Pre-Edit Count – 1,431 Words

Song I listened to for this chapter: My Way by Limp Bizkit

Previously:

Then she drops the bomb, “And the database, as well as I, thinks that he is out walking among us right now.” Pandemonium breaks out as people shout their questions, either out loud or with their minds.

Now:

The crowd is panicking.  There is no other way to describe it but, at the same time, it is entirely understandable. To find out that the enemy may be someone they have met and even like is something that none of them wants to be blamed for later on.  Nor do they like not being able to know who it is.  He may walk up to them in the street and kill them or even worse: he may be at this meeting!

Warlow finally calls their attention back to their King and Queen with a sheer whistle. “Shut UP!”  When they freeze, which had the effect he wanted, turning to where he is standing upon the center rock, he asks them, “Are you such fucking cowards that you are panicking?  She just said that while he can call on powers we don’t know, at the same time, he is no more powerful than the rest of us!  So what if he can do more?  How do we know that we haven’t changed enough to be able to have abilities that our ancestors didn’t?” He folds his arms and waits for them to start thinking instead of panicking.

The crowd just stares at him.   He lifts an eyebrow, challenging them. “For instance, there has never been a Faepire like me.  I am still finding out things I can do!  As well as there is Eric.  My Son.  Yes, a vampire had a kid normally.  Who knows what he can do himself?”  He just shakes his head, fed up with the idiots and the thoughts he is still hearing from them.

Indicating with his head their Queen, “Then there is Sookie.  None of us knows what she is.  Her genetics are different from all of us and she picks up on things that the rest of us would take centuries to master. Between the two of them, well to be blunt, they are powerful because they can share abilities with each other!  And you are panicking?  Chill and listen up!” The tone of disgust is very evident in his voice.

Eric cannot help the smirk that spreads on his face as he stares at his father.  He agrees with all of it but he says nothing as he steps forward, taking control of the meeting once more. It is time for him to be what he has always been: a leader. “We are telling you this so that you know what is going on.  Since Lucifer is walking among us, there is no way for us to know what he looks like.  The pictures are gone from the database, which tells us there are not any photos of the gods.  Which doesn’t seem to matter since they can change their appearance.  However, they appeared to prefer certain attributes.” He waves his hand at Sookie, his mate. He stands straight as the bond floods him with her pride and love.

“Lucifer is often fair-skinned, blond and blue-eyed.  He likes to appear young and often looks nothing like you expect him to.  Godric could only tell us that the features are vaguely the same from when he was held as his prisoner.  However, he never saw his face fully to be able to tell us.  The eyes,” Here Eric pauses, trying to explain what he finally had to enter Godric’s mind to understand, “He commented that his eyes often glowed with power to the point you could not see his true eye color.” He looks about the crowd, not knowing his own eyes are shining the same way.

The crowd babbles among themselves, then Alcide speaks up to ask, “So what are we going to do?  Round up every blond, blue-eyed human and Supe?  ‘Cause the Fangers that we call the King and his Father sure do fit the bill!” He stares at them, defiant.  He personally knew of Northman, he owns the markers on his father.  He is not as trusting as some in the crowd.

Sighing, Eric and Sookie look at each other. They knew this wouldn’t be easy, but they need to work with these people. Eric answers him, “No, we can’t do that.  Can you imagine?  We would be accused of being reverse Nazi’s.  Nevertheless, at the same time, we need to be aware.  He likes power.  And there is one individual that I have been trying to get my hands on, and we haven’t found him since it was discovered that he is among us.” He tells the crowd, especially those who asked for someone else to represent his kind.

Picking up what Eric is saying, Warlow growls out, “Niall.  Mother. Fucking. Asshole!  He would fit a lot of the descriptions!” His hands clench.  Seems the asshole has more to answer for than just what Warlow would like to bring him to the rack for.

Claude frowns as he stands up, “While it is true, wouldn’t he want to be on Earth? Niall often refused to step foot on the planet.”  He cocks his head to the side, “Though to think on it, he has ruled longer than normal and kept his youth.  We thought it was pride and a glamour.” You can see his mind working through the possibilities and slowly accepting them.

The rest of the people think over this as well as some of them consider their interactions with the Prince.  They slowly begin to nod their heads, acknowledging that Niall may very well be Lucifer.  In fact, those familiar with the Bible think it fits him exactly.

Warlow is also thinking. “So when his so-called glamour slips, it really is a glamour?”  He shakes his head, “What a mind fuck!” Though, he has to give credit to the idea.

Where he is sitting, Godric is frowning.  “How do you know for sure that Niall is Lucifer?  I would think that someone would have noticed this sooner.  And if so, where was he before now? What good is it to be the Prince of the Fae if they are hidden away?” He is trying to ask the questions he is not hearing.  The ones that make him wonder why they are not being asked.

Turning to face him, Sookie answers him but addresses them all, “Because if he believed that the original species of us was the best, the Fae are supposedly the closest to that.  Even though they have mutated away from our Baile. We all have.  Notice that Godric and Roman have no problems with the sun here.  That is nothing from us, or anything that we have done.  It is because Earth’s sun is different from our own.  It makes things as oxygen and other gasses more prominent.  But for the world we were meant for, that we evolved from, there is no such thing as a weakness to the sun.” She waits for the next question.  This is more what Eric and she were hoping for.  ‘Finally.’  She smiles and sends her relief back to Eric.

Another asks, sincerely curious on the other weakness for the vampires, “Silver?”

Answering them, Eric grins, “Not present here. It is something not even in the elements on any of the worlds.  However, we are digressing.  The fact is, Lucifer is a problem.  We need to be ready to counteract anything he either has set in motion or will be setting in motion.  Make no mistake; he has had millions of years on his end to plan this out.  And I don’t doubt that he has something planned for us.” He says it matter of fact.  They had no choice, this the hand that fate has dealt them.

The crowd murmurs as they work out what he has said.  Eric sighs, “Listen, we know something is coming, and that he already did something once to us, or rather our ancestors.  We know he took Godric for some reason.  Why is he becoming active now?  No idea.  But there are things happening on Earth that we are seeing that could mean trouble for all of us.”

The crowd turns to him, waiting.

Eric nods his head to above them, and they see an area with warehouses in the distance. “The Governor of Louisiana started building this place, and one of the Weres came forward telling me that he heard it was for Vamps.  A concentration camp for them to study us and then find new ways to kill us.” There is nothing but silence.

He gets even more still, his eyes burning even more as he tells them, “I was there for the Holocaust.  This makes it look like an amusement park.  They are going to tear off limbs and so forth to study how we regrow them.  They will bleed us and many more things, all because we are different from the humans.” The last is growled out as he knows the truth, they all know the truth now.

Alcide growls out, “Northman is right.  I saw the plans and heard the people talk, laughing about what they are planning.  This will not end with the fangers; if they find out about the rest of us, we will be in camps just like that.” He too is angry and it is the reason he is here.  If the humans do this to the vampires, what will they do to them when they either come out or they are found?  Who is to say they are not already doing this?

An older man shakes his head, “Do the Humans ever learn from their pasts?” He is one of the allies, and the disgust is evident in his voice.

Looking at the man, Sookie asks, “Obviously our ancestors didn’t, so why do you expect their descendants to be any better? Especially when they don’t have all the facts. There are always those that will believe whatever they want.  Our own minds trick us.  I have seen this in my years as just a telepath.  The mind can lie to its host in ways you will never know about without hearing it all.  Even our ancestors, to whom telepathy was common, still had the issues.”

The crowd makes a little noise as they shift, listening to the one person who knows more than any other how the brains of others work, having been in them her entire life.

She closes her eyes, and asks, “The question is how are we going to deal with it?  Making pithy comments and putting down the humans who have been kept hidden from the information that there are all of us?  To where the ones who believe are mocked and put down?  The dreamers out there that have no idea that their dreams are a reality?  Or do we deal with the issues and condemn those that actually commit these crimes?  ‘Cause you won’t be honest if you tell me you never thought of killing someone.  Cheated on your other half and so on?  The difference is that you don’t act on them.”

The crowd is silent, still.  They are thinking about what she is saying.

Shadoe speaks up after a little bit, “I suggest we get in committees to see who wants to help out with each issue.  We all have people who may be able to help with the database dives or who can help infiltrate the camps. We have others who can be invisible and find out information about governments around Earth.” He looks out among his fellow beings, watching them come to terms with this battle.

Deciding to drive home the point, he takes a step forward to meet their eyes. “The Queen is right.  We can play the blame game, or we can get moving and try to figure out what Lucifer has done over the years and work to counter it.  I think it is time for us to be proactive.  No one is blameless, me especially.  I never questioned the memories I had even when things didn’t line up.  Now we are dealing with the consequences of our actions.”

Final count: 2,073

Fairfarren~