Once again Lucas found himself standing before the Elder Council of Leadership. He took satisfaction in knowing it would be the last time. He hoped he would get a chance to see the look on their smug faces when Solan and scores of lycan warriors stormed their precious compound. He hoped they would be the first to die. But on second thought, that honor belonged to Jerod Marks and that pilot bitch Solan turned.
“Thank you for meeting with us while everyone is taking a brief recess from the talks,” a white-haired councilwoman said as the double metal door slid closed behind him with a solemn hiss.
“I suppose congratulations are in order, Commander,” another council member said. “It cost us the life of one of our messengers, but you eventually pulled it off. You managed to get both leaders to meet here for negotiations. I have to admit, I was skeptical.”
“Thank you,” Lucas replied with false modesty. “I tried my best and fortunately, it was enough.” The truth was, Lucas had a hard time convincing Solan to come. Solan, of course, killed the human messenger that was first sent to deliver the invitation; that was exactly what Lucas knew would happen. Then Lucas went himself under the guise of crisis diplomacy and told Solan the meeting was only a ruse to take over the human’s compound. He told him about the sabotaged weapons and how he had taken over as military leader of the humans. Solan told him that Vincent and his prize female were also contacted by a human messenger. Unlike the poor fool who approached Solan, that messenger was allowed to live and was given Vincent’s assurance that he would be attending the meeting.
But the lycan leader had grown suspicious of Lucas and his loyalties. He yelled at Lucas, accusing him of taking too long to deliver results—he even called him incompetent. Solan would regret that, Lucas thought bitterly. He would regret it dearly. In the end, Solan decided it was in his best interest to be a part of the talks—especially since Tess Logan and Vincent would be there. The droning voice of the councilman snapped Lucas back to the present.
“Did the leaders come alone?”
“Solan brought a couple of bodyguards. No big deal, that’s normal for them.”
“Is there adequate security?”
“Definitely. We have two dozen armed men in the room.” With weapons that won’t work, Lucas added to himself. Weapons I rigged to stop working right about now. Without weapons, the humans will stand no chance against the lycan bodyguards—especially when Solan signals for the reinforcements to come out of hiding from the jungle. Of course, Lucas uttered none of this out loud, lulling the council members into a false sense of security.
“Excellent,” a councilperson replied. “What about Vincent. Did he bring anyone?”
“The vampire brought the woman he found in the downed spaceship—not the pilot, of course—the other one. A blond. The vampire has refused to formally introduce her—much to the irritation of Solan. However, I heard him call her Tess.”
“Yes we heard about her from Jerod Marks’ report, before he was stripped of command. Jerod speculated in his report that Vincent has taken a special interest in her, and so has Solan. Do you think Vincent brought the woman here to—”?
“Piss Solan off? Yeah, I would say so. It’s a dangerous game that vampire is playing. I wouldn’t be surprised if it backfired on h—” Lucas caught himself before possibly blowing his cover. “My apologies, councilman. I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just don’t like it when things happen that make my job harder than it has to be.”
“Understandable,” the councilman replied in a cold tone. “You should know, we have been secretly listening in via the intercom system. It’s been very interesting so far. For peace, Leader Vincent wants us to supply his people with regular shipments of fresh blood. We are well aware of the vampires’ ability to telepathically track and partially control others through their blood. Giving them access to our blood would be a disaster for us—it’s completely unacceptable.”
“I agree,” Lucas replied, privately annoyed they had been eavesdropping on the meeting without telling him.
“Vincent also wants us to give him the exact location to the Command Center. For strategic reasons, we believe that should also be off the table.”
“Very well. I’ll let him know that. He’ll have to find something else to bargain for. But like I said before, we really don’t have to give the vampires anything. They will agree to peace the moment Solan agrees to peace. They wouldn’t dare risk a human-lycan alliance against them.”
“Yes, but what Solan wants for peace is worse. He wants us to surrender this compound to him and for us to return to the living in huts—in the jungle. He also wants fifty of our women that are of childbearing age as ‘tribute’. That is madness.”
“Solan is still angry over the crash site incident. I think I can talk him into accepting much more reasonable concessions—but we would have to sacrifice Jerod to do it.”
The councilman’s voice sounded concerned. “Kill Jerod Marks?”
“Yes, he’s a traitor and infected with lycanthropy—he is of no use to us. He took from Solan what Solan felt was rightfully his.”
“The female pilot, you mean.”
“Yes. I don’t think the pilot girl is important to him anymore. But Solan’s honor demands the man who insulted him dies—but it must be done by his hand.”
“A public execution? That is highly irregular. This is not something we were prepared for.”
Which is exactly why you relics could not run a military, Lucas thought. You decrepit fools have become weaker than water. “It’s a small price to pay for a truce,” Lucas said. “One traitor in exchange for lasting peace.”
The council members began to whisper among themselves. The white-haired councilwoman was the one who eventually spoke, “It is a shame that it has come to this, but if Jerod Marks’ death can secure a deal, so be it.”
Lucas tried not to grin too hard. “I’ll let Solan know. At that point, I’ll have a guard bring Marks to the meeting room...to be dealt with. I suspect the negotiations will go much better after that—especially when I throw in the pilot girl to sweeten the deal.”
“Well, I know you must be getting back to the talks. The recess was for only ten minutes. You don’t want to keep them waiting. We know how impatient the lycans can be.”
Only because we don’t like to waste our time with fools, Lucas thought.
As Lucas turned to leave, he asked, “Will the Council of Leadership be attending the second half of the talks?”
One of the council members shook his head. “No, we will continue to monitor everything via the intercom system. This is your moment to shine, Commander. We have given you our concerns and conditions—we will let you handle the rest. We wouldn’t want to be a distraction.”
And you wouldn’t want your old asses to get hurt in case the talks go south, Lucas surmised to himself. And they WILL go south—that’s the plan. But don’t worry, I know Solan has many men waiting and hiding nearby. I’ll be sure to ask him to send a few of them over here to tear out each and every one of your throats. With that thought fresh in his head, Lucas saluted, smiled politely, and left. He thought about Jerod Marks. That man had been a thorn in side for too long. When they promoted Jerod over him, he thought his secret plans for becoming a lycan king would be on hold forever. But thanks to the timely arrival of pilot girl, he was able to grab command and move ahead with his scheme.
He looked forward to handing Jerod over to Solan for execution, but he suspected that Solan may have already started without him. He noticed the lycan leader had a strangely focused look in his eyes during the first half of the meeting. He was reaching out to someone. To influence others, vampires used hypnotic gazes and telepathic mind control. Lycans used something more animalistic, but just as effective. The lycans called it “pack mind” and it gave Alpha leaders like Solan the power to emotionally influence those they turned. Solan used it to maintain absolute control of his pack. He could make them feel anger, fear, or cause them to be horny as hell. He could play on their emotions to serve him—all for his amusement...and other purposes.
Paula Wright belonged to Solan—she was personally bitten by him, and the perfect victim for a pack mind attack. Lucas knew Solan hated Jerod Marks as much as he did, and would no doubt try to kill him at the first opportunity. He could easily use the girl to do this, and murder the former commander by proxy. Lucas threw his head back and laughed out loud as his turned the corner leading to the meeting room. What a wonderful irony that would be. The great Jerod Marks killed by the very woman he sought to protect—killed by the very woman he loved!