When all was done, he would find a way to erase every vampire trait from himself, to rid his veins of the Viceroy's blood and return to what he'd been.

Or he'd greet the sun. Malkom frowned. Would that kill a Scarba?

"Live for vengeance?" Kallen said. "Tell me, will that be enough?"

How to answer that question when Malkom's own dreams appeared so ridiculous now?

He'd wanted a home that no one could ever force him to leave. He'd wanted as much food and water as he could ever enjoy. But more than anything, he'd secretly longed to be respected like Kallen—a noble like him—gifted with a blood far better than his own.

Malkom's only fortune was that no one else had ever discovered how much he yearned to be highborn. "Then live for your fated female," he urged Kallen. "She will accept you. She must."

"Is that what you seek, Malkom? Your fated one?"

"I've no such expectations." What use had he for a woman of his own? He'd needed no offspring for a noble line or sons to work the water mines with him.

"No? Then why have you never taken a demoness from the camps?"

Malkom's gaze flicked away. Never had he known a female. Those who followed the army could be had for a price, but Malkom had never used one. No matter how urgent his need, no matter how badly his curiosity burned, he physically couldn't.

They smelled of other males, reminding him of his childhood. Nothing extinguished his lusts like the scent of seed.

So he'd put females from his mind. As a boy, he disciplined himself not to dream about food. He'd applied that same discipline to keep from fantasizing about intercourse.

At length, Malkom answered, "Because war has become everything for me—"

The Viceroy traced into their cell, his eyes lit with pleasure. "Remade in my image," he said. The vampire wasn't shocked the ritual had worked—he was brimming with pride. So how many had they created here? "And this is just the beginning. Do you feel the Thirst? It's sacred to us, as death is." His gaze fell first on Kallen, then on Malkom. "Only the one who kills—or answers the Thirst—will ever leave this cell alive."