Inescapable (Eternelles: The Beginning, Book 1) by Zee Monodee, Natalie G. Owens

what he’s done.”
    “True, but I want to hear what he’s been doing here.”
    “I can make him talk.”
    She didn’t pause, didn’t even blink. “Then do it.”
    Des took a step toward Rafe, who stepped back.
    Who on earth could scare a vampyre?
    “I’m sorry,” Rafe said as he glanced in their direction. “It should never have come to this.”
    “What—”
    With that, he disappeared.
    Stunned, Adri looked up at Des. The startling conclusion she’d just come to echoed off his features.
    He rushed to her side, and knelt on the carpet. “You saw the pendant, too.”
    She gasped. No! This couldn’t be what she thought. Sera would stand no chance, then... “He cannot have become an overlord.”
    Reached just one step short of the ultimate, Supreme Ruler position inside the Federation, head of worldwide Vampyre Authority. As an overlord, he could bid for the top spot at any time. Third spot as a vampyre lord had been bad enough, but now?
    He snorted. “You know as well as I do that the pendant only belongs to the overlord, that the one who died must’ve willed it to his successor. Those leather ties merge into the overlord’s neck muscle. How else could he have gotten it?”
    “So he commands a territory now? Which one?” The questions tumbled inside her mind, and she didn’t stop to ponder who she spoke to. Worry was too prominent on her brain.
    “That’s what I intend to find out.”
    “But, how? Who are you really? And how come you know so much?”
    “It doesn’t matter who I am,” he said softly. “You let him go. Why?”
    She looked down, refusing to give him an answer.
    “He’s her maker, isn’t he?”
    Too tired to fight, or keep up pretenses any longer, she merely nodded. “He hasn’t released her yet.” A snort escaped her. “Not that I see how he’ll ever release her. He turned her so she could be his. She dreams of him, you know. She’s kept that a secret, but I’ve heard her uttering his name when she is asleep. Especially recently.”
    Why now, Rafe Harcourt? Thoughts of worry muddled her brain.
    In her arms, Sera stirred. Good, the girl was waking up. Hopefully, the change wouldn’t have depleted her too much, and she could recover. Adri forced herself to tear her gaze from Des to peer into her daughter’s face.
    Her heart accelerated, the certainty something was amiss powering her pulse. Ominous threads wove their way into her consciousness, and she could hear her heartbeat in a pound against her temple.
    Hers, and someone else’s.
    Des’ heartbeat.
    Horror clutched her as she risked another glance at her daughter, who had now awoken...as a vampyre. The lust for blood filled her smoky grey eyes to a dark, crimson shade. Such a hungry creature would lunge for anything that could feed its craving, and right now, that someone would be Des.
    He hadn’t seen the thirst in Sera’s eyes. Not yet. So he was totally unprepared when the girl pounced onto him with desperate strength that belied her weakened state. The vampyre was awake—everything else fell onto the wayside.
    They toppled into a tangle on the floor, a feral growl she’d often heard in darkened Victorian streets in London’s East End filling the air with its chilling resonance. How could she ever have thought she’d hear this coming from her own daughter one day? Sera had never experienced the craving like today, had never burned with her phoenix powers as she had just earlier.
    She had to save Des, keep Sera away from him. Adri jumped to her feet, before she grabbed the long red ponytail and pulled back. Des winced when the sharp talons ripped out of his shoulders.
    “Go!” She wrestled with the ferocious monster that had emerged from her sweet little girl. She wouldn’t be able to hold her and help him at the same time, so he had to move.
    Des lifted his head, and caught her eyes with his. Then, without a word, he disappeared.
    What? Where did he go? No one other than vampyre overlords and soul stealers