The room was filled with silence for several long moments, giving Paige plenty of time to think about what she should say next and what she should've said. Although, the only thing she really got was a bunch of gobbledygook. Her brain was mired in stress and anxiety and doubt. This was not a war she was comfortable fighting. She was so powerful magickally. That was the kind of war she was built for. Not this.
Paige understood full well that she might win this battle and ultimately lose the war because of what she said here. Because she didn't know what she was doing, and because she was running up against people more skilled than she.
But there were congressmen and congresswomen who were behind her. There were people who wanted peace and were willing to back her.
No. They weren't willing to back her. They were willing to back peace.
"The Western states are talking secession." Paige needed to push her advantage. "When they do, you will lose those resources, those monetary exports. Without those monetary exports, this nation loses its value and will go bankrupt. Imagine what the world will look like when the United States is no longer the superpower? How many nations have you personally pissed off just in your term alone? How many attacks will we have because the world knows you’re unable to oppress them anymore? Or to even defend yourselves?"
The President stared hard at Paige. "Do you understand what you are threatening?"
"No. I don't. But I do know that if you push this, you will be the one responsible for breaking the United States of America."
"Aren't you a patriot? You served. Don't you want to protect our nation?"
"Against you? Yes. Against a nation that voted you into power? Yes. Do I think that we will do any better?" No. Because the government was complicated and she was quickly beginning to understand that there were no right answers. All of the answers were wrong. And politics was this big game of making as many better choices as they could knowing that none of them would be good enough. "I have to hope."
"You have to know that if you succeed in secession — which you will not — then those very same nations you think will come after me will come after you."
"It all depends, doesn't it? On what kind of relationships I can build. You forget, there are paranormal's all over this world. They're not just in your backyard. We are everywhere. And you have no idea what kind of partnerships we already have in play."
The President balled her hands into fists. She looked ready to say something, but the door opened instead.
"Madam. President?" A man in uniform filled the doorway. "You are needed."
The President stood and gestured with her arm for Paige to leave first. "I will consider what you have said."
"I hope so."
Paige was then shuffled back to the SUV where Naomi waited .
She sat calm and unruffled, and shared a smile with Naomi.
But inside, Paige was a complete wreck. She had just squared off with the one person in the world Paige had respected the most. The office of the President of the United States of America was a position of honor that she had been trained since she could speak to respect.
And she had just walked into the office and basically declared war if her peace terms weren't met.
Naomi filled the silence with chatter on their way back to their previous location. Paige wasn't paying attention though. She followed the security detail back to the offices. Some of the congressmen and women seemed surprised to see her, but were quick to fill her in on what was happening.
"I don't know what you said in there," Congresswoman Jacob said evenly, "but the President has officially requested a peace resolution with paranormal's."
That was good. "And my demands?” She needed to sound like she wasn't quaking her boots.
"Have they been entered into the agreement."
Congressman Alan hung up his phone and set it down carefully, surprise filling his expression. He looked up to the congressmen around them him. "The house is putting the President under investigation for impeachment."
Paige's heart stopped. They’d won. For now. It was a slight reprieve, but a reprieve nonetheless.
Paige was going to take it.
36
"Will this stop the civil war?"
Congresswoman Jacobs stood stunned. "Perhaps?" She didn't sound sure. "Though, I'm sure it would never have actually come down to that in the first place."
Paige breathed a sigh of relief. This was a solution she never would've thought of. Impeaching the President. She’d abused her powers. She’d gone above and beyond to bring war to the United States.
Paige just had to hope this would work and that they could all find some semblance of stability again. America needed to understand that they could live in peace with their neighbors, no matter what shape their teeth was.
She looked up, bracing herself. "What do you need from us?"
Paige stayed there for another four hours giving these congressmen and women and a few of the aids that came trickling in and out what they needed. She gave them video proof of what had happened in Lawrence and in the elven city. She gave them information on the conditions at the prison.
But she did not give them names of everyone. She informed them that the Registration Act had to be stopped. They could add paranormal information to the census and people could volunteer that information if they wanted to.
But forcing people to register was a bad idea especially since they now knew what the people in power were doing with this information. Paige didn't know how many other cities and towns had been invaded. But she did know that others had.
When she left, she was given the promise that these people would do everything in their power to ensure their safety.
"We ask that you stand down," Congresswoman Jacobs said evenly as Paige and her people got ready to leave. "We need to see that you and your people are indeed willing for a peaceful solution."
Paige knew they were. However, she would be stupid to sit around and do nothing in the months it would take them to do anything about this President. "I will take this information to our people. If you restore power and communication, if you restore the social media profiles and everything else, that will go a long way toward rebuilding what was destroyed. However, you need to know, that we now understand just how serious the situation is, and we will not be idly sitting on our hands doing nothing. We are going to work toward a future that protects us."
Congresswoman Hernandez came up to her and shook her hand. "This is the United States of America. We won't allow it to get too bad."
The portal opened behind Paige. "Pardon me for not believing you. You already did allow it to get this bad."
Paige stepped through the icy barrier and back home.
Main Street in Troutdale was filled with people. News had traveled quickly. She wasn't entirely certain what news they had received, but there was a celebration going on.
Tuck found her in the throng. He handed her a cup of cider. "National Guard's gone. So's DoDO."
That definitely was good.
"Dexx is still missing."
Paige's heart twitched and turned. "Have we had any word?"
Tuck shook his head. "I'm sure he's fine."
He had better be. If he wasn't, Paige was now free to go save his ass if she needed to.
"I'll give you a few before we start talking about his replacement if we don't get word back. The Red Star Division is necessary now more than ever."
Paige agreed. However, she needed a moment to sit around with her family and just make sure that everything really was okay. She still had this thread of anxiety coursing through her, twisting her mind and distorting her views of reality. She needed to sink into the sense that her family was safe.
She thanked Tuck for everything he had done and went in search of Leslie.
There, she was surprised to see two young kids she barely recognized — the twins.
Ember came up to her and wrapped his arms a
round her, giving her a good squeeze. He looked to be about the same age as Leah and Mandy, if not a little older.
Rai came up to her a little more subdued.
Paige gave her daughter a one-armed hug and held her close, pressing a kiss into the top of her head, though, Rai was just barely shorter than she was. "I think we had a win today."
Leslie pushed her way in and gave her sister a hug. She held on for a long moment, squishing Paige’s soul back together. "You did good, baby sister." Leslie's quiet voice thrummed through Paige’s ear, filling her with warmth.
She pulled away slightly. "That was the scariest thing I have ever done in my entire life."
Leslie chuckled. "You've done some pretty scary shit."
"You're not wrong." Paige looked around the nearly empty store. "You need help making more stuff?"
Leslie just shook her head. "We're out of supplies. So, there's nothing we can do right now. Except go out there and enjoy the win."
Paige located Bobby, who was still the same age as when she left. Thank goodness for that. She was tired of watching her children grow beyond their years faster than she understood. On one hand, this was good. With the fact that they were still possibly heading toward her, she needed everyone in the Whiskey clan to be strong, capable fighters.
But these were years she would never get back.
She stayed close to her kids, all four of them. They didn't appreciate how she wanted to keep them all herded together, but they also didn't fight her much either. Rai kind of did. Paige wished she had been able to help temper that, but knew that she still had time to do so. It would just be a little harder now.
Danny came running up to her waving his phone and excitement. "The communication bans have been lifted. News is flooding in. I have a lot of missed calls."
A cry went up through the crowd. A large jolt of noise reverberated around them and then the streetlights all kicked on.
They also had power back.
Those were both good signs.
Paige turned to Danny. "What do we know?"
The Registration Act was in the process of being overturned. That didn't mean it was going to stop. It just meant that Congress had taken up the call and was trying to get it stopped. They were stating it was unconstitutional and that the powers that be had proven that the information would be used incorrectly.
Paige now had a little bit more faith in the system than she had just moments before.
There was also news that the paranormal's who had been incarcerated were being allowed to return back to their homes. There were videos of prisons across the nation of paranormal's being released. Their loved ones greeted them. Some of them were just being released out into the wild.
There were dozens of these videos peppering the net.
Which just went to show how far the President had reached. She had very nearly won.
And with all of this, there was talk of impeachment. The major news outlets were using these videos as the reasons stated for impeaching the President.
Already, the party lines were drawn. There were many who stated that the President was indeed correct and how she had handled the situation and that anyone who said otherwise was on the wrong side of history.
But Paige knew exactly which side of history she was on.
The side that needed to win.
But at what cost?
They had skirted the idea of civil war. Looking around at all of these faces, recalling the turmoil she had witnessed in Lawrence and in the elven city, she knew that civil war needed to be the very last resort.
In the meantime, she needed to ensure that the paranormal's who were now living in the open showed the mundanes and the world they could be trusted.
It was a whole new world with a much different set of rules.
But she was a lot more hopeful that this was one they'd be able to win. The American people truly did want peace. They truly did want the safety of knowing that their friends and neighbors were people they could trust.
She just had to show them how.
Hugging Rai close to her and tucking her head under her chin, Paige watched and soaked in the noise of celebration. They would figure out how. And they would do it. The world was watching.
She would show them.
The end
This concludes Book 1 of the Midnight Rising Whiskey Witches Saga.
Join us for the next book in this saga as Dexx is kidnapped by DoDO and is ripped from the family he fought so hard to build. However, while he’s gallivanting across England, doing what he does best—breaking cities in an attempt to catch bad guys—he discovers some crucial information about DoDO, the bigger players of the world, and his own origins.
Be sure to order it now!
We hope you enjoyed Whiskey Storm.
Be sure to visit my site, fjblooding.com, to sign up for our newsletter, get free books, join the forum discussions, and find out more about on our latest books!
About the Author
F.J. Blooding lives in hard-as-nails Alaska growing grey hair in the midnight sun with Shane, her writing partner and husband, his two part-time kids, his BrotherTwin, SistaWitch, TeenMan, and SnarkGirl, along with a small menagerie of animals which includes several cats, an army of chickens, a rabbit or two, but only one dog.
She enjoys writing and creating with her wonderful husband and dreaming about sleeping. She’s dated vampires, werewolves, sorcerers, weapons smugglers, U.S. Government assassins, and slingshot terrorists. No. She is not kidding. She even married one of them.
Sign up for her newsletter, get free books, and join the discussions on the forums when you visit her website at FJBlooding.com
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