“How was your journey, cousin?” Angelo asked.

Byron grinned. “Pleasant, Angelo. Very pleasant.”

Angelo laughed softly. Having spent many lifetimes in her cousin’s company, she caught her meaning well.

“And Miss Honey? Is she well?”

“A bit overwhelmed, I think. There is a lot to take in,” Byron said before taking a drink.

“I hope I will get the pleasure of meeting this mysterious Miss Honey soon. I’ve not known you to be taken with a woman in…” Angelo hesitated. “A long time.”

Not since Rose, Byron thought, but she changed the mood by replying with a joke. “I would fear you would steal her away from me, cousin.”

Angelo placed her hand on her chest. “As if I would, Byron. Do you have time to talk? There are a few investment possibilities I’d like to discuss with you.”

Byron was now shaking inside for blood, but she tried to keep herself together. “Could we postpone till tomorrow morning? My time is rather limited at the moment.”

“Of course. Enjoy the first day of your holiday. Till tomorrow then, Principe.” Angelo smiled.

As soon as Angelo disappeared from the screen, there was a beep at the door, and Byron groaned. Her attendant was here.

“Come in.”

When the doors opened, one of her human attendants walked in—a young woman with light chestnut coloured hair. Byron wondered if Alexis had chosen her because her colouring resembled Amelia’s, and to help relieve her craving for her lover.

As kind a thought as it was, Byron knew no one would ever sate her hunger, except Amelia.

This human—Katie—she knew well. Her mother and father had served in her household, as their parents had done before them. Certain human families, who had gained the trust and respect of the Debreks long, long ago, served them generation after generation. Not by force, but by consent. It was a true, mutually beneficial, symbiotic relationship. Their human attendants were better paid than most executives, had all their healthcare, education, and other necessities paid for by the family, and generally were taken care of in every possible way. In return they served the Debreks both domestically and by supplying them with blood. A perfect marriage.

“Thank you for coming, Katie.”

“You are welcome, Principe. May I feed you?”

Byron slipped off her suit jacket, and placed it carefully over her chair. “Yes, thank you.”

Katie turned her back and unbuttoned the first few buttons of her blouse. Byron grinned, delighted that Katie was allowing her to feed from her neck.

For the last five hundred years, the Debreks had lived by a code of blood by consent, and it was their unwavering rule. Katie allowed her blouse to slip past her shoulders and waited.

Byron approached, zeroing in on Katie’s throbbing pulse point, and her fangs erupted from her gums. Her hunger was so intense it was hard to keep her control for one second longer, but she had to. Byron was the most powerful vampire the Debreks had ever produced, born of two exceptional vampires, and as such her hunger was greater than any other, and something she had to learn to control over the years.