“Better? Like tearin’ the dreams of paranormal romance writers everywhere, one story at a time?” 

"Among other things."

Marcel raised his empty glass at me, and I raised a figurative one as a response.

The sound of a microphone being tapped alerted me to an immediate change in the program. Just as well, part of me was seriously considering leaving this room with Marcel and going on a hunt (for a vending machine, you know, like a civilized member of the human species.) Behind a podium, Kwame Okumba, my father’s fellow Senator, smiled down to the crowd of attendees. Claps immediately engulfed the rented grand hall, and so did the blinding flashes from professional photography cameras.

Marcel and I straightened. We had a very simple role in this meetup. Both of us were to play the dutiful sons of their politically involved parents, and tell the world that our fathers were the greatest men to have ever men-ed, that our mothers imparted us with only the most virtuous and patriotic ideologies available in the United States of ‘Murica, and that anyone would be proud to pass them a cold one on the twelfth of January, aka our version of Independence Day.

Icksnay on the mentioning of my father’s allergy to certain American brand beers.

“Thank you, all, for the warm welcome,” said Senator Okumba. “It’s a pleasure for me to introduce today a man that I deeply respect, a man who has worked with me to break barriers, move mountains, and build bridges between my people and his own. Let everyone here bear witness to a movement that I wholeheartedly support and that all of you will come to understand soon. Extend your warm welcome, please, to Senator Ramirez.”

The hall burst into claps once more. I could hear the excited murmurs between the journalists and staff lining the floor just in front of the stage. If I concentrated enough, I could tell just what reporter belonged to what Supernatural network.

Marcel tapped my bicep with his knuckle. “I didn’t know your dad was such a hero to our community.”

“Yeah, that was weird. I’ve heard he’s had a couple of deals with the Senator, but moving mountains seems a bit like an exaggeration.”

“You know what your dad is announcing?”

“Something about the Beast Laws. I think. Honestly, I’ve been so swamped with assignments I haven’t kept up.”

The Senator of the Wolven, my dad, walked onto the stage with Congressman Robinson, Marcel’s dad, right beside him.

Emilio Ramirez was an older, slightly taller version of myself. Dark hair. Dark eyebrows. Tanned skin. Charming smile (that Marcel said I couldn’t pull off, but he was a filthy liar.) He looked like your average newcomer, but to me, he was so much more. My dad was my hero. Not everybody could say that about their father.

Senator Ramirez thanked Senator Okumba of the Vampiric people for his endorsement, exchanging firm handshakes and sincere smiles before the multitude of cameras. After the applause died down, we waited.

“Amigos y collegas. My friends and colleagues.” My father began, and my chest expanded with air.

Despite what I thought about small-time politics, pride always filled me whenever I thought about my dad’s journey to get up that stage. Being a single father and running for such high profile positions in our clandestine government was unheard of during his start. Things worked a lot differently for werewolves back in the 90s, but we were so few that no one complained when a single, average dad ran for Mayor. Skip a couple of years, and now he was a Senator.

“I know that it has been a hard couple of years for us. Four of our people have been stripped of their families and their lives, and an unprecedented curiosity of our society has resurged in the past ten years, making it harder to raise our kids among Full-humans without risking their innocence.”

Marcel and I exchanged serious gazes. Neither of us expected the heaviness of his beginning statement.

“Advancements in medicine and technology have both aided us and harmed our efforts. While we no longer fear the possibility of another viral epidemic surfacing to destroy the lives of our Full-human brothers and ultimately our Vampiric community, as was nearly done in the 80s, we are aware that the same technology used to identify abnormalities within our bodies can be used to identify what makes us different from the rest. We live a fine line.

“Nowadays, it is a wonderful thing to know that our children can communicate about their unique lives with one another through technology in a way our parents and grandparents could have only imagined. However, with the neverending popularity of image and video sharing, we’ve had one too many scares pop up. Three just in the last year, two of those involving Skinners.”

Marcel leaned in again. “Where do you think this is going?”

“I don’t know…,” I said honestly.

My father started making the rounds with his eyes, passing over table after table until he came to mine. He grinned kindly, and I threw him a thumbs up before he spoke again.

“Senator Okumba for the Vampiric people, Senator Rossdale for the Enchantment association, and I, representing the Wolven union, have decided that the lives of supernaturals grow more arduous the longer we attempt to remain...hidden.”

In an instant, the room was swallowed by deafening whispers - perhaps only deafening to me. Marcel’s hearing was pretty average, and mine was being heightened by the blood pumping up my veins and towards my head.

“Holy crap, is he saying what I think he’s saying?”

I swallowed and said nothing.

“Today marks the first step towards a highly necessary integration between our people and the full scope of regular society. In a month, I will begin a campaign to bring awareness and support to a heavily reviewed Avowal Bill.”

Silence.

“A bill to reveal our existence to the Full-human world.”