“Yuri?” I gasp in shock at the familiar wavy black hair, leopard eyes and blood red lips. “What are you doing here?”

Yuri stands with a smug, slanted smile, posing like a supermodel in a photo shoot. “I’m the new Fed, precious.”

I turn to Ms Pink in shock. The new Fed?

Ms Pink’s poker face gives away nothing. The guards beside us give away nothing. Yuri’s smile gives away nothing. Super-ing-naturals.

Just then, Edith comes up from behind and says, “Be seated.”

I lower my to the tomato-red cushion and settle in. Unlike Demortams, this room has no trace of glass. Just stone cold cement walls, barren like the desert. I assume Ms Pink knows what this is about but isn’t telling me for some reason. Maybe she doesn’t want to let on too much. Whatever the case is, it appears to be a private meeting, without the Sovereign or Parliament present. And other than the two guards beside me, there are no other forms of ‘security’ imposed on me.

Sintix shuffles to his seat and sets his crystal wand on the table before him. The crystal is appealing to me, for some reason and I can’t stop looking at it. Kharne passes by, blocking my view of the crystal for a moment and it’s like a spell is broken and I feel free to look elsewhere again. How strange.

“Now that we are all present, let’s commence the meeting. Our agenda is simple,” says Edith, “We are here to decide if Taeyeon can be allowed to roam freely as before.”

What? Why can’t I roam freely? Ms Pink has proven that I’m not lethal! I sit there, stewing in my thoughts, trying not to let my feelings show.

“I say we lock her down in the deepest dungeon and keep her away from innocent people like us,” says Charles.

“Charles, it’s best that you be less vocal about Taeyeon’s fate,” Miras retorts, “given the position you’re in.

Miras has officially become my second favourite person in this room.

Charles turns red in the face. “You have no proof of anything of that sort.”

“Proof or no proof, we all saw how you sided with Olympias in Demortams. We are no fools, Charles,” Miras replies with a cool expression, leaning back with her arms folded. The cool air in the room chills even more, making me shiver. Gee, the tension in this place sure is thick.

“Taeyeon is the issue for this meeting. Let’s not lose sight of our agenda,” Edith reminds them. “After witnessing Taeyeon’s demonstration of power, we have deliberated and formed the following options.”

I sit up and listen with interest.

If anyone is asking me, I am all for option three.

“I object to removing the Erika from Taeyeon,” says Ms Pink and I turn to her, dazed.

Shouldn’t your primary objection be option one?

Shut up, stupid human.

Back to square one, aren’t we.

If you lose your Erika, you won’t be immune to me. Do you want to be just like the other claims? Vulnerable to my powers all the time?

I have nothing to say to that. I don’t want to turn into a mindless lovesick zombie claim. Ms Pink is right. The Erika has to stay in me.

“State your reasons,” says Edith.

“No one knows a safe way to do it,” says Ms Pink, sounding as though everyone should know this.

“Sintix might have a way,” says Kharne.

Ms Pink shakes her head. “Might. Might is not good enough. Erika or not, Taeyeon is my claim. She is my property. No one will try anything on her unless they can prove it is completely safe and will not leave her in a disadvantaged state.”

“Besides,” says Yuri, her voice washing over us in a y drawl, “all that about the last Erika wiping out everyone is but a legend. There is no historical evidence that an Erika wiped out the land of supers overnight. But what I do have is a history book that accounts for a plague that killed millions of people.”

“We know about the Black Death,” Edith replies. “But it is your people who told us the real cause of the deaths. The gruesome black deaths. The plague was an explanation thought up by supernatural beings in power during that time, was it not?”

“The Black Death ocurred more than seven hundred years ago. The only supers who lived through that period and are still here today are Olympias and Kharne,” Yuri states. All eyes turn to Kharne and he shrugs.

“I don’t know much about the Black Death. I know a bunch of sailors turned up dead on a ship, looking all black and burnt and bloody but I don’t know who or what killed them.” Everyone stares and that seems to put him on the defensive. “We didn’t have the internet or things like Twitter back in those days. You hear stories from drunks in taverns. Tales people tell. You won’t know if something new is added or something old is left out. ”

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