Hidden Among Humans

Chapter 8

Two weeks had passed since the capture of the vampire, and we were not any closer to uncovering the truth. What we did learn did not help much. His name is Damian, and he is 9 years old. With the odor of death increasing each day that went by, it was safe to guess he had only been a vampire for about one month now. During his time with us, he would continue to call for his mom. Normally, I would expect that due to his age. But somehow he seemed to believe we held his mother prisoner.

“Give her back,” he would yell for hours on end.

“We do not have your mother here,” but to no avail, he continued with his cries.

“Give my momma back!” He continued to yell for days.

We tried to create trust with Damian, but time and time again, we failed. We tried pushing hard, but still, we got nowhere. I contacted our neighboring packs, giving vague details on why I was asking around. But all was quiet on their ends. Our pack was the only one being targeted. Without any further development on our territory, it was time to call for an official meeting.

“Tell us what you suspect,” I addressed the elders. The audience was small, only my mother and Jace were in attendance. With werewolves crawling all over the town, it was difficult to keep a secret. It was not always we had to use a sound-proof room. Today was definitely one of those days.

“One hundred and twenty years ago, when my grandparents were young. Vampires rapidly increased in numbers, for one purpose. To become the supreme ruler above all. They began with adults, but they soon realized they needed c*****e to instill fear. They began turning children, they even went as far as turning babies. A two-year-old vampire on a rampage would wipe out a whole town in one night. A vampire on a rampage, we would not hesitate to kill, but a child. Well, that’s what they wanted, and they almost succeeded.” Elder Stone spoke with affirmation. He was the oldest member of the pack, therefore when he spoke everyone listened. He was also Fiona’s grandfather.

“What stopped them the first time,” Jace jumped in, anxious to know the answer.

“The royal families,” the rest of the elders began to whisper among themselves. Of course, everyone had the right to be concerned. With the werewolf royals out of the picture, only the vampire & witch royals remained. I listened carefully to the account of those times, something felt off.

“Was the first attack sudden,” I inquired.

“My understanding is that it was sudden and unexpected, that is one of the reasons they almost succeeded.” His words confirmed my suspicions.

“I see,” I rubbed my temples before another voice spoke.

“Alpha, what should we do,” I looked around the room to find everyone's attention on me. I am not sure why I was surprised. After all, this was the role of the Alpha. I suppose, up until now, everything had been peaceful. This will be the true test of my title.

“I believe someone wants to misdirect our attention,” the room fell silent as I spoke. I had my moments, even without my wolf, I exerted authority. “For what purpose, I believe I have a theory,” I cleared my throat before continuing. I had an important revelation to make. “First, Damian is looking for his mother, why does he think we have her? It’s not far-fetched to believe someone must have led him to believe this.” I looked around to find two elders nodding their heads in approval. “Second, what vampire revolution would be so careless to lose track of a child vampire. Unless it was done on purpose.”

“How can you be so sure of that?” One of the elders spoke.

“Well, it's been twelve years since the tragic demise of the royals. Why not attack then, when the crown was weak and our packs suffered. No, this was a mere test of our security measures. I have no doubt they are watching us now, checking for a weakness.”

“But why?” I turned to face my mother, worried about what would come next.

“This is a claim for territory, I will be challenged.” I could see my mother gasp as I finished my sentence. She knew what would come. Without my wolf, I would likely perish.

“I don’t understand,” one of the elders whispered, “why a vampire?”

“Well, this is where I struggled for some time. I have come to suspect that while our efforts are being spent on locating vampires, we will overlook werewolves. After all, why would we suspect a werewolf when we are expecting vampires?”

“Well, I for one will not sit here and watch that happen,” Jace jumped out of his seat. Jace knew my predicament well and he would lay down his life to protect his Alpha. I just was not sure I would allow him to do that. I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold my secret for long. I had just hoped I would have resolved this by now.

“We must inform the council!” Another elder blurted out. It was not long before the chaos among the elders broke out. Everyone had their option on the matter. I allowed them to continue as a moment of clarity came upon me. I had not thought about the council until now. Well, I had, but not like this. Maybe just maybe, yes.

“We all know the council does not care for territories,” I interrupted with a roar. “In fact, now that you mention it, I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before.” I began to pace without saying a word, trying to mold my conclusion into words.

“What are you saying?” The eager panel awaited my response.

“Yes, what a better way to claim a pack, than with the presence of the council. What more witnesses would they need? We have no proof of the origin of this lone vampire, the challenge will stand.” Every single eye glared in my direction.

“Still, it doesn’t make sense? Why now. Why not challenge the Luna years back?” One of the elders was not convinced of what I said.

“Because even a Luna still poses a risk of death during an attack,” I tried to remain calm, knowing every word I spoke was true.

“The rumors,” Elder Stone whispered under his breath, but, of course, everyone had heard him.

“Exactly,” I replied. I was uneasy about the matter, but what could I do? Nothing. What is done is done, I can't rewind the wheel of time. Looking back though, I don’t believe I would have changed anything.

“What do you propose we do?” Jace inquired.

“For now, we do not raise the alarm. We need to change our guard patterns. Extend our search beyond our boundaries and report back anything unusual.”

“Got it,” he said with a salute. It's just like Jace to try and lighten the mood. But with no response from anyone, he knew it had been the wrong choice.

“Most importantly, this information must not leave this room,” I said, while I ignored Jace’s stance altogether. Although the elders might not have been the fondest of my mother in the beginning, or even myself as a young Alpha; they knew a new rouge Alpha could pose a danger to the pack. As the plan for the next weeks solidified, slowly, one by one they began to leave the room until it was only my mother and Jace remained.

“There is something else you did not want to say,” mom came closer as she spoke. She was no fool, always able to read me.

“Your right, you don’t go after a pack like ours without help,” I sighed before I continued. “With this in mind, I fear there might be a traitor.” Our pick is not the largest, but we are one of the strongest. It is known our warriors will stop at nothing for this pack. Even with minimal activity throughout the years, we have kept our training to date.

“You suspect someone, don’t you?” Jace spoke.

“I cannot be sure, but yes,” I replied, knowing I could not doom the wolf, I suspect only because of a gut feeling. “ I will let you know more once I have confirmed.

For the next few days, everything remained uneventful. Although the search had been expanded, nothing out of the ordinary had been caught. Still, I knew I could not be wrong.

After several long days, I knew I needed to take time out to talk to my mother and explain everything to her. I made my way down a long corridor, it always reminded me of a labyrinth. I remember when I was younger I would always get lost in her. Now I can’t imagine not knowing every inch of its floors.

“What are you doing mom?” I peaked in the door hoping to catch her unoccupied. As a child, I always stormed in, not knocking was my mantra. Now, as the Alpha, I was not required to.

“Oh, just reviewing a patient's file, it’s an interesting one.” She always loved a challenge; it gave her more satisfaction when her patient went home in a better state than they came in. “What can I do for you?” She said without looking away from her chart.

“Well, with everything going on, we didn’t get the chance to speak about what happened.” I looked over at mom, who had begun nodding her head non-stop. “Can you hear me?” Still, she continued to nod aggressively. “Earth to mother.”

“Alejandro, that sounds great,” she replied.

“Mom, you’re not listening,” I sighed, knowing she was in doctor mode. At this point, it would be impossible to get her away from it.

“Sorry son, can you repeat that.” I laughed; she was clueless.

“Do you need someone to bounce the ideas around?” Every time mom had a difficult case, it was all she could think about. For as long as I could remember, mom would always discuss her cases with me like I knew what she was talking about. I remember dad pretending to fall asleep as she spoke about a case.

“What is so funny?” I was surprised to find myself laughing out loud.

“Sorry mom, I was just thinking about dad. Remember he would pretend to fall asleep every time you started using big doctor words.” There was not a single day that went by that I wished he wasn't still around.

“I miss him too,” a tear began to roll down her cheek as we recalled his memories. I ran to her side, immediately taking her into my arms.

“Okay, now that file,” I pulled back, reassuring her that we were both okay.

“Oh yes,” she flipped to the front of the file to start fresh. “Well, our patient is a sixteen-year-old girl, who suddenly fell ill with no warning. Other than chem and CBC panel, every test under the sun has come back normal.” She said, flipping the page around. “She suffered from extreme pain throughout her body, they had to keep her heavily sedated for two months. For the first two weeks, she was in a coma. One day, without warning, she just woke up. A treatment of IV fluids and several courses of antibiotics alongside antifungals were administered. With no improvements.” She continued to read through all the treatment done.

“Do you have a history of her parent's health?” I took a seat, realizing this would be a long night.

After a couple of hours of discussing the case with her, she was more intrigued by it. Especially with all the initial testing yielding normal results.

“When are you going to see her?” I was curious to know.

“Well, with everything going on here, I didn’t provide them with an opening on my schedule. I understand that she is currently in a stable condition with close monitoring by the hospital staff. I would hate to have her wait but you are the most important part of my life." She spoke with every emotion possible.

“Mom, something tells me you should go see her sooner rather than later.” It was odd, I just had this strange feeling my mom needed to do this.