The Vampire Prince's Toxic Consort (bxb)

Chapter 14 The Arena

Lucius was legitimately starving when the slot on the metal door slid open, and two trays were pushed in. One had a bowl of blood on it, and the other held a hunk of a sizzling steak.

Lucius didn't even care about the detail that there was no cutlery and forgot about all manners. He grabbed the steak and took a big bite, and the savory juice trickled down his chin.

Dorian had finished his portion of blood. It was bear blood, not as tasty and potent as human blood, but now was not the time to be fastidious. He gulped it down, feeling the increasing thirst slightly quenched. He then amusingly noticed how avariciously and wildly Lucius was devouring that dear steak as if it was the best thing he ever had.

He heard that humans could taste more sophisticated flavors of regular food than vampires, but for a born vampire, he could never comprehend what else they could taste other than the basic salty, sweet, bitter, sour, and spicy flavors.

"You eat like a werewolf." The vampire remarked.

Lucius glanced at him huffishly, "what?! I'm hungry!"

"Don't you worry it is drugged or poisoned?"

"It would be stupid to try to poison a vampire since you are all immune to those kinds of things, and they have no reason to harm me yet since they still need me for that miracle."

Dorian had to admit Lucius was rather nimble for a spoiled privileged brat.

"So..." Lucius licked the sauce on his finger and asked, "what's our plan? Are you going to try to talk us out of here?"

"He must talk to me soon. My absence must have already been noticed. Soon Eternia will begin to search for us. Volke will have to decide how to deal with us before they find where we are. Otherwise, The Guardians will be in much greater trouble than werewolf rabies."

"Are they against the negotiation?"

"Not necessarily. The Guardians' attitude on this has been ambivalent. Both the queen of Nocturne and the Chieftain of Shadow Bane were trying to win him to their side, with the queen inclining to make peace through negotiation and the Shadow Bane wanting more war and conflicts."

"And you want peace, too?" Lucius tilted his head curiously.

Dorian put down the empty bowl and wiped his lips with his thumb, "all these wars are meaningless and stupid. We've wasted so many lives, time and resources on petty disagreements about beliefs, power, and politics that only a few people care and ignore the greater looming threats."

"Greater threats?"

The vampire paused, deciding not to divulge more, "that's not important for our current situation."

Lucius studied the prince's countenance with a bit of fascination and remarked, "you are quite different from what I heard. The media in Anthor always depict you as a devil who corrupts people's minds."

"Maybe I am. "Dorian scoffed, "my mother's Elder is 'the Serpent' Asmodian. I don't seem to inherit any gift from her line, but I do have the blood."

"The Serpent? Like the Devil who seduced God's first son with lust and turned him against his creator?"

"Yes. The very one."

"He is real? So am I supposed to believe God is real too?" Lucius tittered, "I gotta say, maybe one day you will achieve what all the Sunday schools and the Archpriests failed to do— making me a believer."

The latch on the door clanged and put a pause to their conversation. As the door was opened, several werewolves were waiting outside, and one guard who was twice Dorian's size came in and said, "the Chieftain invites you both to the Arena."