Rejected Luna, Vampire Queen

chapter 20

The palace square was so utterly silent that you could have heard the tiny, rhythmic breathing of a small bird perched on a nearby branch. Every person in the massive crowd seemed to be holding their breath at once, their eyes glued to the high stone balcony where Alpha Damon stood like a king carved from shadow. His face was a mask of cold fury, his eyes narrowed into slits of ice, and his jaw was set so tight it looked like it might crack the bone. He didn't look like a leader; he looked like a god of war preparing for a sacrifice.

"Bring him out!" Damon commanded. The order didn't just fall from his lips; it thundered, his voice acting like a heavy iron hammer hitting a war drum. The sound echoed off the stone walls of the palace, making the very air vibrate with authority.

I watched with wide, terrified eyes as four massive guards, their faces covered in dark helmets, pushed through the sea of people. They were dragging a man who was tied to a thick, jagged wooden post with heavy iron chains that looked far too large for his thin frame. The prisoner was a haunting sight. He was covered from head to toe in deep, jagged wounds, and fresh, bright red blood soaked through his torn clothes, staining his pale skin. He could barely find the strength to lift his feet, and every time he stumbled, the chains let out a loud, clanking clink-clink sound that rang out against the cobblestones like a funeral bell.

Then Jason, the Alpha’s right-hand man, stepped forward to the edge of the stone railing. He scanned the thousands of expectant faces below, his expression twisting into a sneer of pure disgust. "Our enemies have refused to rest!" Jason shrieked, his voice carrying over the crowd. "They are growing stronger day by day, lurking in the shadows like a sickness! Even though our kingdom is the most powerful in all the lands, they still have the nerve to try and sneak into our territory. They are like rats crawling in the dark, looking for a way to bite! And we won't rest until every single one of our enemies is wiped off the face of the earth!"

The response from the crowd was instant and terrifying. The thousands of people went absolutely wild, their voices rising in a roar so powerful I felt the ground beneath my boots tremble. They began pumping their fists into the air, their faces twisted with a strange, dark joy as they chanted in a terrifying rhythm, "DEVIL ALPHA! DEVIL ALPHA! DEVIL ALPHA!"

I stood there, frozen in place, feeling a cold, prickly shiver crawl all the way down my spine. My mind was a mess of confusion and horror. The man in the chains didn't look like a dangerous spy or a monster; he looked small, weak, and completely broken. He was shivering, his shoulders shaking as he let out quiet, muffled sobs. Why did they hate him so much? Why was there so much joy in seeing someone suffer?

Damon raised one hand, a single, silent signal that demanded total obedience. The crowd stopped cheering instantly. It was like someone had reached out and turned off a light switch; the silence that followed was even more frightening than the noise.

Damon leaned over the balcony, looking down at the prisoner with a gaze that felt like a death sentence. "So," he murmured, his voice smooth and dangerous, carrying a weight that made my skin crawl. "Tell the pack. What exactly were you doing when my border guards found you sneaking across our lines? Who sent you here to play the spy?"

The man collapsed to his knees, the weight of the iron chains pulling harshly at his bruised, bloody neck. "Please!" he begged, his voice hitting a high, broken pitch that sounded like glass shattering. "I meant no harm to your people! I swear on my life! I only ended up here because I was lost in the woods. I was just looking for a place to stay, a place to hide away from the world!"

Damon tilted his head to the side, a small, cruel smirk touching the corners of his lips. It wasn't a smile of happiness; it was the smile of a predator watching its prey struggle. "A place to stay? Within the walls of my pack?" he mocked. "Do you truly think I am running a hotel for monsters?"

"I promise you, I didn't mean any harm!" the man cried out again, his tears mixing with the drying blood on his hollow cheeks. "My former pack was caught in a terrible, bloody war. Everyone is gone... everyone is dead! I was the last one left alive! Please, Alpha, I beg for your mercy! Spare my life! I will do anything you ask of me. I will be your slave, I will work in the dirt until my hands bleed, just please... I don't want to die like this!"

Alpha Damon took a slow, deliberate step closer to the very edge of the balcony. "Even if I were to suppose you were telling the truth," he stated, his tone flat and emotionless. "Even if I believed you were just a lonely, pathetic traveler. It still wouldn't change a single thing about your fate."

He paused for a long, agonizing second, and the temperature in the square felt like it dropped until the air turned to ice.

"Because you are a Vampire."

The moment the word left his lips, the prisoner began to wail, his pleas turning into a high-pitched scream of pure terror. "Yes! Yes, I am a Vampire! But I have never hurt anyone! I don't drink the blood of humans! Please, I beg you for forgiveness! I wasn't trying to kill anyone, I was just trying to survive the night!"

Jason looked over at the guards with a bored, impatient expression on his face. "Bring me the sword of justice," he commanded, his voice devoid of any warmth.

Two tall, armored soldiers marched out carrying a massive black box made of heavy, polished wood. They set it down on the stone floor with a heavy thud and flipped the latches. Inside lay a massive sword. It was long, silver, and so sharp that it sparkled under the midday sun like a polished diamond. It looked heavy enough to cut through solid stone.

Jason turned back to the crowd, his eyes burning with a deep, ancient hate. "Listen to me! Listen well! No matter what stories they tell, no matter if they claim to be innocent or guilty, the Vampires will always be our enemies! I have never felt pity for them, and I never will. I have no heart for their pathetic cries. I will make sure I wipe every last one of them from this earth! Not a single one will be spared! Not the men, not the women, and not even the children!"

The crowd's reaction was even more bloodthirsty this time. They began to howl like hungry wolves, their eyes glowing with a faint, yellow light as their inner beasts took over. They didn't want justice; they wanted to see the man's head roll.

Damon stepped forward and gripped the hilt of the heavy sword. He lifted it with a single hand as if it weighed no more than a child's toy. He looked down at the shivering prisoner, then shifted his gaze, looking directly into the sea of people. For one terrifying heartbeat, I felt his eyes lock onto mine, piercing through the crowd.

"I, Alpha Damon, leader of the White Moon Pack, hereby sentence you, Vampire, to death!"

With a sudden, violent movement, he raised the giant, sparkling sword high above his head, the metal catching the light as

he prepared to swing.