Then there was the ambassadorial team, of which Rafe was the head. Much of his team was in the room as well, simply to cut down the need for them to hold duplicate meetings as instructions filtered down the ranks. Besides, they were at a critical juncture with the treaty. Everyone needed to be on point and freshly updated.

“We were waiting for you,” Simone said to him without censure.

“Sorry. I had an important call. Please, continue.”

“Thank you. As you all know the treaty is going to be signed at the beginning of next week provided the weather eases and the planes of all our diplomats are able to arrive.”

“The weather shouldn’t be a problem by then,” Rafe said. “Reports say that this will have long passed and cleanup should also be complete.”

“Good. I am glad to hear it. I am determined that nothing will get in the way of this treaty. It is the biggest one of its kind in fifty years and princes from all over will be here to sign it. Finally there is hope that, if we work together, we can eradicate the sycophant threat once and for all.”

“We are already trying our best to weed them out,” one of Rafe’s team members said cautiously. “I don’t see how this treaty will allow us to be any more or less effective at it.”

Simone’s eyes darkened as she glared at the hapless vampire. “Because we will finally be cooperating across political lines. We will be unified against the sycophants. And as you know, unifying to defeat a common enemy also unifies us to do other things. No more backbiting and infighting. No more wars between this country and that country. Bad enough we have to fight the sycophants. Fighting one another only makes it worse. It has taken a lot to get enemies and friends alike to come to this table for the signing. I don’t need my own people questioning the validity of what we are doing.”

“I-I did not mean to—”

“Then what did you mean?” Simone snapped.

“Only…what’s to make them all behave? What makes them adhere to the signing?”

This was the flaw in Simone’s plan. Everyone knew it. Simone most of all.

“We need to make the authoritarians the enforcers of this treaty,” Rafe said suddenly.

“But each principality has its own authoritarians and they will be biased to act on their native country’s behalf. They won’t police themselves,” Simone said.

“Then take them out of their countries.”

Simone’s head swiveled so she could narrow her eyes on Danton. “What do you mean?”

“Implement an authoritarian exchange program as part of the treaty. Take authoritarians out of their comfort zones and insert them in other countries and city-states. It will force them to expand their views from the narrowness of home to include the grand scheme of things. They will be fighting for the laws in general as opposed to how those laws suit their country. Take them out of their homelands. Make the world their homeland.”

“That’s a brilliant idea. But will the treaty signers go for it?” someone asked.

“They are going to have to. The princes may rule their cities, but I rule the princes. It is about time they were made to remember that,” Simone said.

“It’s hard for you to exert control over so many at such a distance. I wish we didn’t need the princes at all. Perhaps then there would be less in the way of personal grudges between city-states,” Rafe said.

“This treaty is meant to eradicate those grudges. If it does not, if the authoritarians fail to enforce these new laws, then we will have to find a more forceful way. I would rather avoid that at all costs. I don’t want the vampire world at war with itself,” said Simone.

“You mean any more than it already is,” Rafe added wryly.

“I mean I’m tired of all this infighting. In less than a week there will be a final end to it, or I and my army of authoritarians will put down anyone who doesn’t step in line. But I do not wish to be a dictator. I want everyone to see the usefulness of peace among us all. We have enough to fear from the sycophants. Not to mention having to hide our existence from the human world. Can you imagine what the human world would do if it found out we were feeding off them?”

“That’s always been a fear. Even more so now in a world of digital surveillance and the threat of our firewalls not protecting us as they should,” Danton said.

“Have you thought any more about coming clean with the human world? About announcing our presence in the world before we are found out in other ways? There is bound to be less fallout if we got ahead of the story,” Rafe asked.

“The logistics of coming clean and announcing ourselves to our one and only food source would be nightmarish. Humans will consider the act of feeding an assault. They won’t care whether we live or die or starve. And I’m sure I’m not the only one who fears suffering the agonies of torpor—I can’t imagine being alive but unable to act or move from lack of energy. All they will care about is themselves. In their eyes there would be no difference between us and the sycophants, even though there is a great deal of difference. No. They would lump us all in together and wage an all-out war to eradicate us. We just have to hope we can remain invisible for as long as possible. We have been skilled at remaining so for centuries. We should be able to continue to do so.”

“There are two very different camps on this topic,” Rafe said. “The movement to expose us to the human world is a very small one, but it is gaining momentum. We need to keep a close eye on those with these beliefs. They have the power to expose us anytime they like. Maintaining the secret is difficult, but exposing it would be all too easy.”

“They know that such an exposure would never be successful unless we had political footholds in place to protect us. I know we are cultivating those footholds just in case but it is best we keep to ourselves for the time being.” Simone looked into each of the faces surrounding her. “Let’s not lose focus on what we are striving for. Unity. Once we obtain that, then we can consider other things.”

“Well said,” Rafe agreed. “One thing at a time. Unity and an adherence to that unity. Then together we can start making decisions that will affect the whole of the vampire nation.”

“Thank you. That will be all for now. I will let legal counsel decide on how the treaty should be worded as pertains to the authoritarians. I expect the rough draft as soon as possible so I may go through it with the rest of you. We’ll schedule a meeting for tomorrow late afternoon where we will review the treaty and make any last-minute changes. Time grows short, ladies and gentlemen. We need to be able to send revised treaties out to all the signers as soon as possible so we can address any issues that might arise before the ceremonial signing on Monday.”