Page 44 of The Vampire King's Victory

“You have a city of your own, too, don’t you?” Christian realized as they strolled past a long, rectangular building with graceful lines and balconies with overflowing greenery. The sweet scent of night flowers perfumed the wind.

Balthazar blinked. “I suppose I do! I’ll have to ask Daemon about that.” He shook himself. “But I’ll want to stay here most of the time, of course. This is where the action will be. Can you imagine the President of the United States staying in one ofthese homes? Members of the European Union will have a space, too! Every single nation on Earth will want to be here and speak to Daemon for just a moment.”

“And he’ll be relying on you to sort the wheat from the chaff.” Christian smiled broadly.

“Yes! I’m going to be very busy.” Balthazar’s grin dried up for a moment. “Damn. Iamgoing to be very busy.”

Christian laughed as Balthazar did like his indolent time. “Yes, you are. With great power comes--”

“Don’t say it! Don’t you dare say that line! Because it just tires me thinking about it!” Balthazar dramatically threw back his head, but he was still smiling, as he thought about the work ahead.

“The fact that they sent military people after us in a violent action isn’t a very good start, is it?” Christian mused, feeling grateful the attack had come at night instead of the day.

But Balthazar just shrugged. “I’d rather open hostilities than hidden ones. If Kaly hadn’t forced Daemon’s hand early, we could have planned for what the human responses would be. Attacks would have been at the top of my list. What humanity does not understand, it wants to control or destroy. Tonight’s attack was a little of column A and column B mixed all together. As it is, we were lucky that there were no casualties on either side. Nothing like deaths to cause a breach. The cycle of revenge and all.”

“Yes, both sides would somehow have to feel that they had avenged those that had died.” Christian nodded slowly. “We could point to the fact that the humans attacked us first.”

“Ah, but Kaly really struck first!” Balthazar lifted a finger into the air. “The humans just retaliated.”

“But they are not on our side,” Christian pointed out. “And Daemon--with some small help from all of us--saved as many people as possible.”

“That’s too much in the weeds right now. A Vampire is a Vampire is a Vampire. That’s all the humans can see. Trust me. Tribalism is and will be strong,” Balthazar told him. “And if there is a way for each side to misunderstand each other, it will be found. It is good that Daemon is not easily offended.”

“I wonder how long he’ll let the conflicts go on though,” Christian said.

“That is a question. His ideas of time are strange compared to ours so we shall see.”

“What happens when we are exposed to sunlight?” Christian realized he didn’t know. He hadn’t asked. He’d just assumed they would burn up.

“Yes, it’s what you think,” Balthazar said sheepishly. “In time, the burning becomes less severe, but any one of us in the sunlight for a long length of time… ashes, ashes, we all fall down.”

Christian shivered. “Good to know.”

“Somebody will create some kind of sunlight weapons in the future to work against us, I would imagine. It’s odd really that we can withstand certain UV lights. I’m not a scientist, but I would have thought they would have burned us, too, but no,” Balthazar remarked with another shrug, seemingly quite at peace with the idea that people would plot to burn them to their Second Deaths.

“You know too much about people’s true natures to expect anything less out of them,” Christian realized.

“Unfortunately, reading people’s minds gives you an understanding of people that makes little surprising,” Balthazar agreed with a faint nod of his head. “We’re going to see a lot of ugliness in the near future, Christian. I want you to be prepared for that.”

Christian considered this. “I suppose there will be. Religious people will have a hard time with this. Though some of what we know does support certain religions. Like reincarnation. Theexistence of a soul. The presence of another world after this one.”

“Yes, but as much as we will be able to confirm that isgood,” and here Balthazar made air quotes with his free hand, “it will also confirm, for some, thebad.”

“Such as demons?”

“Absolutely!” A firm nod.

“The Devil?”

“Yes, and Daemon will be seen as him in many eyes.” Balthazar again nodded. “We’ll be seen as tests from God. Will you take your pleasure here in this life or join the Almighty in the next? Are we lost souls? Are we fallen angels here to tempt people? Even the good things we confirm--that there’s something more--may cause a spate of suicides. There will be those who simply realize that leaving this life isn’t giving much up if they have an eternal one.”

Christian was repelled at the idea, but it had merit. “If they are in pain or given a bad start and can’t get out wouldn’t suicide seem okay? Even a good thing?”

Balthazar’s forehead furrowed. “I was born in a time when suicide was an ultimate sin. Even now, it churns my stomach and I wouldn’t want anyone to do that to themselves. But yes, I suppose it changes the calculus, doesn’t it?”

“I really have to talk to Caemorn more about spirits and the other side,” Christian murmured as he bit his lower lip. “I hadn’t really thought through how it's not just Vampires existing that’s going to change things. The things we know will utterly change things, too. We have to be careful about what we reveal and when.”

“And you, Speaker to the Dead, will be very important in all of that,” Balthazar said with a rather wry expression. “You will have to be the go-between for the religious and the scientific and many in between.”

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