"Mistress Luna," Kaelith greeted, his voice soft as he approached the lone figure seated on a long velvet sofa near the grand staircase.
She sat like a queen abandoned by the stars, her silhouette draped in moonlight and mystery.
Kaelith held a bottle of wine in his hand and gestured politely. "May I pour you a drink?"
"You may pour it," Luna said, without looking at him. Her tone was smooth, regal… laced with danger. "But I will not drink it. Not unless you wish to die."
She gestured lazily toward the far end of the grand hall, where Tuf stood, conversing with several senior members of Hydra. His expression was composed, but his eyes… his eyes were fixed on her.
Kaelith swallowed hard.
He could feel the weight of Tuf's glare. He wasn't subtle. He wasn't trying to be.
And it was only now that Kaelith noticed… no one else had approached Luna the entire night. Not even the senior members seated nearby dared venture too close. Everyone knew the silent rule, the Mistress was not to be approached without the Master's approval.
And yet, here he was, a young vampire, a new Hydra recruit, and a recently appointed leader in the Velrathis High Council, sitting across from the most powerful woman in the room, and possibly the world.
He had done something very stupid.
"Do you need something?" Luna asked, her tone calm but clipped.
Kaelith cleared his throat, adjusting his collar nervously.
"I simply wished to apologize," he said with sincerity. "For my behavior during the last High Council meeting. It was my first since inheriting my father's seat… and I know I acted out of place."
Luna arched a perfectly shaped brow, her gaze flicking to his face.
"Are you… blushing?" she asked, mildly amused.
His ears were pink. A faint flush blooming against his naturally pale skin, betraying him.
"Of course not, Mistress," Kaelith said quickly, eyes wide.
The pink deepened.
"Vampires don't blush."
"Oh, but you do," Luna cut in, lips curling with a knowing smile. "Your kind may have cold blood… but when euphoric emotions rise, your core warms. And your skin follows."
Kaelith opened his mouth, then closed it.
There was no point denying it. Sitting near her, basking in her raw presence, the elegance, the power, the allure, he couldn't help it. She wasn't merely beautiful. She was ethereal, deadly, divine.
Since the last High Council meeting, when she'd unleashed her dark aura across the chamber like a storm of knives, she hadn't left his thoughts. Watching her command that room, reducing even the eldest representatives to sweating silence, had awakened something in him.
Something dark.
Something dangerous.
"Have you ever tasted human blood, Kaelith?" Luna asked suddenly, breaking his trance.
The way she said his name made something inside him flutter and twist.
"Is it alright to call you that?" she added, tone teasing.
Kaelith smiled before he could stop himself. "Of course, Mistress. I would be honored."
He cleared his throat. "And no… I haven't. It's taboo."
"Says who?" Luna replied, lifting her wine glass to her lips, taking a slow, deliberate sip.
"The Elders," he said, as if it should be obvious.
Luna let out a low, silvery laugh.
"You've never been to Hades, then," she said.
He shook his head. He hadn't. He never even considered going. Hades was for the idle, the reckless, the depraved, those who drowned in hedonism because eternity was too long to bear.
"There's a product in Hades called The Count," Luna continued. "A single capsule with a drop of pure human blood. Just one."
She looked at him.
"You should try it sometime. There's no shame in indulging now and then, Kaelith. We live long lives. Too long, sometimes."
She smiled at him sweetly.
It hit him like lightning.
His heart skipped, then thundered violently, so loud that every vampire and shifter nearby would've heard it. Tuf certainly did.
Across the hall, Tuf's jaw was tight, his stare sharp enough to slice. A low growl rumbled somewhere deep in his chest, audible only to those with heightened hearing.
Luna smiled even wider.
Then, with a lazy grace, she leaned back and added offhandedly, "And if your apology has anything to do with what happened between you and Pixie… forget it. She already has."
Kaelith blinked, caught off-guard by her directness, but Luna wasn't done.
"She's a child," Luna continued coolly, swirling the wine in her glass. "She always gets what she wants. And when she doesn't, she throws tantrums. So don't take it to heart."
Before Kaelith could even respond, Luna reached forward and took the bottle of wine he had placed on the table.
But instead of pouring herself another drink, she poured him one.
Gasps echoed softly from those nearby.
The act was subtle, but in the hierarchy of Hydra, it screamed of significance. The Mistress never served. It was a deliberate reversal, a provocation. And across the hall, Tuf noticed.
Luna didn't even glance his way. She could already feel the growl rumbling from the other side of the room, low, warning, possessive.
But she ignored it.
Sometimes, she enjoyed giving her beloved brother a taste of his own medicine.
Too focused on her, Kaelith didn't seem to notice the tension thickening around them.
He watched the way her fingers held the bottle, the way her lips curved in that knowing, wicked smile. Everything about Luna was dangerous. Enchanting. Addictive.
He accepted it with a small bow of thanks and took a sip. The wine tasted richer now, more refined, even though it was the exact same bottle he had brought moments earlier.
"Did it disappoint you?" Luna asked suddenly
Kaelith paused, glass mid-air. "What do you mean, Mistress?"
"Learning that the rebellion isn't about taking the Demon Lord's throne."
He went silent.
Then, truthfully, quietly, he said, "Honestly… yes, Mistress."
He didn't know why he admitted it. Perhaps it was the wine. Perhaps it was her. But he wanted her to understand. To hear him.
"I mean no disrespect. I admire the Demon Lord. My father speaks of him with reverence… but I've always questioned why we hide within the Blinding Mist when we are clearly stronger than the humans. Why play small when we were born to rule?"
Luna raised a brow, amused.
"Do you play chess, Kaelith?"
"Yes."
"Then I assume you've never won a game against your father?"
Kaelith looked away, the faintest flush creeping into his pale ears again, pink against porcelain.
He didn't answer.
Luna chuckled. The sound was low and sultry, like warm velvet wrapping around his spine.
"Let me guess," she said, smirking, "your every move goes straight for the king."
She leaned in just slightly.
"But life isn't that simple. Life is like chess, Kaelith. The point is not to capture the king on your first move… it's to make your enemy believe they're winning. You sacrifice pawns. You delay the kill. You let them dance inside the trap until it's far too late."
Her smile sharpened.
"And we… we're predators. We don't strike first. We play. We tease. We toy with our prey, not out of mercy, but to make devouring them all the more satisfying."
She raised her glass to him in a slow, deliberate toast.
"You'd get bored if you destroyed your toy on the first day... To the long game."
Kaelith lifted his own glass in return, heart pounding louder than any vampire's should.
And from across the hall, Luna heard it.
That low, warning growl.
She ignored it again. Smiled wider.
Kaelith smiled too, understanding at last blooming in his eyes.
"I'll remember that, Mistress," he said as their glasses touched.
Then Luna's tone shifted. Subtle. Calculated.
"I have an offer for you," she said smoothly. "You… and the other young leaders of the High Council."
Kaelith blinked. Surprise lit his features.
"There's another meeting," Luna went on. "Midnight. It's not for everyone. Only those who belong to Hydra's inner circle are allowed to attend."
She paused, letting her words settle.
"I want to offer you, and the others, positions within that circle."
His eyes widened slightly. He sat up straighter, excitement flickering in his gaze.
"Wouldn't that be… unfair to the senior members?" Kaelith asked, though his voice betrayed that he wanted it.
"Normally, yes," Luna said, sipping her wine again. "Ranks within Hydra are often earned through merit. But both Tuf and I possess the authority to appoint whomever we choose. And you…"
She tilted her head, eyes gleaming.
"…are already a High Council representative. That is merit enough."
She glanced toward the ancient grandfather clock ticking quietly at the far end of the hall.
"You have one hour to decide."
Her voice grew colder, more final.
"But understand this, Kaelith. Once you enter the inner circle, there is no turning back. You will know things that cannot be unknown. Secrets that were never meant to be told."
She leaned closer, her tone like the kiss of a blade.
"And if ever you change your mind… the only way out is death."
The wind through the open arches caught her hair, making her look like a queen carved from shadow and starlight.
Kaelith stared at her, breath caught in his throat.
He had one hour.
If the offer had been made to him alone, Kaelith would have accepted without hesitation.
To belong to the inner circle meant one thing above all, it meant proximity to her. Constant interaction. A place at her side.
But others had been invited too.
His fingers clenched slightly.
"Kitten," came a smooth, familiar voice, low and lethal.
Kaelith hadn't even noticed him approach.
Tuf was suddenly there, standing beside Luna like a shadow that had simply taken form. His presence filled the space between them like a storm building without sound. Calm. Controlled. Dangerous.
He extended his hand toward Luna without looking at Kaelith.
"I have something to show you," Tuf said, his voice laced with something quiet and unreadable.
The man standing before him now was nothing like the version of Tuf they saw during the last High Council meeting, the one who teased and smirked and behaved like the world was his playground.
This… was the real Tuf.
Without hesitation, Luna rose from the sofa and slipped her hand into his.
Kaelith instinctively stood as well, his spine straight and stiff. The closer Tuf was, the more suffocating his presence became. He wasn't radiating power, but Kaelith could feel it, coiled, waiting. His instincts screamed not to breathe too loudly.
Tuf didn't look at him. He didn't need to.
Luna, however, gave Kaelith one last glance over her shoulder.
"You have one hour," she reminded him.
Then they were gone.
Tuf led her up the wide staircase to the second floor of the palace, moving with quiet urgency, his grip firm on her hand. They walked through silent halls until they reached a towering set of carved obsidian double doors, the Chamber of the Inner Circle.
This was the room where every critical decision of Hydra's rise had been shaped. Every covert strategy whispered. Every betrayal sealed.
Like his office, the chamber was minimalist and severe. At its center stood a massive, darkwood obsidian table fit for thirty. The walls were lined with unlit sconces and old war relics. A lone velvet high-backed chair sat by the fire, Luna's.
But her gaze was drawn to the far end of the room.
There, resting atop a desk made of ancient elven ironbark, sat a device unlike any other, a sleek, mirror-black screen infused with runic veins. The Scryglass Computer.
One of only four in existence.
Commissioned by Tuf from Peanut himself, built in secret beneath Velrathis, and not yet known to the public. By Caelum's orders, only one advanced device was allowed to be released per year to the demi-human empire. A gift. A hunger. A leash.
This computer wasn't scheduled for release until the following year.
And yet, here it was.
Tuf shut the doors behind them.
"What are you going to show ahhhh!"
Luna didn't finish her sentence.
Tuf struck fast, fangs sinking deep into the junction of her neck and shoulder, dragging a cry of pain from her lips. There was no seduction in this bite. No gentle worship. No teasing dominance.
This bite was punishment.
Possession.
Obsession.
"Tofuuu!" Luna gasped, body twisting as the sharp heat of his venom seared through her nerves like fire.
The venom wasn't controlled. It wasn't diluted. He bit her with full concentration, the kind of dosage that would've killed anyone else.
But not Luna.
Not a child of Caelum.
Still, her knees buckled. The pain stole the air from her lungs.
"Enough!" she screamed, trying to pry herself free. But the harder she fought, the tighter he held her. His arms locked around her waist like steel. His jaw clamped tighter. His fangs sank deeper.
His venom, thick, potent, claiming, flooded her bloodstream, mixing with hers. Branding her from the inside out.
His scent would be embedded in her system for weeks. Sometimes months.
He was marking her.
Not just her body…
But her soul.
"Stop, stop! I didn't even touch him!" Luna gasped, another wave of venom making her legs give out entirely.
She would've collapsed if not for his grip.
This wasn't the first time he had done this.
Through the centuries, hidden behind veils of secrecy, outside the reach of the public eye, Tuf had always reacted this way.
Whenever she flirted.
Whenever she so much as entertained a man.
Even a fleeting conversation could send him into jealous madness.
He would drag her somewhere private. Bite her like this. Mark her.
Painfully.
Deliberately.
To remind her, and everyone around her, that she belonged to him.
Not just her name.
Not just her skin.
But her essence. Her blood. Her soul.
Luna's hands scrambled to push his head away. She dug her nails into his scalp, desperate to break free. But he was stronger.
Always had been.
"I didn't even TOUCH him!" she screamed again, tears stinging her eyes, voice breaking through the pain.
But Tuf didn't speak.
Didn't loosen his hold.
He simply bit down harder.
As if to say: I don't care.
As if to say: You're mine.
As if to say: Never forget it.
Every inch of her had to belong to him.
And him alone.
Tonight… she had merely poured another man a drink. Spoken a few words. Laughed.
And now she was paying for it.
Luna could barely stand. Her fingers trembled against his shoulder.
He finally released her.
Slowly. Reluctantly.
And when he pulled away, her skin was slick with blood, her pulse erratic.
But he didn't look apologetic.
Not even close.
His eyes glowed with obsession, his lips stained with golden blood.
"You're mine," he whispered darkly. "Always."