“Shh, Father. I will help you.”

The few seconds of relief evident on his face disappeared when she thrust her hand into his chest and grabbed his heart.

“No, you!” Gilbert said with shock. “This…was you. Usurp my crown?”

Victorija’s fangs burst through her gums. She squeezed his heart, but didn’t pull it out yet. “I do this in the name of my mother, Alice, everyone I ever cared for before you destroyed my soul, and for the good of the Dred clan.”

She pulled his heart from his chest and walked over to the fire altar on the dais, a place where Gilbert had burned the hearts of so many people, including her mother.

“Vic…don’t…”

A million memories of his hurtful, sociopathic behaviour flashed through her mind, and with one last look to him, she dropped his heart into the fire. He screamed and his body started to blister with burns.

Drasas brought Victorija a long blade, and she took position in front of him, so that the last thing he would see would be her face.

His body was starting to blacken with the burns, and she held off another few moments enjoying his pain, then swung the sword through the air. Gilbert’s head flew off and rolled down the steps of the dais.

Victorija’s heart was pounding with exhilaration. She had done it. She had killed the man who had tormented her life, and now the Dred clan was hers. She felt the wetness of what must have been her father’s blood. She touched her face and looked at the blood on her fingers before tasting it on her lips.

She roared and held the sword above her head. Her supporters roared in joy too, and Drasas stood by her side, and shouted, “Bow before your new Principe!”

All the vampires and the witches bowed, some more quickly than others, and Victorija knew she now had to practice a bit of diplomacy.

“Friends, comrades!”

The crowd calmed to a low murmur.

“For over a hundred years the Dred clan has stood still under Gilbert’s leadership, while the Debreks have grown more and more powerful. He clung onto power longer than he should have and grew lazy. I am the last born vampire of this clan, and your rightful Principe. I ask that you join with me, and together we can make the Dreds the most powerful clan in the world. To do that we must regain the secret of siring new, stronger vampires, born vampires like me who can help us take back what is ours. It is my birthright, and I pledge to you that we will prevail. The Debreks will no longer be the ones with the secret that they greedily covet. We will learn it, and take it from them, and grow our clan until we are the most powerful royal vampire house. The Debreks will be nothing but a memory when we are finished. Are you with me?”

The crowd of vampires cheered and roared louder than the throne room had heard in hundreds of years.