"Stand up."

Santana glanced up when Quinn cleared her throat and looked up at the vampire who had a bored look on her face. It takes her a moment to realize that all eyes are on her and she's being addressed by the Queen of the Red Court. "Me?"

"Yes, you Salsa Caliente. Stand up."

Santana shot one look over at Quinn who gave her an almost imperceptible nod, before pushing her chair out and standing up as tall as she could. It didn't matter if she felt small and helpless she wasn't going to let them see her be afraid. "My name isn't Salsa Caliente, it's Santana Lopez."

There's a sharp inhale of breath before the sound of a spoon clattering around an empty glass and everyone turns to look at Charlie who seems to be ignoring her surroundings as she tries to get the last of the apple compote from her cup.

"I'll call you whatever I want to call you. You have no rights here. Salsa Caliente is too good a nickname for someone like you. Not when you're nothing more than a terrorist."

Santana flushed angrily, and jutted her chin out defiantly, it seemed that she was going to be stuck defending herself. "I'm not a terrorist—"

"Is this seriously why you're here Roz?" Quinn asked leaning back in her chair lazily, playing with her glass of blood. "To insult Santana? Throw your weight around to the lone human in the room. Bullying humans is beneath you," Quinn offers sarcastically.

"Quinn," Rachel's eyes widen and she glares at her wife from across the table. "You can't just—she's the queen," she hisses in a whisper despite the fact that everyone in the room can hear her.

Quinn narrowed her eyes slightly, "A member of the black court appears, in our territory and we're worried about the human in the—Charlie you've had enough." Quinn turns to her sister who is holding up her dessert glass and wiggling it for Blaine.

Charlie puts her glass down and puffs out her cheeks at being scolded trying to get a new dessert. She makes a gesture at Quinn who rolls her eyes at her. She makes a few more gestures, but when Quinn doesn't budge her shoulders slump and she sinks a bit in her chair.

Santana watches the exchange with fascination, she can't help herself. Quinn is playing a game, she can see it, controlling the room from her position and Charlie—Charlie was always paying attention even when it seemed like she wasn't. This was also the first time that Quinn had simply avoided the topic of her being a terrorist all together. She had been told that this whole thing was a game, but it was a game where the rules weren't written and as much as it pained her to keep quiet, she clearly needed to simply let the twins do whatever it is they did.

"You'll grow fat and complacent like the rest of the members of this court, content to play their little games, with the backstabbing and the silly-little power-plays and the favors. You think that the black court plays these games or do they simply plan our demise?" Quinn demands turning on the gathered vampires. "I know you've had terrorist attacks in your state's, humans and shifters rising against you and you want to focus on our terrorists? You don't see us interfering with how you run your provinces despite the fact that many of you enjoy terrorizing the people."

Santana watched and bit her lip as Charlie glanced down at her stomach and poked it, she wasn't fat. She had seen them both naked, well mostly Quinn but it didn't seem like Charlie was carrying any extra weight on her stomach, or anywhere else for that matter. "You're not fat," Santana murmurs after a moment and Charlie looks up at her eyes dancing with amusement.

"This investigation is because you allowed a member of the black court to roam in your district, infecting hundreds of people into ghouls. We're here to discuss the fact that you cut into our numbers by killing one of our own," Roz narrows her eyes at Quinn. "It's been a few months, how are we to be sure that she isn't a thrall? We find it odd that you've decided to keep her on as a pet, and yet you murder someone as distinguished and as useful as Hunter." Roz turns to Charlie who didn't seem to be paying her any mind. "You were supposed to train him."

Charlie turns to Quinn and makes a rude gesture, causing her sister to snort in amusement.

Quinn turns her attention back to Roz, "You demoted us. Charlie is no longer a knight, by your hand. Which means she no longer takes squires." Quinn flicks her eyes to Santana for a moment before forging on. "If you wanted to have Hunter trained, then he should have been squired to Brody or Brittany."

"I didn't want him, he's mean," Brittany interjects with a shrug.

"You installed Brody into a position that was made for my sister. You've punished us time and time again for your horrible decisions. Hunter wasn't fit to be a knight, he was killing our citizens. He was in our territory flagrantly breaking our rules and walking around like he was the newest regent. Yet another mistake that you made in your ineptitude. This is why we will not yield to you Roz, this is why we will never bend the knee to you, or answer your call. You are not our king, and you can demote us to pawns, you can throw us off the court if you must but then we will be forced to retaliate and I assure you that my sister hasn't lost a step. You will all die before I can finish this glass."

"So, this is merely a tantrum you're both throwing. I had higher hopes for the two of you."

The glass that Quinn had been holding slips from her fingers, crashing to the ground as she turns around, and for a moment Santana could swear that Quinn's already pale pasty ass got considerably paler as she immediately reached for her sister to bow to the latest entrant to the room. "Your majesty—"

"Save it, Q. I don't need you to try and suck up to me. I always appreciate a good tantrum against political opponents, but there is a time and a place."

"Yes ma'am, good to see you again." Quinn nods and Charlie bows, which is just enough information to know that whoever just walked into the room is the real person in power. She gulps and tries to keep her head down, glancing over at the twins just to try and take her cue from them.

The woman snorts. "Ma'am? I may be powerful enough to take out everyone you've ever thought to meet, but I'm not a day over twenty-five. Don't pretend to have manners now, Quinn."

Santana glances up at the others, just to check their reactions. There was no way that was true.

"Sorry Sue."

Sue's critical eye turns on Charlie who is staring at the woman, "Are you still playing the fool?" When she's met with a wide grin from Charlie she rolls her eyes. "You've gotten slower," she states bluntly before walking by Charlie whose jaw drops at the statement. "How long have you been sitting on your ass instead of winning me this war?"

Charlie makes a face and makes a quick gesture, before pointing at Roz and then looking at Quinn.

Quinn cleared her throat, "About thirty years—give or take a decade. I quite enjoy our retirement. I've taken up gardening, you should take a walk through the gardens. They're lovely."

"Gag me." Sue rolls her eyes. "I didn't survive this long just to spend centuries smelling the roses."

Santana takes a quick peek to gauge the others, realizing that although Quinn and Charlie seem to have a healthy respect for Sue the stiff conversation is anything to go by, the others are scared shitless. Even Rachel seems to be perfectly content to stay silent.

Sue stops at her seat, running her fingers over the ornate throne for a moment before turning to the twins. "There's a war going on and you two decided to retire? I never gave you permission for that."

"There's always something, however we were demoted, as I'm sure you're aware. It doesn't matter if you expect your Rooks to fight, it's still an insult," Quinn took a seat in her chair, watching as her sister did the same and grabbed Santana's arm to force her to take a seat. She flashes Sue her fangs, "It's going to take a lot to get us out of retirement. Perhaps—"

"No." Sue interrupts before turning to Roz. "Why are they Rooks?"

Roz clears her throat, looking a little uncomfortable but stands her ground. "Brody and Tina were appointed in their stead and without the twins letting ghouls infect their province, we would have had no need to convene the entire court—"

"You're kidding, right? Brody's as bright as a wet noodle and we are facing a legitimate attack. Now is not the time for principles. Tina is an acceptable choice for a temporary Bishop."

"They deserved to be punished—"

"For what? I sure as hell don't remember. Well, at the very least Quinn hasn't done anything that warrants punishment. Charlotte on the other hand—that's not a compliment."

Charlie grins pleased at the statement and waves her hands at Quinn who once again ignores her.

Roz glances at the twins for a moment before shaking her head and turning back to Sue. "You were gone, there was no one around to corral them so I did what I had to do. They do not have the right to run roughshod over this court. They do not have the right to kill whomever they please without going through the proper channels and petitioning the court. I tried to bring them to heel."

"I imagine how well that went over." Sue is quiet for a moment, "This bickering is a waste of time, Charlotte is a knight, I didn't spend decades making sure that she was one of our greatest weapons to simply let her sit on her ass and get fat eating junk food. Both she and Brittany are my red knights. I have no use for a one-eyed vampire who begged an enemy for mercy."

A pleased smile crosses Quinn's face as she pats Charlie's shoulder, her eyes falling to Tina "And my position—"

"I already told you no Q. This isn't a negotiation. Charlotte is needed as a knight, I would rather have her killing our enemies than growing bored and killing our allies, even if they are 'mean'. You on the other hand Q, well I expect more from you. The fact that you didn't notice the thrall in your midst, suggests that I have to reassess your skills. Until you can prove to me that you deserve your position back Tina will remain a Bishop."

"A thrall?" Quinn repeats turning to look at Santana narrowing her eyes.

It takes her a moment before Santana realizes that nearly all eyes were on her, and some vampires had moved their seats and seemed to be in the position to pounce. She swallows and looks at Quinn, "I'm not a—" She stops when Quinn's fangs slide out. When she feels a hand on her wrist she jumps and turns to look at Charlie, hoping that someone believed her.

Charlie moves pushing Santana behind her, and shakes her head at the vampires in the room. When that doesn't seem to dissuade the others she immediately bares her fangs.

"Charlie's right, she's not a thrall. She's also not a terrorist," Brittany speaks up in a bored tone now that Charlie was blocking her view of Santana, as she finally chooses to pay attention to her surroundings, she flashes a grin at Sue. "Oh, you're still alive."

"Thralls have always been notoriously difficult to detect how can you be sure?" Rachel insists, narrowing her eyes.

"She's not a terrorist," Brittany responds with ease. Before blinking, her eyes widening as she turns to Sue, "That's why we're here."

"At least someone here has a functioning brain. There has been an uptick in terrorism across our territories, at first, I chalked it up to the fact that many of you create conditions which breeds discontent and encourages criminal behavior. Personally, I don't care how you run your little kingdoms, but the recent attacks here? It was suspicious, especially since there was a ghoul attack," Sue explained. "My inspection of your dungeons confirmed it."

"Confirmed what?" Quinn presses.

"Can you not see it? All the power at your fingertips and you can't put two and two together. The terrorists, Q, it's the terrorists. It's rather brilliant, using them to sow discord and unrest, and while we're distracted start invading my territories." Sue inhaled sharply as she looks around.

"Thralls are virtually undetectable, it's not a terrible idea except for the small fact that they become unhinged and violent if they're kept alive for too long," one of the vampires spoke up and tilted her head to look at the twins. "But—they're terrorists."

Quinn scowled, "So we kill them, before they even begin to show symptoms. It's brilliant play, and far above what any of the Black Court has ever thought off before what's the latest intelligence—"

"Sue just said that she inspected your dungeons—you haven't been killing your terrorists. I know you have a soft-spot for humanity and the lesser beings, but to keep them alive, it's reckless and stupid. It gives people hope."

Santana took a peek at the vampire who spoke out, before looking at the twins. She had assumed that Will and the others were dead, she was certain of it. The twins certainly spoke as if they were dead.

"And make them martyrs Tina? This isn't just a war of violence, it's a war of ideas—" Quinn stops and turns to Charlie who flashes her an amused smile. "And here I thought you were simply bored and wanted a new playmate. You surprise me with your insight Charlie."

Santana turns to Charlie who reaches over and pats her head absentmindedly, they were talking about her. She was an example. She was to remind everyone of their place, she had always known she was their prisoner but she had never imagined that they were using her so blatantly. She clenches her fist tightly and decides for now to bite her tongue. Causing a scene now wouldn't help anyone. It wouldn't make things better for her. She just needed to bide her time.

Quinn turns her attention back to Tina, "They had a relatively fair trial, they were caught in the act and we acted swiftly and decisively. Dying in prison, rotting away is a far better solution then giving them a rallying cry. Humanity has short memories, you think they're going to remember that he killed a few dozen humans, no they're going to remember that he stood up and fought against us and we simply cut him down, because we didn't like what he had to say. Keeping them alive fixes that problem for now, treating them fairly though they deserve nothing, proves that we are better than them. Besides if we hadn't kept them alive, this might not have come to light until it was far too late."

"Save your philosophical arguments for another time, I don't care about the morality, I don't care about the optics. I care that we lack proper intelligence, even if this had been their plan we should have known about it before they started to implement it. There's a new power player in the Black Court. I need names—no I want them dead," Sue snaps at both Tina and Quinn causing them both to fall silent. "Charlotte, you will be taking a squire—"

Charlie's arm suddenly wraps around Santana's shoulders and the room enters a stunned silence.

"You can't be serious!" Rachel insists, immediately. "She's human!"

Quinn immediately pinches the bridge of her nose, "Charlie."

"Wait, I want her as a squire! I didn't know we could take humans as squires!" Brittany spoke up looking at Sue. When Sue doesn't answer she frowns at Charlie. "I'll fight you for her."

Charlie bares her fangs a large grin on her face as she stands up and rotates her shoulder.

"Sit down Charlotte, I'm not letting you gamble with our pet. Brittany breaks most of her toys remember? Besides aren't you 'training' Mike? And by that, I mean aren't you fucking him into the ground and calling it training?" Quinn retorts.

Brittany puffs out her cheeks, "Yeah but—"

"Enough! Q, inform your sister that her new plaything is human. So, unless she plans on turning her—" Sue sighs when Charlie shakes her head. "Of course not, fine do whatever you want, but you're going to get a proper squire. If giving you a play toy is what you need to concentrate then fine. But you will be elevating one of our own to become your new squire. I suggest you choose well."

Charlie gives Sue a mock salute before sitting back down. She turns her attention back to the empty glass that had once contained a delicious dessert and reaches for it and holds it up so that Blaine can refill it.

If any other words are said she doesn't hear it as she watches the twins, angrily. This was her life that they were casually using to make a point. She hadn't signed up for this. She didn't want to be a squire, she didn't want to be a pawn in whatever game that they were playing. She wanted to go home and pretend that none of this ever happened.