If there had ever been a more grave meeting of the Omegrion Darion Kattalakis was hard pressed to remember it. On receiving the call to attend the meeting Darion had flashed himself to Neratiti, a magical island that was home to the councils mediator, Savitar. On appearing at Savitar's home Darion immediately noticed several things that were not usual. The most immediate and conspicuous incongruity was Savitar himself, sitting high upon his throne that reminded Darion of a majestic lifeguards tower, the dangerous and powerful being was never there to greet the Were-Hunters that came to his home. He usually came later, swaggering in nonchalantly whenever he felt to do. Darion looked beyond the glass of the floor-to-ceiling windows and watched the sky roil, blackening clouds swelled and folded over the ocean towards them, bringing in pelting rain, gale force winds and trembling thunder. Darion wondered whether the island's weather was controlled by Savitar's mood, for the supreme God-like creature sitting before them looked P-I-double S-ED pissed.
The darkness of Savitar's mood pervaded every corner of the room, quelling any desire in the Weres to talk amongst themselves. As a testament to how bad the situation was every representative was there. It was normal for the Arcadian reps to turn up all together in one group because they were too cowardly to face their animal cousins alone. The only human Darion knew to turn up by himself was Damos Kattalakis, Darion curled his lip as he spied Damos across the room looking brooding and intense. Had Damos been anyone else Darion would have respected his courage, as it was Damos Kattalakis was Darion's most bitter enemy - he was also his blood cousin.
Darion took his seat between Draven Hawke, the Katagaria Gerakian rep and Wren Tigarian, the Katagaria Niphetos Pardalia rep. The snow leopard and the hawk paid him no mind as he sat and neither did anyone else, Darion looked directly across the table to where Damos sat. Damos always sat opposite him so they were directly in sight of each other, the sentinel's eyes burned with vicious hatred as he stared at Darion and the sentinel markings swirled on to his face. Darion's mouth twisted into what was meant to be a wry smirk but he hated Damos too much to muster up even that. Darion drew his eyes away from his cousin to scan the faces around him, all the reps were now seated at the large circular table. It was the only time that Darion could recall the council room being dark, meetings were customarily held in daylight. Tonight the room was dimly lit by fire burning in bowls of oil, each wall held sixteen bowls and still it was not enough to sufficiently light the room. It only cast long shadows on to the faces of his cohorts, throwing into sharp relief their expressions of anxiety and concern.
Suddenly Savitar spoke, his voice echoing uncommonly in the room causing a chill to rest on Darion's skin.
"Animals, humans," Savitar said without his customary nonchalance, "I'm opening the Omegrion council."
The thunder growled loudly and dramatically following this announcement, Adrian Gavril, the Arcadian tiger spoke first.
"We've been exposed," he began calmly and coldly.
"You don't say," Vincenzo Moretti, the Katagaria jackal mocked scathingly, Adrian cut him a murderous glare.
"Shut up, asshole," Anelise Romano snapped back, Vincenzo flipped her off and Anelise stood up immediately, not frightened of going toe to toe with any male, animal or human.
"Enough!" Adrian barked, his eyes flashing, "there is more at stake right now then the pride of Arcadians and Katagaria … our entire world has been threatened with exposure. My cousin in Germany contacted me this morning - internet sites have already been set up and people from all over the world are swapping stories and pictures of supposed shifters. I've had a look at the site myself and there are definitely genuine pictures there, no matter how fuzzy or out of focus."
"He's right," Paris Sebastienne's voice spoke out of the shadows clouding his part of the table, "my brother said people are talking about it wherever he goes and that's as far as Peru."
"So what? People have believed in us for years," Michael Giovanni scoffed with a shrug, the Katagaria cheetah was leaning back on his chair legs with one arm slung over the back of it, a valiant effort to look indifferent and cool.
"This is different -" Leo, the Arcadian bear tried to explained.
"Different my ass," Michael rolled his eyes, "for centuries we've been part of mythology of every culture from Europe to Africa. Loup-Garou, Skinwalkers, Werewolves, why is this any different?"
"Because, idiot, those myths were made when the only evidence man had was his eyes," Dorian Kontis scolded, "these creatures have been caught on camera and sooner or later evidence will emerge that the film isn't tampered with or faked."
Michael rolled his eyes again but was effectively silenced, even though Darion had no love for any Arcadian he didn't like Giovanni's flip attitude and was glad when Dorian shut him up.
"Besides if they were stupid enough to get caught once it could happen again," Alain Peltier said quietly, it looked strange to Darion that the eldest Peltier son sitting there instead of his mother.
"I think we're forgetting something equally as important," an insidiously toneless voice Darion knew to be Lysander Stephanos spoke from the other end of the table.
"What's that?" Fury Kattalakis asked, he and his brother sitting beside each other, both looking intense and dangerous.
"These creatures are not like any type of Were known to us," Lysander remarked, his words heavy with implied meaning, "they are a threat until we know different. Who has ever heard of there being Were-cougars before? Somebody has tampered with nature here."
"The whole reason we are here today is because someone tampered with nature," Wren Tigarian's soft, deep tones emerged from beside Darion, making Darion glance to the young Were. "We are the product of a crazy King trying to fight fate."
"What do you suggest we do then?" hissed Anelise Romano contemptuously, "let these beasts roam wild, creating havoc wherever they please?"
"I suggested nothing of the sort," Wren returned calmly though there was a undertone in his voice that made Darion hide a smirk, the mild, shy exterior of this Katagaria belied a murderous rage within.
"I just pointed out that simply because it is uncommon to you does not make it unnatural. There are many things in this world that are what you would call 'unnatural' but they all have a right to live."
Anelise scoffed at that but said nothing, although Darion agreed with both Anelise and Lysander he understood why Wren had sympathies for the rogue Weres. Wren was a hybrid, a mixture of species, in short he was a freak. And as sad as it was freaks had no place in the Were-Hunter world, the animals inside them immediately rejected that which was different.
"What are we saying here?" Fury Kattalakis spoke up again, his voice laced with incredulity, "that we are to hunt and kill these things? Exterminate them?"
There was a silence, a deep troubling, conscience-racking, soul-searching silence, no one spoke. No one wanted to act like the hand of the Gods for these creatures, the hush would have gone on forever had it not been broken, so Darion broke it.
"Yes," he said, his voice echoing slightly in the stillness, "that is what we must do."
Fury opened his mouth as if to protest but Vane placed a furtive hand on his brother's forearm and Fury lapsed into silence, his objections swallowed but evidently not forgotten by the look on his merciless face.
"Then it is decided," Lysander said, "they must die."
Darion looked across from him to where Damos sat, his cousin's face was frozen, no evidence of emotion or thought showed itself there. Hatred the likes of which few people could ever know worked its way through Darion like a poison, heating his blood. Darion wished to the Gods that it was Damos he was being tasked to hunt and kill. Just one more chance to cut the heart out of the bastard's chest. They had last met for a battle over a century ago, since then their paths had never crossed and were unlikely to unless Darion sought out the conflict on Damos's turf. They only ever saw each other at the Omergrion and if Darion killed Damos here Savitar would make sure he was soon to follow. A low toned discussion commenced among the council reps making Darion blink and look around him. Never had he known such unity within the council there was still an undercurrent of tension and hostility but the agreement was almost disturbing. Darion glanced up to Savitar, the ancient being was sitting back in his chair with his face obscured by shadows yet Darion sensed Savitar's eyes upon him. He quickly looked away wondering how much Savitar knew of what Darion was thinking …
"Well," Bracken O'Rooke demanded as soon as Darion strode back into their camp, "what have the Omegrion ruled?"
The older dragon's eyes, the colour of pale smoke, were hard and feverish as they glared fixedly at Darion.
"The creatures are to be hunted," Darion said, sitting down beside the fire with a sigh of relief to be off his feet, he paused before he spoke again, "they are to be destroyed."
"I would expect nothing less," Bracken sniffed, he tore a lump of bloodied steak apart with his hands and offered one half to Darion, seeing the build up of dirt beneath Bracken's nails Darion shook his head to the offer.
"Thank you but I have eaten," Darion lied stiffly, his stomach clenched as he watched Bracken's mossy teeth bite into the meat. Darion lowered his eyes so his mouth did not involuntarily say something about Bracken's manners, it didn't do well to offend the leader of your clan.
"The Omegrion," Bracken managed to say between bites, "for all its faults, would never let such beasts live. It would taint the very foundations of our society."
Darion listened with his eyes on the grass between his feet, Bracken was a grimy bastard to be sure but he was intelligent. He was a great Katagaria philosopher as far as Darion was concerned. If he had his way Darion would broadcast Bracken's speeches and rhetoric on the purity of the Katagaria blood and the importance of being separate on radio stations across the world so that every Were-Hunter household would hear it. Then mix-matings like that of Dante Pontis and Wren Tigarian could be seen for the abomination that they really were.
"That's true," Darion agreed softly, he raised his eyes now that Bracken had stopped eating, the elder dragon picked the meat from between his teeth.
"Its bad enough that we have Katagaria and Arcadians mating and breeding left, right and centre," Bracken waved his hand indicating each direction as he spoke it, "but now we have these … things, these mutants."
Bracken's broad Irish brogue became even thicker as he worked himself up for a lecture, the glow of the fire lit up his slightly lined face and making the grey at his temples appear silver.
"What would happen were they to breed?" Bracken asked out loud, for Darion was not the only one listening now, the young males and females of the clan had crowded forward and sat about him in their human forms, listening to his wise words.
"Supposing they bred with normal pure blooded Weres like ourselves? Forget being Arcadian or Katagaria for a moment, but just as Were-Hunters that you are. Your right to be here is written on these scarred lands by the blood of your ancestors who fought and won against vicious Arcadian hordes. You have prospered and survived because you are the fittest. And now these things come along -"
Bracken spoke so emphatically that his face screwed up to convey his disgust at the thought of these creatures.
"Are they born? Are they created? What are they?"
"If they are born then doesn't it stand to reason that they to are as natural as we?" asked a Drakos pup sitting between his two friends, Darion knew him to be a weak-willed, easily led youth.
"No," Bracken answered immediately, "what have I explained about natural and unnatural. Arcadians are on this earth, we know this, we cannot dispute the fact - now if they stayed with their own kind it would be considered natural. But there are those out there that willing go into a cross breed and cross species mating. This results in the offspring that is unnatural."
The crowd nodded along with Bracken's words.
"Take that hybrid Tigard -" Bracken clicked his fingers trying to jog his memory.
"Wren Tigarian," Darion supplied quietly, watching in awe how Bracken captivated his audience.
"That's it! He's quite simply a freak, his own mother wished him dead. And it is only the unnatural sensibilities of humans that has allowed him to reproduce. What else but a human could look past everything that is bad and want to be associated with it."
Darion, who had no quarrel with Wren, was inclined to agree with Bracken, for as much as he liked the Tigard the idea of mating with something so … abnormal was frankly revolting to Darion.
"The unnaturalness … the, the abnormality would surely cause genetic malfunctions in the blood and so on. And who is to pay? But the children, our children, Katagaria cubs and pups, etc because Fate may one day move her mighty hand and BAM!"
Bracken slapped his fist suddenly against his palm as he shouted, making the more skittish among the crowd jump, including the weak-willed youth that spoke up earlier.
"You end up mated to a hybrid, half ant and half cow," Bracken said pointing to a young woman in the front row who curled her lip at the thought while her friends laughed at her disgust.
"And you -" Bracken pointed to a boy standing up behind those who were crouched near the fire, "you are mated to a dragonswan that is the offspring of these freaks and what do you produce when her faulty genes become prevalent in your young. A retarded half breed - half chicken half fox. It'll end up chasing itself around the room because it is the mixture of two completely contradictory beings. One meant to be predator the other prey."
The crowd tittered at the image but all now had been forewarned of the consequences of mating too freely without knowledge of their potential mate's blood line. To be mated to an Arcadian was bad enough but to be mated to a hybrid one - well, there was no greater shame. Many would rather die then tell their families that they were to be mated with anything but a pure blood Dragon.
The crowd disbanded in twos and threes and left Bracken and Darion to talk, Bracken waved goodbye to a young dragonswan he knew well then turned back to Darion. The elder dragon looked exhilarated and happy that he had guarded the younger generation against such evils.
"Tell me everything," he wheezed, as fit and sprightly as Bracken looked he was very old and while to humans he looked no more then his early forties he was in fact nearing the end of his life.
"We are to unite," Darion told him tonelessly, knowing his words would aggravate him but trying to spare him that, "Strati and Sentinel are to hunt together."
"What?" Bracken said, his sharp eyes almost looking confused.
"What is this heresy?" he said slowly, "what is this atrocity? Strati and Sentinel are born enemies, they cannot unite. It is like trying to congeal oil and water, it cannot happen because when you try there is simply an ugly, distasteful mess that ruins the lives of all the creatures that must exist near it."
Darion shrugged and shook his head.
"I don't know what to tell you, Brack," he said wearily for he was equally as shocked that the Omegrion had come to such a decision.
"There is to be a truce called between us. Should anyone attack on either side until we've brought these creatures to heel, they will be killed and their clan held accountable."
"Preposterous!" Bracken said with a hacking cough to follow to show just how indignant he was.
"It was voted in by the majority, only three people objected to the idea. They all agreed to unite until this … trouble has passed."
"That's because the Omegrion has become like a tree with diseased roots. The likes of that Pontis and Tigarian and those Kattalakis -"
Bracken passed Darion a sympathetic look, "I cast no aspersions on your family name, my boy."
"I take no offence," Darion said with a laugh, "I am Drakos and they are Lykos."
"But you are cousins and are the direct descendents of our forebears," Bracken reminded him shiftily, a tic started in Darion's tight jaw.
"That may be so but we are not alike," Darion stated firmly, his voice booking no argument, "they would mate with humans while I would rather be flayed alive. We are nothing alike."
Bracken let the issue drop for he knew that Darion had a terrible temper that could be the end of all of them were it to get out of control and his family were always a touchy subject for him.
"You will have to join with Damos?" Bracken asked in a deceptively casual voice, unable to resist one final poke.
"I may have to unite with Arcadians but he and I will forever be enemies. The thought of having him dead in my claws somehow makes a death sentence from the Omegrion seem worth it."
Bracken said nothing for a long while, Darion looked over to him and watched Bracken's face grow intense with deep thought.
"If you don't kill him now when he is here in this time period you will miss the only opportunity that won't be likely to present itself again for another thousand years," Bracken said softly, he looked up at Darion then, the fire making his eyes look gold.
"Savitar would know -" Darion scoffed.
"Savitar is impartial, he must remain so it is Omegrion law. Besides he needs evidence that it was you who killed Damos - if Damos were to be killed that is."
"What are you talking about, you old crow?" Darion whispered, narrowing his eyes on Bracken's shrewd face.
"I am about to suggest a plan, the success of which hangs on a very delicate thread," Bracken began, gazing into the fire, "if it were you, Darion, that found and captured one of these mutants. You could set it loose on Damos."
Darion's eyes flashed and Bracken leant closer, their shadows becoming scary and elongated on the wall behind them, like to trolls conspiring in the night.
"You set it loose on him and there is no way that you can be charged for it."
"What if it doesn't kill Damos?" Darion asked dubiously, Bracken shrugged.
"Then you kill him and blame it on the mutant - which would also be dead by your hand as the Omegrion has decreed … and we must abide by the councils rules."
Bracken cackled horribly, revealing his green and brown teeth, Darion frowned he was always made uneasy by Bracken's slipperiness.
"This plan relies heavily on me actually being the one to catch one of the damned freaks," Darion mumbled to himself moodily.
"Well yes," Bracken agreed indifferently, "there are pitfalls in every plan. Most great plans rely heavily on luck. But were you to be the one that found the freak you could put this plan into action by luring Damos away from the pack, letting him think he is following the mutant and disposing of him."
Darion held back from celebrating the hatching of a brilliant plan, something tugged insistently at him, he thought it might be his honour.
"But then I would breach the code and rules that the Omegrion have set forth …" Darion said as if musing to himself.
"This is not the fellowship of the ring, Darion!" Bracken growled furiously, Darion laughed in spite of himself that the dragon knew of Lord of the Rings, "kill the sentinel bastard - but only after you have the mutant."
Darion deafened himself to any objections his mind put forward, he knew this would be his only chance to do away with Damos and not have to face losing his seat on the Omergrion and landing himself in an Arcadian jail. If Damos was murdered the suspicion and blame would fall immediately on him, everyone knew the feud between Damos and himself. Bracken was right, this was the only way.