Fangless: The Alpha's Vampire Mate
Chapter 126: Florian’s Glow-Up

Chapter 126: Florian’s Glow-Up

To get Riona off that topic—because seriously, she never let things go—Florian decided to distract her with something that would absolutely grab her attention. His new fangs.

"Wh—! Whoa. Uh, wow. What...? I, uh..." Riona stammered, utterly at a loss for words. Her hands flailed in the air as if trying to catch the thoughts racing through her mind.

Florian raised an eyebrow, amused. It had been way too long since he’d seen his sister act like a malfunctioning robot.

Yeah, it felt like forever. Then again, being stuck in endless darkness tends to do that—making every second stretch into eternity.

For a while, he had believed he’d never break free.

With a soft chuckle, he said, "It’s still new. I’m figuring out how to retract them. Haven’t quite mastered it yet."

Riona stared at him, wide-eyed, as though every word from his lips was a lifeline she didn’t want to let go of. She couldn’t care less what he was saying—she just needed to hear his voice again.

"How did it happen? How’d you make them show up? Guess you’re a late bloomer, huh?"

Riona leaned in so close that Florian could count her eyelashes. Typical Riona—no sense of personal space. She was never shy about physical affection when it came to Florian, which usually didn’t bother him.

But now...

I want to punch her in the face.

The thought hit Florian like a slap—quick, violent, and wrong. It vanished almost as fast as it had come, leaving him shaken. That wasn’t him. It couldn’t be.

No, that was it. The dark voice that had been gnawing at his mind ever since...

"It wasn’t me. It was you," the voice hissed, slithering through his thoughts.

No! You’re lying! Florian clenched his jaw, trying to shut the voice out. He couldn’t see it, but he could almost picture its sneer, the twisted smirk curling in the shadows.

"You’re becoming like me," the voice continued, low and breathy, like a serpent curled up inside his skull, its words dripping into his ears. "You can feel it, can’t you?"

Get out of my head! Florian screamed inwardly, his mind vibrating with the effort of pushing it away.

The voice ignored him, as always. "You wanted to hurt her," it purred, its tone almost amused. "You’re getting comfortable with my power. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it."

Florian’s breath quickened. His heart pounded against his ribcage, and he fought the urge to back away from Riona. He couldn’t let her see. Couldn’t let her know what was clawing at him from the inside.

"You’re doing great," the voice whispered in his mind.

Florian immediately felt the weight of everything crashing down. He turned his head away from Riona’s eager face, awkwardly touching his fangs, desperate for some kind of distraction.

Anything to make this situation feel less... weird

"They feel strange," he muttered, hoping to cut through the tension. Not that there was any, at least not for Riona.

She still looked at him with that same heartwarming glow, like everything was sunshine and rainbows. It was just him, feeling like a dark cloud was lurking right behind his smile, waiting to pounce.

"I woke up like this," he finally answered her question, doing his best to sound casual. "So, uh... does this officially make me a full vampire now?"

He forced a smirk, trying to laugh off the whole thing, but inside, the darkness was doing backflips in his brain.

Riona reached out and playfully tousled his silver hair before pulling his head close, enveloping him in a warm hug. She kissed the top of his head repeatedly, like she’d never get tired of it.

"You’ve always been, and will always be, a full vampire to me, little bat," she said.

"You really need to show her why she should stop calling you that. It’s insulting," the voice chimed in again, offended on his behalf.

But Florian found a rare peace in Riona’s embrace, enough to ignore the snarky commentary from the internal dark voice.

He wrapped his arms around her waist, realizing that he could now encircle her fully. He used to hate how his arms were too short to even make it around her fully but now they’d grown enough that he could hug her properly.

"You’ve grown quite a lot," Riona remarked, noticing the change as well.

"Yeah, Thorin mentioned that too," Florian said with a small grin. "I guess I’m finally catching up. Soon, I’ll be towering over you."

Riona snorted. "Don’t push your luck, little bat."

***

Emperor Kaan moved with the effortless grace of a sage vampirewho’d been around for a million years, despite the fact he hadn’t even hit his first century yet.

His long, silky silver hair flowed behind him, leaving a faint trail of jasmine in the air with every step.

His footsteps were barely a whisper, but his eyes missed nothing. He felt the weight of the servants’ stares as he passed, sensing their awe, fear, or curiosity—he was used to it.

The young emperor had always been gifted with an uncanny ability to notice the smallest details. Just like how he spotted the blue-eyed girl being hurried out of the palace.

She wasn’t just another nobody. There was significance there, something hidden beneath the surface.

He had a gut feeling—an emperor’s instinct—that he was about to uncover something valuable in the Kingdom of Eira.

Emperor Kaan hadn’t anticipated it being the Blood Moon child. But stumbling upon a hidden treasure wasn’t a bad consolation prize.

As his thoughts drifted, the memory of the revelation popped back into his head. Just a few days ago, he’d had a meeting with that pompous elder and his shrewd aide.

The emperor snorted in disdain, irritated by how the elders seemed to lose their sharpness and wisdom the moment they reached the pinnacle of power.

"Inherently superior, huh?" he muttered, echoing Lady Tanith’s exact words.

He laughed to himself. It was almost amusing how she had to flatter a vampire’s ego just to get a point across. Indeed, desperation made people say the most ridiculous things.

But honestly, Emperor Kaan couldn’t have cared less about the elder or the world of vampires in general.

Once he discovered the girl’s true identity as the Blood Moon child, he’d tossed his old plans and started fresh. The goal hadn’t changed, though.

All he needed was the girl. The rest would fall into place eventually.

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