Then Rose looked up to her and said, “Drink from her. You need her blood.”

No, Byron realized. That was the monster speaking, not Rose.

She locked gazes with Amelia. “I vowed never to care for anyone again, but then this shining girl walked into my life and lit up my dark world.”

Amelia touched her cheek in a gentle action, but the simple touch made her burn. She was so hungry.

“Byron, I’m sorry for what you lost, and maybe that explains why you were so protective, but it was my decision to make too. If I’d known…taking human blood is weird and knowing there’s this other paranormal world out there is weird, but I would have gotten over it. I would have always been on your side, Byron, if you’d just shown me who you really were.”

“You really want to know what I am?” Byron said angrily, and pushed away from her quickly. She went to the door and called in an attendant. “Jack, I need to feed.”

“Byron, what are you trying to prove?” Amelia looked nervous and worried, as one of the young men on the staff walked in.

Jack unbuttoned his shirt without being asked, and Byron stood behind him. “Do you consent?”

“I consent, Principe,” Jack said.

Byron sank her teeth into Jack quickly, and she heard Amelia gasp. As her attendant’s blood ran down her throat, she opened her eyes and saw fear in Amelia’s eyes. Byron didn’t want to take too much or frighten Amelia too much, so she stopped quickly.

She pulled back and could feel the blood dripping down her chin. “This is the real me. Can you love this monster?”

Amelia turned around and ran out of the room.

That’s why I didn’t tell you.

“Thank you for your service, Jack.”

Chapter Nineteen

Amelia wanted to run out of the front door, but instead she went out to the back garden. It was a big plot of land for a London house, but it was long neglected, overgrown, and uncared for. She found a little bench and sat down. There was a chill in the air and she soon began to shiver.

What she had just seen in Byron’s office was insane, and her brain just couldn’t process it. Her hands were shaking and she went cold and shivery. A vampire? She’d fallen in love with a vampire.

At first Amelia felt fear, but then when Byron locked eyes with her, she felt something else. Her bite wound burned hot, she ached low in her stomach, and then a sensation she could only describe as hunger pangs began, and an urge to be where that attendant was. Amelia chastised herself for that, but rightly or wrongly, she felt it.