Less than thirty minutes after lunch, the entire staff was to be briefed about what happened. So here they all were in the enormous hall on the last floor, seated and waiting for whoever was going to tell them what the freaking hell was going on to come on stage.
That person turned out to be the company’s spokeswoman, Juliana Tripe. From all the way where Rita sat she could not make her out, all she could see from this way up was a a short woman with short wavy brown hair in a lavender work dress.
She briskly yet steadily walked onto the stage, her steps making a dull sound as she did. There were files in her hands, that meant something big went down. Not that everyone did not know that, it does not get bigger than the CEO and chairperson having the other board members arrested.
Mummurs were already in the air before she walked on but now they intensified.
She set the file down on the podium before tapping the microphone to make sure it worked.
Satisfied that it was she began. “My I have your attention please.” The mummurs went down quickly. No one wanted to miss a detail, eager to know what exactly happened.
“Twelve thirty this afternoon, all six of the board members, from the company president, Steve Parmt to Tim Yealz were arrested on the following charges: Money laundering, theft, breach of contract, going against the NH law concerning drinking from the source, Pedophilia, underage sex trafficking, being in possession of information regarding a wanted fugitive, attempted murder and company sabotage.”
The hall was silent for a few seconds before it went into pandemonium. What the hell?! Those. Were. A. Lot of charges. All that could put them behind bars for three hundred years tops for the vampires, the humans would get a minimum of ten years, might as well be a death sentence.
“Please calm down there’s more.” Juliana said as she flipped to the other page.
There was more?!
The hall quietened down again, waiting to hear what was left.
“The CEO’s personal assistant, Mr Henry Ramos, was also arrested under the charges of leaking classified information to company rivals, falsifying documents, being an accomplice of the board members and accepting substantial bribes from said board members.
The other was the head of the design department. For now he is charged under the NH blood drinking law.”
This was a lot to take in, some of it was not that unbelievable but some of it was. For Rita the blood drinking thing was not a big surprise but it was just a little bit. That meant there were more vampires doing what Theo was doing.
The NH laws, non-human laws, stated what supernaturals could and could not do.
For instance, Witches, sorcerers and mages could not go turning things as worthless as stones into gold or diamond without a validated reason and license.
They could not perform any sort of medical or experimental actions without one either.
Demons or other creatures like incubi and sucumbi could not go on a killing spree or taking the life force out of their bed partners without the said bed partner or partners being in good health, fully aware of what they were and were not drunk, hopped up on drugs or addicted to sex itself. They could not kill them in the process either.
Human organs, skin or blood could not be used for potions without a special government issued certificate.
Fairies could not mess with humans or steal children.
At a certain age no supernatural could work. Vampires at the or over the age of a hundred and seventy were not allowed to work except in their own family buisness. Same thing applied to fairies and lycans but at two hundred and twenty five and three hundred and forty respectively.
No supernatural, shifters most especially, if they chose to marry humans could not place a claiming mark on them before they were married. The said spouse had to be nineteen and over.
No supernatural was allowed to drink directly from a human, animals were fine until two years when some movement got it labelled animal torture. To get blood they went to the blood bank or a restaurant that served it up.
Rita had once seen Theo eating blood and had mistaken it for ice cream.
Vampires also could not have sex if they had the urge to drink, let alone having the intention of doing it in the first place. The use of venom was also banned because it acted like a drug.
These NH laws to name a few attracted heavy penalties for violating them because such actions could result in a human’s permanent physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual damage or death.
For a supernatural to knowingly drink from the source without being in a life or death situation attracted a minimum jail time of fifty years.
Having sex while at it had a minimum of eighty.
No guesses why she at the time had been looking at Theo like he had gone rabid. She wondered how he was taking the news and if now he would stop. If any of them doing it would stop.
She hoped they would. It did not certify it though.
Juliana continued dispute the noise.
“As a result, the company will be working closely with various law enforcement to ensure such actions are stopped.
Anyone with any information against anyone breaking or attempting to break any laws including that of the NH should go to our complaints manager or drop it off in one of the boxes outside her office.
All information will be carefully looked through, investigated and if found factual, those accused will be handed to law enforcement.”
Great. Theo would be on her back again for sure.
Rita could not help but notice some guilty faces in the crowd. Some had triumphant faces, others had small traces of fear and uncertainty. She could not help but wonder which laws each of them broke or were accomplices of.
“For those of you who are concerned about the absence of board members, please do not be worried. As of the last two weeks there have been interviews and qualified candidates will be begin their new roles tomorrow morning.” Juliana said closing the files and walking off the stage.