Chapter 14: The Council Meeting
"What?" thundered Pitch.
Did his ears deceive him? Did he hear Doctor Frasier correctly? No, he can't have. Surely, not. Elsa wouldn't be stupid enough to date one of those disgusting dogmen.
"You're lying," Pitch spat.
He was angry now. Maybe because he thought it was true. Maybe it was the image of the person he was falling for with one of his deadly enemies.
"I overheard Elsa talking about it with her friend Anton," Doctor Frasier said. He then recanted what he had overheard.
What he was hearing, made Pitch even angry. Pitch stood to his feet in his rage. He slammed his fists down on his desk. Doctor Frasier flinched in shock. Pitch started to pace up and down behind his desk with his hands clenched behind his back. He was shaking with rage. Pitch didn't want to believe it but he never doubted his friend. Elsa was bedding the enemy it sounded like. Well, he didn't exactly know the extent of the relationship. It could simply be a flirty kind of relationship but that didn't matter to Pitch. She had crossed a line and she had with Jack Frost. Pitch knew who that was alright.
Jackson or Jack Frost was a member of The Guardians that were led by his deadly enemy – his step brother, Manny. It just had to be a member of The Guardians. It couldn't have been some random Werewolf that wasn't associated with Manny. It seemed like Manny was always there, it always felt like he was laughing at him. Pitch stared up at a picture of himself in his office. He was wearing a black top with a black cape draping around his shoulders. His fingers were decorated with gold rings sporting stones from all around and had a golden band around his to represent a crown. Pitch liked to consider himself a self-anointed king of the Vampires, and Elsa was hopefully, with some work, going to end up being his queen. His fists clenched tightly together. This caused his pale white skin to become even whiter. His rage was getting more and more terrible. He always considered treason to be the dirtiest of all crimes.
"This is treason," Pitch snarled. "How dare she do this!" He threw his pen down on his desk. "I was so close," Pitch held up his thumb and forefinger very close, "and she does this!" Pitch turned to face Doctor Frasier who cowered slightly under Pitch's glare. "Do you know anything more about this relationship?"
"No," Doctor Frasier shook his head.
"Hmm," Pitch bit his lip. He was very curious about the competition. "Would Anton know, you reckon?"
"No," Doctor Frasier shook his head again. "It just sounded like he had found out and Elsa was asking him to keep the secret."
This stumped Pitch. Pitch didn't like the situation he was presented with. He needed to know more about Elsa's relationship. If it was found to be treason then the consequences were disastrous. If he could get her to repent and break off the relationship then the punishment wouldn't be too severe but that would be up for the court to decide because of course, there would be a trial. This was treason, as plain as it could be. Anton, well he wouldn't be punished. Pitch disliked having to punish people simply because they kept a secret that were asked of them. He would leave Anton alone. He would simply use Doctor Frasier's evidence. That would be enough.
"What should we do sir?" Doctor Frasier had noticed that Pitch hadn't spoken in the last couple of minutes.
"Nothing," Pitch said. "We wait until tomorrow."
"The Vampire Court?" Doctor Frasier asked. "I thought we would be discussing the latest in the war and deciding on more Vampire Laws."
"That was on the menu," Pitch said, "but it looks like there will be a change on it."
Doctor Frasier nodded. "Right."
Pitch started to calm down but jealousy, rage and hatred was still burning within him. The person he wanted to love turned out to love another and that another turned out to be his worst enemy. How could this happen to him? The image of Elsa with that...that...Werewolf was pounding in his head. His blood was roaring around his veins due to this thought. If it could, his heart would be hammering. That image just made him feel so mad.
He was glad that Doctor Frasier had told him. What would have happened if he had tried to pursue a relationship with her and found out the truth? Elsa, he had thought that she was someone different. He had thought that this time it would be different but she was just the same. She was running off with some other guy who happened to be his deadly enemy. Life was throwing it all at him again. First his wife runs off with the sailor who he hated as he would always get on Pitch's bad side and now Elsa who reminded him so much of his wife (and it was the good memories like his love for her) was running off with another one of his enemies - Jack Frost who was a favourite of Nikolas North who was the right hand man of basically his most hated enemy and unfortunately his step brother, Manny. What was he going to do about this? Should he leave it up to the court? No, he knew what he must do. Elsa had probably slept with one of his most hated enemies. This act was unforgivable. It was treason.
Suddenly, all his love for Elsa turned to hatred.
Jack was travelling in the car that was being driven by North. He had his headphones in and was listening to Spiceworld – an album by the popular girl group, Spice Girls. He was humming along to Spice Up Your Life. Tooth was chuckling at him every few seconds. Jack didn't seem to notice. He was too busy enjoying the song.
"So how do we know where to go?" Tooth asked North.
Jack took out is headphones and paused his music. He wanted to be a part of this conversation. It sounded like it was going to be interesting.
"Our Werewolf senses," North said. "We can smell them out. I can sense a large group of Vampires which means that it must be the main Vampire convent and the sense is getting stronger and stronger the more we go in this direction. This means that we are getting close. By my estimates we should be there in a couple more hours."
"No," Tooth shook her head. "I mean how do we know to come to France? We were told to pack our bags and get on a flight bounded for France. I get that we can sniff out Vampires but across continents is a bit of a stretch."
"It is indeed a stretch," North smiled at her through the rear view window. "Jack informed us that Pitch is in France and Manny remembered that Pitch bought some land there many centuries ago which is where we are going now."
"Oh," Tooth looked at Jack. "How did Jack know to come to France?"
"Elsa told me," Jack said. "She came to tell me that she was going away for a few days. I think she didn't want me to worry that she had suddenly disappeared again."
"I see," Tooth turned back to North. "So what's the deal with this Vampire convent? Is it just bigger than all the others?"
"Well that is true," North said, "but a normal Vampire convent is some large building in a random place such as a large manner or large apartment building. This convent is more like a city. You see, many, many, many years ago Pitch bought a large bit of land in France as it was cheap as the previous owner had gone bankrupt and needed cash fast. Pitch had some relatives from France and had spent some time there in his youth which is why he chose it. I think he also wanted to be as far away from Russia as possible. You heard that Manny said that they were both from St. Petersburg. I think Pitch wanted a complete change of culture and sights as anything Russian reminded him of Manny.
"Pitch built a large castle here and equipped it to suit his needs. That simply means that it was fitted for a Vampire to live there – no sunlight could ever penetrate that castle. Soon houses were built for the purpose of housing other Vampires and they started to appear as Pitch started to spread the Vampire curse wherever he went and soon they started to spread it too. In those days, the number of Werewolves and Vampires were small but Pitch wanted to change all that. He wanted Vampires to outnumber the Werewolves like ten to one but that would be tricky. It would take some doing which is why he built the entire Vampire community. It would be easier to lure wandering human travellers there."
"Just one question," Tooth interrupted. "Where is Pitch getting all the resources to do all of this? Like money for instance."
"According to Manny, there was a relative that died leaving Pitch mounds of gold," North answered, "and when that wasn't enough, I gather he just stole it."
"Ah," Tooth said.
"Makes sense," Bunnymund said.
"Yeah," North then paused for a little bit. "Now where was I?" He looked a little confused.
"Pitch was luring travellers in," Jack supplied.
"Ah yes," North's face lit up as he remembered. "Right so, as a number of travellers started to go missing in that area and people got frightened. Rumours floated around – some believed to be from some travellers that escaped themselves – that suggested that the travellers were meeting a gruesome and bloody death. This then caused the name Château Rouge – literally meaning Red Castle – to be resurrected. It was named so because of all the supposed blood that was all around the castle."
"What was Pitch doing to all these travellers?" Bunnymund asked.
"Probably doing what all Vampires do," North gave a little half shrug as he turned the steering wheel. "Probably feeding them to his Newborn Vampires or feeding on them himself. Otherwise I gather he would be trying to convert anyone he came across. He did envision a large Vampire army after all."
"So is that how the other convents started up?" Jack asked.
"Yes," North said. "The success of the Vampire city that Pitch had erected caused him to send high ranking Vampires on missions to – lack of better words to use – take over the world. He sent them to places to buy land or property and set up Vampire convents. Then they would start recruiting."
"Do you think that was happened to Elsa?" Jack asked. "She was recruited?'
"I cannot say," North replied. "She might have or she may have just been wandering around by herself and was an easy target for a thirsty Vampire who Turned her."
"Oh," Jack grew silent. Elsa had never really gone into detail about the night that she had been attacked by a Vampire. All she had said to him in the park was that she had been attacked after the theatre one night. Elsa did love going to the theatre although she probably didn't now. He made a mental note to ask her about it, well that was if she wanted to talk about. Elsa had never been crazy about her Vampire side.
"How much further?" Bunnymund asked.
"You sound like a little kid Edmund," Tooth laughed which caused Sandy to let out a small giggle.
"I just want to know when we'll get there," scowled Bunnymund but he didn't seem to be too upset.
"I do not know," North said. "I have never been there."
"Really?" Tooth seemed a little surprise.
"Well as a Werewolf and Pitch Black's supreme rival's right hand, I doubt I would be invited round for dinner," North said which made everyone chuckle.
"Right," Tooth sounded amused. "Maybe I should have given that some thought."
Everyone chuckled again. The sun started to go down as they drove on and on.
"Not good," North said as he watched the sun starting to descend through the sky.
Jack knew what he was thinking. They were entering Vampire territory in the middle of the night. They now had the advantage.
"Okay," North said after a couple more hours. He was checking the GPS system as he went. It was now properly dark now and North had turned on the headlights. "We are close."
A city suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It loomed over them and seemed quite intimating. A number of medieval looking houses could be seen in the shadow of a ginormous even more medieval looking castle. The castle even had a large keep to the left of it. The lights were on in the houses and Jack could see some people moving around. The city looked like something out of a novel. Jack could see street lights illuminating pathways that lead all of the city and up to a huge iron gate which led into the main grounds of the castle. A wall had been erected around the city so that anyone couldn't just wander in. There was a gate and Jack could see a couple of Vampires carrying sticks with flames roaring on them – old fashioned torches. They must check everyone who entered and left the city just like the guards by the gate at the castle. North parked the car a fair distance away from the city. They didn't want a whole heap of crazy Vampires chasing after them in the middle of the night – their time to shine.
They had parked just within the woods. A huge number of them surrounded the village. Jack could never really tell who had the best advantage in the woods. Both Werewolves and Vampires had super reflexes that certainly played a part in navigating the woods. Maybe that was why North parked in the woods despite the difficulty in getting the car to move around the towering trees. It was a neutral zone.
They all clambered out of the car and got ready. Jack threw on some easier shoes to run in. He knew at some point there was going to be a chase. Vampires could sniff out Werewolves from miles away sometimes. He wanted to be ready for that when it did. He threw some of the unnecessary things he was carrying such as his headphones which were attached to his iPod into a safe place in the car. Although he doubted that a thief would steal them. It was an odd place for a thief to be lurking around anyway.
"Welcome," North said. "To the Vampire Capital."
Jack stared down from woods. From where he was standing, he had a good view of the entire ground. He was elevated above the city which gave him a height advantage.
Guess he had arrived.
Elsa was getting changed for the Vampire council meeting. Everyone going within the sacred room had to wear black robes which reminded Elsa of what monks use to wear. Elsa tied the rope cord – that hung around her waist. She pulled it tight as she did. The ends of these robe cords had a knot at the end which was carefully crafted. They had a black hood which Elsa drew down and it hung slightly over her face. The door then knocked and Ragnar and Anton both came in. They were wearing identical robes to Elsa but Ragnar hadn't yet put his hood up.
"Ready?" Ragnar asked.
"Yeah," Elsa nodded. They left the room together and Elsa shut her door with a small snap. They set down the corridor together. "So what are kinds of meetings are used for?" Elsa asked them as they walked. She had never been to these council meetings before. She knew they were incredibly important though as only high ranking Vampires or specially invited Vampires (which is how Elsa, Ragnar and Anton managed to get access to it) were allowed to attend these meetings. Elsa had attended some smaller council meetings back at the convent which they all stayed at. She gathered they wouldn't be much different to what went on during those.
"They just discuss issues that are brought up by members of the council," Anton replied. He had been to a few of these meetings before. He had been invited by Doctor Frasier and was allowed to sit in on the meetings. "They also discuss new laws to be put into play and they also act a justice system for all law-breaking Vampires."
"So they pretty much do what all councils do," Elsa said.
"Well yeah," Anton shrugged.
"So what made Pitch erect a council," Elsa asked. "He doesn't sound like the kind of guy who likes to give away power."
Anton laughed. "You would be right there. Not people know this but the council isn't a council. Pitch likes to consider himself the king of all the Vampires so the council is really like his advisors rather than a council. It just gives away the right look."
"Like 'hey look at me, I take you opinions seriously'," Ragnar said.
"Yeah," Anton nodded. "Not many people are aware that the council actually doesn't have any power. Pitch has the final say on everything and he can either veto something or put something into effect at the snap of his fingers."
"So more like a dictatorship rather than a democracy," Elsa said and Anton nodded. "Great," she added very sarcastically.
They made their way along the corridor and down the stairs. Instead of turning into the Great Hall – where they ate, they turned in the other direction towards another set of large doors. Two fiery torches hung in holders on either side of the doors along with two Vampires standing near them wearing the same robes that Elsa, Anton and Ragnar were wearing. They had their heads staring up and had their hands joined together with their robes covering them. Elsa, Ragnar and Anton walked pass them and the doors opened for them. The two Vampires who were guarding the door bowed their heads to them as they passed.
The room was a large circular room which had benches erected in varying heights around the room. In the middle, on a rather high bench, were six men and one woman Vampire. In the middle was Pitch Black. These were the highest of the highest Vampires. They decided the fate of hundreds and hundreds Vampires across the world. Elsa saw Doctor Frasier sitting on a lower bench to the right of this bench. He was wearing similar robes to Elsa but he had a strange symbol in red on his robes. Only the high ranking Vampires had this adorned on their robes. Elsa took a seat where Anton told her to sit. The bench that she was sitting on was a ground level bench to the right of the main bench. They sat on the very edge of it. Ragnar went in first, Elsa second and Anton last. They were on what Anton called the visiting bench. There were some other people around on their bench and Elsa figured that these must be the people who had been specially invited to attend this council meeting. Elsa stared at these people. She didn't recognise any of these people so she guessed that they must be from convents from all around the world. A couple of Vampires behind her were muttering in Finnish.
There was some murmuring around as other Vampires started to pile in and take their positions around the room. More and more peoples started to take their seats. Elsa checked the giant clock in the room which ticked the seconds away. The meeting wouldn't start for another ten more minutes. Elsa was starting to feel a little nervous but she didn't know why. She just had to sit and listen. Nothing would be required of her.
"Why are people invited to these council meetings?" Elsa asked Anton.
"All sorts of reasons," Anton shrugged. "Sometimes they're special guests of Pitch or another council member. Sometimes they are sent by their head of their convents in their place so they can relay what happened during the meeting or is a representative of that convent."
"Ah," Elsa said. "Okay then."
A vampire started to hand things out and Elsa took what he gave her. It was simply a list of what was going to be talked about during this council meeting. Elsa read through it. It all looked a little boring to her. Pitch then stood to his feet and silence encaptivated the room. Everyone seemed to stop talking and what they were doing at the same time. Pitch spread his arms wide.
"Welcome," Pitch said. "To the four thousand and seventy second Supreme Council of The Vampric Order. Tonight we have a few items on our agenda. Tonight let's start with item one, war effort. Klaus, please stand up and give us a report."
A tall vampire with hair as bright as the sun stood up. He was wearing the same robes but instead of a red symbol, it was a blue symbol. Elsa knew that the different colours meant different things depending on where you stood in the ranking of the Vampire system. Elsa didn't know them very well but she knew that red (which was the colour that Doctor Frasier wore) was the lowest – a part from colourless - and blue was somewhere up high. All the Vampires on the highest bench wore white with Pitch wearing gold. The symbols denoted which area you belonged to. Elsa thought that the symbol denoted he was from Germany. Well that kind of was obvious by his name. There were other symbols on his chest which often denoted where you stood in the Vampire order such as if you were a convent leader or a high ranking army member.
Anton leaned in close to Elsa. "That's Viktor Klaus. He's the leader of the military. He responds mainly to Andrei Erskivolski who is the military minster." Anton nodded to the man on the far right of the main bench.
"Yes!" Viktor Klaus said.
"Any news?" Pitch asked him.
Klaus then jabbered on about the war effort. Apparently they were lacking in supplies in some places and needed reinforcements in others. Pitch wasn't too happy about this but he agreed to the aid to be provided as soon as possible and got the military minster – the man who Anton had pointed out to him – to be on it as soon as possible. Klaus then informed Pitch about some recent victories in Russia that they had against the Werewolves. Pitch smiled widely at this and there was a twinkle in his eye. Elsa knew that Pitch had something against Russia. Elsa always theorised that it was because Manny, the leader of the Werewolves, was from there.
"Next," Pitch said. He scanned the room and it landed on one of the Vampires. "Johnson, how is the new convent going?"
A smaller man than Viktor Klaus stood up. He had his hands clasped in front of him and looked straight at Pitch.
"That's Ian Johnson," Anton whispered in Elsa's ear. "He is responsible for setting up new convents in the United Kingdom."
"Sir," Johnson said. "Three new convents have been established in the United Kingdom. One in Ireland and two in Wales."
"Good," Pitch said. "What about recruitment?"
"Three new Vampires have been recruited," Johnson said. "Five people unfortunately did not survive the transaction and died. Four did survive."
"That is not enough Mr Johnson," Pitch said.
"I know," Johnson said. "But if too many people ended up getting attacked or killed, it may alert the authorities. I wouldn't want a cop to come knocking on my door."
"Fair point," Pitch said. "Try and recruit up to five new recruits every year. That should be enough not to alert anyone. We need those convents filled. New recruits are the way to go at the moment."
Elsa knew what he meant. Newborn Vampires have the tendency for blood and seek it out wherever they went. Pitch used this so that they would be bloodthirsty for Werewolves. He was going to use them to blitzkrieg the war. His plan was to just unleash an army of Newborns on the Werewolves that they would be fighting.
The meeting went on. Elsa found it very boring. Pitch called upon several members of the council room to give reports. Doctor Frasier stood up at one point to give news about what was going on in his convent. All convent leaders had to do this. It was a way for Pitch to know what his Vampires were up to.
"And what about The Guardians menace that is practically in your backyard?" Pitch asked, his eyes narrowing.
"We are working on it," Doctor Frasier said looking a little frightened. "I have my best men on it."
"Hmm, okay," Pitch said. "Not good enough. I want them eliminated as soon as possible Frasier."
"Yes sir," Doctor Frasier sat back down.
After the last few members spoke, Pitch stood back up.
"Now to our last item for tonight," Pitch said.
There was the sound of people turning over the pieces of paper that they were given. Elsa turned over hers and, to her surprise, she found nothing. She looked at Anton who shrugged at her. There was a small muttering of confusion among the guests. Maybe Pitch had just added something at the last minute and it didn't make the printer.
"Lord Black," said the woman sitting on his far left, "what last item? Surely we've covered everything so far."
"There is one more thing that came to my attention last night," Pitch said. "Sorry, forgot to mention it." He smiled at the woman who looked a little put out. "Elsa Winters, please step forwards."
Elsa felt herself go white. Why would Pitch be calling her forward? She desperately hopped it wasn't anything to do Pitch trying to kiss her that other night. She hoped that he was calling on her for something innocent. Elsa took a deep breath in and stood up. She may her way past Anton who was giving her a funny look. He wasn't the only one. Ragnar was as well. They both seemed as perplexed to why Elsa was being called up. Normally visiting or invited guests never got called up.
Elsa made her way up the row that led to the main bench that was erected in the middle of the room. All the other benches were designed to be around it. Elsa looked into the eyes of the all the high ranking Vampires. They all looked just as confused as she was. Her eyes soon met Pitch, in the middle. Pitch was staring down at her and she started to feel a little uncomfortable. What could she have done? She had no idea. It could be a number of things. Maybe Pitch wanted to ask her something. If so, she hoped it wasn't something she would have to refuse in front of all these people.
"Elsa Winters?" Pitch asked. It was always customary to confirm the name.
"Y-Yes," Elsa said. She could feel her nerves taking over. This wasn't something she had wanted to do.
Pitch was giving her a scary stare. It made Elsa slightly recoil.
"Some interesting information has come to me," Pitch said. "Do you want to know what kind of information that was?"
"Yes," Elsa answered.
"Last night I was told something that didn't seem real but yet came from a reliable source," Pitch continued. "Please confirm, are you having a secret, romantic relationship with a Werewolf known as Jack Frost?"
Elsa felt her heart sank. How did he find out? Was he pulling at strings or did he really know something? She had to pretend that she had no idea what he was talking about. She pretended that she found the whole thing to be ridiculous.
"No," she answered firmly and professionally.
"Are you sure?" Pitch asked. He tapped the ends of his fingers together.
"Yes," Elsa said.
"Doctor Frasier can you stand up," Pitch said and Doctor Frasier did. Suddenly Elsa realised who it was that informed Pitch. Doctor Frasier must have overheard her conversation with Anton. "Can you please repeat what you had overheard?"
Doctor Frasier did a curt nod in Pitch's direction. "I overheard Elsa telling a fellow Vampire about her relationship with a Jack Frost who is a member of The Guardians."
"For the sake of loyalty of the fellow Vampire," Pitch said. "We will not name him. I do not like forcing people to break trust between friends for the sake of the court asking." Elsa breathed a sigh of relief. At least Anton wasn't going to get in trouble. Elsa wouldn't want him to get into trouble because of her. Pitch then asked for Doctor Frasier to recant everything that he heard. Based on what he was saying, he heard practically the whole conversation. Elsa felt her heart sink further and further with every word he said. "Doctor Frasier, thank you for your testimony. You may sit down."
Doctor Frasier did. Pitch black started to mutter with his fellow high ranking council members they were nodding at what he said. Pitch smiled and nodded at them. He then moved his eyes back to Elsa.
"Elsa Winters," Pitch said in a stern voice. "Having a relationship with a Werewolf is considered treason. Teaming up with a Werewolf or Werewolves is treason. Bad mouthing the war and trying to get peace with the Werewolves is treason. Treason comes with the harshest sentence. It is considered the worst offence." He took a deep sigh. "Based off the evidence presented today and by a consensus within the court, you have been found guilty on all offences. I then, hereby, sentence you to death."
A/N: Oh-no, what is going to happen next? Is Elsa going to be alright? I hope that everyone enjoyed this update. Please review =)
Reviews:
Owlgirl55: Ah cool. Recommendations from my stories? Maybe, Never Mix Personal With Business or maybe Battle For Her Heart if you haven't read them, maybe Winter and Snow Love and it's sequel A Frosty Love, maybe Somebody I Used To Know. From other stories? You Belong With Me, Ship of Dreams, Recover, Give It A Chance, Infernal Ice, Frostbitten. Next chapter going up as asked.
WhaleCum20: Thanks so much. Sorry but I can't update every day but I do try to. Oh, don't worry about the username, I've seen worst.
Calmdownmari: Yep, the truth is out.
lollipop3056: The Dr did indeed hear the conversation - practically the entire thing. What's going to happen to her? Well it doesn't look good so far. Continuing as asked. Thanks so much.
noircorda: Hmm, where are the spelling mistakes? Nothing came up on the spelling check but sometimes I do miss stuff. You just have to wait and see what is going to happen next. Pitch and his wife, well so far you know that she had an affair and run off with the guy she cheated on with before dying from cancer. I don't know how much further I am going to go into depth with their relationship. I may if the opportunity arises. He was happy with his wife for a period of time until she had her affair and probably growing up from time to time. What is going to happen with Elsa doesn't look so good at the moment. Thanks so much.
Guest (MixyBell): He should have held it in, shouldn't he? What do you mean 'what is from'?
fireninjafox: Yep, drama and even more drama in this chapter.
KMiKO12: Dun, dun, dunnn indeed. Doctor Frasier does know and now everyone does. Thanks so much. I do try and be a fast updater.
ElsaTheSnowQueen2: Thanks so much! Tooth and Bunny will hopefully make up at some point and I hope that the Werewolves get there soon and on time. Anton looks like he is going to be safe, but can the same be said for Elsa?
Kat-IlluminatedPurity: Yep, Pitch is furiously jealous and it's just going to get worst. I think at this point, all his love has turned to hate. You are right, her relationship caused her to be labelled as a traitor. Oh, he told Pitch because he is very loyal to Pitch, not because she took his seat or is jealous himself. Always a lot of questions you seem to have. Thanks so much.
Frostbite Productions: Hmm, Elsa not going to end up with Jack, not something I like to see. Hmm, on the story, okay.