Dhampirica

Prologue

"HUMANS ONCE USED TO RULE the world. Their intellect, and their capacity to learn and adapt, made them super predators of a unique kind... until we came along, of course."

The human girl sighed and murmured, "I don't believe you. That sounds too good to be true."

Dante Romaniello smiled down at her with sharp fangs and even sharper eyes. "It's no lie. Over a century ago, a covert American lab tested a novel virus on a small group of humans. For a long time, nothing changed... until they grew wilder and more bloodthirsty, and this made everyone shun them. When they escaped into the general population, this group sought to be treated like equals, though they were no longer human. And for a brief moment, vampires and humans co-existed in a fragile state of amity, but such a world did not last. There were many attempts at revolution, but vampires were outnumbered, and so every time we failed — until one day, we outnumbered them. After that, vampires became progenitors of the new world."

She stared at him, her eyes glazing over at the sight of his bared teeth. "Wow..." she breathed. "All that from a disease? I wish I became stronger whenever I get sick."

He brushed the soft golden curls away from her neck, exposing the wounded skin. "Well... we're not like you... not anymore, at least. Decades of genetic engineering made us what we are today — a new race of super predators."

The girl's eyes flickered away and set upon a shadowed figure in the corner. "And what is she?"

As if just realizing Yvanna was there, Dante spared a brief reluctant glance in her direction. "Well, her kind is the reason the concord shattered in the first place. The birth of the first dhampir broke the world... but no need to concern yourself with her," Dante crooned, drawing the girl closer in order to sink his fangs into her neck. "All that matters right now is you and I."

The dhampiri broke the world. It was a crude way to describe it, but not entirely untrue. The history of the United Districts was painted in the blood of vampires and humans alike. And now, a hundred and four years after the birth of the first of her kind, vampires stood at the apex of society, with humans at their feet. And as for the dhampiri, they were somewhere in between.

But Yvanna kept silent as usual, allowing Lord Dante his time with the bloodletter to be enjoyed in peace. He preferred quiet and that was fine by her. Nothing needed to be said between nobles and their minders, she told herself. And even less needed to be said between him and me.