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“Isn’t that a World War I uniform? It’s so faded and… but I’m sure it is!” A third reporter cried as he leaned in to study what one corpse was wearing. “This is someone’s grandfather or great-grandfather! My God…”

“How is this possible? Are the dead rising from the graves to prepare for the end times?” Another reporter asked as she fingered the cross around her throat nervously.

“The dead shall rise…” another one whispered.

“But I don’t believe in God,” another stated.

“There must be a rational explanation for this,” another insisted.

“If there’s an answer, he has it!” A reporter pointed at Daemon.

Julian and Christian made their way through the Vampires--who were just as awe-struck as the humans in many ways--to Arcius, Elgar, Seeyr, Sophia, Fiona and Rajani. Elgar--who was stroking Eyros’ skull--did not look up at them, but he smiled.

“I told you that I would keep them safe. My Whisper was most effective,” Elgar stated.

“You made them fight one another. That was incredible, Elgar,” Julian told him, effusive with praise.

Elgar pinked.

“Thank you for looking after us, Elgar.” Christian patted his Blood Brother’s nearest arm.

Elgar’s eyes looked a little misty.

“Meffy wants you,” Sophia said as she handed the very sleepy battle cat to Christian who dutifully took him, kissed him between the ears, and cradled the kitten in his arms. “I think he wants Balthazar.”

“They’ll have plenty of time together as Balthazar recovers,” Sophia told him off-handedly.

“Recovers?!” Christian’s voice went sharp with concern.

Sophia blinked at him. “Oh, don’t worry, it already happened and he’ll be fine. Actually, he’ll be better than that.”

She turned and started heading back to Seeyr.

Christian called after her, “Wait! I need to know what happened!”

But his voice was drowned out as there was a thunderous roar as lightning crackled across the sky and huge bolts of it struck the earth all around the city. The light showed that the storm that Daemon had summoned was huge. Julian blinked as white “boxes” appeared before his eyes from the sudden bright lights. The thunder silenced everyone. All eyes were on Daemon and everyone was as still and silent as the dead.

Arcius’ hand thumped down on Julian’s left shoulder. Julian glanced over at the Confessor. There were unabashed tears running down his cheeks. They were tears of joy, not sadness or pain. His gaze remained upon Daemon as he squeezed Julian’s shoulder.

“He is so much more than I ever imagined,” Arcius whispered hoarsely.

“Yeah, he is,” Julian agreed.

Fiona was staring at Daemon too. She was not weeping as Arcius was, but there was this look on her face. A look of trust that Julian had never seen there before. She was smiling softly at the Vampire King. She no longer had any doubts about him or his rule. She was certain that this was best.

“So many things are going to change,” Rajani whispered.

“Oh, yes, dear,” Seeyr told her. “But there will be so many good changes this time around that you won’t mind so much. You’ll be busier than ever.”

Rajani laughed. “Revealing ourselves to humans? Interfacing with people who never believed in us? Oh, yes, we will be!”

There was another rumble of thunder and crack of lightning. The dead levitated off of the ground. Julian’s head jerked to the side at their movement. But this was not Kaly’s doing. There was no attack coming. There were gasps of awe and moans of terror from the humans. The light in their eyes--the light of Kaly--grew bright and hot. Julian could feel Kaly fighting to take back control even as Daemon used both their gift and the Ashyr Bloodline gift to keep the dead where he wanted them. Julian felt a pull and the light in those eyes streamed toward Daemon. Balls of light impacted Daemon’s chest and were absorbed.

The dead hung limp in the air. They were possessed no more and were just corpses becoming one with the earth again.

There was another rumble of thunder and more of that red lightning struck the ground all around the city. Julian knew that it didn’t hit anyone or harm anything. But it left something behind. For a moment, Julian saw those tendrils that had come out of the ground for Daemon--and for their lovemaking--in Daemon’s mind rising from the dirt here. They were nodes of power he would feed from later. Now they gave him strength to send the dead back to where they belonged.

Julian’s mouth fell open as the hundreds of dead all floated back to their graveyards. Soon, they all disappeared from sight, even the bones of the disassociated skeletons--went back too. Only the humans and Vampires remained. The living and the undead.