“Who are you?” I question. He’s a mystery, he knows about the rooms and tunnels not even the council does. He’s powerful yet doesn’t show off, and I’m not sure Titus is even his real name.
Most importantly, is he friend or foe?
“A friend,” he offers.
“I don’t have any,” I growl back, but then that’s a lie, isn’t it? Dawn flashes through my mind, as does Nos.
“Fine, I’m not an enemy, Griffin, so stop looking for ulterior motives.” He exhales wearily.
“No one helps someone without a reason, especially not council members, so what’s your reason, Titus? What’s your story? Where did you come from?” I counter, throwing back my drink and letting the glass drop to the table with a thud.
He sits up, sipping his drink and watching me. “Knowledge is power, haven’t you ever heard that?”
“Yes, so, what, you’re going to use this against me?”
“No, I don’t need to. But I needed you alive, for now at least,” he admits.
“At least that’s the fucking truth. Fine, what for?”
“You’ll see.” He grins. “To answer your question, Titus is my name...now. It wasn’t always, I had another given to me by the man who made me.”
He nods then.
“Yes, like you. We have more in common than you could ever imagine, Griffin. I know everyone wonders what I am, but the truth is I am not one thing. I am so much more, a mix, a powerful one. I’m here because it is where I need to be, because I have things that need to be done. And you come into that plan, Griffin.”
“You were made? How? By who?” I ask, interested now. I feel my strength slowly returning, and every minute that passes relaxes me. He’s not here to attack me. I might not understand his reasons, but that’s clear.
“By a human many, many years ago. He created me out of fear and need, but I wasn’t the original, I was simply the first that went well. I didn’t try to kill him and had my own mind and soul, which is a tricky thing to create. But he bore me out of hate, Griffin, and fear and hate are strong emotions. It made me into a cold monster, as did the way I was brought up. I wasn’t a child, no, I was born into a man’s body and thrust into a world of pain and war. So let me assure you, I understand what it means to be called an abomination, an experiment. They will never know that I am one as well, but just think…” He grins. “A monster, a fucking experimentation on their own council, the thing they fear and hate most. Brilliant, isn’t it? Anyway, we have to stick together, so believe me when I say I mean you no harm.”
He turns his wrist then, looking at his watch and sighing. He drains the glass and adds it to the table with mine as he stands and tugs his shirt back into place, it doesn’t dare defy him. I sit watching him. “Council meeting time. Why don’t you stay? You might find it...illuminating.” He winks and then heads to a painting on the other wall. “Oh, and Griffin? Don’t worry about those men, they are nothing. You? You have a destiny.” He opens the painting, steps out, and closes it again with a click.
The room is silent, and I debate his words before standing and peering through the mirror he said was a spying aid. It must be a two-way mirror, but only able to be seen one way? Smart, really. I wonder who made this. He said the original council...the sleeping council? Why would they need to spy on their own officials? Unless they trust them as little as the rest of us do.
Like Titus mentioned, it shows the inside of the council chambers. The four walls are soundproof, so no one can hear in, and the giant golden door is locked from the inside, so I’ve never even glimpsed it before, but I can tell from the table. A massive, wooden, ornate piece takes up the middle of the room with six throne-like chairs spread around it.
There isn’t much else in the room except for a fire which is lit and a small serving area in one corner with yet another bar. Leaning against the wall, I watch as the door opens and the council files in. The last one is Amos, who sits at the head of one end of the table, while Titus takes the other, surprising me.
“Meeting is called to order. Does anyone have any issues to discuss?” Amos calls, sitting back in his chair like a king. I almost snort, but I don’t know if they can hear me, so I stay silent, watching instead, collecting intel.
“Not an issue, just informing everyone I had to dispatch two of your little loyal servants, they tried to escape and then attack me when I caught them. I punished one and then killed them both. Their bodies are currently decorating the east woods,” Titus says in a bored voice.
I see Amos jerk, his face darkening in anger. “You do not have the power to dispatch any of my spies without first consulting me.”
“You are not in charge yet, Amos. We are all entitled to punish our servants if we feel they are disrespectful, unless you feel you are better or deserving of more power than the rest of the council?” Titus challenges, a grin playing on his lips, knowing he has backed the man into a corner.
“Titus is correct. If they were escaping, then they are useless to us. Moving on,” Derrin declares, his eyes looking at the clock on the wall.
“I have been hearing rumours,” Greta starts, and Amos rolls his eyes, “of missing supernaturals. Has anyone else?”
“Of course, we hear it all the time, nothing more than made-up stories. They have probably run off.” Amos waves it away, but she leans forward.
“I do not think so. I trust these sources, and I do not think we should dismiss this so easily. We already have people questioning our leadership, so I think we should make a stand, show them why we lead and figure out what is happening among our own people.”
Fuck, I wasn’t expecting that, and it tells me two things. One, Amos is a part of this but not all of the council is. I analyse their faces, trying to note those who appear to be in agreement, but it’s hard, they have all had hundreds of years at perfecting their poker faces.
“Understood, we will monitor, and if the situation gets worse we will, of course, figure it out,” Amos concedes before looking around. “Any other issues?”
“There has been movement from the dragons. A source of mine informs me one broke through the gate and has since disappeared. I will continue to keep my eyes and ears open to ensure this was not a random occurrence,” Derrin offers.
“Dragons,” Greta scoffs. “They wouldn’t step foot here, they think it is beneath them.”
“There have been rumblings,” Titus interjects, tracing his hand across the wood in thought. “At Rejek.”
Rejek?
The...the old mountain? I frown at that. I thought it was dead, cursed ground where no one walked. Why would it be rumbling with activity and why would they be monitoring a dead mountain?
Amos glowers with contemplation in his eyes. “Indeed? How much...rumbling?”
“Abnormal amounts,” Titus responds, seeming happy about this news.
“I will send a message to confirm everything is okay,” Amos replies, distracted. “I will do that at once, we don’t need them interfering.”
“Why? Hiding something?” Titus retorts, and Amos narrows his eyes.
“It is for the best of us all. You are too young to remember the last time they walked among us, it was chaos. There was so much death, and half the council was killed as an example and replaced,” Amos snaps, standing and pressing his fists onto the table.