Page 127 of Kingly Bitten

Even if ten of them banded together, I’d slaughter them all.

I was faster and stronger, something I demonstrated now by phasing to the edge of the platform. It happened in less than a blink, my ability one only ancients possessed. I rarely used it, as I seldom had cause to demonstrate my power. However, I would now. Even if it meant removing a few more heads.

Fortunately, intelligent life began to stir below as a few vampires gathered the breathing humans and brought them to me like some sort of sick offering of fresh meat.

I observed them, watching those who treated the mortals with more care than the others.

Those were potential allies.

The others were sadists that lived in this region for a reason.

Of course, I could have deciphered that based on who had played on the stages and who had only observed from the shadows. I suspected some of those had only been here to see me, or maybe Jasmine, not the show.

Word would have spread of our visit, and it wasn’t uncommon for a vampire to request an audience to discuss a potential relocation. The best way to do that would be to catch the attention of the royal in a club or at dinner and hope the royal waved them over for a quick chat.

A few of these vampires might just get their wish.

Most of the humans remained absolutely still, even the ones who were thrown haphazardly over the rope into the VIP area around me.

“Only fourteen,” I said, sighing. “What a waste.”

“Indeed,” Darius agreed. He’d sent a message off to “Lilith” a few minutes ago. We were waiting for a callback, which everyone in this club knew.

A few had made some texts of their own, likely to spread word that I’d just killed Lajos.

I wasn’t concerned.

If anyone wanted to seek revenge, I welcomed it. Calina’s still-silent state left me in a lethal mood. I could use a little outlet for the violence brewing inside me.

Instead, I focused on the mortals by pulling a few up off the floor and leading them to the other leather benches in this area. It was Lajos’s private area, reserved only for special guests such as other royals. The platform’s size rivaled Lajos’s ego, making it large enough to accommodate all the mortals and then some.

After situating the last of the humans from the floor, I ventured over to the female on our table and carefully lifted her into my arms.

Her head lolled backward, lifeless.

Yet she hadn’t been bled.

This was what happened when a human psyche broke—they stopped caring or feeling. Having to carry the instruments to her own death had probably been the final nail in her coffin.

I brushed the tangled strands from her face as I carefully laid her on an empty bench. “You’re safe,” I whispered to her.

She wasn’t.

Not yet.

But she would be.

Her lack of awareness stung as I left her there in a cloud of her own misery. There was only so much I could do in a world consumed by prestige and violence. But what so many failed to see was that humans weren’t the only ones suffering.

Some of the vampires lurking at the edges of the room worked here.

It was their job to prepare the meals, while all they could eat were the scraps. And they probably lived in this godforsaken establishment, too.

Because this whole society was built around honoring and worshipping royals. Young vampires were left to starve. Those of inconsequential lines were given menial jobs to earn their keep.

This wasn’t a utopia, even for those who lived forever.

It was a fucking dictatorship.