“Honestly, I was not thinking about it like that. I wasn’t purposely flying in the face of vampire law.”

“That was exactly what you were doing,” the leader said. “Couch it however you like, the fact is you broke the law.”

“I did so to protect the well-being and safety of an innocent woman.”

“A human woman,” the leader said with disdain.

“Yes. But she is an extraordinary human woman. And she is worth saving and able to be trusted with our secret.”

“What makes her so extraordinary?”

“She has the heart of a vampire. She is strong and clever, trustworthy and keen. She was able to kill a sycophant even before she knew exactly what it was.”

This sent murmurs up and down the committee table. There were five members of the committee—one of whom was Danton, a longtime friend of Rafe’s. But Rafe knew that his friendship with Danton would not serve him well in this instance. Danton would try to overcorrect his potential bias. His attempts to be fair would only end in difficulty for Rafe.

“So she knows how to kill a sycophant? That means she knows how to kill us.”

“Yes, she does. But anyone—any human—could figure out that cutting off our heads will do the trick. It isn’t that much of an intuitive leap.”

“So it is nothing special then, that she was able to kill the sycophant.”

Rafe clenched his hands into fists. He had walked right into that one.

“It is special because she was in the middle of being attacked by a creature she did not understand and yet kept her head enough to follow my instruction on how to kill the sycophant.”

“So you told her how to kill us?”

Frustration built inside of Rafe. This wasn’t going well at all. It didn’t seem to matter what he said, it was coming out all wrong and making both him and Renee look bad.

“I had no choice,” he said stiffly. “I was outnumbered three to one. I needed help. She was being attacked too. It was only fair that she be told how to save her own life.”

“Say that we accept that. How do we accept the fact that you did not use hypno on her and erase her memory afterward?”

“It wouldn’t have been fair to her. The sycophant that escaped warned me that they would keep coming after her until she was dead. Erasing her memory would have left her out there unprotected. She wouldn’t know she was being targeted and she wouldn’t know what to do to save her own life. I could not, in good conscience, let that happen.”

The committee exchanged a series of whispers amongst themselves.

“This woman, if she is so extraordinary, will have no trouble being vetted by us,” Danton said.

“I have faith in her. I have explained to her the process she will face. She is ready to prove herself worthy. She already knows that if she fails you will wipe her memory and leave her out in the cold. Although, I should warn you that if you do that I will use every resource at my disposal to see she is protected.”

“So you are not contrite in any way about any of this? You have broken the law, vampire.”

“I am aware of that. And I am not sorry to have done so. Given the same circumstances I would do the same thing. I know that many vampires look on humans as feeding stock, but I do not share that view. I see humans as innocent, intelligent, soulful creatures who are very much like ourselves.”

“Innocent creatures who murder, fall into the abyss of addiction, abuse and misuse one another, including their own offspring.”

“We, as a society, face similar issues.”

“Sycophants are not members of our society. They are lost to society,” Danton said.

“But they were once exactly like any law-abiding vampire. They made a choice using free will. The same free will given to humans who make similar choices. No society is perfect. Every society has its bad eggs. We may disassociate ourselves from the sycophants, but they are still a part of us. A shameful, degrading part of us, but a part nonetheless.

“I am begging you to spare her life. She and all of our other food sources are in danger. We are going to need humans and vampires alike to protect them. Renee is a police officer. She is trained to fight and use a weapon. She would be invaluable to us.”

“She is an officer of the law? Human law? And you think she is capable of maintaining such a difficult secret? It seems it would go against the grain of human law to keep our existence secret.”

“I can see where it might clash, but it is up to you to decide whether she has the wherewithal to face that challenge.”

“Yes. It is up to us. Not you. In the future you will come to us first before you reveal our existence to humans.”

“I assure you this was a special circumstance. It will not happen again.”

Rafe held his breath. This was when they would decide if he would face a tribunal.

“We must see if your judgment was worthy this time around. However, if she fails to meet the committee’s approval, there will be serious repercussions.”

“I understand that,” Rafe said, trying not to let his relief show. “I have every confidence in Renee.”

“Just how long have you known this woman?”

Rafe hesitated. “A few days,” he said somewhat honestly. It was more like forty-eight hours, but he was trying not to make it sound as reckless as it probably was.

“A few days?” The committee leader was aghast. “And after so short a time you think you can judge a person’s character?”

“I could judge her character after a single evening,” he said, confident in the assertion.

“She must be quite a woman indeed then. But we will be the judge of that.”

“Thank you,” Rafe said, giving the committee a short bow and exiting the room.

Once he was outside of the room and entering the elevator, he stepped back against the rear of the car and exhaled a slow, steady stream of breath. Now the rest was up to Renee. And even though he had portrayed confidence in front of the committee, he was afraid she wouldn’t pass muster. She was a strong-willed woman. She might clash with the equally strong-willed committee. That would be bad. The consequences were unthinkable. Not the consequences he would face, but the consequences she would face.

They would erase her memory without delay. She would leave that room with no knowledge of the past day. Perhaps even without knowledge of him altogether. It depended how deep they were going to go. The idea of her not knowing who he was made him more than a little sick to his stomach. He wanted her. For himself. He didn’t think it was right for them to take her away from him. He didn’t know what pulled him to her so strongly, but the pull was there all the same.