Hell’s Consort

****************************

Archdemon Empress Luna

******************************

A shocking jolt woke Luna up in her slumber.

Luna opened her eyes, and her lips were parted as if to scream.

As she blinked rapidly, the dark ceiling was the first thing she saw.

The hundreds of shining silver stars were a stark contrast to the gloomy backdrop.

The room was smaller than the chambers at Prince Aspen's Lilac Manor as her gaze flew to the four corners of the space.

Luna wondered if she was still in the Faerie Realm.

Beads of sweat formed on her back—cold and clammy—and she pondered whether it was from the sinking paranoia that she was in Hell but a different circle or was this another unfamiliar Realm her soul had accidentally visit.

She asked herself what world she had found her soul in to test her mind again and again because it felt like she was one little step forward to the brink of madness. 

A few seconds passed by.

Luna was still breathing hard from her forgotten nightmare before.

She expelled one last whoosh of air from her lungs to get herself together.

The dream was close to fading from her memories, but something in her gut told her that it was important and needed to be addressed.

  Racking her brain in recollection, no mental image popped in her mind to fill her up with something--anything.

Only sensations of… what was it about?

Her head spun as she pressed her fists on either side of her temples to alleviate the aching pressure.

She moaned in regret.

It was a dream she couldn't remember.

Was this a sign that she was losing her grip in her perceptions of the real world? 

What was considered real when all of these different Realms existed without the other Realm's knowledge?

Was it considered an illusion if nobody can visit and see this Realm aside from her? 

'Wow.' Luna sighed. 'Crazy people must have it hard.'

Luna thought she was close to becoming one.

If she told people that she had been through Hell and back—literally—would they believe her?

'This was her real reality.' She chanted in her head a couple of times before she was satisfied. 

Every few minutes, Luna convince herself that over and over as she laid down in bed to keep her sane.

She wasn't in Hell.

She was in the Faerie Realm, but… where was Apollyon?

Where was her husband when she needed his presence—where she needed him the most to comfort her from this nightmare?

He didn't leave her forever, wouldn't he?

Didn't Apollyon promise on the night before Ostara that he would protect her and be her anchor when her mind scattered to someplace else?

Luna exhaled a sigh— a mix of both relief and longing.

If Apollyon was here with her in this room, she could hug him, and she would instantly feel better.

Luna wasn't sure, nor would she care about what else she was capable of with Archdemon Magic. She could practice opening portals if she could have the free time to do so with her husband's supervision because the skill could be a great help if she found herself in Hell once again.

If Luxen and Ravin brought her back through their soul tie, Luna could either kill him by improving her Magic, or she would open a portal in the Vampire Realm, greet them 'Have a wonderful day!' and bid them goodbye before her grand escape. 

As she laid in bed with her back, Luna was so lost in her thoughts when she noticed too late that something heavy had settled in her stomach.

When Luna lifted her head a little to peek at it, the first thing which greeted her face was wide almond-shaped reptilian eyes with pupils narrowed into slits, glowering at her with intense judgment.

A chonky midnight-black cat sat heavily on top of her with its paws and tail tucked beneath them, looking like a loaf of bread.

It purred loudly, and she couldn't only hear her purr, but the sound vibrated in her stomach.

The cat didn't meow or did any fancy tricks, such as talking to her in her language.

It contented itself by staring at her with its wide yellow eyes.

Luna didn't know what to do with it, where it came from and who it belonged to but it felt like the feline's task was to guard her with those unblinking gazes while Apollyon wasn't here yet.

She sighed again. 

"Where did my husband ran off to this time?" She asked out loud to no one in particular—perhaps, she was talking to the cat.

Instead of making her headache with concern for Apollyon, she lifted one hand to pet the cat, but before her palm could settle on its head, it stood up from its 'catloaf' position as its paws pushed hard against her stomach.

Luna let out a little 'oof' when the cat jumped to the floor without warning.

It didn't hurt the baby she carried while it rested on her protruding stomach, but the abrupt movement just surprised her. 

The cat still stared at her as it swooshed its tail from side to side as she stepped one of her paws forward, still gracing her with that shrewd gaze as if urging her to get up and look around the room.

Luna rose out of bed and went straight to the small window to take in the golden wheat fields, watching it with amazement.

It seemed like this house was located near the mountains.

Birds chirped in the glorious sunlight.

Bees buzzed outside while yellow butterflies fluttered inside the room.

Opening the window, she allowed the fresh air to enter the room and the sweet scent of pale orange hydrangeas and purple gloxinias at the small garden while she arranged the same flowers placed on glass vases on top of the table.

Deciding to forget her dream completely, Luna hummed a song and pulled the flowers by its stems to put it back again in a gorgeous array as she smiled to herself, but she paused when her mind never heard more haunting words, 'Fancy a threesome, Amare?'