73. Council in Session

Alisa - In front of the apartment block
Damn! The situation doesn’t look good for us. I’m not Laura, and Dan is not Paul. If the strigois find out about our relationship, it will end badly for both of us.
A black limousine is waiting at the curb. With my eyes fixed on the vehicle, I pass by Dan without sparing him another glance.
“Let’s go. It smells of dog around here,” I scoff, waving a hand beneath my nose as if I want to drive away the stench in the air.
“Alisa! What are you saying?” Dan shouts behind me.
He takes a step forward, but one of Ion Corvin's men blocks his path.
“The lady comes with us,” the man says, unfazed.
“She doesn’t go anywhere.” Dan’s nostrils flair. “Alisa is mine.”
“Alisa is a strigoi, and all strigois are mine,” Ion Corvin decrees with a smug grin.
“The only person I belong to is myself,” I bark out and enter the limousine.
"Get out of my way!" Dan pushes aside the strigoi who obstructed his path. He takes two steps and stops in front of Ion Corvin. I fear he is going to punch him. But somehow, he holds himself back. "Alisa deserves to know what a douchebag you really are."
My eyes widen at his words. So Dan knows who Ion Covin is. Yeah, right! I mean, he had to see him during the meetings between Paul and the strigois.
“Oh, trust me, she has a pretty good idea.” The leader of the strigois winks at Dan, an ear-to-ear grin stretching wider than his mustache.
After Ion Corvin takes a seat in the limo next to me, Dan is left alone on the sidewalk, his back hunched. I tilt my head watching him, and I bet if I were to have a beating heart, it would ache right about now.
The car rolls down waking urban streets, lamps flickering off now that the sun's up, like servants lowering their heads in front of their master.
“What’s that wolf to you?” Ion Corvin asks, his eyes scouring my face.
I turn aside. "Nothing. And even if he was, it's none of your damn concern."
I hear a soft chuckle coming from his direction, but I focus on the view outside.
As the sun rises in the sky, a dark cover tints the windows, which keeps me from seeing outside. I'm curious to know where the Council's headquarters is located. Though I guess that's hard for me to find out now.
When the car slows down considerably, I can’t stop myself from lowering the window. Fortunately, a skyscraper lays a long shadow above us. We’re near the city center.
"Stryga General Life Insurance," I say, reading the sign outside the business campus as we pull through the guarded gate. "If this is where the Council Headquarters resides, then the strigois have a better sense of humor than I would have guessed."
“It is, and we have.”
Ion Covin gets out of the car as soon as it pulls over and opens my door. Letting one of his thugs do this gentlemanly act would have been more appropriate.
But maybe he does this merely to whisper in my ear, "Sorry, Alisa, but I'll stop being so friendly from now on. It doesn't fit my act."
What does he mean by friendly? For fucking out loud, if he was friendly before, then I’m the Mother fucking Tereza.
Almost immediately, he steps back, his face unreadable. Especially when he puts one hand under my chin, tilts my face up, and stares into my eyes. For whatever reason, I can't look away. Maybe he can glamour other strigois like Laura.
Once inside, Ion Corvin’s expression changes. He is not the same guy who was in my apartment. Now he actually looks like a scary guy, the leader of the Council.
I follow him as he strides through dark corridors. All the windows are again covered with tinted thin films, obscuring the interior and making the place perfect for strigois.
As I enter the meeting room and all those scary-looking immortals turn their faces toward me, my first impulse is to hide behind Ion Corvin.
Scratch that! I’m a badass strigoi myself! With my chin so up that I can barely see where I’m going, I sit near the door.
The empty chair at the far end of the table waits for Ion Corvin. The other strigois in the room lose their interest in me and turn their focus on their leader.
"I believe you're all aware of our blood supply issue," Ion begins. "The wolves interfered with the blood traders, and our supply line has now been disrupted."
He pauses to take a good look at each and everyone at the table.
I take my time to look at him better. Ion Corvin is definitely handsome, but his features are too sharp and defined. It gives him a sinister look, almost like a villain from a Disn3y movie.
“I’ve decided to strike a deal with Paul Mateescu,” he continues, and a few murmurs erupt. “The accord will remain in place, and we’ll hand over Laura Nedelcu to him in exchange for the release of our associates and restoring our affiliate business. The other thing he asks is for our suppliers to be volunteers. From now on, the blood traders will seek humans willing to give blood for money.”
One of the members of the Council straight up delivers his say on the matter.
“It’s outrageous. Letting the wolves have a say on how we deal with our internal affairs is preposterous.”
“Do you want us to turn back to the dark ages?” Ion Corvin raises his tone. “To hunt for blood and be hunted in turn by the humans?”
A death glare escorts Ion Corvin's words. The Council member who spoke against him purses his lips together as if he realized what he said is a potential death inducer to his precious life.
“Any other objections?”
Nobody speaks up. Everyone remains quiet, waiting for their leader to continue.
"I'm glad we got this sorted out. Only one item remains on the agenda for today." Ion Corvin clasps his hands across the table. "A change in leadership is required, or the problems between Paul and I will resurface. With my permission and the Dragon's support, a new strigoi leader will lead us into a golden age."
He gets up from his chair and walks over to me. He smirks and swings around to face the other strigois, putting his hand on my shoulder.
“Council members, meet Alisa Cristescu, the new leader of the Council.”
A hush falls over the room, which starts wrapping around itself. Everyone stares at me. My ears ring as blood rushes through.
Other than the vibration in my eardrums buzzing like a damned mosquito, I hear nothing anymore.