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“Adem, I am so sorry about Enre,” I said, raising my hand to his shoulder.

He drew out of the range of my touch, his scarred face tormented by his sorrow. “As am I. ”

“I am sorry, too. ” Laura’s voice was timid and soft. We both turned toward her. She combed her fingers through her long damp hair as she stared at us with her large doe-eyes. “I am sorry. Truly. I know what I did was terrible and wrong, but in that moment I had no control over my new nature. ”

“I understand, but that does not take away the sting of loss,” Adem answered.

Ducking her head, Laura lowered her eyes.

“You will be fine with her?” Adem asked me.

“Yes. I am famished, but I can feed off of Katya. ”

Katya grinned, her eyes fastened upon me as her fingers played with her golden hair.

“Katya can sleep in my room. I shall sleep upon the sofa when I return in the morning. I suggest you keep Laura with you. ”

Nodding my head, I followed him to the entrance to my suite. “Thank you, Adem. ”

His eyes strayed to Magda. My maid was standing just within the doorway to my bedroom. “Keep her safe from Laura. ”

“I will not hurt her,” Laura snapped.

“See that you do not,” Adem said, and was gone.

“Give me your wrist,” I ordered Katya.

She coyly tucked her head to one side, offering her neck.

Magda stormed toward her. “Do not defy the mistress!”

Katya pouted and thrust out her arm. I sat beside her and bit into her wrist. I heard Laura gasp and I used the last tendrils of my power to hold her still. I could hear Laura’s rapidly beating heart in her chest: a heart beating with the blood of her dead parents. I did not let my mind linger long on those thoughts. I drank quickly and only enough to extinguish the worst of my hunger pangs.

Leaning back, I licked Katya’s warm blood from my lips. I could feel her life feeding into mine, renewing me. My strength had not yet fully returned, but the worst of my hunger was gone. Katya rewarded me with a sulky look as she watched her wrist heal.

“Do not offer yourself to her,” I instructed, pointing at Laura who was watching us with soulful eyes. “She does not have full control over herself yet and she could kill you. ”

“Not on purpose,” Laura protested.

“Even if you did not do it on purpose, she would be dead nonetheless. ”

Both young women regarded me with hurt in their eyes, but both nodded nonetheless.

“Laura, you will not feed unless I am with you until I am certain that you have your wits about you. Katya, I place you under Magda’s instruction. You will heed her words, or I will send you back to your father. ”

Any protest that had hovered upon Katya’s lips was squashed away by the firm pressing of her lips together upon hearing my final threat. I knew Katya would want to stay near the vampires she craved so much. And if I knew anything at all about young women is that once they lived a life free of their father’s rule they would not be keen to return to his control.

Standing, I pressed my hands against my bosom, feeling the dull thud of my own heartbeat. “We must be wise. We must be careful. All has become perilous so very quickly. Laura, you must always do as I say. I am your Mistress and you will obey me, if not by your will, but by my power. I do not wish to coerce you in any way, so I beg of you to listen to my hard-won wisdom. ”

Laura threw herself into my arms, clinging to me. “I love you! I would never do anything to hurt you! You are my mother vampire now! You are my family, Glynis! I love no one more than you!”

Holding her, I pressed kisses against her cheek. “I love you, Laura. I will do all I can to assure you are safe in this dark world we must now inhabit. But you must obey me. ”

“I killed them for both of us. Truly,” she said, her large eyes seeming quite innocent.

Yet, I could not forget how she had appeared as she stood in the hallway drenched in the blood of her parents. I had craved vengeance against Sir Stephan, but not like this. Never like this.

I lifted my eyes to see Magda staring at me with sadness in her eyes. She knew as well as I that there would be difficult times ahead.