Page 45 of The Vampire King's War

“Those are the only choices I will accept,” Christian answered with a shrug.

“You are impossible.” Balthazar sighed. He lowered his head. His silver eyed gaze was sharp. “You will promise me to get out--get Julian out--if things go south. Fiona.” He pointed a finger at her. “I asked you before to keep an eye on him--”

“I know.” Fiona lifted her hands. “But until you arrived he wasn’t in too terrible of danger.”

“Me? Am I responsible for--”

Christian silenced Balthazar with a kiss. That seemed best. When he pulled back, his Master’s eyes were closed and the tension was mostly drained out of him.

“All will be well with me,” Christian assured him, even as he wasn’t sure if things would be all right with Balthazar.

“Shall we go?” Fiona asked.

“Yes. It will be a good opportunity for Christian to learn more about being a Speaker to the Dead,” Daemon assured Balthazar.

Just as they teleported from the Ever Dark to the museum, Christian heard Balthazar say, “That is not reassuring, Daemon.”

And Daemon had chuckled.

But that chuckling was soon drowned out by the squawk of police radios, dozens of people talking--more like shouting--and the whap-whap-whap of rotor blades. The night sky was filled with helicopters like miniature suns with their powerful spotlights that sliced through the darkness around the museum. There was, in fact, little darkness left as the crowd of media filled the entirety of the four lane highway that ringed the city. The cameras were rolling. The reporters were talking breathlessly.

Christian heard one of the female reporters in a tight black skirt suit tell her viewers, “... police will not confirm if there are any deaths inside the museum yet no one has emerged from the museum itself. The attendees of tonight’s charity event include the mayor, several aldermen and women, judges…”

Her voice drifted off as Christian heard a male reporter who looked to be in his fifties with sobering frost at his temples say, “No police have entered the building. We have information that they are waiting for a specially trained team. No word if that is a SWAT unit or, as some are saying, a hazmat unit.”

Another voice took his place, another man that Christian recalled watching all of his life. The man had done an interview with him and Julian recently. He called out Christian’s name, “Christian! Christian Thorn! It’s Robert Devon! Could you come here and speak to me and our viewers? Were you inside the museum tonight, Christian? What happened in there?”

Christian’s shoulders hunched. Fiona had teleported them just behind the line of police vehicles and in front of the cameras. She looked rather horrified herself by where she had touched them down. Luckily, no one appeared to have noticed that they appeared out of thin air. There were, however, no zombies in sight, which was both good and bad. Good because it meant there were no zombies being filmed. Bad because they were not near the action where Julian was in his fight against the undead.

“Fiona, why did you bring us here?” Christian hissed, even as Daemon was standing beside them both, looking completely at ease.

Fiona’s shoulders tensed. “Because I’ve only ever passed by the museum. I’ve never been inside or around the back so…”

“So you took us to where you knew. Okay, right.” Christian let out a Balthazar level sigh. “We need to make our way--”

“Christian! Christian, please come over and talk to us!” Robert Devon was now waving his microphone in the air.

The other media people had realized that there was someone there that wasn’t police and could just be a museum goer. Lights suddenly were fixed on him instead of the media personalities and wide shots of the museum and law enforcement.

“Get Daemon out of here, Fiona! Before they notice…ah, him.” Christian was going to say Daemon’s red eyes, but really every part of Daemon was just not normal. He was too big. Too built. Too beautiful. He stood out as alien, as god-like really.

“What are you going to do?” Fiona hissed back.

“I’m going to do some interviews evidently,” Christian said before he turned on his heel, plastered a faint smile on his face, and strode over to the mob of reporters.

He felt, rather than saw, Fiona and Daemon fade into the crowd of police and other emergency personnel. He wondered if anyone had noticed Daemon. Someone would have. Someone would make crazy conspiracy theory videos with the footage on Youtube. But he hoped the mainstream press and more legit alternative media wouldn’t. Christian stopped at the police taped media line and gave Robert his blandest of smiles.

“Christian,” Robert said in that made for television voice, which was both deep and reassuring, but also somewhat elitist at the same time. “For our viewers, this is Christian Thorn. He and Julian Harrow have the popular web series called Existence.” The way he said their show's name and the use of the word “web” before series had Christian remembering that their earlier interview might not have gone so well. “Were you in the museum tonight?”

A boom mic hovered over him and the reporter. It wasn’t just Robert’s camera woman filming him either, but every camera was on him. Christian swallowed. He hated being in front of the camera, saving that bit for the more charismatic and natural Julian, to play. But here he was, front and center. He slid his hands into the pockets of his pants. He wasn’t dressed to go to the gala. He hoped there were no bloodstains or anything else on his clothing.

“No, I was actually here to--” Christian didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence as Robert chimed in.

“Look for proof of the existence of Vampires?” Robert’s gray eyes twinkled. “I hope that there are no Vampires responsible for this!”

The earlier interview had definitely not gone well. He remembered it very well now. Robert Devon had been rude, patronizing and outright mocking them. The fact that their show got higher viewships than his… Well, that just made Robert intent on cutting these internet celebrities down to size. Julian hadn't cared as he had said something to the equivalent that all news was good news if it brought attention to them and their show.

“Is it really appropriate to make light of what is clearly a tragedy?” Christian asked coolly with an arched eyebrow. There were a few soft guffaws in the background as people agreed with his take. “Of what size and kind we may not know, but it is clear that it is one.”

---