Dark Cotillion (First in the Brenna Strachan Series)

by Hadena James

  Chapter Three

  The Council Chamber should have been some dank, dark dungeon type room with stonewalls, cracked floors, and cuffs attached in strategic places. It isn’t, but it should be. Instead, it is a large building on my father’s land made of wood sometime shortly after he bought the place. Seating is uncomfortable, padded folding chairs crammed into a space that should not allow as many beings inside as it does. There is a back gallery that allows standing room.

  The folding chairs are a testament to modernization. There are exactly 84 of them. The lieutenants that have been born all have their names on a particular chair.

  The Council table is a different story though. It is a massive thing, carved in wood and decorated with symbols from the past. The chairs are also carved in wood, although cushions have been added to all of them. Each is specifically built to hold a particular Elder, or at least a particular breed.

  It’s built in a square U shape. The back section holds three chairs, each side holds five (disturbing since there are really only twelve breeds), and the front is open. When we have a trial, a chair is set in that opening.

  My father sits in the middle at the back, first among equals, so to speak. To his right, sits the Angels, specifically Gabriel, to his left, the Vampires, Anubis. On the right side of the table as one looks at it sits Morgana, Overlord of the Fey; Fenrir, Overlord of the Lycans; Uther Pendragon, The Keeper, and in the last seat on that side sits Kagutsuchi, Elemental Overlord. On the left, Ba’al, Overlord of the Gargoyles fills the first seat; next to him, you have Chiron, Centaur and enemy to me; Vishnu, Djinn Overlord; and our two Human representatives take the final seats on that side. Mr. Magnus Donagal, the most powerful Witch currently living, and Mr. George Johnson, our Human Council Member.

  They get two members, because we recognize Witches as a different type of Human, and we have been allowing them to sit in the Council for over a thousand years. The Humans have only come to the table Post-Merge. We keep no Council secrets from the UN.

  I walked into the brightly lit room. The other thing that I find disturbing about the Council Chamber is that it has lots of windows and skylights. It makes the room bright, shiny, and happy. Considering some of the business that is discussed behind the doors, it seems slightly wrong.

  Gabriel gave me a parting stare before moving towards the Council table. I found my seat, my name written in Sharpie marker on the fading vinyl of the folding chair. My uncle, Beezel, was already sitting in his spot. The other Demon Lieutenant, John, was standing up. Demonnation only has three lieutenants at the current time. This leaves four empty Demonnation chairs, but we each have our names on our seats, so we are still packed in like sardines. Ritual sometimes dies very hard.

  “Bren,” Beezel nodded to me as I wiggled into my chair. I don’t have a bad relationship with my uncle, it’s friendly enough, but that’s about as far as it goes. I don’t go to his house, chat with him or his family. I spent my childhood surrounded by Overlords. I was closer to Ba’al, Anubis, and Gabriel, than I was to any of my father’s blood kin.

  My relationship with John was polite at best. He was roughly 500 years old and had a chip on his shoulder the size of Mt. Everest. He was not a strong supporter of mine, but he was incredibly loyal to my father and Demonnation. This meant I could be polite, even though he made my skin crawl, loyalty to Demonnation is a good thing.

  After my arrival, the room seemed to fill impossibly fast. The back gallery was packed, I wasn’t sure they had room to breathe. I didn’t turn around, I knew better than to stare into the eyes of so many. Emotions were high in the room, hard to ignore. My mother was doing an exceptional job of dealing with them, I felt like I was drowning in them.

  My mother is like me, a lieutenant. Magnus chose her for her powerful bloodline. In the who’s who of the Witch World, my mother was in the top five most powerful. Her grandmother had been the most powerful until her death sometime in the early 1910s.

  My father stood up. Everything got quiet and it wasn’t just quiet, it was silent. You could hear hearts beating and people holding their breath. This is partly because when Lucifer talks, his voice is so deep, it can be felt inside of the body. The only thing that I can think to compare it to is the roar of a big cat, like a tiger. You hear it, but you also feel it. It commands attention. People don’t even shuffle when Lucifer talks.

  “We are gathered today to decide the fate of a member of Demonnation.” His voice reverberated throughout the room, making it seem smaller. “It has been posed that Brenna Strachan be put to death at the beginning of the Maturing, for the threat she is prophesized to pose to Elders, Humans, and the World as a whole. Chiron.”

  Lucifer took his seat, Chiron stood, his hooves clacked against the wooden floor, and for a moment, I wondered if he were wearing horseshoes. I knew he wasn’t, but it would be nice to put a set on him and stick him to a giant magnet. Of course, I was also feeling a bit hostile towards him.

  “As most of you are familiar, it has been prophesized on three separate occasions that a daughter of Lucifer will destroy the world. In these various prophecies, the daughter in question has been seen to be lavender in color, with irises that are darker than her pupils are. She is a powerful Witch. She fails to bear the Demon Horns. Furthermore, she has been seen to lack many Demon characteristics. She has hair. She is more Humanesque in stature and build. All of these describe Brenna Strachan. The prophecies go on to say she will gain a power never before seen in the world of the Elders, and that she will bring about the destruction of life with these powers. My Predecessor, rest his soul, prophesized that she will never gain control of her powers due to her breeding. While he didn’t understand exactly what that meant at the time, it has been realized that she is of a very powerful Witch family, and strong Demon blood. Since her birth, we have all watched and learned that she has inherited a great deal of her mother’s powers. The last prophecy about it, said that she would become too powerful for any single individual. It will not fracture her mind, but her very soul. If this is true, then after the Maturing, she may be too powerful for even her Overlord to kill her, should she go rogue. Pendragon may not be able to negate her powers and keep her locked safely away from the public. We have never dealt with a fractured soul before; I believe the consequences would be grave for everyone. For this reason, I think it is in the best interest of life to put her to death.”

  “Put her to death for what she may become?” Beezel stood up. “Really, Chiron?”

  “It is not…” Chiron began.

  “No, I will have my say. I may not be an Overlord, but I am older than you and have lived far longer than you will ever live.” Beezel moved to the front of the table, to the opening.

  “More years than any being can count; we encountered this very same situation. My brother, Lucifer, began plucking infants from the sea, infants that were not always Demons. At that time, we had no idea what they would become. We Demons, the first of Beings, were terrified as they grew up and developed new powers, powers that we had never seen before. There was much talk about what to do about it. One of them posed the idea that they should be put to death. A vote was taken. Those of us who wanted to preserve the new lives were outnumbered by a single vote. An attempt was made to end the life of one of the new beings. We failed.”

  Beezel hung his head for a moment. His voice was almost as deep as Lucifer’s, but that was about all the resemblance the two Demons had.

  “What we did manage to do was permanently damage a living, breathing Elder. And what did he become? An asset to the entire Elder world, his ability to use his tongue helped Humans accept us. His wings shielded us during the Elder War, and he fought with us, even though Demonnation had betrayed him when he was an infant. He stands as a respected member of the Council, a powerful Overlord, and he holds no malice for our terrible deed. It’s a bewildering thing, Chiron, to try to kill somet
hing just because you are afraid of it. Afterwards, you have to stand back and wonder where your rational mind went. Now, you are asking Demonnation to do it again, to one of our own, because she may or may not develop some new power. You are too young to make such a request, too young to understand the true consequences of it. I think the fact that you even have the nerve to put it before the Council, shows that you are arrogant, ignorant, and filled with malice. If anyone has a fractured soul, I believe it to be you.”

  “She is your niece, Beezel, and a member of Demonnation. I understand your reluctance to see reason,” Chiron said dismissively.

  “Reason?” Gabriel bellowed suddenly. His eyes were perfectly white, void of any color. “You call murdering an Elder because of a prophecy reasonable?”

  “Gabriel,” Lucifer said.

  “No, Lucifer, no. That is not reasonable; this entire thing is utter madness. Have we all lost our minds? Why would we even consider something like this? How many times have Centaurian prophecies been wrong? How do we know that Lucifer will not have another daughter in two hundred years that is nearly a carbon copy of Brenna? What if it is not her? What if it is another child born of the Overlord? Have you considered these things, Chiron?”

  “Yes,” Chiron replied dryly, “and that is a risk I am willing to take. Do we want another Elder War?”

  “I would rather another Elder War, than run the risk of putting to death a Demon for no reason other than you had a vision.” Vishnu spoke up.

  “Stop,” Lucifer said quietly. “We will not turn this into a shouting match.”

  He stood up again. His horns standing impressively tall made him look that much bigger than normal. His eyes were dark, unreadable. His emotions were not. Any more anger and he would begin to glow with a reddish light. His eyes would become black pits reflecting the abyss. My father was not a being to be pissed off.

  “I will ask each Council member their opinions. Debate can continue afterwards.” He turned those dark eyes on Anubis.

  “Anubis, what say you?”

  “I do not believe we should put anyone to death because they may gain a new power. Diversity is paramount in this world; it should be heralded as a triumph, not an aberration.”

  “Gabriel?”

  “She lives.”

  “Morgana?”

  “It is the opinion of all The Fey, that Brenna Strachan is not a danger. She is a Demon Half Breed of a powerful bloodline. There is no history of Maturing Madness in her family. As for power, if anyone can control immense powers, The Fey believes the daughter of Lucifer and the Strachan Witches is the best candidate.”

  “Ba’al?”

  “Gargoyles do not condemn based on prophecy or unusual powers.”

  “Fenrir?”

  “It is my opinion that her life is worth more than maybes and chances.”

  “Chiron?” I wanted to ask if that was a joke.

  “The welfare of the world trumps the life of a single individual.”

  “Kagutsuchi?”

  “As Overlord, I speak for the Elementals and we agree that she is a danger. Death might be a bit extreme, but imprisonment until the Maturing is over is not. Give her to Pendragon to watch, should she show signs of dangerous behavior, she will need to be killed before the Maturing ends, and Pendragon is the best person to act as Executioner.”

  “Vishnu?”

  “Why have we designated Pendragon as her executioner? If Chiron and Kagutsuchi want to put her to death, I believe they should do it themselves. As for me and mine, The Djinn agree that we cannot condemn her based on someone’s whims and flights of fancy. I have seen into the minds of Centaurs, they are foggy at best.”

  Chiron went to say something, but Lucifer held up a hand. He stopped. Instead, he cast dark looks between Vishnu and me.

  “Uther?”

  “I will not execute her.” He looked at Kagutsuchi. “Should Brenna Strachan become a danger to the world, I will hold her in prison, but I refuse to execute her. Even if she does become incredibly powerful and develop Madness, I will not execute her. That is not my place in life. I find your recommendation that I act as her executioner revolting and insulting.”

  “Magnus?” Lucifer quickly moved on.

  “I find the suggestion barbaric.”

  “George?”

  “I agree with Magnus, to put someone to death for a crime they have not committed is appalling. The Humans will have no part in it, and we have some sordid history of our own. Beezel made some just points, to kill just because you are frightened by something you don’t understand, isn’t just barbaric, it’s beyond inhuman. We have done it in the past and it is a scar that we still bear.”

  “As Demon Overlord and the father of Brenna Strachan, I have decided to abstain from the vote,” Lucifer spoke. “However, Demonnation has been instructed to cast their votes as their hearts see fit. A vote for her death is not a sign of disloyalty to Demonnation; I understand the apprehension that she will develop powers that will destroy the world.”

  “You would condone such a thing?” Chiron asked, true surprise in his voice.

  “I will uphold whatever the vote decides,” Lucifer gave a sad glance at me. “It is not a sign of approval, just a sign that I am not above the decision of the Council and beings that live in the world.”

  Lucifer looked around the room.

  “We will now hold discussion, but it will be an orderly, civilized discussion.” Lucifer’s voice held an edge, a warning, one that he had used the only time I had ever tried to sneak out late at night. It meant that things were going to be done exactly as he specified.

  Fenrir stood up, “I believe we have forgotten many things today. The course of history, both Human and Elder, has shown us time and time again that preventive death is never really preventive. It spurs more conflict. We mentioned our creations and the Elder War, but we did not reflect upon them.

  “At the time when we were all created, there were Demons, and only a few of them. I remember a few things from my childhood. I remember Beezel, Lucifer, and the rest of their brothers caring for me. I remember when Sonnellion became terribly frightened by one of our Overlords and decided he needed to be put to death. I remember that vote, the one that condemned him to die because he could make himself invisible and use light to trick others into not seeing what was in front of them.

  “When that happened, it had never been seen before. The ability to manipulate light was unheard of, the ability to make the visible invisible, terrified Sonnellion. He was sure that Gabriel would use it to kill all Demonnation, and he was damaged, scarred for eternity by the madness that Sonnellion’s fear sparked. Yet Gabriel sits here, first amongst the Angels, ranked a very powerful Elder, and his service to Elders and Humans is remarkable. He does that despite the fact that he was once just as feared and hated as Brenna Strachan is now. He fought valiantly for Humans in the Elder War. He fought just as valiantly to save the world from the Nazis and nuclear holocaust.

  “His life is a testament to that fear of the unknown. Sonnellion was wrong about him, just as Chiron is wrong about Brenna now. Perhaps she will manifest some unknown, all encompassing, world altering power. Where in the prophecies does it say that she will become evil? I have heard all three prophecies and I remember them well. She is not destined to destroy the world, just change it.

  “And as the Elder War shows, life is not the only thing that changes the world. Death has just as much of an impact. What if the prophecy is not about the fact that she lives? What if the prophecy is the result of her dying? What if she takes some amazing power to the grave with her and we begin fighting amongst ourselves again? What if her death divides the Elders and causes war?

  “We are calling for her death because we believe her life will change the world, but what if it is the other way around? Nowhere in the prophecy does it say her life will change the world, it just says she will change the world.”
Fenrir sat down.

  “That is something we had not considered,” Morgana stood up. “Death is far more altering than life. What would have happened if Sonnellion had succeeded in murdering Gabriel? What sort of Angel Overlord would be sitting at the table? Would he be as reasonable and open minded as this one? Would he be as strong a leader? What about me? What if I had been put to death? The most fractured breed among us is The Fey. What if I were put to death? Would we have had a Fey War because there was not an Overlord strong enough to unify the differences?”

  “The Elder War,” Pendragon stood up shaking his head, “what a terrible thing for all of us. Brother against brother, mates battling for the lives of Humans, those of us who thought Humans deserved the right to become something. We’ve done this dance a couple of times in the past, it hasn’t always been about Elders either. How many times have Elders decided that perhaps Humans were not worthy of life? How many times have we had to destroy our own to prove that everything deserves life? We talk about Gabriel, but there are many among us that have been persecuted, or that have done some persecuting.

  “I am the only Keeper. Never found another. The only one. How lonely. How scary. Anyone of us could be in the seat now occupied by Brenna Strachan. Anyone of us could be in the seat of Chiron. We all have our own prejudices, but we have prided ourselves on thinking as a collective as well as individuals. When Elders went rogue and decided to destroy Humans, we bonded together, decided it was wrong and stopped it at great cost to ourselves. When Sonnellion decided to start murdering new breeds of Elders, it was stopped. When Humans nearly eradicated themselves, we intervened. How can we value one life and not another? If we do this condemnation of Brenna Strachan, do we stop there? What happens when Gabriel mates? He is the last Overlord to remain unmated. We have watched as the years passed and noticed that each breeding, each new offspring seems to bring something new to us. So, do we set a precedent today by condemning Brenna to death because we are afraid?”

  “Fear?” Ba’al stood up as Pendragon sat down. “Fear is an interesting thing, isn’t it? A strong motivator. Each of us that defend Brenna is just as afraid as those that are condemning her. There is always that chance that we are wrong. But death is rarely the answer.”

  “It’s Centaurian, not a True Prophet!” Someone yelled from the back. “Centaurian prophecy is not always accurate. There are gaps, there are holes, and there are parts that even they cannot interpret. A True Prophet walks among us, perhaps we should ask him.”

  “A True Prophet?” Lucifer asked.

  “Yes,” the Djinn who had been speaking stepped forward. “The Djinn have kept it secret since his birth, for fear of him being persecuted just as Brenna is being, but we have seen his mind. He is a True Prophet.”

  “Vishnu, is this true?” Lucifer turned to the Overlord.

  “Yes, Lucifer,” Vishnu gave a deep sigh as his eyes fell onto me. “There is a True Prophet that walks among us, but he is not ready to tell his prophecy. I will not betray him because of this meeting.”

  “A True Prophet is a good omen,” Gabriel responded. His eyes were back to normal and there was a general feeling of happiness that suddenly washed over the room.

  “I’m sorry, what is a True Prophet?” George Johnson asked.

  “They are a rarity, but they have a single vision during their lifetime, one that is given at a crucial moment and provides us the opportunity to change the world,” Morgana answered. “It was a True Prophet that told us about the Nuclear Holocaust, showed us the images of the aftermath.”

  “And one showed us the Elder War,” Chiron sneered, “that got us nowhere.”

  “Yes it did,” Lucifer closed his eyes. “The Prophet told us to save Humanity.”

  “There have only been six in the history of the world,” Gabriel said. “Sadly, they tell their prophecy and usually die shortly afterwards of an unknown illness. We think the prophecy destroys the brain. It is their purpose in life and once delivered, they have nothing left to live for.”

  “If the True Prophet was here to condemn Brenna, they would be speaking up about it,” someone else called from the back. “The fact that they are not, makes me think that putting her to death isn’t in the plan.”

  “That’s a good point,” Fenrir said. “If Brenna was going to destroy the world, a True Prophet would be giving his prophecy at this meeting. He would be deciding her fate, not us.”

  “Vishnu, why did you keep it a secret that there was a Prophet among us?” Lucifer asked.

  “Because, we were waiting to see if the Prophet had anything to say about this situation, since he does not seem to be against her living, I believe we have much harder times ahead of us.” Vishnu gave another sigh. “And it is not for the Djinn to announce a Prophet; they announce themselves when it is time. We have always known when a Prophet lives, we have never revealed their identity, and we will not do it now. It seems wrong.”

  “She lives,” Kagutsuchi gave a small flick of the hand. “A prophet would tell us if she was going to destroy the world. I’m surprised we didn’t think of it before.”

  “Prophets have never been born this close together before,” Chiron sneered. “I find it hard to believe a prophet is living and does not have an opinion about something as important as this.”