Ahmed went back to his room and called Sidi.

Sidi answered right away, but he spoke in a low voice. "Oh, hello, Jinnah."

"You look nervous," Ahmed said.

On the monitor, Sidi looked over his shoulder. "She's here."

"Who? The Vampyre?"

"Yes, Laila. I said she could sleep here. She's got a shroud over her, Jinnah."

"A burial cloth?"

"Yes. She put kitchen foil on the bedroom window and then she undressed. I thought it was a nightgown when she pulled it from her overnight bag. She's lying flat on her back with the shroud doubled over her body. She says this is the custom of the Asian Vampyres. Did you know there were different kinds of Vampyres?"

Ahmed nodded before his lens, so that Sidi might see. He didn't remember where he'd picked up that bit of information, maybe during the war, or at school in Cairo. But, he knew that these days there were just two separate lines of Vampyres remaining, the so-called Asian Vampyres and the Mediterranean Vampires, and most all Vampyres that held high rank in the Union were of the Mediterranean sort, as Ahmed believed Orchid must be. "Yes, the others are called Mediterranean Vampyres; they are the worst because the sun bothers them much less, and they do not go so white after they drink the blood."

Sidi whispered, "Laila's like an albino. She's been wearing contacts and dying her hair, she's completely white underneath."

"Well, she doesn't look...strange?" Ahmed asked.

"No, no, she looks beautiful, but she doesn't look like a sleeping woman, Jinnah, she stops breathing when she sleeps."

"Ah, well is this a bad time to talk?"

Sidi shook his head. "It is all right. You only caught me while still in surprise." He hesitated a moment. "Jinnah, I think that you've really got to give some concessions to the Darkling in your platform. Laila's been telling me a lot about them. The nisf-malakim are very concerned about public health issues and insurance. I think it would be good to address that. The nisf-malakim are not usually the sort to attack humans, but they're often victimized."

"The nisf-malakim...Halfangels?" Ahmed asked, uncertain of the term. He did not expect religious conservatives in the country liked either term for what it implied. 

"Yes, I believe Halfangel is the term they accept regardless of nationality, even the ones who are really a quarter or three-quarters Angel. That's something else you should do, make sure whatever you say that you get their names correct in your speeches."

"I'm not very familiar with the Halfangels, why would they be so concerned with things like insurance? Aren't they supposed to be immortal?"

"They come in different sorts. I understand it is not something they would want enemies to know, but they can inherit curious weaknesses to match their strengths. A minority of them have been known to come down with diseases humans just don't get any more, strange plagues and all. Archaic immune systems? Some hospitals refuse to admit them, afraid that they'll somehow infect others, before a treatment can be retrieved from archives."

"I see how that's a political issue. Wanting proper medical treatment, just like everyone else."

"Of course the argument against is the greater cost, more insurance, need to keep more medicines on hand."

"I see. Well, perhaps you could ask Laila what the Darkling would say about that. I've really got to figure this out soon, Sidi. What else? What do you think about them?"

"Well, there are these two groups among the Darkling: the Wolfbreed as they like to be called and the Naphaim, I think. You'll have to ask someone else what they like to be called, but they are those ones who can weaken you by touching and tend to look rather hairy. These types are very family-oriented, as much as villagers up in the mountains. Very religious, too. They support the Union fiercely. Their groups are large in number, the Wolfbreed especially. Pakistan has a surprisingly large population of Wolfbreed; two of their major tribes are based here. There's a woman you should meet, if you want to know more. Her name is Eleni Sandrunner-Lightfoot, their Matriarch. The Wolfbreed and Naphaim are the ones pressing for more severe punishment of hate crimes. They are not like the Vampyres. They are born as they are, and have children, families, and they are sick of discrimination and violence."

"So, you are saying they carry a considerable number of votes and, if I don't meet their demands, I will look like a tyrant, because they have pitiful looking young children?"

"Yes, the media could make a spectacle of their story if they wished."

"Sidi, is there any way to win without giving in to them?"

"I don't think so Jinnah. Affan won the last election narrowly. This has been building for years. Whoever carries the Darkling vote is going to win this election, so long as they don't seem so extremist that they lose the other voters?"

"That's it then, isn't it?" Ahmed asked. "How to find the balance, to do what's best for the state as a whole."

"Yes, Jinnah. If you want my advice, I would say, plan to support the health benefits and the anti-discrimination laws, because you can always demonstrate how these will benefit humans too, then support the legal public sale of commercially bottled blood, but don't make a big deal of that. Push the new health benefits and the discrimination thing. And if they press you about taxes, say that you can't honestly promise anything until you're in office and you can study the budget at length. And, I'd also go for the improvement of roads and water treatment plants out in the country. The people want that."

Ahmed nodded. "I got some files from Orchid's computer. I should be able to find all the correct terms of address for the Darkling in there. I'll be busy studying. Call me later if you think of anything else. I'm going to start making notes for the debate tonight." Ahmed looked once more at Sidi as he prepared to say goodbye.

------------------

Secret: The 'villagers up in the mountains' may be Wolfbreed, Halfangels or Napahim for all Ahmed and Sidi know.