The train came to a halt with a slight jolt. I waited until the other passengers had disembarked before rising from the shade of the back seats. I hadn't been on a train in a long time and been among so many people. The many stimuli were overwhelming.

Night was my domain—but it was day, and I felt it in every fiber of my being. The sun didn't burn directly down on me, but its light sapped my strength. Yesterday, while I was conferring with my men and plotting how to bring down my cousin, I drank a bag of blood.

Normally, I preferred to drink from humans who gave...