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
Simone's POV“Imogen!” my mother’s name echoes through the hallways. “What the hell is wrong with you?”"Is that Herod?" Aldric asks."Yes." I sigh and get off the bed. “She did it again,” “What did she do?” Aldric asks.“She probably killed a donor…or three, or she made a vampire to feed on. It's usually one of the two.”My groom doesn’t wait for me. Enraged already, he yanks the door open and turns left, in the direction of the stairs.I run after him, quickly catching up with the group standing in the lobby. Four terrified neophytes, young boys that are no older than sixteen, are huddling together. They don't even know what's going on. “How the hell did you make four vampires at once?” Herod asks.These vampires, much like the ones Ruth makes, don’t look quite right. Their eyes are vacant and their mouths droop open with spittle running down their chins. They are confused and scared.One of the boys catches the scent of a human. His fangs drops and he tries to break from the group
Aldric's POV“You were supposed to wait,” Simone says as she follows me down the path that leads to the beach. “Baron was supposed to give back my memories before you killed him.”She’s spitting mad at me, but I seized the opportunity while I had it and killed the old overlord before he caught wind of the plan and went into hiding.He was always very good at sniffing out a plot, and even though I wanted to help my bride to get her memories back, I decided to listen to my new instincts instead, and they were screaming at me to kill Baron right away. “I know, and I’m sorry, but honestly Simone, after everything…do you want those memories in your head? You don't know what happened, what they'll do to you.”“They’re my memories!” she says. “I deserve to know what really happened to me.”“What happened to you?” Imogen asks sarcastically. “What about me? You were treated like a princess, protected from the vampires even from birth. Me, I was a brood mare for them.”“Oh don’t be so fucking d
Aldric's POV I fly out over the ocean with Imogen’s body in my arms, dropping it when I can no longer see land. If she washes up somewhere, the sun will take care of her remains. Otherwise, the sea life will be happy to do the job for us. I land next to Simone who is sitting on the beach, her legs pulled up, forearms resting on her knees, the stake hanging loosely in her hands. “Are you all right?” “Will you find it strange if I say yes?” “No,” I reply and put my arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. “I am surprised that you’re still here, though.” Imogen didn’t die quickly or easily. Simone missed the spot the first time, slamming the stake into her mother’s breastbone where it remained firmly lodged until I wiggled it free. The vampire screamed in pain as the Ash burned her and she healed much too slow. “This is why you don’t feed on vampires,” I said, as I looked straight at my bride. “It weakens you.” She nodded at me, her cold eyes on her mother. “Try again,” I inst