The Councils: Dead and Famous

Provin' Something

I don't know how long we've been in this meeting, but I see why they have them every year. "Okay, so let me get this straight. You want us to pay you for supplying us with research?" Dorothy asked. "Yes, this is not slavery," I answered her.

She tapped her pen against the table then glanced to her husband. "Why are you making this difficult. We could have left hours ago, yet you want something free from us. I understand you run a powerful colony, but we will not be your slaves," I told her.

Her husband frowned and turned his head towards us. "Watch it, young vampire," she snapped. "No, no. You do not know how long we've been running the Council Colony and I know for a fact you do not know how big it is. All of you debated on who will take over, but we are here, and we are not going anywhere. No one within this room will take our colony from us and I will be damned if our vampires become anyone slaves," I finally snapped while standing up.

"We can build our own facility and do our own research. You either pay us or you do not receive the information that we choose to share with everyone else," Lola calmly told them while sitting me back down.

"What makes you think that we can't have a war and take over?" Frank asked. Me and Lola glanced at each other then smiled at the couple. "How about you try?" Lola asked.

They had a look of hesitation before opening the scroll. "One point two billion dollars to share simple research with you," he trailed off. "It's not simple research once you all see what we've found that can stop our enemies from picking off our people," I voiced while looking at my nails.

"The Abara colony will gladly help with this research," Chiamaka softly voiced.

"Great. We will sign the peace treaty then set up a date where we can come to an agreement on where we would have this facility and so on," Lola added in while grabbing the glass pen.

"How do we know that you two are worthy enough to be in such a high position?" Frank asked. I let out a sigh and placed my head on the table. "We have fed millions of vampires as soon as we took our rightful place. How do we know that you two are worthy to be in such a high position?" I asked, feeling everyone's eyes on us.

"This is blasphemy!" Dorothy shouted. "Or do you hate when a black gay woman has some authority?" I asked, smiling at her. She stood up and shown her fangs at me.

She went to make her way around the table, but Lola quickly stood in front of me. "Don't you dare show your teeth at my woman when you came in here with the tension!" Lola shout. I stood up and wrapped my arm around her and pulled her behind me.

"I want you to think about your actions. Abara Colony has the strongest soldiers, Khan Colony has most of the blood supply, Ho-Won Colony builds and controls everything we need for travel of supplies, and Council Colony has the research and technology against our enemies. What do you have that we really need?" I asked.

"We have more people-" she started. "Yes, which means you need more supplies and what does having more vampires have to do with anything. We've done our research. The only reason you have more vampires is because eighty-five percent of them have been turned against their will and we share our resources just so you don't start draining the humans and creating more vampires for war," I interrupted.

Frank stood up and cleared his throat as I stared at Dorothy. "You have two billion vampires within your colony and I'm being generous with that number. With the three amazing colonies that sit in this room, I know it almost adds up to your count," Lola voiced from behind me.

"But that number is only twenty five percent of what we have," I finished for her.

Lola snapped her fingers, causing one of our men in suits to come in and place a thick binder on the table. "Anything else for you, Council?" He asked, staring at the ground.

"That is all. Thank you," Lola dismissed. "We always have our proof so feel free to look as we sign the peace treaty. Do you have other o-negative blood, Cory?" I asked, earning a quick nod from him.

He guided me to a small bar within his office then took a seat. "You really prepared for this, huh? How do you have so much information about us?" He asked.

"Documentations and Aurelia herself trained us," I answered. "She's still alive? But her husband-" he choked then ordered a strong drink. "She has informed us his death and during our studying and training, I've learned that she promised him that she will teach the next Councils the proper way of ruling like they should have done when they were in charge."

He let out a laugh and rubbed his jaw. "That sounds like them. We've all been too scared to stand up to the Avildsen, you know? We just knew that they had way more vampires than us and we didn't want to put war onto the table," he informed me.

"I don't want war at all. I don't want to risk our vampires' lives over power, but I will not turn them into slaves. Most of them already been through it and I'll be damned if they go back," I sigh as I grabbed me and Lola's glasses of blood.

Cory stared at me with his mouth open before following back to the table. "Here you go, beautiful," I whispered, giving her the glass. "Thank you," she sighs then picked up the glass pen. "Would you like to sign the roll?" Lola asked while pricking her finger with it.

She grabbed my hand and kissed my finger. "Su-sure," I blushed.

I watched her smile and hand me the pen. "Go ahead," she whispered, getting behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist.

I signed our name then stared at the beautiful signatures. The sound of the binder softly closing made me look up and see Dorothy and Frank looking at each other.

"Showing you those numbers are not to scare you, Avildsen. Those numbers are your support if you ever need it. Just pay us what we earned, and you will be protected like all of us are with extra benefits," Lola explained.

They took a deep breath then grabbed their glass pen. "Fine. Let's do this," Frank mumbled then signed their signature. Hayden carefully grabbed the scroll and took care of it as we all drank to the new treaty being made.

"I'm so proud of us, love." I hear from my wife, causing me to smile and tap my glass with hers. "I am too, baby," I winked then grabbed her hand so we can converse with everyone before we departure from them.