Page 17

T he drive to Lower Manhattan from Midtown will take about twenty minutes. My mind races with what I’m going to say to the council. I’ve never requested to turn someone before. Vampires who have been undead for over two hundred years are allowed to sire a human. If that fledgling perishes, they can request another—as long as they’re not requesting to sire more than one human every one hundred years.

It’s not that vampires hate being alone. We’re sexual, and we want companionship, but on our terms... no commitment. Sometimes vampires sire because they’re bored and want a pet, or someone they can order around and mentor. Newbie vampires have to be taught control, learn discipline. Otherwise they’d kill freely, and the human population would dwindle.

Most vampires in royal positions come into the role with their fledgling. Or they find a human to turn soon after. No one questioned why I didn’t have one, but they all knew. I’ve made it clear over the years that I didn’t want to be responsible for bringing another person into this life.

Or maybe I was waiting for my mate.

Before the rules were implemented that vampires had to gain permission to sire a human, the majority were done without consent. The human also has to provide verbal permission. Tonight I’ll present my case and once Henry is killed, I will bring Teddy to appear before the council where he’ll publicly grant me permission.

“You haven’t chewed on your nails in decades,” Layla says, and I jump at her voice. She chuckles. “And I’ve definitely never seen you startle.”

“I’m stressed. Leave me alone.”

She grabs me by the wrist and pulls my hand away from my mouth.

“Talk to me.”

She weaves her fingers with mine and I let out a shaky breath. My friend is so patient with me. She can read my moods better than anyone.

Aside, now, from Teddy.

“Remember when we used to talk for hours until dawn?” she begins, sensing my hesitation to share my concerns. “We’d get drunk off boozed blood and gush about our crushes?”

“I do not gush nor have crushes.”

“You’re right. You’re very selective when it comes to your partners.” She squeezes my hand and I glance her way. A bright smile lights up her beautiful face. If Teddy is my golden retriever sun, then my best friend is the moon who guides me at night.

I’ve been an asshole by not telling her what I had planned. She deserves to know.

I turn in my seat to face her. “I need to confess.”

Layla slips her hand from mine because she knows when I lower my voice to a serious tone that I’m about to drop a bomb.

“I had planned to face the sun the night I met Teddy.”

“What?”

Layla’s fangs drop. She never lets them drop. Yep. She’s pissed.

“Why? Why would you—”

Her voice cracks, and she turns away.

“Fuck you, Millie, for making me cry. You know I don’t like to get my face bloody. ”

“I’m sorry. Obviously, I’ve changed my mind, but you have to understand… I tortured myself for the things I’ve done. The innocent lives I took. I convinced myself the world would be better without me. I was miserable, bored, and lonely. Of course, I had you, but I was holding you back from great things—”

“The hell you were!”

“Layla, please. You had given me companionship, and I knew I would never get that type of friendship again. You deserve more than being my advisor.”

“And you thought ending your life would have, what? Released me?”

“Yes.”

“That’s absurd, Millie May.”

“I know. I realize that now. I didn’t want to bother you with my depressive thoughts, and I sought an easy way out.”

She scoffs. “But then you met Teddy, and he’s your blood mate. Your chance at true love. Is that the only reason you changed your mind?”

“ He is the reason, blood mate or not.”

“Was I not enough for you to stay?”

“You will always be enough, but I was blinded by my horrible past. Teddy helped me realize that I’m not the monster I convinced myself to be.”

“I could have convinced you of that if you had just talked to me.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I’m an idiot.”

Layla sighs, her tense demeanor softening. “You are an idiot, but Millie, I’m here for you. I will always be here for you. Anytime you want to talk. Or if you need to see someone else... a professional...”

I take her hand again and squeeze it once. “Thank you, but trust me, I’ll never have those thoughts again.”

Layla nods and turns her head to stare out the window. The silence between us lasts for an agonizing two minutes. I know it was that long because I anxiously counted in my head.

She huffs. “So what now? You turn Teddy and live happily ever after as Vampire Queen of New York City and her fledgling prince consort?”

“Yes and no. Yes, we will live happily ever after, learning to love each other. But I will no longer be queen.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I want you to have my crown. At least, that is what I will tell the council once I abdicate.”

“Millie, you can’t.”

“I can and I will. You have always been a better fit for the role. You help me make decisions. You have lived longer than me and you are wiser—”

“I highly doubt that.”

“And you want this more than I do.”

She purses her lips and crosses her arms, thinking about my words.

“If you don’t want it—”

“I do.”

“Good. Then once Henry is taken care of and Teddy is turned, I will relinquish the throne.”

We don’t speak the rest of the drive, and I’m sure it’s because Layla is in shock… or she’s attempting to accept my proposal to hand over the righteous title.

We pull up to WOVE Council Hall within five minutes. My security team surrounds us walking in, not taking chances with Henry lingering in the shadows somewhere in the city.

The council hall is inside one of New York City’s oldest buildings with drab marble floors and boring brown and tan walls. Artwork of old, important vampires hang on the wall—including an oil painting of me from when I was first named queen.

The meeting takes place in a large room with a circular table that reminds me of a secret society or a team of villains meeting to plan world domination.

The council is already seated when I enter. The main purpose of this advisory body is to create, maintain, and enforce the rules of our kind. There are ten vampires in total and every member is older than me. Ten voices, with mine being the deciding factor.

It’s too much pressure. Too much responsibility. I like control, but not when it’s deciding important outcomes of other people’s lives. I never wanted this role but felt I had a duty to fulfill it.

Everything is about to change.

I approach the table and stand to address the group.

“Thank you for joining me for this emergency meeting. As you all know, Heinrich de la Nova is the vampire responsible for the many human deaths across our city over the past two weeks. He has escaped capture, and we can no longer allow this rampant killer to remain loose and threaten our existence.”

The men and women around the room nod in agreement.

“My plan is simple, and it will not be up for discussion.”

Everyone leans forward because this is the first time I’ve refused their council. I am allowed to do so as queen, but I never felt a need to override their decisions.

“Heinrich is my sire. Therefore, it is my responsibility to end him. I will be the one to draw him out.”

Raised voices fill the room as the council adamantly renounces this plan. I hold up my hand and they hush .

“As I said, this plan is final. I’ll visit the summer night market in Bryant Park. It’s no secret that it’s one of my frequent haunts. If Heinrich is tracking my whereabouts, he’ll follow me there.

“I will need an undercover team ready with stakes and guns… snipers on rooftops. I’ll wear a stake-proof vest as well.”

Angry and disagreeing voices raise up again.

“I know he is stronger and faster, but if we get him out in the open, then I can wound him or distract him while the team moves in. They can deploy sunlight chains to capture him.”

WOVE researchers created the UV infused metal a few years back to help vampire soldiers take down FVs in a more efficient way. It’s still in testing phases, but it’s the one thing that will keep Henry down while I stake him in the heart.

“And if you die?” a vampire named Heidi asks. She’s a petite blonde from Sweden who was turned at age eighteen but has lived eight hundred years since.

“Then I have my replacement written in my will.”

More head shaking and grumbles reverberate through the room .

“When will this plan of yours happen?” a vamp named Zeke asks. He’s a svelte man from Ghana who was turned at age thirty over six hundred years ago.

“Tomorrow night—”

“Why wait that long when the gang’s all here?”

We all turn toward Henry’s voice as he enters through the double doors dragging Teddy by the neck.

This means the guards I stationed outside my penthouse are either dead or critically injured.

“You son of a bitch!” I yell and start toward him.

He clutches Teddy’s neck tighter.

“Ah ah, Queen. I won’t hesitate to kill him.”

Teddy’s eyes are drooping. He’s pissed himself, and he’s deathly pale.

Henry drank from him.

“You’ve been hiding this tasty human all for yourself, Mildred. And he cannot be compelled? How strange indeed.”

“Let him go and take me instead.”

Henry tsks.

“If I do that, then I have nothing to use as leverage to get what I want.”

“And what might that be?”

“For one? ”

In a blur—even for my enhanced eyes—Henry releases Teddy to speed around the room, staking every guard flanking the walls. One by one, the ten men and women burst into flames. Henry’s back in place, catching Teddy before he hits the ground.

“There. Now they can’t try to kill me.”

The guards outside the door to this room are also likely dead. I glance up to my two griffins, Wylan and Merc, perched in the rafters where they keep watch anytime I’m in this room. I shake my head, letting them know to wait for my order.

Henry should know that backup is on the way.

Unless he already killed them too.

Why did I think we could defeat him? In a flash, he took out the security in one of the most highly protected rooms. He’s gone mad with power, and he will kill anything that gets in his way.

The council members cower in their chairs, all refusing to stand up to Henry. Even those who are nearly as old as him.

They don’t want to fight. They don’t know how to fight. And they definitely don’t want to die.

“Second, I’d like to take control of this council. Not as king, but as your God. ”

I scoff, and Henry punishes my reaction by stabbing Teddy in the stomach with the dagger he’s been holding at his side.

It takes everything in me not to rush to my mate.

“It’s time for our kind to stop hiding and emerge from the shadows,” he says, addressing the room. “I know there are other supernatural beings who share this belief. We should be working together to overpower the human race and rightfully take our spot at the top of the food chain. As vampires, we should be farming the humans. They are our food, not our friends.”

He locks eyes with me.

“And certainly not our lovers.”

“If you think we will allow this—” a council member begins, but she’s abruptly cut off when Henry lets go of Teddy once again to blur across the room and punch his fist in her chest, pulling out her heart. Teddy is back in his hold before the thousand-year-old vamp collapses to the floor.

“Anyone else in disagreement?”

He waits, but no one says a word.

“Not even you, Mildred?”

“Give me Teddy, and I’ll voice my thoughts in return. ”

Henry smiles, and I cringe at how handsome he appears. He’s always been handsome, but that never negated from the pure evil coursing through his veins.

“Sure.” Henry shrugs. “You can have him back.”

He slits Teddy’s throat before tossing his body toward me.