Chapter 6

The council chambers were located in the old throne room of the castle the vampires used as their main headquarters in Transylvania. It was incredibly cliché but I couldn't think of anywhere else where it would have had the same impact.

The beautiful stain glassed windows had been boarded up on the other side but someone had been thoughtful enough to wire up lights in between the glass and the wood so they could create the illusion of sunlight coming through the window. Put these with the high ceilings, rows of benches and the thousands of candles meant that it looked a lot like a church.

Vlad was watching me with a glint of a smile in his eyes even as he kept his face completely neutral. I winked at him and took his arm as he escorted me to the top of the room where there was a large carved throne with red velvet on the cushions.

As I watched, one of the servants came over and placed a chair next to it which was almost identical but slightly smaller and not as intricately carved. Vlad indicated for me to sit in the smaller chair before sitting in the throne next to me.

It took me 10 minutes to stop staring at the beautiful man sitting next to me, and even longer to keep my face straight every time I glanced at him. The chair was centuries old yet he looked so natural in it, it was like the chair had been carved specifically for him.

The room filled up slowly with the council members but they stood in front of their seats, waiting for the room to fill before bowing to Vlad and sitting down. A few of them threw curious looks at me but didn't comment on my presence.

The council session started and I tried to pay attention to what they were saying but I found my mind wandering back to what had been happening in the bedroom shortly before Vlad and I had been interrupted.

At the mention of my name I snapped back and focused on the debate which seemed to be the main focus of today's session. The council was trying to work out whether I would be a valuable enough to them or whether they should kill me after the attack in England.

I listened carefully before raising my hand to get their attention. Vlad gave me a hard look but I ignored them as I stood slowly and started walking into the middle of the room, looking as many of the councillors in the eye as I could as I spoke.

"Gentleman, it seems to me that you are trying to decide whether I would be any help to you in the war against my people. If you had been kind enough to ask, I would have been able to tell you that information myself. I will not help you to slaughter and enslave mankind, but I am very happy to help you find a diplomatic solution which will save lives on both sides."

All the councillors were looking at me with a mix of curiosity and hatred, and I stopped talking as one of them stood to face me.

"What you mean is that you are going to use your new position next to our leader to help bring us down from the inside. We all know you are the child of the great Eric Vanhelsing."

His voice was dripping with venom as he spoke my father's name, and slowly started to slide the thin wooden stake out from inside my sleeve. Then Vlad shifted in his seat and I turned to see him give a barely perceptible shake of his head, and I slipped the knife away again.

"I understand your hatred of my family councillor; we have killed hundreds of your people and despise your very existence on the earth. But you have also killed thousands of ours, and I do not wish to watch any more of my people die in an attempt to bring down the vampires. I also know that should we fail I would have to watch you slaughter even more innocent people and know I am the one to blame. Knowing this why would I risk trying to kill you all?"

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Vlad chuckle as the Councillor tried to think of a reply, before scowling at me and sitting down. I smiled and continued talking as if I had never been interrupted.

"I suggest that we work on creating a synthetic blood that is more to your taste as well as mixing it with genuine human blood, and then mass producing this so that we can satisfy the hunger of the vampires without risking human lives. For the meantime we can use the blood donor banks full of unwanted human blood to feed the vampires and reduce the number of humans getting bitten every day to feed you all. We could also bring the vampires and the slayers together to combine resources to help control the vampire population."

The room was silent as I looked at each of the vampires in turn then as I turned to Vlad he gestured for me to re-take my seat. As soon as I sat down he leaned over to whisper smugly in my ear.

"I have never seen anyone shock the entire council into silence, it's incredible!"

I winked at him then watched as he stood; the council members still so much in shock it took them a few seconds to register this and stand as well.

"Gentleman I think we should leave this session as it is and allow you the time you alone to your thoughts. We will re-start the session at this time tomorrow."

He gestured to me and I took his arm as we walked out of the room, the councillors following us with wide eyes and open mouths.