Chapter 22 THE VAMPIRE KING
/Luca/
I never intend to enter her mind. Hell, even the monster that lives beneath my skin didn’t want that. But when you’ve spent four hundred years in shadows, surviving on blood and silence, curiosity becomes a dangerous habit. I only wanted to see. To confirm what my instincts had already whispered the moment I caught her scent beneath the moonlight that she was tied to someone else. That the mark I felt wasn’t mine alone.
And gods, it was worse than I imagined.
She’s mated to a wolf.
Not just any wolf. A Supreme Alpha.
The revelation hit me like poison laced with fire. The idea of that pathetic mutt’s hands on her skin of his scent clinging to what was also mine made my fangs ache and my vision darken. My monster growled so loud in my chest I almost couldn’t breathe. It wanted blood, his blood, wanted to tear that gilded Alpha to pieces and paint the earth with his arrogance.
Is the Creator playing some sick game with me? Because this feels like one a cosmic joke written in cruelty. You don’t bind a vampire and a wolf to the same soul unless you want chaos. Unless you want war.
And yet… that wasn’t even the most impossible part.
When I touched her mind just a brush, just a whisper I felt something that shouldn’t exist. Three threads intertwined in one fragile being, power layered beneath power. Not only wolf. Not only blood-drinker. There was something else buried deep inside her a hum that felt like sunlight and starlight all at once. Magic.
She’s not just a hybrid. She’s a storm pretending to be human.
The moment her monster the vampire within her tried to claw out, I felt it, the wild rage and hunger that mirrors mine. But wrapped around it was another energy, smooth and ancient, laced with symbols that have been extinct for centuries. Witchcraft. And not the crude kind modern spellcasters toy with. This was old magic elemental, sacred, forbidden. The kind that used to rival gods.
And then there was the faint glimmer, barely there, but I’d recognize that light anywhere even after centuries. Fairy blood.
Fairies those ethereal liars who acts like they don’t longer exist… until I found them 10 decades back.. Their kind carried the purest essence of life, the rarest form of energy. If she truly carries that within her, then she’s a miracle… or a weapon.
I leaned back against the cold stone wall of the alley, running a hand through my hair as the night air pressed heavy against my skin. My heartbeat slow, ancient, unnatural echoed in my ears like a war drum.
Four centuries of control. Four centuries of restraint. I’ve faced witches who summoned hellfire, kings who hunted me, even gods who cursed me but none of them have ever made me lose grip like this one fragile, chaotic girl.
The moment her thoughts brushed against mine, her emotions slammed into me like thunder confusion, fear, heat, and something else that almost undid me. Recognition. She felt me too. Her soul called back.
And that was enough to set the monster free.
I clenched my fists, letting my nails dig into my palms until the metallic scent of my own blood filled the air. The pain grounded me. It reminded me what I am what I cannot be.
Still, my eyes lifted to the distant horizon where her scent lingered faint and soft, carried by the night wind.
She’s bound to a Supreme Alpha. She walks with witchcraft in her veins and fairy fire in her blood.
And yet, she’s mine. And fuck everything I want her… have such power unknown to the world by my side will be the best thing ever.
Somewhere deep inside, my monster laughed low, cruel, hungry.
“Looks like the gods want a war,” I muttered under my breath.
And for the first time in centuries, I found myself smiling like a fool.
Because maybe, just maybe, I was ready to give them one.
“Master… Master.”
The voice pulled me out of my storm of thoughts like a blade slicing through fog. My jaw tightened as I turned, eyes narrowing at the shadow kneeling a few feet away. One of my royal guards cloaked in black, his silver insignia glinting faintly under the moonlight. His head was bowed low, his voice trembling just slightly.
“Speak,” I said, my tone colder than I intended, though the rage still simmering in my veins didn’t leave room for patience.
He lifted his gaze enough to meet mine. “The council is gathered. The Fairy King arrived half an hour ago. They’re waiting in the lower hall.”
For a second, I froze. Then I cursed under my breath.
“Fuck.”
I’d completely forgotten.
The meeting the one I had spent weeks arranging, the one that could either forge a new alliance or destroy months of planning was happening right now. And here I was, lurking in alleyways, obsessing over a girl who had no idea she’d just dragged two races into the mouth of war. If not all the races.
I rubbed a hand down my face, suppressing a growl. “Tell them I’ll be there in five minutes.”
The guard hesitated. “Master, the Fairy King is already… displeased. He—”
“I said five minutes,” I snapped, my voice echoing with the kind of authority that left no room for negotiation. The guard immediately bowed again, vanishing into the shadows.
I exhaled sharply, tilting my head back against the cold wall, letting the weight of what awaited me sink in.
A meeting with the Fairy King.
Of all the creatures to deal with, it had to be him the self-righteous, glitter-drenched ruler of the fae courts who thought every drop of moonlight was made in his honor. But I needed him. His armies. His healers. His damn fairy dust if it came to that.
Because my next conquest wasn’t some petty human city.
It was the southern witch covens.
Those serpents had been building strength for decades, uniting the lesser circles, hoarding relics, whispering rebellion in the dark. I could feel the shift in the air, the way their power moved careful, precise, waiting for the right moment to strike. And I would not give them the chance.
But to break the coven, I’d need access to the fae realm’s resources their maps, their ancient artifacts, and above all, their truthbind spells. Without those, the witches would slip through every trap I set.
I pushed off the wall, straightening my coat as I started down the narrow street, my boots echoing against the cobblestone. The moonlight caught the faint red glint in my eyes, the same hue that always surfaced when my temper burned too hot.
Still, I couldn’t stop thinking about her.
The hybrid. The witch-born. The wolf’s mate.
My fists tightened at my sides. “A Supreme Alpha…” I muttered to myself, the words like venom. “If the Creator truly tied her to one of them, then the game has changed.”
Because if the wolf world finds out what she is, they’ll hunt her.
If the witches find out, they’ll kill her.
And if the vampires find out she’s bound to me, they’ll fear me.
Maybe that’s exactly what I need.
By the time I reached the marble hall that marked the entrance to the council chamber, my mask was already back in place cold, unreadable, regal. The air shimmered faintly with fairy energy, golden motes floating lazily through the dim light. I could hear them already the fairies’ melodic voices, sharp and mocking.
I smiled thinly.
Let them think I was late because I didn’t care.
The truth was, I was already three steps ahead.
Because while they saw a meeting, I saw opportunity a chance to set in motion the chaos that would drown the witches, humble the wolves, and remind the world that the Vampire King had finally woken from his centuries of quiet.
And maybe, just maybe, I’d burn everything that dared touch her.