PROLOGUE
Three months ago...
The sun had risen and, in that instant, Alexia opened her eyes at the sound of the lock moving into place. The front entrance now secure, she knew her vampire, her master, her owner, Aubin Leclair, would soon turn to the underground. What he did in there, she had no idea, but at that moment, it didn’t matter. All she needed to concern herself with now was her escape.
She retrieved the copy of the key she’d managed to sneak away from Aubin that one night when he accidentally left the door to her attic unlocked. Slipping the key into the hole, she turned it, and the sound could very well been that of a revolver loading a bullet into the chamber and dropping during a moment of silence.
Alexia held her breath and her heart pounded in her chest. A pebble of sweat trickled down her cheek as she slowly turned the doorknob. The door dared creak as it was pushed open.
“Fuck,” she whispered and squinted, her eyes adjusting to the light of the hall. Her attic space was always dark, never having light except for the small slivers that managed to break through in the ceiling. The roof needed repair, and on cold, wet nights, she would almost freeze to death.
Enough was enough.
It was time to escape this Hell.
Alexia put one foot in front of the other, sneaking down the steps onto the third floor of the corner apartment Aubin owned. Taking the next set of steps, she paused when the floor groaned under her step. Her legs suddenly felt like jello as the thought of her vampire master not only finding her, but punishing her.
She often went days without food and water. He would feed her only enough to keep her alive, but nothing more than scraps. This was not the life she’d imagined when she agreed to the pairing ceremony.
This was not the way a concubine should be treated, or handled.
This was slavery, and it was ending tonight.
Finally reaching the bottom floor, she held her breath as she ambled over to the door and placed her right hand onto the glass knob, the left fisting at her side. Her palms were clammy and nausea rose, threatening to revolt by forcing the bile in her stomach to empty onto the hardwood floor.
So close, so fucking close.
Open the door and leave.
Never look back.
Make your way to The Covenant.
They’ll protect you.
They have to.
They have to put an end to this madness.
She held her breath and opened the door. The cold air of the night whipped around her body, sending a shiver down her spine to her feet. It currently fell between fall and winter in Paris, France. It was better to be with heat than to freeze in the night air.
The moment she was out the door, Alexia obliterated the space from the apartment home to the next block. The ground passed beneath her as she raced along the sidewalk. Her hair blew around her like a wild wind of chaos, but she couldn’t stop to keep the locks from her face.
She had to keep going.
Her destination was in sight.
The Covenant.
Her safe house.
They had no idea Aubin held her captive in his home and forced himself on her for feeding. He treated her as if she were no more than a blood bag. He never showed any compassion, empathy, or awareness that she even existed.
Tripping over the cement, she landed on her hands and knees and cried out as the pain radiated across her legs and arms. She began to sob, her eyes burning from the tears. She pushed herself up to sit on her heels.
Just before her were the doors to The Covenant. She’d made it, but she wasn’t inside yet. Aubin could be coming for her any second.
He could be right behind her.
She gasped and looked over her shoulder, checking the empty space between her and the other side of the road, the sidewalk from which she came, as well as the other direction. People passed by in their cars or on foot, and no one paid her any mind.
To them, she appeared as a homeless woman, and she welcomed the appearance. She was hidden in plain sight and she sent a prayer to the heavens that it stayed that way.
Turning her attention back to the building, she pulled herself to her feet. Blood oozed down her legs underneath her pants. She managed to glance down and found she’d ripped the material, exposing her skin.
The doors to The Covenant opened and she shifted her gaze back up. A woman stood at the entrance. Her brows rose with a tilt of her head.
“Are you lost?” she asked.
Alexia approached the door and stood before the woman. “My name is Alexia Daucourt, concubine to vampire Aubin Leclair. I’ve come to... I’ve come to...” Her voice was lost as darkness settled itself over her awareness. She fell forward into the arms of the woman and the last thing she looked upon was a man with brown hair and the bluest eyes she’d ever looked into. She blinked and everything went dark.
CHAPTER 1
It’s been said one wonders which was worse—death, not knowing what comes after, or the wedding, when one thinks they know, but they’re wrong.
And then there’s those who pray for death to come take them out of the hell they’ve lived in for far too long.
Stepping into the meeting room at the vampire covenant of Paris, Alexia Daucourt took a moment to take in her surroundings. Two doors, two ways in and two ways out. Windows with blackout curtains, although it was nine o’clock on this Wednesday evening. Portraits of the four vampire rulers of the European sector were hung on the main wall.
Each was striking in their own way, and each could be lethal as well. Vampires and blood demons, co-existing in a world where humans knew nothing of either of them. It was best to keep it that way.
Imagine a world where everyone believed for so long they were alone, only to realize they weren’t.
A shiver rushed over Alexia’s skin as the door closed behind her. Not necessarily from a chill, but from being in the room with the high council. They represented the sovereign, spoke for them, aided for them, but the actual leaders stayed behind closed doors. No one saw them unless an audience was requested of them specifically. That’s what Alexia had been led to believe, anyway.
Alexia Daucourt sat next to the blood demon agent who was brought in to support her case, Maxim Lambert. He had his hands folded on the table and his dark blond hair was combed back, held with gel. The man put more into his appearance than Alexia did. Not that she had much to put on or dress in, considering she lived in nothing more than an attic and wasn’t given proper attire.
Ever.
She dreamed of having luxury, the ability to change clothes with the food she would partake in, like high tea. The parties, the balls, everything a woman could want, at her fingertips.
Was it greed?
Sure.
She longed for the lifestyle of someone rich. She also wanted the arrangement of more than one vampire lover. She wanted to live, experience new things, new cultures, and what it meant to be loved by more than one man.
However, when she’d accepted the agreement with Aubin Leclair, she had no idea everything he’d promised her was simply a lie. Their first week was rough. She expected to have some ups and downs, but never suspected he would raise a hand to her, and eventually, lock her away like she was a princess to be guarded by a dragon. Aubin was so much more than a dragon; he was a monster.
He took her free will, the drive to live, and sent her on a downward spiral of cutting. She had wounds up and down her arms, her legs, and her stomach. She was ashamed of the scar tissue, but in the moment when the slicing of her skin happened, that brief high gave her the breath she needed to keep moving. One day, she knew she would break free.