Chapter 27 - Officially A Member

LUNA ASTERBELLE’s POV

There have been a couple of times wherein I have been filled with the thoughts of wanting to kill this king of the vampires. Even though I wasn't so sure if I would actually have the capability to do so, I still can't shake off the feeling that the day will arrive wherein I would be required to do so. Otherwise, the outcome would be the exact opposite — the king might be the one who’d get me executed and I wouldn’t be able to fight back.

“Where am I?” I asked the instant that I finally opened my eyes, only to see the ceiling that wasn’t mine. “What am I doing here?” I added, still wondering what recently happened to me.

The only person that showed up in my mind was King Dawn. I don’t exactly know the reason behind it, but he must've had something to do with this place.

“I see that you’re awake now,” said a man who was seated at the edge of the bed. “You’re still in the deepest part of the underground, in case you’re thinking about where I brought you after you fainted.”

King Dawn didn’t seem to have any intention to harm me. In fact, there were a lot of bandages around my dominant arm which was most probably from the king himself. If he was the cause of my loss of consciousness, then I suppose that he did it on purpose to help me treat the wounds that didn’t heal in time.

I tried my best to rise from the bed, but the aching sensation from my back made it difficult for me to move. I thought that it was the moment for me to give up, but it wasn’t.

“Here.”

I didn’t notice that King Dawn moved beside me to lend me his hand. Staring at it for a long time, it was late for me to realize that he was already carrying me. He grabbed me by the armpit until I was already standing on my own feet.

“T-thanks…” I softly muttered.

“Go wash yourself. We’ll be heading to the main building for the pledge,” he ordered

Without any other statement, he left me all by myself. The instant that he disappeared from my sight, my legs failed me once more. I forced myself to crawl until I reached the bathroom.

A different man in a hoodie led the way to the main building which the king told me to head over. Eyes were all on me. It was like I could hear how everyone else inside the building was talking behind my back. They must be wary of my presence, and yet, they can’t do anything about it.

The king must have commanded them not to lay a finger on me.

“I’ve arrived, King Dawn,” I announced as soon as I saw him.

There was a blank expression on his face. It took him a few seconds before he nodded his head as a way of greeting, then gestured to me to come closer.

“Are you sure that you prefer to do the pledge here? You told me that I should be careful with my stealth. Yve is here, right?”

“There’s no need for you to worry about anyone that’s present here. By the moment that you step out of the building, they wouldn’t even remember neither your name nor your face,” he answered, which kind of reassured me.

***

King Dawn removed the bandage on my arm at the same time that he firmly gripped on its side. I didn’t even know that I had such a huge scar there… It was as if it’s carved intentionally at the perfect timing.

He lent me his palm. “Bite me,” he said.

I blinked in confusion. “W-what?” I stuttered as I didn’t know if I was supposed to take his words seriously. “A-ah, is it for the pledge?” I asked, finally realizing that he simply had his mind focused on his objective.

I managed to unleash my fangs, then bit the lower part of his wrist. His blood tasted so sweet. If I didn’t have full control of myself, I might have been unable to suppress myself from sipping on it furthermore. I made sure that I wouldn’t make eye contact with him to avoid getting flustered.

King Dawn positioned his injured wrist above my scar. “Starting from this day forth, Luna Asterbelle is now a part of the Dark Shadow Clan,” he shortly declared.

My eyes flared the instant that his blood reached my arm. It’s like I was getting burned to death. I screamed my lungs out as loud as I could, knowing that no one would mind the deafening noise that I created. HIs blood spreaded all throughout my scar until it got wholly covered as if it was my own skin.

"Endure it for a minute more, Luna," he mumbled as he slowly released his grip on my arm.

Each second that flew by was killing me. I don't think that I'd last any longer than this.

"I-I can't —"

"How do you expect yourself to be strong when you're about to surrender just because of this?!" King Dawn cut me off to yell at me like there was no tomorrow. It was actually the first time that I heard him raise his voice.

I shut my eyes while I held my breath. It's the only way to pretend that I wasn't getting hurt.

"As I mentioned before, you would be the Dark Shadow Clan's markswoman. And as soon as your mastery is maxed, you'll begin with your training as an assassin," he said, then distanced himself from me. "We don't have much time to waste. I can sense the end of our world approaching. It might be next year, or even just a few months later on. You're the only hope for our survival," he concluded.

"Does that mean that I would also be the cause of the catastrophe?" I genuinely inquired.

King Dawn nodded his head once. "With that said, you should know that I'm merely holding myself back from taking your life right at this moment. Once you're dead, then our world wouldn't be at risk anymore, right?" He smirked.