Chapter 53 - Caught*

The creature cocked its head, gold eyes turning to white as it blinked. 

Heaving a monstrous breath, the creature's massive body shook as a loud screech came out its throat piercing through the night.

There was a flash of white blinding light which forced the people nearby to cover their eyes, and then she saw the Vampire King laid on the ground, naked.

The Vampire King shook uncontrollably on the snow-covered ground, with his eyes squeezed shut as a sheen of perspiration broke out all over his skin.

Black blood covered his face, his dark hair and down his chest. She could see him move his mouth slowly but she had no idea what he said. 

The bullet had dug a small hole on his shoulder when Cederic aimed the gun at him.

Luna heard an ear-splitting roar at the same time she realized her wandering soul was back at the Vampire King's castle.

An instant flash of light had ripped through the glade.

Luna thought it was just an effect of her apparition's arrival at the castle's outer bailey, but it wasn't just a random explosion.

As she looked at the ground, Luna had stopped dead in her tracks.

Something had been doing a number on the vampire and human folks, picking them off like flies and shoving them in its mouth.

A creature.

From out of nowhere.

Luna's astral spirit floated higher in the skies as she took in the bigger picture, witnessing the slaughter beneath her.

There was a dragon at the epicenter of all this chaos and destruction as it chased around innocent people running and ducking low on the ground, creating distance away from the monster as much as possible.

The dragon was so nasty she didn't have the guts to watch the bloody massacre for too long.

Luna needed to separate herself from the scene and go somewhere else.

She knew it was over but she just couldn't stand watching this massacre any further or what was left of it.

She didn't know anything much about the monster that had done the damage.

Was this monster came from the caves underneath the Valley of Kings?

And if so, how did it escape from the tunnels?

Unless someone had summoned this dragon.

Why is there even a dragon in the Vampyr Realm?

That didn't make any sense.

The dragon had thrown the body of a fellow vampire, and it hung from the tree. Luna's gaze zoomed in in the direction of the Winter Forest, and she had sensed the presence of Cederic before he completed his materialization.

Goddess, even in her spirit form, Luna was indeed getting stronger.

There was also another male with him, also an incredible lethal vampire she wouldn't forget, Jon the bastard, although the goddesses only knew what Fei the High Priest had been doing with the military general and the Vampire King's right-hand man hiding behind the Winter Forest looking like spectators in a battle arena.

The fight had gone on for what seemed like an eternity.

Some ancient vampires who belong to the royalty had tried to take on the dragon, punching and biting him several times with no measurable effect on the reptilian monster's stamina or strength.

It was midnight, but the sky was set ablaze as the dragon breathed more fire.

Luna could hear the screams as if it was stuck on her mind on repeat, mixed with the gunshots.

The flames roared as it swallowed everything on its path as it set the Vampire Castle ablaze. Its thick smoke was dark clouds reaching into the sky.

Even the moon.

Luna choked back the smoke that burned her throat so badly it hurt to breathe.

It seemed like it was the end of the world.

The Dragon had lit the gatehouse and the barbican ablaze, and the Castle's soldiers were in a panic trying to put out the fire and save what was left of the front part of the Vampyr Castle's fortress.

Luna watched some of the warriors surrendered to the flames, eaten alive by the very structure they had sworn to protect.

Luna followed as the dragon hounded at the source, where the sudden outburst of another bright light came from. That's why she was running, into the smoke, toward the fire—right into the mouth of the beast.

The next thing she knew, Cederic had sprung forward and shot the dragon while its intense gaze was focused on the High Priest. He had aimed for his heart and fired his gun on its shoulders instead.

There was another bright flare. The light had gone off and the monster disappeared.

When she had arrived at the scene, Luna saw the Vampire King in all his naked glory, clutching his shoulder and falling to the ground.

Jon yanked off his coat and put it over the Vampire King's naked body.

"She's here—"

Leaning down, Cederic tried to catch the words that were being mumbled by the injured Vampire King. "What was that?"

"I found her."

+++

Luna slapped a hand over her mouth to keep the scream from erupting across her quiet underground shelter as she jerked from the dream and woke up.

She could smell the death and smoke sticking into her body.

As she lied in her bed, tears slid down either side of her face, leaving hot tracks across her chilled skin.

Luna had already turned into a vampire, but she could feel it was icy cold in here.

Well, it made sense since she was under deep piles of snow.

As the anger fuelling her from the nightmares seeped away, more desperate tears welled up and spilt down her cheeks.

She heard her own constricted, choked-off sobs pressing close to her in this claustrophobic prison.

Time would not change the situation.

Tears would not change the situation.

She had one choice, and she knew she could either make it now or hours of suffering from now.

She needed help in removing the Blood Beast from the Vampire King, completely separating these two entities.

She had to summon the Archdemon of Lust.