Page 40 of The Feeder Legacy

Neither of my parents looks convinced, but they let it go.

“We haven’t been keeping up with news,” Mum reminds me. “Not since we decided not to tell you about…” She waves a hand to encapsulate the concept of vampires, feeders, and a whole fucking world I never knew existed.

“I just searched Geoffrey’s name in the Dish,” Dad adds, turning his laptop toward me. “I haven’t read any of the results yet, just the subject lines, but it doesn’t look good.”

I pull the computer closer to me and scan the screen. He’s right, it doesn’t look good. “Does Vampremacy mean what I think it does?” I click one of the results.

“I’m guessing it’s a mashup of Vampire and Supremacy.” Dad shrugs. “Unfortunately, an IQ test isn’t a requirement to be made a vampire.”

“It should be,” I mutter, skimming the post and the replies. “That name is fucking stupid.” But if what I’m reading is right, it’s also fucking scary. I back out and click on another result. “Did anything you read back then hint that Geoffrey might not be mentally capable?”

“What do you mean?”

I back out of the second post and change the search to “Vampremacy.” “From what people are saying, he stayed with the vampires who abused him after he was made. Like, he was looked after by people Tristan assigned until he was able to maintain control, and then he went back to the ones who made him.”

“That’s not uncommon for someone who’s been abused,” Mum points out. “And he wanted to be a vampire from the beginning.”

“Mmm.” I keep reading. “Yeah, based on everything he’s done since then, it might just be that he fit right in with them, character-wise. He’s apparently the ‘leader’ of the Vampremacy movement, though a lot of people think he’s just a figurehead.” There’s a bunch of names of other vampires who are either confirmed or suspected to be part of the group, but they mean nothing to me.

“What does Vampremacy want, exactly?” Dad asks, a crease between his brows.

I shrug. “The usual bullshit. Oh, Vampremacy is a feeder nickname. The official name is Blood Reign, spelled like a reigning monarch.”

“Blood Reign?” Mum repeats. “How pretentious. No wonder the feeder community made up a stupid nickname for them.”

“Hold on, someone’s uploaded a flyer of theirs. ‘A return to the natural order of vampirism,’” I read. “Blah blah, ‘throw off the shackles of dictatorship’—can it even be called a dictatorship if there’s a whole council in charge?”

“Adam, focus,” Mum scolds.

“And no, it can’t. There are a few other terms that fit, but dictatorship isn’t one of them,” Dad adds.

“This is mostly about how they want to be able to treat humans like cattle and not have to pay to feed.” The flyer is badly designed and crowded with words, and the person who posted it claims it was left in her employer’s mailbox and that she rescued it before he could tear it up. “Okay, that kind of checks out. I can understand why Tristan would be angry at someone who’s trying to overthrow the government.”

“So glad you can understand that,” Dad says dryly, pulling his laptop back toward him. “I’m going to email you the login details for the Dish.”

“Thank you. Hey, one thing I don’t get is, if Geoffrey is trying to turn humanity into an all-you-can-eat buffet, why was everyone more pissed that Misha saw me?”

Dad’s fingers freeze on the keyboard. “What?”

“Don’t start, okay? I’ve already been lectured and yelled at. I shouldn’t have been in the corridor, blah blah, whatever. I know. But Geoffrey’s the one who’s all ‘Down with humans,’ and yet nobody cared that he might have seen me.”

“Stop.” Mum reaches across the table and grabs my wrist. “Start again. Misha saw you?”

I try not to be concerned about the fear in her voice. “Do you know him?”

“Not personally, thank god. Stay away from him, Adam.”

“Planning to,” I assure her. “But I really wish someone would tell me why he’s so scary.”

Dad slams the laptop closed. “He’s a monster. He’s one of the vampires who was wreaking havoc before Tristan arrived. Apparently, he left Eastern Europe one step ahead of the Council. He’s an old vampire, he’s never liked the concept of feeders, and he’s known to be violent. Geoffrey is as dangerous as a fly compared to him.”

I stare at him, a chill running down my spine. I gained the attention of a vampire like that?

Great. Just great.

Chapter 20

It’s amazing the difference a month can make. I started this job feeling so lost and overwhelmed by the number of things I didn’t know, but now I jump down the last few stairs and clatter down the corridor to the living room, eager to gossip with Anna. Past me would never have been this chipper before six in the morning, but present me is used to early starts and knows Anna probably didn’t get online last night, so I’ll get to break the news.