Eric Northman

The Authority had sent their English Magister to the trial, a vampire about the same age as Eric, who looked twice as old. Still, power and authority reeled off of him, and people knew better than to cross him. He held the power of life and true death over each and every one of them, or close enough.

Fortunately, he had been told to go along with Eric's plans. Both vampires in his custody ought to die, to herald the coming of the new Sheriff and assert his authority over London.

The club had been exceptionally closed tonight, and its doors opened for certain select individuals at 2. By 2:30, it was packed with vampires, and the trial began. They had extracted confessions out of both Michelle and Clark, and while the latter retained some of his defiant spirit, the former was broken, all fight having left her.

Kneeling on a small stage at the back of the club, she explained how she and two other vampires had, on Clark's orders, kidnapped Kersen's human to draw him in. How Kersen had shown up and gotten captured, while his human escaped. How much torture they had put him through, before his human came back with a small team of fighters and managed to free him. (Eric was curious to meet that human, some day.)

After that, Clark only confirmed it all, laying out his own motivations - his disdain for Kersen and what he stood for, and his defiance of the Authority. The latter would have been enough to earn him the true death, even if he hadn't committed crimes against his fellow vampire.

The Magister pronounced his verdict - true death for both of them - and Eric invited Kersen to take care of Michelle while he handled Clark. Michelle was the sort of vampire to turn to dust, and not bloody goo; that much easier for clean-up. He waited until Kersen had staked her, his face impassible, before giving Clark his due, staking him mid-insult. He exploded in a mess of blood and insides, spattering Eric with it. The sheriff hardly gave a shit.

And now, for the evening's entertainment. Eric thanked all the vampires for their presence, and with a gesture, signaled the entrance of human dancers, as music started to play loudly in the club. Drinks were on the house tonight - so to speak - while staff discreetly handled the removal of Clark's remains and cleaned the stage.

Eric needed to get cleaned up and get a change of clothes, and he caught Kersen's eye before nodding towards the back in quiet invitation, in case he wanted out of the crowd for a few minutes.