Dark Liaison (First 10 Chapters)

“Citizen vampyres and vampires do not vote, only zee members of zee Councils. Every Council is made up of zee Head, Hands, Arms, and Councilmen. Each major clan has a royal family. Zee king or queen is referred to as zee Head of the Clan. They are zee highest order of zee law and have zee final verdict in all disputes. However, they can be impeached by majority vote of zee Council.

“Zee Hands are one step down. There are a maximum of trois Hands per clan, though some smaller clans have only two or one. Zee Hands act as zee Head’s advisors and can speak and act on their behalf in matters that don’t require zee Head’s direct attention. They are usually numbered Second-in-Command, Third-in-Command, and Fourth-in-Command. Should zee Head be unavailable for any reason, zee Second will step in. If he or she is unavailable, zee responsibility then falls on zee Third, and so forth.”

I thought of Maria and Naamah. Jesu had told me Maria was Jalmari’s Third-inCommand, but she acted more like a maid than a politician. I felt a little strange having opened up to her like she was my own mother, but there was something so comforting about Maria’s company. Even Naamah had a pleasant aura about him and I had only met him once.

“So they’re like Vice Presidents,” I said while sorting through my thoughts.

“That is one way to think of it. Zee Arms are zee next step down the hierarchy. Their number depends on zee size of zee clan’s territory. They’re responsible for upholding zee law in countries other than where zee Head lives. For example, zee Alpan clan has four Arms; Octavio del Lobo who governs Spain and Portugal, Ricardus du Loup in France, Benedetto del Lupo in Italy, and Constantine an MacTire who governs Ireland and zee United Kingdom.”

I looked at the map again and realized the Alpan clan also included Belgium, Denmark and Netherland. Jesu had said the Alpan king and queen lived in Germany. I guess they didn’t consider those countries big enough to have their own Arm. “Zee Arms can vote and deal largely with zee R.E.D., but they cannot stand in for zee Head under any circumstances.”

“The Senate.” I nodded.

“Zee final step below that are zee Councilmen who represent each providence. Don’t be confused by their title. Zee Councilmen together with zee Arms, Hands, and Head make up each Council. Zee Councilmen are zee voice of zee Citizens and have voting rights. They deal with local immediate issues and zee R.E.D.” 69