Page 164 of Cruelly Bitten
When Jace and Darius remained quiet, I assumed Ryder’s summary was an accurate one.
“I see,” I said slowly. “Well, if I did have a plan, it’s gone now. And I won’t be getting my memories back. So how shall we proceed?” Because I wasn’t going to sit here and brainstorm ideas I knew nothing about.
Lilith’s files had prepared me to lead her version of the world, and I happened to agree with a few of her points. Perhaps not all of them, but enough to understand what she’d been trying to accomplish.
Vampires needed blood to survive. Lycans needed fertile females to procreate and carry on their packs.
Thus, without humans, we would all eventually die.
And the mortals of this world were slowly going extinct.
Creating immortal blood sources was practical.
But we wouldn’t even be in this situation had lycans and vampires been a little more conscientious of their human supply. They’d become greedy. Insatiable. Borderline wasteful.
Therefore leading the Blood Alliance to their current dilemma—one Lilith’s files had suggested many of the alliance members weren’t even aware of.
“Where would you recommend we start in cleaning up this disaster?” I asked, genuinely curious as to whether or not anyone had considered a strategy outside of the one I’d supposedly concocted twelve decades ago. “Moreover, what precisely do you want us to do?”
“Exactly what was done a hundred and eighteen years ago,” Khalid responded, his interjection unexpected, considering my questions had been geared toward Jace and Darius. “Rewrite society and implement a new way of life,” he clarified.
The rest of the room stared at him.
Well, everyone except Hazel, anyway. She was too busy grinning. “I think it’s time to show them, Khalid.”
“I think you might be right,” he murmured, removing his hood—the one he’d been hiding behind since I’d entered theroom. The candlelight flickered in his gaze as he stood. “Come with me, Emine. It’s time for a game of show-and-tell.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
DARIUS
Arrogant.
Cold.
Utterly lacking in humanity.
Not the Cam we lost.
Except the way he looked at Ismerelda said otherwise. That possessive glimmer in his gaze was one I recognized. I’d witnessed it countless times over their millennium together.
Yet everything else about his behavior reminded me of a former life. A time when he’d been a bit more removed from mortal kind. He’d seen humans as a means for pleasure and food.
But Ismerelda had changed that.
I just hadn’t realized how much until now.
His memories are gone,I marveled.How does that even work?
Because clearly, he could recall some things. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be speaking with such a subdued English accent. He’d be using older terms, be completely inept in this technology-driven world, and lost to the mannerisms of the past.
However, he presented himself as someone who understood his current reality, even if he didn’t know how we’d arrived here.
It was confounding and borderline unnerving.
Although, Khalid seemed to be trying to compete with Cam for king of theconfoundingcategory. He’d pulled up a screen from a device that resembled a small disk, the size of it rivaling my thumb. It wasn’t a technology I’d ever seen before, but I refrained from asking questions.
Observing had always been my specialty.
