Chapter 1

Blood ran down my chin slowly as I indulged in the taste. Not too much. I was here for business, not pleasure, after all. This just happened to be an added bonus.

My eyes looked down on the creature in front of me. ‘Dirty mutt,’ I thought to myself. He had tried to catch me off guard in a failed attempt to take off my head. Amateur.

I had been training vigorously since the tender age of 6, as do all warriors in my clan. He most likely assumed I was some young, inexperienced vampire who he could easily overpower. I chuckled to myself at the thought when the realized he had assumed wrong.

As I did appear to be young - I had reached maturity at the age of 19 and stopped physically aging since - I was actually 59 years old. That was relatively young for a vampire, but inexperienced, not so much. This would just be one of many wolf lives I had ended. In fact, I had lost count at this point.

Hmm. An idea formed in my mind. Maybe I should start a kill-book with details about all my victims so I can continue to relive the moments and maybe learn from any mistakes, although mistakes were rare for me. I could use it as training material for some of the others too.

Yes, I would do that later.

I interrupted my own thought process now focusing on the task at hand. I removed my mask as I stalked back toward my fallen victim, and a whimper escaped from his snout, an indication of awareness to his impending doom.

Just then I felt it, the pull of my leader calling me at the most inopportune moment. It was urgent. No time to finish the job.

“Seems as though you will live to see another day,” I said as I looked down in disgust revealing my fangs and ran off.

My speed was almost unmatched. There were few in my clan who were as powerful as me. Being a pure-blood vampire gave me an advantage, so without much effort I was stronger than any who had been turned, but more than that, I excelled in my training, pushing myself past my limits from day one. After all, the bar was set very high.

My father was our leader, but because I was the youngest of many siblings that title would never be passed down to me. Knowing that, I became obsessed in my training striving to be the best in every aspect. I was the strongest and fastest, my analytical skills were on par with some of the elders, I was strategic and intelligent, vicious and just mean - all those ingredients made for a great vampire warrior. My existence was well-known even to neighboring clans and further. “The beautiful demon.” That is what they called me. Those were the whispers about me when they thought I couldn’t hear. “Beautiful” repulsed me, “demon,” well, I could live with that. I was pretty sure the term “beauty’s only skin deep,” was written about me. There was nothing good inside, nothing redeemable. All of my good qualities were on the outside. I did whatever I needed to get to the top. There were few in the world I cared for and fact that I invoked fear just by name alone was something I was proud of. I had vowed to be the best and that achievement had been met.

A smile formed over my face. There was nothing wrong with being confident if it was true.

I made it back home wondering what was so important Father had to call me back at that particular moment without letting me finish my kill. Allowing that mutt to survive infuriated me. He had attacked me first, after all. I really wanted to show him what a mistake that had been, but was sure the scars he would have to live with would be a good reminder. At least there was that.

.

“Father.” I greeted him with a kiss to the top of his hand. “Why did you call on me? I was in the midst of a fight.”

“That is of no importance, my little angel of death. There’s something we need to discuss.”

My father stood up walking over to a table filling a gauntlet with warmed blood. He offered me some, but I declined. Depriving myself of casual blood drinking kept me sharp-edged, and I had already had enough to satisfy my hunger from my earlier interaction.

“Onyx, you are my most treasured daughter and skillful warrior..” he started off. My father rarely doted on me without reason so I instantly knew something was off. I did not like the sound of this but I kept my face stoic and unreadable for the time being.

“Yes, Father.”

“But the time has come for you to honor your commitment.”

My body immediately tensed up and anger seeped inside of me. No. This could not be happening already. I was supposed to have more time.

“My commitment,” he said. Not “mine.” I had not chosen or made this decision for myself. He meant the commitment he and the elders made for me. Before I was even born, I had been betrothed to another, but that arrangement wasn’t supposed to be fulfilled anytime soon. The thought of being on someone’s arm, obeying their commands, bending to their will and being used as a tool absolutely made me queasy and I was not one to easily be made squeamish.

“But, Father, that’s not supposed to be happening for years,” I responded trying to fight the anger in my voice.

“Things are changing and we need to adapt quickly.”

“What has changed?”

“We are in the middle of a war, Onyx. Not just with werewolves. Witches and hunters are now becoming more troublesome than ever.”

“Ha,” I scowled, “wolves and hunters. Such inferior creatures. Why should we concern ourselves with them? They have never been a significant issue. And we too have witches on our side.”

“There is power in the many, my daughter. I have taught you better than to underestimate that. We need to consolidate our power. The last thing we need is an uprising. We cannot afford to lose the opportunity of merging with another coven, especially one as powerful as Elijah’s. He will soon be leader. This is of utmost importance.”

I opened my mouth eager to respond but his hand came up silencing me. His word was final leaving no room for negotiation.

“When will this happen?” I grumbled in defeat.

“Elijah will be here within the week. He will shadow our clan and you, most importantly, then report back to his father before preparing for his ascension as leader. The ceremony will take place after. You will need to persuade him, impress him. I’m sure that’s something you can handle?” He looked at me with eyebrows raised.

I knew exactly what he meant. My stomach was in knots. Basically, if all else fails, I needed to seduce him. I did not understand. If we were betrothed, why was my father so uptight about all of this? I didn’t even care or want to think about it. The mention of his name made my blood boil.

Elijah. My nose crinkled at the thought of him. I hadn’t seen him since we were children. But I kept tabs on him and I knew enough to know I did not like him. He was a few years older than me and had been quite the pain in my ass being rough and attempting to bully me and even then treating me as if I was his property early on. Of course even back then I was stronger and had to let him know I was not to be tested by way of force, but just the thought of him thinking he could control me made me despise him.

I wasn’t excited in the least to be the one to keep him entertained, not to mention one day we were to be.. wed. That made my skin crawl. I hated this situation. None of my brothers had to deal with this. They were able to choose mates of their own liking. But I could not disobey Father.

When it came to an order from a clan leader, full obedience had been decreed. There were not many exceptions and none that I could think of that applied to me in this situation. We could not go against their commands.

I would have to find another way out of this. I could always take Elijah’s head off, although that might be a bit problematic. I smiled at the thought anyway.

Damn wars. Not that I wished for world peace. I wanted nothing more than to eliminate every wolf out there. Humans were nothing more than a means to an end, a food source, not very fun to spar with and not good for much else, although there was a select few that had come in handy in my endeavors.

Witches could and had been helpful in the past. In fact, there was a powerful witch in particular who happened to be mated to one of my brothers. I was able to tolerate her more than most and she had provided me assistance more than once. But witches in general had no loyalty. They clung to whatever side they thought could fulfill their needs. I guess I couldn’t much blame them. The fact that more seemed to be siding with the wolves was troublesome, though.

I bowed and walked away from my father with clenched fists, my hand smashing through the first wall it met as soon as I knew I was out of his earshot.

This was an atrocity. I knew it had been planned, but I thought I had more time, time for things to change or for me to find a way out of it.

One thing was for certain, though. No matter what there was absolutely no way I would be marrying Elijah.