The Crown's Obsession (WN)
chapter-456

When the demons arrived at their hideouts by apparating back from the castle, most of them hadn't as they were dead and lying on the ground with torn heads or bullets in their head, Fjor dropped the dark angel on the ground.

"What about the others?" asked one of the demonesses who had stayed back at the old ruins of the mansion.

"They are still in the castle, and didn't heed to the call when we left," responded Greyson, not bothered if the demons who had gone along with him were dead. There were other things to bother, and useless lower demons were not of his concern right now. "Get the girl on the table. Once the moon is out, we will be starting the ritual. Did you get the silver knife?" he asked the demoness.

"Yes, it is ready," she answered, and they pulled out a large table and placed it in the hall. The table was carved in markings with a pentagon designed on it and some words were written in demon language. Greyson watched Fjor and a fallen angel getting the girl out of the gunny bag before they put her on the table.

"Tie her down with the binds. We don't want her lash out in the middle of the sacrifice," informed Fjor, and the demons got the ropes to tie the girl. As they put her in place, one of them asked,

"Why are her clothes torn? If it weren't for the fabric of the dress, I would have thought that she's a maid."

Fjor rolled his eyes, "This is the girl. Do you know how volatile dark angels are? They can harm their own body because of the power a dark angel possesses. Don't touch her hands and be careful. Unless you want to end up dead with blood splattered around."

"Let me see. She's still unconscious," said a confident demon, when Greyson threw a stone at the demon.

"Do as you are told and stay away from her hands. Walter said the last two times when her dark angel abilities appeared, she killed a whole bunch of demons and then a third level demon," said Greyson. "Now get to your job and stop wasting time!" he glared at the demons who quietly went back to continue their work. Candles were lit in the room and around the table, readying for the ritual.

Greyson couldn't shake the thought of the vampire, whom he had encountered in the castle. His eyes widened when he realized who it was. It was the servant of their Lord. Thinking about this, he gritted his teeth. There was no way the devil existed. He hadn't shown up in years, and the demons only believed that he had been smote by an angel's trident.

Maybe that fool of a servant found a new master to work under. Greyson didn't want to believe that the devil was in the castle at the same time when he was in there. This would only mean that they would need to get the sacrifice done as soon as they could.

"Bring the soothsayer in here," ordered Greyson. He stood at the window, looking at the sky that was heavily clouded. When the soothsayer was brought in, he shuffled the sticks that were made from bones. "Why has the moon not appeared? You said tonight is the time where the moon would show up." The demon was not happy that the soothsayer had given him wrong information.

The soothsayer bowed his head, "The moon should have come by now. I don't know why there's a delay but tonight is supposed to be the full moon night. Let me see." Shuffling the bones in both his hands, he then threw it in his bowl.

"What does it say?" asked Fjor, his eyes watching the soothsayer who pursed his lips.

"I don't know how it happened, but someone is delaying the time of the moon from appaering in the sky," replied the soothsayer.

"Delaying?" Greyson looked at the soothsayer as if he grown two pairs of head. "You cannot fucking stop the moon from appearing. It is not a person but part of the heavenly stars." The soothsayer shook his head.

"Someone must have meddled with it," explained the soothsayer, "Right now something is blocking the moon. If the moon doesn't appear, the day won't come by. It's like the time has frozen."

Fjor stared at the unconscious girl who was lying on the table, and then back to look at the soothsayer, "You sure about it? What if today is not the day."

"We cannot extend the time. Even if the moon doesn't appear in the sky, we shall still go ahead with the sacrifice. It might not be to the full potential, but it will be enough to give all of us abilities," explained Greyson. He didn't know when the dark angel would wake up and what harm she was capable of. "We'll wait for three more hours before we start the ritual," he declared, and the demons agreed as they could hardly wait to recieve new powers.

Far away from the hideout, and in the mountains of Belmont, Vladimir had Madeline sit down on the chair with a cup of tea in each of their hands, while Odin begged for his Master's forgiveness.

"Master! I didn't mean any harm! It was the villager's fault!"

Odin had replaced Madeline's previous place, and the servant vampire was strapped on the table.

Madeline was more than worried about the servant while also wondering what was going on back in the castle. This was no time to be drinking tea and catching up on things, but Vladimir had waved his hand and got her to sit right away.

Madeline looked back and forth between the old vampire and then at Odin who didn't look like he was struggling to get out, but he was asking forgiveness from Vladimir for not getting the correct information. Vladimir, who had picked up his teacup, took his own sweet time to sip the blood. With the time amount of time he had kept the cup near his mouth, Madeline was sure he would have finished the entire cup and asked for a refill, but when she saw the teacup being placed back at the table, outwardly, she had a passive look. It didn't look like he even took one whole sip, and she said,

"Mr. Lazarus-"

"You can call me Vlad," he corrected her.

Madeline offered him an awkward smile, "Vlad," she said to hear him hum in response.

"You have barely touched your tea. Don't you like it?" asked Vladimir and then looked at Odin. "Have you not put enough milk in it, Odin?"

"No, it's not that. I need to return to the castle right now," said Madeline in an urgent voice.

"Don't worry if Calhoun is my grandson, which he is. Then he will come looking for you. We can all have blood tea together," proposed the old vampire.

Madeline wasn't sure if Vladimir was testing her. Clutching her hand, she said, "My sister is in danger. She will transform into a complete werewolf, and I might not be able to save her in time. Please, Vlad."