“We shall begin the proceedings
on this first night in May, of the human year 2015,” the presiding vampire, the
one seated above the rest, stated in a dramatically disinterested voice. His
dark eyes were scanning over a document before him, then they glinted at us as
he continued, “We shall begin with the reading of your charges. Step forward
when your name is called.”
“Valetta Bevinston,” the
centermost councilmember began; Valetta took a step forward, her head up but
her eyes diverted. “You are being charged with conspiring against Council rulings
and being an accessory to unlawful conduct. Do you understand the charges
brought against you?” His dark eyes bore into her.
“I do.”
“Very well, then,” he said,
monotonously. “Mitchell Jameson.”
He stepped forward, changing places
with Valetta. The vampire read the same list of charges, to which Mitchell
agreed he understood. I watched, everything feeling as though it was happening
in slow motion. This was happening because of me. They encouraged us, kept our
secret, and now they were being charged as felons. It wasn’t right; I wanted to
make this go away, to plot a way to fix things. But the vampire’s silky,
monotonous voice demanded absolute attention and any attempt to do otherwise
was thwarted the moment he spoke again.
“Drei Valmoritim.” My eyes
followed Drei as he stepped forward, my plotting forgotten. Unlike Mitchell and
Valetta, he didn’t look down, but stared at the vampire, awaiting the list of
charges he faced. He knew, already, what rules he had broken, and the
consequences. He wasn’t going fight them; he wouldn’t deny any of it. Despite
the situation, that thought delighted me briefly. Drei wouldn’t deny me; even
if that was our undoing, it was the greatest thing he could have done. The
feeling, though, disappeared as the vampire began reading the charges.
“You are being charged with
conspiring against Council rulings, jeopardizing an elemental’s purpose,
seducing a mortal, seducing an elemental, feeding on a mortal, feeding on an
elemental, and two acts of high treason: turning a mortal and turning an
elemental.” My heart sank with each item. “Do you understand the charges
brought against you?”
“I do,” Drei replied stonily,
his face set like marble. Shadows didn’t dance across his features, but he
appeared just as menacing as the others. I wished I could appear strong like
him in this place; I’d even settle for the subdued guiltiness of Valetta and
Mitchell. But all I continued to feel was ill and crushingly guilty.
“Abriel Jones.” Drei stepped
back to the far side of Mitchell as I took his place, glancing down the line of
shadowy figures before me before diverting my eyes to my feet. “Sir,” he said,
turning to face the presiding vampire. “You wished to handle this one?”
“Yes, Tudor,” he replied before
turning his attention away from the document before him. “Miss Jones, how long
has it been since you were turned?”
“Roughly a year and a couple of
weeks,” I answered, looking up at him as he leaned forward, more of his face
coming into the lantern light.
“Were you given a choice in the
matter?”
“Will it change anything?”
“In the case of your charges and
the outcome in regards to you, it will,” he said, his black eyes studying me
carefully. I was about to glance over my shoulder at Drei when he snapped at me
to answer him. Yeah, they definitely knew how to be delicate about this sort of
thing.
“No,” I whispered, unable to
return my gaze to him.
“Miss Jones, you are then free
of charges as an innocent, for the time being. If our interrogations to follow
should find you otherwise, the charge will be of falsifying information and
seduction of a vampire,” he said before sitting back again. “Should your status
remain that of an innocent, during your interrogation, we will also deliberate what
shall be done about you.” Was I really so much of a burden something had to be done about me? If I were in a better
state I probably would have argued with him. I was their burden because they
deemed me so, not because I had to be. “Do you understand your situation?”
“I do.”
“Adjourn to the hallway,” Tudor instructed.
“You shall be summoned one at a time for your interrogations. We shall begin
with Valetta Bevinston.”
In the hallway, Mitchell paced
anxiously, glancing towards the door, concerned with how Valetta was faring. Drei
leaned elegantly against a wall, his hands buried in his pockets, his eyes
closed in meditation. Between Drei’s resignation and Mitchell’s nerves, I
didn’t have focus enough to figure out how I was feeling amidst this mess. By
now, I was fairly certain my nerves were shot and I was faintly worried about
how Valetta was doing, how Mitchell would do next, and Drei after him, but I
had no clue as to what the vast majority of me was feeling.
I sat curled in the corner, my
head resting in my arms. This whole experience was tiring and the lack of fresh
air wasn’t helping my hunger—now a fairly large part in my distraction. If anything,
it only starved me faster.
Mentally shaking myself, I pried
my mind from thoughts of my hunger and tried listening to whatever was
happening to Valetta. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to concentrate long enough
to pull the conversation to me. Their emotions were drawing too much of my element’s
attention, seeking anything that resembled what it usually relied on to satiate
me.
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