Vilken continues to talk and talk throughout the whole meeting, occasionally throwing me grins with that cheeky shit smile that I would gladly rip off his face.
"There is everything wrong with this plan, first of all, the elders hold so much po—"
I get up abruptly from my chair across from Vilken's, we all sit around an oval like table glistening with expensive marble.
As I stand, I lean forward to be closer to Vilken, he flinches at the speed.
"Speak one more fucking word Vilken and I swear to god I will kill you before you even have a chance to whisper to the elders" I practically yell, Natalie beside me placing her hand on my shoulder. I take my seat once again and Vilken remains quiet with a scowl and a hint of suspicion fading on his face.
"Now" I take a deep breath "What we really came here to discuss" I take another breath, time to dive into this shit show of a plan.
I look around at the members seated at the table, they stare back awaiting.
"There is a reason we formed this alliance in the first place. I came to all of you for a reason. You all pledged allegiance for a REASON" I stand from my seat once again.
"And that reason is because there are three main objectives we pledged to archive" I walk across the room to a wooden board around one metre in length and two in width.
It is covered with notes, maps, evidence and many other pieces of information.
I haul it across the room and place on top of a dresser hugging the wall, I point to a specific area of research on the board. The Emperors involvement in the clans.
"This filth of a man thinks he can control not even the human rats, but us?!" I throw my head back in a humourless laugh.
"We are not just a threat to be cautioned. We are a threat to be feared" I straighten myself back up and reign in the anger that threatened to boil me alive. This pig will die.
But for now, focus on the plan.
"We need to find out why exactly the Emperor is getting involved with our kind" it is a threat enough that he knows of our species. "And what his intentions are with us, he has to have a reason to seek out other clans and not the one just below his feet"
"and how did you find this information Bloodshadow?" Tava of house Disa says "as far as I could tell you were fulfilling a contract tonight and infact pretty much all month" she smiles maliciously "or were you withholding information from your most trusted allies" she hisses at the allies as if its poison.
She's always been a slimy bitch.
I smile back a vicious fang flashing grin "Oh Tava, I was hoping you would be smarter than to think I don't have ears and eyes everywhere" I pause "How's the Wolf?" she turns a bright tomato red. I fill with satisfaction.
"The Emperor was last seen leaving the city yesterday evening with an entourage of soldiers, he reached the harbour last night" I pause letting it sink in "He is now on his way to Sicily to establish an alliance with the clan, and by alliance, I mean killing the leader and taking over" I finish.
"Are you sure Bloodshadow?" asks Siasa of house Aatra, "If we strike at the Emperor, we risk exposing this little rebellion party" she waves her hand, motioning to everyone around the table. Her gold eyes glow in the candlelight surrounding the room, a shinning source dancing across her gold-brown skin. Her hair elegantly pulled into a braided bun, the pool of dark that clings to her strands of hair. Calling her beautiful is an understatement, she is a goddess. One with claws and fangs.
Siasa is one of the only true leaders of the houses that doesn't supress her emotions, she said to me centuries ago when we were both training to become worthy members of the clan, "What is the point of living if you can't feel it? What do you wish to achieve by shutting it all out" she breathed so deeply after saying that to me, as if just saying the words echoed some vibration of truth through the world, as if it was meant to shift something in our paths? In my path. She certainly wasn't exhausted after training, over three hundred years of being active can build quite the stamina.
I smile slightly in my thoughts, but my face remains blank in the face of these people.
"We won't kill him just yet…" I slowly turn to Natalie and she stares back, her large eyes reflecting in the light. She stands from her seat and comes to stand beside me, she turns to everyone and says "I have been making a spell in order to immobilise the Emperor for a time, a stasis of a sort, he will remain alive of course but his consciousness is suspended, and his body can be controlled by another user" she finishes and goes to sit back in her place, but before she can Kayvee of house Picva speaks abruptly.
"Hold on Witch, explain this to us more, giving us a rundown of what voodoo you throw around isn't going to cut it when immortals are risking their lives, I'm sorry excuse any offence, but you are…" she pauses for a second of fake thoughtfulness "Mortal" she finally 'decides' on the word.
"How exactly could you sneak in there to one of the most powerful men in the country and simply call nap time" she says again.
Natalie stills and for a minute, I think she will just remain silent, but she has never cowered before anyone, not even the elders. I see a metal fortress of a wall rises and blocks out harm or negative effects in her mind, she straightens and stills herself.
She looks directly to Kayvee and glazes over, her mouth moving silently, forming words not even vampire hearing can pick up.
All of a sudden, Kayvee's collapsed. She slumps right out of her chair and hits the floor, only for a second, she rises in a blink and places herself back in the chair. It is not Kayvee who's actions are doing this. This is Natalie, oh darling. You dirty little girl.
She reaches but and snaps a piece of polished wood from her own chair, a long sharp splinter that could still pierce a vampire's heart.
She presses it against her neck and draws blood. And for a minute, Kayvee is not here, she is still absent, until it is as if a light returns to her eyes, life refilling her consciousness.
She stares down at the make shift weapon pressed to herself, and slowly lowers it and turns that century's year old glare, a promise of pain.
"You may think me weak because I do not possess the blood that flows through your veins, but that does not bother me. I have a different kind of blood running through mine. One that can restore and destroy. When the day comes, I may complete the ritual of Immortal Transfusion, but for now. My power matches your own Kayvee" she continues "but until that day, I deserve the same amount of respect that you give everyone else in this room. Because I swear it girl, I will burn you" she sits down quickly and tries to release the flush clinging to her skin by her neck. The word 'girl' so bitterly said and a vicious effect clung to the words, Kayvee always referred to Natalie as a girl, as one below her. She got a test of her own poison. She also referenced the Immortal Transfusion, a dangerous ritual that converts mortal witches to immortal warlocks. One that requires a deep amount of power to harvest from, objects that are magical or can draw magic. For example many warlocks turn to a darker side of magic once the Immortal Transfusion is done, realising they can just use magical users for the rituals, instead of making the effort and hunting down magical objects.
Natalie would never use sacrifices for her own gain but if she changed her mind. I will find her the strongest and most powerful wielder in the world so she can be immortal with me forever.
"Kayvee, cut it out" I snarl and place my hands on the marble table, she glares back but relents and shakes off any lingering control Natalie had on her before.
"Now, as I was saying" I pause "Natalie constructed the spell specifically for this reason, by taking control of the emperor we can have one of our own people inside his head while he does his day-to-day duties, that way we have constant surveillance on his whereabouts" I go back to the board and walk them through the plan.
First objective, meet the Emperor directly at Sicily's harbour, intercepting one his security teams in charge of personal guard, that team will be guarding his rooms at all times, once the two soldiers are in place and ready, the Emperor is scheduled for a meeting in the late evening, but before, he will finally return to his quarters for the first time since arriving, during that time, the soldiers posted will intercept him while in his chambers, making him wear a pendent constructed by Natalie that gives magical contact for the spell.
She cannot travel across the water to a high-grade military palace that the Emperor will be staying at and expected to stay there the entire trip.
Too dangerous. Instead, I will be going.
I'll be bringing my second in command Rhiays.
We make a formidable force.
After finishing explaining the plan, Vilken asks "So how will Natalie know what his plans are if she's the one in control?" his eyebrow mockingly raised. Still being petty about before I see. Natalie speaks up "It is an optional control, like pushing or pulling, when I want to bring him back into his mind, all I have to do is stop the pulling, but if I want in and want control, I push. Hard" she pauses "But I can stay as long as I wish even while remaining conscious within my own body, he will never feel me pushing or pulling. After I have left his mind for good, he will feel blanks in his memory. But he will remember eventually. Which is why we must kill him afterwards" she finishes.
"Anymore questions?" I ask, I look around at the faces, staring back blankly. Good.
No objections. This plan has been in hiding for years, decades, almost a century.
It is finally happening; we will finally have a chance at peace.