The Vampire Prince's Toxic Consort (BL)

Volke laughed sonorously, “as a defenseless human priest, you have guts. But killing is just one way to deal with prey. And I have never been accused of being a boring person.”

Lucius snapped, “just name your price. If you wanted to kill me or torture me, you would have done it now. I’m really tired after losing all that blood. Can we just get down to the business, please?”

And then the half-playful expression on the chieftain’s face shifted into something menacing and intimidating. He grabbed Lucius’s front shirt and lifted him off the ground like nothing, and he growled like a beast, “be careful, human. You are still my prisoner. I could have gotten the information I wanted through torture, but I didn’t want to mar your pretty face just yet.”

Lucius panicked and grabbed at the steel-like wrist of the werewolf, “alright, alright! I will answer your questions as much as I can!”

“Werewolves attacked you. Did they claim that I sent them?”

“No...I didn’t really have any chance to talk to any of them.”

“Did the Crown Prince aware your itinerary had been changed?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Who do you think in Eternia court is implicated in the assassination?”

“How would I know?! I just married Dorian two months ago and don’t even know all the noble’s names yet!”

Volke snared at him, “do you take me as a fool? You wouldn’t have survived two months if you were this simple and clueless.”

“Look, I wasn’t sent there by choice, ok? I was just a priest and know very little about court schemes.”

“Then tell me about Dorian Ashdown.” Volke released Lucius’s collar, appearing to believe in his words. He sauntered around a little, still keeping his eyes on Lucius and continued, “how is he treating you?”

“He is nice to me.”

“Nice? That’s it?” Volke chuckled, “I heard that he was very adamant about marrying you when half of the court was against the idea. Did you know him before? Why did he want you specifically?”

“I didn’t know him. He wanted me because that’s the best way to humiliate our country.” Lucius answered quickly, knowing it was probably not the truth.

Volke peered at Lucius with misgiving, “so he married you out of spite? How was your wedding night, then? Did he force himself on you? Did he bite you?”

“Do you really have to know such personal details?!” Lucius retorted embarrassingly.

The werewolf shrugged, “You are under my mercy so yes. I do have to know.”

Lucius took a deep breath and answered, “No. He did none of those. Dorian was respectful enough.”

“You see, this is not making sense. If he married you out of spite, why didn’t he do all those things?”

“Why are you so interested in my private life anyway! Are you a pervert or something?!” Lucius immediately regretted the last half of his complaint as the werewolf leered at him and bared his sharp, wolfish teeth.

“I need to know if Dorian Ashdown is sincere about the negotiation, or is he just using it to stall for time and secretly forming an alliance with Anthor, and you are the key to his tactic against Anthor.”

“There is no alliance that I know of.”

“And how can I trust your words when you do not give me honest answers?”

“How honest do you want me to be?! I’m already telling you details about my wedding night!”

“Do you love him?”

Lucius paused for a second. How should he answer such a question? He barely knew Dorian...

“I believe love is something that can be nurtured, and I’m in the process of developing it for him.”

“And does he love you?”

Lucius was quiet again for a moment and then blurted out, “You should go ask him.”

“An arranged loveless marriage. And yet you were willing to feed him and keep him alive, even though you know a starving vampire has very little self-control and likely kills you while drinking.” Volke studied the human with curiosity, “that seems like a stupid decision.”

“Since our god prefers subordinate servants much more than the smart ones, I wasn’t selected for the job for my brain, was I? ” Lucius’s self-abased but sarcastic comment amused the werewolf further.

Lucius sensed that the chieftain’s attitude toward him softened a little, and he quickly followed with a request, “can I see Dorian?”

Volke contemplated it as he touched the stubbles on his chin, and then he nodded, “I will allow you to see him if you do one thing for me.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“I’ve heard that you can hear God’s voice and that you are capable of prophecy and performing miracles. So I want you to perform a miracle for me.”

Lucius began to sweat, “a miracle?”

“Yes. You healed a dying child’s sickness after you prayed for her next to her bed for a whole night, and that put you on the seat of the High Priest, wasn’t it?” A tinge of sadness crept into the chieftain’s eyes, “Now, my nephew is very sick. A deadly werewolf sickness that drove him into madness, making him attack anyone who got too close as his body deteriorated. It is a very slow and painful death, all the cells in his body were disintegrating, and there is no medical cure. Our shamans had tried all kinds of methods, and none is working.”

“And you think me, an outsider human priest, somehow can achieve it?“Lucius asked incredulously.

Volke signed, “At this point, I’m willing to try anything. And if you are really as ‘angelic’ as your churches claimed, you should be able to do it. Otherwise, I will announce to the world that you are a fraud.”

Lucius goggled at the werewolf wordlessly.

Now how the fuck was he supposed to do that?!

He could imitate how his brother prayed, spoke, smiled, and walked, but how in God’s name would he heal a dying werewolf?! This was way out of his league! And he had no ground to reject or find any excuse!

He bit his lip as his mind churned at high speed, but he couldn’t come up with a solution. Maybe he should stall this whole thing and reunite with Dorian first, see if he has any idea about how to get out of this place.

“I can try, I suppose.”

“You don’t sound so sure.”

“I am...was just a priest. I speak to God, but if he decides to answer me is beyond my ability. Especially now that I’ve relinquished my vows and married a vampire.”

Volke scoffed coldly, “then, for your own sake, you better think of some way to get him to answer you.”

Lucius was led down through dingy spiral stairs, followed by a narrow stone passage that resembled tomb paths. As they went further and lower into the ground, the passage became wider, and many shut metal doors stood on both sides.

At the end of the long walk were two werewolves guards. The escort guards delivered the chieftain’s order, and the prison guard took out a device and entered some code, and the red light next to the metal door turned green, and a mechanical sound clicked inside the door.

Werewolves, who were much more in par opponents to vampires than humans, had abundant knowledge, experience, and instruments to subdue vampires, and the vampire den was one of their inventions. It was a cage or a room covered by intricate shamanism spells and magic circles, and at all the entrances, multiple sensors were installed, and if they detected any attempt to cross the entrance without permission, the flamethrower or, in some richer institutions, high energy weapons, would be triggered.

In the vampire den, even the apostles couldn’t access most of their power, and almost impossible to escape without outside help.

“The incinerators are disabled. You can enter now.” The escort guard pushed Lucius forward. Lucius nervously walked past the deadly port with all the pointing muzzles of radiation guns and pushed at the unlocked door.

It was a relatively comfortable cell that looked like a regular hotel room. Dorian stood up as he heard the noise, and when he saw Lucius, a sigh of relief escaped his lips.

They stared at each other for a brief silent moment, and then the vampire marched forward and grabbed Lucius’s wrist, pulling him into his arms, and before Lucius could react, their lips were clashing.

All thoughts flet from Lucius’s mind.

What was happening?

Was Dorian actually kissing him?!

“Don’t resist me. They are watching.” As their lips moved against each other, Dorian muttered quietly, “there are surveillance cameras in this room.”

Lucius immediately understood the situation. Of course, the werewolves wouldn’t just leave a wily apostle vampire alone in a room. This meant they had to maintain the front of their marriage even when they were “alone.”

And so Lucius played his part without hesitation, throwing his arms around Dorian’s neck and responding to the kiss. The rich taste of wine and musk on the prince’s lips was inebriating, and the way Dorian held him with such gentleness and insistence triggered a yearning in the depth of his heart, making him feel as if he was someone cherishable.

However, it didn’t last very long before the vampire pulled back. Dorian still kept him close and whispered, “are you ok?”

“’Yes. Are you?”

“I’m fine. Did Volke Nightingale harm you?”

“No. He only asked me a favor.”

“A favor?”

Lucius then related the concerns that the chieftain had about Dorian, as well as the miracle that Volke requested from him. Dorian frowned with grave concern as he knew well that Lucius was just an imposter, “and you agreed to heal his nephew?”

“I said I will try. It’s not like that I was in any position to decline.” Lucius muttered, and then said louder for anyone who was listening, “besides, if I can save someone’s life, then I must try regardless of the result.”

“And how do you plan to do it?”

“Pray for him, I suppose.”

“That’s it?” Dorian paced to and fro in a barely contained frustration, “and then you just wait for the miracle to happen?”

“They are trying to heal werewolf rabies so I would say yes, it does require a miracle.“Lucius was not impressed by Dorian’s accusive tone as if he made some bad decision in agreeing to the task. What else could he have done? Telling him the truth that he was indeed a fraud?

And yet he also understood Dorian’s worry. The request was almost like a trap to break the peace between Eternia and Anthor. If he failed the job, which he most likely would, Volke could announce that he was a fraud, and then other Eternia nobles who didn’t want the treaty with humans could use it as an excuse to argue Anthor cheated them. Moreover, if anyone found out Lucius was not the real Julian from the beginning, the treaty would be broken, and the peace that he sacrificed his whole life for would come to an end.

They didn’t talk too much for the rest of the day. There was only one king-size bed in the room, and Dorian was resting on it the majority of the daytime due to the vampire’s natural instinct to hide in the time of the sun. Lucius lay on the other side of the bed, trying to fall asleep but couldn’t. He knew Dorian was also wide awake and trying to figure out a way to leave here before he had to perform the “miracle.”

But what if they couldn’t find a way?

What if he had to do it, and then everyone in the world would know he was a fraud and became the culprit for instigating a new war?

What would his parents say? What would the King do to them? Would Julian be safe when all hell goes loose?

The mere thought of all the possible and calamitous outcomes made him break a cold sweat.

He had to heal the werewolf somehow if it came to that.

There was no room for him to fail.