Jocelynn

Introducing Jocelynn

Holy. F*****g. S**t.

I stood in my living room, phone to my ear, and watched speechless as well dressed and spoken heads on the television spoke words that would change society as we knew it.

Holy f*****g s**t. They’d actually done it! The existence of the supernatural world, and all the dark and creepy nightmares it entailed, was being introduced into the world on live television.  Of course they were being very politically correct about it, but the lives of millions of beings were being irrevocably changed. This wasn’t something that could be covered up if it went wrong, and it was inevitable that there would be some backlash. Supernatural hate groups went back for millennia: vampire hunters, witches burnt at the stake, villages of shapeshifters slaughtered. And its not like humanity has been very accepting of their own differences in the past.

Granted, the human population was only a tenth of its former glory.  [describe the decimating event]  

At the last census the world population was estimated at around 1.6 billion. The High Court, the supernatural world’s governing body, estimated the human population to be around 700 million.  The fact that the supernatural population more than outnumbered the human population meant that even with some grumbling on the part of the humans, there was no choice on their part but to accept us.  Because the truth of it is, the 900 million supernatural beings that the humans counted in their post ______ census only included the beings that passed for human.  There were another three quarters of a billion that would never pass, but those citizens were not being mentioned by the officious suits on the television screen.  Of course, this was probably the High Court’s plan to give time for society to rebalance itself after today’s shock before integrating the less politically correct citizens into the mix.

I suddenly realized that I was still on the phone and that my caller was attempting to talk to me.

“Jocelynn, do you hear me? You need to get to the Atrium immediately!”

“You don’t say,” I muttered under my breath, and then in a more controlled voice, “I’ll be there within the hour.”

“And pack some bags, you live here until further notice.”  

I frowned at the phone, “Alton, do you really think it’s necessary for me to be babysat?  For f**k’s sake, you’ve sent me into life or death situations before!”

Alton, my boss, gave a sigh that I recognised as the last threads of his patience getting ready to snap, “You know that, I know that. But your mother is on the High Court and is currently on live television getting herself placed as target numero uno on the majority of the currently forming hate groups’ radar. I mean, Jesus, the initial announcement was only made an hour ago and already it’s become the most watched video clip since, I’m pretty damn sure, ever! I know that people sitting behind a keyboard typing comments on Youtube are less than likely to actually do anything, but there are already forums popping up screaming for action against us.” His voice was gravelly from lack of sleep, and if he weren’t immortal I’d think he was about to drop with exhaustion.  “Everyone would just feel better if you slept in the bunker until we can see what kind of fallout to expect here.”

“Sure thing,” I agreed in my best faux cheer voice, “Just give me a little extra time and I’ll put up some wards before I go.”

I heard him pause, probably expecting me to put up more of a fuss, before he gave a muffled thanks and hung up.  I glanced back at the TV one more time before snapping it off. My mother was trying her best at looking inviting, the smile pasted on her face only making the dark and imperious beauty of our bloodline slightly less intimidating.  She was coming off as stately and respectable as foreign royalty, fitting since in a way she was.  

Before the advancements of the technological age had allowed us to go to a sort of democracy the supernatural world had been set up into kingdoms, one of which our family had ruled for centuries.  In the end, it had been easy to move to a united front. All issues were put to an electronic vote by the citizens and the results of this vote, never disclosed by public, influenced the decisions of the High Court.  The High Court, composed of the immortal members of royalty of the original kingdoms, handled all governing of the supernatural world.  The system might seem flawed, but for the most part it worked a lot better than most of the human world’s systems did.  

I grabbed my dad’s old Army duffel bag out of the top of the closet.  I needed to set up some wards that my dad had taught me when I left home for college to make sure that nobody snooped around in my house while I was gone.  I had put a lot of work into the house, a large french style home that had been built by a soldier freshly back from WWI.  The house was connected to a series of underground caverns that had been used during prohibition times to make and hide moonshine.  Loving to work with my hands, I had put lot of sweat into renovating the house. I had updated the kitchen and bathrooms, redone the electrical work and plumbing, and had even gone so far as to make much of my own furniture.  

I glanced at my watch. My home was one of a kind, my sanctuary, and I loved it. I'd be damned if it was going to be damaged after all the sweat I'd put into it. I'd be pulling out all the stops for the wards here and it was going to take me a little bit so I needed to hurry.

Author's Note

Very rough draft. I still haven't quite decided what event caused the thinning of the human population, so the areas that mention it are blanked out and will be filled in later.