Page 60 of The Vampire King's War

Daemon nodded. “I cannot undo what Kaly did to them both as fledglings. But I hope they can find some peace with each other.”

Meffy mewed as if to say that he hoped so too. That earned him a kiss between the ears by Daemon. The kitten melted under his lips and looked up at him with huge eyes.

“Do you want Meffy on your shoulder?” Sophia asked generously.

He knew that she adored the kitten. He would not have taken him from her even if he hadn’t intended a bit of a show. A cat on his shoulder might be just too much for the humans to accept. He told himself that was why and not because some people might be more obsessed with the kitten than with him.

“Did you see Julian fight?” Seeyr asked. There was a smile in her voice. She sounded proud of him.

“Of course,” he answered with a note of pride as well.

He had watched Julian defeat three of Kaly’s creations. His fledgling even now was in control of himself, though covered with blood and with the lust of the fight still in his veins. Julian’s nature was that of a cool man of action so it made sense that would translate into his Second Life. But still, it was pleasing to see.

He had not stepped in or made himself known to his fledgling, because he wanted Julian to feel he was free. Free to succeed on his own and free to fail, too. Daemon would just ensure that a “failure” did not lead to any permanent harm for Julian or anyone else of their kind.

“We can watch him again! Oh, and Christian, too! It will be like one of their videos, but even more thrilling!” Sophia clapped her hands together. “You know that they’re going to revive their show, right? All about Vampires and what Bloodline people should choose and all about the Ever Dark and it will be wonderful!”

He and Seeyr turned to where she was looking with a rapturous gaze. About 100 feet away, down the shining lawn, the Vampires were charging the dead. All of the police had been put under some kind of trance by House Wynter so they would stay out of harm’s way during the fighting. But they would remember that they had been saved and who by.

“You could just take over the dead, Daemon, and end this,” Seeyr pointed out.

“Indeed, but what fun would that be? Our Vampires haven’t had a chance to battle for good for a long time,” he said and crossed his arms at the wrists behind his back.

“You’ll let them have their fun and then…” Seeyr paused.

“Yes, and then,” he answered her with a smile.

The whump-whump-whump of the helicopters above him had another smile coming to his face. The camera crews had seen the commotion down below. The House Wynter Vampires could not stop all of them from seeing.

One of the helicopters’ searchlights sliced through the darkness of the back lawn and part of the battle was revealed. Julian and Christian surrounded three of the dead. The two of them had been fighting together for over a decade and naturally knew each other’s moves. But there was a nascent mind link between them that they were not even quite aware that they were using.

Daemon felt the rising excitement and perplexity as the media in the helicopter started reporting what they were seeing. His hearing expanded to catch the breathless words, “I don’t know how to describe this. There are people dressed as… well, dressed as zombies. The ‘zombies’ look real. Don’t they look real? . Roger, zoom in on that group of five there. Are they fighting? My God, is this some kind of performance art?”

Julian came at the dead’s front while Christian lightly circled around. While the dead were concentrating on Julian, Christian chopped the legs out from under them. They then stomped all three heads. He felt Julian’s dismay at this, thinking how would the families of these people feel to know that the mortal remains of their ancestors had been crushed under foot. But there was nothing else to do. Get rid of the head and that stopped Kaly’s control of them for the most part.

There was silence from the reporter in the helicopter for a moment then, a deep swallow, then, “This--this is movie magic, folks. Real practical effects. I wonder how they did that. Roger, Roger, can you get closer to those… ah, heads?”

The media in the front heard the report and started to move en masse towards the back. The police tape was strung out, but that was nothing to the reporters’ forward momentum. It snapped.

Police, who had been focused on keeping the media from the front, were not quite prepared for this herd-like movement towards the side of the museum. Cops started shouting orders for the press to get back and stop where you are! But the talk of zombies had the media too in a lather. They slowed, but did not completely stop with those orders. Police sprinted to form a line and stop the press from seeing the zombies.

The press were clamoring to get past. They were telling the police that there were hundreds of people coming up to the museum from the back. The police didn’t let them pass, but there were calls back to the officers that were supposed to be guarding the back of the museum. House Wynter Vampires had the police tell them that there was nothing wrong. But that lie wouldn’t last long.

“Are they starting to panic yet?” Sophia asked.

“Not quite yet, dear,” Seeyr said as she squeezed her fledgling’s shoulder. “They still think it's all some kind of game.”

The spotlight next fell on Arcius and Rajani. Arcius was not wearing his robes, yet he was just as conspicuous as ever in a sleeveless black leather vest and pants. Julian thought that Arcius looked like a biker daddy, whatever that was. He would have to ask for more information.

Rajani was in an elegant red sari. The two of them advanced upon two of the dead. The Confessor moved like a Berserker. He roared as he clotheslined both of them. The dead fell backwards. Rajani knelt down and ripped the head of one of them off. Like Julian, Arcius slammed his heel into the other’s head and ground his heel into the skull.

“I can’t get over these effects! I mean it truly looks real, doesn’t it, Roger? How much money do you think they spent on this?” The reporter’s voice had taken on a slightly hysterical tone.

Some of the police from the front were looking down the side of the museum. Even without the multiple beams of light from the helicopters slicing through the night and showing the dead shambling forward. Every officer that jogged down to get a closer look were captured by House Wynter Vampires and sent back to the front again with stories that stretched the imagination of many.

“House Wynter is truly trying. It is an admirable effort,” Seeyr murmured.

“It will be all for nothing though,” Sophia said with a sad hum as she scratched Meffy under the chin.

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