This chapter's epigraph comes from a quote from the book, The Secret Life of the Crystal Palace, by Dr. Manette. It's a quote about the power of the nether, or energy from the underworld. In other words, if you're a demon, you can summon the undead from the dark side of the universe and use it to your advantage. The idea is that a demon can summon an undead person and then use that undead person's life as a sacrifice to the underworld's lord. This is called the "netherlord offering," and it's one of the most powerful techniques in the book. It allows a demon to offer up his or her own life for the benefit of the other demon's. This means that if you want to be a vampire, you've got to be willing to sacrifice your own life in order to help the other vampire. This way, the other undead will be able to kill you instead of you killing them yourself. The narrator explains that he's already killed four people who tried to kill his brother, and that's enough to kill anyone who tries to kill him. Now he wants to be even stronger.