6. The Council
Seth and the Jasper –
In front of the Coven's very doors, the council members were arriving. Tanis had called an emergency meeting and everyone was eager to find out what such a meeting was about. At least a dozen sleek, black cars of every shape and size had drove up to the mansion's gates and were let in. They were then escorted to the very doors that led to the centuries old council chamber, where they met every fifty years routinely, by vampires clad in even sleeker Death Dealer outfits, even though those vampires were not Death Dealers themselves.
One such council member was just arriving for this upset in normal vampire routine.
Its right there! He thought with a purpose in mind. Damn, this place is huge. He was in an excellent mood; and for good reason.
Things couldn't have gone any better. He, posing as a council member, had actually been able to approach the vampire coven without getting immediately shot. Now he was wearing some silly make-up and a stupid looking cloak, but he was almost there.
Everything had gone exactly according to plan. He had to put on the stupid makeup and dress in the impractical cloaks and layers but then he just drove up in one of Lucien's cars and stated his fake council name.
"Shaulven," he murmured, praying to God that he wouldn't be shot on sight. This was too good an opportunity for everything to burn up in flames. Seth waited as the longest second he had ever experienced crept by. But the gate scraped open and suddenly the danger of this mission increased ten-fold. "Shaulven" breathed a sigh of relief and pressed on into the heart of enemy territory. He actually remained calm, considering the danger he was in, and casually brought his car directly up to the doors of death…dealers.
He exited from his door and was immediately sheltered from the rain with an umbrella attached to a less than intimidating vampire. Maybe the scrawny but lethal-looking man might be intimidating to a human, but Seth had sunk his teeth into more than a couple vampires that HAD looked much more dangerous.
That attitude probably saved Seth's life. More than once the humans had tried, and failed, to discover what exactly was going on in the house, but it was the way they appeared so scared of the strange people that got them discovered. Mainly, they were turned away at the door; the Coven's attempt to keep a low profile. But when the "lucky" ones were actually able to keep cool until they saw the strange, thick liquid people were drinking and the usually cold demeanor of everyone inside those doors…they were the ones who were never seen quite the same again. But this, luckily, was not the case for Seth. The makeup itched his skin and the gowns were less than comfortable, but amid the vampires, he was at ease.
He walked under the umbrella with ease and almost pulled the scrawny vampire up the stairs with him. Seth didn't wait patiently as the door to the Coven was opened for him either. He was a man, well a Lycan, on a mission. And he almost burst through those doors.
Seth/Shaulven walked right into the middle of the large entryway, and had no idea what the hell he was supposed to do now. The high ceiling was imposing and everything in the room, from upholstery, to curtains, and even the air looked like blood.
In fact, the more he looked at the huge staircase just to the left of the entryway, the more it looked like its wood had fed with blood instead of water when it was just a tree. So he just waited and hoped that these council members were so pampered that they had everything done for them.
Just as he had hoped another escort descended from the blood stair case and held out a hand of welcoming. Well before the man was within reaching distance he slapped a smile on his face and gracefully bowed before Shaulven. But Seth was observant enough to see the scorn that enveloped his expression only a moment before the smile was fully formed.
"Milord, you have traveled far. Come follow me and I will take to your quarters." His voice was coated with fake adulation. Seth knew he had to get into character sometime. He put a grimace upon his own face and noticed the tiniest of twitches within the vampire's expressions.
"Very well. Take me to these…chambers you speak of." Seth said with obvious discontentment.
The vampire motioned his with his arms to follow. Seth consented, what else could he really do, and followed the vampire down a maze of hallways and finally they reached the appropriate door for the council member Shaulven.
"Here is your room, come down to the council room in six hours." He said with such a sneer as he shut the door that Seth had trouble not killing the bastard.
Who does this guy think he is? Seth thought, scared his words might get him into trouble, even without revealing himself as a Lycan.
Seth felt the subtlest of tremors attack his strong form. It was as if the vampire wouldn't know his place if it was tattooed to his ass, stapled to his forehead or even branded on his shoulder.
Seth shuddered from memory. He almost went to grasp his arm; that raised skin that constantly reminded him of the days of "servitude" he was born into. But he wasn't Seth, or even a Lycan anymore, he was Shaulven; one of the more illusive council members to "grace" people with his presence at these gatherings. And he had such a gathering to attend in a mere five hours and forty-seven minutes.
Impassive, he moved away from the door and looked around his room. It could easily be confused for a house in it of itself. There was a humongous bed clothed in, surprisingly, a deep velvet red colored comforter, a desk for what ever those important immortals did, a annexed bathroom and a little refrigerator. He was certain of what contents that refrigerator held, but the fact that there was an entire stockpile of blood in his vicinity did nothing to bother him. The only thing that was bothering him was the impending five more hours and now thirty-nine minutes he had to spend.
What am I supposed to do now? He asked himself.
Seth, the Lycan, was growing bored. He wondered about sleeping on the surprisingly comfortable bed enveloping his ass, but he was too wired. So much that could have gone wrong…didn't. And Seth wasn't one for sitting around. He was going to go exploring.
He slowly rose from his new bed and looked at the door for another excruciating four minutes.
Screw it, he thought, I'm totally doing this.
He stealthily opened the huge doors to his room and looked down the hallway both ways. No one. He then flared his nostrils and smelled everything he could pick up. There was so much vampire scent everywhere, both Death Dealer and Diamond that he thought he might throw up. But there was no one new coming down either hall and so he flew around corners as fast as his human form would allow. He could feel the white of his eyes turn black and a murky blue encase his iris.
SHIT SHIT SHIT!!! He yelled inside his head. Seth had to stop along the wall of the hallway and force the Lycan inside him back down. It couldn't come out, yet. Not for another five hours and fifty-two minutes. Finally the beast subsided within him and he felt the changes reverse themselves. Seth thanked Gaia no one saw that lapse of judgment. If anyone had, this mission would be over, permanently.
Slowly, Seth picked himself up and sniffed the air.
Ah, shit. He thought as soon as the smell of vampire assaulted his nostrils. He looked around but no one was in his view, yet. Desperate he looked around, for some hiding spot; he really didn't want to converse with any kind of vampire right now. Now he heard the footsteps getting closer, and with that he started looking around more and more frantically. He looked up in desperation. A smile encompassed his face.
Perfect, he thought.
Jasper was incredibly annoyed. He had to come to the "emergency council meeting" not because he was important, but because Carlisle was at the hospital and didn't want to be left out of the loop. Jasper couldn't care less about "being informed". He had done pretty damn well down in Texas when he and the other newborns didn't know a Death Dealer from William's brood. Back then it was all Diamond vampires with no Volturi or Coven.
Jasper signed. Those were the good days. Those were the days he was a leading general in the Rebel's Cause. They were young, five or ten year-old, vampires who were trying to overtake the humans and their towns, all for the blood. It was going very well but it came crashing down when the Volturi finally did intervene and many of his friends were killed. But for some reason the Volturi head guy offered Jasper an ultimatum; join us, or join your friends in death. He looked all creepy in his black leather trench coat and the other guy next to him wasn't very happy either. But Jasper didn't care about any of them.
Reluctantly he had to go with the Volturi, but he wasn't happy at all about that fact. He was cold, not just temperature wise, to all and he barely opened his mouth to speak. In fact he had lost many a limb to Caius' outbursts of rage when he refused to even respond to him. Then Caius would take a breath, chuckle, and reattach Jasper back together. But Jasper never spoke directly to Caius. He was still deeply wounded by the death of his friends; they were the closest thing to family he had ever had.
And he watched every second while Caius tore them limb from limb and set them ablaze. He saw the smile that exposed him for the sadistic bastard he was. And he remembered the soft, lie of a smile that Caius turned to him with, trying to act as a gentle angel, saving him from fires of hell. Jasper saw him for the soulless piece of marble he saw.
But what choice did he have?
A century passed by, then another, and finally Jasper himself was starting to look like the piece of dead material Caius was. His skin still resembled wax paper, but the life style he was now living was slowly giving his skin back its smooth exterior. Carlisle had saved him from turning into a Caius.
But now Carlisle was sending him on useless tasks like being an emissary to the Death Dealers. Still, there was no way Jasper could be angry at Carlisle. He was such a patient and gentle soul, only the thirst could change that. Only the thirst could make Jasper and his entire family suffer so greatly.
Just thinking about it made Jasper's throat burn.
At least they'll have blood at these things. Jasper thought. He had gorged himself day and night during his time with the Rebel's Cause. Now Jasper knew that the Rebel's Cause was a stupid idea that was bound to fail as miserably as it did.
One, they built up no self control and that fact continued to haunt Jasper to this day.
Two, if they had succeeded there would be hardly a human to feed on anymore.
And three, the Coven and all the other immortals would be extremely angry at them for drying up their food supply as well. But at that time they thought that they were one of the only vampire covens, ever. How wrong they had been.
And the mansion that Jasper was pulling up to was just one little hint they could have picked up on. He drove up to the gates and spoke into the intercom,
"Jasper Cullen,"
There was some scuffling and mumbling but eventually the gates opened. Jasper had a feeling that the Coven preferred it when Carlisle actually sent him instead of coming himself. Jasper knew this had to do with the fact that he was quieter and more passive towards the Coven than Carlisle was.
Jasper had been exposed to the Volturi and specifically Caius. He would rather be burnt alive than spend another hour with him. Carlisle only knew through him from being his spawn. But Caius wasn't fond enough of Carlisle (he was too "human") and let him go. Caius was fond of Jasper and made him stay. Jasper had no idea why this was. He was a good commander but other than that he was basically a favored toy.
Maybe that's why Caius liked him so much, he didn't complain; he was just a toy to be torn apart and then put back together again.
Jasper put all of his memories to the back of his head and focused on driving up to the classic marble stairs to the entrance to the Coven. He was early, kind of. Tanis had said the meeting would start at three-thirty; which was like a five o'clock meeting for a human.
Jasper's car had pulled in at three-fifteen. Carlisle can tell him where to go, but not when to arrive. However, there were inklings of trouble in Volterra and Jasper was minorly intrigued by this "emergency" meeting.
When the valet vampires started walking towards his car he rushed out of the door and flew inside, not wanting to meet the stares of the "normal" vampires. To them he was an oddity, something to gawk and point at. So he just walked in the direction of the council chamber.
He ended up in the already crowed room at about three-eighteen. Not bad for navigating the confusing hallways and stairs in an attempt to befuddle anyone who would be stupid enough to "bumble" in here.
The camber itself was carved directly into the stone walls of some mountain, personally crushed a beaten down by immortal labor.
A foul smell entered Jasper's nostrils.
Uhg, it still smells like Lycan. He thought.
The stone had aged into a murky bluish-green color and crafted into a square domed room. Carved onto each wall was an emblem for each Elder. S for Sonja, M for Markus, A for Amelia and last of all a V for Viktor.
Jasper actually shuddered.
Viktor, he thought with actual fear.
He almost dropped to the ground if he had not caught Esme's sweet smile in the crowd. That alone was enough for him to forget being in the devil's lair. Even if the devil was currently sleeping.
Jasper flew to his mother's side and they embraced accordingly. Esme wrapped her arms around her adoptive son and Jasper kissed her cheek sweetly, with a hollow feeling that he only got when he was here.
"Oh, Jasper, stop it. You know how you seeing you sad always gets me down." Esme chided.
Esme was the only person in the world who could get a smile on Jasper's face down here. Esme smiled back; satisfied for turning his mood around.
"Come on," she motioned towards her council bench, "the meeting is about to commence."
For the first time, Jasper actually noticed Sonja standing next to his mother. He took a slight step back. Never in all the meetings he'd been to, had Sonja ever been seen next to his mother. Sonja considered it improper to been seen in public with any other immortal besides her Death Dealers. Usually only Selene was sitting next to her during these gatherings but something was different about Sonja. She seemed, good.
She had a passive, confident look on her face as always but now, there was something more. Like she actually believed it herself.
Selene was by her side as well, but she looked completely different then her usual counterpart. Her nose was puffy, her eyes were filled with fear and she was wearing the façade of confidence this time.
Jasper was devastatingly confused, but the meeting was about to start. He let his mother go to Sonja's council bench while he remained in the crowd of vampires that were merely there as observers.
There were murmurs in the crowd about Sonja's new bench mate, but to everyone who knew Esme, it wasn't a complete shock. So the procession continued on as normal. All the council members came forward, bowed to Sonja, and took their own seats. Finally every bench was taken. Jasper breathed a sign of relief; this thing was that much closer to being over. As he took in another breath, he tasted the Lycans that had sweated and bled to make this chamber. Jasper didn't find the Lycan breed terribly revolting as Carlisle did, but he wasn't about to go on a Lycan friend search either.
Then Tanis stepped forward from his position standing next to Sonja and into the center of the chamber.
"Brothers, sisters, welcome. We have gathered here today because there is war on the horizon." He started; his voice loud for being such a sly character.
Some more whispers erupted and one man even went so far as to shout out, "Aren't we always at war?"
Tanis smiled devilishly.
"That is what you think but, what, I pray, does our lady Sonja think?" His voice was lathered with expectation.
The crowd hushed. Even Jasper was frightened of how Sonja would react. One time she had the eyes put out of a man who had merely rolled them in her direction. It wasn't even directed at her. Every pair of eyes was watching her, except Selene's.
Sonja merely shrugged, then added, "Yes, we have always been adamant about controlling the Lycan populations for our collective safety but now, we are on the verge of a full-out war. Not just eradication."
The crowd gasped. Selene wiped her head around to face Sonja. Sonja the Avenger just agreed with a person mocking the war with the Lycans. The sky, the sun and Jupiter just fallen down.
Jasper felt his mouth fall open as well.
What the hell just happened? He thought.
He looked to his mother for some kind of explanation. He just saw her brimming with pride.
Okay, he thought, What the hell is going on?
Tanis was just as shocked as everyone else but he somehow managed to keep a passive look on his face as he returned to the council (it might have something to do with all those secrets he was so good at keeping). There was a point to this thing after all.
"Duly noted. And the full reason we have gathered here is because of Caius." Tanis paused; waiting for any other remarks. None were made.
"Good, Sonja would you take the floor?" He transitioned.
Sonja slowly sat up from her bench. Jasper felt the nervous air she gave off. As she was about to start walking to the center of the chamber, she stopped and looked back at Selene. Selene's eyes were just as wide as everyone else's. Sonja paused but flashed Selene an apologetic smile.
Jasper's head was starting to hurt. This was all so strange.
When Sonja finally made it to center stage, her body posture changed. Her back shot up and she thrust her head up as far as it dare go. She looked like a snake, ready to strike. And yet, there was no aggression in the action.
Jasper was going to read up on human physiology when he returned home, this was too interesting.
"My friends, and family, we have been gathered here today because of what Tanis mentioned; we are on the brink of war." Sonja paused. Nobody moved even the slightest bit.
Seeing this, she continued, "Not with the Lycans or even William this time. But rather with Caius and his henchmen."
Smaller gasps were taken in. A council member stood up from his seat; Shaulven, Jasper thought it was.
"And what, I pray, shall we do?" He asked.
Jasper noticed the Lycan smell more and more now. It was coming from the wall directly behind that Shaulven character.
Why would it do that? Jasper asked himself.
"I offer the idea that we raise all of the Elders for a Grand Council Chambers." Sonja answered.
There was no movement. The air had frozen and died. The stone gave up and nearly collapsed upon them.
Sonja wanted to raise the demon. They didn't care that the Elders had been leap-frogging through time for a millennia and she wanted to break that tradition; they cared that she wanted to raise Viktor.
The cruelest tyrant of all the Elders. Sonja had taken after him but today's event showed a softer side to her. Viktor had only two sides. A manipulative one and a wrathful one. He was feared deeper than Lucien.
And she wanted to wake him.
But she was their current Elder. This council meeting was just making sure the Death Dealer population was still able to obey that.
But no one, no one, would have agreed to this if not for the fact that the others would be raised as well.
It would be carried through, even before anyone could manage a reply to Sonja.
Shaulven took one step towards her.
"Milady, an excellent idea." He spoke.
All eyes turned to him.
Was he out of his mind? Jasper thought. He actually wanted to raise Viktor?
The stench of Lycan was rolling off the wall now, causing Jasper minor distress.
That really shouldn't be doing that. He thought.
Sonja did not respond to Shaulven for a while. Even when she did, it was barely a whisper, "It shall be done."
The stench was now nearing unbearable for Jasper.
Then it clicked.
"LYCAN!" Jasper roared at Shaulven.
All eyes flew to Shaulven, but he was gone.
SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!!! Was all that was running, sprinting rather, through Seth's mind. Only a diamond vampire could pinpoint his smell so accurately. And he had thought that, given Sonja's stance on being seen in "public" with diamond vampires, there was no way that he could be identified. Then there she was, all confident, forgiving and having a diamond vampire by her side.
There was something horribly wrong with all of this. Seth managed to think between all the swearing happening in his head at the same time.
Seth tore off his robes and hid them down the hallways as he was sprinting through them, leading those following him off his trial while looking for some kind of a way out. The mansion had already gone into lock down and all the windows and doors were barred shut. So he ran to the only place he really knew.
His room.
He flew through the hallways for seemingly forever as the vampires closed in on his trial. He managed to shut the doors just as Kahn was turning the corner to the hallway that held his door.
Seth knew he was far from safe and needed to disguise his scent somehow.
His eyes first landed on the bathroom. He briefly thought about taking a shower.
No, that would only spread it. He thought, gasping for breath.
Then his eyes landed on the refrigerator.
Perfect.
He jumped to it and tore the door off. He grabbed every packet of blood and rushed to the bathroom annexed to his room. Hastily, he ripped every single packet he had open and threw it into the bath, spilling a lot. The marble floor accented the gore produced by his carelessness. But there was no time to be meticulous.
As soon as most of the blood was in the tub he stepped in. He grabbed the stuff by the handfuls and rubbed it all over his skin, covering up his scent.
Seth looked like some kind of serial psychopath killer from a horror movie. And before the blood had a chance to crack and mold to his skin, he took a towel and dried off the excess liquid. He sniffed his skin; pure human. There was a lot of human blood around a place like this; he'd fit right in.
Great, now I've just got to get out of here. He thought.
Slowly, Seth stepped out of the gory bathroom and headed to the main door of his room. Pressing his ear against the wood, he listened.
There was nothing besides a low hum of activity caused by his appearance. But that was no where near him.
Seth cracked the door open slightly. There was nothing there. He stepped out. Still nothing.
He turned left and walked down the hallway for a little while.
Then he heard footsteps approaching.
SHIT SHIT SHIT!! He screamed inside his head. He instinctually jumped up and caught onto the ceiling rafters. This was where he had avoided the last vampires that he had nearly run into. Seth hoped that luck would be on his side a second time.
Then he actually saw the vampire following him.
"Oh, shit." He said aloud. There was no point in hiding himself anymore. Because the vampire standing under him was none other than the diamond vampire who had been standing next to Sonja herself.
Sure enough, she looked directly at him and looked at him with the strangest look. But her second reaction was anything but unexpected. She bounded up to his hiding spot and tore him from his hold.
Seth thought she would have ripped his head off right there but instead she dragged him, by the hair, to a secluded room in a small wing of the building. He hadn't seen any vampires on their way there but he just thought that this vampire just didn't want to get the carpets stained with his blood.
She brought him to a dark room that was bright enough that he could still see but it was still horribly black. She threw him on the ground, angrily.
"Why did you come here?" She asked, not nicely.
"Screw it. To find out what you guys are planning for the big battle." He answered, less than kindly.
"Anything else?" Now the woman sounded annoyed.
Seth just laughed at her. He could feel her burning stare on his skin.
"What is so funny?"
Seth could hardly answer her, he was laughing too hard. "You sound so funny when you're angry."
Then she struck him across his face. That was going to hurt in the morning; if he survived until then.
That snapped him back into reality. Here he was, in a secret room in the Coven, caked in dried blood, naked and being interrogated by a less than happy diamond vampire.
"Now, why else are you here?" She sounded pleased that Seth now realized his place in this matter.
Seth didn't remember any other reason he was here, and then he did.
"Yeah, yeah. Something about Sonja meeting with him again, but that's probably strategizing against Caius." He shrugged. He might be in a miserable situation, but he wasn't going to be a submissive slave anymore. He was a Lycan.
He thought the woman was going to strike him again, but instead she extended a hand out to him; with a smile on her face.
Seth just laid there. "What the fuck is going on?" He was so confused. As with most everyone else in the Coven, he had no idea what was really happening.
The woman just smiled. "Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Esme. And you are…"
Seth laid there some more, but brought his hand out to her.
Might as well go with it. He thought.
"Seth." He answered, neutrally.
"Well Seth, I'll be sure to tell Sonja about that." She answered, beaming for some unknown reason.
"Uh, Esme…was it, uh, what is going on?" Seth just wanted to clear some things up.
She smiled, no she out-right glowed. "I thought you just some scruffy dog. But you seem to have some purpose in this world after all."
Seth didn't move for a while. This was so strange.
But after that while, he shrugged. "You know, ma'am, I actually think you might be right."
Esme flashed Seth another glowing smile and took his hand.
"Come on, I'll get you out of here."
"That'd be great. Thank you so much." Seth's head hurt. What the hell was going on?
Trying just to go with it he let her take his hand and when she started to walk out of the dark room she mentioned sweetly, "Oh, don't you smell good."
Seth took that as a compliment.
Deep within the very bowels of the Coven, a dark hope flourished. That hope was in the form of a withered corpse for a father.
