Lucia smiled and took another sip of tea. “I get to live for eternity with my love, Cosimo, and for that I must face my destiny.”

They heard the slamming of car doors and shouts from outside the castle. Lucia put her cup down and said, “It looks as though my destiny has arrived.”

Alexis knocked and came straight in. “Principe, Victorija and her vampires are here.”

Byron rushed over to the window. “They’re here, but they can’t get in.”

Lucia pushed hard on her stick to stand up, and said, “But I can go out to her.”

* * *

Everyone had now gathered in the sitting room—Bhal, Alexis, Hilda, as well as Byron, Amelia, and Sera.

Victorija had made her position clear from the shouts they had heard. She wanted the secret, and if she didn’t get it, she would go to the nearest village and massacre every living thing.

Byron had been pacing up and down for the last half hour. “There is no way I can let you do this. You cannot go out to face her, Lucia.”

Lucia walked slowly over to the window, needing her walking stick more than ever. “Victorija is my granddaughter, Byron.”

“That means nothing. She killed her own father for power,” Byron said.

“Byron, you often wondered if you had the same monster inside as Gilbert and Victorija do. The answer is yes.”

Byron felt her heart sink and looked over to Amelia and Sera with resignation.

“Not because you are that way, but all vampires have that in them—the heightened emotion, desperate hunger for blood, and instinct for hunting down your human prey. But you have free will, and of course born vampires are nurtured by their upbringing. Cosimo made a choice to change this clan for good. You, Byron, follow in his stead.”

“And Gilbert and Victorija?” Sera asked as she walked over to join them.

Lucia sighed. “Gilbert was selfish and egotistical from childhood. We tried our best, but he couldn’t fight who he was. Victorija was different. She was a normal child when she was with us but deeply affected by fear of her father. When he was banished from our family, Victorija was only a small child, and I believe she is a product of her upbringing.”

Byron was losing patience. “Whatever made her who she is doesn’t matter. She’s now a murderous born vampire threatening us and the world.”

“Which is why I must go to her. I let her down when Gilbert took her away—we all did. I can’t fail her now. This is my destiny, and you will not stop me.”

Obviously feeling her anger and frustration, Amelia came to Byron, and placed a calming hand on her back, trying to soothe her.