Page 81 of After Darkness Falls

"You will not wish to gaze upon me. You're frightened enough."

She huffed. "Right. Because hearing voices without seeing their source isn't frightening at all."

A second passed as Chloe once more wished she'd held her tongue.

The thing in front of her was terrifying. A frail, graying corpse with eyes too bright and no substance at all, like a dried-up mummy.

She gasped.

"Stay here for a few thousand years and we'll see how pretty you are then."

His voice was so light, teasing. And even in his state, she could tell he was smiling. It was a horrifying smile, but a smile nonetheless.

"You're Eirikr," she said.

The mummyish corpse inclined his head. Long silver-white strands of hair were still attached to his skull.

"You look terrible."

"I see you inherited my tact and kindness."

Inherited. He said it like…

But she knew that. Somehow, she'd suspected she was linked to him so long ago. When she'd stood at the end of the path leading to his cave. When she'd been told there were seven families, and Blair had refused to talk of the last. She'd been incredibly frustrated. Tell me, she'd wanted to scream.

Tell me about my family.

"What's your name, little daughter?"

She cleared her throat.

"Chloe. Chloe Miller…"

"Chloe Eirikrson,” he corrected. “That's what they'll all call you, whispering behind your back like it’s a curse. You may as well claim the benefits."

She didn't understand what he meant.

"Because you went crazy?"

The corpse seemed to smile again. "Our kind have unlimited power here. We outnumber all those who could tame us on Earth. And we outpower everyone else. For long—too long—vampires lived as gods, taming humanity under their heels. I was focused on my own missions, ignoring their barbarism. Then, I looked at the world and decided to change it. I forced them all back into the shadows. Because I am the monster they fear, and fear means respect."

Even now, so frail and all but exsanguinated, he held an air of power that made her believe every word.

"Then they locked you up."

He inclined his head. "But my heirs continued my work. And when they, too, were betrayed, the huntsmen I'd armed had grown powerful enough to pose a real threat. So, our pestilential species didn't slaughter their way through countless mortals with impunity, as they used to."

There were always three sides to the story. She'd heard and doubted the one her friends knew. Now she heard and doubted his. She suspected the truth was somewhere in the middle.

Not that it mattered. Nothing mattered anymore. She felt it. She had moments. Minutes, if that.

Chloe knew the blood of an ancestor was the answer, but she didn't ask for his. Even she could see that he had none to give. No more than a drop coursed through his veins.

"Don't despair yet, little daughter. Help is on the way."

She blinked, cheering up.

"Tom?"

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