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PROLOGUE

1761, OLD COUNTRY

Xcor saw his father killed when he was but five years past his transition

It happened afore his very eyes, and yet even with the proximity, he could not fathom what transpired

The night began as any other, darkness falling over a landscape of forest and cave, clouds above providing coverage froht for hiroup of soldiers was six strong: Throe, Zypher, the three cousins, and himself And then there was his father

The Bloodletter

Forer Brotherhood

What brought the was that which called the for lessers, those soulless weapons of the Ohter the vampire race And they found them Often

But the seven of them were no Brotherhood

In opposition to that lauded, secretive group of warriors, this band of bastards led by the Bloodletter were naught more than soldiers: No ceremonies No worship from the civilian populace No lore or laudations Their bloodlines ht have been aristocratic, but they had each been forsaken by their faotten outside of sanctified s

They would ne'er be but expendable flesh within the larger war for survival

That all being true, however, they were the elite of the soldiers, the est of shoulder, those who had proven themselves over time to the hardest taskmaster in the race: Xcor's father Handpicked and chosen wisely, these ainst the enemy and codeless when it ca as well: It mattered not whether the prey was slayer or human or animal or wolfen Blood would flow

They had taken one vow and one vow only: His sire was their lord and no other Where he went, they did, and that was that So much simpler than the Brotherhood's elaborate shite - even if Xcor had been a candidate by bloodline, he'd have had no interest in being a Brother He cared naught for glory, as it held not a patch on the sweet release of murder Better to leave such useless tradition and wasted ritual to those who refused to wield naught but a black dagger

He would use whatever weapon there was

And his father was the same

The clahters came out of the forest and upon an enclave of oaks and brush The smoke from home hearths drifted over on the breeze, but there was other confirmation that the small town they had searched for had finally presented itself: High above, on a piercing cliff, a fortified castle sat perched like an eagle, its foundation as talons locked into the rock

Hu with each other

How boring

And yet one had to respect the construction Mayhap, if Xcor e'er settled down, he would hold Far more efficient to poach than erect

"To the village," his father commanded "Onward to the amusements"

Word had it that there were lessers therein, the pale beasts ers who had carved out plots of land and planted stone houses under the shadows of the castle This was typical of the Society's recruiting strategy: Infiltrate a town, take over the hter or sell off the wo to the next in greater number

Xcor was of like hting, he always took whatever he could in the ht by night the Bloodletter and his soldiers worked their way through what the huland, and when they reached the tip of the Scots territory, they would turn and hasten the south, south, south till the heel of Italy forced theh those ain