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Elijah wasn't surprised to find out that no one from the vampires faction decided to show up to the meeting after what they all did to Marcel: it was true that what he tried to do put their whole agreement in danger and so they needed to punish him to set an example before anyone else tried to do the same, but the way they did it was just cruel. He couldn't blame the vampires for taking it as an unjustifiable act of revenge. At the same time, being a vampire wasn't helping to make all the others see his point: he let Genevieve accuse him of having ulterior motives for wanting Marcel free, more interested in the ability she proved in turning anyone else against him and the vampires than in her arguments.
"On the contrary I believe he deserves to be restrained until he proves he can be a proficient member of this community" he countered as soon as she paused, raising his hand to silently ask her to wait as she opened her mouth to say something else; "however is also my belief that his actions were dictated by decades of reiterated violence and mistrust. We all have suffered and wronged each others in the past and what have we obtained? Reciprocal retaliation. If we desire to end this feud, it is time we begin practicing mercy... not for Marcel, for all of us" he insisted, perfectly knowing that he needed some concrete action to prove their best intentions, if he wanted a chance to actually convince the vampires to honour the agreement even after what happened.
Francesca was pointing out the danger her people would have gone through if Marcel's plan actually succedeed when a clicking sound outside the room came closer and closer, probably not loud enough for anyone else to hear it; Elijah gave the closed door a suspicious look: "we have guests" he informed the others, ready to take any action required to grant anyone's safety, though he immediately realised that wasn't necessary. As soon as the door opened a woman walked in, quietly taking the free seat next to Francesca.
Elijah silently watched her moving around like she owned the place and he couldn't help but notice she looked incredibly confident, considering who were the people surrounding her. He had never talked to Valesca before, but he knew who she was since he did a little research about those who hold most influence over the city; he liked keeping himself up to date about anything that happened in the neighbourhood. Apparently he wasn't the only one having informers: it wasn't hard to guess she perfectly knew who they all were and what they were doing there, which gave her an advantage, since he had no idea what might have brought the sheriff there. Elijah turned to question Hayley, but it was clear from her expression that she had no idea either; the only one who didn't look completely surprised was Francesca, yet she wasn't exactly one of the most emotional people he knew and it hardly meant anything.
"I'm afraid this is not the most appropriate timing" replied Elijah, politely yet firmly. Not that he had anything against someone else joining them, but her attitude couldn't bring anything good with everyone already on a killing mood: the last thing he needed was they all believed that anyone could interrupt their meetings. He knew that if he wanted that peace treaty to actually succeed he had to make them all feel that what they were doing there was important; allowing someone, who was not even invited, decide they had to give her such priority was certainly not the way to achieve it. Their agreement was still too weak to allow anything like that.
"Besides, we all wish to provide this city some... stability. If your problem is so impelling, please feel free to remain and discuss it with all of us. Shall we introduce ourselves?" he asked, trying to fix that messed up situation before anyone else could complain about the woman's manners or the fact that not only she felt she had the right to interrupt them, but she practically wanted to send away half of the people there.
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