Free Crimson Debt: Book 1 in the Born to Darkness series by Evangeline Anderson

away one of my fledglings because he heard
I was being cruel to her.” She laughed as though it was the
most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard.
    Roderick frowned at Corbin. “Explain.”
    “Celeste has lived in my area for over a
hundred years and though I am older and stronger than her, I have
never tried to exact any tribute. Now, however, she has something I
want.” Corbin shrugged. “So I am taking it.”
    “He has no right!” Celeste exclaimed.
    Corbin grinned, flashing his fangs in a way
that had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with menace.
“Might makes right. It is the creed of our kind, as you well know,
Celeste.”
    “Enough.” Roderick held up a hand for
silence. “Who is this fledgling you are so set on having,
Corbin?”
    “It is Taylor—the one I gave you to amuse
yourself with,” Celeste answered quickly. “He wishes to steal her
from under your very nose, Inquisitor.”
    “I wish to remove her from a situation that
is causing my consort distress,” Corbin said, nodding at me.
    Roderick gave me a surprised look and I was
sure it was the first time I had registered on his radar. “You
claim a human as your consort?”
    “I do.” Corbin gave him an unwavering
stare.
    “And you find that to be satisfactory? You
are able to fuck her without breaking her?”
    A small smile twitched up the corner of
Corbin’s lush mouth. “As you see—she is still in one piece.”
    “You must have surpassing control. That I
would like to see.” Roderick was looking at me with much more
interest now, as though I might do a clever trick if he watched
long enough.
    “Sorry, we don’t do private shows,” I
snapped.
    Roderick frowned. “It appears your consort
needs some discipline, Corbin. She hasn’t enough respect for her
betters.”
    I wanted to say tell him to fuck off or ask
how being a rapist and a torturer made him better than me but
Corbin was suddenly between us. “My apologies, Inquisitor. She is a
non-glam and so a bit more difficult to control than most
humans.”
    “I see. So you are unable to control her
mind?”
    “I said it is more difficult, not
impossible.” Corbin put an arm around my shoulders and I forced
myself to hold still though I wanted in the worst way to shrug it
off. “I could break her to my will completely if I wished, of
course. But I find that a broken mind makes for a boring bed
companion. Do you not agree?”
    “Not at all, actually.” Roderick sniffed.
“Although in my estimation it is the breaking itself that gives the
most pleasure, not the end product.”
    I thought of how he’d been “breaking” Taylor
and wanted to shoot him so badly I could almost taste it. Only
Corbin’s heavy arm around my shoulders and his hand gripping my
upper arm kept me from reaching for my Glock.
    “As I was saying, Celeste’s treatment of her
latest fledging is most upsetting to my consort. She and this
fledgling were friends before Celeste took her and turned her
against her will.”
    “Celeste, is this true?” Roderick turned to
her, frowning. He spoke softly but there was a vast depth of menace
in his voice. “You know turning a human without their consent is
heavily frowned upon now that we are in the public eye, do you
not?”
    “The old ways were better.” Celeste sounded
sulky. “One never had to ask who was willing and who was not. We
just took what we wanted.”
    “I remember that well.” Corbin’s eyes
flashed. “A fine time for our kind. However, it was not always so
pleasant for those that were taken.”
    I looked at him in surprise. Had Corbin been
brought over against his will? He had always seemed like the type
to volunteer for vampirism to me but maybe he hadn’t. Maybe some
vampire somewhere back in Scotland or Wales or wherever it was he
came from had seen a big, strong, handsome man and decided he would
make an excellent part of his or her entourage. It was something to
think about—if we got out of this alive. The situation seemed