Victorija came running out into the clearing with blood around her mouth. “What happened?”

“I’ll tell you what happened—I fell off that bloody horse because you went and left without me,” Daisy said.

“I left you on Angel, perfectly safe. How did you manage to fall?”

“I tried to get down,” Daisy said while rubbing her shoulder.

“So it wasn’t Angel—it was your own clumsiness,” Victorija said.

Daisy stomped right up to Victorija. “I was scared, okay?”

Victorija laughed. “You who handed herself in to a group of vampires who want your blood are afraid of a horse?”

“I did that to help you. The least you could do is not abandon me,” Daisy shouted.

“Help me? Are you insane? You better be a bit more grateful to me. I turned my back on my clan because of you—I mean, because of my vow to Angele. I do not need any help from you. Oh, and I sped off so I could feed on animals and make sure I didn’t rip your throat out.”

“You want to kill me now?” Daisy asked.

Victorija gripped her hair in frustration and turned back to Daisy angrily. “Do you have any concept of how hard this is for me?”

Daisy stayed quiet.

“When I look at you, it’s like dying of thirst, and you’re the only drop of water in the desert. I’ve never been good at being in control. I see something, I take it. Humans were there to satisfy me, and fate has given me a blood bond with you.”

The ache and need in Victorija was so strong. She closed her eyes and heard Angele say, Don’t hurt her, Torija—she’ll bring an end to your torture. Victorija gasped. “My blood bond is the one person on earth who I can’t have.”

Daisy looked at her with sympathy in her eyes. How could anyone look at the monster with sympathy?

Victorija supposed she deserved this, after all the bad things she had done since Angele left her. It was her fate to go slowly mad and die of starvation. The animal blood wasn’t helping a great deal, so she headed over to her horse and took some of Anka’s potion. She’d need to ration it.

Just as she was putting the drink container away, she heard the thrashing of bushes and voices. Drasas and her new alliance with Anka were in pursuit. Anka wanted her power, and Victorija wasn’t going to give that up until this blood bond was broken and Daisy was safe. By then she would have done her duty to Angele and could face whatever was ahead of her.

“We have to go—we’re being chased by my vampires.” Victorija started taking the bags off the horse.

“What are you doing? How are we going to get away without the horse?” Daisy asked.