Page 40 of Flock This

She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Still, it was so flawless I had a feeling she often smiled no matter how she felt. “No. I knew what to expect before I ever wanted to be her thrall. Besides, my master is well known for rewarding her loyal thralls and turning us into heirs.”

“So you want to become a vampire?”

“Don’t you? Isn’t that why we become thrall?”

I stared down at the page full of vampire families, the register that listed where they all fit into the rankings. Immortality and power drove people to give up so much, to sacrifice everything that mattered to them, to trade it for some fantasy where things would be better. “Life sucks no matter what,” I said. “It doesn’t matter what you do, how far you climb, at the top or the bottom or anywhere else, it always sucks. You’ll always find parts of it painful and constraining and unpleasant. The only thing that really matters, at the end of the day, is freedom.”

“And yet you became a thrall?”

“I didn’t exactly choose it. I didn’t even know it was Kelvin who did it until I came here.”

She frowned, as though that information were both new and unpleasant. “Keep the book,” she said, her words quick. “You can review the information in there since Kelvin has yet to teach you what you should know. In it are all the current vampires, the families, the rules for both vampire and thralls. Please, excuse me.” She rushed out, as fast as she could, and it made me rub my chest.

That woman who had sounded so lonely moments before had just chosen to return to that solitude rather than deal with me any further.

So, I probably shouldn’t expect to make any friends here, huh?

Just like always…

* * * *

I rubbed my eyes, exhaustion drying them and blurring the words on the page. It wasn’t that I’d worked hard today, since I’d gotten all my cleaning duties removed. Even when I’d tried, Honor had all but rushed me away, like she was terrified of what might happen to her if I dirtied my precious hands.

I’d read for a while in my quarters, but when sunset had neared, I’d dragged my ass to Kelvin’s room.

At least to the living room of his apartment. I had no intention of going into his bedroom. For one, I didn’t want to see him dead. I’d managed to make it this far without seeing vampires when they ‘slept’ and I didn’t think I could erase the sight of Kelvin as a corpse from my mind. Also, after the way he’d kissed me, I knew better than to tempt anything by stepping foot anywhere near a large padded surface.

So now I sat at his dining room table, the book open as I studied it. There was so much information inside that my brain hurt. The five families were listed, along with all the current vampires in them. The book appeared to be printed yearly, which meant the information was a few months out of date, but still useful.

The Garrison line, for example, still showed William at the top despite him being officially a corpse now. It showed he had created no heirs. There was even a list of thralls, but it only gave them for the highest-ranking vampire.

William Greyson has three thralls—Uler Orranga, Stephanie Conners and Roger Shaya.

Three of them, huh? I recalled Porter’s words, that only a vampire or thrall could have held the stake at the time of death.

Could it have been one of William’s own?

“It wasn’t one of his thralls.”

I didn’t even jump at Kelvin’s voice anymore. He always snuck up on me, as if it were a game to see how much he could startle me. I refused to give him the satisfaction anymore. “How do you know that?”

“Because a thrall’s only hope of surviving infection is if a stronger vampire replaces their mark. There were no vampires likely able to replace it, which means killing William would ensure the thrall’s death—not a pleasant death, either.”

“I thought the medication…”

“It works when the vampire still lives. However, if a vampire dies, the thralls he made will die as well. The magic that binds them is gone.”

I frowned as I thought about that. It was worse than just being trapped for a while, wasn’t it? A thrall’s entire existence was connected and bound to the vampire. If anything happened to the vampire, the thrall died—painfully.

“Why would anyone choose that?” I asked myself, unable to understand such a choice.

“Some do it because they have no life of their own, no future. Some are sick and know becoming a thrall will cure them and give them at least a few more years. Others want to become a vampire and know that’s their best shot. The more time venom has to work fully into the cells of a thrall, the more often it’s introduced, the better chance that they’ll turn.” He paused, then laughed softly as he took a seat at the table beside me. “Some do it for love.”

“That sounds like some Stockholm syndrome bullshit.”

“I’m serious. Sometimes vampires and humans fall for each other, but there’s no way to have a relationship on equal footing for them. By becoming a thrall, it extends the human’s life and makes a place for them in this world. In fact, I know a few vampires who went this way and eventually were able to turn the thrall into a vampire with them. Eternal love stories make me teary-eyed.”

I glared at him, knowing damn well he was bullshitting me. I doubted he had the emotional depth to give a damn about anyone let alone to be moved by something like the thought of real love.

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