Born without an expiration date

Twenty-three

LEANDA

I had spent most of my time helping Quinn with the preparations for tonight, meaning that I had left Demitri and Etna to meet and greet people. Walking out in front of everyone was a little bit of a shock, we had not expected this many to come. Indeed, we had not invited this many! It seems word of mouth may have played a part, or maybe some were travelling together when they got the message. Either way, I was delighted to see such a turn out. I took to the stage, well more a little platform that had been quickly erected when Quinn realised how many were here, he wanted everyone to see and hear me.

"Thank you all so much for coming, I am glad so many of you could join us. We are here first and foremost for a briefing of the current situation and what we know up to now. This will not be a pleasant conversation so any young ones among us are welcome to leave the room if they wish." I paused here, allowing anyone who wanted to, the time to leave - no one did.

"Afterwards I will answer any questions to the best of my ability. Then I would like to discuss strategy ideas, open to any suggestions."

I surveyed the room, no one seemed like they had a problem with the plan. I took a deep breath and launched into my speech, no sugar coating, I told everyone what we know - pausing every now and then to allow for everyone's reactions.

"I will now pass over to Quinn, as he has a bit more to add, which we have only learnt of today."

"Thank you," he took the stage to address everyone. The looks he was given did not go unnoticed. I clenched my fists and stood back - lashing out like I wanted to would not help anyone right now.

"We have an informant inside the lab, giving us whatever information they can find. As of yesterday, I can confirm that the total number of Vampires being help is one thousand, three hundred and four. Unfortunately we could only get hold of a list of four hundred names. I will leave this list for everyone to look at, I know many of you may be worried about friends and loved ones." There was a nod of appreciation. "The testing seems to be proving fruitless, however this is not really good news. We do not know what the next stage of testing will be. I will pass back over to Leanda to discuss plans now".