Page 108 of Promised in Blood

I actively work to breathe normally and maintain a steady pulse. While I can mask my emotions and block him from my thoughts, blood never lies. Staying in the moment and focusing on each measured inhale and exhale stops me from spiraling about what my brother may have inadvertently revealed about Ophelia. If my father thought for a second that an elementai was here, he would not be sitting in my office having a conversation. He would be tearing this campus apart to find her.

“Giorgios is skilled in different ways,” I say, gratefully changing the subject and coming to my brother’s defense in the age-old argument.

He snorts. “Teleportation.”

I scowl. “It is a gift I wish that I possessed.”

“The Drakos power is in our minds, not in teleportation.” His tone drips with anger. “If I did not know for sure he was my son, I would have sworn he was a bastard child.”

The way I used to allow our father’s disdain to egg me on and would taunt Giorgios for his lack of abilities as a child is a source of great shame and is a big part of the reason I cannot help but defend him now. Nobody was as shocked as I whenhis teleportation power developed long after he became a man. Latent powers are unusual in vampires. “He has developed his gift of mind control too. I would have thought you would be proud to have a son with such diverse and unique gifts.”

His eyes narrow. “I was proud of my son who could talk to dragons. That is why you were chosen to marry into the most powerful elementai family that existed. The son who summoned two of the most powerful beings who ever roamed this earth to serve by his side when he was only a boy.Thatis the son who made me proud. Until you let them leave.”

I cannot believe the gall of this man. “You think that I could have persuaded the dragons to stay? When their numbers were decreasing so rapidly they were all but extinct?”

“You could have convinced them, Alexandros, and yet you chose not to.”

This is another age-old argument that neither of us will ever win. “Why are you here?” I repeat.

“I told you.”

I shake my head. “I am hiding nothing from you.”

He leans closer, regarding me with both curiosity and disdain. “As you said, you are always hiding something, but now Giorgios is too. I could always read him so clearly, and now…” He flicks his tongue over his fangs. “I cannot.”

“So go speak to Giorgios.” Fortunately, our father does not have the power of teleportation that he holds with such blatant disregard, so I will have plenty of time to warn and prepare my brother for a visit. And despite our father’s disdain for Giorgios’s skills, his ability to control his own mind and block his thoughts from others is considerable. Otherwise, I would not have trusted him with Ophelia’s safety.

My father runs his fingertips through his beard again, sizing me up. He will get nothing from me, and of that I am certain. “Besure that I will. But he has been here four times these past few months alone.”

“He is my brother.”

He scoffs. “A brother you had not seen for almost two decades until recently.”

“I thought there may be a pledge that would suit him. That is all.”

He regards me with undisguised suspicion. “Perhaps I should extend my stay here for a little while in the event he visits again. It would make for a splendid family reunion, would it not?”

Even if I were hiding nothing from him, that would be a terrible idea, and he knows it. But if he does stay, I will be forced to take Ophelia and the boys and travel somewhere he can never find us. Perhaps that is what I should do in any event. “Whatever you decide is best, Father. But your rampant killing sprees will not go as unnoticed across America as they do in the dark corners of the earth you usually frequent.”

As powerful as he is, even he would not be foolish enough to bring such unnecessary attention to our kind. Plus, he is too set in his ways to exist for extended periods of time in civilized society.

“I go where the Skotádi are. It is they whom I seek out and destroy. Should any humans or witches or any other kind of beings get in my way, then I cannot be held accountable. I do what I do for the greater good.”

His mention of our common enemy has my interest piqued. “And just how many Skotádi have you actually killed these past hundred years?”

A growl tumbles from his lips. “Too few. They were born to hide in the shadows. I know not how many remain, but I will not rest until I find them all.”

His immense hatred for the Skotádi is the reason I cannot tell him about their recent activities. He would stick around, and his investigation would inevitably lead him to the two people who need to be protected from him more than anyone—Ophelia and Lucian. My desire to protect the latter takes me by surprise. As much as I tell myself it is because I want to deal with him in my own way, I know that is not entirely true. And like with anything to do with my son, I refuse to unpack it and instead push it behind the wall of granite I keep him behind.

“Then I have nothing further to offer you. I got all the vengeance I needed a long time ago.”

“That is not quite true, is it, Alexandros? You got all the vengeance you could stomach because, despite your strength, you are weak. And that is why you will never rule House Drakos.”

His contempt snaps something inside me. Rage bubbles beneath my skin like it is bursting to be let out. “I killed too many of our kind. Tore off their heads and watched them turn to ash. And the witches.” Their screams of terror are as piercing now as they were so long ago. “I killed hundreds. Tore out their hearts whilst they were still beating and fed them to the wolves before I slaughtered them too.”

I ball my hands into fists, my knuckles cracking with the effort. “I took enough.”

“It will never be enough.” He shoves his chair back. “They took our only chance of survival, Alexandros. There will never be enough blood spilled to make up for what we lost. No more vampire children will ever be born. Do you understand what that means?”

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