“Lucy,” Celeste whispered. She squeezed Lucy’s hand. Lucy wanted to run away. She wanted to disappear and go back to her human life. She couldn’t stand both Aleksandr and Kaleb staring at her with a threatening expression. 

“So I’ll basically be bound to the council forever?” she muttered with fear in her voice. 

“You’re not a slave, child,” said another council member. “You’d merely be an ally, a protector for all vampire ...