Free Bloodlust by Michelle Rowen

inside Matthias’s flesh and the vampire king gasped in pain. I ran to the bathroom, wet a facecloth, and returned to press it against Matthias’s new wound. This one wasn’t as bad as I thought it was and it didn’t take very long before it started to knit and heal right in front of my eyes.
    Declan held the tiny piece of metal in the palm of his hand. “What do you want me to do with it?”
    “Destroy it.”
    Declan placed it on the carpet and slammed the hard sole of his boot on top of it, leaving a bloody stain and a destroyed tracker behind. Between that and the mattress and wall, I hoped not to be here when the maid stopped by to clean up. She was going to be pissed.
    “You should have killed your brother before he became immortal.” Declan wiped his hand against his thigh to remove the blood. “Evil like that shouldn’t be allowed to live. Same goes for the rest of your kind.”
    Matthias took the cloth from me and dabbed at his side a bit harder to clean it up. “Contrary to what you believe, we’re not all soulless monsters. We require blood to survive, and blood doesn’t come cheaply. However, many of us have chosen not to take from those we consider innocent. When I drink blood it’s usually from a willing donor.”
    “ Usually ,” Declan repeated.
    Matthias grabbed his clothes from earlier and began to get dressed right in front of us. I automatically looked away when he dropped the towel. “I know you don’t like me, dhampyr, but I’m not the biggest threat you’ll be faced with. If you knew my brother—” He broke off for a moment. “He’s different from most others. I know better than anyone what he’s capable of and what his plans were before I put him into that prison.”
    “What were they?”
    “To infiltrate society. To slowly turn all humans into blood servants. To have vampires become the dominant species on earth.”
    Declan shook his head. “It’s impossible. There aren’t enough vampires.”
    “That’s because I’ve kept our numbers small. Not everyone who wants to be sired has been granted their wish. There are currently less than a thousand of us worldwide. But Kristoff will change that. He’ll begin to sire many new vampires immediately after his awakening. It’ll grow faster than anything you ever imagined—like a virus.”
    I felt ill at the thought. “You really think he can recover that quickly from being locked away for nearly thirty years?”
    “I don’t know for sure what will happen.” His jaw clenched. “But the moment blood touches his lips again, he’ll regain a great deal of his strength. And I’ll know the moment it happens.”
    I frowned. “How will you know?”
    He walked to the window to look outside. “Because we’re twins we’ve always had a very strong psychic bond with each other. When we were sired, this connection became stronger. There were times when we could even read each other’s minds.”
    I stared at him, dumbfounded. “You and Kristoff are psychically connected twins.”
    “Yes.”
    “ Identical twins?”
    He nodded.
    “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said under my breath. This was like a bad soap opera.
    I already knew Kristoff and Matthias were brothers, but I had no idea that they were twins. I studied the two men standing before me. Declan’s scars and eye patch, as well as the thirty-plus pounds of muscle he had on Matthias were definitely distracting. But if I ignored that, I thought I could see a slight family resemblance. The line of their jaws. The shape of their noses. The curve of their upper lips.
    Matthias raked a hand through his hair. “I only hope I’ll have enough time to find a way to destroy him before it’s too late.”
    Declan crossed his arms over his chest. “What do you mean?”
    Matthias rubbed at a large bloodstain at the edge of his sleeve. “I believe the Nightshade in Jillian’s blood stripped away my immortality. I can feel my life fading. I don’t have much time left.”
    We