities.

The Apollyon who wasn't the Vampire King.

The Apollyon before Lilith, that ugly High Priestess who cursed him of the Blood Beast.

He remembered everything, making him waver in his decisions.

Cederic's hand shook on the gun, which contained the wooden bullets, made out of the ancient White Oak tree for the sole purpose of destroying pureblood vampires.

He had to get this over with.

Cederic shook his head and raised his hand as a signal to the soldiers.

The shots were fired.

There was a brilliant flash of white from out of nowhere like a nuke had gone off. The night turned to day as everything in the clearing was illuminated. As the brilliance receded, someone came behind Cederic. When he recognized Jon, he lowered the gun.

"Cederic, get your firing squad out of the rooftops." Jon was hauling ass, legs pumping like he was about to get served.

"What about the Vampire King—"

Cederic didn't get the rest of the sentence out. Jon hit him like a huge boulder, doing a grab and drag that ended only when they were both out of the castles' turret. They closed the door shut as they descended towards the stairs.

Cederic turned on Jon defensively. "I have to do it, Jon! I had no choice but to kill the Vampire King when he isn't acting normal! I had the right as his Military General."

"By the gods, Cederic," Jon yelled at Cederic furiously. "The Vampire King was never normal."

A mighty roar split the night, and Jon slowly turned his head to where the sound came from. "Now, you have pissed him off."

"What? So I'm just going to stay in the background as Apollyon slaughter every one of our kind until we go extinct?" Cederic demanded as he clutched on Jon's shirt and asked him breathlessly, "Where do you want us to go? My legs are too short for these long-winded staircases. I will teleport us to where you wanted."

"Let's go outside to where the Vampire King is," Jon replied. "We don't kill the King, motherfucker, we just have to give him something to play with until we find Luna. She was the motherfucking reason why this had happened."

As they transported through the clearing, Jon and Cederic saw a creature. Some twenty feet tall, it was built along the lines of a dragon, with teeth like a T-rex and a slashing pair of front claws. The thing flickered in the moonlight. Iridescent purple and lime-green scales covered its powerful form to the ends of its spiky tail.

"What the hell is that?" Cederic whispered as they tried to hide behind the winter trees, far away from the monster with the golden reptilian eyes.

Jon sighed heavily before he replied, "The Vampire King is in a really bad mood."