The bad part about reacting on instinct is that my instincts aren't suited for dealing with spoiled princesses. Kalista cries out, hissing in pain as I yank her up by her hair before her fangs can pierce Kinley's frail human skin.

I bite into my wrist. The only way to sway a fledgling that has gotten the scent of fresh blood is to lull them with your own. The older a vampire is, the more enticing our blood is to our kind. Vampire blood also has aphrodisiac qualities.

Kalista greedily sucks at my free flowing-blood with a desperation that matches a hungry infant feeding from their mother's breast. A moan of bliss slips past her lips as she sinks her teeth into me to keep the wound open. I heal fast, and she hasn't had enough to satisfy her thirst. It's Kinley or me. I can outlast a fledgling's thirst. Kinley can't.

Kalista tears herself away from me, her eyes blazing with a high she's never before felt. The next moment happens all at once. She lunges for me, possessed by the carnal desires my blood instilled in her, and then she's on the ground, neck broke.

Oops.

"Tristan!" Sabrina shouts, coming over to where I am trying to revive the princess from her unmoving slumber.

My attention gets pulled to the sharp intake of air Kinley takes as she sits up like she's just been brought back to life by electric shock paddles. She looks disoriented for a few seconds before her gaze lands on the three vampires near her. Her eyes widen. She tries to stand to run yet she hasn't the strength. She falls to the ground and backpedals, scrambling away from Sabrina, a waking Kalista, and me.

She stops when her back hits something. Her neck cranes up to see what is hindering her retreat. I swear the ghost of her soul jumps out of her when she sees Dorian is "the what" she ran into.

Dorian drops to the balls of his feet, exuding all the charm he's infamously known for. "Why, hello there."

You can practically hear the freezing chill that shoots through Kinley and cracks her spine, shattering it into hundreds of pieces.

Kinley manages to get to her feet and dashes in the only direction available to her that is vampire free—toward the kitchen. Dorian heads her off before she gets there.

"What is the human doing here? I told you to take care of her or turn her in. Bringing her here is neither of those things," Serena says, agitated as she has spent countless hours searching for me with Dorian.

The perks of being an older vampire. If I don't want to be found, I can suppress my energy to keep from being located.

Kalista returns to the realm of consciousness, sitting up with a glazed-over look in her eyes. "What happened?" She rubs the back of her neck. It will be stiff for a couple of minutes before it loosens up after self-healing from when I broke it.

"Tell me, Tristan. What did you do to this poor creature? I could smell her fear from three blocks away." Dorian gives Kinley a wide berth as he circles her, assessing the prey I have brought into our home.

Kinley isn't prey though.

"That is a question you should be asking someone else, not me." I leave my sisters to care for Kalista, edging closer to Dorian and Kinley. I need to be ready to intervene in case Dorian thinks he is going to help himself to the human whose scent and fear are tingeing his eyes dark with hunger.

Dorian stops behind Kinley, her attention now on me as I have moved closer to both of them. "You found her this way?"

"Yes. Almost three weeks ago. She knew what I was with one look," I reply.

"Three weeks ago and you didn't correct the situation. That is a decision that could have gotten you killed!" Serena cuts in, helping Sabrina get Kalista to her feet.

"By law, I've done nothing wrong. She knew what I was because of another vampire's mistake. One I am currently trying to fix, but it is proving to be a much more difficult task."

"I don't see what could be so difficult. You compel her, rip her heart out, or break her neck. All three are options that take less than two seconds," Sabrina says.

"Unless..." Serena keeps her arm supported around an unsteady Kalista. "You brought her back to become a gift for the future queen." A mischievous grin forms on my other sister's face. My payback for not returning home like I said I would.

Females can be such temperamental things. One minute they like you, the next they are wishing you an eternity of drowning at the bottom of the ocean.

"She would make an extraordinary chalice, one befitting a princess's union ceremony." Dorian's voice drops low, his charm turning into a seductive purr laced with hunger.

Does he too feel a strange attraction to this human's spiced blood?

It is impossible to know which force is behind the darkening of Dorian's forest-green irises—bloodlust or desires of the flesh. The two expressions are too intertwined into the fabric of a vampire's being, especially a vampire that indulges in both as often as Dorian does.

Kalista clasps her hands, her violet eyes glimmering. "Is that true? Did you bring her here as an early ceremony gift? Does this mean—"

"It doesn't mean anything. I did not bring her back to be a gift. Her being here is in the interest of all vampires. This human can't be compelled, and she is immune to venom. I plan on keeping her until I know why that is."

Disappointment clouds Kalista's face while the rest of the room goes so silent I can hear the flap of a moth's wings as it flutters about, having made its entrance with Dorian and Serena.

"Did you just say she cannot be compelled?" Sabrina is the first to break the silence.

"Stay back." Kinley trips over the corner of the rug in her haste to keep distance from Dorian as he advances closer. He obeys her order, more or less out of intrigue than because she asked him to.

"She's also immune to our venom, or at least that is what I assume is the reason she's still alive."

"Could an illness cause such side effects in a human?" Serena chimes in, bypassing Dorian to get a closer look.

Kinley backs up, only to back right into me as I "magically" appear behind her. Kinley's muscles seize in fright as Serena takes a whiff.

Serena pulls back, covering her mouth and nose as she coughs. "The devil, her scent is strong."

"It does burn in the nostrils and chest. It's quite aromatic. Reminds me of those cinnamon-spiced sugar-coated candies that were popular in the early 1900s," Dorian agrees.

It burns other places too, I bitterly remark internally.

The residual heat this human crafts in me is still teeming beneath the surface of my skin. Earlier today at the gas station, it felt like I survived an atomic bomb detonating inside me.

One thing is for sure; I cannot let any of the others feed on this human. There is something very wrong with her blood. I've never heard of a human containing blood that vampires are allergic to. If that is even what this is.

One second I'm ready to bed this human, the next it feels like I'm being burned alive, and then suddenly I'm being torn apart by a foreign force inside me.

My temples throb, my mind spinning with all the questions I have. Questions I need to find the answers to.

"You want a human to stay here?" Sabrina scoffs at the absurdity. "Who cares why she can't be compelled. It doesn't matter if she is dead. What are you going to do? Give her a room, feed her, and take her on walks in the meantime?"

"If you ask me, she won't last the night," Serena replies, decorating Kinley's skin in a raised chill. "Look at the two of them." She gestures to Dorian and me. "You boys look like two rabid dogs ready to fight over a scrap of meat."

Kinley flinches against Serena's shrill laughter. She doesn't find her current situation near as amusing as my sister. Not when Serena is so callously joking about her demise by being torn apart in a game of tug-a-war by demons.

Kalista pulls her shoulders back and raises her chin high. "This human is a pure blood and, as such, I am exercising my authority as Princess of the Vampirie. I agree with Dorian. This human will make a fine chalice. Her scent is pure and stronger than any human any of you have ever smelled before. Therefore, she is a chalice befitting my station."

"Kalista, that would mean she would have to remain here for two years," Serena states.

"No, it will only be six months. The date has already been set. Tristan and I are to be paired at the end of this year."

Rage. Intense, sweltering rage sears into me so hot I think I may rip the princess's head clean off her shoulders.

"What do you mean, we are to be paired at the end of this year? I refused your offer to become your mate. Your father accepted my refusal. It's a done deal. I have to put up with your spoiled butt for two years then I ship you back home."

"My father lied. We don't have two years to wait for you to come around to acknowledging your duties. You hail from a warrior bloodline fashioned to protect the Dark Prince. It is your responsibility to protect his bloodline. You can't run from it. It's in your blood, Tristan. The Council and your parents are in agreement."

I forgo Kinley, stepping toe to toe with Kalista and her self-entitled ways.

"I would sooner rip my own heart out than be told what to do by the likes of you. I will not be damned to an insufferable life as your mate because your father failed to rule properly. I've already said this before, but I will say it again because you appear to be hard of hearing. All my warrior bloodline means is that your father may call upon me in a time of war, so until there is a war knocking on his door you will leave me out of your plans to regain the power your family has let slip through their fingers."

"War is knocking at our door. The very future of our way of life is at stake. A strong union is the only way to keep things from tipping over the edge." Kalista holds firm despite the fact she can't conceal the slight tremble in her words.

"What you mean to say is the others who wish to overthrow your father will only be pacified if there is a vampire they feel represents our way of life seated at the thrown next to you," I seethe.

Alekos is known as a kind ruler who has sought to bring about a way we could live harmoniously with our prey. His solution worked, but our numbers are increasing. Living in the shadows is becoming harder. It requires constant moving. You can never settle anywhere more than ten years without causing suspicion. Whether that be in the fact we don't age or because we are racking up too many kills.

Vampires aren't docile creatures by nature. With the age of human technology and social media becoming more prevalent, we've had to learn to suppress what we are, most of my kind feeding and having to compel our prey to forget. They can't afford to use Shadow Enterprise to clean up their messes.

Heck, some middle-stationed families have hard times. The prices for services keep going up. Unrest and uncertainty are flooding into every community that is not considered part of the five original bloodlines.

There are too many of us, and Alekos's recent "encouragement" of two kills a year has not sat well with most. Everyone knows these encouragements are laws meant to be followed. The only ones who get away with not following these new encouragements are ones like me—the privileged, as the others see it.

Alekos fails to understand what the masses yearn for. You can only keep an animal caged for so long before it becomes insane from the parameters you have tried to confine it in.

"Our union isn't what is going to win your father any favor back. He needs to relinquish the latest encouragements, commission more blood banks, and seek a form of entertainment that will help curve the innate instinct to kill that resides in us all. That Princess is how you win back your people."

It doesn't help that Alekos has imprisoned and reprimanded far too many for embracing the culture we were designed to partake in. This has caused him to make many enemies. We are supposed to only live by one rule, yet more "encouragements" keep funneling down the pipeline. It's hard to ignore when vampires have been put to death for breaking them.

As it stands right now, if the Council catches wind of a "serial killer" in any region, that vampire is as good as dead. Doesn't matter if humans catch someone they think did it or if the human they suspect is prosecuted for our crimes and sentenced to a life behind bars, the Council will still hold the vampire who did it responsible. They get away with it citing it breaches the one rule of our kind.

Everyone knows that's just smoke, a way of thinning our numbers to make our presence less noticeable to humans. The more we use compulsion to govern the problem, the more humans wind up in psych wards.

"You will be my mate at the year's end, Tristan Darkos. If that means I have to commission some of the ancients to help me lock you in a tomb of ice until that day to keep you from ripping your own heart out, so be it. That choice is yours to make." Kalista holds her chin high, pinching her shoulder blades together like all royals do when they get all uppity.

"It is my sincere wish," she continues, "to use this time for us to get to know each other. Your parents have spoken highly of you but all I have seen is a vampire male who lacks couth and control. You should have seen yourself all over that human. You were so desperate to have her blood you...you sealed your mouth to hers. It's disgusting and a pathetic sight to see the grandson of the Beast of the Damned practically on his knees, lapping up human blood like a starving mutt."

Dorian places a firm hand on my shoulder to stay the rapture I am about to bring down on this spoiled, sassed-mouth fledgling. "Kalista, I think it is time you retire to your room. I will retrieve you when it is dinner time," he states calmly.

"But—"

"No buts. Alekos placed me in charge of you. You are to do as I say and will do so until your coronation. Now go."

Kalista smashes her lips together to keep from arguing, stomps her foot, and turns on her heel in dramatic fashion as she storms off.

As I watch what could be the future I don't want to be a part of walk away from me, I catch a glimpse of movement behind me.

Kinley is slowly backing up as Dorian's attention has returned to her, the human that will be my chalice if I am forced to marry the brat princess.

A deep frown forms, dismay extending down into my core as a part of me acknowledges I'd rather be mated to this human than Kalista. I shouldn't be having thoughts like that.

"I guess I shall go ready the basement for our new captive." Sabrina blows out a haughty breath.

Kalista is right about one thing. I have lost all sense of control regarding this human. This evening I'll have to find time to bleed myself. I can't go on being ruled by an inferior species no matter how devastatingly divine her blood tastes.

"The human will be staying with me in my chambers. She won't make it to the ceremony date with a fledgling in the house. Her blood is too alluring for Kalista to resist if she has another episode."

I know I said white magic can no longer exist here but, if it could, I imagine it would taste like Kinley's blood—pure and tooth-achingly sweet.

If I knew it wasn't impossible, I would believe Kinley was filled with white magic. That would explain everything. The problem is I can taste something else in her blood, a darkness that is rooted deep within her.

The Great War is the last time white magic existed on the earth. No one knows what ended the fifteen years of bloodshed, but what is known is that the human race would have been wiped out if it weren't for their creator sending the white army to help the humans and their guardian angels fight.

"I bet you do want to keep her close." Dorian smirks.

I can't tell if his statement is directed at his belief I want to use Kinley as my own private blood bank or if he can sense the perverse affinities that lie behind my darkened blue eyes.

"Come, Kinley. Your new prison awaits you." I extend my arm, gesturing for her to come to my side.

This prison will at least be much larger than the confines of her mind.

Kinley reluctantly obeys, placing her body in the space between my arm and side that I designated for her. I don't like how right it feels to have her there.

Kinley isn't the only one who's going to be locked in a prison for the next six months. I, too, will be there with her. The sole difference is that one day Kinley will escape her prison and find the peace she seeks in death. I, on the other hand, will be imprisoned forever if I am forced to become the princess's mate.