The other raised her arms skyward, head thrown back, tangled mane whipping in the wind as her laughter rang through the night.
“I have chosen ‘vampire’ as the name for our new race, and we will rule this world from blood and darkness.”
No!The cry was small, a final plea to what little humanity she had left after millennia of pain.
Then something snapped. The rage she had spent years forcing down broke free, uncoiling from the depths of her gut. It collided with the rising hunger, the two snaking together into a single, unstoppable force. Violence rose in her like a tempest, and even if she had wanted to stop it, she couldn’t.
There was no space left for control. Only purpose—singular, blinding, and precise. Destroy the other. Devour her.
One second, Rynna sat ten feet away, the next, she was on the supposed Queen. There was no blur of movement, no rush of speed. She simply wasn’t there, and then she was.
The vampire’s expression never even had the chance to change. There was no surprise or spark of defense. She was already dead; she just didn’t know it yet.
Rynna’s fist drove straight through the other’s chest. Bone cracked under the force, and she gripped the left rib cage, yanking it free with a wet snap. Gore, blood, and splintered bone sprayed behind her as she reached again, her other hand tearing through the right side, revealing a wide, hollow wound where the vampire’s sternum used to be. And beforethe monster’s knees could buckle, before death could finish her, Rynna reached into that oozing cavity and wrapped her hands around the heart.
It wriggled once in her palms, the surface puckering like skin stretched over crawling things as if something beneath it wanted out.
Time stretched as Rynna traced the slick, muscular lines of it, marveling at how something so small could hold such endless, writhing power.
The creature’s eyes widened, and Rynna looked from her to the heart, then back again.
A grin pulled at her mouth, strange and too wide. Her tongue slid along her teeth, anticipating the taste, and caught on something sharp. She paused, eyes narrowing.
The monster’s posture stiffened, shoulders drawing back as her gaze locked fully onto Rynna. Confusion collapsed into realization, as the whites of her eyes expanded until only a sliver of iris remained.
Rynna didn’t wait.
With both hands, she raised the heart to her mouth and bit down.
The muscle burst beneath her teeth, flushing blood into her mouth and down her throat, thick and scorching. It drenched her face and soaked her arms, flooding every inch of her with molten ecstasy. It was a violent, euphoric conflagration of flavor, obscene and decadent beyond reason. Honey and salt. Cream and copper. Life and death layered together in every swallow.
She devoured it—one bite, then another, then a third—until nothing remained.
A sound ripped from her, part snarl and part scream, driven by rage she couldn’t contain. Yet, the hunger didn’t ease. It churned deeper, more demanding than before. She panted hard, lips slick with blood, and glared down at the hollowed corpse beneath her.
It wasn’t enough. It would never be enough.
She dropped to her hands and knees, the wet ground sucking at her palms as she crawled forward. Blood and mud smeared her riding skirt as she climbed over the vampire’s body and settled on its chest, knees digging into the icy flesh. Leaning down, she took its head in her hands, palms firm against bone and matted hair.
The face, slack and ruined, was still streaked with the blood it had drawn from her.
Rynna’s vision tinted red at the sight, and bone cracked beneath her grip. The skull fractured, splintered, and collapsed. Blood and brain matter spilled through her fingers in a slow, wet crush. Watching the mess ooze between her knuckles, her breath came in short, ragged bursts.
Slowly, she lifted her hands and turned them in the low light, watching how the gore caught and glistened along her skin. She brought them closer, inch by inch, until they hovered before her face.
Then, without hesitation, she slipped her fingers into her mouth.
Her lips sealed around them, her tongue sweeping every crevice, tasting every drop. She sucked the remnants clean, savoring the slick texture and iron tang, until her hands were spotless. Then, she pulled them free and stared down at the wreckage beneath her. The skull was flattened, the face unrecognizable.
Thought didn’t form. No question. No weighing of right or wrong. Her body simply moved before awareness could catch up, driven by something deeper—older—drowning out everything else.
Dropping forward, face-first into the mess, her hands gathered the pulp and bone to consume what was left, one bite at a time. Swallow by swallow, slurp by slurp.
She didn’t stop until there was nothing left.
When the feeding ended, she lurched back from the corpse, limbs trembling and unsteady. Blood clung to her skin, thick and tacky, smeared across her chin, chest, and thighs. She staggered through the remnants, slipping in congealed filth, as if putting space between them might erase the vileness of what she’d just done.
The sounds hit her next.
