“That is correct.” Everest opened his mouth, and two sets of fangs lowered from the straight line of his teeth. “The smaller ones in the back force our magic into the body we bite, which causes the transition to occur. The bigger ones in the front are for feeding.”

“And fighting.” Braison grinned and wagged his eyebrows. “I’ve seen what you can do with those.”

Everest rolled his eyes. “You should see what Sweyn does with them.”

I shuddered.

Everest reached up and squeezed my knee. “The rules are fairly simple for consuming blood. We do not need to kill the donor to get sustenance. It actually does not take a great deal at once. Animal blood does not provide us with any nutrients, so all of your Twilight curiosities can die there.”

I grinned as his gaze slid over to me. “Fucking Twilight.”

Tim held his hand up until Everest noticed. “As far as I was told, Covens-past said there was a law that vampires could only drink the blood of another vampire.”

“Ah.” Everest smirked. “A vampire drinking the blood of other vampires sustains us, though not permanently. There is a shelf-life. A vampire who has only consumed the blood of a vampire would perish after a century, and yes, I know that from experience.”

Constance scowled. “So, The Coven in the past didn’t know that?”

Everest grimaced. “The Coven knew.”

“How do you know they knew?”

“I told them.” He took a deep breath through his nose. “And then I told them to set the law Timothy referred to.”

The room gasped.

Everest shrugged. “Regretfully, this may have caused some extra tension between Avolire and Eden, but it was a necessary evil.”

“How many of them died?”

At that, a slow, evil smile spread across Everest’s face. “Almost all of them. Those that survived make up Sweyn’s court.”

Braison whistled and shook his head.

“The truth is that human blood is what makes us stronger, what allows us to live . . . forever.” Everest crossed his ankle over his knee. “Sweyn has spent the last eight centuries sporadically bringing humans to Avolire to restrengthen her people. Which is how Frankie, Mei-Ling, and Malik wound up there in March.”

I shuddered remembering that marble holding cell where Everest found me.

Tenn scrubbed his face with his hand. “There’s a lot to unpack there, but for now, how often do you need to feed? And do we need to find some humans for you?”

“Have you seen the show True Blood?”

Saber snickered.

Everest looked up at me with one eyebrow arched. “I am afraid to ask.”

I rolled my eyes and smacked his shoulder. “Shut up. Listen, in the show, they have bottled blood for the vampires . . . like sold in stores with human food. I think that’s where the name of the show comes from, right?”