After Daybreak

effect.

The worst news: My stake is in the bathroom. Going back in to retrieve it means getting confined in a small space—

I grab a vase from a nearby table and throw it at him. He ducks. It crashes.

He charges.

The door bangs against the wall and a blur of movement takes the vampire down. But he’s agile and quick. He’s back on his feet and rushing toward me—

“Dawn!” Faith yells, and I look over to see a stake flying toward me.

I grab it, drop to the floor, and roll away from my attacker. Victor slams into him again. I see a stake going for his side—

“No!” I jam mine into the vamp’s arm, pinning it to the floor.

He roars out in agony, but with renewed strength, he manages to toss Victor off, throwing him against me. He pulls my stake free and then is again on his feet facing us.

“Put down the stakes,” Victor orders. “We won’t kill you.”

He shakes his head.

“Four against one, the odds aren’t in your favor, my friend,” Richard says. “Do as Lord Valentine says.”

The vampire lifts the stakes and plunges one into his own heart. He crumples to the floor.

Victor curses as he rushes forward to kneel beside the fallen vamp. “Who sent you?”

The vampire merely smiles before closing his eyes forever.

“Why did he do that?” I ask, stunned that he’d take his own life.

Victor stands. “Because he knew we’d question him about who wants you dead.”

“It had to be someone on the Council,” Richards says. “They’re the only ones who know about Dawn’s heritage.”

“But who?”

“Asher,” I say. “He doesn’t want me on the Council.”

“I doubt it’s him,” Victor says. “More likely, it’s someone who has been very quiet.”

“The truth is that it could be anyone,” Richard points out.

“Whoever it was,” Faith muses, “this guy was afraid of disappointing him.”

No kidding.

When Louis brings up a servant to help clean up the mess, he apologizes profusely that our evening was disturbed.

“No one has ever been attacked in this hotel before. I don’t understand it. It’s the younger generation. They have no respect or manners.”

By the time he leaves, the sun is rising. Victor is concerned that whoever sent the assassin might send a human to finish the job, so he and Richard agree to take turns keeping watch. The bedroom doors are kept open, which I assume is a disappointment to Faith and Richard, since they’re sharing a bed.

I’m in Victor’s room. He’s standing in the doorway, looking out. I want to talk with him, keep him company, ask him if he thinks coming here was still the right thing to do. I don’t even know if he has the answer, so I turn away and find it in myself. Yes. And with that circling my mind and the exhaustion of the night’s events, I drift into slumber.

When I wake up, it’s night and we go through the same routine: dressing, eating, driving to the monolithic tower. Only this time we’ll be waiting for their judgment.

Or at least I’m waiting. It seems Victor has something else on his mind. He stalks to the center of the council chamber and sets his hands on the table.

“I’m not sure that I made it clear last night, but Dawn is under the protection of the House of Valentine. An attack against her is an attack against Valentine.”

“It was a test,” Lilith says. “Warwick knew not to kill her or harm her in any way, I assure you.”

“Perhaps he did, but the vampire who was sent to our suite at the hotel apparently didn’t get the memo. He said he was there to fulfill the death warrant.”

Lilith is obviously taken aback. She opens her mouth, closes it. Looks at me. Then she turns to Asher. “Did you know of this?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Only the Council members know she is an Old Family Montgomery,” Victor says. “So someone in this room sent the assassin.”

Lilith stands and glances at the other twelve Old Family. “Who? Who did this thing without consulting the others?”

“The signed death warrant is still in effect,” Richard’s grandfather says. “No consultation would have been required.”

“But we were treating her as a guest. It is not proper to attack one’s guest.”

“It is not proper to ignore a death summons.”

“Was it you then, Grandfather?” Richard asks.

The old man holds his gaze. “No, but I understand why the action was taken.”

“I demand whoever sent the assassin claim his actions,” Victor says, “and accept my challenge.”

“You would champion her?” Lilith asks.

“Yes.”

I’m confused, not sure what’s going on. So many of the vampire rituals have been kept secret from us. I touch Richard’s arm. “Rich—”

“Shh.”

I want to punch him. Turning to Faith, I see the sadness and worry in her eyes. She just shakes her head.

Asher stands. “Young Valentine has made the challenge. It cannot be ignored. Who sent the assassin?”

At the end of the table, a vampire who looks to be about the age of Victor’s father stands. He is olive- skinned with coal black hair. “I did.”

“Lord Romanelli, do you accept my challenge?” Victor asks.

He smiles cockily. “I do, young Valentine.”

“Excellent.”

Victor quickly takes off his coat, pulls out a metal stake, and tosses it toward Romanelli, who snatches it from the air with frightening speed.

“I see no need to take this outside,” Romanelli says, removing his coat.

No. No. I can’t let this happen.

“I agree. Let everyone watch,” Victor says.

“So there is no question.”

“Stop it!” I shout. “I refuse to let more blood be shed over a piece of paper.”

“A piece of paper?” Romanelli says in shock. “It was signed by us to carry out your death.”

“It was signed by your ancestors. By people you’ve never met to kill people you would never cross. Have any of you read it? Can any of you read it?”

I look around the table and see something I never imagined: nerves. They look from one to the other, each member hoping someone is still fluent in Ancient Vampiric and has read the document from top to bottom. But no one can.

“You just do it because that’s what you’re told,” I say. “That’s all. You did it out of tradition, without any thought, without a moment’s hesitation. You are all enslaved by a piece of rotting parchment. And for what! What will it get you? Pride? Fulfillment? It will get you nothing! When I saw this city, I could tell how fragile it was, but I knew that this tower was solid, and I knew that I would find strength within the mighty Council that every human had feared for so long. But look at you all. You command empty space. You are masters of falling walls. And all you care about is making an ancient ancestor proud by fulfilling some mandate from a decree written over a thousand years ago.

“That’s the difference. You vampires may have strength and immortality—at least until one of your own puts a stake through your heart. But in the end, living for centuries is your downfall. Because I’m proud that I’ll die one