“It tickled,” he declared before lifting his shirt and showing there wasn’t a wound anymore. “You were never going to kill any of us, we heard you coming from blocks and blocks away, and you’re such a damn fraud of a preacher and person of god, we laughed so hard, it hurt more than that bullet.”
Damn. Just dayumn that was a good burn.
“So we’re done with the games and gingerly walking you guys through to the truth,” I told the crowd. “We’re not human. There are thousands of us compared to your million, but we’re not human.” I smirked at Donny again. “And killing me was about the dumbest part of your plan. Want to know why?”
“Dump them,” Moon called over to the trucks. Their backs opened up and energy beads came spilling out all over the ground.
“This is why.” I focused on the energy beads and pulled what I needed out to make five more buses right in front of everyone, charging them up and adding the extended battery array on the roof even. Then I made a bunch of other stuff with what was left. “That’s why. When we said I was the one who go the power back on, we meant it. I’m the one who can fix and make the shit. Idiot.”
“Before you all start throwing out accusations or saying things you’ll regret because you’re scared, your people have come back and told you how nicely we’ve treated them,” Cedric said to the group. “We’re not monsters who are feeding off of them. We don’t need to.” He gestured to Donny and the others. “Clearly, being human doesn’t make you not a monster, and us being not human is the same.”
“So now you know the truth,” I said loudly. “We don’t care that you’re humans. We respect life and want to preserve as much of it as we can. I am the boss of my coven, our settlement, and that won’t be changing. Ever. Deal with it or stay here and implode, run out of food, or try to handle the other dozen issues you’re facing. It’s your call.”
I gave them several moments to let that settle in.
“These buses will leave in two hours. If you get on them, you understand the world is different than you thought and you accept that, you accept us. Will it be an adjustment? Yes, but it’s the fucking apocalypse and enough with the bullshit.” I squatted down in front of Donny and roughly grabbed his chin. “You come back into my territory and I’ll kill you.
“I’m not fucking around or risking you shooting a kid or doing something else despicable. There are other humans we’ll have in our coven that know about us and they don’t care. I protect them too. I gave my word I would, so you try for us again, and I will kill you and your whole posse without even hesitating.”
“Why are you leaving him alive now?” Vitor asked.
I shrugged as I stood. “He thought we were human. He thought he had a chance, and while horrible, he took the risk because he didn’t know the truth. Now he does, and the price of fucking with us.” I glanced at the group. “Now you all do. You want to have a life past surviving, then you’re welcome to join us. We demand you help out. That’s it. Pick a job and help get everyone what they need.
“If there’s a problem, we’ll listen, but this isn’t a democracy and I’m boss. That’s the way it is. I don’t allow any racism, bullying, sexism, or any other assholeness, like the ‘preacher’ Donny here. Follow the rules and laws and that’s it. We’ll see you in two hours and you can decide then.” I glanced over at Chris. “The choice is theirs but you’ve made your choice.”
“I have. I’m coming with you,” he promised.
“I don’t trust you staying here another two hours when you said you’re with us,” I told him honestly. “Petre, guard Chris while he gathers his stuff and let’s get him out of here.”
“Yes, Princess,” he replied, letting that one out of the bag as well. “Is he coming back to the castle?”
“Yes, the others are allowed to join up with the others in Albuquerque for now, but then they can pick areas they’d prefer once we know they’re really on board. As long as they don’t give the clans any problems, all of the outposts are fine with accepting and protecting humans, as long as they don’t have to go back to playing human.”
“Understood.” He’d already known all of that, but I said it for them.
“It should go without saying, but don’t shoot us when we come back or you’ll just piss us off,” I warned. “Hand Donny and the others over.” I stared out at the crowd. “If you’re with Donny, or believe in his bullshit, we’ll know, so don’t waste our time and try to take the place of someone we’ll really offer help to. I’m at the limit of my patience after we were nice and ended up with people from here coming to kill us.”
And with that, we left. Well, Petre stayed with Chris, but the rest of us did. We ended up going back before the two hours were up since they hadn’t come to the castle, and that made me worried.
Petra gave us a bored look when we showed up again, and I realized everyone was grilling him and Chris, and that had been the holdup. Well, that was better than what I had feared at least.
But even more shocking?
There was a line of people packed
