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PROLOGUE

ZAND

P eople will never understand us. Vampires aren’t otherworldly beings. We’re just vampires. We didn’t all go around acting like bloodsucking perverts. We live perfectly normal lives. Some of us go to jobs, some of us have families, and some of us pretended we were still human. Honestly, the vast majority of us pretend to be mortals. We were born human, and it’s the only way we’ve lived for years. Imitating the life we once had seemed natural to us.

After decades of living, we didn’t really see ourselves as completely different creatures from our human counterparts. Vampirism was just our everyday normal existence. I viewed it as like growing up White, Black, Korean or Puerto Rican. It’s all we’ve known for a very long time.

Did people wake up and say, hey I’m White? No, they didn’t. Vampires don’t wake up and say, hey I’m a vampire. It’s just what we are. We are vampires. Sure, we’re keeping it a secret from society. But it was no different from any other secret that humans kept in their day-to-day lives. We hid in the shadows for our own survival. But the reality was we were always hiding in plain sight.

We could go decades without anyone ever suspecting we were vamps. That was my plan, to blend into society and live a normal life in a new city. Five years in Chicago and things were going as planned until— I met a girl. She means everything to me. She is the reason I want more out of my immortal life. I could just be in love with her for as long as she will have me. At least, that was my plan.

I couldn’t believe she chose me. She teased me with her clever love notes. Even though she didn’t know who I was in the beginning. It was like she had some special vampire radar. Calling me a vampire before knowing I was an actual vampire was kismet. There was absolutely no other way to explain it.

One thing I knew for sure, my plans always seemed to be derailed. But that didn’t mean I shouldn’t have a plan. Sometimes I had a plan A, a plan B, and a plan C. She was never supposed to know my true nature.

Never say never. The cat was out of the bag. Or the vampire was out of the coffin. I could no longer conceal my true identity from the woman I loved. I had to put it all out on the table to save her life, regardless of the consequences.

This wasn’t at all how I saw my future with the love of my everlasting life. I considered what telling my secret would look like. But I never imagined it would look so brutally violent. I never thought it would start with me killing her former lover. I wasn’t left with any other options. He was a vile, despicable human. My love for Chanel wouldn’t allow me to see her hurt by that low life. I had to end his life to give her peace.

I was living undercover for so long. Then it all blew up in my face when I received uninvited visitors. They were from my past, and Chanel was my future. In the present I had Chanel. She hadn’t run away from me even after she saw the monster. I thought that I got rid of the beast. I had gone years without killing anyone, but I would kill for Chanel many times over.

If things go as planned, I could just go back to being a random nobody, the reclusive club owner. There was no evidence of a crime. Investigators couldn’t connect Alonzo Lopez’s body to Chanel or me in Illinois, or anywhere else. That’s if he ever washes ashore in the Great Lakes area. Typically, bodies floated to the surface in the springtime, if ever. I hoped for never. Without a body, there was no crime.

I had gotten rid of one problem. Now it seemed Gillian, Teresa, and Harlen had sprung back into my life. Years ago, they were the only family I had. Now, I didn’t want to have anything to do with them. I didn’t need them anymore. I had a new family at The Castle and with Chanel. They were all I needed in my quest to build a kingdom of my own.

I wanted to leave my past in the past. I respected Gillian as my maker, but I didn’t want to see him. His place was in Los Angeles and my place was in Chicago. Then there was my brother Harlen. He was unpredictable. After betraying me I only wanted him to leave town peacefully. But my ex, Teresa, was a wildcard. I have a feeling she will be trouble.

My mind, heart, and body only belonged solely to one person. I didn’t have any room for the vampires from my past. They were all dead to me, and I happily walked amongst the living.