day. I’m proud that my heart will stop beating forever. I have seventy years on this earth if I’m lucky, and I’ll be damned if I waste a
Silence. Wonderful, blissful silence. I felt the words from my heart, and in them I spoke not of my hatred toward vampires but, for the first time, of my love for humankind.
Victor slowly puts his stake back into his belt. To my surprise, Romanelli follows, albeit much more slowly.
“I often wonder,” Carrollton says, “if the passage of all these centuries has brought us any true wisdom at all.”
That gains gasps from some, contemptuous silence from others—but smiles and nods from a few. Including Lilith.
“We can see your passion, Dawn,” he continues. “The death warrant was signed by all families, save the Montgomerys. It can only be removed by the same action. A unanimous vote.”
Unanimous? Romanelli just tried to kill me! How could he possibly vote to get rid of it now?
“Then I call the vote now,” Lilith says. “And I ask that all who raise their hand remember this: Now is not the time to create division amongst us. My family has suffered enough from this death warrant, fracturing us into two halves. I’d hate to see something similar happen to this Council.”
Her words may be subtle, but their meaning is clear: The Ferdinands intend to stand by the Montgomerys. With a warning look at all the members who are now seated, and a knowing smile to Victor, she speaks words the Montgomerys have wanted to hear for so long. “All those in favor of rescinding the death warrant so that it may no longer burden us, raise your hand.”
Some do it quickly, others more slowly. Asher takes his sweet time. But Romanelli’s hand stays down. Until Victor looks at him, and another challenge is issued, only this one is more severe. Instead of them dueling, Victor seems prepared to go to war against the family who would threaten me. And as Romanelli looks at Lilith, he must realize that he’d be facing two enemies.
He raises his hand.
“Then it’s unanimous,” Lilith says. “The death warrant is forever stricken and the Montgomerys may now move in peace and be prosperous.”
“Thank you,” I say, the words seeming insufficient to express what I’m really feeling: incredible relief. “Now, my seat on the Council? The test? What did you decide?”
“You are a bold one, that much is clear,” Asher says. “The Council has not yet decided.”
“You haven’t decided, Asher,” Lilith says, “but I have. I was impressed last night and even more so now. She possesses an inner strength, tempered with compassion. We need fresh blood here. Young blood.”
“We need no such thing. Strength in purity. You know that.”
“Your opinion has been noted,” Lord Paxton says. “But the fact remains: Dawn Montgomery has provided evidence of her Old Family heritage. She passed our test in ways that exceeded all of our expectations. And the death warrant has been rescinded. There is nothing to debate and nothing to vote on. Dawn Montgomery, please take your seat.”
With a deep breath, I walk around the table and take the empty chair beside Lilith. It’s simply a chair. Yet it carries with it so much power. It’s the place where my ancestors should have sat all along. I have the opportunity to carry on their work, to affect the future of both humans and vampires.
Victor eases into the vacant chair beside mine. His presence calms my racing heart. Without him I wouldn’t be here. I’m going to fulfill Lilith’s dreams for the Montgomerys and serve as a bridge between the humans I’ve always loved and the vampires I’ve only recently learned to accept.
Lord Carrollton makes a special request that under the circumstances, Richard and Faith be allowed to remain. They stand at the back of the room, near the doors.
It is Lilith who first speaks, and her voice seems to resonate stronger now that I sit here with her.
“Shall we call for a new official vote in regard to Victor’s proposal? Now that we have a new member on the Council?” Lilith asks.
Asher’s mouth drops. “You can’t be serious.”
“Very.”
He looks like a man who can’t quite get out of the absurd dream he’s found himself in.
“Have you all gone mad?”
“Do you have a better plan to destroy Sin, Asher?” Victor asks.
“Destroy him? I suggest we join him.”
“Never!” I shout, amid mutterings and the din of whispered conversations.
“We have no choice,” Asher says.
“Sin may slaughter you before you even have a chance to speak,” Lilith warns. “You fail to realize how twisted Sin’s father was and in turn how twisted his own son became, having been locked in dungeons and cellars his whole childhood.”
“He’ll need us, don’t you get it? Old Family blood is rich; one bag could probably feed his entire army of Chosen. He’ll continue to march and kill everything in his path, including this Council. But he may need one of us for our blood. Just one . . .”
“And that will be you?” I ask.
“Why not?”
“I won’t spend one more night as a coward,” I say. “How in hell can you spend an eternity as one?”
“Listen,
“Madame!” Lilith shouts. “You will call her Madame or Lady. She is a Montgomery.”
“First you want me to see her as Old Family. Then you have the audacity to give her a seat on this most sacred Council. And now you ask me, an Old Family vampire who has walked this earth four hundred years, to address her as Madame?”
“We aren’t asking,” Lord Paxton says. “We are demanding.”
Asher looks around for support from the other Old Family, but none give it.
He chuckles lightly to himself, shaking his head in disbelief. “I’ve never seen such desperation. Maybe Sin is right: We’ve become weak. We’re no longer needed. He is the future. He and his army of monsters. I’ll take my chances with
“If you leave now, the Ashers will have no say until a replacement is found,” Lord Paxton says.
“I don’t care! And neither will my clan. You’ll doom us all.”
“We were already doomed, Asher,” Lilith says. “Before the war, before the humans even knew of our existence, we were already nearing the end. We vampires are immortal, but we stay the same. It is the humans who have become something more; it is the humans, with their few precious years, who try to change themselves for the better. We have forever, and we still can’t do it. This war, VampHu, these cities were not the result of our victory, but the result of us exhaling our final breath.”
Everyone is silent as she speaks. It’s a truth they must’ve known in their hearts, a truth that has been created over hundreds, maybe thousands of years. And if we’re all in awe of its reverence, Asher certainly is not.
“Damn you. Damn you all.”
He leaves the room, shutting the door behind him. The Asher seat stands empty.
After a few moments, Lilith says, with a wicked smile, “Shall we call a vote as to Victor’s earlier proposition?”
Hands are raised. Without Asher and with me, the vote is eight to six in favor.
“We shall each send a child to Denver,” Lilith says. “One who can fight. But to gather an army of Lessers to accompany them will take time.”
“Which is a luxury we do not have,” Victor says. “We must act quickly to stop the creation of more Infected Day Walkers.”
“You speak truth. What do you recommend, then?”
“Often, during the war, a small group of Old Family could do more than an entire army of Lessers. Our
