Robert walked through the crowd, bypassing dancing people and flitting skirts. He picked up two glasses of whiskey and headed for the balcony. He knew that Jenna would be there, waiting for him. The strong feeling of deja vu grabbed Robert's mind as if this wouldn't be the first time this happened to him.

The woman stood on the balcony, showing her back to the arriving man. Her dark curly hair was in an elegant bun at the top of her head. Robert could see her back; the dress left it free and Robert thought he would see scars on her, then he shook his head. What scars? Jenna didn't have any scars on her back.

The deja vu told him that the girl would turn around any second now, she would smile at him and her smile would shine over the flickering lights of London behind and beneath her. And she did and she was just as beautiful as Robert thought or dreamed she would be.

Jenna's smile was tired.

'Ms Carano,' nodded Robert politely, even though there was nobody around out here, in the cold.

'Professor,' Jenna answered, picking up her skirt and bending her knee a little, in a mocking version of a curtsey. She grinned.

'You look amazing,' Robert said. The black dress' cleavage, short sleeves and the bottom of the skirt were translucent lace. On her waist was a slim red belt.

'I know,' Jenna sighed. 'You are not the only one who thinks that, apparently.'

'Funny you should mention,' said Robert, stepping beside her, leaning against the handrail. 'I wanted to ask: I hear that you are going on a date with His Highness?'

Jenna took one of the whiskeys and had a long sip.

'And he isn't even the only one hitting on me tonight,' she said. 'What can I say? As you said, I'm hot as Hell. So he asked me out. The biggest problem is, my Dad is already planning the wedding…'

'Brilliant…' murmured Robert. 'But why did you say yes, in the first place?'

'You should talk, all dancing around with Miss Vicky McGorgeous…' she gave him a sharp look.

'Are you jealous?' asked Robert in a surprised voice.

'Of course, I'm jealous, you moron,' snapped Jenna. 'She is like 12/10, tall and smart and you can have her for like two sentences she can quote.'

'That might be true,' nodded Robert. 'But I'm still not interested.'

'Neither am I in that royal idiot,' answered Jenna. She finished her drink and looked at Robert's. The man sighed and gave his glass to her. 'So, are we cool?' Jenna asked.

'Yes, I suppose we are,' said Robert. 'Although it's a shame I cannot kiss you now.'

Jenna turned around and looked at the thousands and thousands of tiny lights beneath them. The city was celebrating. In the last hour of the passing year, everyone looked into the new one hoping that it will be better. They always did, Robert thought. Or were they just celebrating the mere fact that they were still alive? Perhaps. He did, for sure. Especially after the past couple of months.

'It is a shame,' Jenna agreed, and stepped closer to Robert, so their sides touched.

'There you are!' came a high, affectionate voice behind them. They turned around. 'Jen, sweetheart, your father is about to give his speech, I…' he stopped as he realised that the girl wasn't alone. 'My apologies, I don't think we have met, Mister…' he was just as tall as Robert but very thin and somewhat nervous-looking. His pale, watery blue eyes looked over him with little interest.

'Professor,' corrected Robert with a fake-nice smile he learned from Jenna. The girl scoffed and tried to sell it as a sneeze. 'Professor Robert Montgomery, heir of the Montgomery lordship, doctor of magic, at your service. Bless you… Jen.'

She poked him in the ribs with her elbow.

'The pleasure is mine, Professor,' the other man said. 'I'm Richard, Duke of Kent. I've heard all of the good things you have done for this city, it's nice to know that the everyday folks are pulling their weight when it comes to a crisis.'

'Someone has to, while the rest are sleeping safe and sound,' said Robert, keeping the fake smile.

'Yes, well, erm… Jen, shall we?' he offered his arm to the girl, who gave a painful look to Robert, but accepted it.

'Mind if I tag along?' asked Robert. The Duke clearly did mind it, but the rules of social events and politeness dictated otherwise.

'Please, by all means, although it might be boring for you, politics, issues of the homeland, these things only interest us, the ones who are carrying the nation on our shoulders....'

The three of them left the balcony for the ballroom. The music had stopped already, and the little stage stood empty, apart from the lonely instruments and a microphone stand.

'I wonder if anyone asked the nation about the shoulders it wants to travel on,' said Jenna. Robert grinned, and Richard gave a high-pitched, annoying laugh.

'Jen, sweetheart, you are too pretty to worry about things like that. Let it be my problem.'

The girl's eyes sparked up in a sinister manner. Robert shook his head a little, as if he told her that the Duke wasn't worth the trouble. Jenna took a deep breath and let the thing go.

Don Sebastiano walked up to the stage, and he touched the microphone to check if it was on. It was.

'I hope every one of you is having a wonderful evening,' the Don said. 'We deserve it. God knows, we all deserve it. We are at the end of a dark and challenging year. Things happened in our beautiful city, things that should never happen. They failed us. The Mayor and the Government failed our police force, and the police had fallen when we needed it the most. If it wasn't for the brave men and women who stepped up in the hour of the need, some of us wouldn't be here today. I'd like to thank all of you, you brave, wonderful people, for everything you've done. You are the proof that it doesn't matter where we came from, if we work together, we can achieve anything. Thank you!' he took a little break while the polite clapping died out. 'But! We cannot just trust that these heroes will be here the next time we need them. In fact, we cannot ask them to be. Police should have protected us, and they should protect us the next time we need them. And our police need the city, the nation to protect it, so they can do the job they swore they would. So here I stand, on the dawn of the new year and I'm asking you: do we want another year like this one was? Or do we want to go ahead, be better, work together? You all know the answer. I promise you, I will be the leader leading you all two a better tomorrow. Thank you!'

Loud applause accompanied the Don as he walked away from the microphone, waving and nodding.

'As political speeches go, it was very simple,' said Duke Richard, as if anyone asked his opinion. 'But certainly powerful. I suppose he had to simplify it for the everyday folks… Either way, will you excuse me for a moment? I just need to have a word with Don Sebastiano,' and with that, he hurried away.

'I think I'm gonna kill him if he calls me "sweetheart" one more time,' said Jenna, looking after the Duke with a very dark glaze.

'I can't say I don't support the thought, but maybe let's just not kill anyone tonight,' Robert smiled.

'Then stay close,' Jenna asked. 'I need you to stop me.'

'Never been able to do such a thing, but I'd certainly give it a try,' he saw Vicky Walt walking towards them. 'Let's dance.'

'What?' asked Jenna surprised.

He took her hand and led her away from the incoming reporter. The band had started again after the speech with a slow song. Robert put one of his hands onto Jenna's waist and kept the other.

'I thought you said you don't know how to dance,' said the girl, looking up at him.

'I didn't,' Robert answered. 'Then I learned the basics, so I won't embarrass you here if we ever get a chance to have a dance.'

'That's… Nice,' said Jenna softly. 'When we get home, I will show you how much I appreciate it. Probably more than once.'

Robert grinned.

'Your father is watching,' he said a few seconds later.

'You really need to work on your sexy talk, Montgomery,' the girl shook her head. 'And it doesn't matter. The whole party is about how Montgomerys and Carano's can work together for the city, right? So here we are, together.'

'I'm fairly sure that our kind of "together" is not what he had in his mind…' said Robert. 'But maybe a single dance will be alright.'

Their only dance turned into two dances, then three. Then they took a little break by the bar. The Duke returned and demanded Jenna for the next song, but it never happened: midnight was afoot.

'Jen, sweetheart, how would you feel about a kiss when the countdown ends?'

There was an actual countdown, it had appeared on the big screen mounted on the wall, behind the stage. It started five minutes before twelve.

'As romantic as it is to plan a kiss,' the girl started, and Robert had to turn away to hide his grin, 'I think it might be a little too early for us. I like to take things slow.'

Robert scoffed and Jenna stepped on his foot. Richard nodded and agreed, although not really enthusiastically.

'There is nothing I want less than you feeling… forced,' he said with a little bow. Robert caught Jenna's look and knew that the girl was on the verge of saying something very inappropriate about how being "forced" wasn't always bad, so he decided to pitch in.

'There are only three minutes left until midnight, we should go and grab some champagne,' he said.

'Indeed,' the Duke nodded again. 'Let me take care of that. Be right back, Jen,' he gave an annoyed look to Robert and left.

'I don't think he likes me,' Robert noted.

'What tipped you off?' Jenna asked with an eye-roll.

Not far away from them Remy and Martin were arguing about something, like always, while Claire tried not to look too bored on Remy's side. Marcus was nowhere to be seen, but Robert was sure that he already left with someone very pretty. Teodore was talking to his uncle and to the Duke who joined them. Rose gently rescued Claire from boredom by leading Martin away with some excuse. Two minutes left until midnight. People around were chatting excitedly, glasses clinked together, laughter rose. The band finished their last song.

'And can I kiss you at midnight?' asked Robert from Jenna, turning back to her.

Jenna looked around to make sure none of the people nearby could hear them.

'Sneak out to the toilet when the fireworks go off and you can do even more,' she said with a promising smile.

'That works, too,' answered Robert, swallowing. 'Probably not the wisest idea, mind you.'

'Probably not,' nodded Jenna. 'But I'm a little drunk, very frustrated and you look fine in this suit, so you know, I'm gonna be there, either way, join or not, up to you…'

'Fair enough,' said Robert, swallowing again.

He saw Vittorio, the bodyguard passing by, clearly doing a perimeter check. He looked much better, but with Don Carano's money and connections that wasn't surprising. Vittorio probably had the best therapists available to help him with his PTSD. He nodded to Robert who nodded back. One minute remained. Marcus appeared from somewhere, with Vicky Walt on his side. His hair was untidy and she had to neaten her skirt. Robert grinned and shook his head. Looked like Vicky got the attention she was fishing for, after all.

At thirty seconds Don Carano returned to the little stage with a glass of champagne. Remy and Claire stood next to each other in awkward silence, so Robert assumed they were waiting for the clock to show midnight so they could finally kiss. Jenna saw that too and she smiled at them.

'Ten, nine, eight…' Don Sebastiano started to count down, and the crowd joined in. 'Three, two, one! Happy New Year, ladies and gentlemen!'

BAMM!

Robert turned on his heels and stared out of the open doors of the balcony.

'That didn't sound like fireworks,' said Jenna.

'I don't think it was fireworks,' frowned Robert. BAMM! Another explosion. Car alarms went off, the people around looked confused, still searching for the colours on the sky. Robert saw Marcus hurrying towards them in the crowd.

'Happy New Year,' said an ice-cold voice. Robert turned around again. The countdown disappeared from the big screen, instead of it there was a sight Robert was sure he would never see again.

The white mask was spotted with very pale pink blobs; old bloodstains that The Priest couldn't get out properly. Robert heard Jenna taking a sharp breath.

'Don't mind the explosions, you are going to have much bigger problems very soon,' The Priest said. 'But first, let me explain why you all have to die. I want you to know, it's nothing personal. For centuries I watched the human race destroying themselves, destroying the planet, destroying each other and everything. I have known for a long time now that this cannot continue forever. We are on the wrong path, and it's time to make it right. The fallen people of London will be my first army, an army that will help me kill every one of the leaders around the world. No more governments, no more kings, no more politics. It's time to restart.'

He raised his hand, grabbed the mask and took it off.

'Son of a bitch,' groaned Jenna.

'And even though it's really nothing personal,' said Attila Kovach, 'I'd lie if I'd say I won't have a good time watching you being eaten alive by ghouls. Oops, spoilers. Well, have a good one, guys.'

Nobody listened for the last few words, because everyone watched in terror as dozens and dozens of ghouls flooded the ballroom from the balcony.