"This is Rhia! Leave a message at the beep."

Nolan pulled the phone away from his ear and frowned down at the phone. It had only rung twice. She was sending him directly to voicemail now. He really needed to stop bothering her. He knew that she was probably struggling with everything, but he wanted to understand it better. He wanted her to talk to him, tell him what was going on in that beautiful head of hers. Did his feeding on her really bother her that much? Did she even enjoy it? Had he taken too much, been too rough...? A thousand worries crowded his thoughts. He needed to be patient, but...

He tapped the icon to redial her number. Constantine reached out beside him and locked the phone. "You have made five phone calls in the last half-hour." He said with pain in his voice. "I have a headache and we still have this blasted summons to get through. Stop."

Nolan pulled his phone away and glared at his king. "You've only given me a month to do six months of work." He hissed. "I have a lab to rebuild, patients to sign off, replacements to hire... The hospital doesn't usually accept resignations from people in my position with less than two months."

"And I'm sure that has nothing to do with feeding from that girl of yours?" Nolan narrowed his eyes further. Constantine's voice was knowing and confident, but completely void of his usual derisive tone. As if reading his thoughts, a thin smirk spread across Constantine's lips. "Does she taste as good as she smells?"

There was no good answer. If he said no, Constantine would just want to prove him wrong. If he said yes, he would be even more curious and increase his efforts in getting a taste. If he told the truth, that her blood was the nectar of the gods... He didn't want to think about it. "Yes." He finally said.

He chuckled low. "Then you have no reason to be sulking the way you are. You're practically radiating power. It's a good look for your first day back in front of the Counsel."

Nolan shook his head slowly and sighed. "She won't call me back." he finally said hesitantly. "It's been almost two days."

"Well, of course, she's avoiding you. You deprive yourself of fresh blood when you don't have to, so when you finally go for the vein you have no idea how to keep yourself from overfeeding. Not to mention you're a bit of a lightweight when it comes to blood anyway. Who knows what you said to her while you were riding high?"

Those words sent a chill through Nolan's spine. Had he said something in his drunken daze? He tried to think back to yesterday morning. She'd woken up in his arms. She'd asked him to feed from her. He pleasured her until she couldn't handle it anymore... then what? He did feed from her. He'd woken up with the taste of it on his lips and her scent lingering in his magic-torn room. Had she been frightened off by her own power? She'd been oblivious to it up until then.

He placed the phone flat on the table to keep himself from crushing it. "This can't be like it usually is, Constantine." He said stiffly. "It has to be different this time."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"This back and forth between you and the women in my life. Rhia is different. It's going to be hard enough for her in France, you don't need to make it any harder."

"I'll tell her the same thing I've told every single one of your wives. As long as she doesn't get in the way of what needs to be done, she has nothing to fear from me." Constantine's red eyes burned dangerously. They didn't match the smile on his face. "Try her again." He nodded at the phone. "I hope everything's alright."

Nolan felt a pit growing heavy in his stomach. Knowing she would just reject his call anyway, he opened his messages and quickly tapped out; I understand if you don't want to talk yet. Just tell me you're safe. Constantine is acting strange.

It was a over a minute before he got a response. Every second, he was sure his heart was going to slam out of his chest. Finally, she responded with; I'm safe. I'll call you later.

It did nothing to ease his fear, but it was at least a response. He turned it to silent and slipped it into his pocket so he could focus on his immediate situation. The small auditorium-style room was filled with the members of the Counsel, all who had been summoned in response to the public threat of the dragons. It had been thirty years since he sat in one of these rooms and even longer since he'd seen every single member all together. It was an impressive gathering to say the least.

The Seelie king and his consort sat in pristine elegance, attempting to look as regal as the elves. Next was the Unseelie queen and a younger male Nolan didn't recognize. He bore and uncanny resemblance to her, so he must have been her son or at least her nephew. Between the fae royals was a single faery who looked so plain compared to extravagant décor of the others. He was the representative of the Midground fae, the small but growing population of faery folk who were sick of the fighting between the kingdoms and demanded representation on their own terms.

A single dwarf had his feet propped up on the table and picking his teeth with his nails. The dwarves had been offered three seats in total, one for each major clan, but they had passed off on the other two as they would also then have to represent the other minor species that lived on their mountains.

One of those seats was filled by a cyclops who represented the 'giant' races like the cyclops, the ogres, the orkish, and, of course, the true giants, as rare as they were. He looked almost comical, his hulking form in a perfectly tailored suit and a thick rimmed monocle perching on the bridge of his wide nose. That wasn't fair. Darren was a good guy. He couldn't help that mythology didn't do his people justice. The other dwarven seat was taken up by a Wendigo. It was nameless and silent. The only sign that it was even alive was a slow rise and fall of its chest, and the tilting of its head when someone spoke. No one really knew how it came to sit on the Counsel, but no one wanted to ask it to leave.

There were a handful of seats given to out to smaller groups that banded together just to have a seat at the table, like the siren that covered most water creatures and the djinn who represented a ragtag group of soul-feeding species. There were a whopping ten shapeshifters lined up together. As the shifters were the most common of the Ancients and the most integrated between human and magical worlds, it made sense. They were also trusted to represent several other smaller groups like the lycanthrope, much to their chagrin, and a large number of the semi-humanoids and half-bloods.

The most intimidating, however, were the five seats held by the elven realms. In English, the realm names roughly translated to the Celestials, Woodlands, and the Deepstones. The other two didn't translate well enough and were simplified to being called the water and snow elves based on the geography of their capital cities.

Nolan's eyes narrowed. There was a sixth seat added to the elves. Sitting in it... a girl. She was separated from the other elves by a pair of powerfully built elves in full body armour. Her guards weren't in decorative armour displaying the splendor and wealth of the elves. They wore modern Kevlar vests, earpieces, and high-powered rifles were strapped to their backs, as well as a side arm prominently displayed. They were armed to the fucking teeth. What on earth were they expecting to happen?

The girl herself was not all that impressive. She couldn't be much older than Val, maybe seventeen or eighteen. She was very small and short for an elf, so she had to be half-blood. Her image blurred when she moved, showing that she was not particularly skilled at glamour. When the Celestial representative glared down his nose at her and spoke, she flinched back and shrunk further into her seat. It reminded him of the way Rhia had looked when he'd let his temper get the better of him.

An queasy feeling settled in his stomach. There was nothing he could do for the girl, even if his suspicions were right. The elves were not a species to be trifled with. Even Constantine left them to their own devices. While they weren't as old as the dragons, they did have hundreds of thousands of years without the other races to get their shit together. Like the dragons, they were a single, united entity, despite the illusion of separate factions. Like the dragons, they were an economic superpower that pulled strings in their favor. Unlike the dragons, they fully believed they were superior to all other beings. The fact that the dragons, Luna in particular, often and blatantly worked against their interests just to screw with them was a massive hit to their egos.

"Admiring our new friend?" Constantine asked quietly.

"Who is she?"

"I have no idea. But she's not quite as interesting as the shifter that hasn't taken their eyes off you since we arrived."

Nolan followed Constantine's gaze to a tall black female standing at the side of one of the other shifter representatives. She was dressed casually, but her presence meant that she was highly trusted. Sharp brown eyes met his and he felt like he knew her from somewhere. She was looking at him questioningly. After a moment, she leaned forward to speak in the ear of the enormous male she stood next to.

Ah, Atticus. The spymaster for the Counsel. He was relatively young, having only been there since the early nineteen-hundreds and joining when he was just seventeen. But the bastard was clever and devious and goddamn enormous. A child-like curiosity in Nolan always wondered who would win if he and Quin battled it out in their humanoid forms. The big shifter frowned at the woman, turned, and his black eyes met Nolan's. They widened and a smile spread across his face.

He was about to stand up, but the lights dimmed and there was a sucking sound as the doors were sealed magically shut and a thick dampening spell was cast over them. Any spells that had been or were being cast puttered out. A ripple of outrage started at the representatives nearest the elves. Nolan didn't realize he was halfway to his feet when Constantine reached out and grabbed his arm to hold him back.

The sixth elf sunk further into her chair and pulled the collar of her sweater up to hide her face. Without the glamour, her skin was a pale, purple-grey colour. Gold markings decorated her neck down her chest. Her long hair was a blonde so pale it was almost white. Her eyes were a soft rose pink that took up the entirety of her eyes without any whites or pupils. Dark elf. They were supposed to be extinct. The last of them were supposed to have been eradicated in the fifties. So how the hell...?

"The members of the honorable counsel will come to order." A booming voice filled the room. A large hulking lion-like creature with a single horn protruding between its ears stepped onto the podium centered at the base of the auditorium. Seemingly oblivious to the uproar around it, the xiezhi sat back on its haunches and rested its clawed hand on the pedestal. "Before the commencement of today's agenda, the speaker will call the roll."

"We should start with that gods-forsaken creature!" shouted the Midground fae.

Rage was written all over the male's face and Nolan understood why. Without the protection of either the Seelie or Unseelie courts, the Midground court had been regular victims to the dark elf's atrocities. There was a roar of agreement from many of the other representatives. Somehow the girl managed to shrink even further into her chair.

"The speaker recognizes the request of the first chair of the Midground Fae. The guest chair of the Elven Realms will introduce themselves."

An expectant silence fell over the room. The girl's eyes widened in panic and she looked up at the Celestial next to her, who was determinedly ignoring her. Nolan had the sudden urge to punch that smug grin off his face. One of the guards kicked her chair, the sudden movement jerked her upwards and she was suddenly on her feet. She gave the guards a terrified look before looking around the rest of the room. Swallowing hard, she tugged at her hair and spoke, her voice magnified by the limited magic still in the room. "Thank you, honorable speaker," Her voice was shaking badly, but she'd clearly prepared for this exact introduction. "And to the honorable counsel, I introduce myself as Princess Zesstra Shadowblade of the house High Tree." She paused to take a deep breath before continuing in a rush. "I have come to request representation of my people, the Tenebrarum, otherwise known as the Dark Elves."

All five of the other elves stood up and immediately started shouting in their various dialects. She flinched away from the Celestial towering over her, but her guards grabbed her shoulders and shoved her back in the chair. "You are an embarrassment." The Celestial bit out at her. "You use our generosity against us. We should put you down like the rabid dog you are."

One of the guards went for his sidearm. The unfamiliar shifter female jumped from her place above the guards and shifted midair into a huge silver shepherd dog. She landed on the male going for his gun and bit into the crease where his neck and shoulder met. Atticus, with a speed unexpected of a humanoid his size, ploughed into the second male. Nolan grabbed the Celestial by the neck and slammed his head onto the surface of the table snarling. The other representatives were standing, watching and waiting for the scene to play out. "Lord Wes?" The Woodland elf gaped at him.

"Unhand me!" The Celestial jerked back, and Nolan released him, stepping back to shield the girl between himself and Atticus. "You d-"

He stopped as it finally registered what he was seeing. "Hello, Lord Serirnil."

Nolan tried to keep his voice level, but rage and power was growing rapidly in his chest. It was reminiscent of Rhia's hot, primal power, and he was happy for the boost as he faced one of the most ruthless creatures in written history. "Lord Wes," he said coolly. "Care to explain your actions? Attacking another member of the counsel-"

"Null and void in the defense of an innocent." He spat. His sudden boost of power was also making his control slip. His fangs were fully descended, flooding his mouth with venom. He clenched his hands into fists, his nails digging into his palms. It felt like his veins were on fire.

"Innocent?! Her whole disgusting race is responsible for more deaths than any of us combined! What do you care, anyway? Remind us, vampire, wasn't it a dark elf that murdered your mate?"

"We do not punish children for the acts of their elders!"

Something exploded and, for a second, Nolan thought he'd lost control of whatever power was pumping through him. But then a gust of freezing cold air washed over the assembly and a soft, seductive voice spoke. "Well, well, well. If I knew the counsel meetings were so dramatic, I would have started crashing them ages ago."

Every single member of the counsel looked towards the doors and the same thought crossed every single one of their minds. What. The. Fuck.

~