Two other vampires arrived after Willa did-a raven-haired man with a pretty-boy look to him and a rather plump man wearing a hat. After the man wearing a hat took his seat, the thrall that had greeted them earlier began to speak. Willa kept her eyes downcast as she listened to what he had to say. She was uncertain and wary of the entire situation; who would care anything about a vampire like her, a weak little thing who could barely even walk most of the time, and [i]why[/i]? She could understand the reasons for summoning some of the others-the vampire with the clawed hands, for instance-but why her?

The thrall's explanation posed no answers to the question that burned inside her. How could the older vampires be blind to her abilities when she possessed none to be blind to in the first place? Of course, coming from the same bloodline as Stella meant that Willa was able to manipulate pain too, but she rarely ever had the energy or the chance to use it. The only times Willa could recall utilizing the ability was transferring pain into rodents and birds so Willa would be able to catch them and feed. Besides, she hated the power. The back of her neck prickled as Stella's harsh voice and cold eyes came to mind. 

However, there [i]were[/i] parts of the thrall's proposal that piqued Willa's interest. If he was talking about bringing down the Monarch and the Barons, what was to say that they couldn't get rid of Stella too? Willa knew that her sire was certainly nowhere near as powerful as the Monarch or the Barons. Willa tentatively lifted her gaze from the table. She was suspicious, but at the same time she was just the slightest bit hopeful. Out of all the vampires assembled, Willa thought that she could safely say that she had the least to lose. 

The vampire with clawed hands dug his claws into the table and tore out chunks of the wood. The hood he wore fell back and away from his face, giving everyone in the room a clear look at his sickly features. Willa had seen other vampires of his bloodline before, not necessarily in the sewers but above ground in dark alleyways and derelict buildings. She'd never approached any of them, and they'd never approached her. Even Willa knew of the rumors that swirled around about their kind. 

Willa listened to his responses to the thrall, finding that she agreed with most of them. Why would any vampire-and judging from the fact that this vampire had so thoroughly conditioned his or her thralls and secured a location for the meeting as well as done extensive research to choose a group of vampires from a variety of bloodlines, the vampire was fairly well off-want to help the likes of her? Most other vampires completely ignored her, and she couldn't blame them. There was nothing about her that was threatening in the slightest, and she had no useful abilities or skills to offer to anyone. Unless you counted being completely still while Stella hit her as a skill.

The vampire that looked like he came straight out of a murder mystery spoke up. Willa found merit in what he added as well, especially the part where he pointed out that the chances of success were low. And did the vampire organizing all of this take any time to think about how well the vampires he or she chose would work together? Although Willa's eyes had been glued to the table the entire time, even she could pick up the tension in between some of the vampires assembled. For example, the murder mystery vampire didn't seem to be very popular amongst the ones who recognized him, from what Willa could see. 

But at the end of the day, Willa knew that she either had this or going back to Stella for the rest of her undeath. And the thought of throwing away such an opportunity to free herself of her sire-even an extremely precarious one as this-made Willa uneasy. 

[i]I have nothing to lose, nothing to lose, [/i]she repeated silently to herself. Willa looked up for the first time since she took her seat, taking off the hood of her baggy sweatshirt in order to get a better view of the room. She knew that her face still bore the signs of the last time Stella had paid her a visit-there were scars on her cheeks from where Stella had dragged a knife through her flesh and faint bruises that were highlighted by her unhealthily pale skin-but Willa supposed that it didn't really matter in this kind of situation. She pushed her brown hair away from her eyes and turned her attention to the thrall. "I agree with...with what they said," Willa began, her voice timid and spider-soft. "But why? Why us, besides our age?" 

Now all there was left to do was to watch and listen.