Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92612 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92612 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
“I want them all. Across every continent. Every single one of them!” Spittle flies from Gregor’s mouth as he yells. “Dead!”
“My lord.” Valen dips his chin. “It will be as you’ve said.”
Gregor stares at Valen, his eyes narrowed. “My spies tell me you executed more humans than any other on the front lines. I chose well when I made you my general.” Click, click, click. His fingernails beat a maddening tattoo. A hammer in my skull slowly sinking deeper and deeper. “This pleases me.”
The monster nods. “For Blood Dragonis.”
“For Blood Dragonis?” Gregor considers for a moment, a slight snarl rising on his blue-tinged lips. “You should’ve been the one to die. Not him. Not my son,” he growls, rage flashing across his face. “That is what you should’ve given for your blood! Your accursed life for his glorious one!”
The monster only bows again, accepting Gregor’s pronouncement without protest.
Gregor’s ire fades suddenly—a match quickly extinguished. His demeanor turns morose in an instant. “Theo deserves—” He pauses, his gaze dropping for a moment. “You’ve done well, but there is much more to be done. So much more.” His claws curl around the arms of his throne. “Bathing in their blood, in the blood of their children. All of it. This and more.” His gaze scans the room of vampires. “Corvidion and Tantun have served honorably as well. United, we will bring the human scourge to heel. We will crush them.”
Valen turns to the gathered crowd. “All hail the high lord!”
They rejoin him, their voices deafening in the black cavern as they repeat it again and again. When he turns back to Gregor, the sound dies. Abrupt silence reigns as Gregor surveys the room.
His claws retract somewhat as he refocuses on Valen, his demeanor switching yet again to something more lax, verging on indulgent. “As a reward, I’ve brought three choice beasts from the dungeon. These animals are to be awarded to the top generals from Corvidion and Tantun and one for you, Valen. Your choice. All I require is that you make them hurt. Make them suffer as my Theo suffered. Show them nothing but pain and fear and when you finally end them—” His fangs lengthen, “—send them to hell where Theo awaits them with open arms.” Gregor’s gaze rakes past me, his malevolence like a winter draft. Then it returns, his nostrils flaring.
I choke, my throat burning as Gregor appears directly in front of me and hoists me in the air by my neck. “You,” he hisses and brings my face to his. “That traitorous bitch’s sister!” He roars, his fangs long and deadly. “You’re here!”
I claw at his hand.
He throws me down, something snapping in my side as agony lances through me. Broken rib, I think almost clinically. Possibly punctured lung.
“Was it you?” He yanks me up again, hand around my throat, his claws digging into my spine. With a movement too fast for me to track, he bites my shoulder, ripping my flesh as my scream meets the bottleneck of his palm. Then he presses his fingers into the bite as I flail.
He returns his gaze to me, the blackness of his eyes becoming my whole world. “Tell me. Who killed Theo?”
Compulsion. He must’ve mixed his blood into the wound. This compulsion is more than suggestion, far more than the puppet show the vampire put on with me earlier on the walk here. Gregor’s power is magnitudes higher than the guard’s, so much so that my entire body goes limp, every bit of my energy focused on answering his question. I must answer him. I must tell him the truth. But my mouth doesn’t move. No words form in my mind. I … I don’t know the answer.
“I don’t know,” I say hoarsely.
With a vicious screech he throws me into the crowd of vampires, some of them not fast enough to get out of the way. I land in a heap, my ears ringing. I hurt in so many places. More broken bones. More pain. But I don’t need to stop my suffering. I need to tell Gregor what he wants to know. With a groan, I crawl toward him, my entire being focused on telling him the truth. I feel like I know the answer. Somewhere. Somewhere I have what he wants. Give me another chance. I crawl, my blood streaking the floor as vampires snarl on either side of me.
“If I find out that any of you had something to do with it!” Gregor’s voice rises, the entire crowd wincing back. “Blood Tantun, Blood Corvidion, or my own—” His gaze cuts sharply to Valen. “I will rid this world of you and every single one of your line.” Teeth bared, eyes wild, he bellows his rage to the ceiling of the black room. Then he turns to me, his roar still resonating as his voice slithers into my ears. “What happened to my son?”