Ch. 17

Two weeks pass in which everything is planned out and the luncheon is scheduled properly. Certain people are invited that need to be invited, and everyone makes the necessary changes to their schedule so that they can arrive in the middle of the day for a meal and the meeting that would follow.

I had brought one of my disciples with me to Mystic Falls, leaving the rest to run their territories as they'd been doing for centuries. That disciple had his own followers though, and my troop strength currently stood at over a hundred vampires all feeding off of blood bags we'd picked up along the way to Virginia. Only fifty of those vampires were in the open, operating as my mansion's staff and a private security force. The other fifty were hidden throughout the town, completing their own tasks for me and acting as my eyes and ears.

It was my disciple who greeted and welcomed each of our guests at the door, while I made small talk and chatted up everyone I possibly could in the room over. I specifically made my way over to the Gilberts about halfway through the mental list of people I wanted to talk to, smiling as I shook Grayson Gilbert's hand, "Doctor Gilbert, thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to come by today. This must be your lovely wife."

He smiled back as he took the handshake before nodding, "Yes, this is Miranda." At that she chimed in with a smile of her own and a, "A pleasure. I was actually wondering if you could help me, we've been looking around for Abby Bennett, but can't seem to find her. She was invited wasn't she?"

I reacted by taking her hand and kissing the knuckles formally before straightening and responding, "As far as I know the Mayor invited her along. He was in charge of the invite list." Returning my attention to the good doctor, "I assume the Mayor has told you of my meeting with him?"

A nod from Grayson was the best I was going to get, so I just smiled, "Wonderful, we'll talk later then."

Things continued into the meal and we all sat around and ate and made merry. There was an undercurrent of tension to the meal, as unlike most parties made to cover up Founder's Council meetings, everyone here was part of the Council, and was anticipating what would happen after the eating was done. I watched with a slight smile as people ate distractedly and downed wine glasses to gather liquid courage for the revelations to come.

Eventually though we all retired to the mansion's largest sitting room and everyone took a seat or stood along the edge of the room as I and my disciple took our place at the front of the room. The Mayor stepped up to speak quickly to those assembled, "As you all know, Mr. Masters is a new resident of our town. However, he is not new to things that go bump in the night. He has frightening information that if true, could change all of our lives forever."

I smile as Richard moves to the side to allow me to step forward and address everyone, "Thank you Mayor Lockwood. As he said, and as I'm sure you've all been told, I have frightening information indeed. The fact is vampires have controlled the majority of these United States for the entirety of its existence, in almost every aspect you can imagine. Humanity is being guided on a course that is not of its own choosing, by monsters in the shadows."

Grayson Gilbert is who speaks up first surprisingly, and I look to him as he skeptically replies, "You say that, but we were promised proof. You said you have evidence."

I smile and nod, before gesturing for my disciple to step forward, "Yes, I did promise evidence didn't I? This is a Disciple."

Said disciple immediately vamped out, smiling wickedly at the assembled humans. I continued on without pausing, "And I am the Master the myths speak of."

I watch eagerly, admittedly probably too eagerly, intending to enjoy every ounce of the reactions I received from the Founder's Council upon this revelation. My wide grin slowly fades as I'm regarded not with surprise or shock or fear, but stony silence and determined faces. For the first time in centuries, I'm actually confused.

Grayson Gilbert stands up and spreads his arms before settling my confusion, "We already knew you were vampires."

My outright shock at that gives the humans the time they need to pull guns from their jackets, from their purses, from every nook and cranny they can. Without another word the air is filled with wooden bullets that pepper my body along with my disciple's. He falls in a roar of pain, while I stand there utterly silent as projectile after projectile strikes me.

As the rate of fire slowly dies, the humans begin to reload, only for Grayson to call out for a stop. Everyone freezes and looks to him, only to find him staring at me with wide eyes. All eyes are on me now, as my body slowly rejects the wooden bullets that have burrowed into it, each one coming out and falling to the floor as I regenerate.

Now I see the shock and fear I'd been hoping for, but I've lost any desire for that by this point. Bringing my fingers to my lips I whistle sharply and the room is suddenly flooded with vampires. A fight breaks out as I yell out, "Non-lethal takedowns!"

The humans put up a good fight, some pull out stakes and one even manages to find its target, killing a vampire outright. Mayor Lockwood himself comes at me with a stake, which I allow him to ram into my side, before pulling it from his grasp and locking my hand around his throat, forcing him to his knees. My eyes aren't even focused on him.

My gaze is locked on the grey body of my disciple, more wooden bullets than one would consider possible having found their way to his heart, eventually registering as enough to functionally be a wooden stake, killing him outright. It has been a long time since I felt pain like this, actual sadness over the loss of another.

The room was quiet now, as every human had been subdued, disarmed, and pinned to the floor by a vampire. Said vampires were waiting for my next order, but I couldn't tear my eyes off of my child's corpse. Eventually, I found words to put to my feelings, "He was eight hundred years old." I said it softly, before continuing a bit louder, speaking directly at the deceased vampire, "I am so sorry Daniel. You died because of my stupidity my child."

With those words, I turned back to the Mystic Falls Founder's Council that all knelt before me, held down by the iron grips of vampires. My eyes fell upon Grayson Gilbert and my jaw clenched, "It was the watch that gave it away, wasn't it?"

He didn't respond, his head lowered in defeat, fear at the thought of what would happen to his family and town radiating from him. One of the vampires not occupied with holding a human down did react though, flashing over to the kneeling doctor and searching his pockets before tossing me a familiar golden pocket watch.

I grimaced and flipped it open to find not a clock face, but a compass that was pointing wildly around the room, first to me, than to my followers. I inwardly cursed my own stupidity at forgetting two very important things. First, the watch that could detect vampires and that was passed down the Gilbert line since 1864. Second, before his death, it was Grayson Gilbert who'd led the Founder's Council against Mikael, not the Lockwoods.

I hissed angrily and tossed the pocket watch so hard against the closest wall that it actually got halfway stuck in. This display had the habit of causing both humans and vampires to flinch. I suppose I was a rather scary image when I was feeling apocalyptic. As I stalked forward, dragging the mayor with me and gestured sharply, the vampire holding Grayson Gilbert pulled him sharply to his feet. I grabbed him by the chin and looked into his eyes.

"Tell me, what exactly was your plan here?"

He doesn't respond, his terror having solidified into defiance as he stares at me with outright hate. I blink at the resistance to my compulsion before groaning and looking at his hands. Two rings stare at me, and as I remove both the Gilbert Resurrection Ring and his Wedding Ring, I can feel the vervain in the latter. I once again look into his eyes and repeat my question, causing him to reply automatically.

"We wished to find out the truth of your claims, find out who you were, how many of you there were, and what your plans were. We would disable you with wooden bullets and then interrogate you before staking you. The watch gave you away after you talked to the Mayor and he immediately called me. It pointed at you when you were at the Grill alone. We had no idea just how many vampires you'd brought with you."

I smile grimly as he reveals all of his secrets, "A good plan. The only real mistake you made was letting me choose the place of our confrontation. And to let you in on a little secret, I brought a hundred vampires with me. Only half are here, the rest are spread through your town, ready to do whatever I want as soon as I give them the order."

Grayson grimaces at that, terror once again flashing through his eyes as he clenches his jaw, "What do you want from us?"

I smile, "What do I want? Well at this point that's rather simple isn't it? I want revenge."

With that, I snapped the good doctor's neck in one easy motion, causing a scream of horror to come from Miranda, and a new round of struggling from all the humans being held down by vampires. As I let Grayson's body fall to the floor I smiled widely, taking great pleasure in my next order.

"Kill them all."

As the sound of snapping necks filled the room, I brought Richard Lockwood to his feet and looked him in the eye, "Well Mr. Mayor, it seems we have much to discuss."

I enjoyed the combination of hatred and fear in his eyes more than I should have.

-x-X-x-

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