The old man blinked at the sudden bluntly asked question. He stretched and straightened his back. “We left because we didn’t want to fight anymore. We have had to kill any number of people just to survive. We are tired of trying to live in the world of man. The animal kingdom accepts us as what we are: necessary.” He rolled his tongue in his mouth as he paused. “We are vicious predators, to be sure, but necessary predators. Nature understands what mankind never will.”
“So you just left?” Acharya asked harshly.
“I don’t have to answer to you, young one. We’re done.” The old man stood up and putting his hands on his hips, stretched looking up into the early afternoon sky.
“Wait,” Aiman said looking up at the old man, “We need your help.”
The old man looked down at them from the side of his face. “Go to the police, young one. We aren’t in the business of rescue or charity.”
“What about self-preservation?” Acharya asked quickly.
The old man slowly turned and looked back at the young man with a quizzical look. “We have always been in the business of self-preservation. If I hadn’t shown up here, you would have wandered this desert aimlessly till you died of exposure. What could you possibly offer us that we don’t already provide for ourselves?”
Acharya shook his head, “We came here looking for your help.”
“Like I said,” The old man replied impatiently, “Go to the police.”
“We would if we could, but we can’t” Acharya replied.
The old man smiled slowly before squatting down on the balls of his feet. “And why is that?”
Acharya looked up with anger in his eyes, “Because the police don’t exactly believe in vampires or offer to help monsters.”
The old man’s eyebrows rose on his forehead, “Monsters? You’re Werewolves, aren’t you? All of you?”
Acharya nodded curtly, “Yeah, yeah, we are. Probably why you couldn’t mesmerize us when you faced off against us when we first climbed the hill. Or didn’t you find it interesting that your eyes didn’t freeze us in place.”
The old man smiled, “I had wondered, but don’t flatter yourself, I only saw you as a mild curiosity.” He slowly rubbed his chin as he looked up into the sky. “You mentioned vampires, has the scales of the war between you two finally tipped in their favor?”
“We were attacked and lost our home,” replied Aiman emotionlessly. “In the process we Shape shifters have lost one of the few remaining cities that our people had built.”
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“Oh, too bad. Why should I care?” The old man spat.
“Because if the vampires win, then they will spread and take over the whole of the human race.”
“Please,” the old man said, “What use have we ever had for the human race? I don’t care if they all die tomorrow. What have they ever done for us? Oh, that’s right, they’ve hunted us, demonized us, killed us wherever they could, and chased us from every permanent place that we set up for ourselves, including Kabultiloa.”
“We understand your indifference,” Aiman said calmly. “But it is folly to assume that you will be able to hide in a world run by vampires. It may take a generation or two, but if we Werewolves die, the vampires will rise to power. And if they go unchecked, a generation, maybe two, they will be here. And then you won’t be able to hide. You won’t be able to masquerade as a vampire slave, and if the vampires can’t use you, they’ll kill you, as surely as they would have killed us.”
The old man regarded the three closely and squinted his eyes. “Let’s say for just a moment I believe any of this. What would you do for us? What boon would we be granted for helping you?”
Acharya thought very carefully then said slowly, “That would be up to our Elders. I can’t give you any promises.”
“Then why are you here if you are not prepared to deal honestly with us?” The old man asked.
Aiman asked quietly, “Why are you here? Hyenas are pack animals, as are wolves.” He nodded towards Asclepius. “Hyenas are also matriarchal. You aren’t fully able to negotiate on behalf of your people either. Where is your matriarch?”
The old man smiled. “Well done, well done indeed.” The old man stood up with a laugh and stretched again, bending his back dramatically to an almost ninety degree angle from his legs. He slowly straightened back up. “My matriarch is safe. She would never have shown herself to you, even if you were in the right place, which you aren’t.”
“What do you mean?” Acharya asked.
The old man smiled, “She’s a couple hundred miles away, in Ethiopia,” he said with a vague point eastward. “But you’re not going to be able to get there, even if you wanted to.”
“Explain yourself old man,” Acharya said quietly with a dark look in his eyes.
The old man smiled warmly and squatted back down on the balls of his feet facing the three of them levelly, “You can’t get there because on the eastern Chad, Sudan border there is a civil war going on. No one is getting out of here on foot or on the ground at all. So, unless I have seriously underestimated how much money your group has, there is no way you are going to be able to afford a plane ticket to get to Addis Ababa. So, you can’t get there.” The old man stood up. “It was nice meeting you.”
He started walking away from them before saying over his shoulder, “It’s good to know that the high and mighty Werewolves still feel the need to slum it with us lowly Bultungin from time to time.” The old man leaned forward and as he fell, his body shifted in a vibrant flash into the four legged hyena that they had seen when they first got to the top of the hill. The hyena looked back at the three males and cackled loudly. The laugh sounded more human than it had when they first saw it. The hyena ducked his head to the ground then took off running till it disappeared down the far side of the hill.
Acharya looked at Aiman. “Well, that was…helpful.”
Aiman turned to face his Alpha. “We have a location and the next step in our journey. That will have to suffice for now.”
“Yes,” Acharya sighed, “we do have our next step. And who knows?” He said smiling suddenly, “maybe trying to go through a war zone might be fun. I mean we might get shot at again, that’d be fun, right?” Aiman looked at his Alpha questioningly. Acharya just smiled, “I’m kidding Aiman. But you have to admit, it will definitely keep us on our toes.”