Her mood was volatile, to say the least. Sitting behind her desk, looking at reports submitted by her employees, Petra was getting hungry. A hunger insatiable by normal means. Having assumed her family’s import/export business, her days were filled with numbers, numbers, and even more numbers. Why had she even bothered? After decades of doing the same thing over and over, changing her name and faking many deaths as needed to make things believable, it was all so exhausting. 

Reading in the master study of her estate, the window curtains were tied to either side. It was night; the sun couldn’t touch her in these hours of solace. Even though it’d kill her, Petra couldn’t forget the magnificence of the great source of light. She loved its shine. It was a remembrance of her past — a remembrance she hated but couldn’t let go.

As she finished reading one report, a knock rapped against the door. She looked up as a man walked in. Like her, he had the same pale skin complexion. “Pardon ma’am,” said the other vampire as he nodded in respect. “The blood well is here. At your word, I'll send it up at your most convenient of pleasure.”

Petra tapped one long finger on her desk. “Do so,” she said. A sigh of longing escaped her lips as she stared to the darkening sky. It was curious. She loved the beauty of the sun and hated the bleakness of night. Yet, what she loved most would be her fastest killer. “Have you sent off the letter Ditric?”

“The day you ordered it,” Ditric said. “I surmise its reached its destination by now. I took the liberty of having it postmarked with the fastest courier available.”

Petra nodded. “That’ll be all. Send up the well. I parched.”

Ditric bowed as he shut the door behind him.

Ditric had been with Petra for as long as she could remember. Back when she was fleeing from the Revolutionary Army during the war between the United States and Britain, she had come across Ditric. Still relatively new to the world, she gave him a purpose instead of allowing him to lose his mind to the dangerous taint of a feral newborn. Having the advantage of being taught, unlike her, a strong master and servant role was established. Wherever she went, Ditric followed closely behind. Her protector, servant, and attendant. 

There were times where she had to restrain the inert male need to lead, but the moments were quickly fixed and here they were today. The years had hardened him as it did her. Like a lion, Ditric was sombre and quiet. However, when another trespassed on Petra’s domain, fangs and claws came at the ready, prepared to rend the flesh from the offenders bones. 

The oak doors creaked open as Ditric appeared once again with a woman following from behind. Petra recognized the woman. Cassandra. A most faithful servant with a most delicious tasting elixir coursing through her frame. 

“Ditric,” she said. The hunger, the smell drawing her into a frenzy controlled only through the experience of time. “Leave us.”

“Yes ma’am.”

The door shut behind her as Cassandra kept walking forward. She was brave, this woman. Under most circumstances, Petra fed from those who could disappear — or her closets of human servants. Cassandra on the other hand was a very special one. Her taste was irreplaceable, her company was pleasant. 

“I’ve come as requested,” said the servant as she stood before the ravenous beast.

Petra wasted no time as she pushed Cassandra over and her forced her on her table. The scent was so strong that she could feel her canines sharpen from the mere contact. Her eyes traced the woman’s neck as blood pulsed through her quickening artery.

“I’ll make this as painless as possible.”

“You may be as rough or as gentle as you’d like,” Cassandra said, her lips pulled back into a taut smile. “It all feels the same to me.”

Petra chuckled as she inhaled the woman’s scent. An irresistible, unnameable scent filled her mind and sent her senses awry. She wrapped her arms around the woman’s waist. “Out of all my things, you’re the most welcome.”

Tightening her grip, her fangs sunk deep into the woman’s neck as warm liquid slowly rushed down her throat. She felt the servant tighten underneath her than slowly relaxed. Even within such a terrible act, the passion was intense.

Soon enough, her mind was filled with ecstatic pleasure. The world forgotten for a time.

---

It had taken some time to arrive at the designated location. Petra was fairly surprised when she was invited to sit within Seraphine, the head of the coven she currently resided within. What surprised even more so was the fact that she would sit as the second. As far as honors go in her world, only becoming head of the coven would put her current position to shame. 

As she made her way through the cool council hallways, she remembered the slightly agitated look on Ditric’s face when she told him to remain outside. Unlike her manor, this was not her domain. To invite unneeded tension into this already fragile neutrality would be a huge disservice to her kind. 

Finally coming before the vampire council’s waiting room, she nodded to a sentinel standing outside as he opened the door for her. She strode in with the confidence of a leader but with the respect of a follower. A fine line had to be traversed here. 

Her black dress and matching style jacket clung to her body as she bowed to the occupant in the room. “Lady Seraphine, its an honor” she said with a gesture of respect. “And to you too Lucius. Am I the last of us to arrive?”