After Daybreak

indicated. The Chosen are formidable foes.”

“Let us assume that this is all true, just for the moment,” the eldest-looking vampire says. “What do you propose we do, Victor?”

“Lord Delacroix, in times of great danger, the Old Families will each send one child to fight for the whole. I ask that now. We need to go to Los Angeles and destroy the V-Processing center.”

“Wasn’t it your duty to get rid of the V-Process?” Asher asks.

Victor wastes no time with his response. “This one was built without my knowledge. Had I known, it would have been destroyed with the others.”

“Your lack of knowledge is no concern of ours. This is your fault, not the Council’s. Now you ask each of us to send a child to fight for you, a fight that is yours and yours alone?”

“You fail to see the larger picture,” Victor says. “Unsurprising coming from the Asher family. Perhaps I should have brought a coloring book so you could busy yourself while I discussed serious matters with the Council.”

“How dare you!”

“Enough!”

It’s Lilith Ferdinand. Her tone is powerful, slicing through the bickering. Everyone holds silent for her.

“You have made your case, and a very good one at that,” she says. “And you are correct: In times of great danger that affect us all, the Old Families will band together in such a way, but we do not go to war lightly. If that is your proposal, then it is time we vote on it.”

My heart thumps and I’m sure they can hear it.

“All those in favor of Victor Valentine’s proposal that we each send a child to fight with him, to destroy the V-Processing center in Los Angeles, in order to stop this army of Day Walkers and Chosen from growing any further—raise your hand.”

Some do.

“All opposed?”

The others follow.

“The Council has spoken,” Lilith says. “Seven to seven. I’m sorry, Victor, but we cannot help. The Council is divided, so we may take no action.”

No. This can’t be.

“Perhaps we didn’t make our case well enough,” Victor says, taking a step forward. “We can’t beat him alone. If we lose, all is lost.”

“You’re a bit dramatic,” Lord Asher says.

Am I going to do this?

“You are forcing us to take on this darkness by ourselves.”

“We did not create the darkness,” Lord Paxton says.

Am I really about to say this?

“You spoke,” Lord Paxton continues. “We listened, we voted—”

There’s no choice.

“The house of Montgomery didn’t vote,” I say. “As its representative, I vote yes.”

Everyone around the table looks as though they were just blinded by the sun—except Lilith. She is studying me, perhaps seeing me clearly for the first time.

“There is no longer a house of Montgomery,” Lord Asher says.

“There is. And I, Dawn Montgomery, descendant of Octavian Montgomery, claim my family’s seat on the Council.”

Chapter 12

Victor is immediately at my side, taking my hand. With that simple touch, I feel his support and belief in me. I know he didn’t want me to reveal my heritage, but now that I have, he won’t let me stand alone. My love for him grows and I squeeze his fingers.

I wait a moment, gauging the Council’s reaction. There isn’t one at first, but slowly a smile appears on one of their faces. And then another. And another. Soon, the smiles turn to laughter, polite and soft at first, before becoming loud and boisterous. They turn toward one another, enjoying the joke in front of them.

All except for Lilith, who gives the smallest smile as she arches an eyebrow. She’s holding my gaze, communicating with me. They’re all fools, she seems to be saying.

“Whoever said the Valentines had lost their sense of humor a thousand years ago?” Asher asks.

The laughing continues, but I know what will make it stop.

“I am Dawn Montgomery. The Montgomery. The very last. I am Old Family.”

Reaching into my jacket, I pull out the Confirmation Decree, the vampiric family tree, the modern records and place them on the table, carefully, with all the respect they deserve. With them, I have the power to turn the tide.

Before I can pull my hand back, the closest vampire, Asher, grabs my arm tightly. I see the anger in his eyes and the fangs beginning to lengthen in his mouth. But if he was fast, Victor is faster, and much quieter. His long lean fingers are clutching the man’s wrist.

“It’s bad manners to touch an Old Family member without permission, Asher,” Victor says. “Some have been killed for less.”

“And yet you touch me as well. What is this game you’re playing, Valentine?”

“There is no game. See for yourself.”

Victor releases his hold after Asher lets go of my wrist. Even though it hurts badly, I don’t rub it. To reveal any weakness is to put us all in danger.

If Victor is nervous about me speaking so boldly, he doesn’t show it. I have no doubt that he’d throw his life down right now if it came to it. He isn’t holding me, but I can feel his presence so strongly that he might as well be. Stealing a glance at him, I see pride and admiration.

One of the men eagerly grabs the parchment and reads. When he flips the page, I can tell he’s going over the signature again. And again. And again.

“Do you care to explain yourself, Lilith?” he asks, tossing the paper toward her.

She glances down at it before passing it to the Council member to her right. That man reads it, is left in stunned disbelief, and then passes it along. So on and so on, until Asher gets his hands on it. Somehow it angers me that his grubby little fingers trace the story of my lineage. And his eyes stop on Lilith’s signature, just as Victor’s had.

“What. Is. This?” he demands, flinging the parchment to the center of the table, where it lies stranded.

With a calm, collected voice, Lilith finally speaks. “Have you never seen a Confirmation Decree, Byron Asher?”

“Of course I have! But not one for a family that was eradicated a millennia ago. Do you realize the damage you’ve done to your family by signing such lies as these!”

“You dare question the authority of my signature?” she asks, ice in her voice. She’s clearly used to dealing with men just like Asher. “In front of the Council, in front of all the families, you dare to question the honor of the Ferdinand family?”

“I question your honor, not your family’s—”

“I am the House of Ferdinand and have been so for five hundred years, longer than you’ve lived.”

Asher says nothing, perhaps realizing he can’t win this one alone.

So it is Lord Delacroix who speaks, his tone measured and controlled.

“Lilith, no one here would think to question your loyalty or honor, but we must also inquire as to why you have signed a Confirmation Decree for a family that also has a death warrant signed by all of us.”

“By our ancestors,” she corrects. “And I have to explain myself to no one. If anyone here wishes to challenge the legitimacy of this document, and of Dawn Montgomery’s claim as Old Family, then they must