.
The old stones were still humming with power. I knelt and pressed my palm against the center stone, feeling the energy pulse beneath. With my other hand, I drew my silver blade across my wrist. Royal vampire blood—there was power in it beyond what even wolves understood.
"Blood of the ancients," I repeated in the old tongue. "Blood of the night eternal. Hear me now."
My blood dripped onto the stone, heating where it touched. The shadows seemed to recoil, sense what I was doing.
"What is he doing?" I heard Kieran ask Ronan.
"Something old," Ronan answered. "Something vampires aren't supposed to do anymore."
They were right to be wary. The blood magic of vampire kings had been banned for good reason. It could twist reality, bend the rules of nature. But right now, we needed exactly that kind of power.
