The Vampire Prince's Toxic Consort (bxb)

Chapter 31 Into The Game

The old chapel was tucked away by luxuriating rosy rhododendrons and a splendid purple cloud of wisteria. Lucius had to push aside the numerous tresses loaded with purple flowers to find the moss-dappled path.

It was a beautiful ancient Persian-style chapel that King Cosmo built for his wife, Queen Mitra Aslani, and it had been abandoned and slowly withered away in silence since the Queen and Dorian were exiled. The fresh green moss surreptitiously climbed up the once flamboyant and delicate geometrical patterns on the wall, and the elegant turquoise dome was mottled by the sun, rain, and snow. Yet it still possesses a desolated, melancholy beauty.

The chapel was dedicated to Queen Mitra's Elder, Asmodian the Serpent. And as the Aslani family lost power and position in Eternia with the queen, the Elder also lost many worshipers. However, many vampires believed that Asmodian was the most fearful Elder. One of the most revered and trustworthy vampire prophet's last prophecies, before she committed suicide in fear, was that one day, Asmodian would unleash hell on earth and revenge everyone who believed in God or who didn't believe in him. And by then, the world would be burning in hellfire, and none, be it vampires, humans, or werewolves, could escape the impending doom.

Lucius found the door nestled under an arch was ajar, and he knew Dorian was inside. He gingerly stepped in. The hallway wasn't long, and the dim light of candles revealed a statue erected under the dome. It was a beautiful, smiling man shrouded in a black cloak, and yet behind him was a thousand withering snakes, their head pointing into all directions as if a blooming chrysanthemum, and their ruby eyes glistened in the dancing flame.

That was Asmodian, the Serpent and one of the seven devils, the greatest seducer of believers, and the king of demons, jinn, and all degenerate souls.

The image of the Elder gave Lucius an eerily familiar feeling, and it chilled him to the bone. He shuddered, seized by acute fear, and couldn't take another step for a while. No other Elder's image ever gave him such a feeling.

Dorian was kneeling before the statue and smelled Lucius's blood before the latter even entered the chapel. He said without turning around, "how did you find me?"

"Duke Darius."

"Ah." He remarked curtly.

Lucius tentatively took a few more steps and stood beside Dorian, but before he could say anything, Dorian opened his lips again, "it is strange that my mother belongs to Asmodian's purest bloodline. Her heart is too gentle to inherit such dark blood. And maybe that is why she didn't pass any of her gifts to me."

"Did she come here often?" Lucius asked.

"Yes. This is the only place in the citadel she could worship her Elder. She took me here every Thursday, and I often watched her sacrifice goats to him. I told her that other people sacrificed human slaves to their Elders, but she told me that the sacrifice was only symbolic, so killing a soul for it was too excessive."

"She sounded nicer than most of the humans I knew," Lucius remarked.

"And yet, she died at the hands of humans anyway." Dorian scoffed.

Lucius kneeled next to him, and after a short while of silence, he inquired quietly, "why did you disobey your father when he asked you to divorce me?"

Dorian glanced at him, slightly surprised and irked, "did Darius tell you that?"

"No. He didn't. But I have my own way."Lucius considered it for a moment and decided to divulge a bit more. Considering their situation, they needed to trust each other more, "there are slaves everywhere in the Citadel. They move quietly in the tunnels between walls and floors, and they often see and hear a lot more than the guards and slave masters believed. And, as you can imagine, they believe I am their savior."