Page 87 of Her Vampire, His Ruin

Not now. Not ever.

“So why haven’t you?” she presses.

“Because I don’t know what the outcome will be. An Aegis is immune to our compulsion. What if they’re immune to our blood, too? What if she dies? As I said, that will only cause us problems we don’t need.”

“Then we’ll know either way. Unless, of course, you don’t want to turn her because you care,” she spits the word out like poison.

“Do I need to remind you of your place?” I snap.

“Yet you don’t deny it.”

“I have nothing to deny. I have no feelings towards Edie. I have no feelings at all. I’m simply trying to protect the future of our clan. That’s all this is.” The lie slips easily from my mouth, but it cuts me deep.

Sybil rests her hand over mine, though her touch feels calculated. She offers no comfort, nothing like Edie’s tenderness at the club. “You revoked her ex’s membership because of Edie, did you not? Why do that if you didn’t care about her?”

“Because he touched what’s mine,” I snarl, fangs bared, as I snatch my hand from hers. “Edie belongs to me. Not because of sentiment. Not because of weakness. Her blood is pure starlight, and I will master her. I will keep her close and drink from her for as long as she lives.”

The truth slips out, tangled in lies meant to shield Edie and pacify Sybil.

A knowing smile cuts across Sybil’s face. “If you feed off her, she will know what you are.”

“She will.”

“You will have to keep her prisoner.”

“I know that too.”

“And she will hate you for it.”

“Yes, and when I finally tire of her blood, I alone will decide her fate. Not you. Understood?”

“Perfectly,” Sybil replies.

Chapter 20

Edie

“Edie, take a look at this,” Henrietta exclaims, rushing into my empty classroom as she slams the local newspaper on my desk. Outside in the playground, the sound of children’s laughter filters in through the window, a direct contrast to the look of sheer panic on Henrietta’s face.

“What on earth has got you so riled up?” I ask as she paces up and down in front of me, wringing her hands.

“Would you just look at the damn newspaper?” she demands, shoving it across the desk towards me. “It’s them.”

“Who?” I throw back, finally reading the headline.

The bodies of two local men found in Strathmore Park, I read, my gaze caught by the photograph of two familiar faces situated directly beneath the headline.

“Is that…?” I gasp, my voice trailing off as Henrietta nods her head frantically.

“Those arseholes from the pub. Yes, it’s them. They’re dead, Edie,” she screeches, all colour draining from her face.

“I.. Shit…”

“According to the article, both men had a history of sexual violence,” Henrietta continues, her voice trembling. “Mark was sent to prison for five years in 2021 after raping and beating his ex-wife, and John was on the sex offenders register for owning indecent images of children. He was a known paedophile with a long list of offences against both women and children, and was already in Lothborough prison when Mark was sent there. They were both released a couple of weeks before we met them.”

Bile rises up my throat, my hands shaking as I scan the article.

“It says that their hands were removed from their bodies.”