The Meeting From Hell

"And what about my old House?" asked Dementyev from where he sat on the far side of me. My office was still packed, even more so with the addition of Mathew and Sasha, but I could easily make out the sound of General Richards' teeth being ground to dust.

"What about it?" I asked, my head cocked to the side, not understanding what he was trying to get at.

"My House is not going to appreciate me changing Houses," he said with a shrug. "Even if they were the ones that decided to exile me for joining the military." That statement more than anything clued me into exactly what House he was born to. And I had to say, I really didn't see it coming.

"This is all nice and good," interrupted General Richards before I could open my mouth to reply to the other man. It was clear that the General was not at all impressed that I was not giving him my undivided attention. "But I fail to see what this has to do with anything. The only house that is important in this country is the White House."

"Ah, you poor, poor man," said Sasha, shaking his head. "I have heard that ignorance is bliss, but this level of foolishness is something else entirely. Please let me be perfectly clear about what is going on right now. Anyone in this room that is not part of a House will be killed for knowing about the things that go bump in the night. And before you ask, no, the White House is not part of that list."

I looked over at the Knight beside me and narrow my eyes at him. "I don't appreciate being called something that goes bump in the night."

"You and I can go bump in the night any time you want," he whispered into my ear, causing my face to turn red. Mathew, the stupid wolf with stupid wolf hearing, let out a bark of laughter before trying to cover it with a cough.

"That was corny," I said with an eye roll trying to pretend that his words didn't have an affect of me. It worked as long as I completely ignored the smile on my face or the blush that turned me bright red.

"Anyway," cut in Mathew, giving me a moment to try to get myself under control. "The Head is saving those that she wants to live and letting me get my claws on those that she doesn't."

"Why do you get them? It should be me and the knights," said Sasha, and he turned to glare at the wolf.

"Because it was your knights that fucked up in the first place, which led to them needing to be killed," replied Mathew with a shrug.

"All that much more reason to make up for it." Sasha couldn't dispute the fact that if his men had searched the visitors, then they would have found the guns and this would be an issue now.

"Make up for it?" repeated Mathew, looking over at Sasha as if the other man was crazy. "What happened if Natalia wasn't special and actually ended up dead? How do you think things would go if she didn't come back for… How old were you when you died the first time?"

"25," I said as I rubbed my forehead. Things were getting really off topic and I needed to bring them back. "But that is besides the point. I can't die, so I don't get to be reborn and only regain my memories after I turn 25. The point is that that man is so tainted it makes me want to puke. Seriously, he smells like shit covering a decaying body," I said, pointing to General Richards.

"My plan was to get the pure military out of here before we dealt with things so they would have plausible deniability, but that isn't happening anymore."

"I wouldn't be leaving anyway, even if you tried to get rid of me," smirked General Greyson from where he sat beside Richards. "Besides, I am now part of your House. Doesn't that get me certain privileges?" he continued with a shit-eating grin.

"It means that even if you are in the middle of a firefight, get blown up, or otherwise killed, you will come back to life," I said. "Unless I die, you can't."

"Wait, are you serious?" asked Greyson, sitting forward and staring at me, a serious look on his face.

"Yeah," I answered as I cracked my neck back and forth. "Is that the benefit you were looking for?"

Apparently, I had more than enough. I was tired, my head hurt like a mofo, and no one had thought to bring me my ice cream.

Greyson looked at the three men behind him, only one of which was officially part of my House and then back to me. "Yeah, I would say that that was an enormous benefit."

"Great, glad we got that sorted out," I said with a nod before turning back to Richards. "You are going to die. Do you want it painless or painful?"

The general started to sputter as he looked around to see who would try to intervene on his behalf. Greyson met his eyes but only smirked in reply.

Not waiting for a response, I dove deep into the webs around me until I found General Richard's. It was so tainted I was surprised it was not a puddle of primordial goo capable of producing life. I took out my shears, and, without touching the thread, cut it clean in half.

As soon as the thread was cut, General Richards slumped forward in his chair. Dead.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I closed my eyes for a quick second. This meeting had seemed to drag on forever and I don't think I managed to figure out the reason why everyone was here in the first place. Well, at least General Richards is dead.

"Did you really think that would work?" asked General Richards, as he sat back in his chair. "I am a bit disappointed in you, Weaver."