The palace was in an uproar. The Wallachians were at the gates and they were looking formidable. I stared down out of the window of the throne room at the writhing mass of soldiers laying siege to the capital of my empire with a frown. He shouldn't have this many people. Wallachia wasn't this big. I was guessing he swing through some of the neighboring countries and convinced them to lend men so he could take us down. The biggest bully on the playground rarely makes friends.
My own forces were split, with only half my men garrisoned in the city, but at least I'd been smart enough not to dispatch them all to the war front. I called for...well someone. Luckily Khamal, my highest ranked general, had long since seen the siege and was headed for the throne room at a brisk clip. "Your excellency! The enemy is at the gates! Our forces are marshaling to repel the assault but you should retreat to your bunker until the siege has been extinguished!" His face was red and his breathing was heavy as he searched frantically for any sign of enemies.
Khamal was good people. Very loyal, and I had to give fictional past me credit for inspiring this kind of emotion in one of his generals. I was touched by how afraid he seemed for my safety. Despite that I had to shake my head. I shot Khamal a sad smile "Sorry Khamal, I can't. I have to stay here and oversee our forces. This is my army, and I will live or die with my men. If this city falls there will be no point in my escape or survival." Of course I actually didn't care that much about fictional dream people, but if I left and this place fell it would make completing the Arbitration impossible.
Khamal's face went slack in shock and his eyes began to tear up, which made me feel like the biggest asshole in the world honestly but I held my poker face. My general dropped to one knee, bowing his head to me in supplication "Your excellency, you honor us with your commitment to our people. I am proud to serve such a wise and benevolent ruler. But I beseech you, please follow me to the bunker, should we lose you our empire will be in chaos. Your magnificent personage is worth and number of common soldiers."
That made me feel even worse, but I stepped up and clapped him on the shoulder. "Rise my friend. I will see this through to the end. The Emperor and his land are one. I will rise or fall with my people, and I will hear not another word about it." At this point I was just ripping off high minded rhetoric from movies where I'd seen kings stand tall or captains going down with their ships. Hell, if nothing else it would at least mean morale should be higher. My books said morale was key in any battle.
Khamal stood with an expression of pride and resolve that actually made me pretty uncomfortable, but I persevered. I gestured outside "Now, tell me out situation, and leave nothing out. I'm going to be directing this battle personally so I must be informed of even the slightest detail." I turned grimly to stare out into the middle distance, figuring it would be much easier to fake competence when I was sternly gazing off into the jaws or the enemy. I had been memorizing information for this battle for weeks but I'd been expecting it to take place elsewhere.
I had originally wanted to dispatch my forces to meet Drakul's army in the field so I would have the city as a backup force in case I failed. Having my first engagement with the bastard be in my own front yard was pretty much the opposite of ideal. Clearly the old monster knew a thing or two about how to deploy troops and the best way to travel with an army. Based on my calculations he wasn't supposed to arrive for another month, not to mention with so many extra people. Slippery old monster must have turned on the charm for the people along the way.
Khamal gave me the run down on the situation, and when I said every detail he really took that to heart. He told me about the distribution of our forces, the composition of our units, the composition of the enemy, our available weapons, logistics, the sleeping arrangements of our soldiers and the housing we had arranged for their families. Every tiny detail was laid out in stark relief exactly as I asked with not a second of hesitation or uncertainty. Khamal was a first class general he had all the info I needed and gave it to me succinctly and with no wasted time.
As he spoke I mentally reviewed all of the information I'd been memorizing, slotting every detail into the structure I'd been putting together in my head to hold all the knowledge from the tactical books and the journals of military leaders. It was like doing math, punching in numbers and calculations and applying logistics to the model I built in my brain. But it was also like art, I didn't want to be too rigid during planning and do the predictable thing. My biggest advantage was lateral thinking and a twenty first century mindset.
I started dispatching the nearby servants to my military commanders to get them where I wanted them. I needed to reinforce the most vulnerable areas of the capital and set my armies in the paths of where the enemy would break through. Luckily this city was designed to survive an attack. Lots of natural choke points and roofs where my soldiers could take up position and rain down pain and death on the enemy. I called for a map of the city and began marking spots where I wanted my troops, trying to anticipate every possible way things could go wrong.
Honestly I felt like I was playing Civ five or EU4. I was literally watching my forces move around the city at my order from my window overlooking Constantinople, I was super tempted to do something ridiculous like disperse them in a mhappy face or make them do a flash mob, but now didn't seem like the time. Still it was unbelievably fun to play what was basically a real world strategy game with an actual army against the dad or Dracula. If I wasn't in danger of being eradicated from existence this would be the coolest thing to ever happen to me.
Finally everything was in place. It was so tempting to just let it end there. To say "to hell with it" and just sit up here and watch the battle, but with my klurkor training and my mental faculties I was a dangerous warrior, and if we lost this I was dead anyway. The best use of my resources was fighting on the front lines to inspire my people and kill as many of the enemy as humanly possible. I wasn't sure if getting killed in this vision would constitute a loss (though I suspected it would) or if it would just actually kill me in real life before I had a chance to have my soul rendered into spiritual paste.
Either way I needed to make an appearance. Hiding back here was liable to get me killed even faster than not going out. I was betting with my klurkor skills I could put up at least a fight against Drakul in a human body. With no guns or anything even without supernatural powers he was going to curb stomp and ten soldiers in my army, maybe any twenty. Besides something about this made me think we were supposed to face off, like this world was pushing us towards a climactic final battle. It annoyed me that they called this an Arbitration, this was basically trial by combat albeit on a larger scale.
But despite the fact that it would have probably been easier to just fight him in real life, this was what I had. I needed to make it count. I stood up and strapped on my armor, finding a sword that worked for me (a very odd blade called a kilij which reminded me of a mix between a long sword that someone put on its hilt wrong and a shamshir) and called for my guards to follow me as I lead them out of the palace. Adding the thirty plus men Khamal insisted I have attending me to the battle wasn't a game changer but every little bet helps.
By the time got outside the enemy forces had broken through the gate to the city. Their main army was being cut off by my strategically placed interception squads, but they had spread out enough for a few dozen stragglers from the Wallachian forces to get through the nets and end up here. Luckily klurkor had sword katas included in it, so when we came up against them I knew exactly what to do. I darted past my guards, sword drawn and flowed in between the enemy soldiers. My blade flashed out, deflecting where needed and scything through flesh where it could.
Without my increased strength or my aspects it wasn't the domination I was used to, but my brain was still fast and my skills were burned into me so I more than held my own. I deflected a few strokes at me and managed to gut one of them and cripple another before my guards crashed over the melee like an angry tide of ringing steel and furious soldiery. They tore the enemy apart and drove them back from me, clearing the area around me within seconds with their overwhelming numbers.
Sadly after that encounter I was surrounded by a swarm of men who wouldn't let me out of their sight. circling me like planetary bodies around a very sheltered and heavily protected sun. I tried to break out a few times but apparently they were hip to my tricks now and just moved with me. Eventually I gave up and just started deploying my forces in the best possible formations around me, using them to bust up small groups that had slipped through our lines as we headed to the main battle field.
My forces on the roof tops provided support from above, sniping anyone who came at us from an unexpected angle with a big ass bolt from their crossbows. The Ottomans did have crossbows at this point in history though they were never very popular. I had requisitioned a few hundred of them for my forces for versatility. Archers were tough to train but point and shoot is something most people can manage. A few weeks of mandatory crossbow drills patched up most of the holes and I'd reorganized my best archers into their own battalions, which was who I'd put on the roof tops.
Finally after an hour of crushing pockets of resistance and advancing along the clearest routes as relayed with hand signs by my roof top guards we made it to main battle field. My people circled around me, reinforcing their lines so no one and nothing would get through and closing in to provide the best protection. That didn't last long though, as we hit the main battle the enemy noticed us and some of them started to break off so they could test my men.
I left that to them because they wouldn't have it any other way and tried to spot my opponent in the crowd. The sea of armored figures was a chaotic mishmash of color and light glinting off metal so it took me a minute but when I finally spotted him I just knew. Not only by his clothes and appearance which were classic Dracula from this time period based on paintings I'd seen, but because the world almost screamed it at me. Something deep down in my gut just told me this was my enemy. As I spotted him his ice blue eyes flicked up and met mine. He knew, I could see it. The final battle was here.
Contrary to what one might expect, I did not immediately leap over the massive crowd of brawling soldiers and engage in sky combat with Drakul. In fact, it was a bit anticlimactic the we had to slowly make our way toward each other through the throng. As expected my guards weren't thrilled with my decision to throw myself into the melee, but they had to keep up anyway, so they got dragged along. I kept my eyes mostly locked with Drakul but I had to keep looking away to engage with the various soldiers in my path.
Medieval battles, it turns out, are extremely chaotic. The whole line up and shoot at each other thing was very much a factor of warfare evolving into firearm territory because when two melee forces meet each other they overlap and intermingle. Drakul got his peanut butter all up in my chocolate and it showed. Ever few feet there was some random soldier fighting one on one with an enemy combatant before some other soldier of the same side stabbed the guy in the back. Then the stabber got shanked when he was stabbing the first guy and the whole thing made me glad I had guards.
Drakul meanwhile was having much less trouble making his way over. He cut a striking figure with his long wavy black hair and goatee and that weird red hat with no brim. Not to mention what looked like a dark red velvet arming jacket with gold trim. Regardless he was cutting his way through the riot of soldiers with barely any trouble, basically hacking a path through my men like he was on safari and they were particularly sickly trees. He barely had to look away from me as he fought whereas I kept glancing back after each encounter.
His centuries of blade work showed in spades, and even with my klurkor training I was a bit worried about fighting him. The ancient bastard seemed to see everything around him in a three hundred sixty degree field of perception. Every attack was casually deflected, every opening ruthlessly exploited, it was like watching the most brutal interpretive dance of all time. Something about the economy, the efficiency with which he killed elevated it to an art form almost. His moves were somehow so simple their execution became complicated.
Fighting him one on one was out. I couldn't compete with him. That blade of his moved in such sharp brutal arcs I could barely see it standing still, it was like he was standing in the worlds most murderous storm. Streaks of shining metal lightning striking down victims for every step, arterial red clouds drifting around him as he scattered the blood of my soldiers, until finally, eventually, he made it to my group. He walked between my guards like he was taking a summer stroll, casually flicking his blade out to dispatch the first guard he met.
Luckily I'd been waiting, I deflected the blow and my arms ached from the impact. He leveraged every muscle, every ounce of momentum and force into each swing and it felt like I was trying to parry a semi truck, but I managed. He tried again and again I threw myself into countering him. I couldn't attack, hell I couldn't even really defend, it was all I could do to trip him up and try to make openings for my boys to take him out. Klurkor wasn't overpowering his combat skills, a year of training in even got level combat wasn't enough to outdo centuries of bloody experience. I was barely staying alive.
I felt like I was riding the edge of a knife, every attack, every parry, was like sticking my head into the mouth of a lion and poking it in the eye. Constant blaring survival instincts as I struggled to live through the next second. It went on like that for what seemed like forever. Every move felt closer to my inevitable death, inching further and further into the abyss with every block or parry but somehow staying just that small bit ahead of my demise. My guards tried to help, trying to exploit openings that weren't even really there, but somehow managing to distract him enough to keep me alive.
The battle around us fell away as we dueled, everyone except my guards backing off and giving us space. Drakul's own soldiers kept clear of him instead of helping, at least one having gotten close to aid him and dying when he invaded the old monster's domain of butchery. My own soldiers seemed to steer clear because they sensed that interrupting this fight might cost me my life, or the lives of one of my guards, who were sustaining small wounds even with me playing distraction for them.
The fight seemed to drag on forever, every second stretching into eternity as my body tore itself apart to keep up with the beast in human skin I was battling. But as we fought I noticed something hopeful. He was getting tired. Drakul was an unbelievable titan in combat but he was mortal in this world. Regardless of how brutal or efficient his attacks were battling against a dozen people will start to wear away at anyone. Those ringing blows that made my muscles ache were slowing down, hitting just a bit lighter, and it was making all the difference.
Slowly but surely the flow of battle started to change. Those unstoppable strikes of shining metal that made my bones rattle were batted aside more easily. That omniscient reaction time was just a touch slower, and those perfectly placed nearly omnipresent defensive attacks were just slightly out of place, not soaking up the force in the way they had before. I started spotting openings in his defense that hadn't been there before, and I pressed the attack as carefully as I could so as not to leave myself open. It didn't do much at first, but slowly over time the holes got bigger and bigger.
As the web of terrible violence the vampire king had woven around himself began to unravel I started scoring hits, legitimate damage opening muscle and skin. I had to hand it to daddy Drak, he was a tough son of a bitch. Some of the blows I managed to land on him were vicious looking, but he didn't even react. His eyes remained hard and cold and focused as he tried his best to murder the living shit out of me. But sadly he wasn't the only one getting tired, my own strength was waning, and after particularly brutal exchange my arm buckled at the wrong time and I took a hit.
A line of white hot pain landed on my ribs. My armor took the brunt of the cutting force, but the impact smashed into and seemingly cracked one of my ribs. The metal dented inward, pressing into my injury agonizingly and the feeling of my damaged rib bones being ground against by the impacted piece of metal was pretty much the worst thing I had ever experienced. I gritted my teeth and countered again my arm hitching as I pulled my ribs in a way that I really wished I hadn't to deflect a sword blow.
The next blow I took on my arm, not the one I was using for my sword but my off hand, even with the vambrace to catch it the blow hacked halfway into my forearm and it was all I could do not to black out from the pain. On the upside the agonizing blaze of pure torment now eating my arm was a very effective distraction from any tiredness I might be feeling. Hard to take the burn of a good workout seriously when can see your arm bone with your own eyes. I felt myself slow with every breath bleeding heavily but I had to keep pushing.
I locked my blade with Drakul's throwing my body against him in an attempt to put him off balance and started bludgeoning him with my ruined arm while I kept his blade locked with my own using my working limb. Fun fact, there is a point in time where the pain you are suffering becomes so sever that your brain no longer registers it as pain. Where you are essentially feeling something so awful that you can't even recognize it as hurting anymore. I was pretty much at that point now.
But all things must end, even fights that feel like they will literally go on for eternity, and eventually the beaten broken and bloody form of my enemy finally dropped the ball enough to give me the final opening I needed. I saw the hiccup in his movements when it happened and took full advantage, headbutting the bastard in the face to daze him and then looping my working arm around his neck. He drove his blade into my leg through a joint in my armor, but it was over, I pressed my sword against his neck and yanked, opening his throat to the spine in one quick jerk.
The pain in my body amplified, my eyes literally whiting out from agony and suddenly I was standing back in The Deeps. Mab was there, with her hand on my head and on Drakul's and I turned to look at the vampire king as he stood there, frozen in place. Then his eyes began to glow. Subtly at first, then brighter, amplifying the errie gleam of predatory malice he always had but somehow changing it. I swear I could see his dying struggles in the shine of his now white irises.
His voice tore itself from his throat, strangled and outraged, but it was an obvious effort, like he couldn't force himself to move more than the minimum amount to makew his lungs work. "No! I can't die here! I am Drakul. I am the dragon. I am born of stars!" His body began to shake and twitch and smoke began to pour from his mouth and nose, his skin was paling past the point of being white, glowing with the heat and intensity of hot steel as it was forged. Everything began to accelerate as he stood there screaming and finally he threw back his head and roared, erupting into a column of flame.
Everyone stared at the floating ashes that were all that was left of a creature that had preyed upon the earth since longer than this country had existed. The stunned silence just sort of settled over the room. I understood their point of view, based on what I could see the Arbitration had been instant out here. Even I was in shock at having spent months inside the trial only to emerge seconds later, but seeing it start and end instantly like that must have been even more shocking.
Mab's black eyes fixed on me and her sub zero voice cracked the air like the splitting of a glacier "The Arbitration has concluded. Drakul has been found wanting and his guilt condemned him. Cameron Beddows is the victor and will be offered compensation from Drakul's estate. All of Drakul's holdings and servants will now belong to Beddows." She turned and nodded deeply "Congratulations young lord. Your holdings have grown." She turned to regard the gorgeous blonde that had been with Drakul. "You. Introduce yourself to your lord.
The shell shocked woman scrambled over to me and dropped down on her knees. "Apologize sire. My name is Mina Harker, I was a companion of Lord Drakul and now am your humble servant. I shall assist you with transition into your new role, of course." My eyes widened at the news, the sheer lunacy of it just hitting me from out of the blue. Apparently I'd inherited a new roommate. This would be fun to explain to the girls. As I took in the situation my eyes fell on Qin, to my surprise he didn't look pleased, more annoyed than anything. This did not bode well.
Mab seemed to completely lose interest in me after the Arbitration, just turned and walked away without a word or glance. This was apparently pretty consistent with her character because literally no one was surprised by this turn of events. I shrugged and we all dispersed while the servants moved in the giant ass round table again. I nodded to Mina and dragged her with me over to our seats, sitting her down next to Raven, Cinder and I.
Mina apparently counted as a servant, but since I didn't bring her and had no reason to actually care about her she wasn't in much danger of being hurt to get to me. Still we didn't have a seat for her, and once we say down she was forced to stand behind my chair once they brought the seats and table back out. I sat down, and once they had resumed the conclave I turned to look at Mina. "Ok, so you're my new girl friday right? You're supposed to tell me how this goes so go ahead."
Mina bowed her head politely "Of course my lord. You lordship has inherited all of Lord Drakul's holdings. He has several estates you should be aware of, as well as many smaller investments and quite a bit of material wealth. The castle in Romania, an estate in Mikanos, three townhouses in New York city, a high rise penthouse here in Chicago and a five star hotel in Philadelphia. Your lordship will also be given access to Lord Drakul's bank accounts and his stock portfolios. He owns quite a number of shares in a great many powerful companies."
My eyebrows started climbing when she began talking and continued to mount my face like professional mountain climbers. By the time she was done my jaw was hanging open in shock. "Ok, slow down. You're saying I inherited all this, isn't there some sort of legal heir, won't it just default to them? And what about the Black Court." This whole right of conquest thing was nuts. There couldn't be a legal avenue for something like this. Mina seemed competent so maybe she could smooth some of it over for me but she wasn't going to be able to do all of it.
Mina shook her head "Lord Drakul was a signatory of the unseelie accords. The terms of an Arbitration are a part of the accords themselves. You'll be signing them officially at the end of the conclave. This is supposed to be a trial run of sorts but it's mostly a formality. In any case the Winter court will take care of the legal details, you need only collect that which is your due. As for the Black Court..." She paused, her perfect face wrinkling in consternation. "These matters as complex. The Black Court does not fall under your aegis."
That confused me. "But Drakul was the king of the Black Court vampires wasn't he? So if I get all his assets I should own their asses." Not that I particularly wanted to own the Black Court. But it was vastly preferable to all of them swearing blood vengeance on me for killing their ancestral sugar daddy. Mavra and her rotten apple dumpling gang were pretty much the height of unpleasant of all the beings I'd met that I hadn't murdered already. Which was actually a longer list then I would have ever expected before I came here but I was surprisingly ok with it.
Mina shook her head "The Black Court is a separate entity from Lord Drakul, hence his status as a freeholding lord. His son Vlad is the driving force behind the Black Court, and was afraid enough of his father to take orders from him. Sadly despite this they are not an asset that was his to pass down, and as such they are not yours to command. Lord Vlad will most likely be a mixture of relieved and unhappy at the passing of his father. Their relationship could be...contentious." She said that last bit like it was code for something much less polite. Still that was welcome news.
I smiled "So there's a chance he may not come looking for vengeance?" I'd thought he was their king, but if Drakul had been oppressing them and I'd helped them regain their freedom then maybe I did the Black Court a favor. I didn't want anything from them except to stay the fuck out of my city so maybe that would be enough. I felt much better "I was worried they would hunt me down and declare a blood feud or something. If I can avoid worrying about living corpses hiding under my bed I'll be so relieved...ok you're looking uncomfortable. What's wrong?"
The woman...vampire? I wasn't sure what she was, refused to meet my eyes. Her voice was diffident as she responded "I would expect retaliation. Lord Drakul and Lord Vlad did not get along but killing his father is a violation of his honor. Lord Vlad's reputation would be in tatters if he simply allowed you to walk away." I groaned. Of course. Of course politics would ruin any chance for me to get out of this without a bunch of unnecessary drama, because what else were politics for if not to make us forbid we act like rational beings instead of making everything weirdly complex for no reason.
I put my head in my hands and groaned out loud. I assumed this would be bad form for some reason but I honestly gave zero fucks. Powerful people don't need to worry about reputation. If anyone bitched I could just curb stomp them. Mina just kind of lurked silently behind me and Raven started rubbing slow circles on the back of my neck with her fingers because she knew I found it soothing. This entire stupid conclave had been a mess and I literally knocked on wood when I had the thought that I hoped the rest of it went better.
Thinking back my thought a moment ago I turned to glance at Mina. "So what's your story? I thought you were one of Dracula's Brides, that's what it said in the book. You don't look like a Black Court vamp though, and please feel free to take that as a compliment." It almost seemed ride to just ask her what she was out of the blue like that, but I wasn't letting some random servant follow me home without even knowing where her actual species was. Privacy was fine but I had to draw the line somewhere.
Her face twisted into a scowl. "Stoker was a drunk and a bastard. I was never Lord Vlad's lover, Lord Drakul took me when I was just a young noble girl. He transformed me with his blood. Lord Drakul was not one of those filthy corpses, those of us blessed with his favor are of a higher class. We don't rot like putrid sacks of flesh. I am an elevated being. While I do dine on the blood of others I am not what you would recognize as a traditional vampire. We of Lord Drakul's line are a category all our own."
That was...interesting. It made sense considering Drakul was supposedly a scion and not technically a vampire. I remembered Harry being told in the books that Dracula joined the Black Court as a teenage rebellion. That opened up a ton of questions about Mina and people like her though. "Well in that case what are all of you called? Vampires seems a bit open ended given all the courts." I had a sneaking suspicion I would be running into the others of her ilk and I really didn't want to deal with unknown demonic spawn trying to wreak bloody vengeance on me.
Mina looked positively smug as she straightened her back. "They call us the Darklings. Among the great powers of this world we are a known force, and now all of us serve you." That was surprising, I had thought it was just Mina. She seemed to sense my confusion and smiled reassuringly. "All of us are considered part of Lord Drakul's retinue. There are thirteen Darklings and we are yours to command. The majority of my brethren will be stopping in to pay our respects within the next few months, or we could take a trip to Romania to visit the eldest and have them meet us there."
I had to admit that sounded a bit cool. I'd never been to Romania before, or anywhere outside the US. But visiting my new ancestral vampire lair might be fun. I could tell Cinder and Raven were both interested as well. "That sounds like a good idea Mina. I'll have to talk to everyone at home, but I wouldn't be against going to the old country to take in the sights. And I have the money to afford first class tickets for all of us now." I had been pretty bummed leaving some of the girls last time, I thought a trip for all of us would be more fun.
Mina giggled at me, giving me the sort of look you give a dumb but enthusiastic puppy. "Your lordship doesn't need to buy any tickets. You have a private jet that can more than accommodate an entire coterie of servants. I could arrange the trip for you if you should like my lord? How many servants would you be transporting and when would you like to leave?" I smiled internally, imagining the outrage if any of the girls heard that. Still having a girl friday would be useful. Mina certainly seemed competent.
I actually gave it some though before answering. "I'd say we can leave on Wednesday. As for the number of people..." I trailed off, furrowing my brow. "Morgan, Andi, Inari, Kara, Sam, Cinder, Raven,Yang, me, Barb, my master and hell, might as well bring River is he wants to come. So that's twelve people. I assume the entire coterie comment means it would fit twelve?" It also occurred to me that I had way too many roommates. Still, it was kind of nice to know I had such a big family only a year after getting here.
Mina just nodded seriously. "Of course my lord. Eleven will be no issue. The plane can comfortably hold twenty. Lord Drakul enjoyed traveling with his food. He would bring girls to feed off of on the plane, and he preferred to alternate to prevent them from spoiling." I tried not to think too hard about what she meant by that as we finalized our plans and then slipped out my phone to text Barb about the trip. She seemed enthusiastic about it, though admittedly I left out some details.
I figured at home was a better place for telling my girlfriend I inherited a nest of super vampires and one of them (a sexy blonde one) was going to be moving in with us. At least I assumed she would be moving in. I wasn't sure what the protocol is with inherited servant girls but living in my place seemed like the most logical guess. I certainly wasn't going to be able to find her a place near my house. I decided to think about it later and turned my attention back to the actual conclave. I wanted to try to catch at least some of it in case it became relevant.
The rest of the conclave for the day was fairly dull. Nothing important to me or Chicago. One of the accorded lords actually brought up my business and mentioned our tech. Ebenezar and Joe totally endorsed us and mentioned having tried our stuff. They had actually been making the attempt to get the council on board but it was like trying to teach an eighty year old to use a computer times a thousand. All in all it was uneventful and we all headed home exhausted and relieved. Tomorrow was the last day and after that would be the gala and then this whole thing could end. It couldn't happen fast enough.
The next day of the conclave flew by. It started early and ended early and we all headed home after to get ready for the gala. Raven and Cinder had their dresses already and with the extra time Inari had manages to help the other girls get their clothes ready without threatening them with being drawn and quartered. Barb was all ready at the moment and we finally had a minute to talk while everyone else got ready, namely about Mina and her presence here in our house.
She didn't seem angry about it honestly, just a bit exasperated. Her glare was fairly soft around the edges, but also very much still there. "Another one." I winced. "You bring home beautiful women constantly. Can't you rescue a well muscled frenchman or a biker guy or something? Why does it always have to be insanely beautiful women?" I'd been expecting that one. She wasn't wrong, I tended to end up saving people who needed it and by some crazy quirk of fate they were always beautiful women.
I put my hands up in supplication. "Whoah. Not arguing here. You've been with me most of the times I've brought people back. You know it's not an on purpose thing. I just do what I think is right." I knew she wasn't really mad at me. She wasn't even really mad at the situation, she just felt like the subject should be broached at this point and honestly I agreed with her. This was kind of getting out of hand. Forget the number of women, just the number of people in the house was getting pretty crazy and I hadn't really consulted her about any of it.
She sighed and plopped down on the bed sulkily. "Yeah, I know. It's not your fault and it's the right thing to do, but it just bothers me." She jabbed a finger at me demandingly. "Do every single one of them have to be hotter than me? Morgan is like half tits and she has a face like the worlds dirtiest angel, Sam has that sexy punk rocker thing going on, and Andi has a balcony you can do Shakespeare from. Even Inari is gorgeous, though obviously I'm less worried about her because she's so sickeningly in love with Kara they might as well be a Valentines romance movie."
I snickered at her. "First of a Sam is happily with River, and Andi is still getting over Kirby. Morgan would admittedly have sex with me if I asked, but she would also have sex with you. Or Raven. Or all of us at the same time. Not to mention she's been putting the moves on Andi something fierce, which I know you could tell because that girl is the opposite of subtle." I sat down next to her and pulled her into my lap. "You aren't jealous or worried. You're just annoyed. You know I would never do anything with another girl without permission. I love you, and I love Raven, and
I'm pretty much there with Cinder too. I have so many women in my life I'm pretty sure I ejaculate puffs of dust."
She burst out laughing, dissolving into full on giggles and leaning against me as she shook with mirth. " I know that's bullshit but it's a hilarious image. Not to mention I know for sure that you really do get a bit exhausted with all of us. You're right though, I'm not really jealous. Well, I am, but it's petty and stupid and not serious. Honestly I'm more concerned this time than anything else. We don't know this girl and she seems dangerous. Is it really smart to let her move in under these circumstances?"
I puffed out a pensive breath. "You aren't wrong. But I don't have another choice. I guess I could put her up somewhere else but I want to keep an eye on her. Living in a house with an empath, a kryptonian, a master detective, and a fucking partridge in a pear tree, means she won't be able to pull anything while she's around. Plus I get the weird impression that she's earnest. In her point of view beating Drakul in that trial means I like...earned her or something. He owned her body and soul and since I won her now I do." I shrugged. "Maybe not your average way of looking at things but hey there it is."
Barb sighed against me, snuggling into my chest. "I know. And I know we're responsible for her now so keeping her around is a good idea. Where is she going to sleep? And if you say in our room be aware that I will punch you in the dick." Her tone was fierce but there was a teasing glint in her eye and a small smile on her face. Whatever reservations she had were still there but she was willing to put them aside since I had a good reason to ask her to do so. I leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips, feeling her smile against my face.
She hopped up off my lap, smirking at me over her shoulder. "Well, no time for hanky panky, we have a weird monster party to go to." She headed for the door and stopped. "Hey, did you ever notice that the monster mash isn't actually the monster mash itself, it's a song about people singing a song called the monster mash? No one has ever actually heard the monster mash." She paused and look contemplative then shrugged before strolling out of the room. I burst into laughter as she left, my girlfriend could be pretty fucking weird sometimes but I loved the way she thought.
We met the others outside, having all finished getting ready and waiting for us to emerge. We even had guests since Dalton and Brynn had shown up and were going to be attending the gala with us. Lara had supplied a limo for the occasion. A little gift from our host, and Kara promised me that upon X-raying it she found no explosives, nor could Raven, Cinder, River, or Harry detect any magic.
Inari snickered the entire time, clearly amused that I suspected her sister of murder, which I wasn't sure was an appropriate response but at least was better than anger. Finally we climbed into the limo and set off for the event. The thing had a recessed floor and high wheels, even River managed to squeeze in fine. Sam plopped down in his lap, her black dress going well with her pink streaked hair, and the ripped fishnets working oddly well under the tiny velvet garment.
I glanced at Dalton as we got in. "So, you ready for this nonsense man? I assume you have some sort of world domination plan?" I raised an eyebrow. "Specifically one that doesn't involve staring down the front of my new...roommates dress." Brynn was glaring at Dalton who had been staring at Mina since we got in the car. Admittedly the Darkling girl looked fantastic, supernatural beauty and formal wear was a good combo, and her long legs and plump thighs were extremely appealing. The plunging neckline of her dress was extremely flattering as well, but Dalton probably should have avoided staring.
Mina herself didn't actually seem to mind, looking him over with a sort of clinical appreciation that made it a bit unclear whether she wanted to have dinner with him or have him for dinner. Dalton noted his assistants glare and cleared his throat. "I wasn't staring. I was just...admiring her dress. Is that a Valentino?" He jerked his gaze away, actually blushing, and Brynn just rolled her eyes. I wasn't sure if they were actually dating honestly, they were always really vague about their relationship, but I'd seen him pick up women in front of her before, and she only got upset sometimes.
Mina smiled slightly and glanced at Dalton out of the corner of her eye, licking her lips slowly enough that she probably wanted him to look but not so slowly as to be obvious. I debated warning him but Dalton knew what she was, if he wanted to play vamp snack that was his business. I glanced over at Barb, deciding to change the subject. "If you want to make some business connections like Dalton, this would be a good place. Plus I'll have Mina act as intermediary with some of the older monsters, she knows how this world works and she's the only one who know what our new assets include."
She briefly looked annoyed but the expression flashed by fast enough that I almost missed it. She shot Mina a forced smile. "Of course. I'm happy to have her expertise. I'm sure you have plenty to teach me." The Darkling, for her part simply nodded deeply to me, almost a bow. Barb turned to Kara next. "So. You're going to be meeting your girlfriends family minus the awkward turf war. You nervous?"
Without Lord Raith around there was no reason for Inari not to introduce Kara to her sisters. They had been putting it off for far too long already but Kara was understandably worried about what Lara would think. Despite not wanting to live at home and the mess with their dad Lara and Inari remained very close. She talked to either her sister or Thomas on the phone every few nights, but Kara, worried about being distanced from me and the girls had tried to wait until things cooled down.
The Kryptonian sighed, reaching down to take Inari's hand where her girlfriend sat next to her. "Yes. I know we should have done this sooner, but I just didn't want to seem like I was cutting you out of my life or picking a side. I love you guys and I refuse to abandon you. But this is an opportunity to get to know Inari's family while making it clear that I stand with you, so this will have to do. What about you two?" She turned to look at Sam and Morgan. "You nervous about going home?"
Morgan, who was distracted drooling over Andi in her very tight green dress just gave a quick hmm of agreement. Sam chuckled from her spot on River's lap. "As you can see Morgan isn't for the most part. She never was one to overthink things. As for me...well we aren't technically going home. We're part of your faction under that accords and as the host the Raith estate has to welcome us, but we're still exiles. I very much doubt they'll pay any attention to us. Actively challenging us would invite retaliation from you and the family isn't stupid, so we'll probably just get the cold shoulder."
River looked down at his girlfriend in concern but she clearly didn't want to dwell on it so he didn't mention it. The rest of the trip was just casual chatter and lame jokes that we were all clearly employing to try to avoid thinking about what the ramifications of all this could be. The conclave was one thing but tonight I would sign the Accords. Like physically. Plus all my people were with me this time not just Cinder and Raven who could protect themselves. This had the potential to go very bad.
I knew that realistically the conclave had already been a mess and there was every chance nothing would happen, but deep down I was sure something else was coming. Something was going to go wrong with everyone there and I was going to have to protect them all. I just hoped I could manage it. I was strong but this kind of environment wasn't my cup of tea. This wasn't a battle it was politics and my actions could have real consequences later on down the line if I decided to kick someones ass for looking at my girls funny. Well, I supposed I'd just have to take things as they came. What was the worst that could happen?
The people decorating the Raith Deeps were miracle workers. We'd been here earlier today and seen the layout, but they managed to completely overhaul it in the time we had been gone. The persian rugs were replaced with thick white carpets and the walls had sconces and decorations on them. Something about the setup managed to pull focus from the stone behind it and somehow remove the cave aesthetic, actually making the place feel like a real ballroom, albeit a carpeted one.
Barb gave a low whistle as she stepped up beside me wrap her arms around my elbow. "Wow. This place is so much nicer than the cave I grew up in. Which is saying something because the Batcave was pretty swank. Lot's of decorations and trophies and that weird car based lazy susan thing I always liked even if I felt like roundabout could have served the exact same purpose. This place though...this is so nice you can barely tell it's a cave at all." Everyone else was looking at her in confusion except Kara and Raven but I just smiled at the comment.
Barb didn't reminisce much about her old world. My redhead was very much a force of nature and she tried to bull her way forward all the time. I knew it was because she missed her dad and Bruce and even that cock weasel Grayson and I didn't push her to dwell on it. Still it always made me smile when she felt secure enough to share things from back home. It let me know that she was healing even if she didn't show it. Where Yang had kind of fallen apart when she got here Barb had gone the opposite route and repressed like hell. It took months of time with her before I even noticed she was hurting.
Harry had really helped fill that void in her life, just like he had for Yang, and the new baby and all the kids and Carpenters made her life here so full of family and joy I think it became hard to hold onto any feeling of being alone. I wondered how much of that was Raven pulling strings behind the scenes to help her feel better, my sorceress was a hell of a therapist even if you didn't know she was head shrinking you. I pulled Barb close to my side with that arm and put my other around Cinder's waist, shooting Raven a wink.
My girlfriend knew the two of them needed me more right now and give me a soft understanding smile before stepping up to take Barb's other arm. Meanwhile everyone else scattered. Dalton took off to do his thing, Mina went with him, though she promised to come back when Barb was ready to mingle, Brynn trailed behind them in an annoyed huff. Kara and Inari took Harry and split off to go find Lara and Sam and River went to dance, while Morgan dragged Andi out onto the floor to do the same. Everyone just scattered as soon as we stepped inside.
As we stepped in however we were greeted by a very surprising sight. A tall statuesque blonde in a elegant black dress with a long slit up one leg strolled up to us. It actually took me a second to recognize her with the clothes and the makeup and her hair braided. My eyebrows flew up "Gard? Wow you look great, I hardly recognized you. I wouldn't have pegged this for your kind of party. Are you enjoying yourself?" I hadn't expected the valkyrie here but in retrospect it made some sense, this was Odin's party.
She chuckled at my poleaxed expression. "Yes Cameron, I do own clothes other than battle leathers and biker jackets." Her red painted lips quirked up in amusement. "Your staring is certainly a high compliment but I think your lady friends may get jealous if you continue." Her eyes were sparkling so I knew she wasn't angry, just enjoying my reaction. You would think after all this time in this world I would be used to supernaturally attractive women but it still knocked me on my ass every time.
Being around nothing but women who violate the laws of physics with their sheer hotness was a bit disconcerting but luckily I wasn't alone. Barb, who had a bit of a crush on Sigrun, was staring so hard she looked like a cartoon skunk. I had to elbow her in the ribs before she cleared her throat and responded. "Oh, no we're used to him being a total boy and staring all the time. He doesn't act on his impulses without permission though so we let him drool." The suspicious licking of her lips as she stared at Sigrun told me I wasn't the only one drooling.
Gard laughed at that, shooting Barb a warm smile that made my girlfriend's knees turn to jelly if her weight on my arm was anything to go by before turning back to me. "In any case Cameron my lord sent me to get you. You'll be signing the accords tonight before the entirety of the accorded nations so you need to be in position when we open the gala. She smiled charmingly at Barb. "I'm sorry to say his two escorts from the conclave must accompany him, but I could keep the charming Miss Gordon company while you attend the signing if you like?"
Barb was flushed and her breath was heaving. I pulled her against me an nipped her ear. "Nothing under the clothes without asking." I whispered to her. She shuddered and nodded and I chuckled. Freydis had made it clear in the books that valkyries could be outspoken when they wanted something. Gard clearly noticed Barb's interest and was asking for permission to spend some time with her. It was up to Barb of course but I wanted to talk to her about it with Raven and Cinder before she went very far. It wasn't something we had discussed.
I personally gave no fucks if Barb had sex with another girl, even one outside our relationship, and I doubted Raven cared either. I wasn't sure about Cinder and I figured in general it was polite to ask. It made sense Gard would be attracted to Barb, she was every inch the deadly warrior and very attractive, but waiting wouldn't be a big deal. I shot them a smile and headed off for the head table on the far end of the hall where Odin sat beside Mab, Lara, and about four other people not all of whom I recognized.
They had saved me a seat and slid into the chair next to the all-father. The old god grinned at me. "So, seem's like you've had a bit of an adventure on your first outing in the public eye. Well done by the way, I didn't see that one coming at all but it certainly made your point." He shot me his usual wolfish grin before downing the very large mug of beer he'd gotten from somewhere. Ever since we had that first drink at Mac's it was like I had broken some kind of alcoholic ice. Odin had a beer in hand every time I saw him now.
I rolled my eyes. "First of all Dino, I'm not convinced you weren't expecting that. Second of all I didn't so anything anyway it was all Emperor Qin. I just stayed alive through the Arbitration, that isn't really a victory." I appreciated the props, but I was halfway convinced that accepting them would open me up to some sort of open challenge and I would have to do it again. Somehow I doubted the Qin Emperor would go down quite as easily as Drakul. THe vampire was kind of a lone wolf experience aside, but Qin had led an army larger than most modern countries to unify the six warring states and forge the precursor to the empire of China.
Odin bellow a laugh at that. "Boy surviving anything is a victory, much less a life or death struggle with a millennia old starborn monstrosity that has killed more people than you've ever met. To answer your unasked question however no, I didn't plan that nor was I aware of it so you can settle down. Now, before we can start this thing you just have to sign the accords in front of everyone." He gestured to the table in front of me and someone brought forward an honest to god purple velvet pillow with gold tassels on it, upon which lay an unfurled piece of ancient looking vellum.
The paper was strange. The hide it was made from was from something very old and scary, I wasn't sure how I knew but I did. I could just feel it. The ink was infused with a kind of heavy magic that made me immediately think of fresh blood, and the varying types of handwriting were so perfect it looked like a Microsoft word font list. It seemed petty but part of me was a bit worried my handwriting would be sloppy. I was left handed and even though I had unnatural control of my body I'd never bothered to work on my penmanship.
Despite the worry though I just held out a hand and Odin passed me a long black feathered quill with a bone nib. The feather was so huge I wondered what it could possibly have come from but the actual writing portion of the quill was at least thin enough to hold. Odin handed me the ink well before giving me brief instructions on how to sign and then stood up. The old god cleared his throat and everyone in the place froze. It was the weirdest thing, the sound was only a bit louder than normal but even despite the acoustics it carried abnormally well, cutting through every conversation.
All the attendees glances over at the table from where they were sitting or dancing or standing and chatting. Odin raised his massive beer mug. "As you all know, this event has been a celebration and a test. To honor and inspect our new member, the newest signatory of this, our accorded nations. As you all know Cameron Beddows has proven himself a power in his own right, both in the world at large and in these very halls, and now the time has come for him to formally bind himself to our number, with his signing of the Unseelie Accords." It was weird how those words were somehow verbally capitalized but it did seem to fit.
He gestured to me and I nodded before slamming the nib of the pen into my hand, drawing just a bit of blood. I dripped it into the inkwell, letting my healing take care of the whole and making damn sure it all mixed with the ink, which Odin informed me would break and thaumaturgic links except the one with the document itself and would keep the blood fresh and potent on the vellum. Then I slowly and carefully wrote out my name across the accords, sealing myself magically to the rules of the binding agreement which governed the powers of this world.
It struck me as i did so that I had officially integrated into the series. I'd driven this thing completely off the rails and as a member of the Unseelie Accords I was an active participant in an organization I knew for a fact would be the victim of an assault by we let the Fomor get jumped enough to bring her to bear against us which admittedly we probably wouldn't.
It somehow felt more real like this, like I had more to lose as a member of the accords, though as a Chicago native I knew that wasn't the case. I would be screwed no matter what if this place got crushed so I might as well stand and fight. As I took in the crowd who had begun to clap I somehow couldn't bring myself to care about that. This was my home now. I would damn sure protect it.
The conclave draws to a close, and in the recent chapters the new arc starts, and you guys will never see it coming. This arc is going to be the second to last I think, and I'm expecting the story to close out around 500 thousand words. Hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think. pat-reon has the advance chapters. at that site /malcolmtent.