THEY LIVE AMONG US
It was a strange place to be waiting. In the shadow of the Great Minster cathedral in the ancient city of York.
The Great building itself was lit up by lights on all sides and even this time of night, after midnight it still looked as impressive as it did in the daylight. The oldest gothic cathedral in Northern Europe it certainly did make you wonder how the artisans and builders that had created this masterpiece managed to do so with the tools at their disposal. Just like the men that had built the castle that had once stood here. Skills that today were used by modern methods and machinery it saddened the waiting man to think that such skills were long gone.
He came out of his reverie and glanced up at the sky. A beautiful moonlight night and had he been here under any other circumstances then he might have stayed to appreciate it more but that wasn't why he was here and the longer he waited the more nervous he got.
He lit a cigarette and pulled his coat closer round him, despite the warmth of the evening he felt a chill round him and it wasn't anything that nature could throw at him.
He couldn't help but feel that he was being watched and that feeling didn't escape him even though there was noone in sight. Then again he doubted he would see the one he was waiting for, even if they were in plain sight.
He waited a little longer then decided to give up on the idea and got up from his perch on a seat across from the great statue of Constantine the Great.
Suddenly a tall female came from behind the statue of the Roman Emperor and leant against the side of it.
"Going somewhere?"
he jumped at the sound of the voice and turned a little as she made her way towards him and found that he couldn't answer her. She shook her head and motioned towards the centre of town.
"Guess you could use a coffee or something"
"is there anywhere open at this time of night that doesn't serve alcohol?" He asked with a slight tremor in his voice.
She nodded and walked with him towards the all night MacDonald's. He took a look at her as she went to the counter. Tall and well built but not in an ugly way. Her brown hair was dark but had slight grey flexes in it making it almost salt and peppery in comparison. Her eyes were green and bright and even in this light they shone brighter than anywhere else.
She returned to the table and set two coffees down and slid into the seat opposite. She wore a black T-Shirt with Ozzy Osbourne Bark at the moon cover stencilled on it and a pair of black jeans that did nothing to hide her figure.
She sipped her coffee and levelled her gaze at the young man as he set a recorder on the table. His hands were shaking as he did so and it was obvious there was an element of fear about him.
Then again she didn't blame him.
He had contacted her with a request for a story. He had witnessed her taking down a vampire clan and he was a reporter for the on-line magazine "They are among us" operated along the same lines as theLone Gunman, instead of government and alien conspiracies though they specialised in uncovering the supernatural. When she had not attacked him he was convinced, as were his hitherto unknown editors that there was forces at work to protect the innocent and he wanted the first story.
He posted a request on the Internet and in the local press so when she had decided to get in touch with him he had sounded excited. Now to look at him he looked positively terrified.
He was young she supposed. No older then twenty-five with bright intelligent blue eyes and black hair. Dressed in a t-shirt and Jeans he had a gold band on his ring finger and that struck her as odd. Humans getting married at an early age seemed to be the in thing at the moment.
She took another sip of coffee and pulled a face. It wasn't her usual brand but it would do.
"Are you going to tell me your name?" She asked.
He cleared his throat "Saul" he held his hand out "Saul Jeffries"
She shook his hand "You can call me Jo" she told him "For now"
"Thank you for agreeing to see me" He relaxed a little more now he was certain she wasn't going to disembowel him.
At least he hoped not but that was why he had chosen a place that had people in it. Safer that way.
"So," he sipped some coffee, his mouth had gone dry "I suppose I should ask if you don't mind starting at the beginning?"
"You mean my beginning?" She cordially asked he nodded "Can't smoke in here Saul Jeffries. Pack your stuff away finish your coffee and I will take you someplace that will allow you to smoke"
He paled a little but did as she asked.
The river flowed lazily by. As he sat by the side smoking his cigarette he let his imagination flow. He could picture the Roman vessels coming up here to supply their garrison of Eboraccomb and then the Viking Longships as they came to plunder.
She waited for him to unpack his recorder and lit her own cigarette and set two large take away coffee cups down.
"You ready to listen?" She asked. He nodded and pressed record on his recorder "Then I shall begin…."
"I was born thousands of centuries ago, just after the completion of Stonehenge and I was a child when the first royal family was buried there. However my tribe was of the wild. We proffered to live in the forests and hunt within them, but we always gave thanks to the gods with our first kills.
We ran with the wolves and we never harmed them for they were the children of the Goddess Morrigan and it was considered bad luck within our tribe to kill such creatures, only when one of the warriors was chosen by the goddess were we permitted to hunt and then it had to be the chosen warrior, the one that would see if the Goddess had chosen correctly and then they were pitted against the great Dire Wolves themselves.
If the warrior came back alive and with the skin of the Dire Wolf around his shoulders then he or she was chosen if they did not come back then they had failed the test.
Our tribe was regarded as the greatest of our kind in the area of England we resided in. although we were considered part of the Dummonii lands we were answerable to none of their laws.
Our men and women were known to be great fighters and as such were welcomed in battle but our devotion to the mother of all creatures made us somewhat scary to our fellow tribesmen and that as such made us respected and feared in equal measure.
We all had worshipped the mighty goddess, the raven goddess, goddess of war and Queen of magic whenever we fought a mighty Raven would fly overhead and we knew that she was with us.
However it was decreed by a conclave at the great Stonehenge that our lands would soon face an enemy that even she could not repeal. No One knew when that time would come but it would come and by the great Goddess's orders a race of eternals would be created, their duties were to protect the lands of the Mystic Isles through out time. They would be immortal and they would battle those that sought to undermine our mystic heritage.
As our tribe worshipped the strength of the wolves we were chosen and over a course of the full moon's path across the sky the goddess chose us to bear her wishes. Another tribe was chosen to represent her aspect as the goddess of Ravens and Crows but we were chosen as the great protectors.
The pain was such intensity that I thought I was going to die I was the first and I knew, deep inside that should I fail then another tribe would be chosen. I don't know even to this day how I managed to stop myself falling into madness and insanity but I did and the power of the ancients flowed through me.
There was one who was greater then even us and it was always he who witnessed our ascension he was the great Warlord of all of us, a true son of the goddess and who had lived just a fraction longer then us.
He was our master but we were to be his generals. The first six were to be the true immortals and so it was. We lived as long as we were able and should we have been harmed more serious then our healing was able to contend with our souls re enter the body of a new born child and live as humans until puberty then the memories will return and our mission becomes clear once more."
Saul sipped his coffee and realised that she had been talking for just over an hour. He changed his cassette and marked the first tape ONE then slipped another in and when she nodded a little he pressed record.
"When the Romans invaded they at first came as conquers but they seemed to respect our gods. They brought their own gods with them but they seemed to like the aspect of a goddess of War and we thought that they were benevolent. They brought with them technology that we had not known before. Sewers, writing all that would enhance our society and for a while our kings and Queens accepted their rule but all that changed. The Romans were fearful of the powers of the Druids and under Paulinus they hunted them all down. They murdered our high priests and then news reached us not only of the battle of Anglesey but of the atrocities that had befallen the Queen of the Iceni and her daughters.
You see the Romans had no regard for women, except that they were to breed good Romans and if they held land then they were to be married for that land to become their husbands.
However we saw it different.
A woman could hold land and she would be respected. In battle we were just as fierce as the men and children were to be blessed as a gift from not only the union of man and woman but the favour of the goddess's too.
They were our future so when we heard that the Death of Queen Boudikas husband had caused the Romans to become greedy and want the lands of the Iceni we were incensed, when they raped her and then forced her to watch as they violated her two daughters that was a declaration of war.
They had murdered our druids, our high priests and now they had violated a Queen of our lands and we of the Eternals, the warriors of Morrigan and the Warlord hunted them in packs.
Oh she was a great leader she had them on the run and none could doubt her bravery or her skill in battle but in the end no matter how many Romans we killed or destroyed their profane buildings in the end they were too strong for us and it did not help that one of our own betrayed us to the Romans. She killed many of our own kin and then fled to Rome when we returned to our tribe to take retribution upon her she had fled and she is now the mother of the Praetorian Tribe.
Exiled by us all she sought to form her own tribe and that she did. For no more deadly assassins exist within our kind or curs that exact torture for their own pleasure. I vowed when I heard of Boudikas Suicide and the bad omens that had befallen her tribe as the Romans swallowed them up and killed many in revenge for what had happened to their kinsmen I swore that I would see Ithakana dead and as yet I still have that vow to fulfil."
"Was she the first to betray you?" Saul asked.
"She was the first but by no means the last. Two more followed and I will come to that.
When the Romans left our shores I was already an ancient and my peers gave me the name Lycan and when I reached my first Century and my battle honours were many. I was named the Second of the great Warlord and I fought alongside him and his friends in many battles as his trusted General.
I stood beside my lord as we watched Constantine proclaimed Emperor of Rome and we both knew that this would be the end of the old Empire of Gods and Goddesses and the rising of the one faith that would eventually change the world.
I witnessed the return of Merlin and the building of Camelot, the birth of Arthur king of the Britons and his amazing feats that made our lands great again. A King who had embraced the new religion but respected the old ways enough to not persecute those of us that still believed in them.
We were happy to serve this King; he had a good heart and a warrior's soul. He brought Fortune to our lands and he protected them from the Vikings and most importantly he valued Merlin, the greatest Druid to have ever lived, as a prized man of wisdom.
Ultimately though as with all Golden Ages they came to an end and it was the machinations of the Le Fey, the Priestess who had sold her soul to the dark to bring him down, his own half sister who gave him a son of such evil that the power within him was spent solely to destroy. My kin tried to stop him from ending the great Camelot but it was not to be.
All we could do was watch as not only Arthur killed his own son but lost his own life and sent Excalibur back whence she had come from and Merlin, so grief struck by the loss of one that he considered a son retired from the world of men.
It would be many years before we saw him return.
The Vikings overran our lands and that in turn saw the betrayal by the Second Eternal. Balthamor was already discouraged by what he saw as the weakness of our lands, how we had, in his eyes softened and become a land ripe for the taking.
He had been ordered to approach the Danes and warn them that we would not tolerate their invasion of our lands.
It wasn't to work out like that. Seeing that their god Odin was a man who valued the shapeshifters amongst his tribe Balthamor forsook our Goddess and took to the worship of Odin as his god and he revelled in it.
He was with the Vikings who attacked and destroyed the monastery of Lindasfarne and although we of the Eternals were followers of the old gods, we knew that such a transgression upon any holy place especially one that was classed as a Holy Island would not, could not go unpunished.
What horrified us more was that he had taken to eating his victims alive. Now don't get me wrong, in my wolfen form I have to battle the urge to eat humans but I always remember my oath so I eat my quarries but I make sure they are dead first and allowed to travel too their afterlife."
Saul pulled a horrified face; she glanced at him but said nothing and waited for a moment to remind herself where she was in her story.
"Balthamor ate his victims alive. And if they were on the verge of death he would employ dark magic's to bring them back to life so they could be tortured more.
His Tribe The Sons of Odin make The Praetorians look like pussycats when it comes to tormenting their victims. With the decline of the Viking Gods he and his tribe took it upon themselves to attack Christians and make them pay for dealing their gods the death bell.
Not only that but he told the Vikings where to attack our lands best and York or Jorvik as it was to become then, fell to the ferocious Vikings and endured years of fear and torture at the hands of a mad man.
Balthamor also worked with his new master and revelled in the killings especially if he caught one of us.
What made his betrayal more abhorrent was that he had sided with the Vampires, a race that we distrusted above all others and he had made pacts with the Children of Erebus with such betrayal we could not allow him to live but we could never catch him and so we made his tribe outlaws. Their madness and heinous acts made them anthemia to everything that we stood for.
The Praetorians are Assassins and they see their skills to the highest bidder. Indeed there are varying unscrupulous Government Agencies that your counterparts in the Lone Gunman would be pleased to know hire The Praetorians to do their wetwork for them.
The Sons of Odin are mad beyond mad. No act is too despicable to contemplate. They would rape a woman in wolf form and continue such an act until she gave them a child and usually the mother would die, as the ferocity of the birth would kill the mother and destroy her body.
The child is then taken and watched to see if they display our unique code and when it surfaces they are taught the ways of the Tribe. The Women of the tribe are deadlier then the males but as yet their sire Balthamor is untouched and he is one whose head I can take and I will take, he has much to answer for."
Saul changed the tape once more and lit a cigarette. Over the horizon the first rays of Dawn were approaching and he was surprised to find that it was nearly 5am. He stiffened a yawn and rolled his head a little to stretch the neck bones from their stiffness.
"Is that who you were hunting when you saved my life?" He asked.
"Sort off" She replied "Come on I know of a café that is open all night. They do a good breakfast and I am hungry."
Saul thought he knew all the cafes in York but this one would exceed all his expectations.
In more ways then one.
He was led underground. At first he thought that they were going for a walk along the ancient Castle walls although known as the Bar walls by the locals instead they headed for the Biggest Gates called Monk Bar and then under them but not all the way through. Saul glanced up and stared as he saw the tips of the ancient Portcullis peeping through.
"They still work" Jo explained to him "But it would not be viable with today's traffic."
He backed up a moment and saw the glaring statues right at the top with stones in their hands. He had seen all the gargoyles on all the gates of the castle but this one was different in that they were not only scary but the idea behind the stones was that they would fall on unwelcome visitors.
He returned to where Jo waited for him and stared as she placed her hand on the wall and a hidden doorway opened up.
Hesitantly he followed her through, almost as if she sensed his trepidation she heaved a heavy sigh.
"I gave you my word that nothing would happen to you Saul Jeffries and nothing will happen to you. You asked me for this interview and I am doing as you asked"
He muttered an apology and followed her through, the hidden door vanishing until it was just a stone wall once more.
He was lead down a set of spiral stairs that seemed to go on forever but eventually they straightened out into a long corridor. He reckoned they were so far under the city itself that they might be under the sewers.
She explained that they were just above the old ruins of the Roman Garrison but under the sewers. He followed her to a light at the end of the corridor that opened up into a café area.
The lights were dim and she showed him to a table. The patrons regarded him with hungry eyes and he swore blind he saw a few pointed ears and teeth in the dim lighting but when they saw who was with him they bowed in deference to her authority.
She ordered two full breakfasts, continuous coffee and glanced around her.
"Where are we?" He whispered.
She turned her attention back to him and sipped her coffee "A café that suits my race and our allies." He thought better of asking any more questions and as they waited for Breakfast she continued with her story.
"We discovered our roles were changing. Humans had a penchant for violence that even outweighed our expectations and our violence. Not only were we protecting our lands but also we were protecting the faiths of the world no matter what they were and fighting against our one-time allies.
The Vampire Garou Wars took a toll on us all and led to the third and final betrayal. We were forbidden to use Blood Magic. It was deemed the realms of the evil and our most gifted mages were under the banner of Francessa the greatest Mage our race had. However she saw more and more the need to excel herself and prove herself the greatest.
She had heard of the lands across the great ocean from our master and how he had witnessed the blood magic of the Incas and the Aztecs and the human sacrifices made to their gods to appease them and bring them victory or bountiful harvests.
Now we are no strangers to human sacrifice. Our ancient ways permitted the use whereas prisoners of war were sacrificed to the gods with the Druids looking on but blood magic was seen as a sin to us.
When I first learnt of Francesca's leanings I spoke with her. Told her that if she pursued this course of action then she would find herself obliterated that and her kin and she would be denied rebirth.
I thought it would be enough but when the Vampires attacked all thoughts went through the window, all concerns. We had been at war with the vampires since the betrayal of the Warlords Brother to the Children of Erebus"
"Your warlords brother is a Vampire?" Saul sat back as his breakfast came over and thanked the young woman, although he doubted she was young.
"Yes. When he butchered an entire village in Macedonia and made the witch hunters believe that it was his brother the betrayal of his own flesh and blood was more then he could stand and we have been at war with them ever since so when news reached us that The Children of Erebus and their Kin had attacked Prague so we went to the defence and Francesca fought by my side as my general.
I had always trusted her gifts but this war was to change her. She stumbled across the
Vampires lair and was seduced by the Warlords Brother into the art of Blood Magic. The moment she turned her kin turned and we were not only fighting the Vampires but our own too.
There was no real victory the Vampires retreated back to their lairs and we limped away to lick our wounds but I wanted to punish Francessa for what she had done. Her Blood Magic had killed many of us and turned her from the path of the Goddess.
She escaped to the desert and took up residence in Iran where she learnt the ways of the old Persian Gods and her Tribe became The Children of Blood.
Known for their magical prowess and their skills in the art of Blood Magic it is a sorry state when human virgins male or female are taken off the Iranian streets and sacrificed so that their magic can continue.
Shortly after the Vampires had their own civil war and the face of things changed our Warlord and the master of all Kindred along with the master of all mages held a conclave.
It was to change how we dealt with the world and how we dealt with others. Peace between us and the Kindred and Mages became allies and we were fighting a new foe. Our own kind but they were those who had strayed from the path of the light.
So it has been for centuries and so shall it continue. We are not successful all the time, sometimes the Vampires of the Darkness succeed in culling an entire community, and taking those they want to become the next generation. Those of ours who are traitors and most wanted by me and my two other Eternals cull human settlements for slaves, food or breeding stock.
My tribe is called the Warriors of Morrigan, then there is The Seers of the Mystical Isles and they are lead by Lupus and finally there is The Children of Stonehenge and Direoc leads them.
We may not like what you humans are doing to yourselves but you have the right to destroy yourselves if you so wish. You have your own trouble with men like Hitler in your past and the atrocities you commit upon each other in the name of religious belief or ideology but we are sworn to protect you from those that would see you all as slaves, breeding stock or food. Without us your race would have a hard time surviving against predators like that."
"That's a bit conceited isn't it?" Saul frowned a little "Humans have always managed to survive"
"By what? Turning their face away from the bogeyman in the closet telling your children there is nothing to be afraid of in the dark? Fear Saul Jeffries is what keeps your wits about you. Fear of what is there is what keeps you from slipping into oblivion.
Your website deals with the paranormal, you have people on TV who claim to speak to the dead so who is to say that Humans are the dominant race. All I know is I swore an oath ten thousand years ago to protect the lands and the people of these lands and until I reach my final peace that is what I will do.
You can tell your readers that they are protected but they are also hunted and that we do indeed live among you."
Saul sat back and stared as she began to change before his eyes.
Without so much as a flinch she changed from an attractive woman to a ferocious killer, a wolf and he felt his bowels loosen a little. She leant forward and he could see the razor Sharp teeth and the Sharp claws both capable of rending flesh from bones.
There was a glint in her eyes and she held her form long enough for him to realise that she indeed was everything that she said she was.
A killer but one that had morals and ethics and one that was guided by honour. She resumed her human form and stood up.
"I'll take you back to the cathedral now Saul Jeffries."
He nodded and only when his legs had stopped shaking he got up and followed her out.
He sat reading what he had written. Transcribed the entire conversation and then sat back in his seat. He was scared of what he had learnt but he also wondered if indeed the only reason the Human race was safe because of these unseen guardians.
He sent it off in e-mail and picked his coffee cup up.
Across from his apartment building a figure sat hunched on the rooftops and a howl escaped her mouth.
He stiffened and turned and saw her watching him and wondered if now he had his own guardian. He raised his cup to her and retreated to his room, tiredness overwhelming him and sleep coming to him like a speed train.
The Werewolf known as Lycan watched the light go out and nodded to herself there was something about the boy she liked and there was something about him that made her take more than a passing interest in his well being.