I’d gone through all the paperwork for my appeals to Tutu’s, and discovered that if I had a notarized letter from the Wizard Council, I could skip a bunch of steps in the process—which was pretty important given that one of those steps included submitting a form to the Wizard Registration Office in Chicago for a copy of my childhood registration. That registration was going to be pretty sticky because my parents had registered me at a much lower power grade than I really was, so it wasn’t even a certain thing that Tutu’s would accept the outdated registration. (Not to mention Registration was going to get fussy when they realized my wizard mark and power level no longer matched.)

The Committee of Magic met pretty frequently, but they had official, public forums once a month, and before these special forums the subcommittees met—the Wizard Council, the Shifter Board, the Fae Ring, and the Vampire Assembly being the main ones.

That was my opportunity to present my case. Thankfully, Killian Drake was meticulous and cutthroat, so on the days of the public forums he insisted on attending every single subcommittee meeting. (Back when my parents were alive, everyone said he sat in on the meetings as a form of intimidation since he was the only Committee Member who bothered to sit through meetings for a race not his own.)

So even though the Wizard Council met three hours before the actual Committee of Magic forum, Killian Drake and his guards were already there.

We had actually already been there for a while—the Shifter Board met first around noon so their Pre-Dominant—the top shifter in the region—had time to go hunt and eat before the evening meeting.

I hadn’t bothered to attend that meeting—I was in the bathroom practicing my appeal with a very amused Celestina.

“The Fae Ring meeting is over,” Celestina announced after her phone buzzed with a text message. “His Eminence said it’s time to head to the Wizard Council.”

“Okay.” I tapped my papers on the fancy granite counter, then glanced in the mirror to confirm my blond hair was smooth and that my dress shirt sat right on my shoulders. I had figured it wouldn’t be a good idea to wear the official Drake suit Killian had gotten for me as it would probably make the wizard leaders nervous, so I was just wearing the suit slacks with a powder blue dress shirt I had borrowed from one of the Drake Family blood donors. I had to roll up the sleeves to my elbows which gave it a more casual look. But I looked like a kid playing dress up with the sleeves down, so Casual Hazel it was!

I hurried after Celestina and slipped out of the bathroom, following her down the wide hallway, our high heels making quiet clicks on the tiled floor. (Or at least Celestina was quiet. I sounded more like a tapdancing goat.)

We wound our way through the Curia Cloisters, popping into a hallway that ended with a T intersection, which, apparently, was where Killian was holding court.

One eyebrow was dangerously arched at an “I’m-starting-to-get-annoyed” angle, but the vampires lined around him didn’t seem to notice.

A female vampire wearing a Victorian hoop-skirt was in the process of curtsying deeply as we approached the group. “I deeply apologize, Your Eminence, but he couldn’t make it.”

Killian’s eyebrow twitched—not a good sign. “And what could have possibly kept Elder Aberdeen from attending and cause him to instead send one of his underlings in his place for the Vampire Assembly?”

“He was feeling rather melancholy, Your Eminence.” The female vampire stared at the ground and still hadn’t risen from her curtsy.

“Melancholy?” Killian snarled.

“Yes, Your Eminence.”

Killian narrowed his eyes in a way that would have had me running for cover, but the unfortunate vampire was trapped, and shook a little in her fear.

“Fine. But inform Aberdeen that at the next assembly I will send a few of my people to the Aberdeen Family to ready him for the day so he will be properly inspired to attend.” Killian smiled dangerously.

The female vampire audibly gulped and backed away without ever looking up. “Yes, Your Eminence.”

I scratched my neck as I watched the exchange. “Does this Aberdeen guy usually skip out on meetings?” I asked Celestina.

“Many of the more prominent and respected vampire Family Elders are not often motivated to attend important meetings,” Celestina said.

I furrowed my eyebrows. “Really? That seems like a pretty dangerous practice for their health. I can’t imagine Killian puts up with it. Unless that’s why they do it?”

Celestina shook her head. “It’s not like that at all—they respect His Eminence, though perhaps grudgingly so.”

“Then why wouldn’t they attend? Subcommittee meetings are the biggest chance to make suggestions and lodge complaints. The wizard meetings are always packed.”

“It’s their state of mind,” Celestina said.

I wrinkled my forehead. “What?”

Killian turned to the next vampire—a male dressed in what appeared to be Colonial American fashion with a navy jacket and breeches, a black waistcoat, and a three-cornered felt hat. “You’re from?” he prompted.

The hat-wearing vampire bowed. “Lewis Family, Your Eminence. I am Elder Charity’s escort for the night.”

Killian fiddled with his gold cufflinks. “And what do you want?”

The vampire gulped audibly and bowed again. “If it would please Your Eminence, Elder Charity requests that a notice of Vampire Assembly meetings be sent out the week before.”

Killian studied the vampire. “Reminders are sent out—through email.”

Another bow. “Yes, Your Eminence. Lewis Family much appreciates the email; however, Elder Charity prefers a notice by mail because she—hrm—is concerned that technology may fail, leaving her uninformed.”

Celestina whistled lowly. “Sacrificial lamb if there ever was one.”

“I’m guessing the Elders send their underlings to Killian with all of their stupid requests?” I whispered.

“Right on.”

Predictably, Killian’s smile turned vicious. “I see. Please inform Elder Charity that if she is so against computers, I’d be happy to send out the reminder by text.”

“Ah—um. Very good, Your Eminence,” the male vampire said to the floor as he bowed a third time. “Unfortunately, Elder Charity doesn’t own a cellular phone of any kind.”

“Then she better get one—or adopt a younger vampire into the Family to handle technology for her since it seems she’d rather rot in the past.”

“Oh, no, Your Eminence, it is not that at all,” the colonial-dressed vampire protested.

Killian turned away from him, his black-red eyes falling on me. “You know where the Wizard Council meeting is held?”

“I’ve attended a few of them with my parents.” I started back up the hallway Celestina and I had walked down.

Killian caught up with me in a stride or two, the rest of the Drake Family vampires falling into position behind him.

I glanced at Killian. It seemed like he’d left his irritation behind with the crowd of vampires based on the smoothness of his face.

“Is it usually like that?” I asked.

He cut his eyes down toward me. “What?”

“Dealing with the other vampire Families?” I asked. “Is it always so…”

“Annoying?” Killian suggested. “Often times.”

I was silent for a few steps as we turned a corner. “It’s weird. We wizards see vampires as being one of the ultimate predators. I never imagined they’d skip meetings and complain about emails.”

“We are one of the ultimate predators,” Killian growled. “Unfortunately, the oldest of vampires are more prone to fits and bouts of stupidity.”

“Sounds fun.”

“You cannot imagine.”

I grinned as I reached for the door to the right meeting room. “At least you have your Family!”

When I opened the door a bunch of wizards turned around to look at us, instantly turning ashen when they saw Killian. They sat in the audience seats—which were arranged in neat rows across the room.

The ten wizards who sat on the Wizard Council were already in their places at the horse-shoe shaped table. They all sank a little deeper in their chairs when they saw Killian.

I awkwardly cleared my throat and scooted to the side while Killian—flanked by Celestina and two other Drake vampires—sauntered down the aisle and chose the one row of comfortable padded chairs on the left side, leaving wizards to sit on the uncomfortable folding chairs everywhere else.

There was a podium set off to the right side, closer to the horse-shoe table. I knew from experience that was where I was supposed to be when I brought my request to the subcommittee, so I headed for the podium and found the piece of paper I needed to sign up on so I could talk.

I scratched out my name with the half-working pen and plopped down in a chair as more wizards meandered into the room.

Mason stormed in, flanked by a House Tellier wizard. He saw me seated near the podium and smiled. It was a handsome smile, but malice oozed from him like a bad smell.

I stiffened and considered tapping my magic, until the House Tellier wizard gulped and elbowed Mason.

Mason faced the wizard, who not-so-discreetly pointed out Killian and his guards.

Mason and the Tellier wizard turned white, then scooted to the right side of the room—as far away from Killian as they could get.

I stared down at my lap so I could keep my smirk to myself—though I was also a little worried by Mason’s arrival. I had been hoping Momoko was wrong and that he wouldn’t come to file an appeal. But I was too optimistic.

A mousy man stationed at a folding table blushed bright red when his computer blared its starting up noise. He cleared his throat and hopped to his feet. “All rise! The Wizard Council is now in session!”

The meeting progressed pretty naturally. The man with the laptop introduced the Adepts sitting on the Wizard Council for the evening—I was not super psyched to see the Adepts for House Tellier and House Rothchild there tonight.