“When I need you?” David asked. “I can’t see that—”
“We lose almost half of all vampires to suicide when the last of their mortal relatives die,” the vampire stated harshly. “Institutions help, but you and many others among ONSET’s senior Agents will live a long time.” He smiled.
“You will likely outlive ONSET itself.”
“That is something we are planning for,” Ardent’s calm voice interrupted the discussion. “The potential immortality of many of our Commanders represents an asset we would be foolish to waste.”
The Arbiter leveled his dark gaze on ONSET’s commanding officer and smiled.
“Indeed,” he agreed softly, studying the Colonel. “Though I will warn you, Colonel, the swiftest way to lose an immortal is to stop regarding them as a person.”
Ardent bowed his head in wordless concession.
“The potential for recruiting vampires to our ranks is a benefit of this potential truce,” he murmured. “As Commander White pointed out, your knowledge and experience could add a great deal of value to our country.”
“If we all stop shooting each other on sight, that is,” the Arbiter replied. “I have done all I can. The rest, Colonel Ardent, is up to your Committee.”
The Colonel shrugged.
“That depends as much, I think, on whether Caleb Dresden meant his surrender,” he admitted. “While the strings are still being followed, your younger friend owns at least three men in that chamber. Most of the rest can be convinced, and we only need seven. It’s not even a new law, really. Just…changing a standing order.”
“Caleb meant it,” the Arbiter admitted, then smiled. “Caleb wrote half the damn Truce. I don’t know what hooks he has in the Committee members, but if he has them, they’ll vote for peace.”
“I hope they’ll vote for peace regardless,” Ardent replied. “While your people have been distracting us, even more damn minor portals are opening. People are dying, Arbiter—people we could save if we didn’t have to split our attention.”
It was disturbing just how calmly the Colonel said that.
“So, we wait,” David told them both. “And see what the Committee thinks.”
IT WAS WELL past midnight by the time the Capitol Police guards returned.
“Just the Arbiter and White again,” the Lieutenant told them. “Come on. I think even the Committeemen want to just go home and sleep at this point.”
David smiled humorlessly.
“We all do. You have no idea what my week has been like,” he replied. “Let’s see what they have to say.”
He and the Arbiter followed the police officer back into the meeting room. Ardent had clearly taken a different route, the Colonel already having rejoined the Committee as David and the vampire were led back to the table in the center of the room.
“We have reviewed this proposed ‘Arbiter’s Truce’,” Senator Day told them. The Senator looked and sounded tired. “Your people, Arbiter, have done a solid job of assembling a document that addresses many of our potential concerns and issues.
“If it can be trusted.”
Day’s words hung in the room.
“Some of us feel that the Vampire Familias should be given a chance,” he continued. “Others feel that the vampires have demonstrated beyond question or challenge that they cannot be trusted. Why should we regard this as more trustworthy than you have demonstrated yourselves to be?”
“The strength of the Familias is broken,” the Arbiter admitted into the silence. “Commander White shattered the vast majority of their forces and numbers on the slopes of Mount Scott. Dresden has agreed to disarm his people, turning over their illegally acquired weapons to you.
“We are no longer capable of fighting this war. There are oaths that can bind our people in blood and magic. They will be sworn.
“We will turn over our weapons, and Omicron will maintain control of the Mountain. Much of the organization of the Familias will simply disintegrate without the need to rely on each other to survive.
“I cannot guarantee anything,” the Arbiter warned them. “All I can promise is that we will try. That the failures will be lone actors, not soldiers with an army behind them.
“An entirely different scale of problem, wouldn’t you say?”
Day nodded and looked around the room.
“Having heard his words, does anyone wish to change their vote?” he asked.
From the table, David could only see a few of the members of the Committee. One of those tapped something on a screen in front of them, but he couldn’t see if any of the others responded.
The Senator studied something on his desk, then nodded.
“By a vote of eleven to two, Standing Order Twenty-one is lifted,” he told them. “Omicron will remain authorized to use lethal force against vampires in the defense of themselves or others, but the shoot-on-sight order will no longer apply.”
David heard the Arbiter’s concealed sigh of relief, but he could also feel the vampire’s continuing tension.
“By a vote of ten to two, with one abstention, the Special Committee on Supernatural Affairs agrees to accept the Arbiter’s Truce as an interim solution,” Day announced. “We will designate a team of legal experts to work with representatives from the vampire community to draft legislation to lay out the exact position of our vampire citizens in the United States, but the Truce will act as our guide until that legislation is passed into law.
“By a vote of thirteen to zero, the facility known as the Mountain must remain under Omicron control, with no armed vampires permitted at the site,” he concluded. “We will permit the Keepers to continue their training and will make an effort to deliver future discovered fledgling vampires to them, but they will do so under the protection and security of the United States government.”
The room was silent, and the Arbiter bowed his head across the table.
“Thank you,” he told them. “I swore an oath to preserve my species, gentlemen. I understood—I have understood for a long time now—that we could no longer live hidden in the shadows, a parasite upon our nation.
“That is why I am here. To find a better way—a better path that we must find together.”
“I won’t pretend this is going to be easy on you,” Day told him. “Your people have made themselves no friends in Omicron. It will take time to rebuild trust; you will have to prove yourselves again and again for us to begin to see you as safe.”
“It will be done,” the Arbiter said flatly. “That is my oath to both you and my people. We will have peace.”
OTHER BOOKS BY GLYNN STEWART
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ONSET
ONSET: To Serve and Protect
ONSET: My Enemy’s Enemy
ONSET: Blood of the Innocent
Duchy of Terra
The Terran Privateer
Duchess of Terra
Terra and Imperium
(upcoming, see www.faolanspen.com for latest estimated launch date)
Castle Federation
Space Carrier Avalon
Stellar Fox
Battle Group Avalon
Q-Ship Chameleon
Rimward Stars
(upcoming, see www.faolanspen.com for latest estimated launch date)
Starship’s Mage
Starship’s Mage: Omnibus
Hand of Mars
Voice of Mars
Alien Arcana
Judgment of Mars
Stand Alone Novels
Children of Prophecy
City in the Sky
Table of Contents
Ebook Copyright
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapte
r 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Other books by Glynn Stewart