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GAIDA

I’m nicely settled in dreamland when the alarm blares out, waking me with a start. Three sharp blasts followed by a long one. A voice comes over the loudspeaker.

“Stay in your rooms. Repeat. Stay in your rooms.”

“Fuck,” I mutter, climbing out of bed and going to the window. There are ferals… everywhere. The severance is accelerating.

“Shit!”

Students scream outside as they are attacked, heading for designated safe zones.

Professor Wilkes’ movements are jagged and unnatural as she stalks a group of fleeing students. Blood stains her mouth and the front of her once-white blouse.

I don’t hesitate. Opening the window, I leap out and land in a crouch on the academy lawn, dressed in my short cotton pjs. “Hey!” I shout, drawing her attention away from the students.

She whirls toward me, her eyes completely black, fangs fully extended. She hisses, a sound no human or normal vampire could produce.

“That’s right,” I murmur, backing up slowly, leading her away from the others. “Follow me.”

She lunges with feral speed, but I’m faster, dodging her attack. As she crashes into the spot where I stood, I grab her from behind, pinning her arms.

“I need to restrain you, not hurt you,” I grunt, struggling against her unnatural strength. “You’re going to be okay?—”

Her elbow cracks into my ribs with bone-crushing force. Pain explodes through my side as I’m thrown backwards. I slam into a stone bench that shatters under the impact.

“Okay,” I gasp, pulling myself up. “Maybe not so okay.”

Wilkes crouches, preparing for another attack. The sanity is completely gone from her eyes. There’s only hunger and rage. Without a sire bond, she’s lost all connection to her higher self.

I need the sword. But to do what?

The sword of Mashtar materialises in my hand, its familiar weight and golden glow an instant comfort. The runes along its blade glow, and I feel its eagerness. It wants to be used.

Wilkes charges again. This time, I meet her head-on, using the flat of the blade to knock her sideways. She rolls but comes up hissing, unharmed and even more enraged.

From the corner of my eye, I spot two more ferals rounding the building, drawn by the commotion. One I recognise as one of the groundskeepers, and the other is a professor who I know was sired by my dad a long time ago.

“Oh, perfect,” I mutter as they join Wilkes, forming a semi-circle around me.

The air fills with their snarls, a chorus of mindless hunger. I back up slowly, the sword held defensively before me. Its glow intensifies, the runes shifting, almost as if offering suggestions.

A crash from inside the academy draws my attention momentarily. I spot another feral tearing through the hallways. The situation is deteriorating fast.

I shift my grip, angling the blade as instinct guides me. The runes blaze suddenly, and golden light extends from the tip in three distinct threads that race toward the ferals.

The moment the light touches Wilkes, she freezes, her body rigid. The same happens to the other two. The golden threads wrap around them, sinking into their skin. Their eyes glow with the same golden light as the sword.

A strange sensation flows through me, like liquid fire pouring into my veins. I feel... connected to them. I can sense their confusion, their fear, their hunger. More than that, I can sense their submission.

They’re waiting for my command.

“Kneel,” I whisper, the word escaping before I can stop it.

As one, they drop to their knees, heads bowed.

Power surges through me, intoxicating and vast. This isn’t just control, it’s absolute dominion. I could make them do anything. I could build an army this way, bond every feral to me, and through them, every vampire...

Yes, something whispers inside me. This is your birthright. This is what you were born to do.

The voice isn’t mine, yet it resonates with something deep inside me. My vision shimmers, the world taking on a golden hue. I feel my consciousness expanding, connecting not just to these three ferals but to others across the academy grounds. I can sense them all, dozens of broken bonds, minds waiting to be claimed.

Take them, the voice urges. Build. Build.

My lips part, the command forming?—

“Gaida!”

The shout breaks through my trance. I blink, trying to focus on the figure racing toward me.

“Gaida, stop!” It’s Dante, his face etched with concern. Felix is right behind him, hands crackling with dark magick, ready to be unleashed.

“Stay back,” I warn. “I need to finish this.”

“This isn’t you,” Dante says, moving closer despite my warning. “Something’s controlling you through the sword.”

“Nothing is controlling me,” I snap, though part of me recognises the truth in his words. “I’m controlling them. I’m saving them.”

“By binding them to yourself?” Felix steps forward, his grey eyes focused intensely on mine. “Look at what you’re doing, Gaida. Really look.”

I glance down at the kneeling ferals. Their expressions have changed. The rage is replaced by blank adoration. Their eyes track my every movement with absolute devotion. It’s worship, not salvation.

“This isn’t saving them,” Felix continues gently. “This is enslaving them.”

Horror creeps through me as his words sink in. What am I doing? This isn’t what I wanted.

I try to release the sword, but it won’t leave my hand. The golden threads connecting me to the ferals pulse stronger, drawing more of my own essence into them, and something else back into me. Something ancient and hungry and not entirely mine.

“I can’t stop it,” I gasp, panic rising. “The sword won’t let go!”

Dante reaches me first, grasping my wrist. “Let me help you.”

The moment he touches me, the sword reacts violently. Golden energy throws him backwards. He crashes into Felix, and they both go down hard.

“Stay away!” I cry, terrified I’ll hurt them. “It doesn’t want you to interfere!”

They seek to deny your power, the voice whispers. They fear what you could become.

The ferals rise to their feet, moving to form a protective circle around me. Through our connection, I feel their readiness to attack, to defend their new mistress.

“No,” I whisper, fighting against the foreign presence in my mind. “I won’t let you use them like this.”

Dante picks himself up, helping Felix to his feet. Despite the danger, they move toward me again, more cautiously this time.

“Gaida,” Felix calls, his voice steady. “Remember who you are. You’re not a queen or a weapon—you’re Gaida Aragon. You decide what to do with this power, not the other way around.”

His words break through the fog descending over my thoughts. I am Gaida Aragon. I make my own choices.

With tremendous effort, I focus on the golden threads extending from the sword. Instead of letting them pull more ferals into my influence, I concentrate on the three already connected to me. Their bonds were severed, leaving them adrift. But I can feel their original sire bonds, ghostly imprints that still exist beneath the surface.

“I’m not replacing your bonds,” I tell them, speaking both aloud and through our connection. “I’m healing them.”

The sword vibrates in my hand, resisting my intention. It wants to create new bonds, not restore old ones. But this is my decision, not Mashtar’s.

Drawing on everything I am, I direct the golden light to seek out those ghostly imprints, to strengthen them rather than override them. It’s excruciating, like trying to redirect a river with my bare hands. Power rushes through me, threatening to tear me apart.

“Felix,” I manage through gritted teeth. “I need help.”

He doesn’t hesitate. Moving swiftly to my side, he places his hand on the back of my neck. Dark magick flows from his fingers, intertwining with the golden light.

“I’ve got you,” he murmurs. “Use me.”

The pain lessens slightly, enough that I can focus more clearly.

Dante moves closer, placing his hand on my lower back. “I can feel what they’re feeling,” he says quietly. “They’re starting to remember who they are.”

His empathic abilities provide the final piece we need. As Felix and I redirect the connections, Dante guides me with his gift.

Slowly, the blackness recedes from their eyes. The golden glow fades, replaced by normal awareness. One by one, they blink, looking around in confusion.

“What happened?” Wilkes asks, her voice hoarse.

“You’re safe now,” I tell her, feeling the sword’s connection to them fade. “You all are.”

As the last thread of golden light dissipates, the sword vanishes from my hand, disappearing as suddenly as it appeared. The absence leaves me staggering, drained in a way I’ve never experienced before.

Felix catches me before I can fall. “Easy,” he murmurs.

“I wasn’t myself.”

“But you found your way back,” Dante says. “That’s what matters.”

Before I can respond, another alarm sounds—four long blasts. Full academy lockdown.

Luke appears in full Headmaster mode. “The severance is spreading,” he barks out. “Gaida, get to safety. Now.”

The urgency in his tone is frightening.

When I hesitate, he roars, “Go! Your father’s bonds have severed, and they are coming here. For you.”

“All of them?” I croak, the blood draining from my face.

“Most of them.”

“Shit!” I exclaim, and in my panic, I don’t know which way to go.

“The wards will hold,” Felix says calmly.

“I’m not taking that risk,” Luke states. “Go underground. All of you.”

Dante nods and takes my hand, dragging me towards the library and the entrance to the underground chambers.

“Wait, I’m not dressed!” I cry out, for some reason, this seems important. I don’t want to be hunted down in my pjs with my bare arse practically on show.

Felix snaps his fingers and dresses me in black leggings, a long black tee and combat boots. “Kickass,” he smirks. “Nice.”

With an exasperated growl, Luke blasts a bolt of magick at our feet, to get us to move faster.

“What about you?” I cry out as Dante drags me to the library doors.

“I’ll find you.”

Our gaze locks, and I know he will. “Always.”