The full Leichen council of purebloods observed Emery's entrance into the boardroom with Bible under her arm, notepad in left hand, and pen tucked behind her ear. She wore her hair in a tight bun and hoped the business pantsuit impressed upon them that she took this seriously. Acting nonchalantly, she arranged the the notepad and pen in front of her before facing all seven of them. " Hello," She greeted with a brief smile.
The silence matched that of a tomb until Emery's favorite pureblood spoke up." This is Emery Nowakowski, Queen of Dagon," Vsevolod introduced her warmly. " She arrived yesterday as scheduled,"
Let that speak for her character, Emery prayed while maintaining her neutral visage.
" She wishes to open negotiations for our support in dismantling Chthon," He explained casually to the stoic statues. The stoic statues slowly reacted in barely perceptible distrust.
She turned her head to the other that opened his mouth. An older man of more lines and crow's feet around his eyes leaned forward. Her mind added a full beard and bloodied fur and leather armor to the well clothed man before her creating an image of a warrior who unfortunately stumbled across a vampire before he died of old age or a war wound. The fictional narrative proved to be more interesting than the person in that seat.
The nearest to her asked. " Are you aware of what you invite?"
" I am aware that the Vampire Nation is recovering. Fractured." She looked each of them in the eye, unnerved by this entire meeting. She needed to succeed here no matter what it required. " I am aware that Danica Talos woke Drake from eternal slumber and he failed to kill Daywalker, and that Daywalker failed to kill him. I am aware that Chthon is but one house. I am also aware that you have likely not seen a ray of sunshine in quite sometime and live in a world of vampires," She leaned forward. " Are you aware that Blade is part human? He ages. He will die one day. He is an anomaly but so is Vsevolod. Alliances must be made to preserve what life created,"
Nebet said to show no weakness. No mercy. They expect it from a woman. Especially a woman.
" One pureblood does not speak-
" No, he merely introduced himself. Do not twist my reference into an attack," She cut off the childlike female without regret. " I traveled a long way to forge a pact to protect vampires from themselves. To care for the young so that they too may reach your age," Emery tried not to blink. Non-plused Vsevolod accepted her defense and the elder male leaned back in his chair. The childlike female stared down Emery, not scaring her in the least. " We are here out of acknowledgement that the humans are becoming harder to sway, yes?"
" Harder, but not impossible," The younger pureblood insisted almost naively.
" And you ask too much for a house that offers little in return," The older male argued a sticking point that not even optimism can ignore. " Aside from the progenitor, you surround yourself with young vampires who were pulled from serving other vampires, a clear violation of basic vampire laws,"
Emery once again mentally berated the points that more than one person raised to her prior to traveling here. " Slavery is wrong, regardless of what age you were born in and what culture you were raised in. Furthermore, I only turned the individuals. I did not pick them. If these individuals are displeased with my turning them, they are always welcome to leave the house and choose another, as well as the vampires who claimed the former familiars can take it up with-"
The older man cut her off coldly. " Each vampire is dead,"
" And that is my doing how?" She killed humans, yes, but not vampires. " You believe that I had any say in what Drake chooses to do? He is the progenitor, a tornado of evil and death sweeping across any and all lands. Vampires, pureblooded and turned, exist in a precarious life. Even Blade is unfairly impacted by it because of his extended age. People are relying on humans to keep them safe from extinction. What happens when the humans stop being frightened? When they become too frightened and strike back uniformly? It doesn't matter if your house exists on cloned blood, you're still a vampire. That makes you guilty regardless,"
Vsevolod turned to her. " Your plan?"
" Reshape the practices that give humans a reason to hunt us," She answered empathically. " Securing blood from willing sources, cloning it,providing an authority to hunt down rogue vampires like Deacon Frost - and for that fact, La Magra - properly tracking down vampiric sites like La Magra. That's to start," She held up the bible. " Your bible is more accurate than the christian bible. I learned more about vampires from reading this than interacting with vampires. The whys, the whos, the wheres. Origins that should be remembered and are forgotten because the other houses are focused on domination. Vampires are no longer in control of the world. People are no longer ignorant and universally overly religious,"
" The word you seek is gullible and easily swayed," A woman with dark skin and black hair supplied. " You acknowledge that the problem exists of power struggling. These power struggles undermine even your goals. You can not hope to change this obstacle,"
When she departed Paris she expected to battle everything and at the moment her predictions proved true.
" I am aware of our limitations. I am also aware that inaction is an action and at the risk of sounding like an inspirational quote, we are responsible for our own lives. If I do not act I am helping condemn myself and others to a difficult life. Your bible states that vampires are supreme beings yet you hide and infect society like fleas and ticks instead of holding yourself to a higher standard. Even your safe houses glorify a lifestyle of relaxed actions and no serious intentions to succeed in life. That's no supremacy. That's sloth and stupidity," She jabbed the table top in aggravation. " We need vampires who give a damn about more than their next feeding,"
Everyone stared back at her in serious contemplation. She leaned back in her chair and let out a breath, unaware of how angry it made her. Nonetheless, her observations and information obtained through Blade is correct. Vampires are lazy assholes relying on ancient money trusts to exist, and modern humans are growing more intelligent faster. Technology blinked and jumped decades ahead in a matter of a year or so. Blade had been cornered by Youtube and media campaigning, and now he found it harder to conduct his hunting without someone identifying him. His choice of clothing failed to help him blend in, a willing disadvantage Blade foolishly embraced.
The next half hour the youngest of the purebloods naively insisted nothing needed to change. The older vampires agreed on Emery's observations and her adherence to the vampire bible. No one saw eye to eye with her on changing a behavior that is universally difficult to shift and control. Ultimately the half hour argument over iif it should even be attempted ended with Emery taking a call from Drake.
" Yes, I'm speaking with them now," She answered his question before putting him on speaker phone. " You are now able to be heard by them all," She placed the phone a foot in front of her.
Drake's voice played on Emery's nerves, soothing and pulling at them simultaneously. Before he said a word, the line went dead.
" It seems Drake is busy," Vsevolod stated in slight amusement. " It is clear that whatever we decide an alliance with House of Dagon is not possible. If you are to implement what you presented and create an environment of education and control, we will reconsider the offer,"
She sighed. " And so it is. Thank you for hearing me out," She collected the notepad and pen, piling it on top of the bible. " I will return the bible to the library, collect my belongings, and find my escort. Thank you once again,"
Vsevolod followed her, the council separating to return to their isolated lives. " Do you believe Dagon was attacked?"
" More likely he damaged the phone,"She smiled. " He's snapped three of them already,"
" Only three?"
" Shocking, I know," She took away more from this than she'd let on to them. " When I return I'll have to buy him an invincible phone,"
Her companion went silent and she glanced in his direction. He looked forward, completely relaxed. How old was he to look like a teenager?"
" Might I inquire after your thoughts?" She asked after she tucked the bible back into its shelf. " You've become quiet,"
He slowly looked up. " The blood of ancients run in your veins. Every pureblood should bow to it, but you are a turn blood. Not every turn blood ceases to smell like a turn blood, as it is with you," She leaned back on the ladder and scolded herself for letting her guard down. His hands rested on her hips. Morally she understood he was centuries old, but he still appeared to be a teenaged adult. If he made sexual advances, she needed to refuse them.
" Is that so?" She stated blankly.
His hands lifted her off the ladder and put her on her feet. " You need not worry about me harming you," One hand adjusted her blouse collar. " You should bring better protection next time," He stepped back. " Someone less restrained and more manipulative will take advantage of naivety. Is it that correct, Yvette?" The younger vampire stared down Emery in contempt and ordered Emery to depart the estate as soon as sun down.
Emery held her place by the ladder, waiting for both purebloods to leave her alone, and felt the brief caress on her cheek before Vsevolod followed Yvette. Closing the door with shaking hands, Emery rest her forehead against the wooden door. Closing her eyes, she winced. A shooting pain shot through her chest and her arms numbed, right up to her shoulder.
A startling transformation turned her slender human arms in a contortion of exoskeletons and elongated talons. Her chest contorted into rippling muscles foreign to human genetics. She moved her hands to her face and fingered a new foreign cheekbone. She reached for her phone in a panic and snapped it in half. Letting the pieces fall to the floor, she lowered to the ground and breathed deeply. It wasn't a full transfer motion and her skin turned a darker shade of pink but not entirely a full on monster form. The pain of still minor transformations in her chest prevented easy breathing.
The door opened, Vsevolod intent on finishing his conversation when he spotted Emery on the floor, torn clothing exposing her altered form. He stood several feet from her waiting for an outburst or acknowledgement.
Scrambled emotions of fear and anger manipulated the still developing changes.
He backed out of the library and closed the door. " I need you to send the escort back and inform them that their queen requires Dagon's immediate presence," He ordered his lieutenant, the muslim woman from the original welcome party. " Not a word to anyone," She promised him to keep the information close to her chest.
Emery heard none of it. Blood rushed to her head, more pain erupting until all that remained of the suit was shreds. Try as she might all her vocal cords permitted were whimpers. Anything human tucked into a hapless body. Yet the incomplete transformation crippled her ability to be anything except intimidating. Vsevolod posted two guards at the door and within 12 hours before Drake arrived the library door opened. A confused Emery pleaded with them to fetch her change of clothes from her guest suite.
Drake discovered her in the shower soaking under the water. She kept her head down. " What happened?" He demanded gruffly.
She glanced up, her eyes stil that of a predator.
He opened the glass door and entered the enclosure. He put his hand to her throat and then put himself in front of her. " What happened?" Water soaked his clothing, completely disregarded by the ancient.
" I shred an inexpensive pant suit," She whispered, voice hoarse. " I don't even remember what happened. The guards informed me that Vsevolod posted them there to keep me safe. When I asked what was unsafe, no one answered me,"
He studied her flawless skin." You have no memory of the shift?"
" Obviously I do not if I am standing here attempting to speak to the other side," She turned the water off. Hot, cold, it made no difference now that she was a vampire. " I wish I did so I could make sense of it all. Wait - why are you here?"
He cupped her chin in his hand. " The monster has become you,"
" And I am the monster?" She mocked. She turned off the water reaching around him.
" Yes. You will soon control it once you you determine who triggered the transformation," He let her chin go and thrust the towel at her. She clutched pearl white shield of softness to her chest. " We are individuals. Different motives target the monster depending on the character,"
It dawned on Emery after several minutes of hair drying and brushing her teeth what Drake meant by that. The visions provided valuable insight into the progenitors that no history book could ever capture and spread as vampire gospel. Not every progenitor needed to undergo torture to change, they only needed a traumatic event to change the genetic code. Death usually spurred it into existence - and the past is violent so the ancients were gifted with variance on what stimulated the shift. In her case, the shift prolonged its timing until she….until what? She was afraid? Angry? Upset? Frustrated?
Drake placed a robe around her shoulders. She shot him a dirty look. He placed an innocent kiss on her neck and not so innocently groped her before leaning against her. His fingers stroked her damp hair.
Lusting? No. Vsevolod attractive he may appear, was still as young looking as 18. Sad? She missed home but traveling now became a job again. What caused her to shift?
He caught her wrists in his hands before she hit the sink. " Easy, my beloved, you will harm yourself,"
" That's your job," She snapped at him.
Drake smirked. " At least you acknowledge a truth" One day she'd need to help someone transition too. He prayed she found the strength to embrace evil when that day came forth.