I open the door to the meeting room. Inside sits a rounded wooden table that is able to sit around ten or so. But to my surprise, there are only four members currently in the room sitting at the table. This meeting must only be for the higher ranks, but not all of them are here.
The others must be on some important missions, or this meeting was called on short notice. I have been gone for a while, so I don't know what this could be about.
Etu, the head of the organization sits at the table as well. His golden helmet signifies his superiority over the others. He is a specialist, which means his ability does not fall into the manipulation, or enhancer category. Like all the others you can only see the black fur on his hands since the rest is covered by clothing. His elbows rest on the table, his hands clasped together near his face.
The others seemed to be more relaxed. Hakan the other male fire user like myself is leaning back in his chair, arms resting over his stomach, with his white a gray fur and his black helmet which makes him a rank lower than I.
Mahkah sits on the other side of him. He has brown fur with some black sprinkled in just like me. He sits relaxed in his chair with his arms folded glaring at me as I sit down. He is an earth manipulator, he commands the ground and can create barriers incredibly fast and can also use them for offense. I've also heard he has a secondary ability like me which is extremely rare. Those of us who do have a second ability like to keep it a secret, so the only real way to find out what It is to fight him.
Nitika, a female wolf Is always on edge. The way she sits in her chair you can tell that she is ready to attack in case something happens. As far as I know she has pure white fur, yellow eyes, and the ability to manipulate the wind. A dangerous ability when you consider that she can mold the wind like blades and use the surrounding wind to shoot it at supersonic speed.
"Good, now that everyone is here we can officially start." Etu says as he looks towards me. "As some of you already know, a wolf was captured by the government a few days ago. Our spy Jolon has uncovered that they are performing experiments on him."
Jolon is my apprentice, while I normally don't like to train anyone he is a special case. He is a specialist, which is rare among our kind. No one knows where he came from or who turned him, not even Jolon remembers his own past. I found him in the wild as a child who was starving to death. When I saw him I could sense that he was special, and I was right.
"This has happened before, but because of human technology it is nearly impossible to get rid of the evidence, or those humans that know about this." Says Mahkah. In an infuriating tone.
He is right before we could have killed everyone who knew and intercepted letters containing information about it. But in the modern age with emails and computers to back up video and documents to servers anywhere in the world, there is no way we can keep it a secret anymore.
"We need to prepare for war." Hakan yells as he slams his fist on the table. "This has gone on for too long. We kept our existence a secret for thousands of years and now the humans have grown too strong."
"Hakan, you need to think things through more carefully. However with that being said, I will have to agree with you." I say.
We have kept ourselves separated from humanity's knowledge out of fear that they would retaliate against us. The main reason being because of our bloodlust. But now that new generations have little to no concern for eating human flesh, we might just be able to live together without any problems.
The main concern is still the older generations like myself. Not all of us are going to sacrifice ourselves for the greater good. Self-preservation is what keeps all species alive. Although in some cases there are exceptions, even in nature some animals will go out of their way to protect others even at the cost of their own life.
"There is some hope. After Jolon found out about this, we have received word from other spies that infiltrated the government. It would seem that the government is going to keep this information from the general public." Says Etu in a calm voice. There is a pause from him. "With that being said, they will eventually figure out our weaknesses and will probably retaliate."
"How do you find hope in that. We have enough problems with werewolf hunters knowing our weaknesses, and now the government is going to as well." Yells Hakan even louder this time.
Werewolf hunters have known our weaknesses for a long time. They are skilled at using weapons and keep their knowledge within the family. The longer they hunt us the better methods they develope.
They coat weapons in oil they get from grinding wolfsbane which is poisonous to us. Not only that but if they manage to cut us, then the oil will get into our bloodstream and negate our abilities until our bodies get rid of the toxin. Mountian ash also does the trick, however unlike wolfsbane it doesn't need to enter our bloodstream to work.
"What I was trying to get at is that we need to convince the government that we are not a threat to humanity. I should also add that we need to do this before the hunters convince them otherwise." Say Etu sounding a little irritated at Hakan.
"I would say that is the best course of action. However like Hakan pointed out, we need to prepare to fight. If it doesn't work out we could easily be wiped out if we are not prepared." I say.
"I just don't think it's worth trying to convince them that we are not a threat. It's not like we could anyways, there is still a large population of us that kill humans. You honestly think that they will believe us." Hakan says.
"It's always worth trying to resolve things peacefully before we resolve to war. Our main goal is to keep casualties to a minimum." Mahkah says while trying to hold back his anger.
Nitika hasn't said a word since the meeting started. I'm starting to wonder if she is just here as a bodyguard to protect Etu in case things get too heated. But I wouldn't expect someone like Etu to need a bodyguard.
"The reason I called this quick meeting was to get some of your opinions on this matter. I have already scheduled another meeting two weeks from now held at our HQ in Atlanta. That should give the rest plenty of time to finish their missions." Etu says, and then stands up. "This meeting will include as many as possible. From Silver rank down to Bronze. It is there that I will decide on our next course of action. None of you here need to participate as you have already voiced your opinions. You are dismissed."
Well, that's some good news at least. I'm glad I don't have to go to that other meeting, it would probably take a full day. It's not like I was going to go anyway, I never go to optional meetings, I find it a waste of time.
As we exit out of the room Mahkah puts his hand on my shoulder "I need to talk to you." he says.
"Fine." I say in a low voice. Mahkah never trusted me since I joined. I could never figure out why. We never really talked to each other, and he always glares at me suspiciously even though I'm not doing anything wrong.
I follow him into one of the spare rooms on the second floor. The one that we enter is just filled with boxes, for now it's used as an extra storage space.
"I know what you did before you joined us." He says as he turns around to face me. "Something about you never seemed right. Etu and I both know about how the Vikings implemented you into their Norse mythology. In fact, that's probably why Etu recruited you because of how they revered you."
"Are you going to get to the point?" I say.
"The point is their mythology depicts you as evil. It's not surprising to find out that you were killing the Vikings. The main point is that I found out that you were killing entire villages in a single night." He says and steps towards me with rage in his eyes. "Slaughtering entire villages is more than mere bloodlust. Mass killing on that level is the result of pure rage and hatred for humanity, and is punishable by death according to our law."
"Then do something about it." I say confidently waiting to see what he does.
Its frowned upon and considered a war crime to slaughter entire villages even back in those days. But then again I don't really care. That was a long time ago and I've changed since then. Back then I hated humans for what they did to me. Things change, and I no longer see all humans as evil as those who wronged me. I even became friends with a few of them.
He snorts at me and furrows his eyebrows, which is hard to tell since they are almost covered by his eye holes in his helmet. "I will let Etu decide on how to deal with you." he says as he walks past me and out of the room.
I was more than prepared to fight him here. I don't think he wanted to damage our HQ and pay the consequences later. Then again there may not have been an HQ here anymore if we did fight. In fact, it's safe to say that our fight would have destroyed the entire building.
I might have changed since I was younger, but the thrill of fighting strong opponents never gets old. Mahkah might actually give me a good challenge if we were to fight.