Lucius Septimus.
The fucking Vampire King himself.
“What the fuck do you want, Vampire?”He barely had time to blink before I slammed him into the wall, my forearm crushing his throat. My demon snarled with delight at the contact.
‘Break him.
Spill him.
He thinks he is immortal.
Bleed him anyway.’
Then I heard a voice that should not have been anywhere near me.
“Put him down.”
My entire body went rigid, and my demon roared in fury.
Which was when I saw him.
Dominic Draven stepped into view, shadows bending around him, power humming through the air like thunder before a storm.
My father.
The King of all supernatural life on Earth. The one I blamed for everything. The one who had dragged me into existence without a choice. The sight of him twisted something violent and hollow inside my chest.
‘Of course, he is here.
Of course, he could not leave us alone.
Of course, he wants something.’
I let Lucius drop. Not because he ordered it, but because I was too busy glaring at the man who had given me life when he should have spared me and the world the sickness.
“Leave, old man, and take your bloodhound with you,” I snapped.
Pain flickered through his expression before he masked it.
Good.
Let him feel something for once.
“Can’t do that,” he said quietly. “I have a job for you.”
“Fuck you and fuck your job,” I snarled.
He inhaled, slow and controlled, the way someone does when they are trying not to show emotion in front of you. The demon inside me hissed in amusement, despite the twinge of my own emotions, like a sliver of guilt I hated to admit was there.
‘Show him.
Show him what his creation really is.
Make him fear you.’
He held my stare as he opened a metal case and revealed something that made every breath vanish from my lungs.
The Heirloom Seal of the Realm.