“Many, many years ago, you gave me the exact same look you’re giving me now. Huts were ablaze, and the air was thick with smoke. Women were shrieking, and husbands were dying, yet amidst all that chaos, you stood there, defiant and fearless. Oh, how I thought I could break your spirit back then, and I spent years trying to do just that because I hadn’t yet realized that, like a Phoenix, you would rise from the ashes of your village, and you’d end up being a woman to be reckoned with.

“You bartered yourself to brilliance, Bennett, rising again and again to any challenge I set before you, and no matter what fate had in store, you continued to emerge from the embers, stronger, fiercer…smarter. You rose to every occasion, just like you did tonight, with no other motive than to do what was right, which is why I’m offering you my wrist. Originals may be revered for who we are, Bennett, but reverence belongs to you as well.”

Max took hold of Bennett’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “For centuries, vampires have been wary of our daywalker counterparts. An amalgam made up of fear and jealousy, it existed within all of us. Trepidation that your kind would annihilate us when the sun was high, and envy, brutal and raw envy, for I can’t even begin to tell you what I’d give to feel the sun on my face again. But tonight, Bennett, tonight you eradicated our doubts and worries by being the same woman who stood up to me in that burning village. And more importantly, your daywalkers proved themselves equally as righteous. Yannick and the others reported back to me earlier. Their fighters, too, were joined by a handful of warriors dressed like ninjas, and because of that, I’m told it wasn’t even a contest.”

“I’m glad they could help,” Bennett said, her tone bordering on apathy.

Max let out a hearty guffaw. “Oh, dear Lord, woman. You have no bloody idea what you’ve done. Do you?” he said, squeezing Bennett’s hand again. “Suffice it to say, those across the pond had forces far greater than we did tonight. But, by the bravery your daywalkers showed, by the fact they came out of hiding to fight alongside those who, in the past, captured, tortured, and even killed their kind, your daywalkers saved the lives of my kind. If just one of those monsters had gotten loose, Bennett, if just one had been captured by mortals, those like myself and…and like Polly and Angelique and hundreds of others would have been hunted down and destroyed, yet we all get to live another day…because of you.