Afterlife || irwin

[ 49 ] 2031

[ 49 ] 2031

Though it had taken a bit of planning and a lot of compromising on both ends, the Shifters and the Hunters finally came together to form a truce. The Shifters had always been the prey while the Hunters were the predators and they still didn't really like each other. But they decided to tolerate each other rather than being at each other's throats all the time. 

It was like there was something within them, a chemical urge to hate each other. Even the mere sight or smell of the other sent the other into a rage. They had similar abilities, and were similar in many ways, while the hunters were better and stronger than their opponents. The Shifters had been created in Canada, and the Hunters came from the jungles of Mexico. Now both sides had expanded to different parts of the world. So much so that it was difficult for each side to even keep track of everyone. The Hunters were more controlled, since they trained and operated under Arthur Vega's supervision. The Shifters were far more disorganized. There were so many of them that it was difficult for Hazel to look for and control everyone.

But when Jack and Hazel--on the Shifters' side--gathered with Arthur, Michael, and Harley on the Hunter's side, she promised she would to her best to get some form of control over her people. They all knew it was going to be difficult, which was why Michael had decided to help her as well. 

It had been decided at the meeting that like the hunters, she would have one person in charge in every area possible, to keep the peace. Arthur would have his hunters there as well, so as to have a balance of authority. Every new shifter and hunter had to be registered in a database that was available to both parties and no one was above the law. Anyone who was caught breaking the rules established would receive a punishment from both organizations. This was what they all decided was the best way to proceed. Harley knew there were probably bad people with the hunter gene, just like there were bad shifters out there. 

It was also agreed that both species had to keep their powers a secret from the humans, unless it were a trusted family member who would not say anything to anyone else about it. 

Lastly, it was decided that the meetings would take place every five years with a representative from each area from both sides. They would discuss the changes in the last couple of years and potential ways to improve the co-existence of both species with each other and with the humans. Michael was the most happy about it because it gave him the opportunity to be on good terms with his family, the hunters. But it also made him feel better about being with Hazel. He knew the hunters didn't accept her at first. But now that he had gotten to know her, Arthur liked her as a daughter in law. And he absolutely adored his grandchildren--Daisy and Kristianne. They were his little girls and they adored him too.

Things seemed to be pretty much peaceful for several years, with the occasional rogue shifter or hunter that needed to be dealt with here and there. But things started to go south when there were strings of murders in the big cities, and surveillance footage of the people murdered showed that they had willingly gone with strangers they didn't know. Arthur immediately knew that it had something to do with either his people, or the shifters. But he had such a tight control over the hunters, as well as their unrelenting loyalty, that he couldn't help but think that it was indeed the shifters that were behind it. 

He had conferred with Hazel, but she hadn't heard anything from her people. Still, Arthur was starting to feel like her control over the shifters was merely an illusion. Perhaps they wanted her to think they were loyal to her when they were out there committing crimes and murdering humans. That brought them closer and closer to being exposed to them, which didn't entirely seem like such a bad thing, if not for the fact that there were people like Kenneth Barnes out there. He was a scientist that had abducted both Dempsey and Harley in order to experiment on them and replicate their powers. Powers like the ones they had could be even more terrible in the wrong hands.