Victorija jumped up and spun around. The dark witch Anka was sitting in the chair.

“How did you get in here?”

Anka just smiled. “What does it matter? I’m here now.”

Drasas trusted this woman. Victorija, on the other hand, was highly suspicious of her. Anyone with Anka’s dark abilities was a threat to Victorija, but she had to put up with that at the moment, because Anka brewed the medicine that kept Victorija off the edge of starvation.

But after she found a solution for her plight, Victorija would kill her. Anka was too confident in herself around Victorija. Plus, the witch seemed to be giving Drasas more confidence than she should have.

She couldn’t have imagined catching Drasas sitting on her throne, holding court. If Victorija wasn’t as sick as she was, she’d probably have broken her neck as a warning to everyone. But not now. Victorija had too many things to occupy her mind, like dying a slow death.

“What do you want, Anka?”

“Two things. One, to find out about your search for your blood bond, and two…” Anka pulled out a fresh, full bottle of medicine. When Victorija saw it, her mouth started to water.

“How did you know I needed one?”

“I know everything about you, Principe.” That overconfidence irked Victorija. She sped over to Anka like lightning to grab the bottle, but Anka pulled it out of her way. “No, no. Not yet, Principe.”

Victorija was so hungry she tried to grab it again. “Give me it!”

“Once you calm and answer my questions,” Anka said.

Victorija felt powerless in that moment, as she had done around her father years before. “What?”

“Did you find your little blood donor, Daisy MacDougall?”

Victorija looked directly into Anka’s eyes and lied. “No, she’s gone to ground. The Debreks are probably behind it.”

“Perhaps.” Anka didn’t look as if she was accepting her story.

“Why do you care so much about me getting better, Anka?”

Anka sighed. “I’ve told you before—if we are to have an alliance that will take down the Debreks and others in the paranormal world who don’t want to join us and subdue the human population, I need power on my side, and a fully fit born vampire.” She then handed Victorija the bottle. “You need to find this Daisy MacDougall because this tonic will not work as well, as time goes on, and you will slip into madness.”

“I’ll find her,” Victorija said firmly.

“Good, I’ll leave you to it, then.”

After Anka left, Victorija said, “I have no choice, Angele. I hope you’ll be able to forgive me.”

She looked over at the pile of letters on her desk, picked up one from the pile and read the first line. Do you remember the day we met?

“I’ll never forget.”

Chapter Three