"This appears to be everyone. Besides, of course, your tardy little sister, Angie. We might as well start without her, sway like hers isn't worth hanging on for... students must be fun, but they have little power." Lex taps the round table the five gathered members convene around with glossy black nails, the slick blonde smirking to try and unnerve the head of their secret little council. 

Angel is unbothered by the attempt, knowing that Lex is one to stick to easy, corporate acquisitions. The wife collecting middle manager only takes slaves that already display some interest in them physically, while Angel takes no interest whatsoever. Mrs. Tilley, the council's newest and most controversial member, moves to stand up and defend her former owner from the insult but is stopped by an impossibly strong arm from the grinning lady beside her. Eyes red as fresh blood, pearly fangs on display. 

"Ah yes, those students graduate and soon find themselves falling into your clutches during their first real job. I'm sure you're drowning in power with all those wives, hm?" Angel notices Lex open their mouth defensively and the blonde waves her hand. "Spare me, I know you've a steady thing going with uhm... stocks or whatever, I don't really care it's so fucking boring! Please leave any petty competition out of today's meeting, alright? My little sister has a city in the palm of her hand without any of the fancy tricks you lot have up your sleeves. No charms, parasites or special rings. She's still young and I'm very proud of her!" Angel beams, talking her sister up while internally cursing the girl's lateness. Jessica has never been behind schedule, not once. 

Jess giggles into Elle's mouth as she pushes the assistant against bathroom stall and kisses her with vigour. Elle's heart skips every time Jess kisses her since they started dating, Paradise now has two queens and one is more accustomed to being on her knees than her feet most days. It has been interesting, seeing the world through Jessica's eyes. When they first met she shyly confessed to the jade eyed menace that she wanted her college days to be exciting, to try kissing a girl... so how could she be upset? 

"Mphh... f-fuck! I got carried away, Elle... we're so late!" Jess hastily starts buttoning up her girlfriend's shirt and has the other fumble to do the same. The panic Jessica wears is surprising to Elle, never having noticed that the owner she has looked up to all this time has only been a small fish in a much larger pond. According to Jessica, she's the second lowest ranking member of this council of theirs save for the newest member, Raine Tilley. Elle remembers Mrs. Tilley fondly from their days together in the dorm, she baked such scrumptious cookies!

Back in the conference room hired out by Angel through alternative payment methods, the big fish bicker amongst themselves idly. "Is nobody else going to call attention to Jessica rigging future votes with this planted trad wife character..." Lex again, they must feel so threatened. Angel is too preoccupied playing a match three game on her phone to look up, long gel nails swiping over her screen while her eyes roll dramatically. 

"She met the criteria, I tested her myself to ensure the rules against collusion would not be broken. Slight conflicts of interest are allowed, because we deal with them the old fashioned way. I taught Jess and she joined us eventually, I don't see how Mrs. Tilley's invitation is any different. You're being dramatic and annoying, don't make me force your mouth closed." The girl finally flicks her eyes up to make her point, challenging an intimidated Lex who knows all too well how quickly Angie dominated Europe. 

With a series of clacking heels and shuffling steps short behind them, Jessica enters the room with her adorable assistant and takes to her spot at the table with a practiced confidence. The girl sees no need to explain her tardiness, her smug look daring anybody to call her out on it even if she isn't in a position to do so like her sister. 

"Okay, I'll bite~" The vampire dressed up in frills and licking her lips incessantly stares with glowing eyes towards the girl behind their latecomer. "Who's the delicious looking chick behind you? Introduce us and we'll all forget about you being late, kay hon?" Elle retracts behind her clipboard, clearly overwhelmed by the clashing auras in this room. 

Lex scoffs. "Now the thrall speaks for all of us, does she? Did your masters not see fit to attend this meeting themselves?" 

With a dangerous glare, Talia advises Lex to shut their mouth before she rips it out with her fangs. In the next moment, she's smiling sweetly. "They're on vacation, I offered to stay behind and run our humble operation down in Carnivore Creek and surrounding areas. You should come down and visit for dinner, it really is lovely to get away from the big cities every now and then."

When Talia's eyes begin to glow during her last sentence, Lex turns away to avoid being charmed. Vampires are such a nuisance. "Ugh. If I'd known we could bring tagalongs and send emissaries..."

The one member having yet to speak up bursts into giggles at this. "You're way too high strung, middle-manager. Like... calm down, listen to Angie." The girl unzips her coat and shuffles her chair closer to Angel, still laughing at Lex trying to bring any sort of order to this table. 

"If I may ask, Angel?" Mrs. Tilley starts, the well put together woman dressed up in one of her finest vintage dresses, flowing orange with painted apples as the design. It really makes you want to try her famous apple pies, or so I'm told. The woman's lips are as buxom as her figure. 

"Go ahead, sweetie." The blonde seems content to watch the disorder play out, waving at Jessica who hasn't seen her in person for a good few years. 

"Who is that girl next to you? I'm aware of all the members here except for her, she appears quite ordinary if you don't mind me saying hehe... apologies, I'm still new!" The woman named Tilley has her own sizable movement already, converting the city's undesirables into more proper, appropriate women. Jessica cut her loose to pursue this difference in objective, rather than redirect the woman's interests. For that, Tilley is still very loyal to the girl who made her this way. 

Angel laughs and lifts out of her seat to stroke a hand through the topic of conversation's hair. "Mila here's the new host for our esteemed parasitic queen, she's since been forgiven for the overstep that forced me to cut off her former hive and has begun another in open territory. Also, we've been dating a little, just here and there!" Both Angel and Mila share a laugh, you would never be able to guess that the former culled the latter's hive not so long ago, not when their lips touch to show she's not simply teasing. 

"I'm serious about her, we're attracted to power and well... hehe!" Mila seems giddy, that parasite in her brain pumping human host with pleasure to keep her under control. 

Jessica quirks her brow and Angel shrugs at her, winking. She supposes that her sister has dated worse. "I suppose I should also be transparent and say that I'm dating my assistant here, scandalous I know." The Queen of Paradise pushes Elle towards prying eyes by her shoulders, the meek, part-time puppy not sure how to act in front of such company. 

"H-hello, uhm... ahaha... I'm so nervous, sorry." The sight of Elle's genuine embarrassment seems to dispel tension around the room, every member of the council appearing amused and relaxed at last. 

"Well she's adorable, I want one..." Talia curses her luck for being out of nibbling distance from the other side of the table. 

"I'll say, she'd look even better with a ring on... Jess, if you don't act quickly someone else could take her off your hands and do her the favour." Lex flashes their rings and Elle gulps, Jessica pulling her back a little possessively with an uncharacteristic blush on her face. 

"C-can we move on please? I didn't just bring her here to show off, I have something to announce. It's the main topic in fact, lucky me!" Jessica sits down at last and gestures for Elle to do the same. 

The room's eyes turn towards Angel and the blonde nods, smiling passively. "It's true, I wasn't sure it'd be necessary for us to hold a meeting this year after how fine we've all been doing without them. To be honest I only formed this thing way back when, territory disputes were a headache and coming to discuss stuff on neutral ground was a literal necessity. More a formality these days and it's pretty lax as you can see. Still, my baby sister insisted that I held it when I confessed I might not bother. Seems she has news." 

Those eyes shift back to Jessica, who nods purposefully, setting down a manila envelope on the table and squeezing Elle's hand. Noticing nobody else taking it, Mila reaches forwards and hands the envelope to Angel, who opens it as she dons her hot pink reading glasses to assess the body of text within. "Ahem. I, Jessica, hereby declare my... retirement? Jess, what is this?"

Jessica raises her head and meets her mentor's eyes confidently. "I'm quitting the game, sis. If you'll read the rest of the letter, I've offered freedom to all my subjects though around a third denied the offer so I've divvied those up along with my agreed areas. In return, all I ask is immunity for myself and Elle here... and that you call me on my birthday for once." 

Angel reads through the letter silently, wondering if her silly sister is serious about throwing everything away? Why now? The blonde tries to hide her dissatisfaction, having looked forward to seeing the girl she trained blossom into something resembling a legacy. Tilley seems just as shocked, nervously knitting in the corner while Lex nods passively, happy to have both of the table's big conflicts of interests resolved just in time for that parasite to fill the hole they leave. 

Eyes still trained on the mouth watering human ahead of her, Talia simply smirks. 

"Well then, I suppose... we're a member down." Angel sets down the letter and snaps her fingers. "Drinks! This calls for a toast, wouldn't you all agree?" 

The table rises and drinks are set by mindless maidservants, Talia considering nabbing a few of them to help with work back at the mansion she's maintaining. 

Elle bites her lip, fingers curling around the stem of her wine flute. 

Forgive me, Jessica.

To be continued...