masters. Some few of our kind were allowed to live and hunt their brethren for sport, and also to

keep us from banding together and taking on the fiends whose blood we bore.”

He’s getting really into it. Sometimes this guy got a little too into the history, talking about it as if he

was there. I guess you never can tell among a bunch of djamphir. And to be honest, this was fascinating.

Beaufort rested a fingertip against his pursed lips. He turned in a complete circle, his blue eyes

passing over us all and threads of darkness sliding through his hair. The aspect passed through him,

his fangs sliding out and dimpling his lower lip. The fangs retreated, his hair returned to normal,

and I let out a soft breath, notepaper crumpling under my left hand before I eased my fingers out of

the fist.

I didn’t think I’d ever get used to the aspect passing through a djamphir. It’s the part we get from

the suckers. The part that makes us stronger, faster . . .

. . . and thirsty for the red stuff in the vein.

You don’t get used to that. Not easily, and not soon.

“Many djamphir have been ephialtes in their time,” Beaufort said softly. “Even the best of us.

Raised to hunt our own kind, we know nothing else. It is the original question of nature versus nurture.”

Christophe did that. Hunted other djamphir. A chill moved down my back. After all, he was Sergej’s

son. They told me Augustine had brought him in, and my mother was the reason he stayed in the

Order.

Except Christophe had told me something else.

If I need a reason now, Dru, it will have to be you.

Talk about an uncomfortable thought. The fang marks on my wrist throbbed a little, but I ignored

the feeling. I was getting good at ignoring stuff. If there was an Olympics I’d probably qualify. I’d

go for the gold.

“After a certain amount of time, every ephialtes will question why he is killing his brothers. And

what will eventually happen to him once his masters tire of him, no matter how useful he is.

Scarabus questioned, and he turned against them. Normally he would have been hunted down by

every ephialtes and wampyr his masters could induce to do such a thing. But Scarabus had an ad-vantage.”

Leon stirred restlessly behind me.

Beaufort finished his last slow turn, and his eyes settled on me. “He had a sister.”

A ripple went through the room. A few of the boys, unable to help themselves, actually glanced at

me and away quickly.

Great. I sank back into the couch, wishing for some of Leon’s wallflower juice.

“Scarabus’s first act of disobedience was taking his infant sister and hiding her. Their human mother

died in childbirth, and Scarabus must have told his master that the child had died as well. Such