Eliza stared directly at the head of the vampire coven that sat opposite her. She tried to remember his name but was drawing a complete blank.
He steepled his fingers and leaned forward. "Mrs. Grate, I do not disagree we share a problem, but why do you think that the only solution is to combine? Can we not simply just strengthen our respective forces separately?"
"Ms. Grate."
"I'm sorry?" He raised a dark eyebrow.
Eliza crossed her arms over her chest, accidentally pushing up the cleavage she usually tried to hide. "It's Ms. Grate. I am not married."
"My mistake, but back to the problem at hand."
"Right, sorry. We must combine. My pack cannot survive any longer on our own. While you don't have the exact same issues yet, your coven is headed in the same direction my pack did. Have you not noticed the lower birth rates and weakening buildings? It is not because of age, its the waning strength within your coven." Eliza opened her folder. "If you open your files, you will see our reports from twenty years ago and yours from five years ago. There are some eeire-"
The vampire to the right of the head slammed her hands on the table, "How dare you do this! We invite you into our home and you insult our strength like this?"
The head vampire waved his hand and opened his folder. "Claudia, sit down. While her methods are rather candid, Ms. Grate is not wrong. We have started to notice some small, random failings. Are you proposing a preemptive strike at the common problem?" He looked up from the papers in front of him to peer at Eliza.
"Yes. By merging our territories, we would merge strength as well. Both of our species would be better for it."
"I see."
Claudia leaned forward, her red hair sweeping over the exposed tops of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "Mr. Vasta, I really don't think this is a good idea."
Victoria snarled under her breath. She hissed at Eliza, "I really don't like her."
Claudia's attention snapped to Victoria, "Got something to say, mutt?"
"That's it!" Victoria lept over the table and reached for Claudia with her claws out.
Eliza s.n.a.t.c.hed the back of Victoria's shirt and slammed her down in her chair. "Sit."
Victoria sunk sheepishly in her chair and lowered her eyes from Eliza's.
Claudia took her seat after Victoria's outburst, smirking over at Eliza's table.
Eliza smoothed her skirt down and said, "I apologize for my second's behavior. I believe we have some details that we need to work out. Our territories border each other so it shouldn't be an issue to combine and build new residences for leadership in the middle."
Victoria landed Eliza a notebook with the first page displayed. "We have compiled a list of issues that could arise and can go over them now. It is our belief that the best way to do this is to cover all issues now and reconvene in a week to confirm plans."
Eliza looked over to the vampire coven leaders. "Is this agreeable for everyone?"
The vampire leader didn't pause or look at his other members before he said. "We can go over the possible issues now but there is no need to get together in a week. We should begin this merge as soon as possible so that our forces can be strengthened sooner."
Eliza nodded, "Ok. The first issue is leadership then. We will need to merge our councils and figure out how our policies align and don't align." Eliza looked to her sister. "This fastest way to do this would be to go over both sets of laws and highlight any that don't match. Victoria, can you be our representative in this matter?"
Victoria nodded and picked up a thick folder from the table. The vampire leader looked to his left and a thin man wearing gla.s.ses with slicked back hair rose with his own folder. He lead Victoria over to a table in the corner. As soon as they were both seated, folders were opened and Victoria took the lid off of her highlighter.
Eliza turned back to her list and made a mark on the paper. "The next issue would be-"
The vampire leader rose a hand and Eliza stopped talking, surprised. "I would like to bring up a concern."
Eliza's mouth opened and closed like a fish as she was still shocked.
The vampire ran a hand through black hair streaked with red and continued, "The residences in the middle. Must we move all leadership? My coven members are spread throughout our land. This makes the most strategic sense so I suggest we only build two new residences, one for you and one for me."
Austin started to speak in protest, but Audry stopped him with a hand on his arm and gestured to Eliza. "I suppose we can make that work but in that case I would also like to build more residences and businesses to spread out the werewolf buildings and make us also more strategically placed."
The vampire leader considered this for a second, glancing briefly at Claudia who was still sitting on his right. "Very well. We can make maps after the discussion of issues is over." His eyes slid for Eliza, lingering on her lips and the swell of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s plumped up by her arms. This started a new sensation for her, b.u.t.terflies in her stomach. "What are the next issues?"
They continued to discuss various problems, like food courses, hours of operation, and disciplinary action. Both leadership groups traded information and concerns until Victoria and the vampire came back with the differing policies that needed to be resolved by the larger groups.
When the meeting was finally over and the pack council was back in the car, Eliza let out a breath. She looked down at the new flyers that had to be distributed informing her pack about the new transition and the new rules that would apply to both groups. She sighed when she thought about giving the announcement tomorrow morning. Eliza leaned her head back and stared out at the moon that had risen well into the sky.
