Desperation Breeds Obedience Renard Martin lives a simple life. As a hitman for a Society bigwig, he takes on targets the former Cleaners used to handle. As a graduate of the infamous Lark sanctum, he's a dangerous and irreverent person who has no desire to remain beholden to anyone. After his family was brutally murdered, he thought he lost them all but then he heard a rumor. His sister Victoria may still be alive and the vampire Marius Sontag promised to help him find her...for the price of becoming an assassin. Belia Dellacroix never got to live for herself. The ward of an ancient vampire, every event of her existence has been carefully planned, governed and censored. This has not left her without guile, however and once she discovered the grim fate her guardian had in store for her, she took drastic action. Stepping out means incredible risk and so she turns to the only person she can in her carefully designed world: a certain Society hitman looking for something dear to him. But will Renard prove too unpredictable and harsh for her needs? Holding leverage over his head might well be the most dangerous thing she's ever done but desperate times call for desperate measures. Without him, she'll be an unwilling sacrifice, killed for a chance to claim ancient power but if she can keep her protector on track and under control, she may just get the fairy tale ending she's always hoped for.