Danger.
Danger screamed into every sense of my body as I looked up to take in the vision of the King.
An earsplitting silence fell over the crowded as they to, took in the sight.
I was petrified.
The moon was gone.
She had been cast aside. Only a few minutes of comfort. That was all she could give me.
As if she were whispering to me, you'll need it. You'll need that courage for what is to come.
Slowly, the King raised his hand and motioned me to come forward.
I shook my head. No. Every foreboding sense pounded inside me. Do not get closer.
A soft hiss fell from his mouth and in a second he was standing before me- using the powers of his darkness to catch me off guard.
"Little star," his breathing had a slight pant to it. His fangs still out. Eyes still wide. We both could not beleive what was happening.
He grabbed me.
And I did not resist.
The foolishness of resisting I knew, would only make this moment that much more worse.
If I resisted, then it became a game to him.
He pulled me into him, letting his arms cage around me.
And then he lifted me.
I glared at him, and felt the pull of the moon inside me.
Light showed upon my hands, and burned away at the flesh it touched. But he did not stop.
My eyes widened as I watched his own, black blood, trickle down. Yet he did not care. We saw now, whose powers were the greater of the two.
And I had not won this time.
The world blurs before me. And then I am in his lap.
Much like how Saint had been when I first arrived, I had replaced her.
I see him lower his head.
"No," I hiss the word out, frantic now.
I knew what he was planning.
For all to watch.
For the crowd and the other girls of the reaping.
I look down and meet the wide eyes of Oceane. She is staring at me in horror as I match her face. Tears are coursing down. She is crying for me.
I feel my own sob of despair surface. Foolish. We were fools to think this could end well. Fools to think anything else.
This was the palace of nightmares. This was the king of darkness.
The light didn't shine through- it was choked out.
I press my hand to him again, watching his flesh burn and taking in the smell- black stains my clothes- what thin material it is, as it drips down.
"No, no," I push away from him but his strength is greater than mine.
And then I feel the soft touch of those fangs. Sliding down my neck.
"I've wanted to do this, for a long time little star."
I catch one last glimpse of blue. Blue eyes. Jonaus is on the ground- collapsed on his knees. Shaking his head and pulling his hair.
Foolish Jonaus.
It's the last thought I have, before a piercing pain runs through me- and red mingles in with the black.
I throw my head back, gasping at the sensation.
As the King of darkness eagerly drinks my blood.