My time here on this world was embittered from the start. As a carrier, I had very little choice in the matter. The demon inside had been planted long before I even had a voice. From the very minute my first breath entered my body, she was coiled inside like a venomous snake. The Brotherhood wanted to control me, to keep their demon Gladius inside a host that they could groom from birth, but as soon as my mother caught on, she ripped me away from their evil clutches and kept me hidden from their reach. Under her tutelage, I had learned how to keep the monster at bay. In the darkest night, my life had spiraled to a meaningless end as my time as a mortal subsided, for I had fallen under a spell woven by the vampire Demetrius. After draining me to the brink, he tossed me aside and left me to die with the first morning light. My propensity for survival he had not calculated. Now, I was left with a single purpose, destroy the man who had obliterated the calm control I had kept over my life, over the monster that slithered beneath.