It did make me pause for another reason, though.

Why on earth did Killian Drake have his top two underlings playing nursemaid to a wizard? Given that I was such a total beginner, any of his vampires would be more skilled and able to teach me the basics. But he’d chosen Celestina and Josh. (And Rupert, but I suspected that might be an underhanded maneuvering on Killian’s part for some complicated reason I didn’t want to understand.)

“Regardless, the rat-blood should be trained in a different part of the house,” Rupert continued. “Heavens knows she stunk the whole place up when the mantasp monster nearly succeeded in killing her.”

“She’s Killian’s new pet,” another vampire said in a steely voice. “She goes wherever he wants her to.”

“He doesn’t care where she is,” Rupert said. “That’s why he dumped her off. He’s probably just using her for bait anyway.”

He swiveled to stare at me.

What a puke. If my wild speculations were right and the murderer really was an insider, I’d bet Rupert was the one—not because of his terrible personality, but because he just seemed to hate everyone. Obviously, he had some buried issues.

Several long seconds passed, and Rupert still didn’t look away from me.

“Oh, sorry, were you expecting a reaction or something?” I asked. “Because he’s Killian Drake. I’m realistic enough to know he only ever brought me in because he thought he could use me in some way.”

Josh nodded approvingly.

Rupert curled back his upper lip, showing off his fangs.

“Don’t pick fights with the wizard,” the steely voiced male vampire ordered. “It only makes you look stupid.”

“Because I refuse to subject myself to the rat-blood’s stench?” Rupert scoffed. “Please. The rest of you are too soft. I can barely stand to be in the same room as it. It speaks to the quality of your abilities.”

A female vampire sighed and rolled her eyes. “This is why everyone knows you’re adopted,” she said, dryly. “Drake vampires have too much pride to throw temper tantrums.”

“Careful,” another vampire warned as he eyed the female. “More than just Rupert have been brought into the Family externally.”

“And all of us have enough sense not to argue in front of the wizard,” a tall, willowy male vampire said. “Enough.”

He must have been high enough in the pecking order to command their respect, because they all fell silent—Rupert included. (Though he cast me a dirty look—as if his big mouth was my fault.)

Josh seemed unbothered by the tense mood. He studied the clock on the wall with the same meditative scrutiny he gave life. “We have tarried too long; it’s already sunset. Come, Hazel. It’s time for your evening run.”

My magic had faded while I was pre-occupied listening to the fight, so all I had to do was slide my chisa katana into its scabbard with a click that was so, so, so satisfying after a long practice. I tied it to the weighted belt Celestina had gotten me, then followed Josh out of the hallway.

I waited until we reached the stairs that would take us out of the basement before I risked prodding Josh. “What were they talking about?”

“To what are you referring?”

“Being adopted into the Drake Family.” We reached the top stair, and I was pleased I hadn’t lost my breath while scurrying up the steps and talking. (Maybe I was improving!)

“Oh. Rupert was originally part of a European vampire lineage—the Cotelleon Family. Killian formally adopted him into the Drake Family several years ago when everyone in the Family—excluding Rupert—was killed for colluding against their regional committee. Many of us here in Drake Hall are not actually Drake vampires, turned by Killian, but adopted from other Families.” Josh led me through the front door and outside into the purple of twilight as he casually dropped his truth bomb.

Killian allowed other vampires to join his Family? It seemed strangely generous for him—though I suppose it was for his own race, not another. “And Killian willingly took Rupert in?”

“Yes.” Josh made his way around the house, choosing what running path we’d go down. “Of course, it meant he inherited all Cotelleon land and resources with Rupert’s adoption.”

Ahhh. There was the manipulating and selfish Killian Drake I knew.

I actually sighed in relief that I wasn’t so far off my mental picture of the Eminence. “I see.”

Josh selected one of the longer paths—or rather longer for me. (Celestina told me there were trails that wove several miles through the Drake Family’s apparently vast acreage.)

This particular path wound toward the wrought-iron fence that encased the entire property, following it as it divided Drake land from the neighboring property and made for the road at the front of the hall.

The moon was bright in the sky, and only the smallest sliver of sun was left, so I kept my jogging pace brisk. If I didn’t finish in time it was going to be totally dark, and the likelihood that I’d trip on something would rapidly multiply.

We’d been running for only a few minutes when a hideously loud, shriek-like bray shattered the silence.

I skid to a stop. “What was that?”

Josh peered past the fence. “I believe that was the neighbor’s donkey.”

I tried to process this information. “Wait, you guys know your neighbor?”

“Indeed. The dogs are rather fond of her because she gives them biscuits. They slip through the fence and run off to her house when possible—though sometimes the aforementioned donkey chases them away.”

It seemed weirdly domestic that the Drakes had problems with their dogs—which I still couldn’t quite wrap my head around—going to visit the neighbor. (A donkey-owning-neighbor, no less! It just seemed like something Killian wouldn’t normally tolerate living next door to him.)

“You have caught your breath, so I believe it is time to move on,” Josh said.

I nodded and started running again, staying silent as I mulled on the peculiarities of the Drake Family.

I happily noticed that my lungs didn’t burn much—maybe I was right about the stairs and my stamina was increasing?—but my sword started to feel really heavy around the time our jogging trail ran parallel with the road and looped near the front gates.

The gates were more for visual appeal than actual defense. Each gate was cut in the shape of a roaring dragon, and there were plenty of spots where you could wriggle through it, or the wrought-iron fence that separated Drake Family land.

My steps were getting heavier as I trudged along, so when Josh stopped, I assumed it was an air break for me. “Thanks,” I panted as I kept walking.

Josh, however, was statue still. He stared past the gates, and something in him moved.

The hair on the back of my neck prickled as my instincts made me shiver and I finally understood how Josh came to be Second Knight in the Drake Family. I cleared my throat. “What is it?”

“Intruders.”

I blinked, and Josh had his cellphone in his palm, dialing a number with a careless swipe of his hand as he stared at whatever had his attention. “Intruders,” he repeated.

I casually shifted closer, trying to hear the other voice, but vampire hearing is so good they must set the volume on almost silent, so I couldn’t make anything out.

“Two,” Josh said. “A wizard and a werewolf.”

I squinted in the direction he was staring and could just make out two figures standing in the middle of the road just beyond the gates like a pair of idiots waiting to get hit. It took a moment, but I saw the suitcoat and the distinctive orange shade of the tie, and I realized at least one of the figures was a House Tellier wizard. Which probably meant the other person was the werewolf.

I stiffened. There was no way either of them was the murderer who was out on the loose—not many werewolves hunted alone, and those who did were carefully watched, and it would take a lot for a wizard to be able to take out a vamp. Plus, the wizard just happened to be from House Tellier?

Not likely.

He’d probably been sent by Mason—though I had no idea where the werewolf fit in all of this. Slowly, I untied my sword from my waist and considered sliding it from its scabbard.

“I assume they’re here for your wizard,” Josh said, still talking on the phone. “Do you wish for me to dispatch them, or…?”

“No, I’ll handle it myself,” Killian said directly behind me.

I was actually pretty proud that I didn’t jump at his abrupt arrival—another sign of improvement! (Or maybe living here had shot my nerves and adrenaline?)

“You think they’re here to spy on me?” I stepped aside as Killian adjusted his fancy gold cufflinks (dragon shaped, of course).

“Unless you have a secret boyfriend, or two.” Killian smirked.

“The wizard is House Tellier,” I said. “They helped Mason with his coup.”

“Are you certain the whole thing wasn’t a lovers’ quarrel?” Killian was almost purring.

“Mason threatened me with marriage, or the death of my House,” I said flatly.

“Very well. I’ll take care of it.” Killian frowned and adjusted my arms so I held my sword correctly.

“Yes, Your Eminence,” Josh said.

“Wait. Take care of it? What does that mean?” I asked.

Killian ignored me and jumped the fence. He was a smudgy blur in the blue shadows that were slowly taking over, so I actually only knew he went over because I heard the rattle of the gate. Moments later he was out in the road with the House Tellier wizard and the werewolf. He had them both by the throats—the werewolf was pinned to the ground with a foot and the wizard he held up so the wizard’s feet dangled in the air.

I didn’t even know how he did it so fast. There wasn’t a scuffle, Killian was just that overwhelming and moved like quicksilver.

Killian’s gaze wandered from the werewolf to the wizard, and his eyes started to glow an eerie, bright red. “You thought you could intrude on Drake land?” His voice was dangerously smooth, like a sword slicing through meat. “And escape with your lives?” He smiled savagely, his white teeth flashing in the darkness.