Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 85029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
But—I sigh, resigned to my fate—it is what it is.
I straighten up, then turn to face the side of my cavern that leads to the bunker. I am leaving. Something I have not done in a very long time. Years. Probably decades, at this point, but I haven’t been keeping track.
Halfbreeds. What a nuisance.
However, they are part of the plan. One of them, at least. Otherwise Paul would not have tolerated them.
Paul is… missing. Kind of. I’m really not sure what happened during Ryet’s ascension—he didn’t come back with my promised blood, so something happened—but that blood was for storage and experiments. It wasn’t anything necessary for my present objective.
Paul does not require a babysitter and I am not about to spend time worrying about him. He can figure it out himself.
Ryet and the little witch have gone east to his home. A home Paul provided him. A safe haven where Ryet can retreat and have space to think. All part of the plan and, like the whereabouts of Paul, none of my concern.
I have one goal now and I am focused.
I come out of the bunker and enter Paul’s bedroom, stopping short in front of a full-length mirror. It’s one thing to see your reflection in a rippling dark pool of water and quite another to get all the details presented to you in glass coated with silver.
I am dirty and naked. My hair is a darker blond, than I remember but the body is in good shape for my age. I’m still tall and muscular, but in a lean way. Attractive.
Of course, all vampires have this look once they master the monster stage. We all end up pretty much the same. Different versions of this. Paul is a special shade of beautiful, but that’s another story for another time.
We are in the middle of the greatest ascension in history. If we pull it off, and there is no reason to think that we won’t at this point, we will change the world. Every last inch of it.
Ryet was the bottleneck. Getting a scion to transform into a vampire with only two fathers was a feat. There were many mistakes and it took us hundreds of years, but here we are.
The birth of a new nation. A new race. A new destiny.
The American Vampires.
I shower, and when this is done, I walk over to the door, still naked and still wet, and open it up.
The thumping of music has been non-stop for weeks already. But once the door is open, it’s much louder than I can stand. So I close my eyes, find the vibration, follow it backwards to the source, and then cut the power.
The lodge goes quiet for a moment, but then the protests from the halfbreeds fill in the silence. They are yelling and screaming for someone to turn the music back on.
I open my eyes and find a young woman with pink hair standing in front of me. Her eyes are wide and blue, her mouth open in shock. She blinks. “My… lord?”
“If you insist.”
Her brow furrows. “What?”
“I will be your lord if you insist.”
“Are you… Josep?”
“I am. Who told you about me?”
“Ryet. I called him. Paul is missing. Did you know? Do you know where he is?”
“We don’t need to concern ourselves with Paul at the moment. He can take care of himself. What we need to do… what is your name?”
“Echo.”
“What we need to do, Echo, is release these halfbreeds.”
“Release? I don’t understand.”
Echo has a very appealing face and I am pleased that she is the halfbreed waiting outside Paul’s door. It feels like a reward. “No, Echo. You were not meant to understand. You were made to obey. Will you obey me?”
She nods her head enthusiastically. Then bows it and falls to her knees, pressing her forehead onto my bare feet. “I’m at your service, my lord.”
“Of course you are, Echo. You have no choice in the matter. Now get up. We have a lot to do before we can leave.” I take her back in the bedroom and motion to the bed. “Have a seat.”
She looks at the bed, then at me—eyes falling down my body to my cock, then back to the bed—only then meeting my eyes again.
“Don’t be a fool. I am not interested in having sex with you, Echo. You are not my type. But you need to feed, do you not?”
Echo blinks at me. And I can see the greed in her eyes. Halfbreeds don’t need the blood. Normally. But if they’ve been feeding on it—and she has, it was planned that way—then they do crave it something terrible. It’s an addiction.
“Go on,” I encourage her. “Lie down. This feeding, it’s going to take a little while. So you might as well get comfortable.” Then I turn, close the door, and by the time I turn back, she’s on the bed. Flat on her back, eyes already begging for that blood.