The silence that followed wasn't just heavy.
It was… decisive.
Those words weren't a hypothesis.
They weren't a distant concern.
It was a fact.
If nothing was done… the vampires would be hunted down to the last one.
Elizabeth kept her eyes fixed on Kael for a few seconds, absorbing the weight of it all, while the four around her remained rigid, attentive, like soldiers awaiting orders that could define the future of their entire species.
Kael was the first to move.
Always.
He slowly uncrossed his arms and took a few steps, his feet crushing dry leaves with a low sound, almost insignificant in the face of the growing tension.
But there was no hurry in his movements.
There never was.
He stopped in the center of the small open space between the trees, his eyes scanning them all, one by one.
Assessing.
Calculating.
"First," he said, his voice calm and firm, "we need to stop reacting."
One of the vampires frowned slightly.
"Reacting…?"
Kael nodded.
