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Prologue

"Did you touch him?" I rose from my chair and prowled the length of the room to where the young vampire stood, twitching with fear and bloodlust.

"Did you mark him?" I hissed. The vampire jerked his head up to look at me, his red eyes stark with terror.

"Mistress," he whimpered, "By accident only – careless…"

I leaned over to examine the unconscious body of the human male. Hmm, not as appealing as he'd seemed from a distance. The neck was clean. Then I saw it, a thin graze of blood across the wrist.

"I send you after him, I trust you with this little task, and you - fail?"

The vampire fell to his knees.

My eyes darted to the doorway where his two companions stood. "You didn't try to stop him?"

"Only a cut - too quick,'" said one.

I reached the doorway with preternatural speed and lifted the speaker into the air by his neck. "Did he taste?" The vampire shook in my grasp. "Did you?"

"Not me, no, he did, a little." I dropped him to the floor and shot back to stand over the unconscious human.

"This," I pointed, my voice low and deadly, "is mine." I picked up the human, snapped his neck and flung him at the wall. "And you spoiled it."

The three vampires jerked towards the body, their appetites inflamed by the sudden gush of human blood.

"Trash," I went on. "If you dare feed from it, you'll meet the same fate as this one."

Before they could register my movement I ripped the head from the offending vampire's shoulders and threw a spark of blue tinder on his headless body. The fire blazed instantly. The others cowered back, grovelling and whimpering.

"Get out of my sight," I ordered.

They ran.

I gave them a minute then stalked out of the hall without a backward glance at the barely appetizing human crumpled against the blood spattered wall. Once outside the house, I sped to the woods, relieved to be alone. I had taken over this coven only a few weeks before and already I was sick of them. I really did prefer a solitary life. However, I had a reputation to keep up and I could only do that by a show of power. Any weakness would invite challenge and the tiresome business of proving myself again.

I was one hundred and ten years old and bored witless. Sometimes I wished another vampire could rise to the challenge and end me as efficiently as I had just dealt with that newborn.

My rage and bloodlust, ferocious for many years, was disciplined and calm now. That was what made me deadlier than all of them. I had superlative speed, strength and intuition but I had something more. I could control myself.

Even during the era of the vampire raids on the cities I had kept my head when others were in a frenzy of bloodlust. When Marcus outlawed me for killing his beloved Jane, the little vampire interrogator with her gift for inflicting pain, he found a way to blame me for the Southern raids that had almost exposed our kind to the humans.

The price on my head was the largest ever offered. I should have been flattered but I was sick to the stomach of Marcus and Aro's scheming, their manoeuvrings for their own ends in the name of vampire justice.

There was a ransom on me; but really, who was going to take me down? I had always been one of the most powerful, maybe the most powerful. My fight against death had proved it. It took six days for the venom to overtake me when I was turned, not the two or three days that others succumbed to.

I never knew the vampire who changed me. The first being I saw when I woke from the excruciating transformation was my mother. I almost killed her with my raging blood thirst, but somehow, even in my crazed newborn state, I managed not to rip her throat out. I terrorized her of course, but didn't kill. At least I hadn't heaped more guilt to carry over from my human life, the pain and regret of hurting and disappointing the unhappy woman who bore me.

It was that supernatural control that I used to my advantage when I decided to beat Marcus and Aro at their own game. Every time one of their covens went on a raid I would discover their whereabouts and join them in the killing spree. But in my case it was vampires, not humans, who were the prey.

As the vampires wreaked destruction and fed, I picked them off, efficiently, without mercy, until only one or two would be left to run back to Marcus and tell of the vengeful dark succubus who had decimated their ranks.

I became feared everywhere. Covens invited me to take them over, believing I would spare them if they gave me control.

If I had any lust that I strained to control, it was my weakness for beautiful young men. In my first years as a succubus I had truly lived up to the name, scores of men falling under my spell and blood frenzy. But gradually I discovered there was more pleasure to be had if I fed from them a little at a time, going back night after night, stretching out the sensation with patience and finesse. As the years went on, these encounters stretched out into weeks of nightly savouring that often didn't end in a kill at all, especially if I had found another beautiful specimen to pursue.

That wretch of a human they had brought today was barely worth the trouble. A drink of rough ale for a palate accustomed to fine wine. I needed more, better.

I turned to stare back at the house, half hidden by trees. Admit it Bella, you're bored, bored to death, if that were possible.

I thought again of seeking out Marcus and Aro, forcing a battle with them. It was likely I couldn't win but at least it would be a challenge, something to give focus to my weary existence.

I flexed and launched myself high into the nearest tree. I could see the edge of the city from here. Vancouver. Surrounded by mountains and sea; its grid of streets teeming with people that presented an even greater challenge. I'd tried before, unsuccessfully. I wondered if I could manage better now.

I'll leave Marcus and Aro where they are for the time being. Instead I'll push my limits to the edge, attempt the façade and extreme control I would need in order to pass for - human.