The Vampire King's Possession
Chapter 700. Last Warning

Chapter 700: 700. Last Warning

It was hard to explain how she felt. Mauve experienced several emotions at once; dread, fear, horror, and a combination of all three. They gripped her tighter than the hand around her throat. Mauve choked as tears slowly gathered in her eyes.

"How did you do it?" he asked, holding her gaze.

She had no idea what he was talking about, and even if Mauve did know, she was too scared to formulate an answer, too scared to even think. But she couldn’t remain frozen. In an attempt to seek help, her eyes glanced at the door, and Seraphino smiled.

"Don’t worry, no one is coming. I made sure of it."

Mauve was seized with terror. She tried to scream, but it only came out as a whimper. She attempted to fight him off, digging her fingers into his hand on her throat, but he didn’t budge.

"I only came here for one—"

Suddenly, the door burst open, cutting off the rest of Seraphino’s words. He didn’t have time to react before Jael was behind him, a knife to his throat. Jael moved his hand, slashing Seraphino’s throat. Blood splashed and dripped down his neck. It was a jagged slash and it was more from brunt force than the sharpness of the knife. Seraphino let go of Mauve—who started to cough—to grab his neck, a feeble attempt to stop the bleeding.

"You bastard!" Jael swore. "How dare you?"

Seraphino staggered to the side as blood poured out of his neck and onto his palms. He grabbed his throat tightly and raised his head to glare at Jael. Jael walked toward Mauve, but Louis beat him to it. He scooped her up, taking her away from the bloody scene. Mauve didn’t even realize Louis was in the room until he picked her up. She opened her mouth to speak, but her eyes rolled back, and she went unconscious.

"Mauve!" Jael called.

"She’s fine," Louis said, taking her away. "She’s only unconscious." He went through the connecting door and closed it behind him.

"Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you right now?" Jael turned his gaze to Seraphino.

The Lord grinned, his teeth bloody. "You wouldn’t."

"I wouldn’t?" Jael inquired.

"Of course," Seraphino replied, taking it as Jael’s reply instead of a question. He stood straight, his palms still around his neck. The wound had already started healing, but it would take a little while to stop bleeding, longer than usual as it wasn’t a clean cut. "You wouldn’t kill a Lord for a human."

Jael’s face darkened. "You all keep getting on my nerves, but this will be the last time, Seraphino." Jael’s face turned sinister, showing just how angry he was. He wanted to punch Seraphino until he couldn’t move again, but Jael couldn’t do that.

"Why? Because she’s your mate now?" Seraphino scoffed.

Jael’s blue eyes blazed. The room brightened, but he kept his anger in check and took a deep breath. As much as it pained him, he couldn’t do more than this. Not yet.

"This is your last warning, Seraphino. There won’t be a third time. The next time you come after Mauve again, I’ll strike you down where you stand and feed your remains to the Palers."

Seraphino started to laugh, but the laugh dried in his throat when the doors opened and Jael’s personal guards trotted in. Suddenly, it picked up again. "You can’t take me down yourself. You had to bring the whole cavalry."

"Take him away," Jael said tightly. "Out of my castle!"

Seraphino’s face grew ashen. "It’s daylight. There’s no difference between this and killing me."

"There’s still some time before dawn. I’m sure you can find shelter elsewhere, as you are no longer allowed here. Take him away."

"Don’t you dare touch me!" he yelled as Damon walked closer. "I can walk out of here myself."

Damon didn’t listen. He placed his palms on both sides of Seraphino’s back and pushed him forward. The Lord almost stumbled. "Don’t touch me!"

"You shouldn’t have touched my mate!"

Seraphino sneered as he was pushed out the door. With his palms still around his neck, he couldn’t fight off Damon, who enjoyed manhandling him.

"Next time," Seraphino said as he walked out the door, "she won’t be so luc—"

The hallway and ground floor were filled with Lords. All of them were out of the dining hall, looking upon the scene.

"Did he attack her again?" a voice asked, whispering.

"Looks like it."

"And the Primus is letting him walk out alive again."

"His mate or not, Lord Seraphino is still a vampire and a Lord at that. You know the rule about killing vampires."

"Do you think that’s why he does it? To undermine the Primus—"

"Shush, don’t say that."

"I don’t think I would be able to do that if it was my mark—"

"I said shush."

Similar conversations rang out from every angle as Seraphino was led down the stairs and toward the castle doors. The guards opened them, and as soon as he was out, the doors were shut loudly behind him.

A loud silence dragged out until it was broken by Louis. "Ladies and Lords, I don’t think the last meal has ended yet. To what have you all gathered here for?"

Louis’s voice broke the crowd, and they slowly started to disperse. Some returned to the dining hall, but most returned to their rooms. The last meal was ruined.

Louis made his way to the dining hall. The Primus wouldn’t be joining them as he was currently keeping his beloved company. The fact that this had played out the way Louis thought it would made him wonder if Seraphino was truly an idiot or if he was so obsessed with Mauve that he couldn’t even think logically.

This served him no purpose, and he was giving the Lords some reason to pity Mauve. Pity was good. It wasn’t the feeling they wanted, but it would have to serve for now.

When Louis sat by the table again, there were only a handful of Lords left, and among them were Lord Garth, Lord Seraphino, and Lady Sabrina. He knew they were eager to find out what happened, but Louis didn’t take the bait. It was best to let the suspense play out as long as possible.