"I understand that your sister is attempting to be progressive, but we have to be realistic here and think of the consequences of giving them even an iota of power," Burt's voice rang through the hall, looking around there were murmurs of ascent from all the gathered clan leaders.

Santana shifts uncomfortably, she could feel Charlie's eyes focused on her. She tries not to glance over at the vampire but she can't help it, and bites her lip. She wondered if they would have sex on the throne next, and she swallows. It had felt nice to wake up her body tangled with Charlie's. She knew how dangerous this infatuation was, if Quinn ever found out then she doubted Charlie would actually save her. She turns her attention back towards Burt frowning slightly and standing up to face. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, we've all heard about how the last Bishop died," Josh Coleman said standing up. He didn't dare move towards her when Charlie turned to look at him. He hesitates for a moment before pushing forward. "My liege, I understand you've grown attached to your pet, but you must see sense. Right now, arming the humans is a foolish idea."

"The elections are in two weeks, and I know that only a few people have signed up—"

"Including your father." Burt interrupts turning to Charlie. "You don't see the conflict of interest? You can't see that this human is playing you?"

Charlie eyes slowly shifted to Burt, and she tapped her fingers on the armrest of the chair in a bored tone. "Do you think that I can't handle a simple uprising?" The words were cool as Charlie leans back in her seat. "Do you truly believe given how many times you've tried to overthrow me that a few humans will be able to? The elections will go forth, if only so my sister no longer has to listen to your incessant bitching."

Josh glared at Charlie angrily before looking at Santana, "Is her cunt fucking magic? The great fucking Umbran Butcher, felled by a magical cunt!" He spits angrily. "I was ecstatic to come to your court, but you're nothing more than a—"

Santana scrambles backward as Josh Coleman is suddenly pinned to the ground and screaming in agony. She half expects to see Charlie's shadows pinning him to the ground roughly, but instead it's a figure she's seen flitting around the manor, avoiding her. Blaine had informed her bluntly it was Puckerman. She watched as vampires and shifters immediately scattered, giving the vampire a wide berth as he stepped on Josh's neck. She watches as Charlie suddenly stands and slowly moves towards Noah and Josh, a curved shadow blade appearing in her hand. "Charlie—Quinn said not to kill anyone."

Charlie ignored her as her shadowy tendrils pinned Josh's arms and legs to the ground, locking him in place.

Noah steps off his hood falling of his face, revealing a horribly burnt skin, that hadn't healed in the weeks that he'd been free. He looks almost emaciated, and it's then that she realizes that his lips have been stitched closed. She stumbles backwards, she knew that there had been a punishment but this didn't seem to fit the crime. She'd seen what had happened when the red court had gathered and she knew it was going to be gruesome.

Josh doesn't scream when Charlie sticks the shadow dagger just below his navel, he merely glares angrily, the wound that Noah had inflicted already healed up. He doesn't scream when Charlie slowly begins to move the dagger upwards, cutting past his skin and muscles, slowly. He does scream when she gets to the tail of his sternum, and there's a crunching sound as she splits the body as she continues to move upward.

Santana moves immediately forward and gently wraps her arms around Charlie's shoulders, "Charlie. Please."

Charlie tilts her head at Santana for a moment, "He was very rude," she says flatly as she moves to break open his rib cage, peeling it back to reveal his heart and lungs.

Santana looks at Josh who seemed to have lost his voice, keeping her eyes averted from the macabre scene in front of her. "He's sorry. You're sorry right?"

It takes a long moment before Josh nods. It's a slow one, and he looks like he's about to pass out. He opens his mouth to say something but no words come out.

"See, he's sorry. He's apologized." Santana says gently trying to pry Charlie away from the body. She hadn't been able to stop her from punishing Noah, but she could stop this now. Charlie didn't have the patience that Quinn had, that had been made abundantly clear. "Charlie."

Charlie's hand shoots up to grab Josh Coleman's face, grabbing under his chin, and turning his head so he can look into her eyes. "The human saved you today. The human's that you spit on, that you think are nothing but mere cattle saved you. Just like she's saving everyone in this room. Though the next time you decide to spit such insulting words, the next time that name is on your tongue, I will remove it." Charlie says before leaning in. "And if there's no one there to stop me, I'll take that head of yours." With that Charlie stands picking Santana up with her, "So we were talking about the budget? I was thinking that we should increase taxes on those that make the most. Our infrastructure is falling apart, our hospitals need to be better and we need to start producing more food—better food. The quality of blood has gone down in the past few weeks."

"Your sister just raised taxes on people like my family last winter!" Burt sputters.

"Did she? So that brings the taxes up to what? Twelve percent? Let's make it fifteen," Charlie informed him.

Santana winced as almost immediately every single shifter in the room began to argue with this new tax plan. It didn't sound like it was a lot. "That's a huge increase," she mutters. The last thing she needed was some form of class war going on with all the current problems.

"Once the humans start producing more, and having more money we can lower taxes all around. Our defenses need to be completely reworked, we're under attack Burt, and having all the money in the world isn't going to save you if the Black court attacks. We need the humans on our side for the very reason that a new breed of vampires seems to be on the rise, an offshoot of black court vampires. Since Shifters are notoriously difficult to turn, and the human population outnumbers us all, it seems prudent to start treating them with respect. Not for my benefit, Quinn and I will probably be here till the world ends. But everyone else in the room is mortal, as evident by what I just did to Josh. We're at war, and there is no time for sexism, racism, or speciesism. This is simply about your continued survival."

Santana nudges Charlie and tilts her head towards the crowd of people, when Charlie stares at her blankly she sighs. "Which, she takes very seriously."

"I—" Santana reaches back and pinches Charlie's arm. "Right. I care about your continued existence like a—" Charlie scowls when Santana steps on her foot. "Look discuss it amongst yourselves, and we'll reconvene in a few hours."

Santana watches as they immediately scatter and feels Charlie rest her head against her back as she pulls her into her lap. She relaxes for a moment. "I don't think fear is the way to rule. Violence certainly doesn't help you win minds."

"No, but it reminds them of their place. The vampires need a reminding that we're the reagents, that our position is secure. It reminds them not to break our laws. As for the shifters—"

"There's a disconnect between the older ones and the younger generation, I don't know how big it is but Sam's talked about it. When I was arrested, I was arrested with a few shifters—I'm not certain what happened to them. You could change hearts and minds if you wanted to."

Charlie nips at Santana's shoulder, "I don't want to. I'm the Red Court's knight. In war, there is nothing but victory. In peace, I must remain vigilant. That is the sacrifice that I have made since I turned." Charlie sighs.

"You told me you are tired," Santana said reminding Charlie.

"I am," Charlie insists. "I just want to eat cake all day, and watch television," Charlie sighed.

Santana nodded, "How long are you going to keep Noah like that?"

Charlie tilts her head ever so slightly. "He hurt you."

"And the council looks down on me. Josh looks down on me. You're going to need to let humans earn their respect, I need to earn their respect," Santana insists.

Charlie watches her for a moment, "Does this mean we aren't going to my room after this?"

Santana nods, it would make sense, "I think that's for the best—"

"Very well we'll use your bed," Charlie said with a shrug. "Besides it's due for a good cleaning."

Santana sighed and leaned against Charlie, shaking her head. She wasn't going to get out of this easily.