“We’ll have it to you ASAP,” Skye said. “A change this late in the game is bound to rouse protests and give some excuses to withdraw from the summit.”

“They do so at their peril,” Simone said darkly. “I am willing to give a little leeway and take input as far as refining the language of the treaty is concerned, but I will not accept bald refusal or posturing.”

“We’ll work it out,” Rafe assured her. “I’ll start by sending out a precursor letter about the changes being made. That way we can sort through the responses both negative and positive as quickly as possible. A last-minute change like this can expose those who are just giving the treaty lip service. Anyone who is serious about this treaty and what it means will see the exchange of authoritarians for what it is—a means to help.”

“Agreed,” Simone said. “Very well. Have at it. Let me know what the responses are like, Rafe.”

“I will,” Rafe said, pulling his phone out of his pocket and glancing at the screen. There was a message.

Looking forward to tonight! :) Renee

Rafe smiled. The message pulled him away from the seriousness of what he would be doing in the next hours. In a way it bolstered him. He gave Simone a nod and exited the conference room. He hurried to his own office, giving a passing nod to his assistant as he went in.

“Oh, Mr. DaSilva, there’s a phone message from the Turkish prince and the London prince,” Rachel said as he passed.

“Connect me to Leopold first,” he said. “I’ll let you know about Bayram.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll get him for you.”

Rafe entered his office and sat behind his desk. The desk put his back directly toward the south-facing windows, allowing as much unobstructed sunlight to touch him as possible. That is, when there was sunlight to be had. Right then the sky was overcast and it was still snowing. The trouble with inclement weather was that it deprived e-vamps of a vital source of energy. It made it twice as likely the vampire would have to hunt to replenish his energy. How long it took to show signs of torpor varied from vampire to vampire. It could be anywhere from a couple of days to seven or eight. Usually, the older a vampire was the longer he or she could go without replenishing vital resources. Also, it depended on the weather. The sunnier the week, the less the need to feed.

Generally Rafe only needed to feed once every five days or so, depending on how much sun he got. After feeding from Renee, he ought to be good for a while provided the weather broke and the sun came out to play. Unfortunately, according to the app on his phone, the weather wasn’t going to break until Saturday and the sun wouldn’t show itself until Sunday, the day before the vampire summit meeting. That meant there would be an extraordinary influx of potentially hungry vampires arriving in Manhattan all at the same time. Between each diplomat and their multitudinous entourages, it was a logistical nightmare.

However, they had taken all of this into consideration. The summit would last only three days. Each vampire had been instructed to feed in their home territories before boarding the plane to New York. For those who could not make it three days without feeding, assistants had been supplied who would share their own personal resources with the diplomats as needed. As one might guide a visiting friend to a favorite restaurant, the assistant would guide to a favorite human to be fed from. This negated the nightmare of having hundreds of hungry vampires hunting in the streets for clean energy sources.

Yes, New York was a big city with millions of people in it, but still, those who lived the clean lifestyle required in order to be considered an appropriate food source were rare if one didn’t know where to look for them. This was why it was always wise, as well as courteous, to announce your arrival in a city to the prince of that city. True, vampires moved in and out of New York constantly without announcing themselves to the queen or her retainers, but that did not mean it was smiled upon.

The accepted protocol was to visit immigration in the city you were visiting. You were then handed the visiting rules and laws pertaining to that city—including what areas it was wise to avoid and what were the best hunting areas. It also included where the densest populations of sycophants were so that they could be avoided. Immigration had its own department in the busy office building they were currently in.

Rafe’s phone buzzed on his desk.

“The prince of London is on line one,” came his secretary’s voice over the speaker.

Rafe picked up the line.

“Leopold,” he greeted warmly.

“Rafe. It’s been too long.”

“You’ll be seeing me Monday. Why are you calling? Is something amiss?”

“Nothing at all. I was wondering how my cousin is holding up as the big day approaches.”

“Why don’t you call Simone and ask her yourself?”

“You know Simone. She’d just pretend everything is smooth sailing and that nothing bothers her the least little bit. I’ll get a more honest perspective from you.”

“Simone is all right. She is obviously under a great deal of stress. This is very important to her. She just made some last-minute changes to the treaty that she knows some are going to try to use as an excuse for not signing, but the changes were necessary.”

“Would you care to enlighten me?”

“It’s merely giving more power to the authoritarians as far as enforcing the treaty is concerned and forcing an exchange program on native authoritarians so that they are spread across the world rather than stagnant in their home countries.”

“Oh my. That won’t be popular at all. Authoritarians in the eastern European territories are especially loyal to their homelands. They won’t take to being uprooted.”

“We’re not asking them to be disloyal. We’re asking them to open their minds and discard their biases. That is all.”

“That’s all? That’s all? That’s a lot. Sometimes that’s everything to these people.”

“It’s time we stopped fighting amongst ourselves and started focusing on the real problem. The sycophants.”

“Obviously a great many of these countries and city-states agree with you or we would not be having this summit. I only hope my cousin’s last-minute changes don’t spoil the effect.”

“They are necessary changes.”

“I agree. But not everyone will.”