Amanda fell asleep faster than Sirius did. He listened to her breathing for awhile. She seemed relatively unaffected by the events of the night. He on the other hand was feeling horribly guilty for causing such a mess.

  The guilt stayed with him all the way to breakfast. He tried to hide it, but the look Amanda gave him as they left their room suggested she could read him perfectly. How she was so good at that he did not know. She said nothing though, perhaps realising that he wanted to pretend that everything was okay.

  The place they went to for breakfast was a little hole in the wall right next door to the hotel. They made crepes and pizza. Amanda ordered a coffee and talked him into one of each sort of food so they could share and have both. It was not a difficult argument to make. Between them and their four guards, they filled the place half up and the owners seemed happy to have so many mouths to feed at once.

  When the waitress turned up with Amanda’s coffee however, and mentioned that they were out of teaspoons for some inexplicable reason, Sirius thought the guilt might just push him into the floor.

  But then Amanda laughed, genuinely and unintentionally, for she quickly covered her mouth and then replied. “Sorry, a regular spoon is just fine.”

  Then she caught Sirius’s eye and it was that moment or perhaps a few seconds before, when he’d heard her laugh, that the guilt lifted off him. He’d caused that too. He was the reason for her laugh this morning. And just like that, the day didn’t seem so bad anymore. Not even the impending trial could put a damper on his spirits.

  “You know, I think I’ll have a coffee too,” Sirius said to the waitress.

  Across the table, Amanda looked at him in surprise.

  Her eyes widened even more at his response to the waitresses next question

  “Sure, what’ll it be?”

  “Uh, a long black.”

  “Maybe bring another little pot of cream,” Amanda said to the waitress.

  “Sure thing, hon.”

  “Are you sure?” Amanda asked Sirius as the waitress left. “Starting with a long black for your first coffee is a bold choice. Most people work up to it.”

  He frowned. He didn’t understand why anything had to be worked up to. Either he liked something or he didn’t. Sure, tastes might change over time but why one would continuously force something they didn’t like upon themselves, that he didn’t understand. It probably wasn’t what she’d meant though.

  He cocked an eyebrow. “They work up to it like a goal?”

  “I just mean it’s an acquired taste,” she explained.

  “Not one you’re trying to acquire?” he asked in a teasing tone.

  She caught his tone and grinned. “Not me specifically. I started off drinking it black.”

  “That sounds like bragging,” he accused. There had been a touch of pride in her tone.

  She laughed. “Dad used to give me sips if we were out on a long ride.”

  “Your dad gave you coffee too?”

  “I always hated the taste,” she admitted. “But now I kinda miss it.”

  Sirius glanced down at her cup and the pot of cream she’d added to it.

  “Just not quite enough to order it like that.” She laughed. “He always managed to get grinds in it too. I don’t think he ever filtered it. He just put the coffee in, the cheapest one you could get and added the hot water directly. Dad was a bit of cheapskate, on some things at least. Never on mum though. He’d buy her gifts worth way more than anything he ever spent on himself. And the horses too I guess. A good saddle is worth its weight in gold, for the horse and the rider. But even then, he was always very practical.”

  Sirius’s coffee arrived then and he looked down at it thoughtfully, as well as at the little pot of cream that had been served with it.

  Do you want a taste of mine?” Amanda asked. “So you can decide if you want to add the cream or not.”

  He nodded and she handed her cup over.

  He gave both a try. “I think I like this one better,” he told her and nodded down at his own one.

  She looked surprised. She gave a small laugh. “You’re joking right?” But she studied his face and when she realised he was being honest, she declared, “You are the weirdest man I’ve ever met.” The way she was looking at him made Sirius feel like it was a compliment.

  “I like the bitterness,” he said.

  “This coming from a man who ordered a hot chocolate with marshmallows last night?” It seemed she still didn’t quite believe him.

  “Well, tell you the truth, I don’t actually like them that much, I just like the idea of them.”

  That got her laughing and she didn’t stop for quite some time.

  But when he added, “Mum always used to make them like that,” she came up for air and her face got serious.

  “Oh shit, I’m sorry.”

  He couldn’t help smiling though. He did like making her laugh. “It’s okay. I think I acquired a taste for them though. Can’t I like both?”

  She laughed again and nodded. “We make quite the pair huh?”

  “Yeah we do. Hey, you want to go get some of those donuts? The ones you didn’t get to try yesterday.”

  Her face lit up but before she could answer with what he was sure would have been a yes, Sandy walked into the cafe. “They’ve brought the trial forward an hour,” he said with a grim look. “Apparently Sirena has another engagement she needs to get to.”

  “She doesn’t know how long it’s going to take though does she?” Sirius replied with a scowl.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Sandy just shrugged apologetically.

  “Later, I guess,” Amanda said in a nonchalant tone, although she looked sad.

  “I’m going to get us some donuts even if I have to rob the place later,” Sirius promised to her in a whisper on their way out.

  She laughed again.

  Sensing an opportunity to make her laugh some more he added in an even quieter voice, “I mean, we already kinda stole the silverware.”

  Her laugh could probably be heard all the way down at the port.

  The trial was to be held in a large white clay dome. Amanda whispered to Sirius that she suspected that the walls had been intentionally coated with the clay rather than it being natural. Large pillars encircled three quarters of the room and served as a demarcation between the inner circle, where the cave room was much higher, and an outer ring where the roof was lower. The inner circle was well lit in what felt like natural light but Sirius knew it could not be, and for the life of him, he could not see where the light was actually coming from.

  The outer circle, through which they passed through on their way in, could have been said to be caked in darkness, except it was about as well lit as many of the other tunnels in Cap and only looked dark once their eyes had adjusted to the inner circle which at first felt blindingly bright.

  A long table stood near the wall with no outer circle behind it. A rotund vampire currently chowing down on an extra large burger was seated at one end of the table. Blood was running down his wrists and falling onto a white napkin he’d placed to protect the wooden table. Twelve empty chairs lay along the same side as the fat vampire sat.

  “For fate’s sake!” exclaimed Renault as he strode over to the vampire that was already seated. “Who put the table this end again? It’s going to make it hard to see what’s projected onto the back wall. And Edward, this council is supposed to be a sophisticated government body. It’s a little difficult to give that appearance when you’re sitting there spilling food over yourself like a toddler. What happened to the plan to have everybody wait to fill the table?”

  “It’s Eddie,” Eddie said. “And I was going to get up in a sec. It’s just kind of hard to eat a burger standing up. It affects my digestion.”

  “Well, it’s a bit late, the parties are already here.” Renault gestured toward Sirius and Amanda, and then across the room.

  Sirius looked to the other spot he was gesturing and there stood Sirena. She was dressed in a short, tight, black cocktail dress and heels. Around her neck, and curled down one arm was a mink scarf. She was looking across the room directly at Sirius and Amanda. Her hair had changed since he’d last seen her. She’d added some colour, but not much, only a touch of very dark purple right down the middle of her otherwise white head. He leaned close to Amanda. “Does she remind you of a certain villain from a movie when you were growing up?”

  Amanda sniggered. “Do you think it’s intentional?”

  “Maybe.”

  Sirena hadn’t taken her eyes off them. It was a little unsettling. Knowing she could shapeshift made Sirius not want to take his eyes off her either. There were worse powers she could have had but shapeshifting still had its dangers. He was glad that Amanda was standing on his other side at least. That way Sirena had to go through him to get to her.

  Beatrice arrived escorting a much older vampire on one arm. The man’s eyes were nearly shut and his grey beard so long that the tip of it just touched the floor.

  “Renault,” Beatrice said with a glance toward Eddie, “I thought we were all going to enter at the same time?”

  Renault made a sort of growling noise in his throat. “We need to move the table,” he declared.

  “Why?” asked Eddie, who had been in the process of standing and brushing crumbs from the front of his tailored suit.

  Renault gave an exasperated sigh. “Because otherwise we’ll have to crane our heads around to see what’s on the projector screen.

  “Oh.” Eddie clicked his fingers twice, made a few gestures, and four very fast young men wearing black, darted into the room and started to move the table.

  “And where are the other tables?” asked Renault aloud as his gaze swept across Sirius, Amanda, and Sirena again.

  More men and woman arrived. Not all were vampires. Sirius knew there were at least three who were either human or witch, although Sirius couldn’t remember if it was two humans and one witch or one human and two witches. The council contained no werewolves. It did contain one chikari, something rarely ever seen in a city like Cap.

  Sirius could hear the surprise in Amanda’s voice when she asked, “Is that a chikari?”

  Sirius nodded. He’d met Mephistopheles once before. The man was refined and pleasantly spoken, not so different from Renault in personality, only a little less strung out. His hair was shaven close to the scalp, his skin was as black as Ghost’s, and his eyes were a bright green; a little lighter than Sirius’s own. Amanda’s question was understandable.

  Chikari were almost the complete opposite of vampires. Not only did they not drink blood, they were all heliovores who could not eat meat lest they become very ill. The starkest difference was that they not only favored the light but required a certain amount per day for survival with the exception of when they went into their yearly stasis and which lasted months at a time. To see one living in an underground city, like Cap, was extremely rare.

  “That’s Mephistopheles,” Sirius told her. “He was a diplomat from the far south. He used to facilitate trade with the chikari dominated cities. He still does a lot of that but he loved Cap so much he moved here and joined their council, Now he’s a representative who spends a lot of time trying to make Cap appeal to chikari tourists. He holds a lot of sway with the other councilors and I’ve seen him turn whole rooms before.”

  “How does he survive here?”

  “He has his own lights. Chikari also don’t sleep at all for half the year so much of their sun exposure can be achieved while the vampires are asleep during the day. There are also many parts of Cap which are tailored to humans and witches alike, who also appreciate a bit of sun from time to time. The council want Cap to be a city for all, which is also why they have at least one human and one witch on the council as representatives.” Sirius explained what Beatrice had once told him.

  Amanda frowned. “No werewolves?”

  Sirius grimaced. “That’s more complicated.”

  They watched and waited, alongside most of the council and Sirena, while Renault and another vampire, whose name Sirius couldn’t remember, debated over which way the different groups should be facing. The long table had been shifted at least three times now.

  “But if we face it that way then the disputants won’t be able to see without turning around,” argued the other vampire.

  “If it’s side on, then everyone has to turn their head.”

  “Exactly. No one’s happy or overly disadvantaged so it’s the perfect compromise.”

  “But there are more of the council,” argued Renault. “Plus, it makes the room look lopsided.”

  Amanda cocked an eyebrow at Sirius.

  He’d hoped he wouldn’t have to talk about the vampires' opinion of the werewolves, at least not until they were out of Cap. He knew Amanda’s best friend was a werewolf, as well as the fact that’s she’d gotten on quite well with many of Morgan’s crew. In a lower voice than normal he explained, ”The vampires do not think highly of the werewolves, and the same in return, especially those of Cap. In fact, I’d say it’s almost more of a Cap thing than a werewolf vampire thing, although there are underlying tensions between the two in most places. But in Cap, it is particularly egregious. They pride themselves on being upmarket and modern. I generally try not to trade with the likes of Morgan or similar crews in the days prior to visiting Cap as the vampires can smell it. Our first day here I overheard several comments made by port hands about the stink of dog on the ship.”

  “Oh, I thought they were just referring to sailors in general,” Amanda replied in a surprised voice. She’d evidently overheard a few of those sorts of comments herself.

  Sirius shook his head.

  Offhandedly she added, “One of them mentioned at the ball that he could smell I was on my period.”

  Sirius frowned. “Which one?”

  She shook her head and waved him off. “Doesn’t matter.” Then after a survey of the waiting council she added, “Wasn’t a council member anyway.”

  Sirius nodded, relieved he didn’t have to deal with that. He really wouldn’t have known how to anyway. He supposed it was a rude comment to make, but he could never be quite sure. To lighten the mood and ease some of the tension he was starting to feel as the room appeared to be arriving at some sense of order, he replied, “Dolphins can too you know.”

  Amanda raised her eyebrows at him.

  Crap, had he overstepped? “They have a good sense of smell I mean.”

  She grinned now and he could see that she was trying not to laugh.

  “Narwhals probably could as well,” he couldn’t help adding.

  She snorted and shook her head. “I’m still not convinced that’s a real creature.”

  Someone clapped their hands sharply as two chairs were set down beside them. A similar chair was placed next to Sirena, although she had yet to take it.

  Renault stood in the centre of the room, which apart from a few new chairs, looked exactly as it had when they’d first arrived. “Alright, let’s begin!”