Vampire Smile (On hold)

Chapter Thirty-one

Andi’s ‘Love? Oh Come On’! (aka LOCO) Playlist

Now I know you’re not a fairytale

And dreams were meant for sleeping

And wishes on a star just don’t come true.

“When There Was Me and You” by Vanessa Anne Hudgens

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Chapter Thirty-one

Lucifer? The devil himself?

I continue to gape at Luke who’s still towering over and glaring at his kneeling – and trembling – vampire subordinate. This greatly explains the primeval setting of my dreams, which I now fully believe to be actual glimpses of the past.  If he is, as he has announced nonchalantly, four times Calliel’s age, then that makes him almost… six thousand years old.

Holy crap. He has walked on earth for six millennia. That’s why he’s the most civilized among all of the vampires that I’ve met. Seriously, why haven’t I considered the possibility before? There have been hints like a known belief that the greater their age, the more they are in control of their nature. Luke can easily act like a human because he has watched and lived with my race for a very long time.

But why has he hidden it from me? Does it still have something to do with his resignation from all of his duties and responsibilities? Not only as a coven master though, now I know, but as a… king? And what has he told me about the cause of his relinquishment? Grief over the death of someone he has loved? Whom I’m beginning to think is the woman in my dream, even if he’s been nothing but cruel to her, or to me, or to whoever. God, spare my sanity from all this confusion.

“Your insolence is bothersome. For a vampire your age, it’s inexplicable that you still have me remind you of your rightful place. I may have renounced my title, but it doesn’t change the fact that I am still and will always be in command.”

“F-forgive me, sire.”

“How certain are you that Gabriel will withdraw his armies upon handing this human over to him?” Luke continues to speak when Calliel hasn’t been able to answer. “I thought so. We shouldn’t make rash decisions. The enemies are putting us under pressure to do just that. If Gabriel is as ferocious right now as he has been four hundred years ago, then I can assure you that he is not a man with a word of honor. He will take the human and he will destroy your coven up to the last of its members.”

“Yet---”

“All of you go back to your villages and prepare your men for battle.” Luke’s authoritative voice sounds new and strange to me. “Tell them to be ready to face hell the moment they wake up tonight.”

“But, sire---”

“Don’t push your luck too far, Calliel.” His tone dangerously lowers. “It’s been a long time since I’ve snapped and you don’t want to be the first one to greet my awakening wrath.”

The vampire instantly closes his mouth and lowers his head.

“The same advice goes to the traitor standing inside this very room.” Luke walks back towards the table and leans against it. He faces us with intense, bright-red eyes and with crossed arms in front of his chest. He’s only in a plain, blue T-shirt and straight-cut jeans that he’s changed into before we’ve left his house, but his stance that’s magnified by his height shows us a completely self-satisfied autocrat. “I deeply regret that I’ve kept my silence for long. I was giving him, or her, an exceptional chance to think twice about double-crossing me.” He growls viciously. “But since the situation has gone much worse, I presume that whoever the hell you are, you think that you have no reason to be – to put it mildly – afraid of me anymore. But let me warn you, you backstabbing, two-face whoreson…” Luke gives each of us a scrutinizing, icy glance.