Leo was loyal to her, and she could rely on him for whatever came next, but to talk this way could be deemed treasonous. Drasas thought she had garnered the support of the elite guard, but Victorija still struck fear in them all, despite the big mess of oncoming madness she was experiencing.

Drasas stopped at the throne that sat on a dais and hesitated. She so wanted that throne. Drasas was hungry for it. Ever since she had been turned by Victorija, she’d wanted power. Before she was turned, she’d been living on the streets since she was sixteen. Drasas felt powerless as she sat on the pavement being passed by human after human, some throwing her some coins, some spitting on her, others assaulting her.

But from her first taste of blood, after the first kill, Drasas knew she would no longer be the victim—she would be the predator. She vowed to punish the humans, to hurt and terrify them as she had been.

As Drasas eyed the throne, which only Victorija and her father, Gilbert, had sat on, her hunger for that throne and the power that Victorija had intensified. Drasas might be a vampire with super speed, strength, the ability to enthral others, and near immortality, but Victorija was on another level.

Victorija was a born vampire, who descended from a royal house of vampires and a witch, while she was merely a turned vampire.

Leo said, “Sit, Duca. You are in charge of the clan just now. The Principe is not here and is becoming weak without the blood of her bonded.”

Leo was right. This was her place. She sat down slowly, and those vampires that were in the room turned to look at her in silence.

Would they turn on her? Leo stood at her side, holding the back of the throne in a symbol of support. The elite guards also showed support by lining up at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the throne. When the other vampires saw that, they turned back to their own conversations.

Drasas had made it. Some time ago she had instructed Leo to peddle the idea that Victorija’s blood sickness for Daisy MacDougall was making her weak, mentally and physically.

She gripped the arms of the throne and felt the rush of power that Victorija must feel. It was intoxicating.

“So, your report, Leo?”

“Yes, Duca. Victorija arrived in Britain a few days ago. She travelled up to Scotland, where the human, Daisy MacDougall, is staying with her grandmother, Margaret. Turns out MacDougall’s family has a long history with the vampire world.”

“Why?” Drasas asked.

“The grandmother and Daisy are descended from the Brassard family.”

Drasas wasn’t easily shocked or surprised, but she was when she heard that name. “Brassard? The vampire hunters?”

“Exactly. The very ones,” Leo said.