I now understood why Silvanus demanded respect. He ruled his sanctuary with an iron fist. He proved to us that we could maintain our Deamhan nature without bringing attention to ourselves. We just needed to remember that our actions affected our brethren and our kind around the world. Instead of allowing our animal instincts to take over, we had to control it. If we had to kill, it was our responsibility to dispose of our victims in the proper manner. We fed discreetly but only on humans who knew our true nature, never on those who remained clueless.

  These rules contradicted Ethel who believed that not only did we not have to fear anyone, but they had to fear us. She didn’t care about the consequences of leaving our victims in the open. She hunted in the cities, taking a large group of Deamhan with her, and they wreaked havoc among the cobblestone streets. Some Deamhan considered her an Ancient and now, with two Ancients staying under the same roof, no one could stand up to us, including the vampires.

  Content with the humans that Silvanus provided me, I didn’t leave the sanctuary in the following weeks, unlike my siblings. Finley often went with Ethel and when he returned, he told me stories about how thrilling it felt to eye his potential victims from the shadows, picking out what scent soothed his hunger at that moment. He enjoyed the young Irish girls while Branda and Brandy hunted whoever smelled good and they shared their meals together. Anastasia proved to be more particular and she took her time in choosing whom she wanted: older women who smelled and looked like they had suffered in life.

  Still Finley’s nighttime activities didn’t stop him from secretly feeding from Adele. I warned her to stay away from him but that only made her want to be around him more. To protect their secret, I lied to Silvanus when he questioned the extra bite marks on her neck.

  News had spread among us that the vampires now knew of my location and they would soon come to the sanctuary to kill us all. Silvanus and Ethel didn’t tremble at this news. She volunteered to go to London and smite any vampires that crossed her path. Bent on avoiding a war and making things worse, Silvanus forbade her to go but she went anyway and returned with the news that she had slain a nest of vampires and that one of them revealed to her that a traitor lived among us at the sanctuary.

  This news angered Silvanus and for days he questioned all Deamhan, including Anastasia whom he believed to be the traitor. During one night, I went to Finley’s room and planned on begging him to stop feeding from Adele. When I walked in I saw that Adele had taken her shirt off and now, instead of feeding from her stomach, Finley had moved to her inner legs in an attempt to hide her bite wounds from Silvanus’ eyes.

  I violently pushed her away from him. Finley didn’t like my reaction and he began to scream that I had no right to interrupt his feeding.

  “Do you want to die?” I screamed back. “She will be the death of you, Finley. Mark my words.”

  “You don’t feed from her anymore,” he said to me. “Why do you still continue to care?”

  “Are you deaf or are you just refusing to listen to reason?”

  Adele tucked her hair behind her right ear and she opened her mouth to speak. Before she could, I snapped my head in her direction.

  “Say another word,” I warned her, “and I will kill you myself.”

  Adele instantly drew quiet.

  “Now leave this room and don’t come back here. This is your last warning.” I grabbed her arm and shoved her out of the room, closing the door behind her.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Please, don’t speak of my wrongs and how you’re trying to save me.” Finley eyed me. “I don’t think I can take it anymore.”

  “I’m going to keep telling you until you understand and stop your nonsense.”

  “I don’t want to stop what you call nonsense, Maris.”

  “Remember what Anastasia said before we arrived here? All the minions belong to Silvanus,” I said.

  “Oh! So now you’re quoting our sire. Someone you no longer trust?”

  I sighed. “As we speak, Silvanus is out there trying to find the traitor.”

  “And so?”

  “You have to tread carefully these next days. He’s on the hunt.”

  “Who bloody cares!” He raised his voice at me. “I’m tired of hearing about his wrath! I’m tired of your blind trust in him! I’m not afraid of him! He isn’t the one holding our future by a string. You are!”

  I stopped. “What are you saying?”

  He looked away from me.

  “No, tell me. What are you saying?” I asked again.

  “Never mind I said anything.”

  “No, I want to know what’s on your mind. I want to know what you think of me.” His outburst now weighed me down, pushing my feelings for him to an all-time low. I wanted to believe that he stood by my side and that our bond was strong enough to stand up to anything thrown at us. In that moment, though, I felt it stretching and soon it’d snap like a rubber band under pressure.

  “Ethel spoke about you on our feeding nights in London.” He remained still and I felt his eyes move back and forth. “She said that you had the knowledge, the power that would either condemn us or save us. She told us everything, and you know what?” His eyes finally locked onto me. “It made me angry. It made me wonder why Silvanus—why any of us—still allow you to live.”

  I sat next to him and I placed my hand on his leg.

  “She said if the vampires had you, they would use you to end us. She also said that Deamhan could use you to secure our future but whatever is inside you has most Ancients fearful for their lives and safety. It is not stable. That is why Silvanus keeps you close to him.”

  “I know.” I placed my hand on his cheek and I smiled briefly.

  “All of us ate up her words without a doubt. Then I saw it in Anastasia’s eyes. It was the same thing I saw in Branda and Brandy’s eyes. I knew they had subconsciously reached a decision that you are too dangerous to let live.” He turned toward me. “Ethel will kill you, Maris. If not Ethel then maybe the twins, maybe Anastasia, maybe even myself.”

  “You won’t harm me, Finley.”

  “Don’t be so sure about that.” He lowered his head. “I wanted to rush back here and rip out your heart in your sleep.” He rubbed his hands together. “Last night, after returning from the city, I stood in your room as you slept. I thought that this was the moment where everything would change for the better. But seeing you there, I just couldn’t do it. All I could think about was protecting you from all of this, and taking you far away from here, regardless if it meant my death or the death of all Deamhan.” He pointed to my chest. “I’m afraid to say it but that trinket, whatever it is, will save you one day.”

  I felt his remorse and I understood his confusion about what to do. He stood at a crossroads, afraid to decide and take sides. I felt it in my blood that our bond was now stronger than it had ever been up to that moment and I was sure he could feel it as well.

  “Tell Silvanus,” he said to me. “Maybe he can send you to America as soon as possible.”

  “I want you to come with me.”

  Deamhan don’t cry. It’s not that we don’t want to, but there isn’t an ounce of liquid in our bodies to create tears of any kind. However, his face trembled and he forced himself to show emotion; another thing that we had a hard time achieving.

  “I don’t think you’d want me to, Maris. I don’t know if my instincts to kill you would prove stronger than my bond with you.”

  Suddenly we heard a loud scream coming from the first floor of the sanctuary. We locked eyes and I sensed that Finley knew the heart wrenching yell came from Adele.

  I immediately latched on his arm. “Don’t go out there.”

  “Let me go.” He growled and slapped my hand away. He immediately left the room and I followed. We rushed down the stairs just in time to see Brandy heading toward the meeting room.

  Finley placed himself in her way. “Brandy, what’s going on?”

  When she saw me, her eyes narrowed. I remembered what Finley said just moments ago and I stood behind him to hide myself from her stare.

  “Brandy, why is Adele screaming?”

  “Why do you care?” she questioned him back.

  “I’m curious.” Finley’s weak reply only made her more suspicious.

  “She’s the traitor,” Brandy finally answered. “She is now our enemy. Just like that one hiding behind you.”