The king did not sit down, but stopped about seven feet in front of her. "You just claimed not to be responsible for the death of one of our elders." He gestured towards the empty chair. "Please explain to me why."
Why? Yes, why had she claimed that again? The last few minutes had thrown her off track. Okay, take your time, don't just babble, concentrate!
"For two reasons, Your Majesty" She remembered that. Two reasons, two keywords, one golden thread!
"The first is that I would not have been physically or intellectually able to do so in this situation."
Keep it short and wait, that was the entry strategy. She paused.
"What exactly do you mean by that?"
"The submarine hatch." Okay, she was back. She had practised that. The king looked at her questioningly and the murmuring in the room had died down. She had their attention.
"When Rebekka pushed the hatch open, she used one hand to do it. The initial resistance of such a hatch is so high that it takes one or two strong human men pushing with all their might to move it the first few millimetres. Based on this and some other observations, I assume that the muscle power is three to four times that of a human. Also in terms of speed and sensory perception, you are multiple times superior to us. Reaction to sounds that are actually inaudible and excellent night vision are at least the things I've noticed."
Caroline had deduced this data for herself. Neither the brochure nor the three vampires had revealed that much about their abilities.
"So the question arises," she continued. "How it should be possible that I, a 115 pounds human woman, weakened by the abduction, could overpower, let alone kill, any of you in single combat at night."
"Yes, that is indeed the question. Please explain to us what exactly happened," Thomas demanded.
"We already know what happened!" a cutting voice from her left entered her ear. "She attacked him, tried to escape and put an arrow through his heart as he chased her down. Is it really relevant what happened in detail?"
The man who had spoken was one of the vampires who had glared at her with particular hatred as they walked in. He wore his shiny auburn hair shoulder length and his beard was artfully trimmed. He was dressed in an undeniably tailored black and dark green suit. In any other situation Caroline would have been extremely impressed by his appearance.
"I agree with Dominic," a man two seats away interjected. "If it weren't for her, Jonathan would still be with us today and we all know what the penalty is."
"Oh, how terrible. I am totally against such cruel executions." A soft feminine voice rang out. The source was a petite woman, barely taller than Caroline, cloaked in a dark blue robe. Her narrow face seemed friendly at first glance and Caroline didn't know why a shiver ran down her spine.
"Just please, imagine for a moment what will happen if we do not respond appropriately to such actions. If we allow ourselves to show mercy and grant her a painless death." the woman looked around at the group. "It will prevent much suffering if we act decisively and send a clear message."
Caroline now knew why. This woman masked her cruelty with a façade of duty. Oh, how she hated people like that.
"The last major lesson was so long ago that no human is alive to tell about it," interjected a man with a narrow face and goatee at the other end of the oval. "Maybe it's time to change that."
"Are you going to start burning innocent girls just because you want to make a statement?" The indignant exclamation came from a man with a round face and a lovingly groomed full beard. He was wrapped in purple silk from top to bottom.
Yes exactly, will you?" agreed Caroline inwardly, grateful to have found an advocate.
"This is not going to happen."
The unease that had arisen at the conflicting opinions subsided without delay. The woman directly to the king's right had spoken quietly and softly and yet it was as if her voice penetrated deep into Caroline and resonated there. She was tall, very thin, and her long, straight blonde hair glimmered slightly reddish.
"The last time was a tragedy and will not be repeated without good reason."
Caroline was not surprised that silence had fallen. The woman had an unshakably peaceful aura that could have calmed a hurricane.
When again, hesitant retorts were made, the king raised his hand and silence fell once more. It was a tense one, however, ready to be broken at the slightest opportunity.
"So it is sister," he agreed with her.
So this was Eva. She was the King's sister in the flesh and one of the few people they had talked about yesterday. She believed that families should be abolished. According to Daniel, she had renounced the system and vowed never to consider a human being as her property. Caroline liked her right away.
"Valid reasons would be, for example, premeditation or if a person still poses a threat." The King looked at Dominic "That makes the question of what exactly happened under the bridge quite relevant." He turned his attention back to Caroline and looked her promptly in the eye.
Caroline was torn as to what to make of the repartee. There was far more at stake here than her case. There were invisible fronts and probably also very personal sensitivities in this political tussle. And she was caught right in the middle!
"Um, yes, Your Majesty. I saw that our group had fallen far apart. I'm not proud of it, but I had managed to loosen my bonds and hoped that with a strong stone throw, I could disable the overseer nearby. That went wrong, but judging by the look on his face, I made him angry. When he came at me my reflexes took over and I took off as fast as I could."
She knew the words by heart and they seemed stiff. Time for some emotion.
"I ... I ..." she closed her eyes and paused. The emotions were there, she just had to call them up. She saw the dangerous predator's eyes glittering with rage and bloodlust coming towards her.
"I hit the water and kept running as fast as I could." Her voice trembled. Good.
"It was so dark I could barely see and I fell down again. The stones were so slippery I couldn't get up. He grabbed me and pulled me up ..." She grabbed her almost-healed neck in a sudden impulse.
"At that moment it felt like someone had cut my throat and I didn't understand what had happened until afterwards. I tried to fight him and he dropped me. I crawled away and tore my arm open on something sharp." She lifted the arm injured by the arrow slightly. "At the same moment as I pulled the thing out, he threw himself at me and must have fallen into the arrow."
"There you go!" the elder called Dominic cried angrily. "She picked up the arrow to kill him!"
"To defend herself!" the man in purple retorted no less fierily. "There is a relevant difference!"
"It doesn't matter! Haven't you been listening, she admitted to attacking him in the first instance deliberately and so she is a danger to us all, to our community and our rules!" Dominic had jumped to his feet. Voices in the crowd murmured in agreement.
"No, I'm not and you are actually quite aware of that, My Lord!" Now it was time for her actual argument. Caroline's voice sounded not only firm but almost angry.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
She had turned directly to Dominic and gradually looked at the other members of parliament. She had focused too much on the king, but it was not only him she needed to convince. She also needed at least a third of the elders.
Decisions were made by majority and the king alone had twenty-five percent of the vote. She had calculated that his vote would be counted as ten votes and that with another ten elders it would be exactly a draw. In that case, it would be decided in favour of the king's side.
Dominic sparkled at her with a malicious smile. "No, no it is not. Enlighten us, please."
"Everything you have built here, this parallel world in which you co-exist with humans, is based on a basic set of rules and laws."
"Exactly and you have ..." began Dominic as she cut him off.
"I DIDN’T KNOW because I wasn't part of this community at the time!"
Her voice was now loud and clear, only a few decibels away from screaming. She had been strongly advised against speaking without prompting. It was considered downright outrageous to interrupt a vampire as a human. She didn't care.
"Your rules don't apply to humans in Australia, the USA, Israel, India or Germany! When you go out looking for new members, NOT A SINGLE ONE OF YOU assumes that anyone will abide by the rules UNTIL they are provided in writing and explained in detail in the first few days! UNTIL it has been checked that everything is understood, UNTIL there are no more questions about it. THAT is when the new member can be held responsible if they break rules. NOT before."
She breathed heavily. Dominic made no more effort to interrupt her and there was complete silence elsewhere.
Her voice calmed but remained insistent.
"You tied our hands because you expected us to fight back. You guarded us because you assumed we would try to escape. You used violence in the kidnapping because you assumed we would not know the rules, let alone abide by them. How can you now tell me now that you are going to punish me based on a set of rules when you explicitly assumed that I CAN NOT follow them at all?"
She now turned back to the king.
"That brings me to the second reason. What happened was a string of unfortunate coincidences. An accident. It would be absurd to hunt a rhino for a zoo and blame it when a hunter falls out of the car and breaks his neck."
She heard another quiet commotion. The first ones had understood what she was getting at.
Time for the finale.
"It would be absurd to punish me because one of you wasn't paying attention and didn't do his job well!"
She had expected a storm of outrage to erupt when she accused the victim of being responsible for his own death. And so it was. Many of the elders were now on their feet and not only they but also the people in the hall were shouting.
She sighed, closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath. She had done what she could. Her strategy had reached exactly here. From now on it was out of her hands and she had to improvise.
To her relief, the plan had worked, for she had not only massively angered the supporters of the death penalty, but also provided the opposing side with enormous ammunition. It was hard to judge in the clamour of voices, but the two sides did indeed seem to be in balance.
When she opened her eyes again, she met Thomas' gaze. He was still standing barely seven feet in front of her, his head slightly tilted and his arms folded. There was no smile on his lips, yet it seemed to her that he knew exactly what she had done. As if it amused him.
She noticed that his height made him look slimmer than he actually was. His shoulders were as broad as Damien's and he was almost as muscular. On his forearms, which were covered with visible veins, she spotted thin white lines in places. Certainly defensive wounds from stabbing weapons. Again she realised how little she knew about this species and how little she could estimate what her counterpart was thinking and planning.
When had she finished the thought he came over and stopped only a few inches in front of her. She resisted the stong urge to back away from him.
"Are you done and need a break or do you want to continue to build up your defences?" He had bent his head down a little so she could understand him despite the noise around them.
"I'm done, Your Majesty." She considered for a moment. "What happens next? Is a break necessary? I think I would prefer to finish the trial soon? I, I don't think ..."
"That you can endure the uncertainty any longer?" he finished her sentence when she didn't.
She nodded hesitantly.
"All right then." He glanced down the hall, stepped past her and raised his hands.
One after one they fell silent and assumed a waiting posture.
"The presentation of the case is hereby concluded. Judgment will follow now." He had arrived back in front of his throne and looked at Caroline. "I suppose you know how a verdict is formed in our jurisdiction, don't you?"
"I do recall it's about intention, the consequences of an action, and the social effects."
"Exactly." He sat down. "Now what judgment would you suggest."
Caroline was perplexed. No imagination in the world could have prepared her for having to make her own judgement. Nonetheless, she had all the information she needed to know what the options were.
"I see three possibilities, Your Majesty," she replied quietly and decided to be honest.
"First, focusing on the consequences of my actions, to make an example and execute me publicly. It would certainly satisfy your need for retribution and make a clear statement of zero tolerance policy when it comes to your integrity. A disadvantage would be that an executed person who is considered innocent in many eyes, or if the punishment is not deemed appropriate, quickly becomes a symbol or martyr."
"Nonsense! She's just saying that to save herself." Dominic interrupted her reasoning again. The man was starting to get on her nerves!
"You absolutely got that right, My Lord, congratulations!" she said sweetly with a fake smile on her lips.
She knew it could backfire, but she didn't want to control herself any longer.
"Are you really surprised that I am trying to ensure that no advantage of not executing me goes unnoticed?" she continued in her normal voice, glaring angrily at him. "I actually assumed that you would be able to classify what I said and make up your own mind."
"Get back on topic, please!" The king no longer looked amused. "And I ask that there be no more interruptions." His eyes settled on Dominic, who was still staring at Caroline. If looks could kill.
"The second option I can think of is to let me disappear discreet. That would probably have far fewer consequences," Caroline continued, trying to tune Dominic out. "Most likely to send me into the Extraction for an undefined amount of time until the case is no longer an issue. Which, realistically, will also lead to my death."
She had learned yesterday what the Extraction was. A facility outside the city where humans were brought on a short term or permanent basis and existed for one purpose only: to give blood. The average life span there was one and a half years. It was a blood farm and they were the cattle for slaughter.
"The third option is to let me live on and be introduced into your society." She ignored the angry muttering to her left. "Under close examination, of course, and with the understanding that my intention could never have been to harm anyone. Assuming that it was all a tragic accident."
The unease was back and Thomas rose. "Thank you for your ideas."
Caroline couldn't for the life of her assess whether this was meant ironically.
"Let me review the situation." Silence returned as Thomas spoke. "The third proposal will not be implemented as it is."
Her heart sank a little, though she had expected it.
"A member of parliament has died and you were directly involved. We cannot ignore that."
He turned to the Oval. "Is the majority with me?"
Nods followed from all sides.
"Also I want to rule out the first possibility. In view of the fact that you are not yet a part of our community and, as everyone here can see," He pointed his hand down at her. "you should not pose the slightest danger to an observant vampire."
The backlash was louder, at the same time the approval far greater. The public, and above all cruel, execution was also rejected by a majority. Caroline did not yet dare to breathe a sigh of relief. Who knows what possibilities she had not considered.
"A realistic option is indeed the Extraction until either new facts emerge or death occurs."
There was a satisfied murmur from the left.
Caroline closed her eyes and most of the tension fell from her. She had no problem being taken into the Extraction. Donating blood and eventually not waking up from it, there were worse things. It was like taking sleeping pills. It only took longer and was full of needles.
"I see another option in addition to the Extraction, though."
She listened up. What was coming now?
"In principle, I found the third suggestion inspiring, but lacking in guidance. I suggest that, as an alternative to the Extraction and preferable in my eyes, you be admitted to the Society. However only on condition that someone agrees to take you in as a ward and takes full responsibility of your actions. In this way, we would indeed send a clear signal that we declare the deathly incident to be an accident. And you, Caroline, would demonstrate with exemplary behaviour that you could never even think of deliberately breaking our laws."
Chaos broke out again and pros and cons echoed around the room. Caroline had read enough about the concept of guardianship that she was sure she would rather go the execution route. She would not sign over her entire life, body and obedience to a vampire or anyone else. Well, maybe with one or two exceptions.
By the time she managed to refocus, it was discussed who could be trusted with such a responsibility.
"This is an unprecedented case, we must be absolutely sure that such a decision will not fire back!"
"The guardian would have to be sufficient capacity to ensure complete control."
"No one below the rank of Member of Parliament should be eligible!"
"She is a murderer, intention or not, who would even want to vouch for someone like that?"
"Would probation be an option?"
"She belongs in the Extraction! Stop pretending anything else is optional!"
"The benefits of declaring her innocent are obvious!"
Comments and questions buzzed around the room. Caroline let them bounce off her.
It was finally determined that she would only be allowed to continue living and be introduced into society. But only if one of the elders accepted her as a ward.
And vice versa, she thought defiantly. All other vampires were excluded as guardian.
.