1.

Asteria's lungs burned and ached with every breath of freezing air. The mountain path was barely existent; the tall and branchy trees seemed almost determined to obscure her way. She didn't know if it was by design or not.

The creature she was looking for was said to have been some kind of magic user in his time, so it would make sense he would try and protect his resting place with dark sorcery. Even the air in the forest seemed to be against her, the ominous sense of dread weighing her down.

This would have to be one of the dumbest fucking ideas you've ever had, she told herself.

What choice did she have? The vampire clans fighting against each other were set to tear the city apart. Her own family had been slaughtered needlessly because of their war.

The Evandruses had served the Amulius family for centuries. All it had taken was the current clan prince, Valens, to snap at the wrong patriarch. The Cassius family had responded by sending an assassin to kill Asteria's parents and brother because they knew attacking the Amulius family would mean starting a war. Their blood sworn servants were the next best thing.

Who cares about a bunch of Renfields, right? The nickname still grated her fucking nerves. It limited the extent of what the blood sworn families did for their masters. It was supposed to be a relationship of protection and respect. At least, it used to be.

Asteria stopped walking and bent over to clutch at her knees. A scream of rage and grief tore out of her chest, and she was unable to stop it.

She had been out that fateful night with some girlfriends, celebrating a new job that Zia had received. When she returned to the estate, there was only blood and body chunks waiting for her. While Asteria had been getting drunkenly railed in a bathroom stall, her family had been dying.

She would never stop feeling the shame for that, which was why she was going on this damn suicide mission. She wanted payback, and she knew the vampire to give it to her.

Asteria couldn't count on the current Amulius patriarch to get revenge for her family. They couldn't keep their own safe anymore. No, she needed to find the old master to deal with this mess, and she didn't care if she incurred his wrath along the way.

If half the stories about the old master were true, he had been one of the founding members of the city of Inferno. He had represented the whole of the vampires, not just his family. It was his auctoritas , the immense power of his authority and influence and his seat on the First Council that had ensured the vampires maintained a position of privilege in a city run by supernatural creatures.

The only ones more powerful were the dragons. No one fucked with the dragons.

Asteria was far enough away from Inferno now that she could no longer see the smudge of smoke of it in the distance.

These mountains and forests were no place for a human, even a trained one like herself. She could fight well against all supernatural creatures; it was part of being her master's protector during daylight. This forest had magic, and that was a different kind of adversity.

There were stories that said they were full of feral werewolves. She hoped that whatever spells the old master had on the secret trail would be enough to protect her. Wishful thinking. That was what this whole damn trip was.

Asteria pulled out the map once more and tried to figure out her position. The map had been given to the head of the Evandrus family by the old master himself. Not even his own vampiric family knew where he slept. He hadn't trusted them with the location like he had his blood sworn.

Truth be told, Asteria had thought the map was a family story too until she had found it when cleaning out her father's safe. The map had given her the grand idea of hunting the old master down and waking him up.

If he killed her for the audacity, she was ready to go. Anything was better than trying to serve Valens a second longer. That was before she even got to the guilt that was eating her alive.

Asteria ran her finger over the twisting red line on the map. She was getting close, and she would be hiking upwards from now on.

Taking a sip from her water bottle, Asteria put the map away before adjusting her pack and starting the climb. The forest soon began to thin out, and the ground turned to sharp rocks.

Trust a vampire to build his resting place in the ass end of nowhere. The old ones were always paranoid, not to mention bat shit crazy. Asteria could use someone bat shit crazy.

How would the old master feel about the way his family was being run? She doubted he would be impressed with Valens's blood orgies that only played shitty dance music.

She hoped he would turn up and clean house. Literally . She hated the dead-beat groupies and influencers that were always sucking Valens's dick just to be seen with one of the members of the founding families.

Asteria was embarrassed to be blood sworn to such a vapid waste of immortality. She knew her family had been ashamed of Valens too, which made their death, caused by his running mouth, so much worse.

Asteria's legs burned, her back ached, and she just wanted to lie down or go home… She froze. There was a presence in the air, a press of magic and influence.

"Nice try! I'm not afraid of you, and I'm not going back!" she called out. She was the last Evandrus for fuck's sake. She wasn't going to be dissuaded by some simple spell.

Asteria was about to stop and check her map again when she circled around a small ridge and found herself at the end of the path.

In the rock face before her was carved the alchemical symbol for Mercury. It was sacred to alchemists because it transcended both solid and liquid states. It was also a representation of life and death—the transcendent state of all vampires and immortals.

"Hello, master," she whispered.

Asteria took a small knife from her belt and sliced the tip of her finger. Blood welled, and she took a steady breath. She really hoped that the stories were true.

Asteria traced her bloody finger over the grooves of the symbol and prayed. The sleeping god inside must've listened to her because the rock opened like a door into the darkness.

"Here we go." Asteria switched on her torch and went to meet her fate.