“Be warned, Lasander, your words are bordering on treasonous,” another called.
“I am well aware. Yet I feel they are truthful and necessary. But I do not wish to distract from our celebrations. My words were meant to inspire us to continue this tradition, as I believe it is the key to our long-term survival. Let me conclude by thanking everyone for their attendance and support.”
Lasander left the stage to generous applause. Another gentleman dressed all in white leather with long white hair and flawless pale skin stepped up to the microphone after him.
“Now for something a little different,” he intoned. “Tonight we will introduce our oldest member first instead of last. In what will be a record sixth year together, a true testament to what we do, I give you Dante Delavega.”
Alex didn’t look at Dante, she looked at Michelle. A bright if not big smile adorned her face as they walked forward together. Michelle took Dante by the hand and clasped it in hers before she quickly brought it to her lips. Alex and Margaret clapped and whistled along with the rest of the crowd until Dante moved in front of Michelle and politely waited for the noise to lower before speaking.
“Thank you, everyone, for the kind welcome. It is an honour to stand here before you all, with this incredible woman once again. I will not waste any time in going over the same points Lasander has just made, but you need to know that I agree with him. I encourage all of you to ignore the hate crimes against us. We fight for a noble cause. Trust in that and continue to spread the message. Only together can we make a difference.”
Dante reached behind him and gently led Michelle directly in front of him. She placed the back of her head on his chest as he continued. “I present Michelle Davidson for the upcoming year. She is mine.”
Michelle held her head high and intoned, “ I hereby declare my allegiance and loyalty to Dante Delavega. I swear to honour the secrecy of the vampires of Sydney.”
Michelle deftly moved the hair covering her neck to the other side of her face. Dante brought her in and whispered something to Michelle that made her smirk. He opened his mouth and a set of fangs dropped from his upper jaw.
Alex knew what was about to happen, but couldn’t look away. She was transfixed. Dante eased the bite down, just at the point where her shoulder met the neck. Michelle opened her mouth in a silent gasp as blood streaked down from Dante’s mouth.
The crowd cheered.
*
Lauren heard the commotion, and rolled her eyes at the sickening speeches. She could only guess, though, what Matt had seen based on his reaction. He had slipped from his position on the edge of the skylight, struggling to catch his breath, looking ready to vomit. He picked up the dropped phone and heaved his words, still in a harsh whisper.
“This is some kind of joke, right?”
“What do you think?” Came the voice over the phone.
“I don’t know what I think. I don’t even know what I saw.”
“Yes you do. Ignore your fear and your answer will present itself. Now you know the truth. Now you know what he is. The question is, what are you prepared to do?”
“What are you talking about? Wha— What the fuck can I do?”
“Look to the air conditioning unit to your right. I have left something for you.”
Matt lifted the case off with ease and reached in. He stared baffled at the object in his hand. “What the hell am I supposed to do with this?”
“Kill Delavega.”
“What? I can’t kill someone!”
“He is already dead. Besides, didn’t you want to get your blonde back? To prove to her how wrong and misguided she is?”
“I…well, yeah. But—”
“Remember what happened to Ryan.”
Lauren remembered. She’d enjoyed every second of ripping him to shreds, but she wasn’t going to tell that to Matt. She’d let him experience it for himself. But now she knew the caller’s plan and who it was. Everything finally had fallen into place. Julian wanted Matt to kill Dante. Not a bad idea, she thought. With Dante out of the way, Lauren could kill Matt. Then Alex was all hers.
“Shit. I’m screwed either way!”
“There is only one way to end this. Tonight will be your best and only chance. He will be surrounded by humans when he leaves. Wait till then and approach him from behind. With all the human donors here, your heartbeat won’t register to him as strange. He won’t be on guard. It’s his life or Alex’s.”
The caller hung up and Matt stared blankly at his mobile. Lauren decided it was her moment.
“What’re you doing up here, Matty?” She made her voice sound innocent and sweet.
He nearly jumped out of his skin. “Fuck, Loz! I could ask you the same damn thing. You look like shit.”
She giggled, but Matt looked ready to bolt. She couldn’t let him chicken out now. “Look, mate, I couldn’t help but overhear your phone call. You sound like you’re a man on a mission.”
“I— It’s just something I’ve gotta do.” His voice shook.
“You know what Dante is don’t you?” she said calmly.
Matt’s head whipped around at this and his eyes grew wide. “What the— How did you know?”
“Everybody knows. I heard about Dante from my ex. You remember Greg, right? He was always going on about vampires.”
Matt slumped again. “Oh, right.”
“So what’ve you got there, Matty? A gun? Gonna do the dirty deed? Kill Dante-the-black and win your girl
