Chapter 145 - Principal's Office

Elena took a single look at my face and, with a mix of empathy and pity on her face, told me to rest some before coming back. I fell asleep even before my head could touch the pillow of the luxurious guest bedroom I was shown to.

A loud knock on my door pulled me out of my sleep, dreamless, black and sticky like fuel oil. It clung to me even as I reluctantly rubbed my crusted eyes open and went through a moment of confusion of not remembering where I was. A single look at my phone told me that whoever was knocking, it was waaaay too early for it.

"Diana, wake up!" the voice from the door brought back memories, and not much of them pleasant. Gruff and low and sharp and somewhat angry. Captain. "Elder Elena wants to see you!"

"It's not even nine yet… I've slept for how long?.. Five hours total? Ugh." With great reluctance, I sat up in my bed and stretched to make my blood run around the body. "I'm awake, stop breaking down my door! Let me dress, will you?"

"Hurry. She wanted your and Ghost's report on the findings. And on your… vampire."

"It's not even nine… We sent her the info already, didn't we? Why won't she let me sleep more? Isn't she tired herself? Does she sleep at all? Do you, Captain?" I grumbled as I dressed.

"Elder wants your report before she and the Elders of other covens will decide witches' further move about the situation. Oh, and your vampire is here, too."

I paused in the middle of pulling on my crumpled shirt. I let the surprise pass and returned to the early awakening-enhanced annoyance. "It's not that hard to use his name, you know. It's just two words. Jean-Jacques. Very simple. You can be racist with all other vampires, but this one, as you put it, is mine."

A snort from the other side of the door was my answer. I responded to that with a snort of my own and decided that changing Captain's attitude was too much effort for too little gain.

Five minutes later, dressed and somewhat freshened up by cold water in my face, I went with Captain to meet Elena. Her spacious office looked less spacious now that there were people sitting in visitor chairs like shameless school delinquents waiting for a reprimand from their principal.

Well, to be precise, only JJ looked like a shameless delinquent. Ghost looked like he didn't know what he could be reprimanded for. Elena, though, looked every part the strict principal now. The softness that I've seen when she introduced me to the coven wasn't gone entirely, neither today nor yesterday, when she talked in front of the scared people, but the steel spine showed.

Figures. You had to have one to be a coven Elder when being a witch was such a cutthroat business.

At our entrance, Elena gestured for me to sit. I gave JJ a wide-eyed glance that, I hoped, appropriately conveyed my question of "what are you doing here?", but sat down.

I noticed Ghost had bags under his eyes that mirrored my own, and looked even more like a ghost than he did normally. So did Captain, now that I looked, and Elena. The only fresh person around was JJ, and he had my envy for this.

"Grigoriy, thank you. I have your report already, so you should take that opportunity and have breakfast. I will need you later," Elena said.

"Yes, Elder." He nodded with some reluctance and walked out.

When he was out of the door, Elena sighed, taking off her glasses and mechanically beginning to clear them with a hem of her blouse. "We are all running on fumes here, but with the incident that happened on your return to the headquarters, and with the upcoming Elders' meeting, I need personal reports from you," she looked at me and Ghost, then turned to JJ. "This isn't something that touches you, Jean-Jacques, but I assume Desmond had passed the gathered information to the Circle, anyway."

"He did." JJ nodded, smiling lazily. "They'd tear him apart if he didn't throw them a bone. I don't know, though, how much he held to himself, and if you consider this business private, I can wait somewhere else for you to finish."

Elena studied him for a moment, then shook her head. "That won't be necessary. While there are, I'm afraid, many who aren't keen on working together with vampires even to contain a threat such as this demon, I understand that the problem is bigger than us all. If you intend to be helpful, I won't refuse the offered arm."

"Splendid!" JJ grinned charmingly. "It will be my pleasure to work alongside you and your coven."

He threw a meaningful and sly glance at me. I raised my brows. Wow, he moved fast… and smooth. I had to bite down an inappropriate smile as I shifted my eyes back to Elena.

She didn't seem very impressed by the silent exchange, but to my relief, didn't mention it. Instead, she moved on to the topic of the demon, grilling me and Ghost for details of everything we've seen and every speculation we've come to.

"Diana, I'd like you to repeat what you and Ghost had gathered from the summoning chamber to the other Elders. Focus on the fact that the afflicted people could be healed. We don't need people so afraid for themselves that they won't step forward to fight the demon when it comes to it."

Another repeating of all the same things. I suppressed a sigh and nodded. "Yes, yes, sure. As long as I won't have to do it with each person individually…" I added under my breath, too quiet for Elena to hear. A seat away from me, JJ let out an amused huff.

"Now that we concluded on this, Diana… It's my job as an Elder to know and care about witches under my wing. While normally personal affairs aren't my business, in this case, I have to make an exception."