Jason's head dropped back onto the leathered headrest. Why wasn't he surprised to hear the demented fool utter such a statement? Power was the root of all evil. Men like him could never have enough of it and would destroy millions of lives to get it. Greedy fuck... That was why he sacrificed all of those lives. All of those innocent people ripped apart by a ravenous demon for the sake of a fool's dream. He could still see them in the shadows of his mind; the memories of the demon stayed with him.

"What happened to the little girl? Did you kill her as well?" Jason asked, but he already knew the answer.

Alaric sat down on a chair and crossed his legs. "Don't worry, she didn't suffer much. Ludwick ended her quickly." Bile rose from Jason's stomach.

"She was fucking innocent! She was no threat to you!" Jason's shout whipped out toward the vampire, but it had no effect on Alaric.

"She was one of many sacrifices that I had to make."

Jason chuckled, shaking his dizzy head. Selene had already filled the two blood bags with blood, and another two empty ones had been added in their place. "You're a fucking monster. And I hope to the heavens that someone plunges a fucking stake through your shriveled heart."

Alaric shot up from his seat and punched Jason through the face. Jason spit out a mouthful of blood in front of the vamp's black dress shoes. "You hit like a bitch, try again." The throbbing pain in his jaw slowly dissipated until it completely disappeared. Demonic regeneration, not bad. At least one thing that worked in Jason's favor.

"Don't test me, Jason," Alaric said. "You know nothing of me. Life is cruel and unforgiving. Accept it and move on."

"And I guess you moved on, right?" Jason asked. "The only reason you're after power is for two reasons, revenge or greed. So which one is it?"

Anger flashed across his face. Jason must have hit a sensitive nerve in the walking corpse.

Jason smirked, but it faded as the witch replaced the full bags with another set of empty blood bags. How much blood did they fucking need, and why wasn't he already drained?

"Let's me answer that question for you. It's for revenge," Alaric said, drawing Jason's attention away from the witches' doings. "I was once a vampire lord on the Blooded Council until they betrayed and banished me. I lost everything, even my fated one..."

His soul mate, huh? Another poor bastard driven insane at the loss of a loved one.

"And so you want to wage war on those who wronged you?" Jason said, mocking him with a chuckle. Yet again, Alaric had his hand around his neck, squeezing his airway shut.

"Don't mock me, you little brat!" He hissed, digging his nails into Jason's jaw. "They killed the one I was meant to be with."

"What did your fated do to piss off the Blooded Council?"

The vampire lords wouldn't have just killed indiscriminately; they only acted when their fellow brethren threatened their security and had broken their sacred laws. Whatever Alaric's fated one did must have been heinous enough to sentence them to death.

Alaric scoffed and said, "She tried to get rid of the dogs that kept yapping at our heels. My Esmeralda despised your kind. She begged the Blooded Council to do away with the encroaching werewolves who dared to invade her territory, but the council sided with the werewolf king. They were spineless fools who didn't want to cause another war with the weres.

"When she realized she had no allies amongst the spineless fools, she and her coven attacked the invading pack and exterminated them. When the dust settled, the Blooded Council accused her of mass murder to appease their newly-found allies and then executed her. I pleaded with the council to spare her life, but they refused. When I tried to save her, they stripped me of my rank and banished me."

Silence fell over the chamber.

"So yes... I'm gathering the power I need to kill the Blooded Council and the werewolf king for their part in my beloved's death."

"Then why drag me into your mess?" Jason huffed. It was Alaric's lust for vengeance, not his.

"It's obvious." Alaric reached for a blood bag in a cooler and shook it around in his hand. "The power I require lies in your blood." He handed the blood bag back to Selene. "Demon blood is very potent. It can bolster the powers of those who consume it. With your blood and my army, I'll accomplish my goal." He walked over to the door. "Enjoy the rest of your day, Jason. Get some rest because you'll need it tonight when the last step in your transformation takes place."

"Excuse me?" Jason could hardly believe his ears. Hadn't the fucker done enough to him? They have already damned his soul to the pits of hell, and now Alaric wanted to tie the noose even tighter.

"Don't worry your demonic head over it." He smirked as he opened the door, allowing Ludwick to exit the chamber. "You'll love the next part." He then exited the room with a laugh.

Selene then walked over with several empty blood bags on a metal tray.

"How much blood do you assholes need?" Jason asked, glaring at the bags with a dry mouth.

The witch patted Jason on the shoulder. "As much as we need."

***

After a draining afternoon, tied down in a chair and drained of gallons of blood, two vampire guards dragged Jason to another chamber and left him on the dusty floor. He couldn't move, his body moved sluggishly under his command. How they got all of that blood out of him baffled him. Fucking magic! The urge to kill all of them had slowly risen to a full-blown obsession, but the bloody collar around his neck prevented him from doing so. He dreaded to know what they were planning to do with his blood. How many innocent lives, like the little girl he tried to save, were going to perish? Vengeance served no purpose other than to breed chaos, and from chaos a brand-new form of vengeance is reborn.

A vicious cycle with no winners.

The circular room dimmed as the sun set. There was only one source of light, and it came from the open grate above Jason's head. The edge of the moon rose into view, casting scattered moonlight over the stone floor. Jason sat in the middle of the dark chamber, glaring at the wooden doors. How long did he have to wait for the assholes to make their appearance? They probably enjoyed playing with him, trying to break him. It wasn't going to happen.

Just as Jason wanted to move his tired legs to stand, the door swung open and six people entered the room. Alaric and his two advisors, several guards, and a bearded man with dark rings under his hazel eyes. He stuck out like a sore thumb; he didn't belong there. The brown-haired hulk of a man rivaled Ludwick's height and stature. He had a dominating aura surrounding him, and the scent of musk and dirt clung to him. An alpha. But not just any ordinary one. His red eyes betrayed him as a rogue. A werewolf who had taken the life of an innocent. If Jason was still an alpha, he would have been honor bound to kill the murderer.

The darkness which brewed in his soul rippled forward. An unnatural growl escaped Jason's lips. His eyes blackened. Shadows spread from Jason, encroaching toward the new arrivals. The dog scurried backward as the shadows chased his feet.

"Enough, Jason! Calm down!" The order from Alaric broke the bridge between his new powers and him. The shadows crept back into him.

Jason scoffed. "What the fuck is the mutt doing here?"

The rogue whipped his head between them and said, "What the fuck is he?" Fear crawled across the man's face as he swallowed heavily.

Alaric smirked, "An ally... of sorts."

"Shove off, fang-face." Jason crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm no ally of yours and will never be."

Alaric's face fell. He began prowling the perimeter of the room. "It's so sad to hear... I would have thought you'd be grateful."

The vampire's reasoning made Jason chuckle. He was truly off his rockers. What should he be thankful for? They abducted, imprisoned, collared, and then let a demon merge with him. And now they actually believe he should thank them. Jason shook his head at the absurdity of his reasoning.

"And why would I thank you when you condemned my soul for all eternity?" He could never enter the afterlife without ending up head-first in the pits of Tartarus.

"Stop being melodramatic." Alaric stopped pacing around the room and faced Jason. "I gave you a new purpose instead of crumbling away into oblivion. If I were you, I would use this opportunity to exact your revenge on your traitorous family."

Jason clenched his fists. How could this fucker use that against him? True. All he wanted to do was kill his brother and father for what they did to him. How could he not? It was only human to feel that way; it was part of the grieving process. But now he did not want to spend a precious second of his life thinking about those traitors.

"Not interested," Jason replied. "Even if I kill them and exterminate their pathetic pack, it won't bring back what I lost."

Alaric glanced over at the rogue. "But what if you could get it back?"

"You're not a god. Oz is no more. There's no way even you can bring him back."

"And what about your mate?" Alaric asked.

"What about her?" Jason didn't give a fuck about her. "She meant nothing to me."

The rogue turned to Jason and said, "You don't care that your fated mate is in the hands of another?"

Jason shook his head. "Why should I? She didn't spare me a single glance, and I was beneath her status. The arrogant bitch deserves my traitorous brother... and besides, the moon goddess will punish them one way or the other."

Selene snickered, dragging her talons through her hair. "You silly little men and your silly little gods. Why would a goddess, if she even exists, care about avenging you? You're just another sap screwed over like the rest of us and left to rot. So don't get your hopes up, your goddess doesn't give a damn about you."

Silence reigned after her words. Was she right? Did the moon goddess even care about him? She didn't intervene when Amina ripped Oz out of him. She didn't smite his brother or even his father for what they had done. As far as Jason knew from the last time he talked to Mallory over the phone, his brother and mate had been living it up. And the pack has prospered on his suffering. A snarl escaped Jason's lips.

"It would seem we're not so different after all," sang Alaric. "I can see the hatred behind your darkened eyes. But don't worry, my pet. After tonight, you'll have the power to squash your pathetic brother in the dust along with his pack."

"I don't care." Jason bottled up his anger, shoving it back to where it belonged—deep inside his heart. It wasn't going to end well for him if he turned into the monster Alaric wanted to twist him into. The vampire wasn't doing this for him; he was using his anger to turn him into his willing puppet. "No matter what you say, I won't help you."

Alaric sighed and said, "Well, I tried. Now I'll just keep you on your leash until the day you see the world for what it is. Until then, you will do as I command. Kneel."

Jason's knees dropped to the ground. He hissed at the command. What was the vampire up to now?

"Tilt your head to the side."

Jason complied with a grunt.

"Good," Alaric said, running his spindly fingers through Jason's unruly mop of hair. "Now, let's get this over with." He walked up to the rogue. "Do your part."

The rogue's eyes landed on Jason and said, "Just remember your end of the bargain." The dog strutted over to Jason and walked behind him.

"Look forward." Jason's head whipped back to Alaric. He hated that the rogue stood behind his back. His heartbeat sped up.

"What is he planning to do?" Jason asked, swallowing down his nervousness. I don't like this one bit.

"Tell me, my pet. What do you know about hellhounds?"

A chill wrapped around Jason's body. He tried moving his limbs, but they stayed rooted to the spot. Whatever it had to do with demons was going to bite Jason in the ass again. The vampire had another sinister plan up his sleeve.

"Speak up."

Jason stuttered out, "Nothing. You seem to have an obsession with them, so you should already know."

"I do. But let me enlighten you a bit. History is so fascinating, especially from the time of the gods. Now you remember the story I told you a few days ago about the four underlords?" Alaric waited until Jason begrudgingly nodded. "In those days during the war, Hades used his prized possessions to maul his enemies to shreds. Even some of the lesser gods ran afoul of them. Hellhounds, like Cerberus for instance, were created by allowing werewolves to bite high-ranking demons. They gave birth to hellhounds, the strongest of the demon species.

"And thus concludes your transformation, my pet."

Alaric nodded to the rogue behind him. Before Jason could speak up about how ridiculous the vampire sounded, teeth sunk into the nape of his neck. A searing burn crept into his muscles, seeping into his body, until the rogue released him from his grip. Jason fell to the floor, screaming out in agony, flailing about as he gasped for air.

"Don't worry, Jason." Alaric's voice drifted into his ears over his screams. "In a few hours you'll wake up a new man."