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Chapter 29: _ Capable of evil
The pattern used on them is mirroring the way the humans think. Just like they readily blamed ’animal attacks’ without considering the supernatural, the pack too easily settled on the fey or rogue wolves as culprits. But what if the real threat hid in plain sight? What if the vampires, were the ones manipulating the situation?
But all logical evidence pointed out otherwise.
He pushed the thought aside, forcing his attention back to the meeting. They really needed to get this done with.
Shaking his head to refocus, he barked out, "Line up, everyone! Elves to the left, fairies to the right. Alistair, call out the names, and let’s get this over with."
The fey’s cooperation was applaudable. It took a few minutes but soon, they had a long line of white and black outfits in the meeting hall.
Alistair and some soldiers got behind the computers, ready to commence the census. Rhett watched with fingers crossed, hoping to hell that this foul play wasn’t internal.
As names were called and ticked off, a chilling realization dawned. Five fairies were missing – an entire family. Rhett clenched his jaw. How dare the fairies? 𝓃𝓸𝓋𝓅𝓾𝒷.𝒸ℴ𝓂
They seemed like the most peaceful ones and yet, a family of five was missing from the census.
A collective gasp bubbled through the room. Even the fey themselves seemed stunned. The room was soon buzzing with murmurs of disbelief and worry filling the air.
"Even we didn’t know they were missing!"
"I mean, we are all refugees, we don’t know who and who is rescued or not!"
"Oh, dear. This is bad, isn’t it, Odette?"
"What do we do now?"
"The poor family!"
"Vampires got them already, didn’t they, Delphi?"
The noises were endless. Every one of their worried voices seemed to sting his earlobes.
Darius as the hothead that he was seized the opportunity. "See! I told you we couldn’t trust them! Even they don’t know their own numbers. Everyone is capable of evil. The fairies are no better!"
A wave of indignation washed over the fey. "They were likely kidnapped or killed by the true culprits just like the wolf victims!" one fairy cried out. "We are not the ones you should suspect!"
What in the fuck’s name was wrong with Darius? Rhett thought. This wasn’t the way to handle the situation. He had no idea why Beowulf wanted him here.
"This is looking bad if we don’t restore order soon, Rhett," Farkas whispered into his ears and Rhett groaned.
Just as the Beta opened his mouth to retort, another venomous barb, Rhett intervened. He slammed his fist on the table, silencing the rising disarray. "Enough! We’ll look into the missing family, but right now, we have a pack to protect. This census was necessary, and now you see why, don’t you now?"
He intentionally threw the questions at the fey as they sounded like he wasn’t making a good idea when he suggested the census. They thought he was being mistrusted and were so sure of their kind. Now, had he risked taking their words for it, this discovery wouldn’t have come to be.
They were all silent now, none of them making an attempt to answer his question until a voice piped up from the elf line. "We should go to Aceco."
All eyes turned to the speaker in disbelief, a young elf named Elara.
"How would Aceco help in this case?" Rhett queried, intrigued.
"She’s a high-level fairy," Elara explained. "High-level fairies have a connection to others of their kind, similar to how the Alpha connects with you wolves. Perhaps she can locate the missing family."
Elara’s suggestion sparked a heated debate. Some fairies and elves vehemently opposed it, seeing it as a means of risking Aceco’s hideout and safety while others saw it as a way of avoiding further accusations and suspicions.
"It’s madness to put Aceco in danger!" one elder fairy boomed.
"She wouldn’t be in danger," countered a young fairy. "Aceco can hide better than any of us."
"The pack isn’t safe!" an elf argued. "Vampires are everywhere! Going to her is like leading them straight to her door!"
"It’s madness!" one fairy agreed. "The Ravenwood pack is crawling with bloodsuckers! Sending Aceco there is practically a suicide mission!"
Crawling with bloodsuckers? Rhett scoffed. That was one hell of an exaggeration there.
"But they’re our kin!" another countered. "Don’t you understand? We can’t just abandon them!"
Rhett concurred with the debates. He also wouldn’t want them to risk going to Aceco. They were Ravenwood Pack’s soldiers – they were not afraid of investigating. They would investigate and come out with the truth soon enough. He was about to voice his decision when he heard Darius’s protest.
"And what do you think? That we would go through all the stress for you all after sheltering you in our packs? Aceco is one of your kind. She holds the responsibility to find the missing fairies!"
Oh, God. Who made Darius the beta?! Oh, he knows; Rhett thought. It was the ignorant scholarly Alpha trying to make his father-in-law happy.
Tch!
Once again, the Delta came to the rescue. "We need unity, not division. We will find the missing fairies, and we will do it together. After deliberations and measuring the odds, we’ll take a decision in due time. Let’s not argue aimlessly about it. But first, we need a plan. Let’s discuss, calmly and rationally, how best to proceed."
Now, that was a man deserving of being in the hierarchy; Rhett thought. Darius probably never knew what peace tasted like in his past life.
Now that order had been restored, Rhett took to addressing the gathering once again. "Now that we are all on the same boat, shall we discuss what or how the veil was breached?"
"That wasn’t our doing!" Came the first protest.
Rhett’s eyes went around. "I never said it was. I however have a question. Can the veil be breached by someone from the outside?"
A few low and beaten, "No" answered.
Rhett nodded. "Then we have our answers. An insider has done and we have to find them. You have to set aside the notion that you all aren’t capable of evil. People change."
He hated to agree with Darius but in his earlier statement, he said everyone was capable of evil. Rhett thought so too.
