The Vampire Gift 2: Kingdom of Ash by E.M. Knight Page A

through drooping eyelids. “You stopped,” she says, so softly I can barely hear. A weak smile creeps onto her lips. “I knew you had it in you.”
    And then her eyes close completely, as she falls into me.
    “No!” I cry out. “No, April—“
    Laughter greets me from behind.
    I spin on my heels. That new, despicable Captain Commander of the Queen’s guard is there, his sword drawn, laughing at me.
    There’s a short female vampire at his side. I cannot see her face because she has some sort of cloth sack covering it.
    “So,” the Captain Commander says. “It looks like your humanity can be overcome by darkness after all. Congratulations, brother. You are now truly one of us.”
    He holds his hand out for me to clasp. I look at him in disbelief.
    He thinks I’d take it?
    He shrugs and draws it back after a moment. April’s eyes flutter open, for a second. Hope blooms inside me—hope that despite the amount of blood she lost, she might still be able to recover.
    “I was a vampire before you were made,” I tell him. “Whenever that was. Don’t insult me with your congratulations.”
    The words on my tongue feel false. I have a sense of the Captain Commander’s strength. Like nearly every other vampire in The Haven, it is greater than mine.
    He laughs in a mocking sort of way. “You truly think so?” he asks. He leans into me. “You don’t remember me at all, do you, boy? And why should you? But it was I who introduced your Mother to the idea of this sanctuary.” He gestures around the cavern. “All that you know, everything that you’ve grown up with… it all stems from me .”
    My eyes narrow. “What are you talking about?”
    April wavers again. I catch her under the arms. “What are you talking about?”
    “ I was one of the first vampires your Mother ever made,” he gloats. “How do you think she found me so quickly following the death of her former Captain? She and I have a history unrivalled by anybody else. We knew each other before you were even born.”
    He steps closer. The thirst for more blood is pulsing through me. It’s all I can do not to sink my fangs into April again.
    But through an enormous effort of self-control, I manage to keep the urge down. April’s willingness to offer herself to me, and the value she placed on Patricia’s life make me capable of it.
    “I know your Mother is using you,” he continues. “I can see through the act she puts up. I’ve known her for longer than you’ve been alive . And because I’ve known the Queen for so many years, all the things she thinks are clouded in secrecy are to me transparent as glass.”
    He stops an inch away from me. “I could be on your side. I could help you navigate through all the turmoil that is to come.”
    “What turmoil?” I ask. My natural suspicions are swinging in with full force.
    “You think the succession is going to be smooth?” He laughs. “I considered you more intelligent than that.”
    “You don’t know who you’re talking to,” I say. “I’ve been here my whole life. Maybe you were made first, but you’re an Outsider. You don’t have a tenth of the influence you claim to possess.”
    He smirks. “Is that so? Then tell me, please, how I managed to subdue this one—” he snatches the bag from the female vampire’s head, and all of her strength is suddenly revealed to me. I nearly stagger back from shock.
    She is, without a doubt, the most powerful vampire I’ve ever encountered.
    “—with her being so much stronger than I?”
    “Oh, hello.” She smiles at me. “You must be the youngest of the Soren’s. I’ve heard plenty about you.”
    I put April behind me to shield her with my body. My venom hasn’t yet sealed the wound on her neck. With her blood flowing freely, she’s at risk of being made prey by the two vampires here with us.
    “Don’t worry about her,” the blonde prisoner says. She looks at the Captain Commander. “May I speak to him?”
    He nods but keeps his