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Prologue: Emilia

I pulled the thick coat, lined with fur, overstairway that led up to the Elder’s castle – The Blood Keep, he liked to call it I shuddered at the thought of entering the castle, carrying upon ht of my failure

Before I could reach out and open the thick steel doors, they swung open and I foundface to face with my older brother, Kiev He had a triumphant smirk on his face as he eyed me from head to foot

“You reek of failure, little sis” He tilted his head to the side “Aren’t you supposed to be here with Sofia Claremont?”

Annoyed, I tried to side-step him and rush toto face the wrath of our master, our father, the one who sired me; the very first vampire this world has known Of course, I should’ve expected thatto make it that easy for me

“Get out ofto cast a spell on you”

“Really, now?” He narrowed his eyes atlike that, Emilia?”

I shuddered at the memory of the punished it off, atte to bluff confidence as I stared Kiev down “It will be worth the pain… to see you croaking around the castle like the frog that you are”

At that, Kiev backed down Ithose that the Elder had sired, but that didn’t s

I walked past hian to head for my bedroom only to bump into my sister, Clara, just before I was about to reach ht ofas she did

“You are in so rinned

I grunted, hating the fact that they were finding so much entertain with each other, jostling one another to get ahead and get into our father’s good graces I think the Elder liked it that way He enjoyed seeing his children coain his favor

This tiet any favors from him He had sent me to The Shade, an island occupied by one of the most powerful covens on earth, and led by the man the Elder had promised would become mine – Derek Novak I was sent there on a mission to steal Sofia Claremont away from him

Sofia Clare woman who had somehow conquered the vampire curse Several vampires had already tried to turn her – Derek Novak included – but she didn’t turn The Elder was obsessed with gathering all i thele human in his territory asn’t immune

Upon reachingthe place up for my expected arrival Thehim toward the four-poster bed in the rinned even as I felt the ibeneath me

I to Derek flashed through my mind I anticipated the day she would take the place of the youngmore than what she really was – sustenance for my kind

I openedpale and I knew that if I didn’t stop soon, I would end his life I didn’t care I wanted his blood and the power that came with it I didn’t want to feel powerless at the time I had to come face to face with the Elder I simply couldn’t afford that I drank deep and by the time I was done, all life had seeped away from the human slave

Finally satiated, I sat up and got off the corpse I rolled it off h I stretched e my clothes

I had just stripped into h the room I shuddered as I felt a deep sense of fear That fear always crept intoin the presence of darkness

“Emilia, Emilia, Emilia…” the familiar deep voice spoke from behind me

I sed hard It was never a good sign when he said my name three times in a row

“I was expecting you to go straight into the Grand Hall and present to me the body of Sofia Clare on one ofout in your room”

“I apologize, Master” He never wanted us to refer to hih he referred to us as his children He was our lord and ere to refer to hietmyself before you”

I felt his cold hand grip the back of– as if liquid was dripping frohhis very essence, his wicked darkness

“What happened, Emilia? Why did you fail?”