“Very good, Principe.” He held up her black suit jacket and she slipped in.

There was a knock at her bedroom door, and Drasas came in. “Principe—” Her words fell away when she looked around the bedroom floor, littered with bodies, all with their hearts and throats ripped out.

Victorija said, “Do excuse the mess, but I had to fire my father’s loyal staff.” She smiled cruelly. “They didn’t take it too well.”

Victorija perhaps appeared calm, but she’d noted every one of their deaths and their screams echoed across her mind. She imagined how happy her mother would be, looking from the other side. Every one of those turned vampires helped kill her, and now she was completely avenged.

Drasas pointed over to one particular body. “Is that—?”

She followed Drasas’s gaze to the body of the blonde who had been her father’s mistress. “Eleanora? Yes, she was becoming tiresome.” She stepped over a few bodies and picked up her gold watch from the dressing table, and put it on. “Drasas, could you have this mess cleared up?”

“Of course, Principe. The newly turned vampires are wakened if you would like to address them.”

“The cannon fodder you mean?” Victorija joked. Newly turned vampires were very green, and although powerful and nearly immortal, they had none of the skills her older vampires had gathered over the centuries.

“Yes, Principe.” Drasas laughed along with her.

Victorija walked over to her Duca and said, “We need more. If we are going to take on the Debreks again, we need numbers to distract them while our more powerful vampires execute our plans.”

“I’ll make sure you get the very best recruits possible. I’ll train them personally,” Drasas said.

“If any show promise, let me know. Now let’s go and address our new cannon fodder.”

They walked down the corridors of the Dred castle, on their way to the throne room. Every human servant they passed and even some of her turned vampires shuddered in fear. That fear gave her a ripple of pleasure. After spending her lifetime in her father’s shadow, now she was the one in control and no one could frighten her ever again.

She clapped Drasas on the back, and said, “We are going to cause some fear and terror, Drasas, make everyone remember who the Dreds truly are.”

Drasas smiled. “Fear and terror? I can hardly wait.”

“First things first, I want you to send your best vampires to do some reconnaissance on Byron and her clan. Where are they? What are they doing? Is there anything changed since we last crossed them, and is there anything we can use against them.”

“Of course. It feels good to be back to what our clan should be.”

“We have a lot of scores to settle, Drasas, and we are going to get the Debreks’ secret, and my birthright. The royal house of Debrek and all the trappings that go with it are as much mine as Byron’s. When my father and mother were exiled, our rights and privileges were ripped from us.” And I was abandoned to the whims and ravages of my psychopathic father. Well, time to reap what they sowed, Victorija thought. She smacked Drasas on the shoulder and sneered. “Let’s take back what is ours.”