Kings of Blood and Ruin: Vampire Mafia Romance by Jo McCall

Author:Jo McCall [McCall, Jo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dark Ink Publication
Published: 2024-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

Thalia

As I slowly regain consciousness, a shuddered breath catches in my chest, and my eyes flutter open. Confusion washes over me as I take in my surroundings. Gone are the soft cream-colored walls of my prison. They’ve been replaced with the dark dinge of a dense forest. I’m standing on a small platform overlooking a large group of men and women gathered below.

Panic sets in as I realize my wrists are bound together, secured by rough ropes that cut into my skin. Desperate to break free, I frantically search for a spell to release me from this nightmare. But as I try to scream, I’m met with silence—my lips sealed shut with an unknown force. Fear grips me as I realize they have been stitched together with twine.

This cannot be happening. It must be a dream. But the pain coursing through my body and the warmth of blood trickling down my face tell me otherwise. The torches surrounding me cast flickering shadows, adding to the horror of this surreal scene.

“Talyssa Petrea.”

The name is crowed from the crowd, whip sharp, stinging through the air. My eyes follow the voice, dread pitting in my stomach when my gaze catches his.

Grégoire Saint Clair.

How do I know this? The simple answer is…I don’t. This isn’t my dream; it’s someone else’s memory. Maybe going to bed hungry was a mistake, and now I’m paying the price for it. All I can do now is observe silently. He has taken away my voice, leaving me powerless to speak the truth about him. He’s a monster, a devil under the spell of one of the most influential vampires in history. If only his followers knew the true nature of who he really is.

“You have been convicted of heresy against the Almighty and his followers,” he sneers, throwing his arms up, voice ringing out into the night. He’s putting on a show, exciting the crowd who scream out “witch” and “traitor.” Many of them are people I grew up with. Called friends. And they have turned on me without a second thought. An entire village of Judases. “Renounce your worship of the dark prince and be redeemed for your sins so that you might enter the golden gates of heaven upon your death. Repent so that He might forgive you.”

That’s a stall of horse shit he’s spewing from his lips. If only the good people of Salem knew his true intentions. Who he really is. What he really is. If only they knew about the ampules of vampire blood he has stowed away. If he was human, he would never have caught me, but he’s used magic and blood to become something more. Something dark and dangerous.

A strigoi. Not quite a vampire but not human either. Strigoi are darker, more nefarious forms of dhampir, made by ingesting or injecting vampiric blood and the blood of other species. It creates dark, feral hybrids like the one before me.

Except he isn’t feral or going mad.

Because I believed that I could fix him, and now the beast stands before me whole.

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