Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2010 21:48:23 +0200
From: Luca Warberg <lucawarberg@gmail.com>
Subject: Tainted Blood 5

Standard Disclaimers Apply. All rights reserved by the author.

Hey guys! WOW!!! What a crazy year. Feels like forever since I last wrote a
chapter in this series, but I have been thinking of it a lot, and am still
sorting through some ideas in my own mind. BUT: I do have some good news.
Here is the next chapter of this story with soon more to follow.

Luca Warberg.

***************

Ch. 5.

Nico looked at the lake outside the enormous castle in Geneva. Dante had
unexpectedly met him at the airport in Rome and had insisted that they fly
immediately to the Swiss city. Nico started fiddling uncomfortably at the
thought of the flight. Dante had spent almost the entire time making fun of
him the minute he had discovered the slumped body of the steward in the
kitchen. Nico was more embarrassed than he cared to admit even to himself,
and more than that, the fact that he had so almost completely lost control
frightened him.

Picking up a smooth, flat pebble, Nico sent it flying across the lake. It
bounced several times on the water's surface before finally losing enough
momentum to sink into the dark, murky waters. They had flown to Geneva to
attend a meeting of the Regiorum. Their last meeting had been held many
years ago: a fact that did not bode well for the next meeting Nico and Dante
were about to attend.

The deep sound of enormous metallic bells ringing from the top of the castle
pulled Nico out of his deep thought. The ringing symbolised the start of the
opening ceremony and it meant that all Regiorum were required to enter
Conclave. Cursing silently to himself, Nico walked purposefully up the hill
to the castle. He walked quickly to the room which had been assigned to him
and stripped naked. He was just about to don the white robes which had been
laid out for him when Dante walked in, making a wolf whistle.

"Phew, looking sexy there stud. You been working out? Oh no, wait, must be
the energy you zapped out of that steward on the way here."

"Shut up Dante. You know this meeting is about something important. How can
you be so flippant?"

"Ah, Raf, always with the worrying. Don't you get tired of it? Sometimes its
better just to sit back and enjoy life. It's not like there's a hell of a
lot that can happen to truly harm us, you do realise that. We're protected."

"It's not us that I'm worried about Dante. There are other people in the
world too."

"Yeah, but none of them are as awesome as us," replied Dante with a smirk.

As they had been bantering between the two of them, Nico had donned a purple
cloak and had laid across his chest the golden chain bearing the insignia of
his house. Dante was already wearing an identical outfit. Finally deciding
the conversation was not worth the effort it took, Nico pulled the purple
hood over his head and walked out the room, down the hallway and towards the
chamber where they would meet before entering Conclave. He could feel Dante
ambling behind him, and could still sense the sarcastic smirk on his face.
Sometimes his brother really irritated him beyond belief.

The hall Nico entered was breathtakingly beautiful. It had several large
marble pillars, carved out in typical Roman fashion, adorning each side of
the hall. The ceilings had several arches, each painted in the Renaissance
style, depicting battles between heavenly and demonic forces. The walls were
covered with ornate gold and silver panelling and the floor seemed to be
carved out of a solid block of marble which glowed an almost golden colour
from the light cast on it by the enormous crystal chandelier hanging from
the centre of the ceiling. It seemed that they had been the last to enter
the hall, as there were several other figures already  standing silently in
the hall. They too wore white robes, but instead of the purple cloaks and
hoods, theirs were white. Also, instead of the golden chains, they wore
silver ones, each bearing the insignia or crest of the house from which the
person hailed. None of the faces in the rooms were visible, as all the
figures had pulled their hoods over their heads. On the far side of the
room, a deep, authoritative voice came from the only other doorway in the
hall.

"Voco concorsus Regiorum."

Without another sound, all the cloaked figures began moving into the chamber
beyond the hall. The room the entered was round, with a pentagram carved in
the centre of the room onto the otherwise flawless marble floor. At the head
of the room, standing in front of a solid silver throne stood another figure
donned in white robes, but with a crimson cloak and hood pulled over his
head. He also wore a silver chain bearing his family's insignia. Plain
wooden chairs had been set on either side of the throne, forming a
semi-circle around the pentagram in the middle of the room.

The white robed figures slowly started walking to their assigned seats, each
standing in front of the chair, waiting for everyone else. Nico and Dante
were the last to reach their chairs, Dante standing before the chair to the
right of the throne and Nico before the one on the left. The figure in the
crimson hood spoke again.

"Conclave incipit."

With that, he sat on the throne and the other figures followed suit. With
the formalities done, the language switched from Latin to English. On the
far side of the pentagram, directly opposite the throne, was a small stone
alter. By the looks of it, it appeared ancient. Once everyone was seated,
the crimson figure stood.

"Let us begin with reaffirming our thanks."

With that, he walked to the alter, bowed in front of it, kissed his middle
and index fingers, and then touched the fingers to the altar. He returned
back to the seat and without a word, Dante stood up to do the same. It was
then Nico's turn, and one by one the other robed figures got up to kneel
before the altar.

As the ceremony was taking place, Nico again felt his mind wandering. He
looked at the figures around him. Each of the thirteen members of Conclave
was, like him and Dante, a cambion. They were all half-human, half-demon.
Their mother's had all been born of Royal European houses and their father's
had carried different ranks within the nine circles of hell. The result was
that all the members here held different titles, according to the pedigree
of their human mothers and the demonic rank of their demon fathers. This was
reflected in the seating arrangements, with those of higher titles sitting
closest to the throne and those of lesser titles sitting nearest to the
altar. The man in the crimson robe sitting on the throne itself was chosen
every eighty years as the supreme leader, or the Pontifex Maximus, of the
Regiorum. The duties of the Pontifex was to conduct the ceremonies and
sacrifices when Enclave was convened. The crimson robe of the Pontifex was
thus representative of the blood he had to spill in order to placate the
fathers of the Regiorum.

Nico once again found himself being snapped out of his thoughts as the
Pontiff again started speaking after everyone had finished bowing before the
altar.

"I have convened this Enclave of the Regiorum to discuss an urgent problem
which has arisen, and has been brought to my attention by Prince Dante."
After he finished his sentence, the Pontiff bowed slightly in Dante's
direction, showing subtle deference to the boy.

"It would seem that all of us have been living within the confines of our
own lives and have neglected our duties to the kingdom our fathers have
entrusted to us. As we have grown older and have withdrawn into our own
pleasures, we have not noticed the extent to which our numbers have grown. I
would call first on the Duke of Europe to explain the situation within his
territory."

With that, the Pontifex sat down, and another clouded figure sitting to the
right of Dante stood up. He was the ruler of the duchy of Europe, the oldest
and wealthiest of the cambion duchies. As he stood, the figure slowly drew
back his hood, revealing his face. The man, like all cambion, was
exquisitely built, with a tall frame and broad shoulders. He had steel blue
eyes, blond hair and pale skin of an Austrian. He looked young and boyish,
but his hauntingly good looks were somewhat marred by the cruelty which
lingered in his eyes. His mother had been a princess, the daughter of an
early Roman Emperor. His father, while not a king of one of the nine circles
of hell, was a high ranking demon within the fifth circle of hell and was
renowned for his wrath. The result was that of the Dukes, this man held the
highest title, that of Duke of Europe.

"As you all know, my Duchy is the oldest and has historically been the duchy
where we have been the most numerous. Upon request of the Pontifex Maximus,
I looked into our numbers and have found that the number of my subjects have
risen markedly. I have found the number of young to have increased rapidly
and it has become apparent that we have all been lax in our duties. The
young are ill-disciplined and sport an unhealthy disregard for the authority
of the Regiorum. I have already started taking actions to re-institute
discipline amongst my subjects. "

There was a slight murmur which passed through the chamber as people started
realising the gravity of the situation. One by one the other Dukes and
Duchesses raised and told of similar stories within their Duchies. The last
one to stand was the Duchess of Africa, a tall African woman whose mother
had been one of the wives of the great Pharaohs. She, like the others, was
supernaturally beautiful. Her skin was a rich caramel colour and her eyes
almost black. Her long, slender figure evoked sexual urges in even the most
controlled of men.

"I too, have noticed similar occurrences in my Duchy. Before I came, I took
the time to converse with my father."

Again, there were murmurs around the chamber. Nico knew that the Duchess's
father was one of the centurions of the Eighth circle of hell: the
fraudulent circle. While not exactly high ranking, as a military leader, he
would be aware of any demonic deployments on earth. Forcing himself to
listen, Nico refocused on the Duchess to listen to what she has to say.

"There have been no major demonic deployments on Earth recently. The last
major deployment was  during the 1940's, by the Violent King of the Seventh
Circle of Hell. Since then, there has been no major force of demons gathered
on earth, which suggests that the creation of these new cambion are the
result of demons who have an existing post on earth. My father suggests
something is afoot in Hades but cannot tell what it entails. He has heard
rumours of dissent amongst the Demonic Council, but does not know if it is
true. He advised me to bolster my personal security."

The news from the African Duchess was worrying for a number of reasons, not
least of which was the fact that the rise in cambion numbers seemed to be
part of a formal plan. Dissent in hell meant a restructuring of Earthly
Duchies , something which hadn't happened since the Asian Duchess had been
forced to cede a large part of her Western territories to a new cambion who
then became the Count of the Balkans in the 1500s. While the Balkans were
still notionally under her posession, actual control of them vested in the
Count. The Regiorum had quickly made an agreement to aid each other to
prevent such treachery again. Earthly duchies had thus remained intact for
more than five hundred years now and the result was that news of dissent in
hell greatly disturbed all the Regiorii present.

Once the murmuring had subsided, the Pontiff again stood up.

"The words of the Duchess of Africa serve to confirm my fears that something
is afoot. While the new cambion seem to be mostly of lower or no titles, it
would seem that the problem is not insurmountable. I would, however, advise
each of us to increase supervision in our Duchies.  These newlings have to
be taught our ways and kept accountable for their practices. We do not need,
or want, exposure to the human media and the resulting chaos. Already, a
newling has made the news in New York. We need to continue hiding, because
once we are exposed, our control of the Illuminati will be exposed and the
humans will riot. We stand to lose everything."

All the other figures in the room nodded their heads in agreement. Finally,
the Pontiff was finished. With the words, Conclave Soluta, he finished the
meeting, allowing the members of the Regorium to stand and file out the
room. By that night, they would all be on private jets on the way back to
their territories.

*****

Hey guys, ok so I know this chapter isn't so great, but it's taking me some
time to get back into writing. Most of what I am writing here is based on a
lot of Christian and Judaic Demonology and Angelology... so if you're curious
about getting more information, look up books like Dante's Inferno and other
stories of Demonology. I suppose the cat's finally out the bag and you guys
all know what Dante and Nico are now.

I just wanted to post this short chapter to get the ball rolling again. I'm
on summer vacation now, so I should be able to write a lot more. Sorry for
the long wait, and please hit me with your comments! Tell me what you think
of the story so far at:

lucawarberg@gmail.com

PS- shot to those regular guys who email me with comments. It's really
encouraging and you have no idea how much i appreciate it. Its good to know
that at last some people are reading my attempt at literature :)

Shot guys, and really appreciate the feedback!

Luca.