The doctor continued grumping as the two of them walked to the nurses’ station. When they reached it, the doctor started organizing the distribution to critical cases. After the triage had been finished, he began organizing the schedule for the most severe cases. He chewed on a pen thinking about next steps. Well, next steps provided that there were no adverse reactions with the unknown medicine.
After all, Boris would never deliberately harm the people he protected.
CHAPTER SIX
Romonavka Town Square
Boris stood in front of a crowded square full of people whose scents told him of anger, grief, resolve. As he suspected, the crowd was large and included everyone from the surrounding area that could make it. While he could speak loudly, he couldn’t possibly shout for all of these to hear him.
At least ten thousand people were in the square, nearby public buildings and streets. So, Boris stepped up and made sure the microphone was on before speaking to those in front of him.
He started with praising the courage of those who had taken part in the attack on the NVG. He continued, explaining the danger that he felt the shift in policy, represented, official or otherwise. Finally, he announced “I called you all here for a Meeting of Decision, as I promised your ancestors. I have found someone worthy of taking up the mantle of Czarina of our people. She is not Russian. But challenging times need a change in our perspective. She was loved by the only person to defeat me in combat and has shown a capacity for both ruthlessness when necessary and yet compassion when possible.”
He looked around and over the heads of those in front to register the effect of his words.
There was confusion and turmoil in the crowd. Although many knew he was different, few had actually seen his other form. One loudmouth near the front was disputing Boris’ right to call such without a meeting of the town council, half of whom had been shot. The loudmouth was punched completely out by one of the pack.
“Halt!” He got the crowd to stop for a second and look to him. He took off his cap and tossed it behind him where Paul guarded his back. “I will put an end to all concerns about my authority!”
Boris looked and his eyes furrowed.
There was a sound of shredding cloth as he altered as the crowds gasped and the comments flew to the back as fast as people could pass the story to those who could not see. In the background, Paul grabbed a bag and start pulling clothes from it.
His bear form roared, “Silence!” in a voice that seemed to shake the ground and the surrounding buildings.
“I did not protect yourrr people so you could become a rrrabble. I protected you, your fatherrs and your fatherrs fatherrs in faith for the future Czarr or Czarrrina. I promised to search and have done so. Now, in the time of greatest need for such one has been found!” His voice was rough but clear. Werebear Pricolici, for whatever reason, had always had better control over their speech than werewolf Pricolici.
There were some isolated shrieks in the crowd at his appearance. The family and friends of those timid ones shushed them. Some in the crowd showed fear, but many showed a mixture of awe and rapture bordering on worship.
This was what they had been raised on. That among them some people were also ‘other’, protecting them from the worst of the outside world. Standing before them was the proof of their legends. Their stories had come to life and was standing in front of them, speaking to them, leading them.
Boris changed back, the shreds of his former clothing dropping to the ground and accepted a pair of pants from Paul. He put them on with no show or haste. Glaring out at the crowd when dressed, he stated, “Many of you knew about me. I give you the decision meeting. Although the person I found is… different, as I am. She is of this time and has no small amount of resources. She offered to take you in and swore an oath to protect you when I gave her a personal promise of aid. She did this without my asking and has already sent us aid.”
He gestured to the more than a hundred people who had been injured but were instead now out of the hospital and clearly healthy. “I now ask for you to hear her offer.”
As if they had been watching and waiting for him to finish, five black pods dropped from the sky to the area behind the podium that had been kept clear. First out were John Grimes, Akio, and Erik, followed by Ashur jumping down then Bethany Anne. Following this group was two of the Queen’s Elite. Nathan and Peter exited the last pod.
As they approached the stage, Boris turned to Danislav and said. “Tie that loudmouth up and dump him at the edge of town. We’ll move him outside of our area after we finish this. He has shown a level of stupidity we don’t need.” Danislav nodded, picked the man up, slung him over a shoulder, and then headed off to take care of Boris’ request.
Bethany Anne looked at what Danislav was doing and raised an eyebrow to Boris. He shrugged at her and said quietly, “In any group, there is always ONE idiot.” She nodded in wry acceptance. Boris continued, “Please, your speech and then we will head off to a distance. They have a right under the protection agreement to discuss their opinions amongst themselves without me or the candidate present if the candidate is not a Romanov.”
Bethany Anne thought on that and decided that it was actually a surprisingly wise provision. She smiled at him and waited for what would come next.
Boris, along with the town elders and troop commanders who stood on the stage, exited it to the left while Bethany Anne entered the newly-vacated space from the right. John, Erik, and Aiko took positions on the stage front while the two Elites took silent positions to the side, guarding the steps to the podium.
Bethany Anne smiled as she spoke to the microphone, “Hello, my name is Bethany Anne, and if you do not realize it, I’m a Kurtherian-changed human, like some of you. The difference? I have been changed by one group, and those changes make me what folklore has called a Vampire. Some of you have been altered by another group, and those changes turn you into a Wechselbalg, a changeling. In a few cases, like Boris, the changeling is able to take an additional form, called a Pricolici.”
She stopped a moment to let the information sink in. “I don’t give a flying fuck what group changed you, what your parents did or the color of your skin. We care about two things. The first is protecting this Earth so that the people here can make their own choices for the future, even if those are bad ones. And, our other focus is taking the fight to the Kurtherians trying to subjugate other races in outer space.”
She looked down to the microphone.
ADAM, can you and TOM come up with a way to jack me into the system?
>>Yes, one second.<<
Bethany Anne smiled to the group.
>>Done.<<
Bethany Anne started walking slightly back and forth on the stage, the distance from the microphone not causing a problem. “It won’t be easy, it won’t always be fun, but it will be the future. We are going to space, we are taking the fight out there,” she said, as she pointed to the sky, “and we need people. People who aren’t afraid of the future, people who can bring skills, intelligence and passion. People who understand family, because that is what my group is, a family. One of my closest female friends is a Pricolici, a werewolf, another is a vampire, and the third is a human.”