Page 36 of Heir

“He was beheaded,” Drak said with no emotion.

I glared at him. Such an emotionless ass.

Omaera paled. “B-beheaded?”

“It’s the only way to effectively kill a demon or mage,” the vampire went on.

“How do you kill vampires and shifters?” Gemma asked.

“Vampires you can kill in a number of ways,” I said, fixing my gaze on the blood sucker across from me. “Brain hemorrhage—obviously. Beheading is always a good option too. Starvation is another.”

Drak glared at me.

I flipped him the bird as I held my pizza slice. He merely rolled his eyes.

“What about sunlight?” Gemma asked. “In Interview with a Vampire they turned to dust when they were hit with sunlight.”

“Nightwalkers will sizzle and be in immense pain in the sun, but they won’t die,” Drak said. “Daywalkers are fine.”

“How do you kill a shifter?” Gemma was just full of questions, while Omaera sat in the corner of the yellow couch, her knees up to her nose, just listening. But she’d already asked her questions and now was just processing. I could practically hear her cogs spinning as she absorbed all this new information.

“Why don’t you explain this one,” I said to Drak. “Seeing as your kind has killed so many of my kind.” I took a big bite.

He blinked at me curiously for a moment, then turned to Omaera and Gemma. “Beheading. Blood loss. Skinning while in shifter form.”

“You forgot one more,” I growled.

His gaze narrowed at me.

“Killing her cub in front of her,” I said, deadpanned.

He blinked at me more, swallowed, then cleared his throat and focused on Omaera again. “And a broken heart.”

“Oh my god, that’s . . . horrible,” Gemma said. “Why are you guys so—”

“The human race is just as terrible to each other, Gem. Don’t shame them as monsters,” Omaera said softly. “Think of what kind of torture humans have been doing to each other for centuries. Burning at the stake, drawn and quartered, gibbeted, boiling in oil, gas chambers, firing squads, pulled apart by four horse carts, school shootings, killing fields, bombings, tarred and feathered, 9/11, the Holocaust, the genocides in Rwanda and Cambodia—and those are just the tip of the iceberg. Humans are monsters too.” Her face held so much sadness, along with contempt for humans. It was a contempt I shared.

Humans were monsters. My mate and I definitely agreed on that.

Gemma nodded. “That’s fair. People have done—and continue to do—horrible things to each other.”

Omaera’s gaze met mine. “Did vampires do that to your mother?”

All I could do was grunt.

Her bottom lip trembled. “I’m sorry.” Then a lone tear slid down her cheek, and her next words came out in a quaver. “I’m really, really sorry.”

I grunted again and continued to eat my pizza.

“So you’re saying she has an uncle?” Gemma asked, glancing at Omaera with excitement. “Dude, you have family.”

Omaera swallowed. “Does this mean I could abdicate the throne and give it to him?”

“I’ve never heard of an abdication in . . . ever,” the mage said.

I shook my head. “Neither have I.”

The vampire agreed silently.

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