Samuel’s men parted ways for Caleb and Sera, and as the two of them walked down the winding staircase, Samuel’s men fell in behind them. The entire entourage walked through the lower level of the cloisters, through a room of sarcophagi, through a room of artifacts, until they finally reached the roped off, circular staircase.
The two guards standing before it stepped aside, pulled back the rope, and opened the wooden door. Caleb entered, followed by the group, and soon they were all descending, lower and lower beneath the cloisters.
They entered a huge, subterranean chamber, hundreds of feet long, wide and high. Unlike other times he had been here, the room was completely filled with the vampires of his coven. Caleb had never seen it so crowded. Usually, there were but a few dozen vampires lounging about. Now there seemed to be at least 1000 of his coven members, vampires he hadn’t seen in centuries, all filling the room, pacing and agitated, talking to each other in harsh tones.
As Caleb and his entourage entered, the chaos seem to slowly focus on them. The chamber parted ways for them, and it slowly quieted. A hushed silence of anticipation spread.
They knew were Caleb was headed. At the far end of the room was a raised dais, on which sat the Grand Council, a panel of seven judges. Their coven’s leadership. Usually the Council met in a side chamber, but on nights like tonight, when there was unprecedented crisis, they met in the large chamber.
As Caleb suspected, there they were, sitting there, already glaring harshly down at him. Caleb could not remember a single time in thousands of years when their expression held anything but judgment. He suspected that tonight would be the worst of all.
These men were of the old guard, and over the centuries, Caleb had been feeling that they were no longer the right men to lead his coven. Their judgments were archaic, of another era. They were too rigid, too uncompromising. Of course, they claimed their rigidity is precisely what had kept their coven alive for so many thousands of years. But Caleb was, of late, feeling just the opposite. Their rigid attitude, he felt, was actually endangering their coven in these quickly shifting times.
Caleb already suspected what they would say in response to his report. To take no action. To wait it out. To not get involved. Their standard method of action. Always conservative, safe, patient.
Always against change.
They would be especially angry with him this time, because he had proved them wrong. Weeks ago, Caleb had insisted that the Sword existed, and that Caitlin could lead them to it. They had shot him down, had insisted that such a Sword was just a fable, a child’s tale. Now, clearly, he was right.
This is probably why these thousands of vampires hushed at the sight of him, afforded him such respect. And probably why these judges looked even more harsh than usual.
The room was now absolutely still as Caleb stopped before the panel, just ten feet away. They glared down in silence.
Caleb knew he should bow down in reverence. But something inside him just didn’t feel like it anymore. He owed these people nothing. They had cast him out, and he was not there to ask for anything. He was there to save them. Whether they deserved it or not.
Their expressions hardened.
“Caleb of the White Coven,” began the lead judge, in the center of the panel. “We summoned you to give us a report. But first you must answer for your past crimes. You violated the law in leaving us without permission. What do you have to say for yourself?”
Caleb stared back, insolent.
“I have returned here tonight to warn you, and to save you. Not to ask for your forgiveness,” he snapped.
The crowd erupted in an astonished gasp. No one ever spoke to the judges like this.
“SILENCE!” yelled an administrator, banging the stone floor with his iron staff. Eventually, the room died down.
“Really?” said one of the judges. “And to save us from what, exactly?”
“Have you not seen what’s going on outside your gates?” Caleb asked. “Have you not seen the war that is even now spreading across Manhattan?”
“We have seen it. You are not the only one with powers of observation. And of what concern is it to us?”
“Concern?” Caleb asked, dumbfounded. Had these people really become that complacent, that indifferent? Had they really hardened their hearts so much towards the human race?
“If you think this war will be limited to humans, you are gravely mistaken,” Caleb continued.
“That war was begun by the Blacktide Coven. After they wipe out the humans, I assure you they will turn their full attention towards us, and towards all of our brother and sister covens throughout Manhattan—if not the country. It is the beginning of a full scale war.”
“Or they are simply trying to goad us out,” snapped back another judge. “Perhaps our reacting to this crisis is exactly what they want. They want us out of our stronghold. Outside, we will be more vulnerable to attack. Leaving these walls would be the most foolish thing we could do.”
Caleb shook his head in amazement. He could not believe this vampire’s ignorance. They had been sheltered under here for far too long.
“You are wrong,” Caleb said.
Again, the room erupted in an astonished gasp, and the administrator had to bang his staff repeatedly.
“This is no pretend war,” Caleb continued. “It is no trick. It is no ruse to goad you out. It is very real. When it is over, every human on this island will be dead. And the Blacktide Coven, and all of their brother and sister covens, will be gorged with blood, stronger than ever. I assure you, when they are ready, they will concentrate all of their forces on our coven. By waiting here, by letting them grow stronger, you make yourselves—all of us—a target. And if you wait too long, it will be too late.
“What’s more, they have a secret weapon at their disposal,” Caleb added, bracing himself for the reaction. “They now have the Sword.”
The room erupted in a loud, chaotic murmur. No matter how much the administrators screamed for silence and banged their staffs, they simply could not get it to quiet down. It went on for minutes.
“I have seen it!” Caleb screamed over the crowd, and as he did, it slowly quieted. “I have seen it with my own eyes. It does exist. It is not a fable. You are wrong. It is very real. And it is now in the possession of the Blacktide Coven. It is a weapon beyond which we have ever seen, and it will surely wipe us out. It makes immortality a thing of the past.”