Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 53656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
But that was a ridiculous notion because one, I didn't give a fuck what he thought, and two, he knew exactly what he was signing up for. He might not have a clue about my family's extensive abusive nature, but he knew who the Zorins were. He knew they did not delight in drinking the canned blood that was offered to everyone in court or using the willing human feeders in a healthy way. No, my family lived for the days of old, where power was enforced, because that's just the way the world worked.
I slowly reached for the human’s hand that hung limply over the table, decorated with green paint to look like more feathers. I turned it palm up, exposing the delicate skin of his wrist, and hesitated.
My mother watched my every move, her eyes like a heat signature stinging every inch of my body. This felt like a test. Like some sick initiation back into the Zorin household. It was easy for a vampire to control the intention behind a bite—I could make it feel good, I could make it so good this human would come in his little costume. I could just as easily make it hurt. Make it terrifying.
I knew which one she’d expect.
I wanted to run away.
I wanted to bust through the front doors, get back on the plane, and go back to where I felt safe, which was anywhere but here.
I wanted to give up, and we hadn’t even started.
But there were innocent lives at stake. Hundreds if not thousands. And Warrick was in the king's residence now, doing his best to prove himself. But if I failed? Who was to stop them from taking it out on him next? Stop them from forcing a similarly dangerous mission on him?
For him, for those lives at stake, I could become the thing I hated most.
I could become the perfect daughter.
My fangs punched out, and I made sure to strike fast and hard into the wrist of that human, hard enough that he cried out through his drug-induced haze.
My mother gave a giddy little laugh before taking his other arm and joining me in the feast.
I swallowed a mouthful of his blood. His taste was laced with citrus, like he’d been fed nothing but lemons and limes for who knew how long.
Each swallow I took settled heavily in my stomach, and I hated myself a little more every time he cried out in pain.
I didn't like feeding this way.
I’d been forced to do it so many times that the motions of doing so were like muscle memory, but the emotional triggers from it? Those were being tripped left and right, and it was all I could do to not allow the tears to well in the back of my eyes.
I was Cassandra Zorin, only daughter to the infamous and prestigious Zorin family line. I wept for no one. I was a coward for no one.
I repeated the mantras that’d been drilled into me growing up and locked down every emotion telling me this was wrong.
I took another mouthful, then drew back, licking my lips and sighing as the blood energized my body. “Quite delicious, mother,” I said. “Do I detect lemons?” I asked, falling right back into the role.
My mother finished her feasting, the human now fully passed out as she snapped her fingers and Joffrey entered without uttering a word, hefting the human up and escorting him out of the room.
Mother was never one to leave leftovers on the table.
She leaned back in her chair, not a drop of blood on her face as she smiled at me. “And limes,” she said. “I know how much you enjoy that flavor.”
I didn’t.
“I have one that will taste like strawberries tomorrow.”
“I can't wait,” I said, despite my heart clenching at the prospect. “Will Edward and Warrick be joining us?” I asked, knowing full well she had no clue where Warrick was at this very moment. “I do miss my brothers.”
Mother tilted her head, just the slightest micro reaction before she raised her hands. “I never know when those two will waltz in before waltzing right back out. They use this estate as their own personal breeding ground sometimes, always such a mess to clean up after. Especially Edward.”
“I will try to be a better houseguest,” I said, doing my best to make light of the situation so I wouldn't draw suspicion. Not that she had anything to suspect. For all she knew, I was still the same daughter, establishing myself in the vampire court and doing my best to rise in the rankings in the king's eyes.
“So, tell me, dear daughter, why are you gracing us with your presence?” she asked. “It’s been decades since you've returned home.”
“I needed a reprieve,” I said. “The vampire court is in quite an upheaval. Most of the nobles who’ve been transitioned to live there because of the threat against our kind are afraid of their own shadows, let alone actually getting the courage to leave. And the civilian allies are being piled into every residence there is for protection. It's all quite tedious,” I explained, slipping further into my role. “And there hasn't been one ounce of good gossip for at least a month.” I reached down and absentmindedly stroked Shadow’s fur, and only after the third or fourth stroke did I realize I was petting Talon’s head and not my panther’s.