She’d had four other siblings. Three considered her an oddity in their world of school, sports, making friends. Dating. But Adam was her twin. On his eighth birthday he’d asked for only one gift. To be enlisted in the preenrollment training with her. Her parents had refused, not wanting to lose both their firstborns, but Adam persevered, appealing directly to the InhServ rep who made monthly visits to check on her progress. All she’d had to do was see the two of them side by side, red-haired, fair-skinned twins, and Adam’s will persevered.
Alanna was considered exceptional by the trainers. Hungering for the ability to serve and do everything needed for a vampire Master or Mistress, she had no resistance to full submission, no need to determine her own sexuality or any other preferences. Those decisions belonged to her Master or Mistress.
Though the vampire world was dominated by born vampires, the Council advanced a handful of made ones who demonstrated enough power and Machiavellian traits to warrant notice. As such, they often assigned an InhServ to a made vampire who met their qualifications for the privilege. Alanna’s job had been not only to serve Stephen, but to give him insight into the politics and culture of the born vampire world, to help him adapt to their ways. Since she was only sixteen, it was an unprecedented honor to her.
It wasn’t natural to Adam like it was to her, but he’d been assigned to a well-placed Mistress, a born vampire who was an overlord of a territory in Spain.
And now he was dead.
That was why she’d done it, gone to Lord Brian when she’d learned of Lord Stephen’s deceit against the Council. Her own selfish pain for Adam. A servant accepted that a Master’s or Mistress’s sins were their own. There was no need to make a decision between right and wrong. The Master’s will was the only compass. She lived to serve him in every way, regardless of what kind of person he was. The point was the service.
It had been a moment of unforgivable weakness, a purely emotional decision. Adam had loved her so much he became an InhServ with her. Even knowing they wouldn’t share the same household, he’d chosen to share the same life she did, the same world. Her Master had refused to allow her to grieve him, had even forced her to . . .
Refusing to go any further with that, Alanna began a meditation discipline, intended to center and focus her mind. Whether a mockery or not, her training had become the puppet strings that kept her moving.
A knock on the door interrupted it. It was Debra, bringing her several months’ worth of blocking treatment. Lord Brian had made it clear she must take them religiously. If that wall fell, Stephen could not only set upon her mind and soul again; he might tear her apart if he detected the challenge of a second-marking from Evan.
As Debra emphasized those instructions again, Alanna nodded. “I understand. Can you tell me anything useful about my service to . . . my new Master?” She’d never served a vampire without the title of lord, and she didn’t know Evan’s last name, so she went with the honorific. “Did he . . . paint on me?”
“Yes, he did,” Debra said. “At that point, Lord Brian was willing to attempt anything that might salvage your mind, no matter the scientific merits.”
She wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “And Niall is Scottish?”
“Yes. He’s a forceful personality, for a servant. Much like Jacob.” Debra’s serious eyes twinkled. “A definite alpha.”
Alanna remembered Niall’s large hands on her face, the way he’d spoken to her. She’d responded as if his words were commands, so perhaps Debra was right about that.
“You calmed under their touch, when not even our strongest tranquilizers had an effect. It influenced Lady Lyssa’s decision about their custody.”