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“Oh, good morning, Madam President. I’m not used to you being in this early.”
“Mmm, yes. I wanted to get an early start on the day.”
“What a good idea.”
“Yes, I thought so.” She held out the report Tristan had given her.
Alistair took it but put it on the desk without looking at it. “What’s that?”
“Go ahead and look at it.”
He hesitated. “Madam President, with all due respect, I also have a busy day.” He picked up the report, glanced at it, and put it in the satchel he carried.
“I want you to look at it now.”
“Excuse me?”
“Alistair, I gave you that report to look at because I want to talk to you about it. Please look at it now. It will not take too long.”
He pressed his lips into a thin line. “Fine. What is the report about?”
“Just look at it.”
He pulled it out and looked through it. Angela studied his face to see if he had any reactions to the pictures. There were none.
“What am I looking at?”
“There are hunters out there who are hunting shifters for sport. Supernaturals are being hunted by vigilantes who feel that it is their responsibility to kill anyone they suspect is supernatural. Sometimes, they kill people who have no supernatural abilities at all.”
Alistair handed the report back to her. “People have been hunting monsters since the beginning of time.”
Angela stood out of her chair and leaned her arms on the desk. “These people are not monsters.” She opened the report and found the picture of a young woman. “Sally Owen was killed because she won the lottery, and her neighbor thought she was a witch. Apparently, she never had any good luck, and then, one day, out of the blue, she won the lottery.” Angela found another picture. “This is Opal McCarthy. She was a fairy who worked as a children’s librarian. Would you like to know what her crime was? She kept the library open late because three kids still needed help with their homework. Unfortunately, she forgot to remind the kids to call home and let their parents know where they were. Their parents got worried and claimed Opal was holding them, hostage, while she performed some ritual. The ritual she was performing was dancing. They were celebrating finishing their work.”
Angela slapped the desk. “Please tell me how this makes sense and explain why you don’t seem surprised.”
“Madam President, like I told you, people have been hunting monsters forever. It’s just the way of things.”
She threw her hands up in the air. “The way of things? The way of things? Citizens that I promised to protect are being killed in cruel ways simply because they are different. And you keep calling them monsters.”
“It’s survival of the species. Humans must remain at the top of the food chain.”
Angela opened her mouth to say something but clamped it shut. She couldn’t believe the words coming out of this man’s mouth. How could she have worked for two years with this man and not know how biased he was?
She took a deep breath and slowly blew it out. Choosing the right words took an extra heartbeat.
“Mr. McCloud, you have served this administration for the last two years. Your exemplary work has been a model for all of us. However, I cannot let anyone with that much hatred for supernaturals work on staff. I will give you the courtesy of resigning rather than firing you.”
“What, you are letting me go?”
“I’m giving you the chance to resign. I’m not letting you go, but that is on you if you see it that way.”
“Do you think you can do this job without me?”
Angela clicked her tongue. “Yes, and I think I can do it better.”
“I will have another job before the end of business today.” Alistair got out of his chair.
“I have no doubt you will.”
