I traced my way back to the old apartment building where the hunter had gone that first night and hung out a while watching. About an hour later 4 guys waked onto the roof. Focusing on them my hearing zeroed in as well as my eyes. Knowing what I can and can’t do is helpful when ease dropping.
"Where the fuck did they go?" The younger one asked
"I don't know, maybe we killed them all?" A tall lean guy, maybe late 40s.
"No fucking way, don't kid yourself. I heard from one of the guys in Chicago this happened, a week later they all showed up at the hideout and killed most of the hunters!!" The young one again, scared, very very scared.
"Bullshit, how the hell would he be alive to tell you the story, think about it man. He was fucking with you.” Late 20's black female, she was tall, thin muscle moved with grace as she walked. The tone of command was in her voice, but it didn't really feel like she was in command, just used to ordering people around.
"Rocky, knock it off." Ahhh this was the boss, early 40s, had the feel of ex military. Broad shoulders with just a hint of a belly starting to show around the middle. "Neither one of you knows a damn thing about them yet, fucking kids. Much less about what might or might not have happened in Chicago. Just relax, this happens from time to time, it usually means a bigger predator is in town. Maybe a wolf pack came in from the mountains or something.
"Wolf pack?" the youngster snorted "Cause there really are werewolves in the mountains"
"Tony," Evidently the young guys name, "what you don't know will drown your dumb ass some day. Yes there are, and occasionally a leech will fuck up and screw with one of their family. Then the pack will come to town and hunt down a few. They are way better than us at killing them fuckers, sadly they are way better at killing us too."
Werewolves????? What the fucking hell? I hadn't seen of heard anything about this shit! I would have to talk with dear Thadeus later.
"Okay okay Tom, I get it. There really are packs? How come they don't just wipe out the vamps?"
"No one knows, some say its an ancient pact between the two. Cities and mountains, they don't cross territory, others think they just don't care. The leeches live until they are killed, the wolves are really hard to kill, they live a long time but grow old and die. Maybe they just don't care enough about humans. Hell we could be just prey to them too." Tom had a name, nice to know. "Either way, enjoy the break, even if the lair is all dead, there will be more. Someone will come and take the city, happens every time."
"Remember the last master? Back when we first started? What the fuck was his name?" The tall guy this time, old warriors reminiscing.
"Oh shit Jerry, what was it.....something fucking weird like Sergio or, " he snapped his fingers, "no it was Jacque, god what a dick. Ya here one day and the next, gone. He got caught on that one CCTV camera. When it came out on the news, he and the footage, gone! Like he never existed, just disappeared. We almost got someone to listen to us too! Fucking leeches just have too much pull."
"Every fucking time one of them gets seen," Rocky again, mad. Maybe that was her usual state. "it just disappears, them and the footage. Seriously fucking weird."
"Not really." Toms tone was more fatherly then commanding now "They don't want to be known and have allies like any other faction. Shit happens, but this war has been going on for thousands of years, it’ll continue long after us. Come on, lets go make some chow and then everyone head home for the night, nothing else to do."
"How come we can't just live here with you and Jerry?" Tony again
"Ya!" Chimed in Rocky
"Because you two still have a shot a life, me and Jerry gave up that ghost long ago. How are you going to bring a date here? Think about it. Or be out drunk one night and try and get a cab to drop you off?” I liked this Tom, smart guy. There was grumbling, but you could tell he had hit them dead center. They knew he was right, as usual. It gave me all the information I needed and more, time to talk to Thadeus about these wolves.
Speeding back to the lair, it was barely 2 am, plenty of time and I was annoyed. Not at Thadeus, but at myself. It never occurred to me that if vampires exist, what other creatures did? How many monsters are hiding under the bed? It really hadn't crossed my mind, not even once. Being so absorbed with my own plans I hadn't even considered the rest of the big wide world.
"Thadeus," as I zoomed in the door, "fucking werewolves? Seriously?"
"Oh ya, they aren't much fun." Travis chuckled.
"Yes Robert, what about them?" Thadeus answered a bit smugly.
"Cute, so lets have it all. How many monsters are out there? Werewolves? Sirens? Bigfoot?" I demanded
"Well Bigfoot I am fairly certain is a werewolf, but I have no proof it could be a yetti." Thadeus chuckled "As to the rest well I know the faerie court still functions, but they don't come to this world much anymore. Witches are practically extinct, I am sure there are a few left but everyone hunts them. Werewolves are just one type or were creature. Every country has them, they are always the natural apex predator for the area, leopards, tigers, lions I have even heard in countries like Africa there are several types. Here we have only heard of wolves.”
"Boogie men? Demons?" Calming down a bit, this was interesting "Come on out with it."
"Demons and Angels certainly but they haven't been seen on this plane for well over a thousand years. The whole Jesus thing seems to have ended their travel as far as I know. No matter what the preacher tells you. Mostly its us and the Were, we hate each other it’s a fight to the death on sight. Doesn't matter where or who, we fight. They see us as unnatural and think they are some grand protectors of the natural world, idiots. You hear stories about the faerie, but I have never met one. They are around for sure, I wouldn't recommend fighting them. Depending on what kind they are, they can be incredibly dangerous. There used to be the odd mummy but they are all long gone now, or at least haven’t shown up. Sad from what I have heard they where decent enough people."
"Really??? Mummy's?" I laughed "Figures you would get along I guess. Zombies?"
"Oh no, none of those, I am pretty sure humans just thought up that one for the movies. More then likely based of voodoo stories." He laughed this time, amusement playing across his face. "I did met a Yetti one time, they really do live way up in the mountains. I don't recommend it, they seem to think if your not Yetti your food, not the smartest creatures. Mermaids and mermen are still around, but they are creatures of the sea and I don’t go swimming. They are also kill on site if it comes up though or they will kill you. I think thats it, once there was talk about dragons, at least 3 but I think that was more legend then fact. Really the christians killed anything that didn't fit in with their ideology."
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
"Dragons? No shit huh." I was pretty disappointed if they were all dead.
"Ya the whole knights and maidens thing had a basis in reality. The templars used to be the hunters for the church, at least before the church turned on them. They did, according to legend, kill the last dragon. The crusades where only so much about Jerusalem partially they where a hunting party for those the church deemed evil, which is anything not christian and especially not human.” Thadeus concluded his impromptu lecture. "I cant for certain tell you what's out there, assume it all could exist or none. Mostly we all ignore each other as much as possible."
"Is there some truce with the were?" I asked thinking about what I had heard.
"NO! That would never happen." Thadeus was pretty sure of this. "That war has been going on as long as we can remember. Which means since the dawn of mankind, it will only end when they are all dead."
"Ahhhhh, so I shouldn't go hang out with them?"
"Sure, you give it a try," Cynthia this time, chimed in, "maybe it'll be different for you."
"Nice try. Thadeus, what's the deal with them not coming into the city?"
"Oh they come in," he answered, "but they come in during the day as human. And we don't set up lairs in the mountains or country. I wouldn't call it a pact, more convenience. Neither of us have the numbers for a sustained war. They breed slow and we control our population, so unless one of us steps on the others toes we ignore each other as much as possible."
"Okay, and you mentioned witches? So does magic exists?" This one had me real curious.
"Hmmm yes and no." Thadeus seemed thoughtful on this one. "There is magic, but we have lost the ability to use or even see it. I don't know for sure if we ever had it, there are stories of course but nothing truly documented. Some think the christians destroyed it, hunting down all those with knowledge of it and killing them. Destroying documents, erasing all knowledge of the craft, others say technology caused us to loose the ability. Either way yes at one point there was magic and it was used, but no more. Its gone, or at least the knowledge of it is."
"Well," I stalled in response, so many thoughts running through my head. The world had not been what I thought, hidden layers buried right in front of humanity. Did we choose not to see it? Willful ignorance of the things that didn’t fit our world view? This new world was a completely foreign planet in a different universe to me. "that's interesting."
I walked away, deep in thought, I hadn't ever contemplated this reality. I had barely begun to scratch the surface of my new reality, this new reality. Its just going to have to wait for me to catch up. Battling the monster inside me still, we seemed to have reached an impasse for now. I could remember my wife and daughters face, and they weren’t fading but the sound of their voices had been lost. We had traded, no raging monster running around killing wantonly, but I most certainly wasn't human anymore. I could commit acts of violence, even kill without thought or remorse. Vampires anyway , I hadn't killed anything else but it seemed like I could live forever on just them. A thought occurred to me...
"Thadeus," I waited for him to look at me, " do you know if we can feed on the were?"
"By all accounts, No. Their blood not only wont feed us, but in some cases if your not strong enough it can kill you." He answered thoughtfully. "Besides they will rip even you apart without a thought, they don't live as long as we do but they are far stronger and almost as fast. They can be killed but not easily. Having their head or heart removed, silver actually does work on them. Thats why that sword your wearing has silver infused in the steel, it hurts them and us."
"Us?" I looked hard at him he hadn't mentioned that before.
"Didn’t I tell you? Silver effects all the non human things, if you believe the old texts it interferes with magic too. It won't kill us or the were but it severely weakens us and makes it damn hard to heal."
"No you didn't mention it, but its good to know." I didn't think he was lying and doubted he left it out on purpose. Probably just one of those common knowledge things you forget to tell someone when your teaching them. "It does make me wonder why though."
"Not a clue, scientist have tried to figure it out, but we can touch it no problem. We can drink from silver cups, it seems its only when it physically enters our body. I assume its the same for the were. Theologians say its because that it is the Christ metal, whatever that means. Our scientist haven’t made heads or tails of it. One of us, who was a bio chemist before he was turned, spent 100 years trying to figure it out. His best answer was "it just does", he could never find a reason for it anymore then he could the Sun burning us. It just does" Thadeus answered easily, I wasn't even asking him but his answer was interesting.
"You said before that Pool talks about knowing Christ?" I asked
"He says, and he is old enough."
"Does he believe? Does he think he was the prophet?"
"He," Thadeus seemed amused "from what I have heard, he does believe. He believes that we are a curse, we continue Cains line away from the eye of god. He is rather a zealot about it actually, from what I have heard. He even explains the sun killing us as Gods eye. There are rumors he was once a priest, or possibly even one of Christ’s disciples. I doubt that one, but again I cant be sure. Even his real name is a mystery, the book dates his name back a thousand years, but there is no way of knowing what names he has used before than."
"Wow, thats a hard reality to create for yourself, despised by the god you love." The surprise in my voice was honest. "What about his offspring? Does he force those beliefs on them?"
"I don't know honestly." He seemed thoughtful "I don’t personally know him or any of his children, to be completely honest I am not sure he has ever sired any progeny. Who can say though, he has always been a bit odd. It comes with age, actual age not power age."
"I think odd is a bit of an understatement for a christian vampire." I was more curious then ever now. "It takes self hatred to a whole new level when you consider yourself a curse of your god."
"Not really, truthfully all of us with any knowledge know that is exactly what we are. We are the children of Cain, there is no doubt of it."
"Truly?" Now I was surprised maybe because I just hadn't thought it through.
"Absolutely, Cain is the creator of all of us in some way or another. Why he did it or even what happened to him after is still a mystery. One day he was among us, according to the history we know, the next he was gone." Thadeus didn't at all seemed perplexed by this thought.
For me it was a something I hadn't considered yet. Sure I was baptized and educated in the Christian doctrines like most Americans. It just never took for me, there was some part of me that couldn’t understand having faith in something. I was never a church goer, neither was my father. We simply didn't care past appearances, it wasn't so much that we didn't believe, it just wasn't a thought. Now here I stand, the beast fighting my humanity in some ideological battle. There is a god and I am part of a curse he created. I really hadn't considered that at all. The thought of heaven and hell had been so far from my thinking lately, it just hadn't occurred to me. If Cain was our father, he existed because he was cursed by god so there must be a god.
I stood there in stunned silence considering this, trying to regain my grip on reality. There was a god, the God capital G. Now without any knowledge and definitely not by any choice of mine, I was cursed by him. Thats a lot to take in. Why was I struggling more with this than the whole vampire and werewolf reality. Laughing out loud suddenly at that realization, accept that werewolf’s and fairies exist no problem but I was struggling with the idea of God.
"Was something I said funny?" Thadeus asked.
"No. No, I was just having a minor psychological breakdown."
"The religion thing?"
"Well it seems I am perfectly fine accepting fairies are real, but God throws me"
"If it helps, your in a unique situation with regards to god," He said very seriously, "at least as far as Pool has said."
"What do you mean?" Okay this ought to be good.
"Well as I said I don't know him personally, but I have heard he strongly believes that you must choose this non-life. That if it wasn't a clear decision than you may not be damned like the rest of us."
"Oh ?" I thought about it for a minute before I continued "No, I do think I made a choice. I remember as life was fading being given the choice between death and drinking."
"We all are, even up to that last moment." He said solemnly. "However Pool says that if your not well informed and educated on that decision before that moment of death? Then you may not be damned. He believes that the choices you make AFTER you are turned then dictate wether or not you are damned in gods eyes. Making a choice at the moment of death is not a choice made of free will. It is instinct, not conscious thought."
"Interesting idea." It was, it definitely gave me something to think about. For now I had an errand it was 4 am, three hours to first light.