The Blood Beast will not act up unless he needed to feed on me again.” Luna said grimly as she touched a hand on her throat unconsciously, feeling scared and a little bit defensive. “There is no need to claim me as your empress.”

The Vampire King said forcefully. “We will marry tonight.”

The wind gathered force, whipping the writhing tendrils of her hair away to reveal a face as terrible and beautiful as Goddess, yet utterly without mercy.

“That’s unfortunate. I guess you have to catch me first.” The High Priestess lifted her arms and disintegrated into tiny fragments.

The Vampire King’s grasping hands sought the softness of her flesh but closed on nothing but air. Last to fade was the mocking notes of her laughter, tinkling like invisible shards of glass in his ears.

As Luna teleported just outside the castle’s kitchens, she leaned against the wooden wall to regain her balance.

She went inside and saw a kitchen staff busy doing their thing. Five servants were tending a whole ox on the hearth. The cooks were busy finely chopping, mashing, and straining some seasoned ingredients on their cupping boards for the cuisines they prepared for the banquet.

There was a black and white dog beside the cook.

There was a large boiling kettle on an open fire pit. Garlic, basil, rosemary, pepper, salt, cinnamon, onions, pumpkin spice, and ginger wafted from the secret recipe sauce from the sauciers.

There were rotten potatoes, turnips, and other vegetables mixed with the fresh ones that need to be taken out but they were ignored. Maybe, the cleaners were too preoccupied to notice it since they were mopping the floor and laundering musty cloths.

The bakers tended on the yeasty bread, cookies, and crackers rising on a pan. There was a hiss of pot boiling over, pot lids banging and the chairs scraping over the flow.

The kitchen maids were gathered around a well-used table covered in mats and they stood up from their wooden chairs as soon as they raised their gazes.

When the maids and manservants saw her, all of them stood straight, bobbed their heads and stared at the kitchen’s linoleum flooring for a long time, not meeting her eyes.

“High Priestess.” All of them stopped and dropped everything to pay their respects to her.

Luna wasn’t used to the status the Vampire King had given her since she had just been to Hell recently. She didn’t know how to react.

Like the idiot she was, she curtsied to the servants. Their eyes widened imperceptibly, probably astounded at her actions, but they didn’t speak about it. Maybe the servants didn’t want her to feel awkward.

“Everyone, please raise your heads and keep doing what you’re doing.” They stood frozen on the spot and stared at her like she spoke a dead ancient language they didn’t comprehend.

She raised her hands and gestured at the kitchen table, “Please continue. Don’t mind me.”

There was a long pause before they went back to work. The servants kept on stealing glances at her as they placed spices on the raw game hen, fowls, and quails, preparing them to be roasted next on the spit.

Luna closed her eyes to focus on the flutter of their heartbeats and the shallow breaths. They were anxious about her presence as if she was breathing down on their necks and one wrong move, she could strike them dead if she wanted.

How should they make them feel at ease?

They must have heard of the rumors. Gossip spread like wildfire when the castle’s servants were involved. Luna wondered what made them fear her so much when they are acting like she had the Vampire King’s curse.

Did they know that she was immune to it? Did they suspect that she was a fully turned vampire and she was the Blood Beast’s mate? This was what Lady Clarence had warned her about.

The walls have ears and she had to be careful when she didn’t know who she could count on, who she could trust.

Everyone can betray her at any moment even the Blood Beast.

The brown-spotted bananas and apples in a fruit bowl tempted her. She also noted the vase of wilting flowers surrounded by orange pollen dust, herbs soaking up light on a window’s ledge, and old splatters on the walls and floorboards.

Three scullery maids were attending on the dirty pile of dishes on the sink.

But what worried her most was that she can smell the smoke and what was supposed to be a scrumptious aroma of roasted meat but it didn’t make her mouth water. The smell of steaks, sausages, grilled meat.

She shook her head in panic. This can’t be true.

She can’t lose her sense of taste in real food.

Please goddess, not the meat. “Can I take a bite on one of that meat?”

She will miss how it tasted. Badly.

“Yes, High Priestess.”

One of the kitchen maids reached out for a knife from a banged-up wooden block holding the shears and assisted her in giving her an appropriate amount of meat slices from the cooked meat for her to taste.

Luna stuffed a hunk of cooked game hen into her mouth, ignoring the trail of grease that dripped from his chin to her white dress. She chewed voraciously, her jaws seeking to dispel the tension her mind could not.

Luna crouched and wretched her guts under the kitchen table and everyone jumped to her defense, grabbing a chair for her to sit as they tried their best to make her comfortable.

They hurriedly clean after it. Luna had thrown up the chewed meat she had ingested along with some unidentified black liquid.

She curled her lip as she physically recoiled, watching the mess she made.

“High Priestess. Are you okay?” The servant who fed her opened and closed her hands as if she didn’t know what to do. She handed her a cloth napkin against her lips in panic. “I swear I didn’t do anything, High Priestess. Please don’t kill me.”

“I’m fine.” Luna inhaled a few deep breaths then exhaled, leaning her head on the table for support. She wiped the sweat off her forehead as she ran a frustrated hand on her hair. She shook her head and muttered, “Maybe I wasn’t feeling well.”

She swallowed hard as she leaned back on her chair, grimacing and stroking her throat.

Luna felt sick to the core as she faltered a metallic taste of unknown in her mouth. If she could detach her mouth for a minute there then attach it back again…

It was that bad.

She needed to erase the memory of how the meat tasted like.

Luna tried to hold back unshed tears.

She can’t enjoy real food anymore.

She was a vampire. There was no stopping this. She had no choice but to feed on blood.

There was no such thing as a vegetable or meat-eating vampire.

Those unicorns didn’t exist in the Vampyr Realm.

“There’s nothing wrong with the way you cooked it.” Luna placed her hands on the table to stand as she backed away from the food with a shudder. “For some reason, I just can’t stand eating today even if I’m hungry.”

“Perhaps, you are pregnant, High Priestess?”