You asked for it . . . .
Okay, if you want detail, here's all the detail you could ever ask for.
First, some background:
Both my main novel and it's spinoff series - which, this question is related to the beginning of the spinoff series - are based on the idea that there is and always has been a subsociety of underworld beings living in our world right alongside us humans. Used to be, many centuries ago, they were well out in the open and accepted as just part of the world population. Things changed, for many reasons that are way beyond the scope of this thread, and for the last few centuries, the underworld has existed in virtually complete secrecy from humans. They've also gone to great lengths to erase all records (in human posession) of their existance. Basically, this was all done for the safety of everyone, particularly the underworld beings.
Anyway, all societies, human and not, need some form of government and law (otherwise, you'd have anarchy). In my writing, the underworld government, typically referred to as the Order, is solely responsible for enacting and ultimately enforcing underworld law. Naturally, underworld law encompasses quite a lot, but the most important thing is this:
Of all the laws in the underworld, the secrecy laws are the most heavily enforced and the most sternly punished. Violating the secrecy laws is an automatic death sentence except under very rare circumstances.
Here's the part that's interesting: Underworld law applies to
everyone. This includes humans, whether they have any knowledge of the existance of the underworld and its laws or not. Humans do, from time to time, violate underworld law unknowingly - and they are captured, tried, and if necessary sentenced regardless of their knowledge of the underworld. Got it? Good.
Enter Kim Riley . . . .
Kim is in serious hot, boiling water - and here's why:
Seventeen months ago, Kim's nephew was kidnapped. By whom, she has no idea. But, in the course of her investigation, Kim discovered the underworld. It was mostly an accident - working an angle that suggested vamparism, she came to the revelation that she was dealing with
real vampires (or some other type of vamp). Having made this discovery - and building a very deep-rooted hatred for vamps as she found out more and more - she started collecting evidence of the existance of the underworld. Her intention was to completely blow the lid on the underworld as soon as she felt she'd collected enough evidence - including photos, video, audio, some items stolen from underworld establishments, and other evidence. This was her mistake.
By what can only be described as an unfortunate convergeance of events, Kim became the primary suspect in a series of underworld crimes for which she was completely innocent. And the underworld authorities did eventually discover that she was innocent - but not before also finding out about the evidence she was collecting. So, she was captured and tried for obvious intent to reveal the underworld. After the trial, the time to sentence her came.
And that's what this thread's about.
Kim got . . .
galactically (for lack of a better adjective) lucky when it came time for sentencing. As I said, violating the secrecy laws is usually an automatic death sentence. In her case, simply because during her trial she made a fairly good point about the ridiculously lopsided nature of underworld law, the Order decided to give her two options for her sentence:
1. The standard death sentence, to be effective at midnight (which was a bit more than two hours from then).
or
2. She could take a dual sentence of: A) serving the Order, which would imprison her in Clark County
(law enforcement is a "jail" sentence, in my writing) and B) joining the vyca collective.
"What is the vyca collective?" you ask . . .
Vyca are a type of vamp (the others being vampires and vixes). For the most part, what's true about vampires is also true about vyca, with only minor variances between the two. The big difference is that vyca are a collective. The exact number of vyca in the world is unknown (assumed to be in the millions) - but for all their numbers, they have only one single mind. Basically, they all share a giant mystical superbrain. All whatever million of them there are
equate to a single being.
"What does this mean for Kim?" you ask . . .
If Kim chooses to take the deal, she would be absorbed by the collective. What this means is: Most of Kim, as an individual, would be taken into the collective and . . . well, most of it would be gone, to be honest, but a significant part would remain and become part of the collective's superbrain. So, it's likely - not a guarantee, but likely - she could continue the search for her nephew even after the transition completes - and have the entire collective involved. (To make it as basic as I know how, since Kim views her nephew as family and loves him, once she's in the collective, they would all view her nephew as family and love him.) Understand that this superbrain is not an entity of it's own - it's a collection of the combined minds of all vyca past and present.
I should point out that there is a concept in my writing often referred to as "ownership of the body." It basically states that only one entity can inhabit one body at any given time (with only a few rare exceptions). Vyca follow this rule of nature. Even though they share a mystical connection to each other, each one still "owns" their own body - and certain things that are intrinsically tied to the body stay with the body. (For instance, Kim is gay - both before and after the transition. That's something that does not change, regardless of the collective.)
So, the question is:
Putting yourself in Kim's position, having been tried and now faced with a choice of two sentences:
1. Death
or
2. Serve the Order and join the vyca collective
Which do you choose?
Again, you've got less than five minutes to decide.
