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The vampire was pushed aside and rammed into the wall on my left. Towering over him was Raphael, teeth bared.

“She. Wasn’t. Lying,” he snarled.

And then with a twist of his other hand, the vampire’s head popped off the body and rolled across the floor.

Disgust and anger warred inside me. The vampire’s blood spilled out, but only a second later the body decomposed into dust.

My chest heaved from the violent mix of emotions.

And while I composed myself, Raphael watched me.

“What are you doing here?” I hissed. “You… you just killed him.” I wasn’t shedding a tear for the vampire, but the sheer violence of Raphael’s movements, decisive and powerful, made my puny stabbing look like child’s play.

Before, he’d ordered the snap of a neck to make a point.

Now, he’d ripped this vampire’s head off in fury.

“I will kill anyone who lays a hand on you.” His words weren’t composed the way they usually were, not the smooth silk of night sky but a thunderous storm cloud. “Now tell me what you’re doing here.”

The anger from before swelled up, but now, instead of being divided between Latia and the other blood dens and all vampires, it was concentrated solely on their king. “I said I wanted to see a blood den. You all refused.”

Raphael prowled closer, but I didn’t back away. “And this is the one you picked?”

I scoffed. “What, should I have found a less exploitative one?”

Raphael looked slightly affronted. “Exploitative? The humans are paid for their service. They’re here willingly. You may not like their choices, but it doesn’t make them wrong.”

I couldn’t even look at Raphael. “Of course they’re willing. After the first bite, who would say no to a second?” Wasn’t that what Latia had said? I crossed to the other side of the room, away from Raphael and the bloodied bed and the pile of ash-filled clothing.

But Raphael was at my heels.

“You did.” His voice had eased some.

It was on the tip of my tongue to admit I had dreamed of that bite over and over, had imagined asking him to take from me again. Only sheer stubbornness had stopped me from making the request. But that confession would cost me. Giving in to my attraction to Raphael would ruin me. Letting him bite me? It would shred my very soul.

I made certain those emotions were tucked behind my mental barriers and said nothing, eyes weaving over the peeling wallpaper.

“What would you have us do instead?” Now he was at my back. His shadow met mine on the wall. “Vampires need blood, much the same as you need air or water.”

“Why not just take from animals? You did fine when we traveled living like that.”

Okay, perhaps not quitefinefrom what he had said. But surely that was better. Every vampire had started as a human. Didn’t they see the betrayal in that?

Or were they all humans like Crowley had been, monsters who felt entitled to harm anyone necessary for their own gain?

“Why should we?” Raphael retorted. “There’s an order to things.”

“And that order will always have the weak at the bottom, and the strong taking what they wish from the top,” I snapped, turning around abruptly.

I regretted it. Raphael was even closer than I’d realized. I had to stare up at him.

“I repeat, they are nottaken. Every human here is in my kingdom willingly, giving their blood willingly. It could be much worse.”

But it could be better. “And would they do this if they had a better option?”

“Did you serve in Greymere because it was your choice, Samara? Did they pay you a wage?”

I jerked back.