The Devil's Angel (The Devil's Assistant Series Book 4)

The Devil's Angel - Chapter 6

"Thank you for inviting me." "We wanted your input into the upcoming bills that have been submitted into parliament." She folded her hands demurely in her lap as she spoke. "The reality of the situation is these new bills are gaining support. I don't like how quickly things are moving but the implementation of the supernatural registration bill just might be inevitable."

"If it's inevitable, why bring me here?" I asked, biting my lip the moment the words had escaped me. The blonde tilted her head to the side and regarded me openly.

"I invited you here to get your input. I may not like where this is heading but maybe we can come to some compromise."

Lyle's features twisted at these words, his disapproval clear to anyone who was looking his way.

"Compromise? How can there be compromise on this?" I asked, truly wanting to know the answer.

"The act would require that everyone declares who they are and get registered like a criminal. The majority of the supernatural community have done nothing to harm humanity. Instead they have defended human kind when they didn't have to."

"Yes, but looking at the events over the past few years, wouldn't you say that the supernatural have been the cause of most of our problems?" Victor intoned dryly, his eyes meeting mine for the smallest second before he turned his attention to the others, imploring them to take his side.

"I can't deny that there has been a surge of supernatural activity in recent years. And yet, my step into the supernatural world began with a very human man pointing a cross bow into my face and threatening the life of my son. If it wasn't for certain Supernatural persons, I would have died by that man's hand." There was no need to tell them that the man wanted to kill me because he thought I was a demon. And there was definitely no need to tell them the man had been killed by Lucius Satani.

"It was a rarity. Not every human goes around with a crossbow threatening humans." The smarmy git looked at me with that patronising stare. "You cannot hold humanity at fault for the actions of a select few."

"Yet you try to do the same with those who are not strictly human? You're a hypocrite. The supernatural community do not go around making trouble and drawing attention to themselves. Don't you think the world would be a vastly different place if these kinds of events happen every day?" I met the gaze of each and every person as I swept my attention over the table. "A lot of the supernatural community are just normal people, living out their day to day lives worrying about their family, paying their mortgages and trying to live the best life they can. It will cause more harm than good to subject them to this much attention."

"Is that a threat, Miss Holmes?" Victor asked with his sickly smile on his face once more. Yet from the way that his hands were clenched around the items of cutlery, it wasn't difficult to see the anger brewing under his façade.

"Not at all, Mr Lyle," I retorted, my own fake smile plastered on my face. "It is just common sense. We need to create a sense of calm within the population right now. With the financial struggles most households are now facing, a united front is what this country needs." I turned my attention to the prime minister, almost pleading her to take my side in this argument. "Forcing people to register themselves like common criminals will only harbour ill will between everyone involved, human and supernatural. I do not want our nation to become that place."

The Prime Minister, an astute woman, considered for a few moments before opening her mouth to respond. Lyle got their first. His attention was so focused on gaining the advantage over me he did not see the anger that flashed across the woman's face.

"People want to know exactly who their neighbours are. We humans have the right to know if we are living on the same street as someone who is not human." Victor stared down his nose at me for several long seconds, the lines around his pinched lips telling me much more than his words ever could. "And as a man of the people I agree with them. We have a right to know if our neighbours are a threat to us."

I snorted and shook my head. "Right now, I wonder what kind of threat people like you pose to the supernatural community, Mr Lyle. You say that we are a threat to you but you are proving to me right now that the human race might just be a threat to us. I wouldn't take that a compliment." "

I can see that this is not something we will finish in one conversation." The Prime Minister cut in before the verbal sparring match could continue. "I will take both of your comments into consideration and I hope that we can come to an agreement on how this issue will be handled."

With a wave of her hand, waiters approached the table with dramatic flourish and set dishes in front of all the attendees. The smell of the food wafting from the plate was delicious but my stomach rolled at the thought of eating. Still I offered a grateful smile at our hostess and ingested a mouthful of the buttery potato.

The conversation was over for now but I had the feeling that this was only the beginning.