Jason

He slept badly that night, and not just because Gideon was on his mind. When morning came, so would McGellan. It wasn't as if the entire future of vampirekind would be decided today, but there was a hell of a lot riding on this meeting, and that was enough to make anyone nervous.

McGellan had seemed pretty neutral on the subject of vampire rights, but that wouldn't necessarily play in their favour, and Karl Kendrick was open about his dislike for vampires. He wouldn't have any interest in what was fair for them.

Jason was halfway through dressing when the door opened and Renie and Roux walked in, both looking subdued.

Any other time Jason might have teased them about walking in, or declared mock-outrage that they hadn't knocked first, but this wasn't a day for jokes.

His girls were scared – he could see in their eyes.

If vampires were forced out of the Houses and onto the streets, Renie and Roux were the most at risk. It would be decades before they built up the same resistance to the sun as the older vampires. Jason didn't want them to live in fear like that. They didn't deserve it.

Wordlessly, he hugged them, squashing them both against his chest.

"Good thing we don't need to breathe anymore," said Renie, her voice muffled.

She tried to smile when Jason released them, but it didn't meet her eyes.

"I'm delighted to see you both, as ever, but what are you doing here? Why aren't you with Edmond and Ludovic?" Jason asked.

"We didn't want you to go to the meeting by yourself," Roux said.

Jason's heart melted into a squishy little puddle. His girls could have gone with their boyfriends but they hadn't because they thought he needed them more, because he didn't have anyone else to go with.

"Do we have to go now?" he said.

"Probably sooner rather than later. Ysanne wants us there before McGellan arrives."

"I'd better get dressed then."

Roux managed a smile, eyeing his bare chest. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe we could use some eye-candy at this meeting."

Jason promptly put both hands over his nipples. "Greedy wench! You have your own eye-candy."

Despite how serious today was, a dreamy look came into Roux's eyes. "Yeah, that's true. And he is delicious."

Jason couldn't argue with that.

The girls waited while he threw on a shirt, and quickly styled his hair, nerves twisting and churning in his stomach. He almost felt like he was preparing for battle.

"Are you okay?" Renie asked.

"Me?" He gave a short laugh. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

She lowered her eyes, and Jason fought the urge to hug her again.

For a few moments, it had seemed that they could joke today, after all, but that was over now. The nerves were back, making Jason feel vaguely ill. So much depended on today, and there were so many ways it could all go wrong.

He took his friends' hands, holding them as tightly as he could, telling them, without words, that he would always be here for them. No matter what.

Edmond, Ludovic, and Gideon were waiting for them at the top of the stairs, and Jason experienced a bolt of déjà vu so strong it almost physically rocked him.

Before everything had gone wrong, before Jason had seen the darker side of Belle Morte, he had been a blithely happy donor, content to spend his days feeding vampires, lounging around the mansion, and attending glamorous televised balls.

For a fleeting moment, he'd almost felt like he was going to one of those balls, and he actually looked down the stairs, checking that no photographers were waiting at the bottom.

But no, of course they weren't. Those days were over now.

Edmond and Ludovic kissed Renie and Roux, while Gideon and Jason awkwardly eyed each other.

Despite everything he'd thought yesterday, about how it might not be such a good idea to get involved with a vampire, his heart started beating double-time when he saw Gideon, and then he looked away, embarrassed, knowing that Gideon could hear it.

It wasn't just that Gideon looked especially scrumptious today – although he did, dressed all in black, highlighting the marble paleness of his skin and the honey gold of the hair that curled around his ears.

Simply seeing him brought out this reaction in Jason, and it was the same every single time.

Gideon gestured to the stairs, and Jason realised the others were already halfway down. They had each other for support now, and Jason felt like the odd one out again, without anyone to lean on.

He'd have loved to take Gideon's hand and walk down those steps with him, but that wasn't going to happen. And, quite frankly, the upcoming meeting was far more important than his unrequited crush. He needed to stop thinking about Gideon and start thinking about what lay ahead.

Ysanne was already sitting at the head of the table in the dining hall, her posture ramrod straight. Edmond, Ludovic, Renie, Roux, Isabeau and Seamus sat around her, and the visiting vampires occupied the rest of one side. The other side was noticeably empty. Ysanne must want McGellan there, directly opposite the vampires.

Jason took a seat next to Roux, and Gideon sat on his other side. For once, the vampire's presence didn't make Jason shiver, if only because this really wasn't the time or place.

Even Ysanne looked tired. Her posture was too rigid, her face drawn too tight. This was weighing heavily on all of them, but perhaps her most of all. While Renie, Roux, and the kids were the most physically vulnerable of the vampires, Ysanne considered it her responsibility to keep everyone safe. In so many ways she blamed herself for everything that had gone wrong in her House, and if they lost the Houses, she would blame herself for that, too.

How much could one person take, Jason wondered, before they simply cracked under the pressure?

Ysanne was one of the strongest people he'd ever met, but even she wasn't indestructible.

If things didn't go in their favour today, if everything went from bad to worse – and it very well could do – Ysanne would never forgive herself.

"You all know how important this is," she said. "For years, we fought to maintain a steady balance with the human world, and now that balance has been disrupted, perhaps irreparably. If there is to be any chance of salvaging what we once had, then we must be prepared to welcome the Prime Minister and her associates, regardless of our personal feelings towards them." She looked steadily at each face in turn. "I am sure that none of us are happy about Karl Kendrick's impending presence, but we must conduct ourselves with grace and decorum. We must make it very clear that we are not the mindless animals many people now appear to think we are. I am not saying that it will be easy, but it is something we have to do."

She let her words hang in the air for a few beats before continuing. When she did, her voice was quieter, more subdued, a vocal reflection of the expressions on everyone's faces.

"I truly do not know what is going to happen today, but if McGellan sees fit to evict us from our Houses, if she chooses to strip me of my role as Lady of Belle Morte, then know that it will change nothing. I will still fight to protect you all to the very best of my abilities."

No one said anything, but Jason was keenly aware of a shift of atmosphere, a silent swelling of emotion coming from everyone sitting here – even the visitors. None of them were related by blood, but they had formed a family nonetheless, and now that family was under threat. No matter what happened, no matter how bad things got, they would look out for and protect each other.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Isabeau gazing at Ysanne. Her face churned with emotion – love, respect, regret, hurt. Jason's eyes pricked with tears, and he looked down, trying to blink them away.

The inhabitants of Belle Morte were bonded by loss and grief and pain. They had fought and bled side by side. They had sacrificed and suffered and endured, and they would continue to endure.

They would not be beaten.

They would not be torn apart.

Seamus must have got word that McGellan and the others were arriving; he listened to someone on the other end of his radio, then whispered into Ysanne's ear. The vampires in the room could probably hear every word, but Jason was stuck with human hearing.

Ysanne nodded and Seamus left the room.

Moments later, the noise of the protestors swelled – Seamus must have opened the front door. The incoherent sounds of hatred made Jason shiver. He wasn't a vampire, but the people out there wouldn't care about that. They'd lump him in with his friends, regardless of his human status.

Minutes ticked by – presumably while McGellan and co. navigated the crowd and the gates –and no one said a word. The air in the dining hall felt thick and heavy, suffocating, and Jason resisted the urge to fidget.

He saw Renie clutch Edmond's hand, and saw Edmond look down at her, his eyes bright with love. He didn't have to reassure her with words; just being there was enough.

Jason didn't have anyone's hand to hold, so he twisted his hands in his lap, trying to work out the fear and frustration knotting him up inside.

All this talk of sticking together was great, but talk was easy.

The reality of trying to stick together if they were on the streets, with a lot of people out for their blood, would be infinitely harder.

Jason desperately wanted to believe that things wouldn't come to that, but he just didn't know. He wanted to stay positive, but at the same time he was afraid of lulling himself into a false sense of security. If the worst happened, he needed to be prepared for it.

He looked around the rest of the room.

Ysanne sat like a statue at the head of the table, back straight, face expressionless. Renie still clutched Edmond's hand like he was a lifeline in a stormy ocean. Gideon stared down at the table, his eyes troubled. Kara watched the entryway like a hawk, her gaze hard and cold.

Jason hoped she remembered Ysanne's warning about everyone behaving themselves. Kara had come to help, but part of that meant toeing the line that Ysanne had laid down.

Seamus came back into the room. Jason tried to read his expression, but Seamus's face was vampire-blank.

He stood to one side, and silently indicated the empty side of the table.

McGellan was the first into the room. Of course Jason already knew what the Prime Minister looked like, but she was much taller in the flesh: a hard stick of a woman, with greying hair worn in a no-nonsense style, dressed in a charcoal trouser suit. Her eyes roved over the table as she took her seat, but she said nothing, and her expression didn't change. She hadn't mastered the perfect blankness of a vampire mask, but it wasn't far off.

Karl Kendrick and Sharon Davis followed, taking seats on either side of her. Davis was McGellan's physical opposite – short and round, with long, dyed-blonde hair that she wore pinned back above her ears. The style didn't suit her.

Kendrick – Jason narrowed his eyes. He'd looked the guy up before, knowing that he was a key voice in the anti-vampire crowd. Kendrick was tall and good-looking, with a jaw-line that could cut concrete and a smile that could dazzle a room. Physically, he was the type that usually made Jason melt, but when Kendrick wasn't smiling, his eyes looked like bullet holes. He could turn on the charm at any time, but when it was switched off, when the real Kendrick was in play, then suddenly he wasn't so pretty. His face was too cold, too hard, too utterly lacking in compassion.

His eyes lingered on Jason, and though there was no open hostility on his face, there was something icy in his stare, something Jason didn't like or trust.

Jason swallowed and looked away.

He was vaguely aware of Ysanne introducing everyone, but it took him a moment to pull himself back into the room. Kendrick was no longer looking at him, but Jason still felt the imprint of those cold eyes.

"I assume you are aware that a lot of people view you in an extremely negative light at this moment in time," said McGellan, cutting right to the chase. Her voice was deep and brisk.

"I know that a portion of the population is calling for us all to be punished for the crimes of the few. They are calling for the permanent dismantlement of the donor system. They are calling for us to be evicted from our Houses, and the Houses themselves to be repurposed," Ysanne said.

"And what do you have to say in response?" McGellan asked.

"Frankly, such demands are absurd. These Houses were built for us, for our safety, and I fail to see why we are being called to bear the punishment for our enemies."

"They were built for you as long as you kept to human law. Which you haven't," Kendrick said.

Ysanne stared coolly back at him. "Explain."

"The donor system is based on the understanding that the donors in question will be safe as long as they are inside this House. But they weren't, were they? How many of them died while under your care?"

"What happened was tragic, but –"

"Those kids were your responsibility, weren't they?" Kendrick interrupted Ysanne.

"Yes."

"And you didn't save them."

Ysanne's lips tightened. "No."

Kendrick spread his hands, as if his case was already rested.

Renie threw him the filthiest of filthy glares.

Ysanne continued to meet his gaze. "Let me ask you something, Mr Kendrick. As an MP, do you consider yourself responsible for the people in your country?

"These situations not comparable," Kendrick said.

Ysanne smiled thinly. "Indulge me."

A beat of silence paused where vampire and man just stared at each other. Then Kendrick smiled. It looked tight and forced.

"To a certain extent, yes, I do," he said.

"And yet crimes happen all over England. Innocent people are murdered by other human beings. Do you hold yourself personally responsible for all of those deaths?"

Kendrick narrowed his eyes. "It isn't the same thing."

"Isn't it? What happened here was beyond my control. There is nothing I would not do to go back in time and change it, but I cannot. I will never forget the deaths that occurred as a result of the power coup within this House, but I did not kill those people."

"They were your responsibility," Kendrick insisted.

"We are immortal, not omnipresent. Etienne Banville and Jemima Sutton decided they wanted to seize power from the vampire Council, and they were willing to do anything to succeed. They acted entirely independently of this House and what it represents. We did everything we could to stem further loss of life, but we cannot bring back those who have already died. I do not believe that we should all be punished for the actions of two renegades, any more than you should be punished for every human-on-human crime that occurs in this country," Ysanne said.

"It's not just Jemima and Etienne though, is it? Have you forgotten about Roger DeSanti?"

The room seemed to grow colder at the mere mention of his name.

Roux visibly stiffened.

"No one in this room would ever forget that man or what he did," said Ysanne, her voice like ice. "Are you suggesting that we all bear the blame for his crimes, too?"

Kendrick shrugged.

"You realise that we're the ones who stopped him, right?" said Roux, her voice quivering with emotion.

Jason's heart ached for her.

DeSanti had kidnapped, murdered, and turned her, and now Kendrick was suggesting that she herself be punished for what he'd done. It was a wonder she was managing to keep it together.

"Not before he killed nine innocent kids," Kendrick countered.

"Your human police force didn't manage to stop that, either. They weren't even aware a dangerous paedophile was back in the city. And while we're on the subject, DeSanti killed me, too. Or am I not innocent enough to count?" Roux snapped.

Beneath the table Jason could see her hands shaking.

He wanted to hug her.

He wanted Ludovic to hug her.

He wanted anyone to hug her.

He also knew that's not what she wanted, not now.

Roux was hurting and furious, but she would not let herself fall apart, especially not in front of a heartless bastard like Karl Kendrick.

"You're supposed to be responsible for your vampires, as well as your donors," Kendrick said to Ysanne, completely ignoring Roux.

"Roger DeSanti is not and will never be one of my vampires," said Ysanne, her voice cracking like a whip. "He was turned illegally. I did not know about it, the Council did not know about it, and even Etienne did not know who DeSanti really was or what he would do with his newfound immortality. Again, as a politician, are you to be held responsible for everything that happens in this country? I think not."

Kendrick started to argue, but Davis straightened in her chair. "Enough," she said. "We are here to discuss the future of vampires, not to throw blame around."

"Their future is dependent on their crimes," Kendrick said.

Ysanne didn't rise to the bait. "Prime Minister," she said to McGellan. "No one regrets the recent deaths more than I do, but proposing to evict us from our homes and turn us out into a hostile environment that we are ill-equipped to deal with is nothing short of barbaric."

"And it's against our human rights," Renie added, glaring at Kendrick.

An unpleasant smile curled around his lips, and suddenly Jason couldn't understand how he'd ever thought the man was attractive.

"But you're not human," he said. "You're vampires. You don't have human rights."

Jason's heart dropped like a stone.