“What do you think?” Damor asked after a while of silence went by. The Harts and Zera had returned inside to deliberate on everything Alpha Viktor had told them.
“About what?” Aaron asked.
“Everything Viktor said back there,” he replied.
Viktor wasn’t a friend, but after what he had told them had happened to him, they couldn’t send him back or away. So, Ivan placed him in his quarters until he was mentally calm and fit with better reasoning. Aaron instructed the pack members who were present during Viktor’s confession to keep what they found out to themselves. He encouraged them to return to their day and assured them nothing bad would happen to the pack. They believed and did as he told them.
It was best to keep peace and assurance within themselves. He couldn’t bear the thought of the pack in disorientation like they were two years ago during the battle with the Rebellion pack.
“If he’s right, then it means there are beings with Zera’s strength and ability out on the loose, causing chaos. They are bloodthirsty and out on a rampage. We have to do something.” Damor responded.
“Did you hear anything from what Viktor said? The sages that attacked him rendered his entire pack in waste in a little time. Though we have the advantage, it will not change the outcome for us,” Ivan answered him.
Damor turned to glare at him. “Then what do we do? We cannot just sit around and wait until it is our turn.”
Ivan didn’t answer, but Aaron did. “Well, we can’t attack when we don’t know who they are or where they are. Strength is only useful when you know how and when to use it.”
“Aaron is right, Damor; we do not know who they are, what they want, or what they are trying to achieve with all of this,” Zera said.
“I know they are looking to have the utmost power, and that is the only reason anyone would do what they have done so far.” Damor answered.
“We know a few things.” Ivan started, and the eyes of everyone in the room turned to him. “Sages aren’t born; they are made, and so we know werewolves created these sages.” He rose from his seat.
“Zera became a sage because of Aaron’s desperation. Though many don’t know about it, anyone around the last war who knew about the attack will speculate and even come up with the answer to what actually happened to her. She was trapped between the world of the living and the dead, and Aaron’s bite resurrected her.”
“What are you saying?” Damor asked.
“Instead of trying to find the sages, we should focus on finding the Alpha who made them. If they are sages, they answer to someone, the one who created them.”
“There is no way of finding out if the alpha who created them, is there?” Zera asked.
“I could find them, but it will take a while and also be difficult.”
“How do you mean?” Aaron asked, his eyes narrowing.
“One of the now-dead wise ones would have seen something before their death. They had to kill their wise one to keep another from looking into their pack. If I could go back to the moment of the death of all the wise ones, I could find which pack created the sages.”
Zera objected immediately, knowing where it was heading. “That would be a traumatic event, Ivan; seeing the moment of their death surely won’t bring the best for you.”
“I do not have a choice; we need answers, and this is the only way to get them,” he replied.
“There are dozens of packs, maybe even hundreds, in the States. This will unleash an unexplainable trauma you might never recover from.” She turned to Aaron. “Say something.”
Aaron pressed his lips together, not happy about the route they were taking. “We don’t have another way of doing this.”
Doing this would have its consequences, for sure, but it needed to be done. This would give them a step ahead of the enemy, who would soon come for them. Ivan was barely done grieving, and this, although a painful task, would give him the answer he needed; it would bring him to the killer of Xoe, and he wanted that more than anything.
“I will not be a part of this.” Zera stood and walked out of the house.
Aaron had no choice but to go after her. “Zera,” he called after her, and she didn’t stop walking away, but she slowed her pace.
“This is going to break him,” she said, her voice hiding her pain and annoyance.
“We don’t have a choice.”
“This is all because of me.”
He shook his head. “That isn’t true.”
She paused and turned to him, and he had to halt his step to avoid running into her. “If you didn’t bring me back after the accident, maybe the bad guys wouldn’t know how to create sages and give the world the power to rule the world now.”
“We didn’t know all of this would happen. Besides, if there is anyone who should take the blame, then it should be me. I brought you back, and I crossed the line, but guess what? If I had the chance of doing it, I would do it again without remorse.” He stepped over to her and cupped her face in his large, warm hands. He pulled her into his arms for a hug. She was right; if he hadn’t brought her back, this wouldn’t be happening. A world where she was not beside him was insanity, and he would do anything and everything to never lose her.
“There is another way out of this,” Zera mumbled, and he pulled away from the hug and stared at her. She continued, “Even if Ivan finds out which pack is responsible for all this, we cannot take them on. They are stronger than we are.”
“We will find a way.”
“We already have a way out of this.”
His eyes narrowed at her, confused at what she meant. There was no way out for them; if there was, he would have remembered it. “I don’t understand.”
“Quincy.” she said and turned away from him.
“The watcher kid?”
She nodded and walked towards the visitor’s quarter, where Davine and Quincy had been since yesterday.
….
He followed her quietly behind, and when they got to the door, she knocked gently. The door opened that very second, as if whoever was behind had anticipated their arrival.
“Hey,” Zera said.
“Hello,” Davine said, stuffing his hands into his pocket.
“Can I come in?”
“We knew you were coming.” He said and stepped away from the door to let them in.”
Her brow arched. “How did you know?”
“I didn’t know, but Quincy did.” He answered and moved from the living area towards the bedroom where his son was to be.
Aaron was still trying his best to wrap his head around everything that was happening, even as he tried to be quiet and observant.
“Does he know why I am here?” she further asked.
“He said you have a good heart and will try to do what is best for everyone; I guess that is a yes, then?” He said and pushed open the door to Quincy’s room. The little boy had a blue truck in his hand, and he was running it over the wall and making the sound with his mouth.
“Quincy, Zera is here,” Davine said.
“I know. She’s here with the alpha.” He said that and turned to them with a smile on his face. “Good morning, Mr and Mrs Hart.”
“Good morning, Quincy. I trust you had a great night.” Zera responded, but Aaron remained silent.
“I did, thank you, and I hope you did too.”
She nodded. “Yes, I came here to ask for something very important, and I have a feeling you already know what it is.”
“You’re not the last sage anymore,” he said, going straight to the point.
His revelation took Aaron by surprise. He was Zion’s age, yet he spoke not like a child but like someone much older. He was also not outside when Alpha Viktor came in this morning, and yet he knew the truth.
Perhaps his father disclosed the truth to him; such a thing didn’t seem like something to disclose to a child. Zera had told him he was a watcher, but he never thought deeply into the meaning of those words, and now his mind was going crazy trying to find all the meaning.
“I am not.” Zera agreed with him and stepped towards him. “You’re the watcher, so you know the truth. Do not hold back; what are my weaknesses?”
“What are you doing, Zera?” Aaron demanded, taken aback by her question. Why on earth would she want to know that? Why would she want to leave herself vulnerable like that?
He stepped up to her and took her hand, pulling her to himself. His eyes demanded answers. “Why would you want to know this?”
“Because the enemy we must face is a sage, just like me. If I’m not the last sage, then I would want to know what the weakness of one is. I know I would never use my powers for evil, but I can only speak for myself. Every pack should be able to defend themselves against enemies who take power into their own hands. I realised the Crimson Moon Pack wanted the weaknesses of a sage in order to protect themselves. Maybe if they had gotten them yesterday, they would have stood a chance against the enemy. It isn’t too late; the rest of the packs need to be protected as well as we do. We can’t let the enemy win by keeping the truth hidden or never searching it out; that is how they win and how we lose. Isn’t that the right thing to do?” She demanded with her brow raised.
If she put it that way, it made sense. Still, that was risky.
“With your weakness known, you will be vulnerable. The other packs would want to take advantage of it and attack.”
She smiled, reached her hand out, and stroked his face. “Every supernatural creature and even some humans know the weaknesses of werewolves and what they are vulnerable to. That hasn’t left werewolves vulnerable. Courage isn’t an absence of weakness; it is striving despite it. My weaknesses are also the weaknesses of the enemy, and so I think it is a win to find it out.”
He nodded, and his eyes fluttered. “Yes, you’re right.”
With her guidance, he had seen the bigger picture. The answer was indeed with them all along.
She turned her attention to Quincy and said, “Tell us.”
“Gold,” the little boy answered without hesitation.
“Gold.” Zera repeated after him, confused about what he meant by that.
Zera wasn’t vulnerable to gold. She had many pieces of jewellery made of gold, and they had never affected or hurt her.
“You do not believe me,” he said, looking at her closely and seeing the look of disbelief on her face.
She didn’t have to hide it; everyone in the room could see it. “Hard to believe, though. I have had contact with gold in the past, and never did it hurt me.”
“Unlike the weaknesses of a werewolf with wolfbane and silver, a sage can carry and even come in contact with gold; it only becomes a weapon when it is wielded.” He answered. “Anyone with a golden dagger could drive it into your heart, and you will be dead. Do you doubt it?”
She stayed silent, and he continued to speak.
“Your earring is gold.” He said and pointed to it.
Her hand went up to touch the piece of jewellery she had on.
It was a pair of earrings she received from him on her birthday last year. She told him it was the most beautiful pair she ever received, and she wore it as often as she could to show it off.
“Yes, it is.”
He rose from the floor and took a step towards her. “Can I have it?” he asked, stretching out his hand.
She hesitated but realised he wouldn’t hurt her, and if he wanted to, he would already have.
She removed the earring from her ear and handed it over to Quincy. He wrapped his small hand around it and took hold of her hand in a tight grip.
“Stay still.” He told her, and she did as he said.
He moved the tip over her skin, and she felt nothing until he dug the pointy end into her skin and her blood poured out. As he moved the object in her blood, pain coursed through her. Her eyes shut, and she hissed out. It didn’t only cut; it burnt her like fire would.
He released her hand and placed her earring in it. “Unlike a werewolf with silver, sages wouldn’t heal as fast when cut with a golden dagger or object.”
Her poison was with her all along. Aaron thought.
“Holy sh*t!” she heard the voice of Damor say from the back.