“Only the strongest vampires can live on their own and survive purely on human blood. All the others live in the seethe. They are the Mistress’s menagerie,” Naomi told me after a moment. I worked it out. “She feeds on the vampires?” Naomi nodded. “And gives them a little, very little, blood in return. Without that blood, the weaker vampires would die—and only the Mistress is allowed to feed other vampires and feed from them. She keeps humans there, to nourish them all, but without her, the lesser vampires would die.”
