AldricLuban slips the Ash stake into my hand, but Baron notices and quickly tries to stop me. “Wait, wait, wait,” he says. “You can’t kill me. It’s against our laws, and you live and die by our laws, don’t you?”“I stopped caring about the law when Asmodeus took my bride from me,” I hiss. “All’s fair in love and war, isn’t it?”Baron looks up into sky. “My family’s up there. My sons, my daughters, if you kill-”Grabbing the back of Baron’s head, I plunge the stake into his chest. It’s surprisingly easy. His breastplate snaps like a dry twig, and the tip of the stake pierces his heart, but I don’t drive it all the way home.He inhales sharply, his eyes widen in surprise and fear. He swallows against the blood that starts to bubble out of his mouth. “I am their master now,” I whisper in his ear. “You should have remembered that before you came here. They can't touch me.”I'm fairly certain they can. If Asmodeus could be lured into the catacombs to be entombed, then I'm definitely not u
Simone's POV I don’t wake slowly as I usually do, but with a jolt and a screaming headache. I didn’t even know vampires could get headaches. Tonight, unlike other nights, there's a blood bag waiting for me on the bedside table. I'm not thirsty, but hoping it will ease the headache, I tear the bag open and drink half of it before I discard it. I feel sick. Almost hungover, and the blood is only making it worse. I killed people last night. So many that I lost count. Every kill comes crashing in on me at once, each in startling clarity, each ghost fighting inside my head to be seen first. The vampire guard outside my room. I just ripped his head off. The human slave that was in the process of washing the floors. I drank from her until her heart stopped beating and simply dropped her where we stood. The young man that came running from his room to see what was going on. I was so violent with him that I broke his neck. One by one, the murders come to me. I showed no mercy. Vampires a
Aldric’s POVThree weeks. It’s been three weeks since I’ve seen my bride. Since I held her and felt her. Since I inhaled her scent and kissed her lips.Three weeks.And we’re no closer to finding out why Asmodeus is holding on to her than we were on the night Simone stepped into that lion’s den.I expected her to wake up on the night after her bloodlust rampage filled with remorse, but I felt nothing from her. Not even a flicker. She is blocking me on instinct now, and it hurts like hell, but I understand why she's doing it. It's the only way she can stay sane.Luban and I spend most of our time in the basement of one of the many abandoned homes in this town. Asmodeus made quick work of killing as many humans as he could, and the rest fled - most didn't get far before the vampires fell on them and murdered them too.Every night, I watch as Asmodeus leaves with his vampires to kill more humans, wiping out entire camps sometimes. The old magisters keep showing up here, complaining about
Simone's POVI wake to Asmodeus screaming at someone in the hallway. "How the fuck did you let this happen?"I'm getting used to the ancient vampire's unhinged rants. He's coming undone. Every day, he is just a little worse, goes a little more insane.There’s no blood waiting for me tonight. There hasn’t been any food for a few nights now. Asmodeus killed most of the humans in the hotel, then moved on to the surrounding towns, murdering every living thing in his way. Aldric and his allies rescued those they could, the rest died or crawled into the deepest, darkest holes they could find.Our donors are wearing thin and our lord and master decided to start rationing our blood supply. This is the longest I've gone without feeding. We went from one blood bag a night to one every other night and now we’re on one a week. We’d have even less blood available if Asmodeus didn’t start to cull the vampires while he was at it.I stretch and try to work up enough saliva to swallow past the dry bur
Simone's POVOutside the hotel, a battle wages as Knut breaks the protection spells place around me. I don't know who is fighting whom, but they're all very young neophytes, one dying after the other and falling from the sky as they do. "Where is Asmodeus?" I ask as I watch the battle rage on all sides."Left to kill more humans, I suspect," Knut said.At last, he manages to break the final spell, but as I step through the window, a loud alarm starts to scream. alerting every vampire within earshot that Asmodeus's prize is about to escape.Knut ignores the attack on us, but grabs me mid-air, tightly holding on to my waist as he easily outflies the much younger vampires that try to stop us.He doesn't let me go as he flies us deep into the mountains where we rest in a cave for the day. We don’t speak, but he does give me blood when I wake the next morning.We leave the mountains and fly across the dark ocean, landing on a deserted island out in the middle of nowhere. It reminds me a li
Aldric's POVI can’t do this anymore. I can't keep having battle after battle. No one winning and no one losing. Just vampire against vampire spilling each other's blood and for what? One megalomaniac who refuses to admit he was wrong and move on with his life? I’ve been separated from my bride for nearly three months because of him, and the hole in my heart keeps growing bigger as this stupid war keeps dragging on. We’re running out of supplies – humans, blood, and soldiers alike – and Asmodeus went into hiding. Even his sons can’t find him. I haven’t spoken to Simone since the night Knut busted her out of the hotel. Athenia is close by, keeping an eye on her as she had done since Simone was a child, but the only information my sister will give me is that she is alive and well. Herod fetched Imogen from the Tyrs as I ordered. From what I understand, she was pissed as all hell, but while her bond with Baron never formed properly, she still shared a bond with their bloodline sire, an
Aldric’s POVWe fly across the breathtaking countryside, just taking in the haunting beauty of Herod's estate bathed in the blue light of the full moon. We steer clear of the beach, but we can hear the breaking waves in the distance.“When did you learn to fly?” I ask. “Asmodeus taught me,” she replies. “He said you’re too careful with me, too afraid that I’ll get hurt.”He was right. I did try to wrap her in cotton wool and protect her from every, little thing. I so much wanted her to be safe. I never wanted her to go through any of this, but I did her no favours. I didn’t equip her to deal with the vampire world. “I’m sorry,” I say.She turns to look at me and dives down to earth. My heart leaps into my throat and without thinking I go after her, landing behind her.She’s beautiful sight, silhouetted against the moon with her porcelain skin glowing in the pale light, her blonde hair blowing in the gentle breeze.I fold my arms around her, pulling her tightly against me. Heat radiat
Simone's POVAldric doesn’t answer me right away, but I can practically hear his gears turning as he’s scrambling for something to say. “I don’t mind, no, but…I have to ask why? She is your mother. Your family.”“You are my family now,” I say. “You and your brothers, Darrick…Imogen is not a good person.”“No vampire is.”“But she enjoys it, Aldric,” I say. "She enjoys hurting people, killing them...she's a complete psychopath."He shoves his hands in his pockets and kicks at a random rock. “Darling, when you were in the bloodlust, you enjoyed it too.”“And I hated myself for it when I woke up.” The memory of a young slave women screaming, begging me to stop, pops into my head and tears well in my eyes. “I still…think about it and wish I could go back and stop myself.”“If we killed every vampire that enjoys murder, we’d never stop killing.”“Herod told me that back in the day…vampires like her would be beheaded or thrown in the howling pits.”Aldric’s eyes narrow at me. “How bad is sh