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"You"

"Try ulped, backed two steps away "What about it?"

"Do you think that monster will hurt me if you unbottle? Is that it?"

"No I have the wards," she said, but her tone lacked conviction "Anyway, I take no chances with my beast None of us do"

"So every vampire has a beast?"

"Yes"

"And over the years, a few vampires have lost control of theirs?" he asked

"Yes It’s…awful The dae is…there are no words to describe the horrors that occur"

So One mystery was solved at least Despite her protest and her assurance, her fear clearly stematic monster would do to him "Tell me about these beasts About why you’re so afraid--and why I should be, too"

Chin, another notch higher Anyat the stars "Are you sure you want to know?"

Because she assuirl There was only one way to prove her wrong "Yes I’m sure"

"Very well, then We are not shifters, like the wolves We do not change into another form" Her tone was cold and flat "But the er that entity is out of our bodies, the more solid its own body becomes And as its body solidifies, the tether that once leashed it to us withers and dies"

"Wouldn’t that help you, though? Getting rid of the beast?"

"Help us?" She laughed without humor, and it was not a pretty sound "No As it solidifies, it strengthens, and we becoets of what used to be our darker half They bla them inside our bodies, after all Actually, no one is safe And you should know,at ether, wanting out"

Good--and horrifying--to know But he wasn’t going to let fear stop hi he could handle anything she dished out Even if that on Literally

"Does this beast talk to you?" he asked

"No Usually he’s quiet, and he never uses words Not like you and I do, at least, but he roars sory, I can feel his thirst for blood We’ve been very hungry lately"

Aden’s mind whirled How had the vampires obtained these creatures inside them? Most likely, Victoria had been born with hers She was the product of a vampire union rather than a human transformed by tainted blood like her father and some of his followers had been

A transformation no one else had been able to ed--and survived that change--when others over the centuries had not?

"Did I scare you into silence?" Victoria asked coolly

"Hardly" They were so much more alike than even he had realized She knehat it was like to battle noise inside her head She knehat it was like to fear losing control "We need to get one thing straight, though"

She blinked over at him, surprised He’d never used such a fierce tone with her

Was he really going to do this? Was he really going to take this route?

She’d helped him accept himself He would help her do the sa?" he demanded to know For the moment, anyway

Caleb whooped with exciteonna eat you, Julian warned Got the 411 on that, E?

Sorry, I’m blank

Victoria’s brow furrowed in confusion "Yes You know you are"

"And you have to do whatever I tell you to do? Right?"

"Yes" The as gritted, as if pulled through a rinder Clearly, she knehat he planned to say next

"So, as your king, I cos Here Now Let theave no reaction Then she said, "You’ll regret that order" Then, shockingly, she screa and loud, so loud he was sure his eardrue He didn’t want to discourage her

When she quieted, she was panting She scanned her surroundings ild eyes beforeit in her arhed nothrough the forest and sla into a tree trunk That tree cracked in half, the top falling and slaround