Page 14 of Violence and Vice

“Good,” Florence says. “We’re going to need all the help we can get.” She steps for the door, hesitating just before she walks out. “I’m sorry, Lana. I am. That I made such a monumentaldecision for you. But I’d do it again. The Hunts do anything for the people they love.”

Before I can respond, she slips out the door, closing it with a quiet click.

Florence rarely makes apologies. She rarely makes mistakes.

And I don’t know that either of us truly views her decision as a mistake.

Not when the other option was death.

But once I’m alone again, something within me stirs.

The hunger starts as a slow pulse in my gut. Subtle, creeping, but insistent. My throat feels dry, my mouth tingling with the need for something more. It’s been hours since my last taste, and my body knows it.

The cooler sitting on the counter is like a beacon. My eyes slide to it, and somehow, I just know exactly what’s inside it.

With steady but greedy hands, I swing open the lid, and exactly as I knew there would be, there are a dozen bags of donated blood inside. I grab one of them, barely hesitating before I rip it open. The second the blood touches my tongue, relief crashes through me. The liquid spreads down my throat, filling my veins, settling the restless energy vibrating in my limbs. It’s like pouring gasoline on a dying flame—it roars back to life, strong and steady.

Holy shit. It’s amazing how this feels. How… perfect I feel. Like nothing could ever go wrong, like nothing could ever touch me. I feel like a fucking demi-god.

“But this is every day now,” I say to myself as I look at the empty bag.

Every. Damn. Day. I will need to drain one of these bags.

And it hits me like a bolt of lightning.

Or I could feed live.

There’s a reason for these sharpened teeth. Just like I’ve seen Augustus do, just like Lawrence did to me, I could sink these fangs into someone’s neck and draw out their blood.

Holy fucking shit.

The reality of it hits me in the chest.

I am a vampire.

A vampire.

Me.

Lana Kincade, soon to be Lana Hunt, is a vampire.

If I were the me of two days ago, I would feel a spiral coming on. Humans can only take in so much at once before there starts to be adverse side effects.

But I’m not human anymore.

Still, I don’t want to dwell on something that’s already said and done.

So, my eyes turn to the windows that look out at New York.

Somewhere out there, Ares is lost. Alone.

Hunting.

I set my jaw.

I’m coming for him.

And I won’t stop until I find him.