The Mark Of Darkness

Chapter 5

The next day the High Council called another meeting to discuss who would give the announcement of the Fae’s existence and when. Let us just say that deciding where to put the capital of the United States was much prettier than the meeting.

“I believe we should do it carefully and consider all of the possibilities,” Serafina gave her input on the matter, silencing everybody.

The Dark Queen turned towards her, ignoring her argument with another council member and glared at her, “I thought you didn’t want us to reveal ourselves. Now you're all for it, all of a sudden?”

Serafina leaned back in her chair and fiddled with her pen, “I still believe you're sending our kind into a war that we can't recover from but if we are going to do this then it’s best, we know the different ways they’ll react. When it all comes down to it their reaction determines whether or not we go to war. We need to consider the possibilities and our resources so that we’ll be prepared for if or when they choose violence.”

“And how do you suppose we go about it?” Viscount Madrin asked her.

“The best way to go about it would be a formal speech during a press conference-preferably in public that way people who are just walking on the street will be able to see it. Broadcast it on every network on every continent,” She suggested.

“Now we have to convince them that we are not a threat, how do you suggest we go about doing that?” Lorenzo asked her.

“By force,” The Dark Queen interjected.

“Have you not been listening to me, Queen Hali? You do that and you are defiantly killing off more than half our population or worse- turning us into cannibals. I say we go the emotional route.” She shrugged, clicking her pen, “86% of the population is Fae meaning that every human knows at least one Fae personally. If we convince them that they are the same people they’ve known for who knows how many years then,”

“They’ll be less likely to retaliate.’ Lorenzo interrupted. Serafina nodded and looked around at the rest of the council members.

“Since you obviously have this planned out, Queen Serafina, I believe you should be the one to make the announcement.” The High Priest said.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea, High Priest. I mean, she is barely on earth as it is, she doesn’t know the people like we do,” The Dark Queen protested, laughing slightly.

“But she does know how to appeal to the emotions of others. All those for the Hel Queen to announce our existence say ‘Aye’.” The only person who objected to the idea was Hali and Serafina didn’t even get a say. Sometimes that was how the High Council worked. Sometimes you didn't get a say in some matters after everyone had voted.

The meeting came to a close and the High Council members cleared out, leaving the three rulers alone. Serafina stood up and ran her hand in her hair in frustration. Hali rolled her eyes, “I don’t know why you're frustrated, you get to announce us to the whole world.”

Serafina looked at the Dark Queen before turning to Lorenzo, “Is she serious? No, really, is she serious?”

Lorenzo raised his hands as if to say that he wasn’t meddling in their arguments.

Just being in the same room with Hali made Serafina’s blood boil. The Dark Queen was reckless and only thought about being superior to others- not the people she ruled over- and that angered Serafina to no end.

“Look, big sis-” Hali started, standing up and Serafina snapped. All her hatred came pouring out of her and she grabbed Hali by her throat and lifted her into the air, her eyes a glowing red.

“You do not get to call me that,” She growled, looking into Hali’s eyes. Serafina was a hybrid and 1/3 Fury. With one glance she could cause one to go mad and feel like their head was exploding, almost like a brain aneurysm.

Hali choked out a scream as Serafina’s ability took hold on her. She kicked her feet- trying to hit Serafina, thinking it would snap her out of her rage. When a Fury’s rage takes effect, it is almost like a trance, and they are blinded by it- thinking only to kill the cause of it.

Lorenzo found it time to intervene and grabbed Serafina’s arm that was holding Hali in the air. Serafina’s head snapped towards him and he started to feel the effects of her powers. He fought against the pain and willed his claws to come out, digging them into Serafina’s arm.

The pain of her skin being pierced brought her back to reality. She looked at her bleeding arm and twitched her free hand, causing Lorenzo to retract his claws and take his hand off of her against his will. She let Hali go and watched as she fell to the floor, coughing as air finally entered her lungs.

Serafina couldn’t help but smirk a little at the Dark Queen. She looked back at Lorenzo and rolled her eyes, turning towards the door.

“You're not going to apologize?” Hali coughed as Serafina’s hand touched the door knob. Serafina walked over to her and crouched down so they were face to face.

“Compared to what you did to me, that was nothing. Next time you even insinuate that me and you are blood I won't be so lenient. And you and I both know what I am capable of.” She whispered in Hali’s ear.

She stood back up and turned back to the door when Hali said, “No matter what you do. No matter how good you pretend to be- you will always be Dark. It's in your blood, Serafina.”

She smiled and turned her head in their direction slightly, keeping her eyes on the ground but still being able to see them in her peripheral vision, “Good, then you know that I won't hesitate to kill you if you say something like that again, just like you didn’t hesitate that night.”

She opened the portal door and left them to ponder on the thought. Serafina knew that she would always be Dark- like Hali said, it's in her blood- but hiding it and pretending that she couldn’t hurt a fly only made it so much more satisfying when she showed others that she was the one they should fear.

After all the storms least expected are all the more dangerous.