the
letter, the senior partner and the junior partner scheduled a conference to
review and discuss the matter and drafted a Memorandum directing the associate
to research statutes and current case authority regarding all relevant points
of law. He did so and presented the Memorandum the following Monday,
having worked over the weekend.
After a conference attended by the
associate, the junior partner and the senior partner, a letter was drafted to
the client setting forth the firm’s excellent legal services in discovering the
anomalous lease situation, incorporating all of the associate’s research
without attribution, and recommending that, if the client wished to proceed to
force an inspection, please deposit $25,000.00 as they expected significant
opposition from the tenant, referring the client to the enclosed letter from
the tenant’s law firm.
And, by the way, the client should
be aware that in the event of litigation, the losing party was contractually
obligated by the terms of the lease to pay the winner’s lawyers’ fees and court
costs. The firm pointed out that while they expected a favorable result
the outcome could not, of course, be guaranteed, as litigation was inherently
uncertain. A bill was enclosed in the amount of $4,875.00 for excellent
legal services to date.
The client read the letter and
enclosed memorandum of law, looked at the bill for a problem he didn’t know he
had until that moment, and decided to ignore the problem, his lawyers, and
their bill and keep collecting rent from the unknown tenant. As far as he
was concerned, the mystery tenant was perfect, paid the rent on time and never
complained; only the lawyers could see this as a problem.
Arabella stood at the windows
overlooking the Port, anxious to start but without a trail until Oliver fed
again. The Third Plenum of the Eleventh Central Committee of the
Worldwide Vampire Assembly stipulated in the Concordance that no Vampire should
feed without the consent of the Clan leader or in certain Designated
Zones. Designated Zones varied with the status of conflicts throughout
the globe and were currently restricted to certain African sectors, Cambodia
having been depleted by war and atrocity and put on the restricted list so that
Human society could replenish.
Vampire society wished above all to
remain anonymous. While everyone appreciated the taste and texture of a
free range Human now and then, under no circumstances could the resident
population become aware or even suspect that there were those among them who
thought of them as dinner. To be a Clan Leader was to be the supreme
authority in a region and so long as Clan activities remained anonymous the
Leader was inviolable. However, if activities became public the
associated Clans would not hesitate to replace the Leader. That was the
Law.
The increase in the attacks on
Humans in the Greater Seattle Area were alarming and suggested that more than
Oliver had gone rogue. If not contained, the Central Vampire Committee of
the United States could become involved and, if it felt the situation required
it, remove the Queen from her position as Supreme Leader of the Northwest Clan.
So far, the Human authorities had not connected the deaths, murders and
disappearances, but Arabella knew that eventually someone would correlate the
statistics and certain patterns would emerge, a pattern reaching from the San
Juan Islands to the heart of Seattle.
If not contained, the situation
could bring in the other Clans, anxious that the situation be resolved and who
would not be above using it as pretext for their own expansion. Once they
were in the Northwest, the Clans would depose the Queen and administer the
lucrative territory and its blood supply for their benefit. Even if Arabella
survived regime change, she knew her position would be tenuous, at best. She
liked her apartment, she liked the city, she liked her life. She wasn’t
moving.
As an independent
letter, the senior partner and the junior partner scheduled a conference to
review and discuss the matter and drafted a Memorandum directing the associate
to research statutes and current case authority regarding all relevant points
of law. He did so and presented the Memorandum the following Monday,
having worked over the weekend.
After a conference attended by the
associate, the junior partner and the senior partner, a letter was drafted to
the client setting forth the firm’s excellent legal services in discovering the
anomalous lease situation, incorporating all of the associate’s research
without attribution, and recommending that, if the client wished to proceed to
force an inspection, please deposit $25,000.00 as they expected significant
opposition from the tenant, referring the client to the enclosed letter from
the tenant’s law firm.
And, by the way, the client should
be aware that in the event of litigation, the losing party was contractually
obligated by the terms of the lease to pay the winner’s lawyers’ fees and court
costs. The firm pointed out that while they expected a favorable result
the outcome could not, of course, be guaranteed, as litigation was inherently
uncertain. A bill was enclosed in the amount of $4,875.00 for excellent
legal services to date.
The client read the letter and
enclosed memorandum of law, looked at the bill for a problem he didn’t know he
had until that moment, and decided to ignore the problem, his lawyers, and
their bill and keep collecting rent from the unknown tenant. As far as he
was concerned, the mystery tenant was perfect, paid the rent on time and never
complained; only the lawyers could see this as a problem.
Arabella stood at the windows
overlooking the Port, anxious to start but without a trail until Oliver fed
again. The Third Plenum of the Eleventh Central Committee of the
Worldwide Vampire Assembly stipulated in the Concordance that no Vampire should
feed without the consent of the Clan leader or in certain Designated
Zones. Designated Zones varied with the status of conflicts throughout
the globe and were currently restricted to certain African sectors, Cambodia
having been depleted by war and atrocity and put on the restricted list so that
Human society could replenish.
Vampire society wished above all to
remain anonymous. While everyone appreciated the taste and texture of a
free range Human now and then, under no circumstances could the resident
population become aware or even suspect that there were those among them who
thought of them as dinner. To be a Clan Leader was to be the supreme
authority in a region and so long as Clan activities remained anonymous the
Leader was inviolable. However, if activities became public the
associated Clans would not hesitate to replace the Leader. That was the
Law.
The increase in the attacks on
Humans in the Greater Seattle Area were alarming and suggested that more than
Oliver had gone rogue. If not contained, the Central Vampire Committee of
the United States could become involved and, if it felt the situation required
it, remove the Queen from her position as Supreme Leader of the Northwest Clan.
So far, the Human authorities had not connected the deaths, murders and
disappearances, but Arabella knew that eventually someone would correlate the
statistics and certain patterns would emerge, a pattern reaching from the San
Juan Islands to the heart of Seattle.
If not contained, the situation
could bring in the other Clans, anxious that the situation be resolved and who
would not be above using it as pretext for their own expansion. Once they
were in the Northwest, the Clans would depose the Queen and administer the
lucrative territory and its blood supply for their benefit. Even if Arabella
survived regime change, she knew her position would be tenuous, at best. She
liked her apartment, she liked the city, she liked her life. She wasn’t
moving.
As an independent
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