I almost just kicked them out right there, but they were only guilty of plotting so far, and sowing discord. They hadn’t actually done anything yet. I decided to let them hang themselves first, which required giving them a little more rope.
Before I reached them to split them up in the usual groups, Joseph pulled what looked like a gun from the small of his back. It looked like a Glock pistol, but I recognized it as a Taser by the end of the barrel as he pulled the trigger. Looked like his whole desperate plan relied on shooting me before I could raise my hellfire shields.
The darts shot across the intervening space, and then bounced off my earth witch protections.
I raised an eyebrow, “Do you have a backup plan for this coup, or are you that short-sighted? Just out of curiosity, how were you planning to keep me contained?”
He sneered in answer, maybe he had drugs ready, and hellfire raced from him to form a gateway, except the hellfire was sucked into a vortex of fire and dispersed into the sky.
“Thanks, Muriel,” I thought in her direction.
It was the first indication of the truth I hadn’t shared with any of them, and why I hoped this would never happen. Not only for the obvious reasons, morale for the others, and that it would get them killed by hunt teams, but because I didn’t want to keep the others in line through fear.
The simple truth was, they’d never had a chance, and I didn’t have to do a damned thing to defend myself. I didn’t ever want them to know they were helpless here, if I simply wished it.
After all, Muriel was a goddess here in my fae mound, and she served me.
If I hadn’t had on witch protection spells, the spikes from the Taser would’ve been stopped by Muriel before they could harm me. She was instructed to do the minimum necessary to keep me and the others safe here.
“So, your backup plan was to run away? Is there a third option?”
Linda turned a little green, maybe because I was being so blasé and calm about it all. That was less about me being arrogant, and more about me just being a little in shock from their stupidity. It was also partially about me maintaining my own calm, these little shits had just tried to take over. The one good thing was Carlos hadn’t been persuaded into joining them.
I shook my head as they raised their hellfire shield, “I guess not, but we won’t be fighting. You are both banished, do not come back here, or I’ll imprison you for a time, then just kick you out again, if you’re lucky. If you haven’t figured it out yet, you have no power here outside of what I allow. This is my little universe, and its goddess serves me.”
One thing Muriel couldn’t do, was open a hellfire gate. She could eject them through the fae anchor in Seattle, but that was information they didn’t have and I didn’t want them to have, the location of the anchor I mean.
Just in case they were captured and questioned, before being executed. I wasn’t sure what a fae could accomplish with full access to my anchor, from the outside, and I didn’t want to find out.
Point being, I opened a hellfire gate to one of the rooftops I’d run across in New Haven while rescuing Joseph, then Muriel took it from there. Their enchantments were pulled off their bodies, and they looked at them in horror as Joseph’s ring and Linda’s necklace disappeared, then they were picked up and bodily thrown through the gate, which I closed down immediately.
Their homes and acres would slowly disappear, over the next few hours. I felt a bit sick about it, but they’d left me no choice. They hadn’t just broken a rule, they’d tried to rebel and take over, to launch some insane campaign of violence.
There was silence in the field, and I could tell by their faces I wasn’t the only one feeling conflicted about what just happened, though I knew they were happy I hadn’t been hurt and the idiots hadn’t taken over, they were also horrified that those two had just received what amounted to a death sentence.
Their only real chance left at life was to hide, and stay on the run, if they wanted to live. I knew that wouldn’t happen. Realistically, they’d let their anger continue to make their decisions, and they’d go after a council and face the consequences. But… I hoped I was wrong.
“I’m sorry that had to happen, they left me little choice. By all rights, I should’ve killed them for what they tried to do, and what they’ll do next will probably make our already impossible task harder. Practice is cancelled today, if you all want to discuss it with me, I’ll be in my house.”
I still doubted I did the right thing. But I refused to take that authority over my race. I could withdraw my help, and kick them out of my school, stop offering aid of any kind for their actions and refusal to follow the rules. But making myself the leader of our race, and instituting justice, was a step past the authority I wanted to and was willing to assume.
But I wondered, where did avoiding corruption through taking political power end, and the mere desire to absolve myself of the responsibility start. I didn’t want to rule, and my knew life was far more complicated than I’d hoped it would be. Nothing was easy, or clear cut, being an adult with a life mission sucked sometimes.
Whatever happened next, it wouldn’t be good, for anyone.
Chapter Fourteen
Silence dominated the room as I leaned back against William, who had his arm around me. I was sitting sideways on the couch, and a little lost in the feeling of him playing with my hair and caressing my arms. He’d shown up shortly after I’d gotten back to the house, I’m pretty sure it had been Celeste that sent him to me.
He asked, “Want to talk about it?”
I blew out a breath, “It might’ve been kinder to just kill them myself. If they don’t start running, they’re as good as dead. I didn’t want to be responsible for that, even if they did try what they did, but does sending them to their deaths make me any less responsible, because I didn’t pull the proverbial trigger myself?”
“Celeste said you did the right thing, and she’d have killed them if she was in your place.”
I nodded, “I could’ve let them keep the enchantments, that might’ve let them live a little longer, but I also needed to distance us from them, to remove any support from me when whatever they do goes down. Nothing seems black and white. The worst part is they’re not entirely wrong, but that doesn’t matter after the betrayal.”
He said, “You don’t think your plan will work?”
“It’s the right thing to do, and to try, but ultimately and realistically no. It won’t work, I don’t think. I always expected we’d have to live with plan A. Maybe in a hundred years, when our half-demon society is large enough, we can go to war and claim our right to live, but right now it just won’t work.”
He kissed my head, “Maybe.”
I said, “There’s a rhythm to change, repeated in history. It always ends in violence, and the people who are violent before that right moment when things are ripe for change, inevitably die and fail. We need to gain the support first, and to build up our numbers to gain at least some parity, then we can take our freedom.”
Not true parity, I doubted we’d match the Nephilim numbers for centuries if even then. But they were split up, a handful or so in cities scattered across the world. We just needed enough fully trained half-demons to face them and run interference on all the supernaturals in the city at the same time.
The other was true as well, with slavery being the most obvious example. Even after the movement to abolish slavery was powerful enough, it’d required a bloody civil war to make it happen. I had no doubt, even after we had the numbers, the Nephilim wouldn’t back down without a bloody and long fight.
“You haven’t mentioned this before.”
I shrugged, “I’m the only mature adult of my kind, alive. I refuse to turn into a dictator, and the others aren’t ready yet. They need to grow up, come to their own conclusions, then choose to join me. Some will, and some won’t and will either claim a normal human life in hiding or choose to go their own way like Joseph and Linda. It’s all complicated, and I ha
ve to be careful not to become the very thing I hate. Plus, I wasn’t entirely sure myself until recently.
“I’d been half hoping the interviews and public awareness would’ve been enough.”
He snorted, “You’re sexy.”
“What does that have to do with it?” I asked in an amused tone.
He shrugged, “It’s a simple fact, black and white, and I wanted to cheer you up.”
I snorted, and I snuggled back into him. I felt safe, warm, and cherished. Loved even, and it was in that absurd moment that I realized I did love him, and just how much. My chest swelled, and my throat closed up, as I tried to soak in that fact and the mélange of emotions rising in my chest uncontrollably. My home suddenly felt far too warm, and it was difficult to breathe.
“You’re not so bad yourself,” I said softly, too afraid to share my epiphany.
He said, “They’re strong, you should tell them all your plans and ideas. Your new community needs laws and enforcement, whether they’re ready for it or not. You can do it yourself, or you can speed up your plans and ideas. I worry what Joseph and Linda might do, that will inevitable splash back onto you and the others.”
“Me too. You want to be in charge?”
He laughed, “You couldn’t pay me enough, although I’ll take charge of you, if you’re offering.”
I snickered, “You wish. Well, maybe in the bedroom, but that’s it.”
He grinned into my hair, and I elbowed him.
He laughed, “What was that for?”
I said primly, “You were about to say something that would’ve gotten you in trouble. Preemptive punishment.”
He snorted, “I was just going to say I adore you and worship you in bed, I don’t take charge.”
Oh. So it wasn’t so much that he took charge, but that I was such a shameless hussy to his touch that I surrendered everything to him. Maybe that was a good thing. That he had no real idea just how much I belonged to him and would do almost anything he asked of me, when we were in bed, I mean.
I blushed, and then backtracked to change the subject.
“I worry it’ll be too much responsibility for sixteen-year-old young adults. I’m older than they are, and I don’t want it. It’s hard enough for them to grow up so fast, and to take responsibility for themselves. But… you’re right, I can’t avoid it and hope it goes away, or put it off another two years. I’ll talk to them tomorrow.”
I craned my neck for a kiss, and he didn’t disappoint.
William was a hell of a man, and his kisses curled my toes and set my body on fire. Tomorrow would come soon enough, that night I’d just let it all go and exist for him. It was what I needed, and I was almost positive he wouldn’t mind.
“So, remember when I said I was making it up as I went along, and I’d never done this before?”
It was just the six of us sitting in the glade after our magical practice session the next afternoon. Carlos, Terrence, Karl, Celeste, Sabine, and me.
Sabine giggled, which had been what I was going for, “Yes, why?”
“I have some vague ideas of the future. Plans I haven’t shared because they depend on certain things happening. Things I’m not overly sure about. I also didn’t share them before, because you all have enough to worry about getting your magic mastered and learning how to defend yourselves. I suppose I also didn’t want to be too leading of your futures, or put any additional pressure on you all until you made the decision on what you wanted yourselves. On if you’d just rejoin the world in hiding, and live normal lives, or choose to stick around and create our own community back in the world. That’s also dependent on whether the hunts are stopped or not.”
Celeste smirked, “What kind of ideas?”
“Well, as I said I feel comfortable running this. I’m your teacher, and this place is a hiding place for you. I drew up minimal rules I thought were reasonable, and I left it that. What I don’t want to do is become the leader of our community, and rule it, yet I’m the only full adult in full control of my powers right now. One of those vague ideas was to build a council of sorts, with possibly some of you that choose to stay and build a community.
“There’s no question we’ll need one, an independent outsider community for our race. Even if the Nephilim give up the hunts, it’ll be a long time if ever before I’d ever trust them or the councils to police us. We’ll need that, we’re just like humans, some of us will go bad, and it would be the council’s job to make up those laws and penalties, and enforce them.”
Carlos frowned, “This is about Joseph and Linda?”
I nodded slowly, “As the leader of this place, I was fine with just ejecting anyone that didn’t follow the rules and handling it myself, or letting anyone go that just didn’t want to stay. But now that they’re out there with violence on their minds, I’m worried. They didn’t just leave of their own free will, they tried to overthrow me and recruit all of you into revenge. Honestly, I didn’t see that coming, at all. They’re so angry they couldn’t even put off revenge long enough to stay and complete the training first.”
Terrence said, “So, what are you saying exactly? You want to hunt them down?”
I shook my head, “No. They haven’t done anything yet, though I fear they will. We won’t be punishing anyone for what they might do one day. What I’m saying is though it’s premature, we need a council of sorts now. We need to decide what’s unacceptable in our society, and yes, if it’s broken we need… or until your training is done, I need to uphold it. It’s an unpleasant idea and task, but it’s something we need to do.”
I let that sink in for a moment, wishing I wasn’t having this conversation, but it was what it was. Someone had to take responsibility, and I wasn’t sure what was worse. Washing my hands of all responsibility and letting the city councils deal with it, or putting some of that responsibility on the heads of sixteen year old children. The third option, taking it all on myself, just wasn’t an option at all, I wouldn’t become ruler, judge, jury, and executioner. It would destroy me.
Sabine said, “So you want us to help decide what those laws are, and the punishments. Then… you’d enforce them until we’re old enough to join you?”
“Something like that, yes. If any of you don’t want anything to do with it, feel free to leave now. I won’t force it on you.”
Karl asked, “What if we all leave?”
I got the sense he was just curious, he hadn’t sounded angry.
“Then we leave our lawbreakers to the Nephilim and their puppet councils, because I won’t do it on my own. I just won’t interfere at all.”
Celeste shuddered, “Alright.”
Carlos shook his head, “I can’t. Maybe for a stranger, but I know what this is really about, why you need to do it now. I even understand, but I can’t,” and he stood up and walked away.
I nodded to him in understanding and didn’t hold it against him.
“Anyone else?”
Sabine said, “I’m in. I don’t like it, but I can see the need. We can’t leave it to the people who already have us all marked for death. Where do we start? It seems inevitable they’ll break the law already, doesn’t it? I mean, murder needs to go at the top, doesn’t it?”
I nodded, “Yes and maybe not.”
Celeste snickered, “That was clear.”
I smirked playfully, then sobered, “Murder is on top, and should draw the death penalty. But we need to talk about something else first. Joseph and Linda weren’t completely wrong, we are at war with the councils, and the Nephilim. They are our enemies, and war isn’t murder. The reason I was so against it is because it’s premature. We need human support, we need everyone trained fully to defend themselves, before we’d even have a chance to remove the Nephilim who are no better than a third world dictator and terrorist. Without that support, the world would turn against us, and without that training, we’ll get our asses kicked.”
Terrence asked, “Another one of your vague plans?”
I s
hrugged, “A rather new one, prompted by their arguments yesterday and a little thought. History is replete with the downtrodden rebelling against their oppressors. The trick is a lot of the downtrodden died because they didn’t bide their time. Right now, we’re in the hide and learn stage, we’re not ready to fight, and we don’t have enough support behind us. That said, it was another thing I’d look for volunteers for, and not for years, if not decades. Eight does not an army make.”
Sabine nodded, “So what are you saying exactly?”
I replied, “If you agree, I don’t think we should do anything about it at all, if they attack a council and the Nephilim, and slaughter every damned one of them. That’s war, not murder, if premature. Eventually, our enemies will take them down, but I don’t feel right punishing them ourselves. Does anyone disagree?”
Terrence said, “I bet Carlos will regret not being here to hear you say that. I’m onboard with that.”
Everyone else nodded.
“Okay, the next easy one. Human deaths. Guilty of murder if they go after humans, like police or FBI. I’m hoping they don’t do it. Well, let’s back up, death penalty. The death penalty is standard for almost every law broken in the supernatural world. You were all raised human so probably, hopefully, find that repugnant. Personally, I think we can do better than that, I’d reserve the death penalty to murder. Does anyone disagree with that?”
Sabine asked, “Why do they do that?”
I replied, “At first it was to keep the secret. It’s not easy to jail a supernatural, the human jails couldn’t hold any of us. Almost all supernatural laws were designed to preserve the secret from humans. Now that we’re outed, I think it’s just habit for them, what’s always been, and maybe a little bit to do with the Nephilim’s insane need to look good before humanity. The death penalty for all laws is a hell of a deterrent, but violence begets violence. We here are proof of that, as is what Joseph and Linda are doing. Like I said though, we can be better.”
Demon Underground: Kyra Bell Book Three Page 13