41. The Wise Ones

“Alright,” a striking – and very ash-y – vampire spoke. He sat at a long table, and looked at those who sat around him with a nonchalant look on his face that he occasionally alternated with a cocky smirk. “Allow me to sum this up. James kicked our boy Vlad here right out of his house…”

Vlad shot him a look. “The only reason he managed to win was because he caught me off-guard.”

“…And this Tori figure went and murdered that Vatore bloke who kind of looks like Edward Cullen…”

“…My brother,” Lilith cut in, seething with rage.

“Yeah, yeah. Anything else?”

“The blonde one and her family have been terrorizing this world for decades.”

“Yeah, look, we figured you could handle a 50-year-old vampire freshie and her even younger family. And, I mean, most of them never really looked like much…”

“You should know that looks and age do not always speak a single truth. They have shown themselves to be cunning, Victoria especially. She managed to come back from being humanized AND being killed. That alone should have alerted the Wise Ones’ attention.”

“That’s one way to look at it. You could also say she’s already been defeated twice. Shouldn’t prove too hard to do so a third time. And the third time’s the charm… Wasn’t that the expression?”

“We need to do something about them.”

“Yeah, yeah. Man, you’re hasty. That’s why we’re here is to do something, innit?”

“You were late. This town has already gone to ruins.”

“Now, now. Don’t be so negative, Vlad. Jeez. Anyone else feel this way?”

Lilith shrugged. “What have the three of you been up to anyway? And where the hell is Mori?”

Suddenly, the council’s room became engulfed in the sound of music. Its members looked at each other, puzzled. Flora gestured to the music, looking questioningly at M. He shook his head and shrugged to show that for once, he had nothing to do with this.

As Ozone’s Dragostea din Tei filled the room with music, the door opened.

Of course. Lilith rolled her eyes. Vlad and the vampire at the far end of the table tried desperately to shield himself from the absolute horror that was this music. M just offered an impressed look, while Flora tried to stifle a laugh.

“Are you done?” Vlad grumbled. God, how he hated these supposed ‘Wise Ones’ he’d been forced to put up with.

“Just how long have you been standing there to achieve this grand entrance of yours?” Lilith wondered.

Mori shrugged. “Not that long. Thirty minutes, maybe?”

“You missed thirty minutes of our rare council meeting just to make the shittiest possible entrance? God, Mori.”

“To answer your question,” Mori went on, very much unbothered by his fellow members’ displeasure. “I have been in the Old World – as I always will be. You Simusians really should start broadening your horizons a bit. There’s places lots better than this one, you know.”

“I’m Isla Paradisian.”

“I’m from Sunlit Tides.”

“I’m from the Old World.”

“And I’m from Michigan.”

Mori rolled his eyes. “And yet here you are.”

“Yeah, welcome back, honey. Now can we get on with our meeting? Yori here’s getting impatient.”

The Yore sounded an angry grumble as M placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and leaned in.

“What else did we want to talk about, baby? Oh, right. Jewellery. You know, me and Yori here, we’ve been thinking, and we think it’d be really cool if we could all get matching bracelets…”

The Yore turned to shoot his associate an irate glare. Would’ve mumbled disapprovingly had he not lost the ability to speak. He really should have thought twice before making M his right hand man. He really should have.

---

Yeah, Tori was bored alright.

There had been this one moment of excitement, though… when James’ old ally Ambrose decided he wanted to come over.

Yeah, Tori giggled to herself, thinking back to that event. Things got exciting there, alright.

***

“So… I see you got that throne after all.” There was not a hint of cheer or excitement in Ambrose’s voice.

“Yeah. Finally realized I needed naught but my own strength… which had long been superior to Vlad’s. It was a matter of nothing but confidence.”

Ambrose raised an eyebrow. “That so? So you’d say you managed to achieve all this… All on your own?”

James shrugged.

“No one there to stand by your side through that whole ordeal?” Ambrose pressed.

Another shrug. “Like I said… All I had to do was believe in my own strength.”

Finally, Ambrose gave up. “Cut the fucking crap, James. I know it was that Tori that convinced you to do this. And here I was thinking WE had a deal. We as in you and me. Then Casper the Ghostly Whore comes along and next thing I know, you’re here. You and ‘naught but your own strength.'” Ambrose air-quoted, sounding a harsh laugh. “Tell that to your priest.”

“What’s it to you?” James responded, defensive. “It was my plan. My dream, my throne. Who cares how I got it? I thought I might need you, I didn’t. Move on.”

“You should have known better than to try and run games on me, James. You know – better than anyone, I’d bet – the importance of a deal. You betrayed me.”

Now it was James’ turn to laugh harshly. “Betrayed you? Your ego really is fragile, isn’t it? I was grateful to have you as an ally… But it turns out, I don’t actually need those. I am strong enough, all on my own. No one would be stupid enough to think they can defeat me, the oldest non-Yore still alive. I have the most superior power anyone could even hope to draw on. I have the knowledge, the experience, of a thousand lifetimes. No one could ever defeat ME!”

By the time his rant was done, James was yelling alright.

To James’ surprise, Ambrose’s response to his intimidating speech was to laugh out loud. Turned to look at him, face screwed up in offense.

“Oh, yeah. It was all just you, Huh? You’re here… all on your own. You sure aren’t rendezvousing with any ghosts in there. Face it, James. The only reason you have those thousand lifetimes to draw on is because you have always been too much of a coward to beat anyone. To pose any threat. And then this impulsive, twice-defeated blondie comes along and suddenly, you’re this big, bad vampire.” Another condescending chuckle escaped Ambrose’s lips. “You’re nothing but a lap dog.”

James was fuming. It took him all his willpower not to crack Ambrose’s skull, right here on the spot. Bit his lip so hard he could sense the metallic taste of blood in his mouth.

He didn’t even get the chance to – before he could say or do anything, he saw Ambrose disappear promptly in a cloud of smoke, his laughs echoing as he disappeared.

Asshole.

***

Needless to say, James was in a rotten mood after that. Here he was, finally a king, and still people couldn’t seem to accept his power. Still, he was a laughing stock. He was done with it.

Had no idea Ambrose was appearing behind them just as he was voicing this all to Tori, his tone a little too whiny for Tori’s liking.

There’s only one thing to do here, babe…” Tori began. “You gotta show them your power. You know you have it – it’s time they do too.”

“And that time is right now, cause he’s standing behind you,” Tori went on, pointing at Ambrose. James heaved an enraged sigh.

In his own home? The nerve.

And so James – as always – took up on Tori’s advice and, his impulse fueled also by his own anger, attacked the man who had once been his only ally.

Now he would just be one of James’ many enemies.

Tori watched as the two men fought. At least this was better than one of James’ many show operas.

It was a more arduous fight for James – there was a reason why he had wanted Ambrose to be his ally, after all – but he still managed to win.

But as Ambrose – who admitted his defeat…. for now – rubbed his sore jaw and then left, James’ turned his glare to Tori, who was cheering him on.

“See! I knew you could do it, baby!”

It wasn’t that Ambrose’s words had had any impact on him – James would swear that wasn’t the case. They weren’t still echoing in his mind when Tori turned to caress his cheek, and he slapped her hand away roughly – shocking them both.

This was a matter between James and Tori, and them alone – he was no lap dog. Was sure of that. But one thing he had come to notice, was Tori’s not-so-great influence on his acts of violence. He had once been a reasonable man. Would he have attacked Ambrose, who was, for all intents and purposes, still once one of James’ only friends and allies, had he not been egged on by Tori? That, and James knew Ambrose had power. To anger them… a more rational James sure would have thought twice about that; about making yet another enemy. But with Tori by his side, continuously pushing him to do all these things, he was turning into something he wasn’t sure he quite liked. And that doubtfulness, that insecurity was finding its way to James’ surface now, outing itself in a sudden burst of anger felt against Tori.

Tori, in turn, barely managed to get an affronted “what the hell?!” across her lips…

Before James flashed away, interrupting her mid-sentence. That quite possibly offended Tori even more than his initial rejection had.

Well… that was disrespectful, Tori thought, the voice inside her head chuckling bitterly as she bit her lips and allowed her face to form into a scowl.