Chapter 1
Zander looked to the side of the stage and then back to the audience. “And now, I hand them over to Kendra, who will handle the public portion of their punishment. Let all who might consider harming one of mine take note.”
A massive screen to the side of the stage came on, focused on their faces, and then Kendra emerged onto the stage, her presence a storm of menace that rippled through the theater. The rumors of what Zander’s feared Exsequor had done to his enemies were legend.
Zander retreated to stand beside Spence, and Kendra advanced on Svetlana, growing her talons. Without drama, she sliced off the vampire’s eyelids, the wet flaps dangling from her fingers before she forced them into Svetlana’s mouth. Svetlana gagged, choking on her own flesh, now forced to witness her doom.
Emmy’s dragon vision let her see the details of the torn flesh and the missing eyelids, but for those without enhanced bird or dragon sight, the massive screen would show every fucking detail.
Kendra turned to Vladislav, repeating the act, his howl a guttural roar as he swallowed his eyelids.
Emmy’s fingers dug into her thighs. She looked around and could easily tell who approved and who did not. She assumed this probably told her who was Senatus and who was Concilio, though there were likely outliers. Some leaned forward, hunger in their eyes, enjoying the spectacle like it was performance art. Others sat rigid and straight, faces tight with revulsion — though none looked away. No one dared.
Before Vladislav could recover from his eyelids being sliced away, Kendra reached down and tore through his scrotum. She pulled the insides out of the sacs, using her talons to slice away connective tissues, and then opened his mouth with one hand while she shoved his testicles into his mouth and pushed them down his throat.
Felix made a small sound beside her — not quite a whimper, not quite a gasp.
The fact that Vladislav’s fangs never dropped was a testament to the power Zander had over him. Or perhaps Kendra was in his head. As Zander’sSecundo, she likely had enough control as well. Either way, he was utterly helpless. Completely at her mercy. And Kendra had none to give.
Kendra turned to Svetlana, and an attendant in all black hoisted the bitch’s leg high, exposing her hairy pussy.
Emmy felt Felix tense beside her, felt Toby shift on her other side.
Kendra punched her fist into Svetlana’s slit, and the vampire’s scream was like a banshee’s wail, a sound so raw it clawed at Emmy’s eardrums. The kind of sound that said pain beyond comprehension, beyond endurance.
Emmy assumed the scream was from the punch and immediate fisting, but then Kendra withdrew her hand with a fistful of glistening, blood-drenched tissue dangling. Emmy’s stomach lurched, but she forced herself to watch while her mind tried to make sense of what she was seeing. Could that be a shriveled uterus, with a withered ovary still attached? The organ’s muscular bulk and the smaller, rounded lump suggested reproductive tissue, torn free with strands of ligament and vein trailing like morbid streamers, the sight a grotesque puzzle she couldn’t unsee.
The sleeve of Kendra’s blouse had gone from lavender to burgundy; vampire blood is a deeper color than human blood. The contrast was beautiful in a grotesque, horrifying way.
But Kendra wasn’t finished. She used her talons to slice out a portion of the tissues, tossed the rest into a handy bucket just behind the bound vampires, and then opened Svetlana’s mouth and stuffed the smaller piece down her throat.
Now that Emmy understood the purpose, she realized the volume was about the same as Vladislav’s balls.
Emmy could only stare as she realized this was Kendra’s way of equalizing the punishment. The dickwad’s balls and the part of the cunt’s inside reproductive organs. Emmy had to give her credit for creativity, butfuck.
This was what happened when you poisoned someone under Zander’s protection. This was the price.
She glanced at Felix, and he had his head bent, his eyes closed, his breathing too controlled. Like he was counting. Like he was holding himself together through sheer will. Maren, on his other side, was focused on the action without wavering. She clearly thought the couple were getting what they deserved.
She turned to Toby, who was watching, but his face had gone pale, his jaw tight. He met her eyes briefly, and she saw — horror, sure, but it was overlaid with a grim understanding.This is fucked up, but we could have died, so I’ll watch, even if it’s hard.
Emmy had a brief couple-of-seconds of nausea when she realized what Kendra had torn out of the bitch, but she was fine. This was brutal, horrifying theater meant to send a message, and she looked forward to seeing what Kendra did next.
Zander wanted people to talk about this for centuries, to remember why you don’t harm his people, and Emmy figured this would do it. She’d remember. They’d all remember.
The attendant had lowered the leg and was gone, and now Kendra was using her talons to carve off Svetlana’s nipples, which Kendra also stuffed down her throat.
Emmy reached out without thinking and found Felix’s hand. He gripped hers back, hard enough to hurt.
Vladislav received the same treatment, though his screams were shorter and deeper than his wife’s, but his anguish still came through — a sound that spoke of violation, of powerlessness, of understanding exactly what was being taken from him.
Kendra stepped back, and Vladislav’s eyes grew big when his fangs extended, telling Emmy he hadn’t been responsible for showing them, and Emmy had the idea that the loss of control was yet another layer of humiliation.
An attendant stepped from the back of the stage to hand Kendra some pliers, and Vladislav’s eyes went even larger, whites showing all around like a trapped animal.
Kendra didn’t merely rip his fangs out with the pliers. No. Once out, she pierced them through the upper cartilage of his ears, creating macabre, grotesque jewelry.
Emmy’s breath caught.Fuck.That was clever and cruel in equal measure.
