The roar of voices, shouts, camera flashes,all of it stayed on the other side of the wall, reduced to a muffled, distant bellow, as though a storm raged behind thick stone.
In the courtyard the air smelled of wet asphalt, gasoline, and cold night. The breeze was fresh, almost sharp after the stifling heat of the hall.
Streetlights burned dimly, throwing long shadows from the delivery trucks. Somewhere farther off sirens wailed,no longer distant, but very close now, insistent, like a pack that had caught the scent.
Ethan stepped first into the shadow between the vehicles, pressing his back against cold metal. Bruno slipped in after him soundlessly, still wearing the waiter's vest but no longer carrying himself like staff.
Flash emerged last, peeling off the white gloves on the move and stuffing them into his pocket, as though shedding someone else's skin.
A sleek shadow dropped silently from the ventilation opening above their heads. Bullet landed with two swift leaps and was already perched on Flash's shoulder. Her dark eyes glinted in the half-light; her tail flicked nervously from side to side.
"Good girl," Flash murmured, scratching behind her ear.
His voice was low, almost tender.
"Without you the lights wouldn't have cut out so perfectly."
Bullet huffed proudly, as though she understood every word.
Flash pulled a compact transmitter from an inside pocket and pressed the button.
The radio answered with a crackle.
"Gideon, copy."
Several seconds of silence.
Then a calm, slightly tired voice:
"I see you on the exterior cameras,had to dig deep to crack them open.
All clear. Move north.
And try not to get into trouble again."
Flash gave a short, crooked smile.
"First mission complete.
We gave them one hell of an evening."
"Not good," Gideon corrected.
There was no smile in his tone.
"You gave them a thrashing.
They're already turning on each other,someone's trying to kill the cameras and silence the reporters."
A heavy, loaded pause hung for a moment.
"What's the reaction? What are people saying?" Ethan asked, eyes fixed on the brightly lit windows of the hall.
"International channels are boiling. The signatures on those protocols are being dissected live.
Human agencies are moving in officially.
Vampire clans outside the city are calling emergency meetings. Their little political world is cracking at the seams."
Flash looked at the brightly lit windows,shadows still flickering inside, flashes, silhouettes.
"Then it's definitely time to go underground."
"At least two weeks," Gideon said dryly.
"Their first priority: find the source of the problem.
Their second: you, Ethan,especially you. They've started suspecting the newcomer."
"Let them look," Ethan said calmly.
"They will," Gideon's voice hardened.
"And very aggressively."
The connection cut.
Inside the building, meanwhile, everything was shifting into a new, far more dangerous phase.
On stage the illusion of a polite society evening had vanished. When the archives stopped spinning and the screen froze on international network logos, Corvin Kane burst from a side passage.
Face pale, eyes blazing with fury. He moved fast,almost aggressively,elbowing through the crowd.
"Get out of my way!" he hissed through clenched teeth.
"This is still my stage."
But before the steps a line of Anna's supporters had already formed,young vampires, several ancients, those who had made their choice.
They didn't attack; they simply stood shoulder to shoulder. A living cordon sealing the stage.
Anna stood at the center, microphone in hand, spine straight, chin high.
Corvin tried to step forward.
One of her people extended an arm in front of him.
"Not now."
Corvin's eyes narrowed in irritation.
"Have you forgotten who I am?"
"No," the vampire answered calmly.
"That's exactly why we're standing here."
Whispers spread through the hall.
The whispers grew into a low roar.
This was no longer a hidden conflict.
This was the largest open fracture among the vampires.
Elizabeth spun sharply toward the remaining technical crew pressed against the walls.
"Kill the broadcast completely!" she ordered, voice icy.
"Sever every internal channel!
Now!"
"But the international mirrors" the technician began, voice trembling.
"I said completely!" Her tone cut like a blade.
"Even if you have to rip the cables out by hand!"
Several screens in the hall went dark. But the central feeds continued running remotely,beyond her reach.
Elizabeth pressed her lips into a thin white line.
"Find whoever can shut down this slander," she added quieter, almost a whisper.
"And bring me the people responsible for this mess…"
On stage Corvin was still trying to break through.
"This is manipulation!" he shouted toward the crowd, voice cracking.
"You believe a human? You believe these files?!"
Anna raised her hand for silence. The gesture was commanding but calm.
"We believe facts," she said clearly, loud enough for the entire hall to hear.
"And if you wish to speak, do it after the investigation.
Under oath. In front of everyone. It wasn't me who broke our own laws…"
"You have no right!" Corvin yelled.
"I do," her voice grew firmer.
"Because I am now taking responsibility.
For everything.
And that is why I am becoming the mayor of this city," Anna declared loudly.
The words sliced through the air more powerfully than any shout.
Part of the hall erupted in applause.
The other half froze in stunned silence at the sheer audacity.
The key figures turned their eyes toward Gérard, waiting for his decision.
He stood in the shadow of the spotlight,motionless, as though carved from stone. Face impeccably calm. Only the fingers of his right hand slowly,very slowly,curled again into a fist.
That evening, the old order ceased to exist.
Meanwhile, outside the lights and cameras, Ethan, Flash, and Bruno were already climbing into an unremarkable delivery van. Bullet settled on the dashboard, staring toward the building, tail twitching nervously.
The sirens outside were now screaming at full volume.
Shouts, pounding boots, and a very furious vampire elite.
Flash looked straight at Ethan,no smile.
"Now the real hunt begins,especially for our heads…"
Ethan cast one last glance at the hall windows.
There, amid the camera flashes, Anna stood beside Gérard speaking into a microphone,calm, composed, as though this entire hell had been part of her plan.
"Let it begin," he said quietly. "I need to get to Maria,any way I can."