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His closest friend. A convenient target for my fury. “How could he do this to me?” I demanded. “Where’s Raphael? I need to see him. Now!”

The bark of laughter fell flat off the unyielding stone. “You think you have any right to demand to see the king?” He shook his head. “He’s in a coma, recovering from the poison you put in his veins.” He gave me a look of disbelief. “The first human he ever agrees to turn, and she poisons him.”

I didn’t agree to anything.

“A coma?” Why that panic temporarily overpowered the rage I felt at him, I couldn’t explain. The fear of Raphael dying was somehow even more primal. Then my rational brain broke through. I felt every single dark, evil emotion I associated with vampires when I hissed, “Good. Let him die from it.”

Demos snarled in front of the copper gate. For the first time, I wondered if it was there not to keep me here but to keep the other vampires from the void who had murdered their king.

“King Raphael will wake up,” Demos hissed, his usual composure lost.

Gone was Demos who had trained me. In his place was Iademos, general to the Vampire Kingdom of the West. The general wasn’t just a strategist; he was a warrior, and he wanted to strike me down for betraying the ruler he’d sworn allegiance to.

“And when he finds out what you’ve done, he’ll make you rue the day you came to Damerel. It won’t be a quick death, you gutter rat. Four hundred years I have kept him safe from every threat, but here you slipped into our midst.”

No, no, no!The wordsI didn’t mean tobubbled up in my throat, but there was no way to vent them. I backed up farther and farther with each accusation landing like an axe on a rotted tree, making me crumble and wilt.

Iademos surged forward, and I flinched, but all he did was push a goblet between the cell bars and set it on the floor. Where it had come from, I didn’t know. The smell immediately hit me, and a cavern I’d been unaware of opened up inside my body. Hunger, thirst, an indescribable blend flooded my system.

It smells… good.I dove for the cup, faster than I’d known my body to be able to. It was as though in one second I was across the cell, then the goblet was halfway to my lips before I realized what I was about to do.

Blood. It was blood.

I tossed it across the cell. The blood sprayed across the floor, a glittering crimson beacon. Once, it would have reminded me of my mother’s death. Now, all I saw wasa cure to this animal hunger, this deep pit of unnatural thirst, inside me.

How dare he do this to me? He’d promised. I’d have chosen to die a thousand deaths before I let myself live as this monster. One who took, and took, and took to survive.

“Don’t be petulant.” Iademos crossed his arms in front of the gate. “You need to drink. All new vampires do.”

“I won’t!” I snarled. Did I sound more like an animal that time?Why did he do this to me? My chest ached, even though my heart no longer beat.

“You will. If you don’t now, you’ll be begging for a sip within the next two days.” He bent to pick up the goblet. Was he going to bring me more blood?

Could I throw it away a second time if he did? Was my nature so easily changed?

I sprinted forward again and somehow managed to snag the goblet.

Then I hurled it through the slotted bars. It collided with the cavern wall and chipped the stone with terrifying force.

“Get away!” I screamed. “Get away, and don’t you dare bring me blood again!”

I expected Iademos to argue.

But instead, while looking at me, he retreated. Five deliberate slow steps. He made no move for the goblet, simply looking at me as if waiting.

There were no rapid heartbeats to accompany the thunderous panic I felt as Iademos obeyed. His eyes were glazed like a human’s under thrall.

What?

“Go back to your post and forget what just happened,” I stammered.Is he really going to…

Demos turned on his heel and went to the other side of the cavern, his spine straight as he assumed the practiced stance of a guard with his hands crossed behind his back. The glazed look left his eyes, but he said nothing.

My mind raced, trying to come up with an explanation, but there was only one possibility. Only one creature had dominion over vampires, only one power could make them obey with the same ease they commanded humans into blind obedience.

The scourge they feared, the way I had feared them ever since my mother died in front on me.

The necromancer.

A feral smile curled over my lips.

I was the necromancer Raphael had been hunting for centuries.

And I was going to tear his kingdom apart, one fanged monster at a time.