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“I suspect he started taking some of that drug blood, you know. On some of our trips to our own banks, there would be vans from the Capital and Prince Layrr would tell me that he’d take care of it. Sometimes, we’d be there for a few days and he’d go off on his own, barely talking to anyone and getting into fights with anyone who challenged him.”

“Marlon told me that Layrr watched the women coming in to donate blood and sometimes commented on them. This started to worry Marlon, especially when the girls would go missing soon after. Their friends or family would report them missing and state the last place they visited, as being the blood bank.”

“One evening, one of his men opened one of the empty vans and found a girl inside, tied up, but still alive. She was covered in bite marks, not enough to kill her, but he was using her to drink from, keeping her as a slave. The man let the girl go after swearing her to silence and came to Marlon, telling him the whole story.”

“The next morning, that man was dead. Marlon went to Tanata, to tell her about it. We were in the Capital at the time and she told him she would tell me about it. The next thing he heard, she was dead.”

“So, you think Layrr killed Tanata to keep her quiet?” Izzy asked.

“I would like to think that Layrr wouldn’t want to kill me, but now, I can’t even be sure of that. I think Tempesto put pressure on him to kill me and he was trying to find a way to do it. First, he had to get rid of Tanata, she was in the way.”

I stared out at the valley, the mist that clung to the trees and the woods.

“I don’t know if I can do it, Izzy,” I told her. “I know it has to be done, but he’s my son. I’d always thought he would take over all of this one day. I would rather… it was someone else.”

“I understand,” she said.

She came up to me and embraced me. I felt such tenderness for her then, and stroked her face.

“You’ve forgiven me?”

“For what?”

“Yelling at you, that night at your house.”

She smiled. “You did save my life, again.”

“I won’t do it again,” I said. “I promise.”

“Does the promise of a vampire mean anything?” she asked me, lifting an eyebrow teasingly.

“It does, when it comes from me,” I said.

She stroked my cheek. “I know that,” she said.

“Will you stay here, with me?” I asked her.

“Yes,” she said and I pulled her close. “For a while.”

I said, “I am going to give you some extra protection.”

From a little wooden box, I took out a silver cross, on a chain.

“Wear this, no vampire will come near you.”

“What is it?”

“I had it made for you,” I said. “A gift.”

The necklace would repel any vampire who came too close to her. It would take a very determined and ferocious vampire to withstand the magic that was contained in the necklace.

“I want you to feel as safe as possible here,” I said.

I put the necklace on her and she tucked it under her clothes. I felt its power straight away. It was nauseating.

“Maybe… don’t wear it around me,” I said and she took it off laughing.

“I thought the vampire king would be strong enough to withstand it!”