Regime Change
He put it down, but not before kissing it.
"You're dead. You're all dead," he said, laying it on the table. It was the oldest silver cross in existence. That was the rumor, anyway. A single ray of sunlight crept in from beneath the door in a thin line that reached the cross and glinted meanly, as though to tease all present. These old churches had cracks in all their walls. Stone, wood, brick, glass--none of that was light-tight. Pierre should have known that.
"Pierre should have known," Lorenzo whispered to Hector, gesturing to the light. Hector winced. "These fucking old churches, man. Like there's nowhere else to meet. I swear. Other covens, you know..." He ran his fingertip against the pew and made a face at the dust he collected. "Modernize. They modernize."
Hector shrugged. "But we're the biggest."
"Not for long, with that thing."
"Excuse me!" Pierre was pointing directly at Lorenzo.
"Yes?"
"You're talking during my presentation."
"I was merely pointing out that there is, well, LIGHT in this room."
"We can all see that." Pierre stepped down and walked towards Lorenzo. Hector shifted slightly away.
"Well, it's kind of an emergency, don't you think? Considering we're all vampires? Like fire in a movie theatre, you know?"
"I think we are all intelligent enough to inhabit all the space in this vast house of worship that is not tainted by sunlight."
Lorenzo didn't know what to say to that. Pierre had a point. He usually did. "You're right. Sorry."
"No big deal," Pierre said. He stepped backwards, back to the altar. He stepped right into the path of the sunlight. He vanished instantly.
"Shit." Lorenzo stood up. Everyone looked at him. "I don't want to be the new leader or anything," he said. "But I do think we should meet in the basement of an office building instead. Because fuck ambiance, you know?"