Chapter One

Briar Rose cut an eerie silhouette into the moonlit night. Sharp turrets and massive battlements would be formidable to scale and climb for most men. And vampires. But not for Mikhail and his four brethren in the Bloodguard. They’d watched from the woodlands since sunset. Watched and waited.

Mikhail flicked a hand, signaling his men. As one, the hooded vampires melded with the shadows and flashed to the...