Birthright

Chapter 17 - Lorraine- Dalston PoV

I can’t believe the mutt ran. Who does she think she is, defying me, especially knowing the blood contract would have killed her mother. I should’ve expected nothing less. I killed that w***e anyway, I let the demons of Meldron take her body to do as they please. The first time I saw Marie and Ephy at the market years ago, something about that girl prickled under my skin, that power she held, raw and unclaimed. I needed it. I still do.

I’ve spent years collecting powerful creatures, but none have ever made me feel what she did. There was something in those sapphire eyes of hers, something that could bend the world to its will. The night Lucian seized control, I understood what true power and control looked like. He had his vampire coven and the demons of Meldron at his command, to take the title of King of Talvarna. I swore that one day, I’d have an army of my own to take that title.

“Sire, we have a lead on another powerful one. He was seen last night at the Cauldron Poison Inn,” my minion Bennett reported.

I have my own coven of vampires now, those I’ve turned myself. Few survive the transition, and those who do often lose whatever gifts they once possessed.

Like my dear Lorraine.

Centuries ago, I had a mate. She was born of a witch coven, and our union was forbidden. The elders feared what might come from such a bond, half-breeds, known as hybrids now. Lorraine and I kept our love secret, hidden in the shadows where monsters thrive.

But one night, in the height of passion, I marked her. From that moment, her magic began to fade. She was of the water element, yet no matter how she tried, the tides no longer answered her call.

Her coven cast her out, deeming her a vampire, a threat. She lost everything: her magic, her home, her purpose. And I..I was not enough to fill the void.

During a storm that tore the skies apart, she threw herself from the cliffs of Lark Rise. They found her body three days later, washed ashore in Slavers bay.

I live now to breathe power and enforce my will. I feed on control and punish any who defy me. One day I will have my vengeance for Lorraine, I will find the coven that cast her out and make them pay in full. But first I must seize the title I crave, my hunger for it comes before all else.

“Why are you frozen, then? Move!” I snapped. Bennett flinched as if struck.

“S-sire..I’m..” He swallowed. “Forgive me. The she-wolf you bit… she didn’t make it through the transition.”

The room tilted. I grabbed the closest thing and sent it smashing into the stone wall. Glass rained down, a black sea at our feet.

“Weaklings,” I spat. “Fetch me another tonight. Fae this time. I want fae blood. None of your pitiful mutts you bring me. Find this powerful one before the week ends”

At this rate I won’t have an army ready for another month. I must accelerate the process, perhaps take more than one being a night. So far I have over two hundred sired vampires training in the caverns beneath my house on the cliffs of Lark Rise, staring down at Talvarna. A hundred more from the coven owe me their loyalty; together they will help me unseat Lucian.

I went to Ragflor myself, to the dragons’ lairs, thinking their power might finally be of use. Fools. They want no part in any war never did, not even during the Great War. They sit on their mountains, guarding gold and silence, pretending the world beneath them doesn’t burn. I’ve spoken with demons too. Some see reason, some crave the blood I promise, but there still aren’t enough of them. Not yet.

Lucian promised much at the beginning, but he has grown careless, his eye has slipped from the task. That weakness will be his undoing.

He’s become too consumed by his mate and children to see what’s happening around him. He no longer brings misery to the scum of Talvarna, the witches, the fae, the wolves. Once, he slaughtered the Lycans and restored order to the realm. He made the lesser creatures bow, made them worship us, made them understand that vampires were the superior race. But that glory has long rotted away. Now they crawl through the slums, living their wretched little lives as if they deserve peace. They should be suffering.