Hunting Aurora

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

A silence falls over the entire room as Robert is led in by two guards to take the stand opposite Aurora. I've never been to one of these vampire trials before, I don't know if this is normal practice but by the response of the crowd I would think not. I did however pick up that Robert was not happy about being accompanied by two of the council's guards.

I feel a slight tap on my shoulder, looking back I see Mr. Brown visibly uncomfortable being in a room filled with vampires. I hand him a copy of the documents we printed for the council members and whisper "Thanks for coming on such short notice...I've highlighted the parts I wanted your input on"

He nods as he takes the documents before retrieving to his seat.

Marcus takes a stand to address everyone but instead it seems he is rather addressing Aurora personally with his opening statement. Not surprising Aurora seems confused wit Markus's statement.

Marcus: "Well, Today we see yet another First in the Council's history...Not surprising Queen Aurora has pushed the standards of our customs yet again, and I'm sure the way the trial is conducted today will set a new trend for trials in the future... No matter the outcome.

Certain accusations were brought under the Council's attention...serious accusations, I might add and because we want to ensure this is still a fair trial, those accusations needs to be investigated further. We do not have time for a full inquiry however, and to be quite honest we worry about who can and can't be trusted even within the vampire council itself, and for that very reason this trial will be conducted a little differently than what we were accustomed to in the past. 

Instead of Aurora being on a standard trial were things we're conducted purely on a question and answer basis, we will be allowing witness accounts and statements in this trial as well as give an opportunity to present any proof relevant to the trial.

May I remind everyone that if you are called as a witness you will be expected to be truthful. Lying to the council during a trial, covering up for anyone or with holding information and evidence will be considered a crime in itself... a crime against the council, which is punishable by death.

Now, because the accusations go back some time and because the parties involved can reach high numbers, we don't have time to call each and every one to the stand...it would take weeks if not months. Instead we opted for more modern technology as a way of conducting things, in front of each of you, fitted to back of each chair is a device, similar to a tablet. For the from row, yours are fitted to your arm rest and swing up and in front of you. These devices are connected to a master computer. 

Once you switch it on it will ask you to enter your credentials, please do so truthfully and with as much detail as possible, thus linking you to the system.

As we proceed and talk about various events you will be given an option where you can enter yourself as being present at the event or having knowledge of the event, in which case you will be asked to enter details or provide any proof.

This method has proven to be very successful in drawing up a detailed picture of events. The computer analysis entries, drawing a conclusion of what is fact and what cannot be concluded as factual. To give you some better idea, say for instance I was to state that on Monday the firth of January 1982, I had an alliby because I attended a ball at Council member Robert's residence. Everyone who has knowledge of this will enter stating they were either at the event or have knowledge of it. The ones that were there will be asked to provide details and the computer will calculate coinsiding answers. If 20 people all state they were there and all witness to seeing me, then the computer will take this as a positive in my alliby. If there's no witnesses or too many contradictory information it will enter it as negative. The only problem with this is in the event of no information or witnesses, there we as council still have to come to our own conclusions.