Predatory

ZOE POV

“Um, I don’t mean to be ungrateful or anything. I’m super honored to be here,” I tell Samson, Drake’s parents, and the tall, distinguished gentleman with the silvery beard and fierce amber eyes who’s just arrived. Everyone has treated him with a mixture of great reverence and cool contempt. I don’t get it. I’ve never seen this guy before in my life, and I never caught his name, which to be honest is the least of my worries at present. “But why is it you want me here, exactly?” All of us are gathered in some conference room, not far from the Inner Sanctum, which is still being cleaned up from the massive battle between our forces and the Ruling Council.

“Well. You killed Berach, for one thing. That’s no mean feat,” Elder Eric replies. His golden eyes seem to be burning holes in me.

“And yer the closest person we have to Sasha right now,” Samson adds.

“Can’t this— Shouldn’t this wait until Sasha’s in condition to—” I fumble.

“Unfortunately, no. The supernatural beings of the world require protection, regardless of anyone’s injuries,” the distinguished gentleman answers.

“Dmitri, with all due respect, this is not your decision to make,” Samson glowers. Dmitri arches an eyebrow, and I swear the temperature in the room rises ten degrees. “You abandoned your responsibilities and connections to WASP decades ago, and it was in your absence that Berach—”

“I would have been no use to you if I had stayed,” Dmitri hisses, “so soon after burying….” His voice trails off, and then his amber eyes land on Eric and Serena.

“You understand. If either of you lost the other, to war or disease or even just old age, could you continue in a position of leadership immediately?” he demands, passion and grief tightly coiled in his voice.

“We do not fault you. Each of us must make the best decision we can for ourselves when tragedy strikes,” Serena answers softly. “And yet it is undeniable, that without you and Aerys both in the Ruling Council—”

“Yes, I know it well, and I am sorry for it. But had I stayed, I would have ended up like the ones in those cells below, helpless thralls of that ancient fae nuisance—”

“If ya thought so poorly of him from the beginnin’, then how did he get a place on the Ruling Council t’ start with?” Samson interrupts.

“You may or may not recall, Commander Baryshnikov, that members of the Ruling Council once obtained their seats through free and fair global elections. I didn’t vote for him, but a great many did, no doubt in part thanks to his talents for mass persuasion. And can you fault me for that?”

“Bearing grudges for past actions will not help us move forward,” Serena points out. “Lay this quarrel to rest. What is done cannot be undone. And Zoe, I’m sure, would rather be helping take care of her friends in the infirmary than listening to us squabble about events that took place before she was born.”

“I suppose yer right,” Samson relents. “Zoe. It’s my understanding that you heard a great deal of what went on between Sasha and the Ruling Council before we unleashed the revolution?”

“Yes, Commander.”

“What was they plannin’ to do?”

I swallow hard. This isn’t news I particularly want to deliver, especially since I’m not sure how I feel about it or what the correct course of action is. But deliver it I do, with more hesitation and prompting than either Dmitri or Samson seem to think ought to be necessary. Serena’s is the only friendly face in the room. When I get out of here, I have to tell Drake that his mother is an absolute angel.

“You’re sure you heard everything correctly?” Elder Eric demands.

“They had experts in the room. There’s tons of data,” I stall. “Once things are stable in the infirmary, I’m sure Rika can help you confirm—”

“She was sendin’ me the pertinent files throughout Sasha’s meetin’ in there,” Samson interjects. “I have the information. The question is what we ought t’ do with it.”

“Destroying all of humankind would be antithetical to WASP’s intentions,” Dmitri asserts. His eyes are blazing, defying all argument.

“To hear them, though, we’ve tried other interventions. And we’re still in something of a crisis. If nothing is done, humans and supernatural beings alike will perish with the planet,” I worry.

“What do you think Sasha would want to do?” Samson asks.

That’s right. They don’t actually want my opinion. They want Sasha’s, even though she’s an assassin, not a master strategist. Rika’s the brains of this operation, and I’m the least qualified member of our team to be in this meeting.

But I’m the one who’s here, and if I can satisfy them, they’ll leave my teammates alone.

“Based on what she said in the meeting…. She wants justice. She wants to focus any elimination efforts on the most guilty parties, and spare as many of the innocent as possible.”

“And how do you propose we go about doing that, with the way their society is structured?” Elder Eric demands. “Humans and supernaturals alike are at least partially, indirectly responsible for the crisis in which we find ourselves.”

“And taking direct action, visibly, would reveal our presence to humans again,” Dmitri warns. “I’ve lived in a time when humans were aware of our existence. It is not a circumstance I hope to experience again.”

Just how old is this guy? I’m pretty sure he’s a fire elemental, but to hear him talk, he’s at least a hundred years old, and yet he doesn’t look a day above fifty. Elementals tend to live longer than humans, quite a bit longer, but damn I gotta get ahold of his skin care routine or something.

“Well….” A bit of an idea is starting to blossom in my brain. “Special operatives such as myself aren’t just trained in assassination. Stealth and sabotage operations are also in our repertoire.”

“Go on,” Samson prompts.

“What if we…. I mean, it’s the industries and profit motives that are driving most of the environmental destruction, right? If we had a multi-pronged approach, with internet outreach promoting alternative ways of living, like the ‘off the grid’ stuff, while special operatives found…creative, untraceable ways to permanently shut down their industries, starting with the most egregious offenders….”

A heavy, contemplative silence blankets the room. Is it a stupid idea? Do they hate it? Are they trying to find a tactful way to kick me out?

“Aerys would have loved that idea,” Dmitri murmurs. Now it’s gratitude mixed with grief when he looks at me. He must have loved Aerys with all of his soul.

“Obviously there’s a lot of logistics to work out t’ make that plan feasible. But I think it’s got merit,” Samson commends me. “Rika oughta come see me, once she’s not as necessary in the infirmary.”

“Perhaps in the meantime we can…converse with our friends in the maximum security cells,” Elder Eric suggests. “Whatever else they may be, they are experienced in the inner workings of WASP.”

“And now they are free from Berach’s manipulations,” Serena adds.

“Right. Thank you, Zoe. You are dismissed. Go see to your friends,” Samson orders.

“Thank you, Commander.”