Knocking the door, he turned the k.n.o.b of the door in time when the person on the other side of the room asked to come in.

"Councilman Damien," said the man who sat behind the desk.

"Head council Rueben, good afternoon," Damien offered the man a slight bow as he was the man in charge of the council who was the one to handle matters in the council as a final word, reviewing the edicts before they were pa.s.sed down and having the last call in most of the matters unless there was the judiciary who would involve themselves in a particular matter. He was a half-vampire, a human who was turned to a vampire, "Did you know we have rats in the council?" Damien asked the question as the man in front of him waved his hand for him to take a seat in front of the desk. 

The head councilman looked at Damien with a puzzled expression before it dawned that rats meant the councilmen, "Who are we speaking about?" asked Rueben intrigued, bringing his elbows to rest on the surface of the desk and linking his fingers together. His bright red eyes had settled on Damien. 

"Who do you think I am speaking about?" Damien asked another question with a gleaming smile. 

Rueben smiled back, a calm smile which pulled further up, "There are too many rats in here. I am not sure which one you are talking about right now." 

Of course, Damien knew that. It didn't have to be told but they were minor rats he hadn't bothered himself with. It would be hard to deny if one were to question the loyalty of the council members who worked for the council that they didn't stray away from the defined path for their own gains. 

Switching the conversation, Damien said, "I came here to talk about the black witches. They are collecting euphorines," the head council's brows knitted together. 

"Wasn't the production stopped long ago? Ah, the black market," he leaned back against his chair. If one had to find anything and if the person knew the right person, it didn't take long to acquire something of need. There was a reason why it was called the black market, because all the forbidden items could be found there with a good price to pay, "Did you find out why?"

"She didn't give the information about why but knowing what the substance does I would guess that they are trying to convert the humans. I looked a few more spots but everything has been sold out. Even if you offer a soul you wouldn't be able to get it," the head council sat in his chair with a grim expression on his face. 

"I will have Lionel's team a.s.signed to the case. They almost finished one, it shouldn't be hard to look up for it," Damien gave the man a nod. He did hear about that. The Duke's team was already efficient but since the lady had been a.s.signed, their work completed quicker which had left many of the councilmen in question on how capable the woman really was. After all, she had come alive from the second examination, "I received the parchments you sent me. Thank you for turning it in soon."

"Hmm," Damien hummed, "I will have another parchment ready so that councilman Lionel can have a look before it gets handed down the councilman Leonard."

"That would be great. By the way," head council Rueben said when Damien stood up from his seat, "I received a complaint against you," Damien knew this was going to come up, especially after what happened last week, "Is it true what you did?"

"Depends on what you heard," he tilted his head, waiting for the head councilman to scold or warn him. 

Rueben pinched the bridge of his nose, "Is it so hard to treat people nice, Damien?" Rueben got down to the first name basis. 

"You should ask the man what he did."

The man nodded his head, "I heard it. That he had switched your blood tea with tomato juice and what did you do? You stabbed," Reuben looked at Damien as if waiting for him to explain about it when there was nothing to explain. 

"Stab is an overstretched word. I merely cut the top of his skin. For a councilman, he isn't that good in dealing with pain nor bright. The jury picks the wrong people in."

"If you were in the jury we would have people limping with missing limbs and lacking councilmen."

"He shouldn't have tried to joke in the first place and should rather be happy I didn't dismember any of his limbs," Damien walked out and away from the chair, "I will have the report filled. Is Lord Nicholas here?" he inquired. 

"Not yet. He didn't mention about coming to the council today," the head council answered.

Walking out of the room, Damien started to head towards the entrance of the building. On his way, he met the man of the day. Councilman Creed who stood talking to another councilman- Abel Harlow. The man was the exact description as people had mentioned him to be. His eye-patch in place making him question what exactly was going on. Whoever the white witch was from the church had looked and asked for him.

By appearance, he appeared calm and poised. Older than the rest of the councilman, there were fine lines around his eye. Different colored eyes meant either the man had a genetic change or another possibility where Councilman Creed was like him with a corrupted heart and was now hiding it.