Page 1 of The Sins That Bleed
Prologue
12TH CENTURY FRANCE - VALESKA
Iwatch the dark-cherry liquid bubble through the opening in his chest, centuries of rot pouring in rivulets that feed the thick rivers oozing from the edges of my silver dagger.
I nearly let a moan slip past my crimson-painted lips; the heady rush of power has me feeling as though I’m alive once again. His blood is like oil, sticking to everything it touches and staining so deeply into the fibres that washing it out entirely is impossible.
Like the sins of man.
I force my eyes back to his so I can watch the final moments of his existence as they seep outside of his body like tumbling rubies. There is nothing he can do but succumb to the inevitable end I have reigned upon him.
“Au revoir, mon démon. I hope you rot in whichever depraved hell you are dragged to.” I weep, but these tears are for me, not him.
My darling husband can do nothing to respond to the gift I have bestowed upon him. His cock wilts and softens where it is still buried inside of me. I straddle him and admire the view while the rest of his body decays a little more with each droplet of blood that leaks from him. Only his onyx eyes can bore intomine, as the life of his sins drain from red to black, I revel in the anger, the hatred I find reflected in them.
My anger.
My hatred.
For everything this motherfucker put me through, for who I had to become to survive him and his cruel world. Now it is my turn to take everything from him that he cherished, everything that wasn’t me, because I was only ever a trophy for him to parade in front of his loyal subjects.
I will take and take until I’ve crafted an entire empire of my own. Using the seeds I’ve stolen from my king to curate a world where I rule. They will fear me, they will lust over me, to win my favour. For their beloved Vampire King is dead.
Now they must bow for their Queen.
CHAPTER 1
The Haunting
RAI
My eyes snap to the shadows, darting around the darkness, convinced that I’d seen movement among the empty desks.
But I’m here alone.
With only the low hum of computers around me, I sit alone in my office, the shadows appearing to darken as they creep closer and closer towards me. The motion sensor lights went out on me hours ago, but I’ve been so absorbed in pouring over all the case files, I’ve not bothered to turn a light on or walk out of my office to turn them on again.
Only the harsh glow of my computer screen glaring back at me lights the area, creating a halo that makes seeing beyond it difficult and eerie. I tear my gaze away from the rows of empty desks and try to read over the details of the missing persons to see if there is any detail I might have missed.
There’s something crawling over my desk; my heart gallops as I look at the spider moving its way toward me but it stops. Looking closer I realise it’s the cap of a whiteboard pen and I huff out a breath in relief.
I’m going insane.
I shake my head and turn back, I can’t afford for my mind to lose its sharpness.
“Give me one lead, anything to work with.”
I speak into the stillness, trying to ignore the call of the darkness beyond, the need to prove to myself there’s nothing there. I can’t ignore the way my body is tensed as though someone is watching me, but I chalk it up to tiredness causing the paranoia. I’ve been working on this case for months and with the lead going cold, I’ve been working all hours of the night to try and find a way forward.
A dark shadow moving beyond my computer screen distracts me again, I freeze, not daring to breathe. That wasn’t my mind playing tricks on me, I saw something this time. My heart pounds in my chest as my palms grow clammy. I stay as still as I can, the fear taking over as I struggle to gain control over it.
A low hum dances in the dark and I tell myself it’s the photocopier, though it can’t be. The haunting lullaby wraps itself around the mechanical noise like poison ivy. I strain to listen for any other sounds, one heartbeat, two heartbeats.
Footsteps.
A light flickers on, then another and another. Each fluorescent tube making a tinny sound as it comes back to life and bringing the footsteps closer with it. The light is heading in my direction, but I can’t see anyone. My breath comes faster as the panic seeps in.
“What the fuck?” I whisper to myself.
