The board room was stiff in it's formality. The walls were in a extraordinarily subdued, dark moire paper. The flooring, a rather cold white and brown shot marble. Even the ceiling, so dramatically decorated with different themes, were all in richly dark creams, browns and blacks. It was an incredibly subdued room, and it lent a feeling of cold seriousness.
Given the type of people that used the room, that feeling needed to be implied. Many of the board members had tendencies towards highly frivolous behavior. Some reverse psychology and implied psychology had to be employed just to keep them on track.
It would have been nice if it worked.
One by one, the board members cycled in, slowly, chatting in low voices to one another as they congregated in the rooms rather open foyer. This was a very important meeting of the Board. Today, the corporation's new CEO would be announced, and his or her personality would set the operational tone for the company for the new quarter.
The head chair, a massive leather thing, stood at the far end of the room. Behind that chair was a huge picture window, discretely covered with artfully marbleized blinds. The blind's were to prevent distractions...looking outside into a clear beautiful day could pull some of the board members so out of focus it wasn't funny.
Pulling away from the gossiping crowd, one dark clad member headed straight for his regular seat. Taking it, he looked across the room to see is recent ex-wife. SHE was looking awfully pleased with herself, and frankly, that worried him.
Mentally heaving a sigh, he opened his briefcase, and pulled out his agenda-book. Unlike a few of the younger members on the board, he'd been around long enough to know that notes kept a man out of trouble with the boss. Being a boss, he knew the kind of trouble he could dish, and didn't wish that on himself.
Most of the leather chairs around the huge perfect oval marble table were filled. A full house of all 125 elected members. "Not to shabby.." he mused to himself.
Turning he flicked a glance at his brother, and idiot nephew. In return, his brother nodded gravely, and tilted his head towards the big chair with a raised eyebrow.
Shrugging, in return, Hades watched the last CEO's official board archivist walk in. He looked extraordinarily pleased with himself. That wasn't good.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Goddesses and Gods," The newcomer began formally, "Welcome to the 10th Bi-millennium Board Meeting." He smiled widely, a gruesome sight at the best of times, "It is my privilege and pleasure, as former archivist for this council to announce the election results for the new CEO! Surprise, surprise....it's....me...Bacchus!" Bacchus grinned hugely, fangs clearly exposed. Moving into position he sat down into the massive leather chair at the head of the table, serenely admiring the stunned looks flashing around the room. Leaning forward, elbows on the table, he folded his hands together, long black talons of nails carefully exposed. "And the first order of business is the question of the Slayer contract."
Hades rubbed one cool hand across his forehead. It was going to be one of THOSE millennia's.
* * *
Buffy Summers, as far as she was concerned, made the most important decision of her life at 1:03 PM. It was such a profound thought, and yet so simple. She would never become a physicist. Ever. Nor would she ever willingly study physics again. Or need the knowledge that Mr. Hillis was boring into her brain, using boredom as his drill bit.
Utilizing her super-human strength, she withheld the desire to sigh. She really didn't want those cold fish eyes looking at her, and the drily asked, "Are we disturbing you, Ms. Summers?" directed at her again. Flicking a glance over at Xander and Willow, Buffy just wanted to scream. Xander had used his eye infection for personal gain. The dark shades that protected his eye also hid his closed lids from Hillis' frontal view. Somehow he had convinced his body not to sag, but to sit perfectly straight, with head in an upright position.
But he was dead sound asleep. "This sucks." Buffy thought, itching to throw something at the traitor Slayerette. Her personal grievances grew deeper though, watching Willow actively take notes. The tiny little Slayerette was clearly fascinated with the topic of the Conservation of Matter. It was just too depressing for words.
"I want out of here...why couldn't some horrible tragedy happen RIGHT now to disrupt class?" Buffy moaned as Mr. Hillis wandered around the room, lecturing in a monotone. "I'm in Hell..I really am..."
The sudden flash of light, then utter blackness at that precise moment was a rather unfortunate coincidence. Blinking in rapid sequence, as her vision returned, the fourth blink ended with her eyes opening wide, and a startled howl escaped her throat.
"Welcome, Ms. Summers." A voice boomed. Buffy jumped, finding herself in the large dark room, standing in front of an empty end to a large table, and staring into an awful lot of eyes, imbedded in the head of an awful lot of people.
"What the he..." She began.
"Don't say it, please?" A sandy haired man four seats to her right commented mildly. "I get enough of that when I'm there...thanks." He smiled slightly. "I hope we haven't inconvenienced you, but our new CEO here.." He tilted his head towards the head of the large table in front of her. "... has called your contract into question, and this is a formal board of enquiry."
Buffy followed his gaze to the head of the table. Her eyes settled on the CEO's face, and instinctively she dropped into fighting stance, a stake sliding easily into her hand. "Vampire..." she snarled.
The stake dissolved into dust as Bacchus negligently flicked his hand in her general direction. Smiling with sinister satisfaction, he laughed at her. "Not quite, little Slayer." He smiled widely, quickly licking his tongue over his elongated canines. "I am the God of all Vampires."
|
|
|
|
Rave
Barbie Girl (Becca)
biscuit07
Filmtheory (Jim)
Malice (Jess)
MebbtheScribe (MichaelB)
Reset (Allie)
Shay (Marrisa)
somnambulist29 (Shea)
Stephanie Loss
Wendyness (Wendy)
Questions?Contact Us
|
|
All stories on this site have been archived with the authors' consent. Do not copy these stories for your own uses without the express consent of the author themselves. Buffy the Vampire Slayer TM and Angel TM are © UPN, WB, Fox and its related entities. All photos on the site are © UPN, Fox, Warner Bros, and/or their respective owners. No profits are being made by use of these images.
Powered with the assitance of eFiction.
|
|
|
