Chapter 63: Chapter 63: Hope Is A Weapon

The stampede starts almost immediately as the crowd scatters, terrified Brights running from me as much as if I'd killed their leader after all. Ivan just stands there, staring at me, mouth hanging open now that his shriek of horror has faded into the night. He moves at last to reach for me, touch my hand.

"What have you done to me?" Gone is the make-believe voice, the affectation of a vampire he must have concocted from a variety of pop-culture icons. Instead he is just a young man, a little thin, with a nose too long for his face and a new twitch in his right knee I'm sure comes from stress.

Vander gently moves the young man back. "She's given you hope."

Ivan shakes his head, looks down at himself. "Where has it gone?"

Vander has his hands on me, is pulling me backward even as Ivan's hands begin to shake, his face collapsing into grief.

"What have you done?" His scream carries as he turns and stumbles to his knees.