3rd Person POV
“Sending him to an early grave?”
“Let's take this conversation to the study room, this place feels… Let's go, shall we?” Irvette felt like someone was watching her here even though she knew it was not so.
When they reached the study, Irvette sat down behind the desk.
“I'm sorry, Ali. I… do you want to sit here?” Irvette realised for the first time since she sat on the throne that she had gone back to her usual bossy self.
“That's always been your place, Ivy,” said Alison with a smile. She was genuinely okay with taking a back seat and having her sister take the lead.
“Mother, you're great! I see why everyone says you're brave,” said Harlin, his heart swelling with pride. There had been so many things he had wanted to get done but in less than a day of taking over, his mother was changing things. She was not soft like Aunt Alison but firm and proactive.
“Thanks, son,” she said and sat down.
“We were discussing the Beta's health,” said Alison, drawing attention to the topic at hand.
“There’s a way to extract the healing serum from their blood but I do not think it would be ethical, they would be in incredible pain,” Thomson had made her watch as he had done it in front of her several times. The man was evil but he was a genius. She wondered what had made him work for Ashton, especially knowing that the small man was a coward at heart.
“Who cares about their pain? They are…” but there was something in Irvette's eyes that made Harlin shut up.
“Mother, are you alright?” he asked instead.
“Being a zombie is painful, son. It's the most wicked thing anyone can do to any other person,” said Irvette. She could still remember vividly the process of turning that she had seen. Before Thomson had gotten any close to perfecting the vial, the initial experiments had been slow and painful. She had watched as the vampire or werewolf that was turning struggled and fought not to turn into some wild uncontrollable creature. She had watched several of them lose their senses and just turn insane.
“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…”
“They do not choose to be that way, son.”
“But there's nothing that can reverse the process so we need to find them all and put an end to it,” said Harlin.
“And by putting an end to it you mean kill them, huh?” quipped Irvette.
“That seems to be our only option,” replied Harlin.
“What if it isn't?” asked Irvette.
“What do you mean, Ivy?” Alison asked.
“Ashton and Thomson used to joke that if the sky people gave even the tiniest fuck about Earth then it would be impossible to pull off a zombie apocalypse. I'm determined to find out what they meant by that,” said Irvette. Alison and Harlin did not doubt her.
****
Court was in session but Reginald could barely concentrate. It had been more than a fortnight since he had seen Xanthippe and to compound matters, Xanthippe had not responded to any of the letters he had sent her. It was frustrating him, to say the least.
“Your Highness, what do you make of the suggestion?” asked a minister who was present.
“Uhm, great, uhm, can you repeat it?”
“Son, concentrate,” said Dagen. He wondered what made Reginald lose focus in such an important meeting. He needed Reginald to be fully present as the sentiments against his bloodline were increasing by the day.
“I'm sorry, I apologise, Please Lord Thanos, can you come again?”
The only thing going on for Reginald was that he was so respectful to everyone. He had none of the bossiness and flare that characterised his twin.
“The vampires should not be allowed to associate with us at all. Any of them present have to leave at once,” the man had strong views against vampires.
“Lord Thanos, that is an interesting take you have. Would you be leaving us too?” asked Reginald in a polite tone.
“Pardon me?” Lord Thanos was lost.
“Your grandmother is a vampire,” stated Reginald, the throne room grew quiet and Thanos’ face reddened like a ripe tomato.
“Oops, I didn't mean to reveal a family secret. I thought it was an open secret,” said Reginald in an apologetic tone. He was respectful but he knew how to put people in their places when the need arose.
“Lord Thanos, is this true?” asked another Lord.
“I do not know what the prince is…”
“Are you claiming that your pale complexion and insistence to always have an umbrella when out in the sun is just unique to you and has nothing to do with your bloodline?” asked Reginald.
When his father had told him about the rumours of his bloodline, he had done a little digging into every one of the noble Lords and their connections to vampires just in case they brought it up at court.
“It has nothing to…” but Lord Thanos could not be so sure. He had never seen his grandmother's wolf even once even though she claimed she had one. He had never once seen her take a stroll in the afternoon. She did not attend balls scheduled in the afternoon and preferred only to attend soirees.
“It can't be, it can't be,” said Lord Thanos. He could not possibly have the very blood he despised with his entire soul.
“I’m afraid it is, Lord Thanos. I wonder too if you would displace your grandmother just because she's a vampire,” said Reginald. The man had nothing else to say but he was filled with anger that he would unleash on his parents when he returned home.
“The vampires are not the problem. Without their help, we would probably all be zombies today. In fact, I recommend that our diplomacy take on a more friendly outlook to the vampires.”