The Hunted

Three

Red

"I don't know what to tell you, Red. I'm not sure why the wall is deteriorating."

Red exhaled slowly through his nose and stared at the Fae female before him. He'd known Lehna for years. They'd met when Red was a teenager and he'd come to visit one of the Courts with Henry and his father. Lehna had been curious about werewolves – in her 300 years of life she'd never encountered one – and the two of them had spent hours talking about their respective cultures. From then on, whenever Red needed to consult a Fae, he always started with Lehna.

They were meeting at a human park in Denver. It sometimes unnerved Red to be this close to the humans. He knew the history. Humans never got along well with things they didn't understand and werewolves...Well, they definitely fell into the category of things that weren't well-understood.

He was constantly checking over his shoulder, almost waiting for the moment that a human would come chasing after him, pitch-fork in hand. Red wasn't often paranoid but here...He was.

If it weren't for that damn wall breaking, he would never have stepped foot in the human city. But this was where Lehna liked to meet so Red braved the congestion of the city and the throngs of a species that had once hunted down his kind in such large quantities that many packs had been wiped to extinction.

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had been the darkest period in supernatural existence. Witch trials and werewolf hunts...All of it had sent the creatures of the night underground. Had led them to create fragile ties with each other for survival.

The vampires claimed cities and began hunting only those that wouldn't be missed.

The warlocks abandoned their magic for a period of time – emerging only when the idea of potion-makers and seers were things of fantasy, found only at a carnival for children to be amused with.

The werewolves vanished into the forests, staking claims to territories where they could live in groups that were unlikely to ever be found. Formed their own villages, their own communities, where they could pretend that they were human in case someone ever came looking.

And the fae...They disappeared entirely. Hiding in their Courts that existed in the pockets between realms. They emerged periodically, using their magic to create borders and barriers for protection and order, like the wall that encircled the Sanguis Ridge Pack.

It had only been in the last few decades that the fae and the warlocks had been able to rejoin society more fully. Humans and their ever-changing fashions had provided supernatural beings with some freedom. Crazy coloured hair, piercings and tattoos, bright contact lenses that could change the appearance of an eye and dramatic makeup...All of it helped supernatural beings blend into the human world.

Even Lehna, with her brown skin, unnatural glittering gold eyes, and vibrant green hair – which was made from small intricately woven leaves, only noticeable if one looked very close – did not appear to look too out of place.

"Is there anyone else you can think to ask?" Red asked as he looked down at her. Lehna was almost a foot-and-a-half shorter than he was.

Lehna considered for a moment and stared out over the small pond they'd situated themselves at. "There are fae in other Courts I could ask...I'll send a fire message as soon as we're done here. I wish I had an explanation for you but I haven't ever heard of the Old Magic breaking down. The magic was woven into the very essence of the pack when it was established hundreds of years ago. It should only change if the pack were to dissolve or expand in territory."