Dark Temptations

by Eric Alan Williams

  Hanna spoke up. "We don't have any Nagga representation either. I do know of one that is neutral. I know we agreed on Alphas being allowed, but I do know of one Grand Alpha Naga that I think, he would be a good choice."

  Sara agreed. "Hanna make the offer. If you trust them, and I know you are beyond any doubts, loyal to my mother, then I trust your judgment."

  Hanna smiled. "I will look into it."

  Nathan returned to his seat; his face was healing but still appeared heavily charred. He spoke through burnt and crusty lips. "Dagon. Dagon would be a fitting choice."

  Poseidon laughed. "Dagon? A good choice? That old Canaanite shark is as loosely hinged as you are to provoke the crown."

  Nathan looked to the side. "I admit what I did was folly. But Dagon is powerful, and will eventually choose a side, and he will only choose a side that offers him a seat to use such power. If we don't, Lucifer will."

  Damien agreed and looked at his daughter. "Nathan has a point. Dagon is a powerful mer, and controls many of the waters that border the red sea." He cleared his throat. "Having both Poseidon and Dagon on our side would be a display of power."

  Sara looked at Nathan. "Nathan, since you insulted my grandson, I will task you with making these arrangements, and if this Dagon, rejects your idea, then I will hold you personally responsible." She said with a devious grin. Nathan got the point yet again. This time shot out by Sara's eyes in the way she was glaring.

  "Okay, so, council seats addressed. Are there any other issues we need to bring up?"

  Chapter 2.2

  Kat Ross raised her hand. "Actually, there is something."

  Sara had only met Kat a few times and had just met all of her bite brethren over the past few days. It felt weird for Sara as she was getting to know not just her father, but Lilith's bite children, the sleeping seven as they were often referred to. Sara nodded. "Yes, Kat?"

  Kat pulled out of her purse, a small box that could fit in the palm of a hand. It was black, with blue electrical surges flowing beneath a translucent outer chassis. Sara was curious. "What is that?"

  "A gift from Trevor Graves."

  Sara looked clueless and raised her left eyebrow. "And what is it?"

  Kat stood up and held the cube in both hands for all to see. Kat had taken on a bubblier personality, which reminded Sara of how Peggy came across as a Valley girl at times. That part made things a little less weird.

  "Well." She looked from side to side as the cube went back and forth while she continued showing it off. "We need additional security with a new approach. The kind of security that prevents hacking and helps us identify new threats over a thousand times more efficiently. In the palms of my hands, is the next best thing. An ally, in digital form. I present to you, Arcaidus. An artificial intelligence designed by my bite brother's finest minds."

  Sara cocked an eyebrow. "An A.I.?"

  "Yeap!" Kat said, all giddy like. "An A.I. Arcaidus can scan the internet, monitor droids, as well as create and think ahead. He is the perfect ally as we go forward in this new age."

  "Arcaidus is a he?" Sara asked. "Why not, she?"

  Kat smiled. "Well, Arcaidus was originally named Zero, and as Arcaidus progressed, Arcaidus decided for himself, that he felt masculine, and named himself."

  Sara smirked. "Please tell me everyone in this room has seen the Terminator movies?"

  Kat giggled and pointed at Sara. "Trevor had me watch the originals over the weekend, lovely flicks. I promise Arcaidus has a default program that he cannot uninstall that runs a new variation of Asimov's three laws of robotics."

  Most of the council seemed ignorant. Xairin actually knew them since he owned a droid. Xairin noticed the blank faces and spoke up. "Asimov's laws, it applies to any personal droid and is modified in combat droids. The first law, a droid may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm." Xairin looked at Kat, then everyone else. "Second law??? A droid must obey the orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. Then there is rule three, a droid must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws?" He looked around. "Seriously, you all call yourselves immortals and didn't know this shit?"

  Kat laughed. "Xairin, you're funny." She looked around. "Yes, as our prince pointed out, these rules are the backbone of Arcaidus's programming. However... Trevor's robotics team and his cyber-engineers added some tweaks. Such as, thralls, Aeonians, and Immortium that belong to our Society being recognized as who Arcaidus can protect and the conclave and rogue factions he can inflict harm upon. Also, the rules of which humans can be harmed is anyone who would seek to destroy Immortium and Aeonians that belong to the Society as well."

  Sara pointed at the cube. "So, you're telling me that this… Arcaidus, can distinguish which immortals he can attack and which ones he can protect?"

  Kat nodded. "Yes, Arcaidus would have access to all retinal scans, and with properly installed sensors, he could easily detect who is an enemy and who isn't. We do register everyone after all…"

  "Okay, I will bite, go on," Sara announced.

  "All we have to do is plug this cube into our computer database, and Arcaidus will upload and go live. The cube contains nano-ants specifically designed for Arcaidus to utilize so that he can make upgrades to our facility as he learns and improves our technologies."

  Sara wasn't too keen on this. Sara was born in the 1990s and fully remembers the terminator movies. Even though A.I.'s were becoming more common, especially in droids, she wasn't too happy about an A.I running things in general, at least not a central A.I. "I'm not too sure about this, Kat."

  Kat shrugged. "I know I have only been awake for a short time, but in that time, I have encountered a few A.I programs when I was in space learning with Trevor. Statistically, there are dozens of A.I programs already running across the globe, and millions of droids with independent A.I. intelligence, not to mention Trevor's teams helped design a sister program similar to Zero, that he has already given to the Global Alliance."

  Sara looked concerned, "A sister program already in the hands of the G.A.?"

  Kat nodded. "Trevor is still a G.A. employee, he is still in the closet, so to speak, among the humans. He made sure that Arcaidus is far superior to Eve, in the event they tried to use Eve against us should our coexistence efforts fail."

  Sara rolled her eyes. "Adam and Eve, how biblical."

  Kat reasserted a previous detail. "Eve, like Zero, chose her name, and assigned her own gender, just like Zero designated himself, as a male program, and chose the name Arcaidus. When we asked him about why he chose to not go with Adam, for obvious reasons, he simply put it bluntly… He wished to be original, that and he researched Lilith, and based on Jewish lore, he felt the name Adam would be inappropriate given that Lilith is our true Queen. He considered how that name may make her feel uncomfortable."

  Sara nodded. "Is there an emergency plan in place in the event that Arcaidus would go rogue?"

  Kat nodded. "I stated previously, my Queen. His primary program was based on the three laws of robotics. He cannot violate the modified version; doing so would cause a system failure."

  Kat looked around the room while her bouncy brown curls swung with her head movements. "Arcaidus can identify our enemies should they enter our bases, our homes, and our embassies. He can detect and block cyberattacks, learn from these attacks to better be prepared, and help us locate potential threats a lot faster than we are currently doing on our own. Not to mention, he has enough scientific knowledge already in his database, that he can help our medical, technological staff, as well as various other scientific divisions hasten their research."

  A distinguished gentleman, sitting near the opposite point of the table from Sara, had been listening and biding his time. Thomas Highborn, one of a handful of Grand Alpha's bitten by a bat in the old days, was listening and taking everything in. He was older looking, the late forties, pos
sibly right at fifty, which told everyone else, that he had to have been twice that at the time he was converted. The salt and pepper haired man stood up. "If I may, Queen Jordan?"

  Sara looked at Thomas and tilted her head. In the past three meetings, Thomas had said hardly a word. A few hand raises, but that was it. Sara felt surprised. "Yes, Lord Highborn?"

  Xairin's ears perked up. He looked at the man at the opposite end. His face looked familiar, similar to David Highborn, the recruit he had bested in the Labyrinth. He eyed the handsome, looking gentlemen. Xairin usually didn't go for people between forty and fifty, but this guy was smoking hot and eating away at Xairin's rule.

  "If I may Queen Jordan. This proposal of using this artificial intelligence could be of vital aid and give us an edge we need to overcome the Conclave. If… Of course, … It can do what Cathubodua has said it will, then I move to use it." Thomas stated.

  Nikoli Lambert, a blond-haired man with playboy qualities written all over his face, his shape, and his attire, nodded. He was known for being a newer Grand Alpha, emerging as one in the seventeen hundreds, after which he created his own house. House Lambert. While Nikoli looked like a playboy, a player of players, he was sweet-natured at heart. "My Queen, I second the motion. We need an edge in this fight, and if an A.I. can help expedite everything we are working on, as well as help increase our defenses, I say, AYE!"

  Sara stood up. "The motion has been moved and seconded. A show of hands of those that are in favor?"

  It was nearly unanimous. Xairin's hand joined those willing to go the A.I route.

  "My Queen? If I may?" Argosh, the Sasquatch werewolf leader, asked.

  Sara acknowledged the Native American tribe leader. While Argosh didn't look Native American, being that he had blond hair. It was well known that Argosh was raised by them and resulted in creating werewolves amongst a few of the Navajo that raised him. The man spoke clearly, "The throne acknowledges the Sasquatch tribe?"

  Hearing his grandmother acknowledge Argosh, Xairin looked at the man. Alex was from that tribe, which meant he could ask Argosh where Alex was buried so that he could pay his respects. He paid the man full attention.

  "As you well know, our tribe has always refrained from using too much technology, as we have always seen it as a form of enslavement… However, seeing these hands go up, I realize that the tribes like my own, will need these, nano-ants supplied to us, so that we can be more up with the times and upgrade our own facilities."

  Kat spoke up. "Once Arcaidus goes live, the nano-ants that Trevor's teams specially designed for him, will self-replicate based on Arcaidus's needs."

  Argosh looked at her. "Meaning?"

  "We can ask him to make more Argosh along with giving him the ability to upgrade any structure, build structures, update, and modify as he evolves and learns how to improve what we have."

  Based on the hands raised, Sara had no choice. “Looks like we have an A.I.”

  Sara stood there with her hands placed on the table, looking at everyone. "We have addressed finances, council seats, funeral observances, and now this A.I. Are there any other issues that need to be addressed?"

  Xairin raised his hand.

  "Yes, Xairin?"

  While he was listening to the others, he started thinking about something. He couldn't help but think since he was a prince, he needed to do something that wasn't about him, something that helped another person, or in this case, two. He was thinking about Jeffery Marsh and Ash Petting. "In Bastion City, there was a wereleopard attack. A man named Jeffery Marsh, transformed in an effort to save his boyfriend from being abducted by serial killers going around abducting and killing gay men in Bastion City, specifically targeting those that are sensitives, and men that are sensitive friendly."

  Sara looked over at Xairin. "I heard of a wereleopard attack but wasn't sure of the details."

  Xairin started to tremble. "Look. If I am going to get over things, then I guess I need to talk about it." He looked around the room. "Yeah, I was what some of you call lesser blood. I was ignorant of what I was. My mother hid me away, I guess thinking since my father was a Sensitive, that people would just see me as some new mutation, I guess, and not being part vampire."

  Xairin cleared his throat. "The same men, that kidnapped this wereleopard's boyfriend, I think… Are the same people that kidnapped me."

  Cecilia didn't know. Sara had pulled this from Peggy, so the look of shock was setting in on Cecilia's face.

  Xairin started to get teary-eyed. "Um... The night I was bitten by the albino bat... I um... I was kidnapped, drugged, beaten, and then raped by a bottle just for being gay… The bat that bit me smelled the blood from all of my injuries. If she hadn't found me when she did, these sick bastards like to decapitate their victims and take the head, I guess as some sort of fucked-up version of a trophy, and my head was next. I was targeted by six men, humans, I guess, that has a thing for killing gay sensitives, and it was that bat that scared them off. But she bit me. She fed on me while I was lying in a culvert, covered in feces, urine, and whatever else gets flushed into the sewers. That's how I came to be this, Original pureblood that you all call me." Xairin wiped his tears. "I've been dealing with this for a while now. Recently I was brought in to identify a body. Interpol was hoping that I could I.D. the guy that was ripped to pieces, hoping it was the man who abducted me so they could prove that Jeffery Marsh' was acting in defending his partner, and Interpol could confirm his partner's abduction being related to my own case." He exhaled slowly. “The body I saw wasn't him, but... The same drug that was used to incapacitate me and my sensitive abilities to defend myself was used on the sensitive Ash Petting, the wereleopard's boyfriend..." Xairin tried to keep it together. "If it weren't for his boyfriend following his partner's scent, the boyfriend would be dead. I am bringing this issue before this council since I have been made a part of it. I want us to help get Jeffery Marsh's name cleared. What he did, saved his partner's life."

  Nikoli Lambert reached forward and accessed the holoprojector on the table. It displayed a holographic image of a mixed man, Caucasian, and African American heritage. He was being held in a cell, with silver bars. "That is all the access we have." He displayed a written statement in the air, they all were reading it. The partner clearly laid out that the man who drugged him was overly insistent on buying him a drink and asked if he was a Sensitive since his eyes were so vibrantly colored. One statement was clear, "I kept telling him my boyfriend was on his way, but the man kept asking if I would at least accept one drink after I finally agreed, the next thing I knew was Jeffery's spots and face changing back as he held me."

  Xairin's story was a tearjerker that's for sure. Even the coldest of the council, detested rape and injustice, especially hate-related crimes, that was something each of them could agree with. As for Cecilia, it now clicked in, as to why Xairin was so short with her. She now knew that he blamed her for not just leaving him behind, but for what happened to him in that sewer. She knew, Xairin was thinking, that if they had taken him with them, the rape, the beating, all of it, would have never happened. Cecilia couldn't stop sobbing. Vaughn tried patting her on the back to console her.

  Sara looked over at Xairin. "We can relocate him."

  "What about his partner?"

  Afreeti spoke up. "We only have jurisdiction over Immortium and Aeonians that are registered with our Order as long as the G.A. continues to view us as an independent nation like the United States once did for the Native tribes."

  "That's not good enough!" Xairin said.

  "This man, Jeffery Marsh, to do what he did, to save his boyfriend's life, is a testament to how much he cares for him. We have to keep them together."

  Sara nodded and shed a tear of her own. Hearing what her flesh and blood had endured was like sticking a hot poker into her heart. She blamed herself just as much as Cecilia did. "We will do something, Xairin."

  Xairin picked up the forty-ounce bottle Ambrose had brought him and finished what w
as left. He took a moment and nodded to his grandmother. "I hope so."

  "Is there anything else that this council needs to address before we adjourn?"

  No one said a word.

  "Then, by the powers of the throne, I put into law everything we have agreed upon. Kat, please take, Arcaidus to the archive chamber and plug him in."

  "Everyone is dismissed."

  Cecilia made a direct path over to Xairin. She wanted to hold him and hug him tightly. As soon as she was face to face and reached out. Xairin pushed her back gently. "NO... Sorry." He walked off, leaving Cecilia to stand there teary-eyed and trembling. She was breathing quickly, trying to slow it down. She had a profound numbness to her face. She closed her mouth and gulped. She fluttered her eyes, bit her lip, and turned around to walk off.