The council had gathered and were waiting for me. Two acolytes opened the door, and I smiled brightly at them as I entered the revered hallways.

Built on the ruins of an old Mayan Temple, the council chambers featured marble walkways, white pillar supports, arched room entrances and painted ceilings. I walked down the main hall as other council members and their attendants fell in step behind me. Judy Nissom, the leader of the Vampire faction gave me a quiet hiss as we passed into the darker areas of the chamber, letting me know she was in attendance. Balon Stamper, the ghoul, shambled up from the crypt beneath the meeting hall, his ever present stench of rotting flesh preceeding him.

Cecilia stepped out from an alcove, adorned her her customary purple robes.

“Hello darling!” I said, rushing to hug her. “I thought you would be at the studio today?”

She nodded. “I heard you called a meeting and came right over.”

I smiled, kissing her softly. “Aw, you didn’t have to do that, love.”

“It’s only fitting that I be seen at your side, isn’t it?”

Ernest Langmore, wearing his brown robe of office slithered out from another doorway. April, my daughter, fell into step beside me. Ernie gave me a wink. We'd decided I'd be the true Desdemonia now, and he would lead the brotherhood as Elder Langtree.

“What will we be discussing today, Mother?”

I paused, looking at April, the former Ernest. She’d been out all night and showed it. Her hair was a disheveled mess, her skirt had been torn, and her makeup…oh, she looked a fright. And she smelled of booze, sex, and drugs.

“Where have you been?”

She shrugged. “I went to a party at some…frat house, I believe.”

“You’re still in high school!”

“Mother, that was only for show, as you know and since I no longer have to worry about your attempts to take over my life, I decided to live it!”

I nodded and we all filed into the rotunda where we found our places at the respective podiums. The immense crystal of power hummed softly in the center. I walked toward it and knelt, giving obeisance to those who had come before me.

Closing my eyes, I knelt and murmured in the sacred language of the Dark Elders…

For mine eyes seek the truth, else I shall be blind
For mine ears to hear reason, else I shall be deaf
For mine nose to smell hope, else I shall be senseless
For the Power is One for ALL to share, else I shall descend into Madness.

The quiet thrum of energy filled me from the Crystal, and I closed my eyes, welcoming its power once again.

I waved for an attendant to help me stand again. These old bones weren’t what they used to be.

I waddled back to my podium, and stood. It was the highest, above the other members, as was right for my station as Presiding.

Holding my hands up, I invoked a spell of protection, warding us against eavesdroppers and sealing the chamber to those within. Any attempted breaches of the ward would notify me immediately.

“I call this meeting of the Council of Twelve to order this day, 10th of April, 2023.”

The audience and the rest of the Council fell silent.

“Commence with the reading of the minutes from the last meeting,” I said.

Lance Barlow, leader of the infernal’s began reading. His voice sounded like charcoal dragged across stone as he listed the events of the prior meeting. It took a good ten minutes of his droning on for the minutes to be completely read.

“Does anyone have any objection to approving the minutes as read?”

The rest of the council shook their head.

“Um, Madam President, a few corrections—“ Judy Nissom said. Before being changed into a vampire she’d been a parliamentarian in one of the English Colonies.

“Proceed,” I said, sighing.

“Comma after Remark in the second paragragh. Semi-colon after Ward in paragraph nine, 'Seeping’ is misspelled in paragraph eleven…” she went on to make various corrections.

After she concluded, I said; “Does anyone make a motion to accept the corrections to the minutes?”

“So moved,” Ryan Blackwater said. He was a wizard of the first order and probably the only other being in this chamber more powerful than me.

“All in favor?”

“Aye.” Chorused the group.

“Any opposed?” I said.

I waited for a moment, and no one chimed in.

“Motion passes, 12 to nil.”

Lance Barlow nodded, and made a notation in his book, then cut his thumb and pressed the blood onto the seal.

“Perfect. Now, on to old business?”

“Madam President, might I ask that we skip old business in favor of the new?” Ryan Blackwater said. “I have important matters to attend.”

“Is that a motion?” I said.

“So moved.”

“Seconded.” Julie Sternum said. She was the newest member of the council and a fae changeling. She had attracted the eye of many of the bachelors in High Valley due to her elfin features and light blond hair.

I liked her hair. She kept it in a delightfully short pixie that couldn’t have taken much care at all.

“All in favor?” I said.

“Aye,” said the majority.

“All opposed?” I said.

“Nay,” Lance Barlow and David Guggenheim said.

“We stand at 10 to 2. Aye’s have it.”

“I never win anything,” David said.

“On to new business then!” I said. I was glad we’d dispensed of old business, Seth’s mind didn’t have a great grasp of some events in recent memory and it would take me some time to get things completely sorted.

“As you know, we had quite the conflagration on the ball fields a few days ago,” I said. “Several council members were involved, me, Jim Atkins of the Alpha Weres, my daughter, and Ernest Langmore of the Brotherhood.”

Several people murmured at that.

“As a result, a translocation event occurred in which several members of the council were compromised. I count myself as one of that number, along with Brother Langmore. Jim Atkins ended up in a non-human body and is currently trapped as a non-sentient with no means of apparent escape, along with my daughter—“

At this I gave a slight catch in my voice that wasn’t completely faked.

Ryan Blackwater frowned. “I was to understand that Desdemonia Landcaster translocated into Brother Langmore. Is this true?”

I nodded. “It is, but we had a mind share last night and were able to come to an accord.”

Ryan Blackwater nodded. “So you are in full control of your faculties and Brother Langmore is in full control of himself?”

I looked at Ernest. “We are.”

“So what are you seeking, Desdemonia?” the wizard said.

“I’m seeking a vote of confidence. Knowing what you know about our translocation and some of the events that may come to pass, I want to make sure there is no doubt who is in charge of this council. If another president needs to be elected, now is the time to do it as I have some very pressing business for us and don’t want to address competency inquisition questions.”

“I care less for the management of this purile group. I have much larger fish to fry.” Blackwater said.

“I move we approve a vote of confidence in Desdemonia Landcaster so she can proceed with the rest of our agenda,” Julie Sternum said. I glanced over at her and she beamed a smile at me, her light blue eyes dancing in the flickering light from the crystal. Bless her soul, I thought. I wonder if she is corruptible…

“Seconded,” the Blackwater said.

“All in favor?” I said.

“Aye!”

Any opposed?

No one would stand in opposition. I felt a little rush of glee float through my belly.

I smiled at everyone in attendance. “Thank you all, for your vote of confidence,” I said.

“It gives me such a warm feeling to know you trust in me to be your president, and usher us into a new future.”

“Here here!” several members of the audience stated.

“So, on to our newest business, then,” I said. I approached the Crystal, and stood in front of it. Then turned around, theatrically.

“We are faced with an unparalleled decision in the coming weeks. As you all know, one of the Old Ones, the Who, stands at the Gate. It demands entrance into our reality, and due to the circumstances I listed earlier, I am now it’s appointed Key, since the Atkins boy discorporated his essence into my body.”

Murmurs rustled through the crowd. I knew they hadn’t considered how much power I actually had as not only the President of the Council of Magic, but the Key to the Gateway of The Who.

“Therefore, we have made the following decision.” I nodded to April and Ernest Langmore. They both stepped forward equidistant around the Crystal, becoming a triad with me around the crystal.

“As the Key, and President of the Council. Standing in front of the Gate of the Unknown. We will receive the Old One into our presence, and usher in a new Era for mankind!”

Several of the council members, including the Blackwater were standing now. I knew he would take umbrage at this, but now was the time for me to seize control.

“The non-powered humans around us shall be given to the Old One as sacrifice! We shall open the Gate and allow Him to enter! I am His vessel, His Key, His tool! Anyone who stands with me will be rewarded beyond imagination!”

I threw up my hands, and Ernest and April also threw up theirs. We murmured a quiet incantation that activated the Crystal, just not in the method it was ever intended. A scarlet glow began to emanate from it, and a force seeped out from the center, enveloping first us, as the triad, and then expanding.

“For We are the Chosen Ones! We will accept Its leadership and Guidance. We shall allow the Old One to consume the feckless underpowered humans on this planet, and We shall be ushered into the Kingdom of Greatness beyond!”

The wave of power slid out, faster and faster, enveloping those around me. Their eyes changed from blue, gray, or brown, to the scarlet glow of the Crystal, as their souls were conquered and conjoined.

With each person it touched, they immediately fell into a trance, murmuring a soft. “Ommmmm. Ommmmm. Ommmm.”

The Blackwater took up his staff, and I saw a branch of power leap forward, directly into the crystal. I cackled at this, knowing he would attempt to use force to overcome it. Shackles of red energy leaped from the scarlet crystal, and bound his limbs, freezing him as an automaton, like all the people around him.

“Brothers and Sisters!” I screamed, my own eyes glowing fierce scarlet. “We shall be the new Victors of this World!”

I ripped the staff from the hands of the Blackwater, and used it to send an intense bolt of energy skyward, allowing the clouds to gather, and the Storm to brew. The storm would power the spell, holding the council and anyone else it touched in thrall until I returned.

The Old One was coming.

And soon.

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