“There is no way she is his child,” he yelled, pointing at me. “It’s impossible.”
The fire was still going strong.
“Looks like you’re wrong.”
He stared at the table as if he was trying to figure the trick out. The best part was that there was no trick. Thomas really had turned me into a vampire. How? I had no idea, but I’d choose vampirehood over death any day.
“The test shows she is his child. He is now master of the Midwest,” Tse said, a deep pleasure in his voice.
Steven’s eyes turned black. I stepped back, remembering the demon. His fangs dropped. They were different than other vampires. Instead of one set of teeth there were two on the upper row and another set of fangs on the bottom.
His hiss raised the hair on my arms. Spittle flew as the humanity drained out of his face leaving something straight out of a nightmare.
He leapt. I drew my gun and aimed in one smooth movement, pulling the trigger, once, twice.
This time my bullets had little effect, only causing him to slow before rushing me again. I leapt back, firing again, emptying the chamber in a blink of the eye. Thomas flew past me, tackling and raking claws across Stephen’s face.
Liam caught the back of my shirt and dragged me out of the way of the battle. Placing one hand on mine, he forced me to lower the gun.
“It would be best to let Thomas handle this from here on out.”
“It will be a good first act to his rule,” Jabari said from beside me.
I jumped, not having noticed him move.
The two vampires flowed back and forth, their movements a blur. To my left eye, their powers met and clashed, the waves forcing the crowd back, leaving a circle of emptiness around them.
Thomas’s power flared and suddenly he was holding Stephen by the throat.
Stephen batted at him, his power striking Thomas like a snake and leaving wounds on his arms and chest. Thomas didn’t notice, bringing him close and ripping Stephen’s throat out with his fangs.
“Your Change of Command Ceremony is a lot more violent than I’m used to,” I told Liam.
Thomas didn’t drink any of the blood draining out of Stephen, which for a vampire who held blood as the source of life was unusual. I could only assume it had something to do with the demon taint that was even now trying to breach Thomas’s defenses.
Stephen still had some fight in him, digging his claws into Thomas’s side. Thomas shook him like a rag doll and laughed. He changed his grip, grabbing Stephen’s neck in two hands and wrenching hard until his head separated from the body.
“It could have been worse,” Liam said. “He could have ripped every limb from his body before taking his head.”
Thomas wasn’t done. He tossed the head aside and sank his hand into the chest cavity before yanking out a heart that he crushed into a bloody pulp.
He held the mess above his head and roared, turning to observe the crowd. They roared back, approving of the bloody display.
I stepped back as Liam advanced on Thomas. The two clasped each other in a hug before pounding the other on the back. I took another step back. Jabari noticed, giving me a half smile before turning back to focus on Thomas.
It was easy to slip into the crowd and make my way to the front door.
Once there I realized I had no bike, no car and no way to get back home.
Damn it, I was going to have to walk. Again. I was still weak from the wound Elinor had given me. I did not look forward to this.
I started for home, but only made it a few blocks before I stopped.
“You knew, didn’t you?”
Liam stepped out of the shadows, appearing beside me. “I suspected.”
“How?”
