“You stink. Ever thought about taking a bath or something?” My voice cut through the thick air, heavy with disgust. I’d always known humans reeked in their own way, but standing before Markus, surrounded by the rest of the unit, the sensory overload was brutal—an assault on my sharpened vampire senses. I clenched my jaw, pressing my fingers tightly against my nostrils, but the stench clung stubbornly, as if soaked into my skin.

  “What have you done?” Markus demanded, his rough hands seizing my shoulders and shaking me violently. His breath reeked of sweat and fear. I refused to lower my hand from my nose, refusing to fully inhale his presence. “What have you done?” he barked again, voice booming inches from my face like thunder rolling in a storm.

  A dark urge clawed up inside me—to strike, to silence. But I forced it down, my fingers twitching at the edges of control.

  “I solved a problem,” I said evenly, voice low and deadly. “Any complaints?”

  His eyes flashed with disbelief and rage. “You call that solving a problem? Flooding everything. Killing an entire army in one stroke? How cold, how ruthless do you have to be to accept that?”

  My lips curled, and I licked them slowly, tasting the raw hunger beneath my words. “Want to find out?” My fingers twitched, itching to close around his throat. Markus shrank back, releasing me as the bloodstains on my skin seemed to remind him exactly what I was capable of.

  “Fine. We camp here tonight. Tomorrow, you march to where the main army is. And one thing—forget everything you’ve just seen. Got it? Sleep well.” I spat the words and turned on my heel, striding past a stunned Markus and through the ranks of knights. Their eyes followed me—some wide with fear, others narrowing with a grudging respect. The dam’s destruction hadn’t erased my responsibility for their comrades’ deaths, but it had certainly shifted the way they looked at me.

  I pushed open the carriage door, and Tom greeted me with a smile—one I immediately shattered with a shake of my head, motioning sharply toward the door after I collapsed into my seat.

  “Not even a hello?” he asked, voice light but tinged with curiosity.

  I clenched my jaw, fingers still clasped tightly over my nose as a fresh wave of thirst twisted inside me. The craving was a torment, clawing at my sanity, threatening to spill over. I didn’t trust myself to keep it at bay if he stayed.

  “Get. Out.” The command was sharp, unforgiving.

  Tom hesitated, the usual playful light in his eyes flickering to concern. But I had no patience for games. When he lingered, I pushed forward with sudden force, grabbing his arms and pinning them to the carriage wall. The heat of my body pressed against him as I settled onto his lap, knees braced against his sides.

  I heard him gulp—soft, desperate—and brought my face close to his neck. Sweat, fear, and something darker—a flicker of excitement—wafted to my senses. The temptation to sink my teeth into that warm, pulsing vein was agonizingly close, like a whisper in the shadows of my mind.

  Every instinct screamed for release, but I held back. For now.

  “How many warnings do I have to give you?” I whispered, my breath hot against his ear. I watched as the fine hairs on his arms prickled in response.

  “Are you suggesting you can’t hold back?” His voice was razor sharp. “The manipulative Lucinda losing control—it’s almost funny. Go on, then. Suck my blood and toss me aside afterward. The knights suspect something’s off, but they’re keeping quiet… for now.”

  I growled low, anger flaring beneath my skin. “Imagine having a subordinate who threatens you every time he opens his goddamn mouth.”

  “I just want to keep my life,” he said, but I didn’t buy it. That was just one of many reasons. There was something else behind those words—fear, maybe guilt.

  “That’s the perfect chance to prove it.” I released his arms and stood, licking my teeth slowly.

  He opened the door and turned his back, hesitating just a moment before freezing completely. My blood ran cold as I bit down hard on my tongue, trying to choke back the desperate thirst clawing at me.

  “Go.” I snarled.

  He slammed the door shut and I was already reaching for the handle—then caught myself.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “Fuck.” I sank onto the bench, head in my hands. This was slipping beyond my control.

  I was supposed to be the master manipulator—the one who bent others’ wills with ease. But here I was, drowning in a vampire’s endless hunger, sinking into an abyss I’d only read about. None of the other vampires had ever mastered their thirst fully—or even wanted to. Newly turned vampires were supposedly the most ravenous, and it seemed I’d joined their ranks.

  Only sheer force of will was keeping me from tearing open that door and devouring everyone outside, from silencing the voices clawing at my sanity.

  “Is this what you meant by ‘living with it’?” I murmured into the silence.

  “Yup.” Aska’s voice echoed inside my head, but when I looked around, he was nowhere to be found.

  “For the last time, get out of my head!” I screamed.

  The voices stopped abruptly. I could almost feel Aska’s displeasure at my outburst.

  “And what difference would that make?” His voice was cold now. “Your soul has fully adapted to this body. There’s nothing you can do. Either give in to the temptations… or control them. Your choice.”

  “You know what I’m going to choose. So either help me or fuck off. I don’t need you breaking my concentration right now.”

  I fought to rein in the thirst, but it was almost impossible. My body trembled; my nails bit into my palms until they bled.

  “Ah, yes—Lucinda, the control freak, trying to master her emotions and desires. Here’s a tip you probably don’t want to hear: get back to the army. Fast.”

  And with that, he vanished, leaving me alone with my raging thirst and fury.

  His words implied failure—my plan had collapsed, maybe even backfired. I didn’t know how or why Aska had contacted me, or why now. But I knew one thing: I had to heed his warning.

  This worm must have accurately guessed my intentions—probably predicted everything. Fury coursed through me as I kicked the bench opposite with all my might and screamed until my throat burned raw.

  I flung open the carriage door and stepped out, immediately surrounded by a circle of fearful knights, Markus looking confused, and a curious Tom.

  “Pack your luggage. We leave—now,” I commanded, but nobody moved.

  “What? We rode all day. The horses are exhausted, and you want us to charge through this chaos?” one knight protested, frustration clear in his voice.

  I strode toward him, drew my sword with a swift motion, and pressed the blade cold and sharp against his throat.

  “Precisely,” I growled, pressing harder, careful not to spill blood yet. I knew if I let go of control now, I’d lose myself.

  “We can’t do this. Lucinda, you need to calm down,” Tom stepped closer, voice steady but firm.

  I closed my eyes, fighting to push down the hunger clawing at my insides. Objectively, he was right. The knights were useless in this state. But I didn’t need them. The night was still young.

  “Fine… Tom, lead these whiny pseudo-knights to a safe spot away from the army. Don’t let anyone near you except me. And set fire to anyone who tries to enter the camp—understood?”

  “Aye!”

  “Markus, find the two least tired horses,” I said as I grabbed fresh clothing from my luggage. “And don’t even think about telling me it’s impossible.”

  I stripped off the soaked rags that barely covered me inside the carriage. Now clad in a crisp white dress, I stepped out and swung onto a horse.

  “You know how to ride these?” Markus asked, eyeing the reins in my hands.

  “Fuck you.” Of course I did—though the horses Aska created in purgatory were far less temperamental than these.

  The horse surged forward, galloping through a near-endless flood, weaving through hills and occasionally splashing through shallow pools despite my shouts and Markus’s protests.

  About halfway there, my horse gave out. It planted its legs firmly and refused to move, collapsing to the ground in exhaustion. I kicked it furiously and screamed until my voice broke, but it didn’t budge.

  In a surge of rage and hunger, I sank my teeth into its neck, forcing the disgusting blood down as it struggled weakly to escape the inevitable.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Markus asked, shock and concern bleeding through his voice at my savage behavior.

  “Shut up and keep riding—unless you want to be my next meal,” I snarled, the words tasting bitter but honest.

  I surged ahead, desperate to put distance between myself and his foul scent. It was revolting... but at the same time, strangely magnetic, twisting something deep inside me.

  Just an hour before sunrise, we reached the designated meeting point where humans and elves were supposed to gather—divided only by the swollen, raging river. The whole area was still underwater, and remnants of tent canvases floated near the flooded shoreline on both sides.

  But there were no bodies—no sign of the destruction I’d expected. Both armies had caught wind of what I’d done early and evacuated in time.

  Faint magical lights flickered deeper in the forest, and campfires burned along the bank to our left.

  The humans survived—and with them, the wormlings survived too.