Hell’s Consort

New Chapter for the Highest Tier (June 2021)

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Vampire King Apollyon

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"You are not my father!" Princess Sapphire's voice sounded like she was speaking through her teeth with forced restraint.

"How did you know I am not your father, child?" The stranger's response was careful as he tilted his head at her. " Have you seen him before?"

"No." His sister shot back and asked him a question,  "How will I know you are my father if you haven't taken that stupid mask off?"

"I am your father!" From the volume of his deep baritone, Apollyon knew that his half-sister was successful at pissing her father off if that was what he was hoping.

His black legs widened their stance as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Your mother told me out-of-the-blue that she didn't want me anymore and left me without my consent."

"A woman does not have to ask for consent if she desired to leave the relationship." Princess Sapphire whispered in annoyance at the man's audacity to claim her mother when Princess Ourania didn't want anything to do with him.

Her tone was slightly shaking when the stranger tried to step forward but, he changed his mind immediately after Xerxes's snout twisted in aggression, followed by a growl that would make the target realize that he was about to be torn to pieces.

Apollyon could tell that Xerxes was a bit apprehensive at the unknown man as one of his hind legs moved a little backward, but he knew that the young man was a fighter, through and through, when it came to protecting his ward even at the cost of his life. 

She was on her mother's side for the first time instead of this masked man claiming to be his father.

"I am tired of the men in my mother's life keeping their identities hidden." She complained to no one in particular. "I have never seen that Sir Tristan in my whole life and now she was engaged without telling me beforehand?" 

It was more like an inner monologue of her repressed feelings towards their mother.

Apollyon could slightly sympathize with her experience. 

"I must not be Princess Ourania's child. How can she disregard me like I was nothing but air? I'm present—just around her—and she knew it." She added, raising her chin and thrusting her chest out. "My mother just choose to ignore me most of the  time."

As he exhaled an inaudible sigh, Apollyon realized how his sentiments were a bit similar to Princess Sapphire.

It only confirmed that no one from the Summer Palace was kind enough to inform them of this engagement party.

How much more if it was the marriage itself?

Well, Apollyon desired to renounced any association he had with Princess Ourania from the moment they first met at the Faerie Tea Party, so he shouldn't care about any of these except for his half-sister. 

'Yes.' He nodded.

He was doing it for his sister.

He should at least care for her when her own mother wouldn't.

Apollyon was just there hiding among the branches just in case this self-proclaimed father who was absent in her life would harm her.

"Here. This might prove that I am your father." The stranger pulled something out from his fancy tunic with a part of the universe drawn on it and casually threw it towards Princess Sapphire.

Xerxes and his sister were frozen in their places, and their spines were as rigid as steel. 

Eyes widening in fear for his sister's life, Apollyon's entire muscles tensed before he made a split-second decision to save his half-sister, no questions asked. 

They must have thought the same in that short moment.

  That would have exploded in Princess Sapphire and Xerxes' faces and burn them to death.

Jerking forward, Apollyon was about to teleport underneath the flower arbor to grab his sister and the werewolf and transfer them to a safe place.

Still, the stranger's statements had stopped him from doing so.

He almost fell from the tree from the restraint. 

  As he gave himself time to be logical, he quickly realized that it wasn't the Hephaestus stone wasn't the thing that was tossed at their feet.

At least, that was what he could make out from what he had seen.

He heard his wife perfectly describe the Hephaestus stone, and it was nowhere similar to the mysterious item.

Everything happened as fast as lightning.

  It was fortunate that Apollyon didn't react instantly when he recalled what the stranger said.

Why would this man spend his time convincing his child that he was the father if he would throw the magic firestone and kill them?

If he intended to kill without a conversation, but he didn't. , he should have hurled the Hephaestus stone the first time he saw Princess Sapphire and Xerxes 

  It spared him from revealing himself during his espionage. 

Apollyon swore he had caught a glimpse of a long lock of uneven black braids cut by a knife landing in a soft 'flump' in Xerxes' front paw.

Seconds felt like minutes as the three of them glanced down to stare at it with intense scrutiny. 

He must be her birth father!

Then, Princess Sapphire's father spoke softly, "Let's go to my Kingdom."

Aghast, Princess Sapphire's mouth opened in shock as her hands clenched on Xerxes' thick silver fur for comfort.

"That is my hair!"  As she glanced around  looking for an escape, she  shrieked at him, "Why are you carrying my hair around, you creepy monster?"

  It was proof of his paternity, and Apollyon believed him. 

"I sent your mother a message to get her permission to visit me after she decided she would have nothing to do with me--" The bull-masked stranger explained. "--but your stubborn  mother sent me this instead, telling me that she would never allow you to go near me and I should just be contented with this."

"This is the reason why my mother cut my hair so short when I was a child so that she could give them to you!"