Chapter 23 His Sugar Baby That Got Away

His eyes were fierce and serious. He stared down at all the creatures kneeling in front of him. Werewolves, vampires, warlocks, faes, and mixed creatures. All members of the Underworld. A world that was under, where each member had to live in the shadows and in hiding from the mundane world.

He had put on a huge glamor to cover their convention meeting in the heart of the city. They were meeting in Morningside Park in Manhattan, next to the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. A mass was being held in the church. The sound of organs and people seeing in a choir accompanied their eerie convention.

Though the choir was singing Joy to the World, the Underworlders were far from being joyful. Each was lowering their eyes to the ground. The werewolves tucked their tails between their legs. The vampires pursed their lips, hiding their fangs. The warlocks were... being the same bland warlocks.

“Let’s make one thing clear,” Alexander said in a deep tone. His dark blue tuxedo shone underneath the moonlight. But his blue eyes were the ones that the creatures avoided. That blue ocean eyes that shone as if blue fires wielded those eyes.

“The Lady is not yours to play with,” he said, “She is ours. We are the ones prophesied to vie for her heart. Only then would she be able to crown the Dark Lord. And we are the prophesied candidates.”

There was an ominous presence surrounding all of them. As if the darkness that enveloped them were alive. It swirled between them, wrapping its dark invisible snares, ready to strangle each of the creatures present at Alexander’s will. Yes. He was the controller of that darkness. And for the time being, it was obvious that he was the ruler of the Underworld.

“The prophecy only stated that four princes would have to vie for the Lady’s heart,” a dhampir –a fusion between a vampire and human, said. She had dark hair and red eyes. “It did not state the names of the princes.”

Alexander gave her a stern look. Her response was to quickly avert her gaze and looked at the ground yet again. The air suddenly became a lot more chiller than before, making the creatures shivered despite their supposedly extraordinary capacity to withstand cold. It was not the temperature, however that made them unable to move. It was from Alexander. The man’s presence alone seemed to be able to knock down hundreds of creatures at once.

He held the lives of those Underworlders easily in his fingers. And he was not happy with them.

“And who else do you think is worthy to be considered as the princes?” Alexander asked. “You all know what had transpired three thousand years ago. The story is passed down to every generation. And if that is not enough, warlocks who are immortal saw what happened with their own eyes.” At the mention of warlocks, each creature turned to them. Warlocks looked like a bunch of humans in a cult. With their high triangle hoods and tattoos on their faces. Some even had their lips sewn together, an initiation for young warlocks as they must practice silence for a century.

“I was there too. And after all that I have done for you. After all that I have sacrificed… do you not think me worthy to be one of the princes?”

One of the warlocks, an elder with the symbol of a crescent moon on his forehead and a cross over his mouth, stepped forward. “No one is more worthy than you, Alexander the Immortal Sorceror,” he said, “But we cannot say the same for the rest of your chosen princes.”

Alexander raised his chin slightly to intimidate the warlock. The warlock might be an elder, but he was still no match for Alexander. “You question my judgment?”

“No,” he said. The elder warlock was shifting his weight more than necessary. It was obvious that he was uncomfortable. “But since the prophecy was made, the Lady had repeated her cycles of life for nine times now. And on each previous cycle, she had not crowned the Dark Lord.”

The elder locked his eyes with Alexander’s. “There might be something amiss, Sire.”

“Or it could be a good thing,” Meirion, the leader of werewolves said. It was the black wolf that led the attack on Arianna. Alexander immediately gave Meirion a cold glance, remembering the wolf that he was not happy with how the werewolves attacking his Lady. But Meirion was bolder than the warlock. “Not having a Dark Lord is a good thing. Evil will not reign the world–“

The vampires hissed to the werewolves and at the same time, Meirion’s cubs growled at the vampires. The warlocks and faes preferred to stay on the sideline.

“There you go again with your talk about good and evil,” Lusi, the princess of all vampires said. She substituted her father, Lyon, as he was still hibernating. “The world does not need that divide. It needs balance. It can’t be all good or all will be destroyed.”

Lusi turned to Alexander. “For as long as we can remember, the light creatures or the Aboveworlders have their Light Lord. We, the Underworlders need the Dark Lord to rule over all of us.”

“And what do you plan to do when the Dark Lord is finally crowned?”

“We will bow to him, of course!” the first dhampir chimed in. She was Susi, another princess of the vampires and Lusi’s stepsister.

“Then what? Pledge war to the Aboveworlders?” Meirion barked at them.

“If the Dark Lord chooses to do so, then so be it!”

“Enough!” Alexander bellowed. He put more pressure in the air, almost to the point of suffocating them. The creature had to pant in order to breathe. It was a warning from Alexander not to forget their place. Before the Dark Lord is crowned, Alexander is their ruler.

“The prophecy cannot be changed,” he said to the werewolves, “The Lady will crown the Dark Lord whether you like it or not. And you shall not try to kill her again.”

Alexander increased the air pressure yet again. It was a natural thing for him to do. His magic had coursed through him for three thousand years, even before Christ was born. He even did not have to lift a finger for it.

The werewolves suddenly dropped to the ground. Their airways were being blocked by Alexander’s increased air pressure. Meirion was already wheezing for air.

“Understood?” he asked. Though really, there was no choice for Meirion and his pack. If he wanted to live, he would have to play by Alexander’s rule.

“Un… der…stood…,” Meirion said with difficulty. Only then did Alexander released the pressure on the wolves.

The vampires smirked at the wolves being choked by air but a second later, it was the vampires’ turn to be out of breath. They clawed their necks that were constricted, fighting to gain air to fill their lungs. Vampires were creatures with long life spans but they were not immortal nor do they could not die. Yet if they hibernate, they might prolong their lifespans. Still, if Alexander destroyed their tracheas right then, they would die just as easily.

“And you will stop trying to bring my Lady to your father. I have said this before but I will say it again,” Alexander told the vampires and dhampirs that were writhing on the ground, trying to fight for their lives, “Your father is not one of the prophesied princes.”

“Never was, never is, and never will,” Alexander spat out the words. “Relay this message to your father once he has woken up. If he dares to try to kidnap my Lady again, I will end his life right then.”

Then Alexander released the air pressure from the vampires. They gasped for air like fishes on the surface of a pond.

Lastly, Alexander turned his gaze to the faes, warlocks, and all other Underworlders gathering in the park. They all flinched at his gaze, afraid that he would block their breathing next. “If any of you try to touch my Lady too after this, I will kill you right then.” His blue eyes shone.

Within seconds, all the Underworlders bowed to him. “Yes, Sire.” They would heed his warning. And it was the smartest thing to do lest they wanted themselves to become pulps of flesh in an instant.

“But what about the demons, Sire?” asked one fae. He had transparent purple wings on his back, his eyes had no eyelids and he had purple glitter all over his cheeks. “News from Hell reveals that the Demon King is set for the Lady to be his queen.”

“If he dares to steal the Lady, then he is declaring war with us. With Underworlders,” said Alexander in a firm tone.

“How about if the Light Creatures seek their chance in acquiring the Lady too?” asked the elder warlock.

“Then it is a war with them.” There was no hesitation in how Alexander answered them.

“What if both want the Lady?” asked Lusi.

Alexander was quiet for a while.

“The Lady is ours. Whoever dares to take what is ours shall be punished,” Alexander said in a deep voice, “Got it?”

The Underworlders nodded. Despite them being split between wanting the Lady to crown the Dark Lord and wanting to kill the Lady, they all at least agreed on one thing. That no one shall take what is theirs. They were Underworlders. Creatures that hid from the day and basked themselves in darkness. Creatures that did not belong in both Heaven and Hell. They were in the precipice of existing and not existing. But what is theirs shall always be theirs.

“The Lady is ours,” Alexander said again.

The Underworlders nodded.

“And so long as she has not crowned the Dark Lord, she is my Lady,” he growled to each of the creatures listening, “So nobody touches her and lives.” Blue fires brew in his eyes as he stared down at each of the creatures. He had set his claim on the girl. They would need to obey or pay the consequences.

“We prefer you to be the Dark Lord,” said Lusi. “If our father cannot. Then we prefer you. Not the angel and not the demon under your care despite you have chosen them as the princes.”

Alexander furrowed his brows. “What about Renald? He is a hybrid–“

“No.” Meirion, the black wolf, spat on the ground. A clear rejection to have Renald as the Dark Lord.

“I agree,” said Lusi, “The hybrid is an abomination. Tch. A union between a vampire and a wolf?”

“We have the same sentiment,” Meirion said, “We prefer you to be the Dark Lord.”

Alexander did not respond. He stayed quiet. As the meeting had ended, he reigned back some of his darkness. It was a sign for them to leave. And they obeyed. The vampires winnowed first, leaving trails of shadow for a sliver of seconds. Then the warlock chanted a teleportation spell. The faes and werewolves faded to the darkness stealthily.

Until it was only Alexander alone in the park. Only then did he call on his darkness again, it gathered in front of him. A mirror was seen in the center, and on the mirror was a girl. Amber hair, small face, large eyes, and that sensuous lips.

His sugar baby that got away.

“Tch. You’re a trouble maker, Ann.”