Wolves and Men

“Elder, please continue,” Charles said smoothly into the suddenly tense room, “Nicolas won’t interrupt you again. Will you, Nicolas?” He looked pointedly at the Scout with a warning look on his face.

“Hey, you guys know me. I’m just wondering if I need to go get some popcorn or something.” Nicolas said with a humble tone and an insufferable grin plastered on his face. It was times like this that William really wanted to kill the asshole.

The Elder looked at Nicolas and William like she would happily do the deed for him, but she eventually calmed down and continued, “You should all know that it has been wolves, mainly, that has taught mankind how to hunt. They taught them how to observe nature, how to track, how to observe the changes in the weather and to track the migration patterns of prey animals, from foul to caribou. Humans and wolves grew up together. If it wasn’t for us wolves, the humans may have died out long ago as did their predecessors, the Denisovans.

But the tides of our time passed and more and more of our kind was being blamed for savage attacks on humans. We became the silent killer in the dark, not the wise teacher. We were made out to be monsters in the eyes of humans. We Shape shifters couldn’t understand why at first. Humans started to turn on wolves and have great hunting parties to drive our kind off their land. The stories were true but it was only when several human borne Shape shifters made their way to the City under the Sand that we began to take these stories seriously.

It was later discovered that the vampires had used their influence on wolves to not only hunt Shape shifters, but to hunt human beings. Wolves had become the demons that people were so frightened of. Wolves were compelled to hunt and kill people. The vampires used this and their ability to infiltrate human society to further the hysteria surrounding the wolf attacks.

“That’s when the great wolf purge hunts began,” stated Aceso.

“Yes, the vampires, knowing that they couldn’t hunt us, and not having discovered who or when a Shape shifter is to be reborn, they decided to use humans to kill half the population of Shape shifters before they were reborn. They drove man kind to the brink of a blood thirst frenzy in an effort to kill all the wolves. They succeeded in many places, including Britain. During this time, more Cities were formed and created to help stem the massacre and the loss of our kin. The City under the Rock, and the City under the Ice were examples of this and were created more as a sanctuary for wolves than for any needed strategical value. About a hundred years ago when you humans founded Hollywood, the Elders thanked providence that this City had been rediscovered; now it is of great strategical significance.”

“Wait,” William asked. “What do you mean, the City Under the Mountain had been rediscovered?”

Derceto looked to the cavern around them. “William, this place is as ancient as the world itself. It’s said, that this was a sanctuary after the great flood. The Hopi and just about every native American tribe along the west coast has a legend that revolves around this place. The place of a great battle between a god and demon who was trapped at the bottom of Crater Lake. This place was not built but any Shape shifter we could trace back to that long ago.”

“So, we’re squatters,” Nicolas retorted.

Derceto shot daggers out of her eyes at the blond. “I was speaking of a hundred years ago?”

Katherine nodded and Derceto continued, “It was at this time that the great Sages of the City under the Sand gathered. They knew that they had to try to break their wolf kin free from the vampires influence. Without the guidance from wolves, mankind was starting to devolve into blood thirsty tyrants and freighted sheep that followed governments and war lords without thoughts or protests. The Sages knew that they had to reclaim the wolves from our long-standing enemies. This of course played right into the vampires’ hands. Because the more the humans warred with and killed each other, the more blood there was just waiting to be drank. It served their ends perfectly.

Meanwhile, it took dozens of Shape shifters and long months before the Sages were able to capture and return with a dozen or so of the dominated wolves. They studied their minds and the taint of the vampire domination. It was an intricate design that even our Trackers couldn’t figure out.

The Trackers as you know use pheromones and naturally occurring biochemicals to induce favorable results. This is correct, is it not, Charles?” The Tracker nodded. “What our Sages and Trackers found was far more complex and something that couldn’t be easily explained. Their minds were locked to us. And no amount of prodding or experimentation seemed to loosen the hold that the vampires had placed over them. In a last-ditch effort, the Sages did something that no Sage today is proud of.”

“What did they do?” asked William coldly.

The Elder looked pointedly at Katherine. The younger Sage tilted her head in a questioning gesture. Katherine had no idea what the Elder was going to say but it looked to William that she wasn’t going to like hearing it any more than the rest of them would.

“The Elder Sage of the City gathered her best Sages into a chamber with a single dominated wolf,” The Elder began. “There, they spent over five days doing things that no Sage has spoken of. Those that did know what they were planning have long since died. The reports of the aftermath quoted it to be said that the energies of the Earth itself were gathered into a single place and time. Every Sage in the city felt the massive amount of power that was being concentrated.

Then, for a moment or two, the concentrated energy ceased to be. There was nothing and the City took a collective breath, thinking that the Sages had accomplished their task.”

“The next moment there was an explosion of power that washed over the entire city. This energy was dark and malicious and some of the stronger Sages in the City went mad and crumpled to the floor in mumbling heaps of flesh. A few of them died, then and there, those that felt the blast and survived, were nothing more than vegetables.”