32Inner DemonConn switched his gaze to Tazia; he began to tremble. To his eyes, she was no longer the innocent abused girl within whose mind he’d walked. Now she was not weak, not vulnerable. Instead, she resembled her father.
He could see it in the way she held her head proudly upright, and in the defiance of her dark eyes. They pierced into him, expecting his compliance, as if it was her right. Just like her father’s. A growl vibrated deep in his throat.
Her voice echoed his, too—the vampire who’d forced him to choose between his family and his Cause. The cut of her words, that edge of power. It was the same tone the vampire had used when he’d demanded the death of every one of his fellow villagers, the sacrifice of his wife and son.
In front of him was this girl who he’d thought was
