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rushed to pledge allegiance to him would pay for that. Along with all of the innocent humans. His vendettas stretched endlessly, Samantha knew, and New York City would soon be his playing thing.
    They dragged Samantha roughly through all the chaos, right to the center of the room.
    Kyle now sat on Rexius throne, savoring his power, an evil grin spread across his face, as vampires bowed low to him in every direction.
    Sergei, standing at Kyle side, banged his metal staff on the floor, three times.
    The entire room, thousands of vampires, lined up in perfect order. They all raised their fists, and yelled: “Hail Kyle!”
    Samantha was amazed. It was an incredible show of force and loyalty. She had never seen any obedience like this in her life. Kyle was magnetic. Already, he was a tyrant.
    But Kyle didn’t seem interested in his soldiers. Instead, his eyes fixed on Samantha. The entire room seemed to notice his interest in her, and the murmur quieted as they prepared to watch the exchange.
    “So,” Kyle said to her. “You beat me to the Sword. But as you can see, I am the one to wield it.”
    “For now,” Samantha spat back.
    Let him think about that , she thought. For truly, she believed, one day it would no longer belong to him. Whoever was meant to wield the Sword would, and she knew, deep down, that it wasn’t him.
    Kyle raised his eyebrows.
    “Do you know why I’ve kept you alive this long?” he asked.
    Samantha stared back, defiant. She had no interest in engaging in a dialogue with him. She didn’t want any part of this new coven. She wanted to leave, to get as far away from this place as possible. She wanted to just take Sam and go. If he’d let them.
    But Sam was nowhere in sight. They had been captured by Kyle’s soldiers, and she hadn’t see him since. Samantha needed to keep her cool until she could find out where he was. She needed to buy her time, to plead allegiance to him if need be, until the moment when she and Sam could escape.
    “I still don’t know why Rexius sent you to retrieve the Sword instead of me. As we all know, I’m a better warrior. But I will admit, you have some skills,” he said.
    “But that is not entirely why I’ve kept you alive. Rexius had planned on punishing you. From this, I assume you have no reason to still be loyal to him. There is a war coming, and I can use strong warriors like yourself. If you are ready to pledge allegiance to me, I will consider keeping you alive.”
    Samantha thought. She had no issue with pledging allegiance, because she knew that very soon, she would leave all of this. But first she had to know about Sam.
    “What of the boy?” she asked. “Where is he?”
    Kyle smiled.
    “Ah yes, the boy. Getting right to the heart of what I want to discuss. I’m not sure why you’ve taken such a fondness for this human, and you’ve already violated our rules in doing so. I could have you killed just for that, you know. But I do find this very interesting, and this, indeed, is one of the reasons I’ve let you live.
    “You see, Samantha, you need to be punished. Any vampire who was at any time loyal to Rexius and not myself, needs to be punished. It is part of the initiation process of my new Army. You will learn to obey me, and to obey me only.
    “In your case, I have found the perfect solution: an act that will both prove your loyalty to me and serve to punish you. My men will take you to the boy, you will bring him back here, and in front of everyone, you will kill him.”
    Samantha’s heart dropped at the thought. That was something she could never, ever do. She would take her own life before taking his. Kyle, as usual, was delusional. And cruel. Yes, he was a fitting successor to Rexius.
    “I will quite enjoy seeing you personally put him to death,” Kyle said, smiling at the thought of it. “You see, I consider this boy a liability. He comes from the same strand as his sister, and for all I know, they bear an immunity that could hurt us