“Yes, my witches will be there for the meeting. Everything is set.”

Victorija leaned over the sink and tutted with dissatisfaction at the sight of the servant’s red blood all over her shirt. She quickly pulled it off, leaving her in only her black leather trousers, and ran her hands through her hair.

“Excellent.” She could feel the effects of the fresh human blood starting to make her body buzz with energy and sexual excitement. Her body needed release, and soon. She wetted a white washcloth and cleaned the blood off her face and chest, and walked back into the room to find Lillian at the window looking out over the grounds.

She could hear the fast beat of Lillian’s heart. She was clearly anxious, and it was hardly surprising. Today she was going to help Victorija and her supporters wrestle the crown from her father’s grubby hands.

Gilbert Dred had clung on to the title and role of Principe of their clan for far, far too long. Succession in those vampire clans with royal blood, like the Debreks and the Dreds, was meant to be an orderly thing. Since before her father’s immediate family was cast out from the Debreks five hundred years ago, the convention was that after a respectable number of centuries, or sooner if they wished, the Principe would hand on the leadership of the clan to their heir. It allowed the former leader to have a life outside the clan, a fresh energy to be brought to the clan leadership, and a different face to represent them in the human world. Unfortunately for Victorija, Gilbert was power hungry and didn’t really care about his daughter’s rights to the leadership, but removing a nearly indestructible born vampire was easier said than done. She was the only other born vampire in the Dred clan, and it would be dangerous to take him on by herself. That’s where Lillian was so important.

Today Lillian and her coven of witches would help her put an end to Gilbert’s tyrannical, old-fashioned regime. Victorija stepped behind Lillian and slipped her hands around her waist.

“I can feel you are tense, Lillian.” Victorija moved closer, and whispered in her ear, “You’re not having second thoughts, I hope?”

Lillian turned around, and answered a little too quickly, “Of course not.”

The plan to remove her father had been long in the planning and the making. She’d built up support secretly within her clan, vampires who were frustrated at the Dreds’ lack of expansion and control of the human population. Gilbert was content with what they had. He had become lazy and allowed the Debreks to grow stronger and stronger, while they stood still. The Dreds had been cut off from their Debrek birthright, and Victorija was determined to get it back.

Victorija had won over Lillian, a witch her father had importuned to his service, and who was leader of the French coven. For the plan to work, she needed her witch to remain calm. She looked into Lillian’s eyes and projected a feeling of calm and well-being.