They kept in touch over the years, meeting whenever Adriana could sneak away from whichever Romilly she was staying with. After Cass’ Vanticini powers began to show themselves, all the Romillys moved back to Scotland, wanting to keep her safeand protect the secrecy of their bloodline, so Adriana hadn’t seen Mitch in years. Until one day, shortly after she and Cass started university, she spotted him handing out leaflets for his club to some of the Daemon students on campus. Two days later, Adriana attended one of his parties, where he continued to oblige her requests with no question and offered her a job in the bar above the club.
Mitch understood her. He had shared that he was also turned without consent, and his lack of control in the situation urged him to crave total control of others during the throes of bloodlust. That was partly why he’d set his own club up, he’d told her, so that Daemons and mortals could continue to indulge in their desires and needs without judgement. He helped Adriana accept her own needs, and he never said anything about her unique brands, just as she never asked about his strong Aeris markings that he refused to speak about.
They found a strange friendship within one another; a bond between two broken people. And so, when he offered to bring in three of his friends to their private room, Adriana had not worried. She knew that he would never betray her, and so she trusted him by trusting them.
But she felt foolish now. As Cass had clearly pointed out, all it took was for one of them to mention it to someone, and it could get all the way back tohim.
“You know,” Cass said, as she gathered her things to get ready for work. “If you had just got a Lamia identification card, you could have endless supplies of blood, courtesy of the government. Then you wouldn’t have to moan about my bottles in the fridge, you ungrateful bitch.”
Adriana laughed before wincing at the pain in her head and lying down on the sofa, watching Cass wander around the flat in her nursing uniform. She closed her eyes as she curled up on her side, the events of the night catching up to her, causing a tiringache in her muscles. The bites and bruises had already begun to heal over. Some would leave faint marks, but it was never enough to hide or cover the deep bites Xander left on her body. Even with four of them in the room tonight hurting her, feeding from her, it still did not hurt as much as what he had done.
As her eyes began to droop, she felt the familiar warmth of the blanket Cass had knitted over the winter being placed upon her. She turned to thank her, but her attention was caught by a figure on the TV.
Katie Jones, the UK Prime Minister, stood in the House of Commons discussing the recent activity from the extremists who had been rallying against the government’s acceptance of Daemons over the past few years. Just a few rows behind her, preparing to make a speech, an all too familiar face stared back at her.
“Shit, sorry, I should have turned that off earlier,” Cass said, as she frantically switched the TV off, taking out the batteries and hiding them somewhere in the kitchen.
“You’re going to be late to work.”
“I can stay if you—”
“It’s fine,” Adriana interrupted, giving her a reassuring smile. “Your patients need you more than I do.”
She waited for the front door to close before she let out a sob she hadn’t even realised she’d been holding in. She couldn’t seem to look away from the TV. Despite the screen being blank, she could still see Xander’s face.
Chapter seventeen
The Poison of Politics
Xander
The House of Commons was packed. Members of Parliament were screaming over one another, papers were being sent flying, feet stomping on the ground. Xander could not help but think they all looked like absurd children throwing the biggest tantrums they could in competition for attention.
He sat there in disbelief, wondering what on earth he had got himself into. He wasn’t a politician, he was a leader of the Courts, a protector of Daemonium. But he had spent the last twenty-two years campaigning and forming alliances with politicians, not to mention the decades before protecting communities of Daemons, and finally reached the World Court’s peace treaty in 2020 to allow Daemons and mortals to live alongside one another.
His most supportive ally had been Katie Jones. She had only been a Member of Parliament when they met, but now she sat as the UK Prime Minister, with strong beliefs in equality between Daemons and mortals. Without her, none of it would have been possible.
By the end of the twentieth century, the relentless conflict between mortals and Daemons had resulted in such devastating chaos that fractured the very fabric of reality. The vulnerability of that chaos had fed Caligo’s insatiable hunger and allowed him to return, bringing his Umbranimae with him to the Land of the Living.
The world, broken and bloodied with mortal and Daemon blood alike, became a breeding ground for Caligo’s ancient evil. He seized any opportunity to breach the veil between realms, to bleed his darkness from the Intermundum and let it seep into the Land of the Living. Striga’s valiant sacrifice, her last stand against him, had weakened him immensely and banished him to the Intermundum, buying the Courts precious time. But time, it seemed, had finally run out.
They had expected his return, had prepared as much as they could ever since Xander reformed the Daemonium Courts in 1925. After spending over forty years in isolation away from his brothers, he finally picked himself up and decided to search for a way to create a new and better world. In truth, his memories from his years spent alone in his guilt were hazy, and he’d struggle to piece them into words even if he wanted to. No one knew what made him have a change of heart about how to spend his existence, but when he finally returned to the Courts, he vowed to find and maintain peace between mortals and Daemons. But it just wasn't possible, not unless the entire world were to change. And so he decided, with the new millennium, he would be the force of that change.
Unwavering in his belief, he tirelessly sought allies. He reached out to anyone who would listen to him, any mortal or Daemon who would join his cause, and among them was Katie, a rising political star with a strong voice in Parliament. Katie, respected for her wisdom and seen as a potential future leader, became his champion, and the Courts joined their forces with her. She held speeches on his behalf over the years, explaining how Daemons were not the true culprits behind the escalating Umbranima attacks. Instead, she proposed that the mounting conflict itself between Daemons and mortals was the catalyst. The mortals’ refusal to accept Daemons, to allow them to live among them, was fuelling the chaos that Caligo fed upon.
Within a few years, Katie’s persuasive arguments swayed not only the UK government, but had reached across almost the entire world. Xander felt almost annoyed that all it took was the right person to speak his truth, but he was too grateful for the possibility of peace to concern himself with petty indignation.
Of course, there were exceptions. Lucas Rook, for one; a former Member of Parliament and extremist with despicable views of anyone that did not match his perception of ‘acceptable’. He spoke out against the alliance, and he hated the idea of providing Daemons equal rights and to not only allow them a place within society, but to allow them to inform the government’s decisions.
Xander had the pleasure of meeting Rook on many occasions, and he was certain he had never felt such hatred from anyone he’d ever met. Rook utterly despised him, and had chosen to resent Xander and any Daemon without bothering to meet them. He was a horrid excuse for a man, known to be encouraging of violent rallies and raids of Daemon communities. Xander wanted to kill him. If Katie hadn’t convinced him not to, to choose a better way to bring about his downfall, he probably would have killed him the very firsttime he opened his mouth to share the lies of a small-minded, pathetic excuse for a human.
Rook’s efforts to destroy the new emerging government were coincidentally derailed when he became embroiled in a horrific scandal. A group of Daemon-hating extremists, the Liberators, were exposed for hunting and brutally killing known or suspected Daemons. Rook’s ties to the Liberators surfaced, thanks to Nicolai and Kadeem, who had managed to dig up as much dirt on him as they could. The scandal hit world wide news in the early 2000s, shattering his reputation as a politician, and his career vanished almost overnight. Rook immediately stepped down with no warning, and had not returned to Parliament. But Xander knew the fight wasn’t confined to the UK. They needed support everywhere; global cooperation was vital.
On his behalf, Katie invited the world leaders to meet the Courts of Daemonium, where Xander offered them a newly formed ‘Mortal Court’ to complete his visions for the World Court. The majority of the mortal world leaders were sceptical at first to say the least, but they could not deny the existence of Daemons, and they could not ignore the chaos that brought Caligo’s deadly darkness to their countries.
The Pureblood Lamiae dispersed across the globe, each tasked with working and securing an alliance with the nations’ leaders. Whilst Xander, Deion, and Edward remained in the UK to support Katie and continue their plans, Nicolai embarked on a diplomatic mission through Europe and Asia, Kadeem set off for Africa, and Ieuwan and Norman were entrusted with convincing the American leadership.
A truce began between Daemons and mortals, especially after Daemons joined various countries’ military ranks within their own newly established division. These Daemon forces, organised by the Lamia Court, fought alongside mortals acrossthe globe against the Umbranimae. When the Courts had first been formed in 1820, Xander had ruled that they would never involve themselves in mortal war or politics. But times were changing, and they needed to change, too.
