Blood Gambit – RJ Milner

She didn’t say a word to me. Just opened my door and ushered me inside, closing it after me without a second glance. I sat on the bed heavily. Let myself fall back onto the pillow. Leo had stood up for me to his father. Said it was self-defence — which it was. Nikolai could have killed me.

Or worse, drank from me. Would my blood have knocked him out like it did Leo? And Victor, he could easily have thrown me to the wolves to protect the casino, to protect his family. But he hadn’t. At least, not yet. The king of the Crimson Casino had seemed so frail, nothing like the man I’d seen on TV or in pictures. The man who’d killed my mother. I rolled onto my side.

I ached. Bruises would bloom from Nikolai’s hands and Leo dragging me to safety. Christ, the look on his face. He’d been ready to kill for me. I swallowed hard as tears wet my cheeks. A knock came at my door. Madame had returned, a tray in her hands. Steam curled from a bowl of soup, a heel of white bread next to it.

‘Eat in here tonight,’ her voice was gentle as she set the food on the nightstand. I guess the dining room was already gossiping. Fuck it. Let them talk about the woman who blinded a prince and started a war. I sat up and wiped at my eyes, watching as Madame moved around my room. Gathering clothes, organising, tidying. She stopped at the head of the bed, had me lean forward while she propped me up with pillows.

To my surprise, she sat on the edge of the bed next to me. The way my mother used to. I swallowed, suddenly aware of the shiv beneath the mattress next to her legs. Madame reached forward, brushing a strand of hair from my face. Her eyes narrowed slightly. ‘You’re still not afraid?’ I blinked. Hesitated. Then shook my head. She studied me a moment longer, then exhaled. ‘No,’ she murmured. ‘Though I suppose you don’t need to be.’

Something flickered behind her eyes, wry and knowing. ‘What about Victor?’ My voice shook a little, making Madame pause. ‘Leo won’t let anything happen to you, be it Victor or the Veil.’ She busied herself straightening my sheets. ‘Lord knows he’s already trying to save you from himself.’ She smiled, just a little. ‘I saw him in there, he was ready to defend you to the hilt.’ Madame leant forward and pinched my cheek, making me flinch.

‘Eat.’ She got up from the bed to leave. ‘And the next time you’re bored, come find me. No more walking around the corridors.’ She paused, hand on the door.

Copyright © 2025 by RJ Milner All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quota- tions in a book review. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, business- es, places, events, and incidents in this book are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.

Any resem- blance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Distributed by Amazon KDP ASIN B0FFN5XFDR Bleed Pretty Press www.rjmilner.com 1kitap1.com/en To all the creatures of the night Lestat and Louis, Claudia, Armand and Marius Zillah, Molochai, Twig and Christian David, Paul, Dwayne, Marco, Star and Laddie Count Dracula and his brides Bill Compton, Eric Northman The Brotherhood and Beth Santanico Pandemonium, Radu, Orlock, Selene, Blade, Morbius, Jerry, Barnabas, Lily, Mitchell, Spike and Angel, John Blaylock, Adam and Eve, even you, Edward And all the other wild, beautiful, and damned beings who promise immortality and deliver devastation I am yours and this is for you To the reader Leo Crimson, Dorian Voss, Eli Fowler They are yours This is for you 1kitap1.com/en PROLOGUE Dorian Vampires can’t love.

Not really. We fuck. We feed. We fight. But love? Not so much. But sugar, spend the night with me and I’ll make sure you don’t forget it. I never do. Every whisper, every moan, every clawed mark left on my back — I re- member them all. Every touch, every tremor, every bite mark I’ve ever left on a body. Men, women, and those beautiful creatures who blur the lines in between. I’ve tasted them all. I will always remember you. And this place? The Crimson Casino never sleeps.

The lights dim. The music softens and the bodies thin. But it never really stops. Not unless Victor wants it to. And Victor never fucking does. Because this place? This empire? The Crimson’s built it. Brick by brick. Deal by deal. Death by death. I was turned into a vampire on New Years Eve, 1999. As the clock struck midnight, as the world rolled into a new millennium, the monsters came out of the shadows.

And I was one of them. One of the fucking monsters. And damn sugar, I liked it. Still do. The Crimson’s were stepping into power in London, the ancients were taking over thrones across the globe.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 6920a3959a9da9d4
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 2,234,415 bytes (2.131 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• Pages: 223
• Language: English (en)

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• Estimated Reading Time: 307.73 minutes
• Total Words: 61,545
• Total Characters: 335,189
• Average Words per Page: 275.99
• Average Characters per Page: 1503.09

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