I worried my lower lip. “Sort of. I can’t give you a timeline, but I can tell you that I had something with me that I don’t own yet.” I’d been wearing a Harley Davidson vest. It was pretty cool, despite being drenched in blood.

“So this isn’t going to happen until you actually have it,” said Sam. “Well that’s better than nothing, because it tells us that the dragons aren’t on their way here. As soon as you come into possession of whatever that item is, you call me.”

“Why would they come here?” Paige asked.

“Dragon shifters do not like our species very much,” said Luther. “It was once believed that dragon blood could cure vampirism. It is not true. Nothing can cure it. But for a long time, vampires captured dragons and drained them of blood in their attempts to create a cure.”

Max skimmed a hand over his military haircut. “No wonder they hate us.”

“Still, I do not believe they would senselessly attack. If they are planning to come here to fight us, they must have some motivation.” Luther sighed. “But, since each preternatural species is insular and private, I do not know enough about dragon shifters to be certain.”

I cleared my throat. “I know someone who does.”

Jared immediately asked, “Who?”

“The Master Vampire of my nest.”

Eyes narrowing, Sam stilled. “I think we should have this conversation in private.” Probably because she knew I’d never been open about my past, and she figured there was a very good reason why.

Jared nodded. “We’ll discuss this in my office.”

“Wait!” said Paige, but Jared teleported Sam and I out of the arena and to their office. The space was seriously cool. White walls, white floor tiles, a stylish oak desk, leather chairs, an ultramodern computer, and huge glass windows. Sam sat at her desk while Jared leaned against the filing cabinets that were built into the wall.

She gestured for me to take the seat across from her. “Tell us about your nest.”

“I’m guessing you did a background check before hiring me. How much do you know?”

Sam nodded. “Mona and Cedric tracked you to Lazarus Cray’s line.” He was a very old, powerful, and widely feared Master Vampire. “Your Sire is Marco, his best assassin. And you’re the first vampire Marco ever created.”

Just hearing Marco’s name made me grind my teeth. “Yes.”

“You fled from your Sire and severed your blood-bond using your gift,” added Jared. Sam was a seriously lucky girl, because he was honestly the personification of sex. Oddly enough, though, he didn’t hold the same appeal for me as Butch did. “What we don’t know is why you did that. Did he hurt you?” There was a promise of retribution in those words.

“I met Marco when I was human. We dated for a while. Many Kejas can put humans in a trance before feeding from them, so that the humans have no memories of the event. He put me in that same trance, and then he Turned me. One minute I was human, the next I was in agony and going through the transition with absolutely no idea what was happening to me.”

That made the mercury glint to Sam’s irises flare—it was the marker of a hybrid. “Unfortunately, that happened far too much until we gave it a death sentence.” She flicked her dark hair over her shoulder. “What happened after that?”

“Like all newborn vampires, I was struggling with bloodlust and fighting for control. And he just dumped me on Lazarus.”

Jared’s face hardened. “He abandoned you?”

“Yep.” As if it wasn’t bad enough that he’d effectively stolen my life from me, he’d then carelessly put me aside. Sires typically monitored their vampires while the person went through the transition, overcame the bloodlust, and their gift surfaced. “I was in shock, I was scared, I was confused, and I was surrounded by people I didn’t know. All I wanted was to go home. That was all I kept saying—that I wanted to go home. Lazarus said I couldn’t, but that he’d teach me control so that I could exist in the human world if that was what I wanted.”

Jared’s forehead creased. “If Lazarus was watching over you, he must have seen your gift manifest itself.”

“He did.”

“But he didn’t make you stay?”

“I thought he’d go back on his word when he realised what a good weapon I’d make.” After all, I could be used to separate mates against their will. In fact, a vampire had tried forcing me to separate Sam and Jared by using Paige as leverage. “He didn’t. Like me, he and his sister were Turned against their will. So maybe he took pity on me. I left, and I severed my bond with Marco. He didn’t try to track me.”

“Are you sure?” asked Sam. “You’re not just one of his vampires. You’re his first-born. That’s pretty significant.”

It was, which was why a lot of acknowledgement and respect came with being a first-born. We, for whatever reason, were the inspiration that led to our makers starting their own line. It was a serious thing to run a line and it involved a lot of responsibilities. To become one was a huge decision. First-borns were the catalyst of that decision, and so they were deeply respected and their Makers tended to have a soft spot for them. As such, it was odd that Marco would just overlook my existence. “I know, but he never came looking for me.”

“I was going to ask if he Turned you because he cared about you and wanted to keep you,” said Sam, “but if that was true he wouldn’t have abandoned you or let you go.”

“Marco doesn’t care about anyone other than Marco. Given everything, I’m sure you can understand why I ran from him.”

“You didn’t just cut your ties with Marco, you cut yourself off from the entire nest,” Jared pointed out. “That left you very vulnerable; completely without protection. Why would you do that?”

It seemed melodramatic now but… “You have to understand that at the time, I still didn’t see myself as a vampire. I was convinced I could return to my old life, pretend to be human. Both Lazarus and Annalise warned me not to cut all contact, but I just wanted to be away from that world. I didn’t listen to them.

“Once people heard of a vampire that could sever bonds, I was hunted. I had no protection, so I became a drifter. Paige was sent to track me, only she joined me instead of taking me to her Sire. In return, I severed her bond with him so she could be free. That was all she really wanted. To be free.”