Shadow Land

Refusal

            “No,” The boy’s voice cut through the quiet air, seeming to cut the invisible rope that held the tension about the table. He looked about sixteen with ruffled white hair. It was so white that it appeared transparent. He was tall, with elongated features and deceptively lean muscles. Somehow, he managed to keep himself looking slim and non-muscular while having the ability to throw anyone or anything however far he wanted.

                “What do you mean, by that, Alexander?” The elderly-looking man asked.

                “I believe it is quite obvious what I mean. No is one word, it is hard for it to be interpreted in many ways,” Alexander pointed out, glaring at every man in the room. This was the council of elders, mixed with many other members of government. The knowledge in this room stretched over millennia, and the most powerful humans…and other creatures, had collected here to discuss the situation.

                “You will respect your elders, boy!” Snapped the president of the United States, a human that was still coming to grips with the idea of the supernatural.

                “You are not my elder, sir. I have lived longer and through more than you can ever imagine. You may have been elected as a leader, thought to be a scholar and a great warrior by an nation, but everything that you pretend to be, and aspire to be, is what I am. If respecting elders is what people are supposed to do, then you should be showing me respect, not the other way around,” Alex stated calmly. He was standing at the end of the long table with every powerful man on either side.

                “In that case, you should at least listen to me, Alexander,” The elderly-looking man interrupted, “I am, after all, the only one in this room older than you. A fact that you very well know and have caused, being that you murdered of Stripped all the people from Division before you were Turned.”

                “Not all of them,” Alexander stated flatly, crossing his arms and shifting his weight onto his right foot.

                The man smiled, “Of course not, there were the people who gave you your orders, I fact that probably kept me alive,” This was the head of the elders, the oldest vampire he had heard of, and, according to Alexander, a pompous jerk who should really get his priorities straight. Like Alexander, no one knew the extent of this man’s knowledge and power. His name was simply Count. It was rumored that not even he knew what his real name was.

He was the head of the elders, a small group of old vampires turned when they were old. It was a collection of pompous men who believed they knew better than everyone else simply because they had wrinkles and dusty voices, or at least that is the opinion Alexander held of them.

                “Why are you refusing before you have even found out what we are offering?” A woman cut in. She was the only female in the room, a fact that had all the men on edge. She was deadly, and nobody had the stomach to deny her a place in whatever council she decided to join.

                She was the governess Liral and a deadly warrior and assassin. She had been one of the five known fighters to survive the Wars. Alex was another one. She had killed too many beings to count, and was not unwilling to add to that unknown number.

                Alex turned his grey eyed stare onto her. This stare was feared by many, it was rumored that he could see into a person’s soul, and it was proven that he had mastered the ability to kill with looks.

                “I know what you are offering. You are going to ask me to be the head of Division. You want me to lead another group of supernaturals in the fight against the pressing threat of the unknown and the Shadows. You want me to help newly turneds, abandoned ones, confused ones, powerful ones that just developed their powers, and basically help anyone not human. You want me to lead a world-wide army,” Alexander shook his head and sighed.