บท 8: Enough
Meanwhile, Khalan stood up from the chair that he was sitting on and the whole room went silent. He had that effect on people because of the respect that he commanded. He looked around and was pleased with how calm the place had become. They had serious issues to talk about and there was no time even though the next selection process would be in five years.
Their enemies, the people that they were going to go up against, were no easy foe. They needed planning and all the seriousness that they could muster.
"Look around us," Khalan began with a frown on his face.
It looked like he was angry and in pain at the same time. The skin in between his brows folded so much so that one would think that was the forehead of a bulldog. Over the years, his face had adjusted to the permanent scowl and frown that remained on his bitter-angry face.
"We are dying off. We are reducing by the years. We are being eradicated from the face of the earth by bloodsucking godforsaken vampires. Are we not going to do anything about it?" Khalan said in a loud tone.
He left the spot where he had been standing and walked to the center of the place where they had gathered.
Khalan spread his arms wide open quite dramatically and muttered, "I am ready to fight for my next generations! I refuse to feed my family to the vampires! I will take up this fight! Who is with me?!"
The men gathered went up in a roar and some of them banged the table in excitement. It was as if their dreams had started to come through. This was the day that some of them had prayed, hoped, and waited for. A day when someone in power would realize that something had to be done concerning the sacrifice every decade.
It had become clear to most of the people of Bellmare, especially Khalan, the Adviser to the Mayor on local amenities, that if they didn't rise up and do something about this bloody, archaic agreement, it would continue until Bellmare was emptied.
Khalan watched, with his arms folded across his chest, and waited patiently to see what the mayor would do when his daughter was selected. He had been disappointed that Mayor Sabian had let her go without a fight to save his daughter's life. That was when Khalan decided to form a group that would rise up to fight against this sinister and senseless pact.
***
Deep within the mountains, in several caves that were hidden from the sunlight and covered with vines and leaves, growls and snarls could be heard.
Sounds from the creatures that were known as The Children Of The Moon.
These were beasts that couldn't transform or shapeshift who sometimes walked on two legs and other times, on all four. The children of the moon could only come out at night when the moon was out to do nothing else but hunt.
Hunt for human flesh. They liked to gorge on the blood and the warm soft flesh of the little humans.
However, something, just one thing, had been stopping them from hunting in Bellmare. They had tried all they could but to avail. Bellmare was under the protection of their arch-enemies.
The damn vampires.
Their hatred for each other had gone down from generation to generation even though they didn't have the immortality that the vampires had. They didn't have the physical looks that the vampires had. That was why they hid deep in the mountains and could only come out in the dead of the night.
Those were things that they held against the vile creatures.
Presently, it was in the dark of night when one of the moon children strayed 'on purpose' to one of the corners of the little town, Bellmare. It had been hungry for weeks and had not found something to eat that was worthwhile, just these mere animals that never satisfied its hunger.
It needed human flesh and human blood. Therein lay its nourishment.
"I have something to tell you about your wife," one of the men that had come all the way from his home to have a discussion with his friend.
He had heard that the wife had been cheating with the man that sold next to their shop in town.
"You always have something to say about someone, Kendrick. What is it this time?" his friend replied with irritation.
"You would want to know this."
"If it is about my wife then save it," the man replied. "Is this what you called me out for by this time of the night?"
They heard a growl from their far-right. The sound was low and primal and it sent shivers down the spines of both men.
"You heard that, did you not?" Kendrick asked while he grabbed the forearm of his friend who was already taking off his slippers so that he could run faster than normal.
"You are still asking questions. Let's get out of here…"
"But do you know that your wife is―"
Before he could finish that statement, his head came off and the blood from his neck splattered everywhere, even on the face of his friend that stared at the gruesome occurrence.
The animal roared in the air as the blood rush engulfed it, the insatiable hunger temporarily satisfied. It looked down at the man that was trembling in front of it and snarled.
But that man was fast enough. He jumped far and landed on the base of a short cliff that was beneath where they were.
There was a hole there which he could barely pass through but thankfully did. He got in and squeezed himself into the little space hoping that he would not be found.
Unbeknownst to him, the beast did not rely just on their sight to catch their prey. It had a keen sense of smell that could sniff out blood and flesh from a distance away.
The man trembled when he heard the thud of the beast landing right in front of the place where he was hidden. His teeth rattled as he put his fingers onto his mouth to muffle the sound that they were making.
Growls that sounded like complaints escaped the beast's throat. It sniffed and sniffed until it got to the point where the man was.
It could see the little human inside the hole, but its mouth could not reach its food. It stretched out its arm to try to use its claws to pull out its food but all its attempts were futile.
The man's face by this time was drenched with tears. His arms ached because of how he had held fast to his knees hugging himself tightly so that the animal would not be able to touch any part of him.
Why had he listened to that talkative of a friend that he had? If he had told him to wait till morning, he would not be in the position that he was in at that moment.
His wife had warned him about that man, he sadly recalled, and blamed himself for not listening to her warnings. However, at the same time, he could not get the image of his friend's head being chewed off from his mind.
The man squeezed his eyes shut while sobbing and prayed, silently, that he would be alive by the time the sun rises in the sky.
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