Chapter 21 The Dark Whispers

Chapter 21 The Dark Whispers
Luna POV

The feeling didn't go away. I still felt it even after the Watchers had gone and the danger appeared to have been past. It could have sworn that something was staring at me very far away. As though it was biding its time and then it would strike.

My mother noticed. She continued to check on me making sure I was eating and sleeping. But I couldn't eat much. I was unable to sleep in the absence of nightmares. I had the feeling of being a bullseye, a target.

One night after hours one day, Elena sat with me in the bakery. She was alone, she alone and I and the smell of bread that seemed to linger always on the walls.

"Something's wrong," Elena said. It wasn't a question. "You can feel it too."

"Yes," I admitted. "There's something coming. Something big. I am able to do so as I once did the Shadow Entities prior to them assaulting me.

Elena took a long breath. The immortals have a language, she told her. A method that is effective over long distances. Upon the receipt of our peace by The Watchers, their message came by that network. You know, they told other immortal beings what you are doing here. How you're changing the world."

And some one did not like that message, I said.

Several people, Elena said, trying to repeat the sound. At least there are immortals who believe in chaos as the nature of the world. Immortals are those who gain with war and disorder. There are immortals, who perceive your peace-movement to be a menace to their whole being.

"What do we do?" I asked.

"We prepare," Elena said. But not like you would think. We don't prepare for war. We prepare for seduction."

I looked at her confused. "Seduction?" I asked.

The approaching immortals will not assault us point-blank as Elena explained. They will attempt to pervert what we have made. They will attempt to create some doubt. They will attempt to make human werewolf antagonized or the other way round. He or she will turn the fears and prejudices of our own against us.

"How do we fight that?" I asked.

"By being honest," Elena said. By coming out to face the issues, rather than conceal them. By demonstrating that human beings and werewolves can resolve a conflict without the use of force. By demonstrating that the system we are constructing can take the truth.

During the following days, something weird began to take place. Nothing obvious. Nothing that could be proven. Simply little things that were divisive.

At night, a werewolf was discovered in a place inhabited by people. They said they were not strolling, and men were fleeing. One of them saw a human taking photographs of werewolves without authorization. Werewolves were insulted and offended. What were little misunderstandings turned out to be great feuds.

David approached me with information. He was now a normal individual in Pine Ridge and was striving at connecting the gap between his previous hunting community and the peace movement.

Propaganda, there is propaganda, said David. He enabled me to view printed flyers which had been scattered in the town. Somebody is printing stuff about humans and werewolves can never really co-exist. That one will always be attempting to overpower the other side.

"Who's printing them?" I asked.

"I don't know," David said. However, it is too good to be produced by any local. This is being done by someone who has resources. He is a man who needs to scatter strife.

I called the council. All of them except the oldest Marcus who was still in prison as The Architect. Kieran was there. Elena was there. Margaret came, and sat still in the rear. My mother was also present, as she had also joined our decision making team.

I said we should discuss segregation in our neighborhood. I showed them the flyers. "There is someone who is attempting to cause conflict between man and werewolves.

One of the council members said that we ought to locate them and arrest them.

"But how?" I asked. By chasing down whoever is doing this in a violent manner we will demonstrate that human beings and werewolves will always use force. We prove the flyers right."

"So what do you suggest?" Kieran asked. He was even gazing at me as though I would tell him. But I didn't know. I was inventing this as I went on.

I would say we tell the truth, I said. "Let's hold a public forum. We should bring human beings and werewolves together and discuss the actual problems that we encounter. Admittedly, cooperation is difficult in some cases. We want to demonstrate that it is a challenging choice, but still we make it.

My mother grabbed my hand. "That's brave," she said. "And terrifying."

It was three days later and we were in the plaza where we had fought so many battles. People came in large numbers. Both humans and werewolves. They sat, not always very comfortably together. There was tension in the air.

I was the one in the middle and posed the first question. So what do you dread of coexisting with the other species?

For a moment, nobody spoke. Then a woman who happened to be a human being held up her hand.

I suppose they will be able to get a hold on us, and decide to abuse us, I said, with their might. I fear that sometime they will realize that they no longer need to be pretending to be peaceful.

A werewolf man shook his head in comprehension. Please, say the same, I am afraid. "But in reverse. I do not want to worry that man will manage to injure us when we are asleep. I fear that they will chase us after the same way their fathers did.

Thanks to your truthfulness, I responded. I could feel the room change in a slight way. Individuals were not hearing, they were listening to one another.

But then Margaret stood up. I believe there is something wrong with those fears, she said. She was not in her immortal shape. She was fully human-looking. I believe that when we take time to know each other, we will realize that we are not too different. We are simply all trying to make ends meet and create lives that we will be proud of.

A younger werewolf stood up. "That sounds nice," he said. But what of those who are not interested in peace? What of those hunters who still exist? And what of the extremists with each other?

"They exist," I admitted. "And they'll always exist. People who would rather engage in fights than cooperate will always exist. Not to be like them, we have the option. We can choose to be better."

Well, it is easy to say when you are a human being, said a werewolf woman, without hostility. To be peaceful, one does not need to sacrifice his or her instinct, which is as natural as possible. Werewolves do not have any choice but to struggle against who we are.

That is not so much the case, a werewolf man replied. There are some of us who are naturally peaceful. Peace isn't unnatural for us. Sometimes violence is easier since we are the ones who can.

The discussion went on and on. People talked. People listened. Individuals confessed about the fears and found out that they were not alone. Something was different from the conclusion. Not dramatically. But noticeably.

I was discovered by Elena, following the forum. She looked different. She looked older and sadder.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I felt it," Elena said. "The presence you felt before. It's closer now. Much closer. And I recognized the feeling. It is a person I have known very long ago. Someone I thought was dead."

"Who?" I demanded.

My first mate, Elena said in a whisper. "My first husband. The father of your mother. It was expected that he died a hundred years ago, yet he did not. That is because centuries ago immortals transformed him. And now he's coming here. He's coming for me."