11. The Hierarchy
THE HIERARCHY
Reign drove through Richmond with the windows down, letting the cold air hit his face.
His hands gripped the Hellcat's steering wheel too tight, his knuckles white against the black leather.
He could still smell Soreya's apartment—vanilla candles, her coconut body butter, the faint trace of her fear when he'd almost lost control.
He'd scared her.
Good.
Maybe she'd finally listen and stay away.
His phone buzzed in the cupholder. A text from Cairo.
Cairo (11:51 PM): Warehouse. Now.
Reign didn't respond. Just changed lanes and headed toward Southside, toward the industrial district where the family kept their real operations. The clubs were fronts. The lounges were feeding grounds. But the warehouse—that's where business happened.
Twenty minutes later, he pulled up to a nondescript building with blacked-out windows and a single steel door. Two guards stood outside, both vampires, both armed. They nodded at Reign as he approached.
"They waiting on you," one said.
Reign pushed through the door into a space that looked nothing like a warehouse.
Inside was all exposed brick, leather furniture, a full bar stocked with top-shelf liquor, and blackout curtains covering every window.
Cairo sat in a high-backed chair near the center of the room, dressed in a tailored Tom Ford suit despite the late hour.
Soleil leaned against the bar in all black—Balenciaga jacket, leather pants, red bottoms. Sevyn paced near the back, his energy chaotic, his Amiri jeans ripped, his white tee already stained with something dark.
"Took you long enough," Soleil said, not looking up from her phone.
"I was handling something." Reign grabbed a bottle of Hennessy from the bar and poured himself a glass.
"Handling Soreya, you mean." Soleil finally looked at him, her expression cold. "You still on that?"
"Leave it alone, Soleil."
"Nah." She pushed off the bar, walking toward him. "You been slipping, Reign. Distracted. Emotional. All because of some human girl who don't even know what you are."
"She know now," Reign said quietly.
The room went silent.
Cairo leaned forward in his chair, his dark eyes fixed on Reign. "You told her?"
"Not everything. But enough." Reign drank, the liquor burning down his throat. "She saw something. I couldn't lie no more."
"You couldn't lie?" Sevyn laughed, wild and sharp. "Man, you been lying to her for six years. What changed?"
"I almost fed from her." Reign's voice was flat. "She cut herself during an argument. I almost lost control. She saw my eyes change. Saw me move. She ain't stupid."
Cairo stood slowly, his presence filling the room. He was older than all of them—centuries older—and it showed in the way he moved, the way he commanded space. "And what did you tell her to do?"
"Stay away from me."
"Good." Cairo walked to the bar, pouring himself a glass of bourbon. "Because we got bigger problems than your relationship drama."
Soleil pulled out her phone, swiping to a video. "Arissa Sterling. The chemist from VSU. Her research just went viral again. She talking about synthesizing compounds that interact with melanin and UV radiation. She don't say 'vampire' but she might as well."
"She know what she doing?" Reign asked.
"She a hybrid," Cairo said. "Half-vampire bloodline, dormant until recently.
She don't know it yet, but her body been guiding her research.
That serum she created? It work. We got confirmation from contacts in Petersburg.
She tested it on herself two weeks ago. Walked outside at noon. No burns. No weakness."
Reign's mind raced. A serum that let vampires move during daylight would change everything. Territory. Business. Power.
"So we recruit her," Reign said.
"Or we take her," Soleil countered. "Take her research. Take her lab notes. She just one girl. We don't need her cooperation."
"That's sloppy." Cairo's voice cut through the room like a blade. "You take her by force, you make enemies. Her academic circle, her podcast followers, whoever she connected to. We don't need that attention."
"Then what you suggest?" Soleil's jaw tightened.
"We recruit her properly. Reign handles it." Cairo looked at his nephew. "You good at making people feel safe. Making them trust you. You bring her in, make her see the opportunity. She work with us willingly, we control the narrative."
"And if she say no?" Sevyn asked, still pacing.
"Then we revisit Soleil's approach." Cairo's tone left no room for argument. "But we try it clean first."
Reign nodded slowly. He understood the play. But his mind was still on Soreya, on the fear in her eyes, on the way she'd looked at him like he was a monster.
"We got another problem," Sevyn said, his voice tight. "I'm hungry. Like, really hungry. And y'all got me out here playing by these weak-ass rules."
Cairo turned to face him. "What rules you talking about, nephew?"
"This whole 'don't draw attention' shit. 'Only feed when necessary.' 'Be selective.'" Sevyn's hands flexed at his sides. "We vampires. We supposed to hunt. We supposed to feed. But y'all got us out here acting like we vegan or some shit."
"We are selective," Cairo said, his voice dangerously calm. "Because we survive by blending in. You think the hunters don't notice when bodies start piling up? You think the police don't connect dots when girls go missing from the same clubs every week?"
"I don't care about the police?—"
"You should." Cairo stepped closer to Sevyn, his presence overwhelming. "Because when they come, they don't just come for you. They come for all of us. Your recklessness puts the entire family at risk."
"I ain't reckless. I'm just not scared."
"Then you stupid." Soleil's voice was ice. "Fear keep you alive. Discipline keep you powerful. You out here feeding like it's a free-for-all, you gonna get us all killed."
Sevyn's eyes flashed—that telltale glow that meant he was close to losing control. "So what, I'm just supposed to starve?"
"You supposed to be smart," Reign said, finally speaking up. "Feed from willing participants. People who know the risk. People who ain't gonna be missed or who gonna keep quiet after."
"Like your little bottle girls?" Sevyn sneered. "Your period-blood addiction? That's what you call discipline?"
Reign's jaw clenched. "At least I ain't leaving bodies."
"Yet."
The word hung in the air.
Cairo raised his hand, silencing them both.
"Enough. We all feed different. That's fine.
But we all follow the same rule: don't draw attention.
Reign feeds consensually from women who understand the exchange.
Soleil feeds strategically when business requires it.
I feed selectively, only what I need. And you, Sevyn—" He turned to his youngest nephew.
"—you need to learn control. Before your hunger gets you killed. "
Sevyn looked like he wanted to argue, but something in Cairo's eyes stopped him.
"Now." Cairo returned to his chair, settling into it like a throne. "Tomorrow night, we move on Arissa Sterling. Reign, you make contact. Soleil, you run surveillance. Sevyn, you stay out of it until we need muscle."
"And what about the Noctis crew?" Soleil asked. "They been pushing on our Southside territory. Three of our spots got hit last week."
"We handle them after we secure the chemist." Cairo's expression darkened. "But make no mistake—war is coming. The rival families smell weakness. The hunters are circling. We need every advantage we can get."
Reign downed the rest of his drink, feeling the weight of everything pressing down on him. The crew. The territory wars. Arissa Sterling. Soreya.
Always Soreya.
Cairo's eyes fixed on Reign with an intensity that made the room feel smaller. "Speaking of weaknesses. We need to discuss your human."
Reign's whole body went rigid. "Soreya ain't got nothing to do with?—"
"She has everything to do with this." Cairo's voice was cold, final. "A human who knows what we are is a security risk. She either becomes one of us, or she becomes a problem."
The words hit Reign like a physical blow.
"She don't know nothing," Reign said, but his voice sounded weak even to himself.
"She knows enough to ask questions," Soleil said, her tone harsh. "She's been digging into the missing women. She's connecting dots. She knows too much. She's a liability."
"She's not?—"
"She is." Cairo leaned forward. "And you know it. That's why you've been avoiding her. That's why you can't look her in the eye anymore. Because you know what has to happen."
Sevyn shifted in his seat, his expression dark. "I can handle it. Make it look like an accident. Car crash. Robbery gone wrong. She just disappears like the others."
"No." Reign's voice was sharp, dangerous. "Nobody touches her."
"Then what's your solution?" Soleil asked. "Because right now, she's a threat to everything we built. She knows about the clubs. She knows about the disappearances. And if she keeps digging, if she goes to the police or the media, we're all exposed."
"I'll talk to her," Reign said desperately. "I'll make her understand?—"
"Understanding isn't enough." Cairo's voice cut through the room like a blade. "This isn't about trust, Reign. This is about survival. She's human. Humans talk. Humans panic. Humans make mistakes that get vampires killed."
"She wouldn't?—"
"You don't know what she'd do." Cairo stood, his presence filling the space. "You're thinking with your heart instead of your head. That's dangerous. For you. For her. For all of us."
Reign felt his chest tightening, his breathing getting harder. "What are you saying?"
Cairo's expression was unreadable. "I'm saying you have forty-eight hours to make a decision. Either you turn her—make her one of us, bind her to this family permanently—or you handle it. Permanently."
The room went silent.
"You want me to kill her." Reign's voice was barely a whisper.
"I want you to protect this family," Cairo said coldly. "If that means turning her, fine. If that means ending the threat she represents, fine. But you don't get to keep her human and keep her in your life. Those days are over."
"Cairo—"
"Forty-eight hours, Reign." Cairo's voice was final. "After that, if you haven't handled it, I will. And I won't be as gentle about it as you would be."
Reign felt like the walls were closing in. "She ain't done nothing wrong."
"She exists," Soleil said flatly. "That's enough. She's a human who knows about vampires. That makes her a threat. Period."
"I love her," Reign said, and his voice cracked on the words.
"Then save her," Cairo said. "Turn her. Make her immortal. Give her the choice to join us or die. But you don't get to keep playing house with a human who knows our secrets. That ends now."
Sevyn leaned back, his expression cold. "And if she says no to being turned? If she tries to run?"
Cairo's smile was razor-sharp. "Then she doesn't run far."
Reign stood abruptly, his chair scraping against the floor. "I need air."
"You need to make a choice," Cairo said. "Tomorrow night, you recruit Arissa Sterling. And in forty-eight hours, you handle Soreya Vale. One way or another."
Reign didn't respond. Just set his glass down and headed for the door.
Behind him, he heard Soleil mutter, "He gonna choose wrong. And it's gonna get us all killed."
Maybe.
But as Reign stepped out into the cold Richmond night, his phone buzzed with a text from Soreya.
Soreya (12:47 AM): I'm not staying away. We need to talk. Tomorrow.
Reign stared at the message, his chest tight, his hands shaking.
Tomorrow night, he had to recruit a hybrid chemist who could change the vampire world.
And in forty-eight hours, he had to decide whether to turn the woman he loved into a monster or let his family kill her.
He texted back before he could stop himself.
Reign (12:49 AM): Tomorrow. I'll tell you everything.
He hit send and immediately regretted it.
Because once she knew everything—the feeding, the killing, the centuries of blood and violence his family was built on, the ultimatum Cairo just gave him—she'd run.
And if she ran, Cairo would hunt her down.
Reign leaned against the Hellcat, his head in his hands, feeling the weight of the impossible choice crushing him.
Turn her. Make her a vampire. Bind her to him forever, whether she wanted it or not.
Or let her die.
Those were his only options.
And he had forty-eight hours to decide which kind of monster he was going to be.