Samantha's hopeful eyes looked behind Ivan, as if waiting to see Alistair pull one of his silly stunts as usual, but the more she stared, the more it dawned on her that his absence wasn't an illusion. Never did she suspect in the slightest that the vampire was no more, but when she pulled back to look at Ivan's face, the hopeful look in her green eyes crumbled like a delicate sandcastle, about to face an incoming tide.
"Ivan?"
"We couldn't…" Duncan hesitated as he met the expecting gaze of everyone, their silence weighing on his shoulder as they waited for him to speak, but when the light in his eyes faltered to the ground, everyone immediately got the message.
"He's gone." Duncan finally dropped in a heavy tone, and the anticipation in everyone's demeanor shattered like fragile glass. Several gasps could be heard, and
there was a look of disbelief in everyone's eyes.
