All the Devils are Here

Council Meeting Pt 2

Samael

“Thank you all for being here today. Shall we begin -”, says the man situated at the farend of the table. The Mayor.

Like most people, I take a look at the agenda which is split into three days. This explains why sometimes My father, Slade and Mara would take days before they returned back from a council meeting. This makes me put my plan into retrospect. Would it be wise to bring my thing up today? Or on the third day. On the agenda a few things catch my eye like atmospheric degradation review, missing people reports and annual NV festival.

Today’s session is scheduled to end by 6 PM. I tell myself that I’d be on my best behaviour at least for today. I’d scope the scene and decide the best way to go about things. But, after several hours of what I have to say is the most boring moment of my life, I’m fed up. I’m fed up of it all.

“I’m not confident in our capability to handle this festival. As the Law Enforcement representative mentioned the bump in missing persons and general increase in insecurity might pose a threat to this thing. We can control the media but, there are other growing media outlets that are poking noses and running their mouths”, says the Tourism represnetative lady. I notice how no noe refers to the other using their names but, only their roles. I wont be surprised if they didn’t even know each other’s names although that is highly unlikely. Many of them have been doing this for years.

“I assure you we are handling the breach in media. There is nothing to worry about on that end. The problem is our budget, frankly it doesn’t cover - “, the Media representative is speaking but, interrupted;

“Not this again. Stick to the agenda please”, says the Moderator. The Moderator is an older woman with deep set eyes and the demeanor of a peace keeper. She reminds me of Trinity. The Media representative looks upset but he keeps his cool. We move on to the next thing on the agenda which is the thing about the atmospheric degradation. It’s only now that I notice out of the 24 of us, 4 of the representatives are science and technology related.

“You know Diaz -”,

“Seriously?”, someone objects and I have to assume he’s Diaz. He seems a little irritated att his person who just mentione his name.

“I’m sorry. I was just trying to say the last time we were all here, you mentioned that the degradation we’ve been observing is only minimal and we have nothing to worry about any time soon”,

“I know what I said”,

“My team and I were able to extract some of that gas circulating on the surface and it’s just as bad as I’ve been saying. This thing is not just radioactive, it’s rapidly lethal”, what this guy is saying sounds like the most important of the things that have been brought up so far yet, it’s the one that gets the least attention. Maybe this guy has a reputation for blowing things out of proportion.

“Okay, where is this gas you extracted?”,

“What?”,

“The lethal gas. Where is it?”,

“I didn’t bring any. You know I can’t bring things like this here but, if you’re willing to come to my lab, I’d be happy to show you.”,

“No disrespect intended but, the way I see it, you’re too inested in this idea that we’re all doomed. The evidence just isn’t there. I agree with you that the atmosphere is degrading but, not for many many years. If we channel all our resources towards something that we’re not even sure will happen then doesn’t that make us foolish”,

“Diaz, you’ve seen it yourself -”,

“Jesus. Stop calling my f*****g name”, he snaps at him. It’s funny that this is an arguement of some sorts between ‘science representative 1’ and ‘science representative 2’. They clearly have a relationship outside of here which is why the second one keeps referring to the first name with his name. Diaz.

“Why can’t you two be on the same page for once”, the Sentinel representative mutters. Which means this must be something that happens often.

“It’s not that simple’, the first one snaps at her impatiently. Seems to be a bit of a bully.

“Science Rep 1, please proceed with your report”, the Moderator urges him on. Diaz.

Diaz gives a lengthy presentation that almost puts me to sleep and the summary of it all is what he has said before which is that there is no impending doom and this degradation his collegue speaks of isn’t going to be dangerous for atleast another 100 years.

“Science Rep 2?”, the Moderator signifies that he can speak.

His arguement is the exact opposite of his colleague’s but a lot less convincing. Lots of stammers and at some point I actually hear chuckles from some of the other council members.

“You know what? Why don’t we get that gas for the next meeting yeah? Is that possible?”, The Mayor asks the Science Rep 2 and he nods in response so we proceed from that.

After talking about one or two other things on the agenda, the Mayor cracks his throat and says;

“I’m sure you notice the new face in our midst today. Unfortunately we lost the werewolf rep recently and this will be the new representative for the werewolves.”, everyone here has already glanced at me at some point today but, they use this opporutinity as another chance to look at me.

“He was my father”, I say my first words since I’ve been here, seating and listening to what everyone had to say patiently. They don’t care although the Mayor says sorry for your loss.

“You don’t have to be sorry. I’ve sat here all day listening to you all ramble about the most mundane things, you know I definetely put this meeting on a high pedestal. Very disappointing”, I should shut up but, it’s too late. Except for this talk about the atmospheric degradation, these people have proven themselves to be the most shallow minded group of people I’ve ever had to tolerate.

“Once again, apologies for your loss werewolf rep. Moving on to the next thing on the agenda - “, the Moderator is trying to move things along but, I decide that it’s now or never to state my intentions;

“I came here with an agenda of my own”, I seat up in my chair as I speak;

“Tourism rep, Media rep, Law Enforcement rep - I think my reason for being here might be right up your alley. You see they’re saying the explosion in Mantem was an accident but, let’s cut the bullshit. Accidents like that don’t happen around here. They’re cover ups. So who did it, that’s what I want to know”,

“Werewolf rep, I’d advise you to watch your tone”, says the Toursim rep;

“I just want some answers. That’s all. I apologize if I sound a bit obnoxious, I’ve never been very good at acting pretentious”,

“What happened was an accident. An unfortunate one. That’s your answer”, Media Rep says.

“What caused the explosion?”,

“There was a leaking gas pipe. Someone must have lit a cigarette around the area or something”,

“Would it be safe to say that person is responsible for my father’s death and should be punished?”,

“Well they’re already dead so what’s your point”,

“They may be dead but, not there loved ones. The owners of the hotel who failed to fix the pipe, the staff who probably knew but, didn’t bother, their famillies too - they could all be punished. They could all be dead right now”,

“Werewolf rep -”,

“The choice is yours. You can either fish out the one person that is truly behind this. We both f*****g know it was not an accident. Sentinel rep can do some digging, I don’t know how you guys operate but, it’s either the true person responsible or you’re endangering the lives of all these innocent people”,

“Clearly you don’t know how things work over here”, Sentinel rep is saying. The Mayor just watches closely. I have a feeling he’s the one I should be directing my threats at. I stand up rapidly from my seat and eye ball him;

“I didn’t come here to learn how things work, love. My father was murdered. I came here to seek your help. Hand the killer to me. You know who did it. You know the true story. Don’t force me to live up to my threat. Because if it comes down to that, I will”.

No one says anything for about a minute. The Mayor deosn’t look away from my stare and I can tell he’s gauging my sanity and deciding if this is something he should take serious or not. The moderator tries to move things along once more;

“Werewolf rep, if you’d kindly take your seat so we can proceed with today’s agenda”,

“My name is Samael Chase. Ask about me. You have a week Mr Mayor. Do the right thing”, I end on that note and head out the door. I’m worried that I may be stopped and it’ll ruin my whole exit but, to my surprise when I get to the doors, they let me go.

One week. Lets see what happens next.