Chapter 1

Anais

Reaching out a hand, I tried to slam the off button on the alarm without even looking. It was only as my hand found nothing that I realized my alarm clock wasn't even there.

My eyes flew open, taking in my surroundings as my other hand grabbed the large knife that was lying beside me on the bed. Tense, I lay there a moment trying to remember where I was and how I'd got there.

Finally, the beeping stopped, letting me know that it hadn't been my alarm at all. It had been coming from outside the room, down the hall toward the kitchen. Someone swore, helping me remember the rest of the night before.

I was at a friend's house, evicted from my own apartment cause I'd not made the rent on time for the third month running. It didn't matter that I'd caught back up each time in only a couple of days. Late was late and they'd not been happy.

All the belongings I had were sitting in a suitcase and two boxes around the bed and somewhere among all of it was my alarm clock. Thankfully, unplugged. But that meant the noise had been something else. It took me only a fraction of a second to realise it must have been the smoke alarm by the kitchen.

A moment later I noticed I could smell the faint aroma of burnt toast and something else underlying. Possibly jam, or jelly, or whatever they called it here.

I sat up, knowing that it was too late to get any more sleep. I needed to pee and I knew I needed a job from the guild or I was going to have nowhere to go after this night either. And there was no way I could stay where I was, sleeping in the spare room of an old friend. One who only sort of liked me.

There was no way I could afford a flight back to the UK either. Although I had somewhere to go there, I had no way of getting there. Not right now. And I wasn't phoning my uncle to ask for his help. He didn't want me.

It didn't take long for me to get myself decent and ready to face another day. Well... night. I worked nights, my clientele needing me to. And the sun was setting. As soon as I'd repacked my bags and put together a kit for an eventful work shift, I made my way out of the room.

My eyes immediately fixed on my friend, Emma, sitting on a rickety, almost broken chair at a table covered in spam leaflets, partially opened post, magazines and newspapers. She was eating burned toast and jelly with her fingers while the other hand held a phone, the thumb flying over the screen as she talked to someone unknown.

"Hi," I said, but she didn't even look up.

"There's a couple of slices of bread left. Bit stale, but it toasts okay," she said before resuming her tapping.

I padded through to the rest of the kitchen, noticing the smell of burned toast was worse here, and then my eyes fixed on the bread, it was a crust and the slice that went with it. Neither looked very appealing as they sat in the open packet.

My stomach growled at the sight of the food anyway, not sure it wanted to let me skip a meal when I'd barely fed it the night before. I sighed, debating just walking out of the apartment I was in to the nearest convenience store or snack van and trying to find something more appetizing.

The one problem with the idea? I had almost no money left. And there was no way I was going to be able to get some unless I got a job from the guild.

Putting both the slice and the crust under the grill, I hovered by it and pulled my communication device from my pocket. It was sort of like a cell phone, but it only connected to one place. The guild communications systems. The place where a vampire hunter like me got her next job.

Someone had put up the jobs for the night already and I quickly flicked through them, but there were only a few a hunter could do alone and none of them filled me with confidence. They were either high profile targets in specific situations that required someone skilled in far more areas than I, or they were lower paid butchering jobs with sketchy information but more applicants than I stood any chance of achieving against. And none of them paid soon enough.

Sighing, I fished the stale bread, now toasted out from the grill, careful not to burn my fingers as I looked around for a plate. There didn't seem to be one close to hand, so I stacked the slices on the packet and looked around for both a plate and something akin to butter, or anything else I could put on it.

There was nothing. No plates, and not even margarine, or any remaining jelly so I could copy Emma. With nothing else to do, I took a bite of the dry toast and sighed.

I needed to get my life together.

As the few jobs on the guild board were all slowly snapped up and I tried to chew and swallow the dry food I thought through what I had to work with. The vampire hunting hadn't been going well since I'd screwed up a job. I'd meant to have a nice easy vampire to kill who had gotten out of hand.

A young one who had been ditched by his sire and the mafia don they were associated and left to fend for himself. Of course, he'd started eating people out in the open. And it hadn't been pretty. But when I'd gathered the usual group to go hunt him down and I'd realized he was so starving and clueless I'd hesitated. For a moment I'd pitied him. He'd been turned and then left to work out what that meant. But there had been more to the case than that. Something hadn't felt right.

Either way it was the pity that had cost me. The vampire had gathered his strength and lunged. He'd knocked me on my ass and almost got away. It had drawn the attention of too many onlookers.

Since then neither the guild nor my usual team had been happy with me. Pity wasn't something we were meant to feel for them. They were ruthless killers and we were locked in a secret war with them.

Tabbing to the private messages section of the system I pulled up my handler in the guild. They were the person I reported to when a job was done. The person who made sure my kit was up to scratch and the person who had ripped me a new one when I'd screwed up.

I knew I needed to get them to give me another chance if I was going to get anywhere and I wasn't above begging. After all, I was eating the last food in the house of an old friend who had no idea what I did because since my mistake I'd not earned a cent.

And I hadn't been wealthy to begin with.

By the time I'd finished the toast and managed to wash the last of the dry mess down with water from a glass I couldn't be sure was clean, I had a reply.

There's a lot of pressure on me to drop you, but I know you don't usually make mistakes and you've shown a lot of promise for someone so young. I've got one job I've not put out yet, but I don't think you're going to like it. And I won't lie, it's dangerous. But if you pulled it off it would get you back in the good graces here.

I read the message and felt a thrill of both fear and delight run through me before I tapped out three short words.

I'll take it.

It didn't matter what it was. I couldn't afford to be picky. Couldn't afford to turn it down. With any luck the danger would be something I could handle. And if not... my problems would be solved in another way.

I was just picking up my away bag and telling Emma I'd be back after work for the rest of my belongings when the document with the job info came through. I could have sworn. They wanted someone to infiltrate one of the city's biggest vampire events and take out a minor vampire Lord. This wasn't a normal job for a hunter like me.

But then my eyes fixed on the reward money. It was enough to keep me fed and housed for an entire half year. I was going to have to do it. And I didn't have time to feel any fear or hesitation.

***

Leandro

Fighting back a growl of anger, I watched as the kindred in front of me joked and jostled over the scantily clad piece of meat they'd cornered. It was one of the local hookers. A new one. And she'd not see the light of day.

A part of me wanted to give in to the desire and hunger her scent caused, but I wasn't an animal. Not like some of these younger, turned ones. Admittedly, I wasn't meant to appear as controlled as I was, my years and time as a true-blood vampire something I hid from almost everyone. I was supposed to be one of the turned, not one of the original race.

But this particular prey wasn't even slightly tempting. Turning my back on her whimpering cries and pleads for mercy I made my way to the front of the club room, intending to get some air.

Before I could, our little boss came in, all swagger and bravado, his bare muscular chest on display and a strange fur-lined waistcoat adorning the rest. It was a strange ensemble even for Vegas, but on him it was even more ludicrous. Despite how we were portrayed in fiction, becoming a vampire didn't automatically give you better taste in fashion or sex appeal.

That didn't stop Ludis. He beamed, another woman on his arm. This one an enthralled. A human woman who knew of our nature and traded her blood for the high she could be given while devoured. It worked for more people than you'd think.

The woman was wearing the trashiest short skirt made of some cheap fake leather that shone in the club light. I looked away, aware that I couldn't leave the room when the vampire I currently answered to had only just walked in. Not only would it be considered rude, I wouldn't know what insanely stupid idea he was considering next.

Instead, I sat myself back down out of the way, trying to decide if I wanted to order something to eat, or just drink. Vampires didn't need to eat to stay alive, but just like when we were alive, we could enjoy food. And anything else humans enjoyed.

I watched as Ludis and his enthralled sat themselves at the large central table and he lifted his hand to summon a waiter. After ordering far more food than even we could eat on a good day and laughing off the bill, he settled down a bit.

"Drew, come over here, brother. I know you'll want to hear this," Ludis said, looking right at me where I sat.

I tried not to react and instead picked up my drink and moved closer. There was no way I was going to sit at the table with everyone else, but Ludis knew enough about me to not expect that much of me at least. Ludis thought I was a turned vampire called Andrew who had been added to the mafia clan and given a place with him.

Before everyone else was even sitting down he started laying out some epic plan for getting more of the true vampire brethren to take him, and in his mind, therefore us, seriously. I was only half listening until Ludis mentioned the brethren meeting happening in only three days.

"They'll never know what hit them if we can get it past the guards. And I know four of them this year. If we time it right..." Ludis made a chopping motion with his hand.

"You want to take out one of the true bloods?" one of the other underlings asked, a vampire who'd only been turned for a year or so. His eyes were wide and he'd uttered a question that I knew all of us were thinking.

"We all know that the only way to get stronger is to consume the blood of the older generations. They hide and keep themselves away. We don't have to kill one, just all take a mouthful or two. With all of us a good amount stronger then we can be an even more amazing team."

I tried to think of something to say. If we attacked a true blood, and somehow weren't killed trying, then not ending their life would guarantee a death sentence. But this wasn't what bothered me most. Ludis wouldn't share something like that with the entire group of vampires present. We didn't take a little and pass around. There wouldn't be sharing.

Feeding took control. Feeding on a pure blood and not becoming lost in the blood frenzy would be near impossible for anyone who hadn't tasted something similar in the past. Of course, if they knew how old my blood was...

Thankfully there was a lack of enthusiasm among the other vampires and I could remain on the edge of the group, not expressing my opinion. Each of them objected in turn, but Ludis wasn't in the mood to listen.

"Look. Who do you all answer to?" he asked, his eyes flicking to me for a brief moment.

It was clear he wanted my back up and for me to remind everyone, but I remained silent as if I hadn't noticed the subtle body language. I might answer to him right now, but only because the vampire we both served had asked me to. And Ludis knew that part, at least.

"We serve you, boss," the wide-eyed young kindred replied.

"Exactly and I take care of all of you. This will give us that edge we need. And the plan is almost entirely foolproof."

I'd heard those words before. It wasn't foolproof. But I knew what this idea was. There was no persuading Ludis he was wrong. And that was worrying. Taking on the true-blood was particularly foolish.

But what did I do about it?

If I went to our don it could be taken the wrong way. And Ludis would know it was me. If I didn't, however it could go even worse. I could even be implicated in it and I knew I didn't want that. I hadn't spent this long avoiding trouble to get caught up in it because of some jumped up lower generation, turned vampire who had far more ambition than sense.

It made me wonder why the boss had ever assigned me to him, but there was only one good explanation. He knew Ludis might try something like this and wanted me to report it. Or worse, try to stop it.

While Ludis droned on about his plan, being even more ridiculous, I tried to think through how to handle this. I was going to need to tell the boss, but I couldn't leave the table yet, or the room.

I was beginning to get both bored and angry an hour later when another vampire strode in. It was one that Ludis had created. Someone yet another generation below them and weaker, but they had been a stronger human. A muscle man of sorts before they had been turned. They did a lot of Ludis's dirty work for him and didn't ask questions. All brawn and now brain.

Of course, we didn't get along.

Trying not to look too interested, I watched them out of the side of my eyes as I stared in the direction of the enthralled. Let everyone think I was eyeing up the meat when I was truly paying attention to everything and everyone. It was a tactic that had served me well on so many occasions.

"Boss, there was some trouble with the party for tomorrow," the brawn said, his voice full of gravel and a tough guy act that made me want to vomit.

Ludis scowled as several of the other vampires at the table looked over.

"I told you not to mention the party," Ludis said, his anger clear.

I fought back a smirk, wondering who it had been a surprise for. A quick look at the enthralled made it clear. She was the recipient. Probably something sickeningly sweet like her birthday. I didn't know what the vampire world saw in keeping humans around like pets. It degraded them and it degraded us.

"Sorry, boss. I just couldn't get the flamingos you-"

Ludis got to his feet, grabbing the brawn's arm as he did. The pair of them strode from the room as the enthralled clapped in delight, left behind momentarily.

Had she been a normal human in a normal vampire coven or mafia clan, Ludis leaving would have left her open to be devoured by the next senior vampire, or the next, given the first would have been me and she was definitely not my type. This wasn't a normal human, however. She was an enthralled and belonged to Ludis. And that meant we all had to protect her for him.

I rolled my eyes as I walked from the room as well. At least I could also leave now.