Chapter 24: The Vote
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When Cristiãn left Cassidy inside the Buick LaCrosse, she was in a trance with her head facing forward and her eyes staring blankly ahead. When he was about ten feet away from the car, he turned and gave her one last look then hurried into the garage. It took him less than five minutes to retrieve his car, pay the ticket and race off into the city streets. It took him another fifty minutes to make his way to the parking garage of his apartment building.
Cristiãn was in no hurry to meet up with the other members of the vampire alliance. He had no doubt how that meeting was going to end, but he still intended to face Lucian, Stefan and the others. His concern now was his attire. He spent the next hour showering, dressing and grooming himself for this meeting. A few minutes later he was back in his car and on the road.
It took Cristiãn an hour and a half to drive to the Greenwich vacation house. As he rolled up the driveway, he noticed one additional car parked there that he was not expecting to see: Razvan and Dumitra. He was not deterred; he parked the car and sat for several seconds to prepare himself for the coming events. He then climbed out of the car and saw several members of the vampire union looking at him through the front bay window. The sight of them caused him to hesitate before starting his approach to the house. When he arrived at the front door, he found Augustus standing there with the door open.
No words were exchanged between Cristiãn and Augustus at the front door. Augustus directed him through with a nod of his head. Cristiãn went through to the parlor without hesitation. The remaining sixteen union vampires were there waiting for him plus Razvan and Dumitra.
“Where is she?” Razvan roared at Cristiãn the instant he stepped into the room.
The room full of vampires moved out from the center of the room as Cristiãn walked into it. They immediately began to circle him like a pack of wolves circling a stray bison. Despite their maneuvers, all predatory expressions were limited to Razvan and Dumitra, and to Stefan to a lesser extent. Lucian looked perturbed but in control while his mate, Elisabeta, looked dismayed. But only Nadja and Petru showed any worry for his fate.
“What did you do, Cristiãn?” Lucian hissed.
Cristiãn showed no displeasure with the tenor of Lucian’s question. After spending a few seconds pondering a reply, Cristiãn passively answered.
“I saved her.”
His answer shocked everyone who heard it. Even Nadja and Petru were surprised by it.
“What about us?” Adrianna railed out with a tinge of hysterics. “Did you think about us at all?”
They waited for an answer that was not forthcoming from Cristiãn. Then Lucian introduced another question.
“Is Tremaine under your control?”
Cristiãn considered the question, and then shook his head.
“You didn’t blank her memory?” Radu queried with astonishment.
“No,” Cristiãn returned in a soft voice. “I did not.”
There was a moment of shocked silence from everyone in the room. They contemplated the probable changes to their lives that was about to occur. After several seconds, Iona expressed her dread.
“She’s probably telling everything she knows right now.”
“They may not believe her,” Flavia quickly countered in a hopeful tone.
“She doesn’t have to get them to believe her,” Sorin countered glumly. “She only has to get them to investigate us.”
Stefan’s usual sour disposition was seething with anger. He took two steps toward Cristiãn before clearly enunciating his venom laced questions.
“Is that what she’s doing, Cristiãn? Is she telling her story to the police?”
Cristiãn hesitated in the face of Stefan’s anger filled questions.
“I gave her a copy of Razvan’s file,” Cristiãn confessed solemnly.
For the first time, Cristiãn said something that produced an audible gasp from several within the room. Even Lucian was flustered out of his usual façade of control.
“I can’t believe you did that,” Laurentius blared out almost at once. “You’ve destroyed the lives that we created for ourselves.”
“I am sorry, Laurentius,” Cristiãn returned as he opened his palms toward him entreatingly.
Laurentius was not moved by his response nor were most of the others in the room. Adrianna’s displeasure was no greater than most, but her quick mind and sharp tongue beat all the others to the retort.
“Cristiãn, you may have killed us all,” Adrianna verbally disgorged with temper. “You’ve certainly killed some of us. How could you do that?”
Cristiãn looked around and examined the faces looking back at him before starting his explanation with a shrug and a sigh.
“You didn’t give me any other choice.”
This softly spoken reply had varied effects on everyone within the room. A few softened their reactions to Cristiãn’s confession, but most did not. For the rest, his response simply stoked the flames already burning within them.
“That’s your excuse!” Stefan raged as he flung his arm through the air. “You couldn’t have it your way, so you decided to act on your own!”
“We agreed—twelve hundred years ago—we all foreswore the killing of humans,” Cristiãn barked in his defense.
“Except in our own defense, Cristiãn!” Stefan roared back at him. “You forget that part. It was her or us.”
Cristiãn considered Stefan’s response from for several seconds before softly responding.
“I chose her.”
“And now it’s our turn to choose,” Lucian growled. “You have broken your vow to us, and now we get to decide what to do with you.”
“No!” Nadja yelled. “We do not get to decide.”
“He has broken with the covenant, Nadja,” Helga shouted with ferocity. “You cannot get in the way of this.”
“The alliance is dead,” Nadja roared back at Helga with a fierce glare. “Razvan and Dumitra have already broken from us. Our secret and our identities are probably being exposed to the mortals as we speak. This union no longer has a function.”
“And whose fault is that?” Lucian scolded back at Nadja. “Even if what you say is true, then that makes this one last piece of business all the more important. By his own actions, Cristiãn has earned the consequence of our dissatisfaction.”
Nadja looked around and saw nods of agreement from everyone except Petru and Cristiãn.
“No!” Nadja yelled, stepping toward the center of the room.
“Nadja!” Cristiãn quickly called to his sister.
Nadja turned to look at her brother and saw him staring at her. They gazed at one another for several seconds. Nadja saw that Cristiãn had already resigned himself to his fate. Her expression wilted as she recognized his resolve.
“No, Cristiãn,” Nadja wept.
Nadja took three steps to stand face-to-face before her brother.
“I knew what I was doing,” Cristiãn told his sister mournfully.
“You can’t leave me,” Nadja insisted with tears in her eyes.
Cristiãn took a deep breath and looked at his sister with sad and searching eyes.
“I have been alone for too long. It is time.”
“No, I won’t let you do this!” Nadja declared while grabbing hold of Cristiãn’s arms.
“I am sorry, Nadja,” Cristiãn said softly.
Cristiãn turned his attention to Nadja’s mate.
“Petru,” Cristiãn called softly.
Petru understood what Cristiãn wanted before he spoke. He walked over to stand behind Nadja and looked into Cristiãn’s eyes.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Petru asked softly.
Cristiãn understood that Petru was declaring his willingness to stand with him and fight. But that was exactly what Cristiãn did not want to happen, and he sensed that Petru already knew it. He suspected the question was more for Nadja’s benefit than his own.
“Yes,” Cristiãn answered in a word.
Shortly after Cristiãn’s answer, Petru put his arms around Nadja and slowly pulled her away with tears streaming down her face. When they came to a stop several paces away, Lucian took a half step forward and he glared at Cristiãn.
“I vote that Cristiãn should die,” Lucian stated while holding his gaze.
All eyes were directed at Lucian when he spoke his vote in a stern voice. Stefan was next to cast his vote.
“I vote death,” Stefan declared boldly.
“Death,” Helga stated as she took her place by Stefan’s side.
The others silently deferred to each other with glances around the room. Eventually, all eyes turned to Elisabeta who did not acknowledge them.
“Death,” Elisabeta softly said with regret.
Again, there was a pause as those who had yet to vote waited for others to proceed. This deference played out again and again as all but Nadja, Petru, Razvan and Dumitra cast a vote for Cristiãn to die. It was accepted as a given that Nadja and Petru’s vote was no, and no one thought to question them on it given that they were greatly in the minority. A silence filled the room for several seconds after the last vote, then Razvan stepped forward and spoke with venom in his tone.
“I say cut off his head and be done with him.”
“You don’t get a vote!” Nadja screamed as she charged at Razvan.
Petru and Cristiãn came to Nadja’s aid and Dumitra came to Razvan’s. A struggle erupted within the middle of the parlor and was quickly put down by the other vampires in the room. The combatants in the scuffle were pulled apart and separated to different sides of the room. Except for the huffing produced by their exertion, everyone was quiet as they paused to make sure the scuffle was over. The non-combatants began to slowly release the combatants. Shortly, everyone was standing still without a restraining hand. There was an awkward momentary silence that held until Lucian looked to Stefan with a directive.
“Get it.”
Nadja almost gasped when she heard Lucian’s words. Petru took her hand to ease the wave of panic he felt erupting in her. Everyone listened to Stefan’s movements as he made his way to his room on the second floor. There was a short break in his movements, then they heard his footsteps coming back. Stefan strode back into the parlor at a deliberate pace, carrying the broad sword case he had at The Cavern.
Nadja jumped with a start at first sight of the case. She reached over with her freehand and clasped it atop the hand that Petru was using to hold hers. Nadja could not help but stare as Stefan set the case on the sofa and opened it. She gasped at the sight of the sword and then turned her gaze toward Cristiãn with terror and pain in her expression. Cristiãn returned her gaze with a steady emotionless expression.
“You should leave,” Cristiãn advised softly.
Nadja ignored his suggestion and turned her attention to Stefan just as he unfolded a thin film of green plastic secured inside the lid of the case. He opened the plastic out into a ten-foot by ten-foot square sheet on the floor. This sight suddenly made this event all too real for Nadja to endure in silence.
“You’re not killing my brother!” Nadja screamed at Lucian, openly displaying hysterics.
Petru quickly wrapped both his arms around Nadja and restrained her from rushing Lucian.
“Nadja!” Elisabeta yelled out plaintively. “You can’t stop this. You’ll only make it worst.”
“You’re planning to kill my brother! How much worst can it be?” Nadja screamed back at Elisabeta.
Elisabeta had no response. Her association with Nadja went back nearly one-hundred years before they became trapped inside the cave. She valued her friendship with Nadja far more than any other female she knew. Seeing her friend in pain caused Elisabeta a great deal of distress.
“Petru,” Cristiãn nearly whispered. “Take her out of here.”
“No!” Nadja resisted as she took Petru by surprise and threw him across the room to the floor.
Cristiãn knew that his sister was on the edge of a fierce reaction to what was occurring. Throwing Petru to the floor was a sign that she was ready to use the full extent of her vampire power on his behalf. This brought the other vampires in the room to a fighting stance.
They all knew that the strength of a vampire was simply a matter of how much fuel he, or she, was consuming at any given moment. Each of them understood that this gave them all the potential to be equal in strength across varied periods of time. It was also understood that their greater than normal strength made their flesh and bone bodies easily vulnerable to breaks and tears by another vampire. Because of this understanding, no one there took Nadja’s fighting stance for granted. Her quick reflexes and the depth of her know-how and overpowering emotions made Nadja dangerous, but in the world of vampires this was insufficient against superior numbers.
“Nadja,” Cristiãn called to his sister.
Nadja froze at the sound of Cristiãn calling her name. She looked at her brother and saw him standing still and quiet. She knew there was no chance of them fighting off sixteen vampires; and she knew that was all the truer if Cristiãn did not fight. This insight motivated her to slow the pace of her heart beats.
“You can’t leave me, Cristiãn!” Nadja pleaded with tears in her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Nadja,” Cristiãn said with moving sorrow. “I knew what I was doing. I broke my promise.”
Cristiãn and Nadja exchanged a long look at each other, then he turned his attention to Petru.
“Take her out of here,” Cristiãn said softly.
Petru was by then back on his feet and at a defensive stance by Nadja’s side. After hearing Cristiãn’s words, he began to perceive from Nadja’s pheromones that she was resigned to what was about to occur. He gave her a moment more to settle, then he took her hand into his. With a gentle tug, he led a tearful Nadja out of the room. When she was gone from sight, Lucian signaled Stefan to begin. Stefan, in turn, looked to Augustus and Sorin. They responded to his visual cues by moving forward and taking positions alongside Cristiãn.
“I’m sorry, Cristiãn,” Augustus declared with regret.
Cristiãn acknowledged him with a glance to his left, then he turned to see Sorin standing on his right.
“You did this to yourself, Cristiãn” Sorin asserted softly.
Cristiãn ignored the comment and turned his head in time to see Stefan use both hands to raise the broadsword out of the case: one hand under the grip and the other under the blade. He continued to watch as Stefan carried the sword over to Lucian and then present it to him. He watched as Lucian received the sword in the same way it was being presented to him. He then watched as Lucian turned his entire person toward him.
“Cristiãn,” Augustus whispered into his ear.
It was time, and Cristiãn knew it. He looked briefly at Augustus then took a step forward onto the plastic. After a pause for a couple of heavy breath, he dropped to his knees. Lucian then walked onto the plastic and stopped at a right angle just in front of Cristiãn. He waited there, unmoving, with the sword still resting in his hands. Cristiãn interpreted his pause as a signal for him to lean forward; so, he did. Several seconds later, Lucian grasped the grip of the sword with both hands and brought it up over his head. When he did this, Cristiãn closed his eyes and waited. Two seconds into this position, the sound of a car screeching to a stop in the front driveway interrupted their proceedings.
“Lucian!” Elisabeta called from the front bay window.
Lucian lowered the sword and looked to see his mate staring out the front window. Helga, Iona, Adrianna and Roxana stood at the window with her. Lucian, Stefan, Augustus and Sorin rushed to the sides of their mates. The other vampires hurried off to windows in the foyer and the study. Cristiãn stood up in the middle of the room and examined the others as they stared out of the windows. Within seconds of first hearing the car, Nadja and Petru raced into the parlor and stopped alongside Cristiãn.
“Who is it?” Petru asked of anyone with an answer.
******************
Cassidy raced out of the 94th Precinct, jumped into the Buick LaCrosse that she and Cristiãn procured from the two gunmen that had pursued them, and raced off down the street. Thirty minutes later, Cassidy parked the LaCrosse in an open space in Midtown Manhattan, she climbed out of the car and setoff at a run for The Cavern Nightclub—one block away. In her hand, she carried the presentation folder that she created at the 94th Precinct. After stopping in front of the club’s front door and finding it was locked, she began banging on the door.
For nearly two minutes, Cassidy banged on the club’s front door. Then she ran around to the back entrance, testing it to find it locked as well. After banging on it for more than a minute, she concluded that no one was inside. Her mind raced off into a quandary. Her plan was dependent upon the presence of Cristiãn and the other vampires to be here at the club. Their absence made her worried that she would not be able to find them.
Cassidy was doubtful that the seventeen vampires would choose to go to the residence of one of the vampires living in the city. She suspected that they all knew by now that she was free and armed with the knowledge of what and who they were. She thought it likely that they may have already started the process of shedding the identities they had created for themselves. She also worried that Cristiãn may have been killed by the other vampires. But neither of these events added to or subtracted from her belief in what had to be done. But those worries did bring her thoughts back to the idea of calling Cristiãn’s cellphone.
Cassidy’s attempt to call Cristiãn when she was at the 94th Precinct failed to get a pickup. She suspected that Cristiãn was ignoring her call, and she had no reason to believe he would answer a call from her now. But the thought of trying again reminded her that the vampires took her cellphone. That thought, in turn, produced an idea that sent her into motion. She ran to her own car around the corner from The Cavern where she parked it when she first arrived at the club earlier. She quickly got in behind the steering wheel, shut the door and then retrieved her tablet computer from the glove compartment.
Cassidy thought the vampires might still be in possession of her cellphone. She knew that if that was true, it would give her a means of locating them. She knew that she was grasping at straws now, but if her cellphone was still on, then she could use the find my cellphone app on her tablet to track it. She could not fathom why they would take her cellphone with them since destroying it seemed to her a far more likely action. But this reasoning did not stop her from hoping that she was wrong.
For more than a minute, Cassidy studied the tablet and fumbled with its operation. She was familiar with most of the apps on her tablet, but she had never used the find my cellphone app before. Losing things was something that Cassidy just did not normally do. She spent a considerable amount of time fumbling with the tablet trying to discern which of the many apps was the one she needed. After finding and initiating the app, she had to wait for the program to report back. She worried that the failure of a quick response was due to her cellphone not registering in the cellular network. But she was soon flooded with relief when a map popped up on the screen, and her cellphone was clearly marked in the center of it.
The sight of her cellphone on the map was the lesser of two surprises that she noticed at that moment. What startled her more was the sight of her cellphone on the map, moving up the I-95 toward Connecticut. She pondered what she was seeing for a moment, then her mind began to entertain the possibility that this was a false lead. She considered the idea that they had tossed her cellphone onto some truck that was headed out of state. But that theory was no match for the simplest answer: they took the phone with them. Cassidy concluded that acting on the simple scenario was the only option she had. Twenty-minutes later, she was racing her car up the New England Thruway and closing in on the Connecticut state line. She was nearly an hour out from Manhattan when her cellphone came to a stop in a remote area on the outskirts of Greenwich.
When the vehicle carrying Cassidy’s cellphone came to a stop, she estimated that it was between ten and fifteen minutes ahead of her. It was far closer than it was at the start. It was obvious to her that the person driving the vehicle she was pursuing was in no hurry. It took her another ten minutes to reach the turnoff the vehicle took from the I-95. She continued to use the map to navigate and repeatedly tightened the focus on her tablet.
The expanse of land along with the widely separated houses simplified Cassidy’s search for the location where her cellphone came to a stop. After rolling around the bend on the two-lane road she was following, Cassidy saw only one structure that was close enough to be a match to what she was seeing on her tablet. Her belief that this was the house she was looking for was supported by the presence of five cars in its driveway. She hesitated for a moment before speeding into the driveway then slamming on the brakes. Her car screeched to a stop in the middle of the driveway, straight out from the front door. She did not bother to turn off the engine. She shoved the gearshift into park, flung open the car and jumped out into the driveway with her tablet in one hand and the presentation file in the other.
Cassidy turned her attention toward the house the instant her body was standing erect. She quickly noticed the many faces that were looking back at her through the front windows of the house. After a moment of examination, she recognized all of the faces of to the vampires she was looking for. It took her several seconds to realize that Cristiãn was not among them. She took a deep breath, stepped around to the front of her car, shoved the presentation folder up over her head and held it there.
Lucian was first to walk out of the house immediately followed by Stefan. They both moved cautiously onto the small porch, down the steps to the walkway and three steps out toward the driveway. Cassidy noticed a brief odd expression from them both. She interpreted it as an irritating effect of direct sunlight on their faces. They appeared to reinforce themselves to the experience within a couple of seconds and began to scan their distant surroundings. They looked more concerned about what they could not see in the distance than they were with Cassidy.
Most of the other vampires were content to watch her from the windows. Cristiãn was not one of them. He hurried out onto the front porch and stopped there. Razvan, Sorin and Augustus followed him. A swell of relief filled Cassidy at the sight of him. They fixed and held their sights on each other. Lucian took notice of their exchange before speaking.
“Detective Tremaine,” he called out with a smile. “You have a gift for showing up when and where you’re least expected.”
Cassidy ignored the greeting. She was in no humor to banter with Lucian. She was afraid, angry and doubtful that her only ally would not be able to protect her. Instead of giving a reply, Cassidy walked over to the nearest parked car and placed the presentation folder down on the hood. She then backed away from it and the car.
“What’s that?” Lucian queried.
“That’s you,” Cassidy called back. “Names, aliases, addresses, fingerprints, history, bloodwork, everything I need to expose all of you to the world.”
Lucian was surprised and confused by her declaration. Nothing she said or did made any sense to him. He hesitated and pondered the situation, but Stefan was far less in the dark about how he should respond.
Everything that Stefan saw and heard told him that Cassidy Tremaine was alone. His usual stern expression transitioned into a scowl. Immediately after hearing that she had Razvan’s dossier on them, he began to move forward with a visible intent to do her harm. Cristiãn jumped down to the walkway to intervene but was caught there by Augustus and Sorin. It was clear to them both that he intended to come to Cassidy’s defense. While they were all in motion, Cassidy began to speak.
“Careful, Stefan,” she called out as she held her tablet up in the air.
Stefan promptly came to a stop in response to Cassidy’s warning.
“All I have to do is press one button on this tablet and everything in that folder goes out to a couple of dozen well-chosen individuals.”
Her remark was followed by a moment of silence. Lucian speculated that Cassidy was there to save Cristiãn. That was the only scenario that came close to making sense to him. That thought gave him hope that he might be able to salvage the status quo.
“Are you here alone, Detective?” Lucian questioned her as he began to slowly move toward the presentation folder.
“Yes,” Cassidy replied as she moved to the far side of her car.
Lucian accepted her answer with a nod as he continued to move toward the folder. Then Razvan moved down the stairs and a few steps out into the yard. Everyone present watched Lucian as he moved to the folder, opened it and began to examine the contents. As Lucian read, Dumitra, Nadja and Petru walked out of the house and moved down the steps into the front yard. They were also fixated on Lucian and the folder he studied. He perused its contents for a little more than a minute before addressing Cassidy with a playful expression.
“I don’t suppose you’re willing to come inside and discuss this?”
“No,” Cassidy replied with a frown and shaking her head. “I think I’ll stay out here in the open air.”
With a hint of a smile on his face, Lucian nodded his head to express his understanding. He then considered his next words carefully.
“If I’m not mistaken, this is a NYPD case file.”
“That’s exactly what it is,” Cassidy responded without hesitation.
Lucian wondered about her reason for the criminal case file. In his mind, the creation of such a file seemed to conflict with her presence there. As he reflected on these points, the other vampires began to filter out of the house and into the front yard.
“It looks as if you’ve named Cristiãn as a suspect in an allegation of—fraud,” Lucian said haltingly and with a puzzled expression.
“That’s exactly what I did,” Cassidy reportedly decisively.
Once again Lucian paused to study the contents of the folder a little more. As he did, the last of the nineteen vampires moved out into the front yard to better hear what was being said. They were just as confused and curious about Cassidy’s presence as Lucian. It made no sense to them that she sought them out without any backup. That question is what drew them out of the house.
“What do you want, Detective Tremaine?” Lucian sternly asked.
Cassidy took a deep breath to prepare herself for what she was about to say. She gave Cristiãn an anxious look as she did, then she launched into her explanation.
“You and I have similar concerns,” Cassidy announced and then paused for effect. “You want to stay hidden, and I don’t want a thousand of you bloodsuckers crawling all over my city,” Cassidy declared with firmness before pausing for effect once again. “That case file is assigned to me. No one else has reason to open it. I suspended the investigation when I put it in the computer. Cold cases exist in the tens of thousands, and this crime is too small to warrant the attention of anyone else. Precinct captains don’t like to waste resources investigating minor cold case crimes.”
Cassidy paused to give everyone time to assimilate everything she had said so far.
“Fraud cases have a six-year statute of limitations. So, if no new piece of evidence pops up, it will time out of the system. But before that happens, I will put a new one in the system. And before that one times out, I’ll put another one in the system—and so on, and so on. Are you seeing how this works?”
Cassidy paused for comments; there were none.
“Now, if something untoward were to happen to David Burrell—if he turned up murdered or if someone reported him missing—then the investigating officer would have to put his name in the system and that will bring up this case file.”
Cassidy hesitated for effect and pointed to the file in Lucian’s hands. All eyes and ears were on her. A new hope began to well up in Nadja in reaction to every word that Cassidy spoke.
“By the same token, if something were to happen to me, then all of my case files will be assigned out to other detectives. And as a matter of course, they will go through each of them—one at a time.”
Cassidy paused again and scanned the many faces looking back at her. She then settled her eyes back on Lucian and continued.
“Now you might think that deleting a case file from the NYPD’s database is an easy thing for a vampire to do; but it isn’t. The system is setup to process case files out. No one has the authority to delete a case file. If anyone tried to delete a case file, the attempt would draw attention to it. And even if you succeeded, the NYPD criminal database is periodically backed up. The file would simply be restored.”
“Are you toying with us, Detective?” Lucian growled at Cassidy.
“I’m getting your attention,” Cassidy returned with defiance.
“Well, you’ve got it, Detective,” Lucian grumbled. “What do you want?”
“I want two things,” Cassidy groused with a flash of anger. “I don’t want to hear about anymore vampire murders. Not here. Not anywhere. If I do, that dossier goes out to a couple dozen high level government officials.”
Cassidy stopped to scowl at the assembly of faces in front of her. It was important to her that they knew she was serious. She waited and watched to see if there were any questions or reactions to what she had just said. After a short pause, Lucian ventured a question.
“And the second thing?”
Cassidy turned her eyes back to Lucian with a grim expression. She took another deep breath then began to reply to her second point.
“I want justice for Angela Lindstrom, Zachary Bowman, Linda Vaughn, Eric Hayward, Jacqueline Kim, Heather Kaplan, Amy Reyes, Diane Ressler, Luis Moreno and my partner; Detective Alan Mercer.”
There was a sudden silence in response to Cassidy’s demand. All of the vampires were in shock. They looked around at each other as though seeking instructions on how to react. After a moment of silent reaction, all eyes came to rest on Razvan and Dumitra.
“She’s insane!” Razvan exclaimed with an amazed expression. “If anything happens to us, that dossier goes public.”
Lucian held Razvan’s gaze for a long moment, then he turned his attention back to Cassidy.
“We can’t do that,” Lucian insisted impassively. “And neither can you if you’re serious about not wanting a thousand vampires living in your city.”
“He’s bluffing,” Cassidy disputed with defiance.
“You can’t listen to her,” Dumitra yelled with anger. “She’s just trying to protect Cristiãn.”
Lucian had just started to ponder both sides of this argument when Cassidy began her counter response.
“Think about it, there’s no way they would give that information to a non-vampire. If they did, they run the risk of that mortal telling others and exposing themselves along with you. And if they turned a mortal into a vampire and gave that file to him or her, then that vampire would have no reason to go public with the information. They’re bluffing!”
Lucian began to ponder Cassidy’s argument. Razvan noticed his concentration and quickly reacted with a retort.
“You can’t listen to her,” Razvan shouted. “She’s guessing.”
Lucian considered Razvan’s words for a moment, and then turned to address Cassidy.
“It’s a gamble that we can’t take.”
“Well, you’re just going to have to gamble that one of us is bluffing,” Cassidy insisted while raising her tablet back over her head. “And you need to do it now.”
Lucian was instantly taken aback by her demand. He stared at Cassidy for several seconds with a look of disbelief on his face. He then turned his attention around and scanned the faces behind him.
“You can’t be considering this,” Razvan blurted out with a look of incredulity.
Lucian took a moment to consider Razvan’s response as he stared at him with a bewildered expression.
“Lucian,” Nadja called out with alarm in her voice. “You know what Razvan and Dumitra’s plans are. This is a chance to stop that from happening.”
“This is no chance,” Dumitra screamed at Nadja before turning her attention back to Lucian. “If you kill us, you kill yourselves.”
Lucian ignored Dumitra’s outburst. He had already considered the possibility of what she suggested. It was the possibility that Cassidy was right that dominated his thoughts right now. He had no reason to consider taking this risk before. Now that he was facing an either-or decision, his mind frantically searched for some clue that Cassidy was right. Shortly he decided that there was no way to know for sure. He then turned to his mate and called for her vote.
Elisabeta was the first to vote in Cassidy’s favor. One-by-one, Lucian looked to the others for their vote on which argument they favored. In the end, Stefan, Helga, Eugen, Laurentius and Roxana were the only ones that voted against Cassidy and her demand. Razvan, Dumitra and Cristiãn had no say in the vote. Lucian casted no ballot because the outcome was already decided with the last vote that came to him. Elisabeta, Augustus, Iona, Radu, Flavia, Adrianna, Sorin, Petru and Nadja had already cast their votes unfalteringly in Cassidy’s favor. At the end, Razvan and Dumitra gazed at the other vampires in disbelief.
“Stefan,” Lucian called after a moment of silence.
Stefan looked to Lucian and saw in his expression what he was being called on to do. He hesitated to move; the vote did not play out the way he would have preferred. But then he turned back to the house and setoff in haste.
“No!” Razvan protested as he searched for an escape.
An instant after voicing his objection, Razvan and Dumitra were tackled to the ground. Augustus, Eugen and Petru held Razvan while Iona, Adrianna and Nadja held Dumitra down. Razvan and Dumitra were not able to break free from three of their own kind. They raged, growl and made demands to be let go, and then defiance turned into pleas for mercy when Stefan returned with the sword.
Cassidy watched this go forward without any sign of pity or remorse, but it was a façade. She did not want to show weakness or a lack of resolve. It was not the death of Razvan and Dumitra that she wanted. She would have preferred to see them arrested and tried for their crimes. Sending someone to their death as a matter of choice was not something she was comfortable with. It was too much of a conflict with her sworn duty as a police officer, but she believed it was something that had to be done for two reasons. The first reason she felt they had to die was because the secret of their existence could not be contained if they were arrested. The second reason was because she wanted to see the other vampires do what she told them to do.
Minutes after the vote, the deed was done. A reluctant Stefan brought the sword down across Razvan’s neck first. His head fell away after one clean stroke. Dumitra followed the same fate. The other vampires watched in silence. When they both were dead, the remaining vampires seemed to move a step back in a display of reverence. Cassidy watched all of this in an almost statuesque silence. She held her position until Lucian turned around to face her.
“Okay, Detective Tremaine, the die is cast,” Lucian announced solemnly.
Cassidy returned Lucian’s stare for a couple of seconds before responding to his remark.
“Stay away from me, and stay away from my family,” Cassidy insisted with a huff.
“Well, I think we should have a line of communication to avoid any confusion and to answer any questions you might have of us,” Lucian returned graciously.
Cassidy shifted her gaze to Cristiãn as a reaction to his statement.
“Excellent,” Lucian responded with a smile.
Cassidy turned her eyes back to Lucian and noticed that he had interpreted her look toward Cristiãn as the connection. She chose not to dispute his assumption even though it was not a conscious intent that turned her eyes on Cristiãn. Cassidy took a moment to mentally accept the decision before deciding to leave.
“I want my gun and my cellphone,” Cassidy demanded.
Lucian and the other vampires were confused by her request. Cristiãn quickly remembered that he had those items in his car.
“Oh,” Cristiãn exclaimed suddenly. “I have them.”
Cristiãn walked down to his car, parked last in the line of cars. He reached in on the passenger side and retrieved Cassidy’s cellphone and handgun from the glove compartment and then carried them to her. He stopped a foot away, extending them out to her.
At first, Cassidy was reluctant to return Cristiãn’s gaze. She focused her eyes on the gun and cellphone in his hands. When Cristiãn stopped, she took a deep breath then retrieved her handgun and holstered it without ever looking up. She then picked took her cellphone with her eyes still directed down at Cristiãn hands. She examined it and saw that four calls had come in since she last saw it. After noting the calls, she inserted the phone in the inside pocket of her blazer. She hesitated a moment, and then she looked up at Cristiãn. They looked into each other’s eyes for several seconds with rueful expressions.
“Are you going to be okay?” Cassidy asked with concern.
“Are you worried about me, Detective Tremaine?” Cristiãn returned with a sly smile.
Cassidy paused for several seconds to consider the question and the person who asked it. For an instant, she considered giving an honest answered, but her pride soon overruled that idea.
“No.”
Cassidy promptly turned about and climbed into her car. She paused briefly to consider Cristiãn’s face one last time. Then she put her car in gear and drove away.
ns216.73.216.13da2
and then Add to home screen.