Page 48 of Failed State

The room is quiet for a moment as Sydney sucks in a huge breath, closing her eyes and staying very still for a few moments. When her eyes open again, there’s no trace of the emotion that was on her face prior.

“Finish your tale, vampire. Our food is getting cold and this night has become very tiring.”

Shutting down is never a good sign, but they have to know—I’m certain of it.

THE VAMPS BEHIND THE CURTAIN

SYDNEY

I don’t wantto feel bad for Sebastian because his kind left the other supernaturals to fend for themselves. Even if the vampires believed humans to be dangerous and untrustworthy, they aided them in rounding up all the other species in this country. They’ve all been living amuch better standardof living than damn near everyone else as a result. It’s not that they're out lending a hand to the suffering, either.

Vampires only care about their own, and often, not even that.

“When the virus hit, the Council had months of talks about what to do while the humans ran around fighting their own safety measures. Many supe races felt if they were too stupid to heed their own doctors, we shouldn’t intervene with our magic or more specialized technologies to save them. After all, many species go extinct on this floating rock and humans have been one of the biggest causes of that. Why not let nature cleanse the planet on her own?”

Rory rubs the back of his neck as he gives me a sheepish look. “Magic users and Fae definitely subscribed to that philosophy in large numbers in the US. They were overridden by the largenumbers of overseas contingents who work more closely with the populace.”

“Demons agreed that they would either save themselves or end up fulfilling their bargain, so we didn’t support the movement to reveal ourselves."

I groan, looking up at the ceiling with a heavy sigh. “As much as I despise them now, I would have argued with you before the camps. My father was part of the revelation movement immediately because he thought if everything was in the open, it would make us safer in the end.”

The vampire arches a brow. “Didn’t work out like that, did it?”

“You know it didn’t,” I growl softly. “Most of the early supporters of the Unveiling were killed in the First Sweeps byyourkind.”

He has the grace to look regretful, at least. After he scratches his chin, he rakes his teeth over his lower lip. I have a feeling I’m not going to like the next part of his tale. “Yes, they were. When the dissenting factions were overruled and the Unveiling was televised, it became clear to the vampiric elders around the world that it was an enormous mistake. If you remember, for a small amount of time, the humans who were saved with supernatural methods sang our praises.”

“They did,” Thad says softly. “I remember singing on TV and all these hospitals bragging about their supe workers doing miraculous interventions.”

Sebastian nods. “But the virus spread too quickly in the most densely populated cities and the death count climbed due to Taterman’s rhetoric… The tide turned on us all very quickly. His claim thatwebrought the virus in to get rid of the humans took the internet by storm. Within mere weeks, the world was on fire with infected humans and the anti-supe sentiment climbed. Bythe time that fool seemed to have this country fooled, my people were done with waiting.”

“So you abandonedeveryone? Women, children, elderly… all of them were killed in botched raids and in the first camps. How do you even sleep at night?”

His gaze narrows and he whips his head to glare at me. “I barely sleep and it’s not because I’m a vampireorbecause there were casualties of choices made by other species who outnumbered my own.”

Ooookay, then. I hit a sore spot.

“Your trauma isn’t mine to ask for, but I get it.”

We all look at Dante and he shrugs. “The timbre of his voice when he lashed out spoke of a deep, wrenching agony in his soul. None of us know him well enough to demand it be revealed, so I will honor his privacy until it is necessary to our survival."

“You’re surprisingly emotionally intelligent for a storm dragon,” Sebastian says, looking impressed. “Your kind are brash and blunt, with no use for touchy-feely emotional shit.”

The dragon rolls his eyes. “We would all be better off if we disposed of the stereotypes our communities, the humans, and the media have portrayed other supernaturals as. Much of it is based on bias and misinformation. Dragons are no less emotional than any other kind; don’t be an idiot.”

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I squeeze my eyes shut briefly then nod in agreement. “That’s probably a good idea. I have a lot of baggage from my insulated, myopic father to shed, and I’m sure everyone else does, too. We can’t work together if we don’t put all that shit in the trash and start fresh.”

“Syd, that’s the best thing you’ve said all day. I’m proud of you, sweet pea,” Huck tips his hat at me and I ignore the flutter in my stomach at his praise and handsome grin.

I hate when he does that good old boy Southern shit; it makes me feel so damn weird.

“I’d be happy to, if you’re still willing after this part,” Sebastian says. He waits for me to nod at him, and then continues. “As I said, our elders realized that this Pandora’s box couldn’t be resealed. Perhaps many years in the past, as we had in Europe when one of our kind rose to fame, but not in this global media age. Supernaturals were going to be hunted, as humans do when they scapegoat a race for their ails, and we had to decide what we would do to keep our people alive. The answer was simple to the oldest vamps—we would join the humans’ side and infiltrate their ranks by pretending to be on their side.”

“Wait a damned minute,” Thad snarls as he lets go of my hand and leans forward. “If that was true, they wouldn’t have joined the sweeps and killed people left and right. Stop trying to rewrite history so Sydney will like you.”

“For fuck’s sake, Calvin, let me finish!” The grouchy vampire rakes his hands through his hair, pushing off the wall to pace across the floor as he speaks. “I’m not saying we were heroes—though, I suspect the original intent of the vampiric conclave who made the decision was exactly that. However, as with every governing body, the wealthiest of the covens figured out how extremely profitable it was to ingratiate ourselves with the humans. The plan for the sweeps came along and instead of doing what I truly believe the elders planned to do—hide supes across the country—the local coven heads sent their enforcers and criminals to eliminate the threats to their money flow.”

I blink, looking at him in surprise. “You think they wanted to Anne Frank supes, but the rich dudes decided to kill anyone who might succeed in convincing humans to free us?”

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