111

The three Elders arrived about two hours before the meeting was due to start and we sat in my office as they paged through the files that we had gathered. I was busy putting the rest of the evidence on a hard drive for them.

“Sire Albert has been singing like a canary,” Elder Michael said as he closed the file he’d been reading.

“He thinks he can escape execution if he provides us with enough information,” Elder Victor said.

“You should also talk to Wentworth, he sent out teams last night to gather up the rest of the rogue groups,” I said to them.

“Why don’t you just tell us exactly what happened,” Elder Cliff said.

“That’s why I called this lair meeting, I have no intention of hiding or lying about anything,” I said.

“These really are dire circumstances and we can’t move forward without all the information,” Elder Cliff said.

“I want to negotiate a deal before I tell my story,” I said to them.

“What sort of deal?” Elder Victor asked me.

“I’ll hand over everything I have, enough information to take to the wolf and vampire Elders about the involvement of their own kind in this whole thing but I want immunity for those that helped me from you,” I said to them.

“We can’t guarantee immunity from those Elders,” Elder Michael said.

“I’m not talking about them, I want immunity for the dragonkin that helped me,” I said to them.

“Not for yourself?” Elder Cliff asked.

“No, I did what I had to do, I knew there’d be repercussions, I’m not worried about me but I’m not going to let others suffer for supporting me,” I said seriously.

“How many dragonkin are we talking about?” Elder Victor asked.

“About five,” I said.

“Alright, we will give immunity to those dragonkin that aided you,” Elder Cliff said and the other two nodded their heads.

“We would still like to know who they are even though we won’t touch them,” Elder Michael said.

“My second in command, Link, and my father and his team,” I said.

“We aren’t at all surprised that your father would be involved,” Elder Victor said with a smile on his lips.

“This is the last of the information, I trust you to make the right decisions,” I said and stood up.

Elder Michael took the hard drive and they followed me out of the office. We walked in silence and I found Link waiting for me at the front door.

“Everyone’s gathered in the meeting hall,” he said and I gave him a quick smile.

“You are safe to answer any questions to the Elders, you have immunity,” I said to him.

“That wasn’t necessary,” he said as the Elders finally caught up to us.

“Shall we?” I asked as I led the way through the forest to the meeting hall.

The meeting hall went quiet as I walked through the doors and we all made our way to the front and Link led the Elders to three chairs on the raised platform. Link took his position to my right and sat down as I stood in front of the podium and looked at all the people of my lair. Cameron raised his hand slightly where he sat next to Brenda.

“Good evening lair members and Elders, I want to thank you for taking the time out to be present at this meeting. Tonight’s meeting is just an information session where I will testify to the events of the last month which is why the Elders are also present. Nothing that is said tonight will be voted on, it’s merely so that you all are aware of what’s going on,” I said.

“I was asked to investigate a case from the Elite Unit about missing children being sold to vampire covens as food bags. I called together my own team of people I trust with my life and together we found the first base of operations in Fowler. We attacked the house, killed the guards and rescued the children. We kept one man alive and he provided enough information for us to move forward with the investigation. During that time Sire Albert from Springfield came to see me and asked me to kill a vampire coven that had settled in his territory.’ I took a sip from the water bottle before I started talking again.

“The vampire master is a friend of mine and he had even more information on Albert’s connection to the missing children and to the death of his brother and my best friend Felix. We shared information and I went to go see Albert and told him the name of the man in charge of everything, Carlson McIntyre Hall. The plan was to watch him and let him lead us to Carlson. Soon after I left his residence the tyre of my truck was shot out and I was shot with a tranquilizer gun and taken. They kept me drugged and we moved locations four times when they made their first mistake. I killed the vampire that had been torturing me for days and I found two of my friends in their warehouse as well. At that time I was being held in Roswell, New Mexico. We killed the remaining vampires and I made my way to Oklahoma City where I have another friend. He patched me up and supplied me with weapons and another vehicle. I made contact with my father and I asked him to kidnap Albert and hold him in his cells for me to hand over to the Elders while I went after Carlson. I made my way to Broadview where I killed ten guards outside and found a room filled with children waiting to be sold, twenty vampires surrounded me when I finally found Carlson in the house. I fought off as many as I could before my team arrived. We took Carlson and Albert to Chicago and handed them over to the Elders,” I said.

At first the hall was quiet and then deafening cheers and claps surrounded me as my lair all stood on their feet and clapped their hands. I waited for them to settle down and I saw the Elders making numerous notes.

“I took on the position of being this lair’s Sire so that you all could prosper and move forward and have a Sire you could depend on. That Sire is not me, not anymore. I render my resignation as Sire of this lair with immediate effect and I nominate Link as the new Sire.”

I had to stop talking as the murmurs grew too loud and people looked confused. Link was looking at me in surprise and anger, he was shaking his head at me and even the Elders had surprise written all over their faces.

“A Sire is someone that you should all be able to depend on, a Sire that will put this lair first, I didn’t do that, I put those children first and I put my own agenda of avenging my friend’s death first. Link is more than capable of leading this lair into the future. I will be here for another week to transfer all lair businesses to Link and to tie up any loose ends,” I said.

“Sire Ryder…” Elder Michael said but I held my hand up.

“I’ll be turning twenty in a few days and then I’ll be eligible to return to the Elite Unit as a permanent member. I strongly feel that this is the right decision for everyone involved. I wish you all the best for the future and I thank you for putting your trust in me in the beginning and with that I also have to apologize for letting you all down. Thank you, this meeting is now adjourned,” I said and stepped away from the podium.

“Sire Ryder…” Elder Michael said again.

“No Elder, this is for the best. I only ask that you let me complete the work I still have here before taking me in for punishment. For now I just want to be alone and conclude the outstanding lair business so that Link can take over smoothly,” I said.

I walked out of the meeting hall and Abeloth separated from me. I mounted him quickly as he flapped his wings and we took off into the night as Link and the Elders stood at the entrance of the meeting hall looking at me.

“You did well halfling,” Abeloth said to me.

“I feel like a weight’s been lifted off my shoulders,” I said to him.

“I’ll miss this place though, it was nice settling down,” he said as we soared through the night sky.

“It was fun while it lasted,” I said to him and closed my eyes as I lay down flat on my stomach and let Abeloth just fly.

It was close to midnight when Abeloth finally returned back to the house, he’d been flying for hours and I could tell he was content now. He landed in front of the house and merged with me as Link sat on the porch steps waiting for me.

“Hey,” I said as I sat down next to him.

“Don’t do this Ryder,” he said to me.

“You’ll be a great Sire Link, you have a strong beast and you know exactly what to do,” I said to him.

“Only because you were leading me, everything I know how to do with the businesses and other Sires are stuff you taught me,” he said.

“There’s no point in me staying Link, I actually let all of you down,” I said to him and stood up again.

“The Elders left a while ago, said they’ll be back,” he said as he stood up as well.

“Yes, I’ll be having a trial of my own for the unauthorized killings I did,” I said to him.

“Everything this lair has is because of you, you built everyone up,” he said to me.

“Link, I’m tired, you should get some sleep now, tomorrow the hard work starts,” I said to him.

“Your father’s in the living room,” he said as I opened the front door.

“Shit,” I said and he smiled briefly.

“Shit’s right, he’s furious,” Link said as I stepped into the foyer and came face to face with my father.

Lucas and I stood looking at each other as Link made his way up the stairs. I really didn’t have the energy for a ‘Lucas talk’ right now and I shook my head briefly as he glared at me.

“Have you lost your damn mind?” he asked me as his eyes flashed yellow.

“I’m doing what is right for this lair,” I said to him.

“You’re running away,” he said to me.

“I’m not running, I did what I set out to do and now I’m at peace,” I said to him.

“You took this lair from a terrible Sire and you gave these people hope, you made their lives better and now you just want to give it all up?” he asked me.

“I’m not the best man for the job, a good Sire puts his lair first and I didn’t do that,” I said to him.

“The position of Sire is not something you can just give up Ryder, you didn’t leave this lair in the lurch, you had someone looking out for them and you went to go do what is right for the supernatural world, not just your lair, but for every lair out there. That’s what makes you a great Sire,” he said to me.

“Dad, I can’t do this now, too many things have happened, I was gone for a whole month and I don’t even know what’s going on with the lair as we stand here. Megan refuses to talk to me so there’s no point in being this lair’s Sire because I won’t be the Sire I can be without her,” I said to him.

“You can tell Megan the truth, it’ll clear up a lot of misgivings she’s had,” he said to me.

“It doesn’t matter if she knows the truth. I expected one thing from her and she failed to do that, I asked her to trust me no matter what happened and she couldn’t do that, she couldn’t wait to pack her shit and leave, she betrayed me and you want me to do what? Beg? The fuck I will, I already did that!” I said angrily.

“Don’t be an idiot Ryder, don’t make the same mistakes I did with your mother,” he said to me.

“That’s why I’m leaving, it’s the best for everyone concerned. We all have to do what’s best for us, for the people around us and that’s what I’m doing,” I said to him.

“And going back to the Unit is what’s best for you?” he asked me.

“I’m the second son of a great Sire, I wasn’t born to lead like Chase, I was born to kill,” I said to him.

“You were trained to kill!” Lucas said angrily as he left through the front door.