wanted that, but no true vampire would. Why would any of us want to be mortal again? To grow old and die.
Don’t be a fool.”
“Then what?” Briony asked.
“The scepter is power,” Marcus said.
“Generations of power. The power of each Hugtandalfer king and queen flows into it upon their death. Waltham’s wil when we kil him. With it, I could do far better things than my brother imagined. I could open al of those irritating gates the Hugtandalfer insist on using, for one thing. My kind could come and go as they pleased. And of course, with so many new vampires flowing into Palisor, it would be easy to take control here. And the human world... wel , that wouldn’t take very long at al .”
Briony shuddered. “Conquest? Is that al you can think of?”
“What else is there?” Marcus laid the gentlest of kisses on her forehead. It was, Briony knew, nothing more than a way of showing that he could do whatever he wanted to her. “Ultimately, sweet human, everything comes down to it.”
Briony shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”
Marcus smiled, and as he did so, his fangs extended. They were as savage and long as his brother’s had been. “You wil .”
Briony tried to fight him, but it was useless.
Marcus had her arms trapped in an instant, and her neck pul ed taut a moment after that. He hesitated just a moment, with his fangs poised above Briony’s skin, and Briony knew that he was drinking in the too rapid flutter of her heart, savoring the raw fear like the finest of wines.
Then he bit her. It was savage. It was worse than savage. With every other vampire who had bitten her, there had been pleasure. Even with Pietre.
Marcus’ gift, however, was fear. Fear, and more fear, and more stil , heaped upon itself so that Briony could only scream in mute terror as he drained her blood, utterly paralyzed with it.
Marcus’s mouth stayed on her, taking more and more blood, until Briony thought that he might have lost control, that he might actual y kil her with it. It was just one more thing to be terrified about. Traces of blackness began to appear on the outside of Briony’s vision, and she thought that she could feel her heart struggling to pump in her chest. A little more, and she was sure that she would die from it.
Marcus pul ed back as though that was just what he was waiting for. He lowered Briony to the couch almost gently.
“Mmm. Of course, I could have done this without the blood, but why pass up the chance to taste such a rare type of blood? Human and Hugtandalfer both. Delicious.”
He left Briony there, sobbing in her fear, for several seconds.
“Hush. I won’t kil you yet, girl. I want you to get me the scepter, remember? You’re just drained to the point where we can be sure you won’t run off. Now, tel me where the scepter is, or as soon as you have regained a little of your strength, we wil begin again.”
“I told you before,” Briony managed, the words coming out as a bare croak. “I don’t know where it is.”
“Liar!” Marcus leaned down until Briony was staring straight into his eyes. “You said before that you could get the scepter. How could you do that if you did not know where it was?” His breath, so soon after taking blood, was hot on her skin. “If you do not tel me, then I wil drain you again, and again, and again until you do. I can make you feel whatever I want while I do, girl. Did you like your little taste of fear?”
“P-please,” Briony heard herself beg. “I don’t know where it is. I real y don’t. I swear.”
Marcus stood, moving back to the other
vampires. They looked strangely satisfied, and Briony realized that they had been feeding off the fear even as Marcus took her blood.
“I hope for your sake that you are lying to us, Briony,” Marcus said. “I real y do. Since you are part hugtandalf, it wil not take you long to regenerate blood, so you wil not die from this. I wil not let you. I wil take your blood until you tel me, and I wil do worse things. Do you believe me, Briony?”
“Yes.” Briony had no trouble at al imagining al the things that Marcus might do to her. Every one of them made her shiver with fear. And there