"If that is all, you are both dismissed. I do not want to hear anymore about my wife, is that clear?"
Damarius gave a nod and we gave him another bow before they left the room. I hated that he wasn't listening to us. Even though I personally didn't care for this man, I didn't want him to die if I could prevent it.
They made it to the doorway when a strong scent of blood entered my nose. But it wasn't just any blood... I looked over and saw Damarius slicing open his hand. I grabbed his wrist without thinking to try and stop him but his energy reassured me it was all right. I slowly released him and turned my attention to the doorway. Lucia swung around so fast that King Vali couldn't grab her quick enough. My eyes shifted, scythe forming in my hand as she bolted towards us. King Vali's guards were already drawing their weapons as I turned to the side so I would have them in my view.
"Lucia!" King Vali called, but she didn't care. She made it to Damarius and he lifted up his hand. Her body froze in place as she levitated above the floor. Her eyes were black, mouth gaping wide open flashing her fangs. You could see the veins popping out of her neck and face, but the intensity in her eyes is what really captivated me. I hadn't seen Damarius use this kind of power before, and I was quite impressed that he could control her so easily. I put my focus back on the vampire guards and waited for one of them to make a move.
"Don't!" King Vali ordered, but I couldn't tell if he was talking to us or his guards. He walked up to Lucia, slowly circling around to see her face as if he had to build himself up to look at her. And then he froze beside Damarius.
"Is this hurting her... her being frozen like this?" His voice was almost a whisper.
"No. But her being alive like this is. She is trapped inside of her own body without control. Nothing she does or says is her own words. Her only purpose is to drink blood, and preferably from the strongest being that is available."
"You're telling me none of this is her? But before the blood she acted fine. She had a few twitches but her voice... it sounded the same."
Damarius replied. "I know. The only thing you can know for sure is that your wife is in there. She can see you. But her actions are not her own."
King Vali gently touched her face and then turned to me. "You can dream walk. Can you take me with you to see her?"
I froze, not sure if that was a good idea considering Lucia could tell King Vali that Damarius was there after she was murdered. If he found out that he was the one that did it, there would be a full blown war between vampires and demons.
I responded calmly. "I can't. I'm sorry."
"But you did it before."
"Yes, when she was in a deep sleep."
"Then allow me." King Vali did the unthinkable and hit his wife in the back of the head so hard that her levitating body went limp. Blood leaked from her head, running down her neck as Damarius gently put her on the ground. The veins disappeared beneath her skin as her face relaxed, resembling something much more angelic now.
"Now you can do it." King Vali said as he clasped his hands together. I looked at Damarius, in total shock at what just happened.
"My Queen doesn't feel comfortable performing this task."
"Can you even call her your Queen if her accession to the throne hasn't been announced?" His words were meant to offend us but Damarius knew he was just lashing out because I was refusing to help.
"As I mentioned before, there was no time for formalities. If you want us to help put her to rest, we will. But she cannot stay alive in this state."
"I will choose what happens to her!" He shouted, kneeling down beside Lucia to gently rub her face. Her blood covered his hand as he supported the back of her head, pulling her closer to his body to rest her head on his leg.
"When I heard of your arrival, I thought you were here to retrieve your demon."
"We were unaware of Shard's departure from the castle. Whatever he was doing here was of his own accord," Damarius replied.
"You're telling me that the Demon King had no idea where his first in command was? I have a hard time believing that."
"We had more important matters going on than worrying about a demon running off. Why didn't you just ask him why he was here?"
King Vali laid Lucia back on the floor as he came to his feet. "Because when I found him sneaking into Lucia's tomb after murdering 6 of my men, I knew what he was here for. His body hovered over her as his mouth opened inhumanly wide. I couldn't understand why Kamar would help her this long just to have her killed again, and that's when I realized... I can never trust a demon, nor the ones that have associated with them."
A group of 15 vampires entered the room, escorting Shard, Mason, and Tristan, in chains. Shard had a muzzle on, along with a collar around his neck that protruded spikes into his skin. Blood streamed down his chest from the collar, making it quite understandable why he couldn't teleport out of it. They had weakened him to the point where he couldn't, and now he was at the mercy of the vampires. I turned my eyes to Mason and Tristan, anger fueling me as I gripped my scythe tighter. Silver crosses were tied around their head, causing a constant burn to their forehead. They winced in pain as their flesh repeatedly tried to heal itself, draining them of any energy they had left.
"This is how you treat your own vampires?!" I said, letting the anger show.
King Vali laughed. "The vampires are your first concern? Damarius, you have chosen a Queen that puts another kind before your own. How does that make you feel?"
"I believe she is more surprised that a Vampire King would do this to his own kind. How does that make your vampires feel?" Damarius replied calmly, making a few of his guards question their King.
"This is how it's going to go. You can take me to enter Lucia's dreams, or I can kill these three here. Either way, my wife will still remain alive until a treatment or cure can be given to her."
"I thought you wanted to enter her dreams to tell her goodbye?" I asked.
"No. I will find a cure for her. I will not let my Queen die again."
"There is no cure for death." Damarius stated.
"Then that would make your brother a liar, and now all of you will suffer the consequences for his wrong doing." King Vali gave a single nod to one of his vampires and I knew what that meant. Three things happened at once. One, the 15 vampires that just came in were thrown across the room. Two, the chains were broken, freeing Shard and my two vampires. Three, Damarius had shifted into his demon form, revealing those large wings as King Vali froze in front of him. I hurried over to remove the crosses from Mason and Tristan.
"I'm sorry if this hurts," I said before ripping the crosses from their foreheads, tearing their skin in the process. They let out a moan of pain, breathing heavily as they sat on the floor. I turned to Shard and observed his collar. There was a key that opened it, but either way, it was going to be painful pulling the spikes out of his neck. Shard stared past me at Damarius.
"He's the new Archdemon."
"Yes. I'll catch you up later," I replied, trying to find a way to grip the collar and pull it apart.
"That means that Warden is dead. But where is Kamar?" He turned those blue eyes to me, unconcerned about anything else at that moment.
"Where is he?" He asked again, this time more frantic.
"He is alive and safe. Now please let me get this off of you."
Damarius heard us struggling and with one glance at Shard's collar, it tore apart and fell onto the floor. Shard didn't even shriek as the spikes came out, he was too focused on where Kamar was. I looked up and saw the vampires moving back towards us but Damarius kept them away. He was so fucking powerful I couldn't help but turn around and stare too. King Vali stood in front of him with his sword drawn, but he didn't look confident holding it.
"Go ahead demon! Kill us all!" He shouted as he looked around the room to see Damarius pinning all of his vampires to the floor.
"What are you waiting for?!" King Vali screamed, making a poor effort to swing his sword before Damarius knocked it out of his hand.
"You do not want this for your people. If you are determined to die with your wife, what will they have to live for? You are their King, their guidance through this world." His demonic voice chilling every spine in the room. His voice alone made my body react and I could feel his warm power filling the room. To the vampires it was a threat for him to own his space in their territory, but he was just giving them a soft warning of what was to come if they didn't back off.
"I don't want to live without her. I can't," King Vali replied in sobs. "I only stayed alive this long because there was hope that I would see her again."
My eyes watered at the sound of his voice because I knew his words were true. He wanted to die.
Damarius glanced at the sword and his power lifted it into the air. King Vali went to his knees with his head down and waited.
"If you wish to die, that is your choice. But we are only here to put Lucia to rest," Damarius replied, dropping the sword on the floor in front of him. I went to stand beside him as he approached her body, watching his back incase the vampires got up. They were still pinned to the floor, none of them fighting to get up as they accepted that he was stronger. And from the lack of will to live from their King, none of them were confident in fighting back. Or if there was a reason to.
Damarius held his hand over Lucia's body as he murmured words too silent to hear. The demonic blood that kept her alive began flowing out of her nose, eyes, and mouth, into Damarius' hand. Her body quickly began to deteriorate, going through all the phases of decomposition within a matter of seconds until she was just a pile of bones. I heard the sound of the sword being grabbed and quickly moved Damarius out of the way before realizing King Vali drove the sword through his own head.
Why didn't you stop him? I asked Damarius telepathically, my chest tight with emotion seeing his body fall dead beside his wife's bones. Damarius' talons brushed my hand gently as the vampires began to weep for their King.
Because there is no life I would want to live without you either.