“Too bad it isn’t up to you,” I told her brightly.
Her glare deepened, and she said, “Dreven will hear about this,” then turned and disappeared into the room.
Trista was there a minute later, and she smiled brightly. “You made it!”
I tried to sense her emotions, and again felt none. For some reason, as much as all the signs were telling me to like her, this one aspect of her threw me off. Made me even more cautious around her than Lysa. “Uh, yeah.”
She hurried over. “I was hoping Vance would deliver my message. I know he irritates most of the vampires by working with the humans when it comes to our business, but I understand the need to work with humans more than most.”
I wasn’t sure how to take that. “Uh, do you mind if I ask why we’re here?”
Her smile faded away. “I told you I was trying to change things. With Quillan gone, we finally have a chance… but, you’ll see what I mean. Come in. Join us.”
Okay, she was being friendly. She’d also given another hint that maybe she wasn’t terribly sad about his murder. Not that I was, but it was something to keep in mind.
Daniel tipped his head at the woman behind the counter, and we filed across the room.
“This wasnotwhat I was expecting,” I said after we walked through the doorway. The room was nearly full of vampires, but there wasn’t any partying going on. They sat around a large conference table that looked more like a board meeting than anything else.
“Have a seat, we need to get started,” Dreven said to everyone present. He didn’t stand on any pretense of us being here. He just rolled along. “Now, we’re all here because we want to at least discuss the minimum age for turning a vampire. Many of you have expressed concerns with how young we Turn our vampires in Clan Dusk.” He turned a glare onto Trista. “So this will be the first meeting to discuss whether the age should be raised from eighteen to twenty-one.”
“Whoa,” Carol muttered. “Definitely not what I expected.” From the gazes that landed on her it was safe to say the vamps heard her loud and clear.
We scrambled for seats along the wall where we could observe, and I could try to push a little magic at the crowd. If I could. This whole sensing people thing was still pretty new to me, even if the power had felt really natural to use.
“Now,” Dreven continued. “I have not technically been named the new leader of our coven yet, although at this point, we can strongly suspect who will be named leader.” He puffed his chest out as he spoke. “Our clan is arranging a meeting for all our members to make the final decision. Which is why this meeting is an irritant to our clan. We have many more important things to do than to waste our time with this.”
Trista stood. “And I think it’s the perfect time to make some changes.”
He glared at her. “Raising the age to Turn a vampire from eighteen to twenty-one is foolish and a waste of time. It is tradition. Our tradition. And just because some of these young, arrogant vampires think they know better, it’s not a reason to change what has worked for us for so long.”
“Agreed,” Lysa said, reclining in a chair next to Dreven.
Trista’s mouth curled. “We all know what Quillan did. We all know what Quillan was accused of doing.”
“By a pathetic excuse for a vampire,” Lysa muttered, and her words were met with a few laughs.
Are they talking about Bryan? I suspected they were, but I couldn’t be sure. I felt like I was following a political debate, while only knowing the basic information about the players.
Dreven himself was smiling. “Stories and lies, that’s all they are.”
“According to you…” Trista’s voice was low, almost a threat.
“Jeffrey is our other senior coven member,” Lysa added, inspecting her nails, “And he agrees the minimum age should stay.”
Vance spoke up from the other end of the table. “Clan Scarlet supports the idea that the minimum age should be raised.”
“Because you never Turn new members,” Dreven almost sneered.
“And Clan Descent?” Trista asked, looking at a few vampires across the room.
One man spoke, his voice soft and controlled. “Our queen is not ready to decide yet, but she has instructed us to be here, to hear both sides, and report back.”
His words launched more fighting between Clan Dusk, but it slowly became clear the two sides. Vance was supporting Trista and seemed to have helped her create this whole meeting, while the senior members of her clan did not support the idea. It was definitely trouble in paradise. And while I agreed with Trista, she also was separating herself more and more as the top suspect in Quillan’s murder.
The meeting went on for a good hour, with people making cases for and against raising the age. I was happy to see most people were mostly for raising the age, but those against were remarkably outspoken. I tried to get a read on them with my magic but with the number of powerful vampires in the room it felt like I was a receiver picking up multiple stations at once. And that was with only a thread of magic.
I didn't want anyone to sense it like Dreven had so I was using the lightest touch I could, I just had to hope it was enough. Some of them were angry, others were bored, but no one felt like a murderer. I knew it was statistically impossible to be surrounded by that many vampires and not have one of them being guilty of murder, but that wasn't how my gifts worked. It was specific when it needed to be and it always seemed to know when that was, like now.
