Prescott stood on the table, close to Queen Zipfara, his hands folded across his chest as he watched and listened to the elders whisper and communicate amongst themselves on the best thing they should do to Casper’s body.
The first place he had appeared with Casper’s body had been in Lily’s room. The girl had been asleep when he had surfaced, but immediately he had beckoned on her through their unique mind path, she had sprung up, looking so bewildered when she had seen him, and had almost screamed out in fear when she had seen a dead Casper right beside him.
He had explained everything to her of course, the white washed truth though, not wanting to risk Emma’s wrath if something went astray with their plan. He had promised Emma not to tell anyone the truth, and that included everyone, including his family here.
Lily had believed him, even though she had been a bit skeptical about Casper; for they had all known Casper. He had been an older friend to Daniel and Damon, before he had joined the side of Leonary for reasons best known to him, despite his close knit friendship with the twins. Leila had even had a crush on him once. But that had all gone away at the event of his betrayal which was known all over the community. Actually, the names of everyone who had left the community to join Leonarya had been written down on a scroll and read out to all the people, should they encounter any one of them somewhere away from the community, or even in the community. The goal was never to be caught unawares and being tricked. So, Casper was a known tyrant. And that was why Prescott had gone on with the white lie even to Queen Zipfarah the following morning.
At first, Queen Zipfarah did not believe the story, not believing that Casper would turn around at the last second to save Emma, but with time, Prescott had managed to buy her over with the story. But according to her, she couldn’t do much without the presence of her cabinet members, and that was why he was here. He had repeated the same story, without leaving any details, and the cabinet had become divided. The twins(Damon and Derek, Lily and Leila) of course were on his side, including Queen Zipfarah, but not so much as the cabinet members. A lot of them think that Casper’s last minute heroic act didn’t deserve a welcoming burial which is reserved for good warriors of their community. They think it was far-fetched for him, and believe that just throwing him inside a dug up ground in any area of the land, particularly the forest, was fine. Not much of a fuss should be made for a betrayer. They said, mentioning that Emma wasn’t yet approved as the chosen one, so his saving her didn’t really score a hit.
Prescott’s patience was wearing thin. He wanted to get back to Emma already.
It was true that he trusted the vampires to take care of her, but still, he didn’t want to take any chances. Who knows? It might be a ploy to take her away from them. As he ruminated on the fact, he remembered the words of Julius. The latter had asked him why he had their blood running inside him. Now thinking of it, it made him wonder if it was why he was able to act as a human, why he had so many powers. He didn’t remember much from his earlier years. Whenever he tried to access them, his mind went blank, and pain wracked his brain; so he had left it. But he wondered if he could shift to a dragon like the male vampires had done. He chuckled, amused with his thought. A baby dragon, for sure. He thought, considering his size.
“Do you find what we are doing here funny, Prescott?” He heard one of the elders ask him, and shook his head, his eyes darting towards Lily and Leila. The latter was scowling at the said elder, not bothering to hide it, even though Lily was pinching her on her lap to stop.
“So, why are you laughing?” The elder asked, ignoring Leila’s scowl.
Prescott shrugged, not bothering to talk, knowing that the cabinet members couldn’t hear him talk. Queen Zipfarah had been the one to recite the story as he had just opened his mouth to relate the events. The reason why he was here was just to show that Zipfarah wasn’t making the story out of her own head.
“Lily, what did he say?” The elder asked.
“Nothing. As you can see, his mouth is not moving.” Lily replied, not bothering to glance at the elder as she gave him a reply.
“So, my elders, what are we saying about the issue? Should Casper be given a burial befitting for a warrior?” Queen Zipfarah asked, cutting to the chase, bringing them all back to the main issue on ground.
There were diverse answers to her question. She asked Damon then to take a vote.
After the casting of votes, it turned out that the people who wanted Casper to be just thrown into the ground without any ceremony were higher than those who wanted a benefitting burial for him, even after the addition of the votes of the twins, Prescott and Queen Zipfara to the latter side.
Queen Zipfarah was at a crossroads. The decision was clear to make but she didn’t want to do it. She knew that aside from the story that Prescott had told, this request had been sponsored by Emma, and she didn’t want to fail the girl just like the werewolves had. Prescott had filled her in on every detail of the previous day, and about Emma’s decisions to leave for her house in Florida.
“We can’t do this, my elders. This request was made by Emma, and she is the chosen one.” Prescott mentioned, and the elders noticing his mouth move turned to Lily to recap what he had said.
“What did Prescott say, Lily?” They asked, when Lily kept quiet despite their curious glances.