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ChapterSeven
JACK
The freshly fallen snow smothered the sound of my boots as I ventured into the woods, searching for the only thing that would quell my inhuman thirst. Snowflakes fell against my cheeks, each one of them a frozen kiss, but I paid them no mind.
This was the best time to hunt...when the clouds were low and heavy...when the snow fell so fast and thick that it muffled every sound I made...and every sound around me.
Prey would be harder to find, but I enjoyed the challenge.
And right now, I needed the distraction.
Ever since Alice’s arrival, I’d been ensnared in a battle I never anticipated. One that waged deep within the caverns of my undead heart, where my vampire nature dwells like a caged beast, thirsting for something beyond blood.
Her.
Training her was a torment. Each swing of her sword sent a pulse through me, an electric jolt that stirred something primal. It was my duty to watch her move, to study the determination etched in every one of her strained muscles. Sometimes it felt as if she danced just for me, unwittingly weaving a spell I was becoming more and more desperate to resist.
Today, our session teetered on the edge of disaster. Every time she lunged forward, her scent engulfed me—a mix of sweat, sensuality, and something uniquely Alice. My instincts were distracting me, urging me to close the distance, to taste the pulse that fluttered in her neck. So many times I almost succumbed, the monster within mere seconds from breaking free.
Somehow, I managed to step back, cloaking my turmoil with a mask of indifference.
But how much longer could I keep it up?
I pursed my lips as I reflected on my newest apprentice. I’d trained so many Alices that I’d almost lost count...
Alicia, a bossy little brunette from Spain.
Alicja, a tiny wisp of a girl from Poland.
Alis, the ferocious Welsh fighter who seemed born to wield the Vorpal Sword.
Alizeh from Persia, who slayed the Jabberwocky on her first attempt. I wasn’t supposed to have favorites, but she was certainly up there.
But this newest Alice...
I shook my head, then blew out a breath in frustration.
It wasn’t that she was older than any of my other young apprentices by more than a decade. It wasn’t that she lacked the level of imagination that came so naturally to young children. It wasn’t even the knowledge that she’d been born into wealth. I myself came from a noble family and I lacked for nothing growing up.
But I was taught the duty and responsibility that came with such status. As the eldest son of a marquis, I was a prominent figure in my community, whereas this Alice seemed to have been taught nothing but the hedonistic pursuits of her own pleasure. Whatever privilege she was born into was squandered.
Yes...that was most likely my source of frustration.
At twenty-six, the same exact age as this Alice, I was the heir to my family’s vast estates. I had the duty of managing the land, the crops, the servants. I settled disputes among our tenants when my younger brothers could not. I trained armies of men to be of service to our king when my uncles could not.
I hosted tournaments, feasts, and other social events, not only as entertainment for the people of our city, but also as a way of building alliances with other regional diplomats. I weighed in on local politics and trade, oversaw merchant ventures, maritime interests, and trade negotiations.
I had a wife and four children. Three boys and one precious little girl. I buried all of them when the Black Death came. There wasn’t time to mourn them. I was too busy digging graves for my brothers and their families. For my cousins and their families.
One by one, brick by brick, the House des Diamants fell, along with half the population of my city. I no longer hosted diplomatic feasts. Instead, I helped organize and dig mass graves. I no longer walked to the markets with my family, carrying my daughter on my shoulders. I walked past piles of rotting corpses lying in the streets. I didn’t stop and speak with my friends and neighbors. They were all covered with maggots and flies, vultures pecking at their bodies, as they shriveled and putrified in the summer heat.
At six and twenty years of age, I did all of this and more.
Every day.
For over twoyears.
