For a brief moment, I truly considered killing him. The thought came uninvited, like an intrusion, and left me feeling helpless and hopeless. Maybe I thought I finally had the upper hand, but just like always, Dorian waited for the right moment to corner me.

"You know." I breathed out. "Of course, you know."

He smiled – though it lacked the usual mockery – and poured himself more whiskey, "What's your diet these days? Mine's blood and whiskey."

"You know Jax is a hunter." I repeated, irrational fear constricting my veins.

I wanted to bolt, find Jax, and tell him to run as far away from NYC as possible. Forget the vampires, I'd say, forget me, just get yourself out of this cursed city.

"Don't worry." He said and, as if reading my thoughts, added, "If I wanted him dead, he'd be dead."

Fear twisted into anger with another gulp of blood. Gosh, if only I could take Dorian out of the picture and have Libby vote me back into my family. I'd get access to my trust fund again and I could help Lucia without anyone knowing. But no, I had to go through this asshole, and it turned out he has already seen all the cards up my sleeve.

The only thing I had left was the truth, and I'd never tell him the truth.

"Maybe he knows you're a vampire." I said, hoping my words would cause the same fear I felt.

But Dorian brushed it off with a laugh, "They don't know. They're looking for creatures with red eyes and forty teeth in their mouth who burst into flames in contact with sunlight, and I intend to keep it that way."

I gritted my teeth, "How can you be sure? You're not exactly subtle."

"Oh, trust me, everyone here is solid." Dorian sipped his whiskey.

"That's the thing." I met his gaze. "I don't trust you."

He raised his eyebrow, "But you trust your vampire hunter?"

"He's quite taken with me."

"Of course, he is." Dorian smirked. "You're pretty and he hasn't fucked you yet."

"Maybe he has." My heart rate quickened.

"No." Dorian cocked his head, observing me, "I'd smell it on you."

"That's fucking creepy."

Dorian laughed, but the sound died out as quickly as it appeared. In less than a second, he appeared in front of me, both of his hands on the armrests, blocking me. Up close, he smelled like blood, and whiskey, and winter. The faint Cherry scent on him almost made me gag.

"What are you doing here?" He uttered through his clenched teeth.

"I told you." My voice dropped low. "I wanted to warn-"

"No." He smiled, showing his fangs – two sharp teeth, poking his bottom lip. "You're not here to warn anyone. You want something, and it has nothing to do with vampire hunters."

I could force my face into neutrality, I could even tuck my fangs inside my mouth, but I couldn't stop my heart from racing. Dorian leaned over me, the strands of his silver hair falling over his dusk-coloured eyes, and chuckled.

"Give me the vote." I said through my teeth. "The seat on the Council has never been yours, it's mine."

Something came over me, something wild, feral, and chaotic, and I pushed him off hard. He stumbled across the room, hitting the chess table in the process, and almost spilling the whiskey bottle. Dorian laughed out loud.

"Oh, fuck." He approached again, but I was already out of the armchair. "I thought you wanted to talk, but if you wanna fight me, I'm down."

Lucia, my mind whispered. I had to think about Lucia. The less money I managed to find, the closer she came to death. But, God, I was so tired and pissed off. Constantly stepping over my pride for the greater fucking good.

"Dorian," I said his name with as much gentleness as I could muster, "It's- the threat is real, okay? Just let me go back, let me talk to my father."

He snickered, but the sound held no humour, "How about a magic word?"

Anger and desperation slammed into me with unyielding ferocity. I would have dealt with anyone in this world – Hell, I might even have to go to Edmond for his vote – but I couldn't deal with this. Not this. Not after everything that's happened.

"What do you want?" I asked, my mind going straight to blackmail and extortion. "Do you want to stay on the Council? Fine, we'll kick Edmond out. You want to rule? You want to become the next Chief after my father retires? We'll try-"

"What's the magic word?"

My shoulders slumped. Lucia, I repeated in my mind. I could put my pride aside for her, for our future, no matter how wrong the word tasted on my tongue.

"Please." I uttered, desperation seeping from my tongue, "Dorian, please."

His expression changed for a second. I glimpsed something underneath the amusement, something I'd only seen once before, ten years ago. It disappeared quickly, and deep, seething hatred replaced it.

"I love the taste of your humiliation."

My open palm connected with his cheek in less than a second. His head snapped to the side, and a white mark remained where I slapped him. Anger overwhelmed me and I reacted without thinking.

"What do you want?" I repeated, my heartbeat thudding in my temples, ears, throat.

He chuckled, and looked at me again. Oh, how I hated him. How I hated the fact he was now hanging out with my family while I had to beg for money.

"You know what your problem is, Odette?"

"Enlighten me." I spat.

"You still think your petty feelings are the most important thing in the world." He came closer, and I was on the verge of slapping him again. "That's why I'd rather give the seat on the Council to any of your siblings."

I laughed, not even caring that I sounded just like him.

"Really?" I snorted. "You'd rather have Edmond or Libby on the Council?"

Ego, ego, ego. Even I fucking heard it in my voice.

"Sure, Edmond's a sadist, Lucien's a pussy, Anton is a psychopath and Libby is insane, but at least their entire world doesn't collapse if someone insults them." Dorian raised his voice. "You're an insecure narcissist, Odette, and that's what makes a tyrant."

Just like that, my hand was flying towards him again.

He caught it mid-air, twisted it to the side, and grabbed my throat with his free hand. I yelped when the pressure to my throat cut off oxygen. Dorian pinned me against the wall with his entire body, the grip around my throat so tight I became dizzy as blood pooled in my head.

"What- what do you want?" I squeezed out.

"How about the truth?" He leaned against me, "How about, once in your fucking life, you tell me the truth, Odette?"

With his eyes so close to me, I could almost see the quiet desperation fighting to the surface. But all the seething anger pushed it behind, taking centre stage instead. My palm closed around his wrist and I managed to separate us enough to breathe in.

"You're nothing." I spat, venom lacing my words. "You think you're going to earn respect from the community because you're hosting orgies every night? Think again, Dorian."

The grip around my throat loosened.

"Does it make you feel good?" I grinned. "Drinking all night long, fucking a different thing every night, does it fill the hole you have in your tiny black heart?"

He stepped back, his expression turning into something I've never seen before – or I've refused to see before.

"You're a fool." I continued, walking towards him. "And everyone's laughing at you because everyone can smell the desperation. You're never going to be part of my family, Dorian, not even if you marry my sister. You'll always be a worthless orphan to my father."

The air in the room shifted as I finished the sentence.

"We're both orphans, Odette." His gaze turned to ice. "But at least my family is dead. Yours is still alive."

Sharp pain bit my heart. Tears filled my eyes.

"Not everyone." I whispered. "Thanks to you."

Dorian's expression distorted into an array of emotions. Before I knew what was going on, I was crying. Fat tears slid down my cheeks, ruining my makeup.

"Get out." He said. "Just get out."

It all came back to me in that moment – Lucia, the baby, the money I didn't have, vampire hunters, and everything else that required of me to be a functional adult.

I faced him one more time, my mouth caught open in the middle of a word, when he let out a quiet chuckle and shook his head.

"Ura ta doare mai mult decât cuvintele tale." Dorian spoke in Romanian.

I sighed, "What?"

His dark blue eyes remained emotionless, "You said the wrong magic word."

"Fuck you."

I slammed the door behind me as I left, and exited the mansion, only to find myself in the middle of Riverside Drive at almost 11AM. People walked their dogs, drank coffee, or generally strolled trough the streets, and I once again looked like a crack whore leaving an orgy.

Tears freely slid down my cheeks. I didn't care that everyone stared at me, disgust covering their faces. Lucia would kill me. I screwed up our only option because I couldn't apologize to him.

It took an hour and a half to get back to Brooklyn, and by the time I reached my apartment, I was so exhausted I had to spend the last couple of bucks in my pocket on a bottle of whiskey.

Dorian said his diet mostly consisted of blood and whiskey.

Same, old friend, fucking same.

I dragged myself to my apartment.

"What the fuck happened to you?" Lucia asked once she saw me.

She was still on the bed, her laptop in front of her. Perhaps I should be more grateful, at least I wasn't chained to the bed at seventeen.

I opened the bottle of whiskey and took a swig. It's been a couple of days since I last slept, and I entered that terrible stage of exhaustion where only knocking me unconscious might put me to sleep.

"Ask me again." The whiskey tasted bitter and cheap on my tongue.

"Uh, what the fuck happened to you?"

I dropped on the floor, finding it more comfortable than the couch.

"Ask me about Dorian." Another swig.

Lucia closed her laptop, and for once, she had no smartass comments.

"What happened between you and Dorian?"

"He got my sister killed ten years ago."