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Minerva shoved Marcus away from her, forcing him to rock back. Marcus struggled with his balance but managed to stay upright and on his knees. She wiped her hand on her black pants as if he’d somehow tainted her.
“The only one of you that isn’t an utter waste of flesh is Winter. The clan’s personal spy, collecting secrets on everyone, except for the Black Wolf clan.”
“No need,” Winter muttered. “We all know that the clan is insane and beneath the notice of others.”
Minerva screamed as she launched herself at Winter, her hands wrapping around his throat as they both tumbled to the ground. They struggled for a moment, writhing together, before she shoved away from him and climbed to her feet. Marcus twisted around to find Winter still lying on his side, his breathing heavy. Marcus wasn’t sure what his initial injuries were, but there were fresh cuts on his face and neck from Minerva’s long nails.
“You talk about weakness of the Ministry and weakness of the Variks, but you’re the one who is working with humans to take down your own kind,” Marcus snarled, trying to draw her attention to him.
Minerva laughed again and dropped down in the metal folding chair in front of him. “What better spies are there than humans?” she mocked.
Marcus knew that she was referring to Ethan and his initial role as a spy in Marcus’s house, but he believed Ethan when he said that he told the League leader nothing about Marcus and his family they didn’t already know. Marcus trusted Ethan. Would never doubt him.
“But you’re right. Humans are weak. They are needlessly cruel to each other. So petty and vindictive. And so very easily manipulated.” Minerva rested her elbows on her knees as she leaned forward. “They outnumber us by more than two thousand to one. Why not use such an army to cull the weak from our own ranks? I would rather waste a hundred human lives than one vampire life on a member of your family.”
“Why would they follow you if you’re only leading them to slaughter?”
A soft giggle slipped from her and it was more frightening than her rages. “All I need to do is give them some weapons and a little armor. They believe they have a chance at winning. I know they believe that if they assist me, play like they’re the good follower, they will get close enough that they will one day be able to kill me.” She sat in her chair again and folded her arms over her chest, a smug smile twisting on her lips. “Isn’t that right, Carl?”
There was a slow shuffling in the little crowd wrapping around Minerva’s back. The vampires parted after a moment and the man Marcus had seen in his own house shambled forward, looking as if he was perfectly balanced on the threshold of life and death. There were several fresh bite marks on his throat. His shirt had been torn at the collar and down the front. There were more bite marks on his chest.
Minerva had handed Carl over to her clan to feed off. When he’d been taken right to the edge of death, he’d been given enough of her blood to hold him in the land of the living but not enough to transform him into a vampire. He was little more than a mindless husk, existing to follow her every instruction regardless of what it was. Movie zombies had more autonomy and drive. If she never spoke to him again, he would remain standing in a room until his body finally decayed into nothingness.
The creation of husks was highly illegal, banned by every vampire ministry for centuries. It was the first one Marcus had ever seen, and he prayed that he never looked on another. It was cruel. He had no idea if any of Carl’s consciousness remained in his brain, but his existence had to be the worst kind of torture. The man deserved death, not an eternity of shambling servitude.
If Minerva succeeded in getting rid of the Ministry and claiming power for herself, it was clear that Carl represented a good slice of the world she planned to create.
“Humans are pets. Servants. They are meant to be food for us. Nothing more.” Minerva smiled at Marcus. “I will see to it that vampires not only claim their spot at the top of the food chain, but that humans understand that they are at the bottom.”
“But you just said they outnumber us—”
“Fear and manipulation are all I need. We will remake the world into a utopia for vampires.” Minerva stuck out her bottom lip, giving him a false look of sadness. “But you and your clan won’t be around for it. You’ll be taken care of as soon as we collect that final brother of yours.”
