Rising Shadows: The Supernatural Alliance

The council members started arriving an hour after the message had been passed. The witches were the first to arrive, appearing at the front gate of the Blood Moon Pack. The gates were opened for them by the werewolves, who silently welcomed their presence. Though werewolves and witches didn't relate well, they could tolerate each other's presence. Following closely were the vampires, arriving from the forest gates. Despite having daylight rings, they preferred shaded areas due to their aversion to the sun. As the guards opened the gates, tensions rose, with wolves growling at the vampires, who looked at them with disdain. The air was thick with hostility.

As they passed through the corridors of the pack house, everyone seemed alert, as if anticipating an imminent event. The silence was broken when Clive emerged from the direction of the conference room, where he had just escorted Ursula and her company. Maintaining a straight face, he welcomed the vampires and led them to the conference.

"At least the place doesn't smell of dog pop and is somewhat welcoming. You know, I always thought I'd need to disinfect after these meetings, not wanting to carry pests and fleas back. Or do you, Simon?" Myles teased, trying to provoke a reaction from the wolf in front of them. There was a low, deep growl, and Clive's shoulders tensed visibly.

"Is the dog mad that I hurt his feelings? I think I should apologize. I don't want to anger the big bad wolf," persisted Myles in an innocent baby's voice.

"Yes, you do not want to anger the big bad wolf. Now, do you, blood sucker? I could give a precious bite. You know what, maybe I should just do it. Maybe that will help you get a brain in that container on top of your shoulders," Clive retorted with a growl, looking ready to pounce on the vampire. Melvyn lazily got between them, preventing any physical harm by holding them off by their necks.

"As much as I would love to watch you fight each other, we have some serious business to attend to right now. So, behave, both of you," Melvyn said in a bored tone. They continued to the conference room, where the witches were seated quietly, waiting for the vampires and Darrell to arrive.

The alphas from the morning were with the witches in the room, except the alpha from the Silver Pack, who had left, stating that his pack was small and could not risk losing any members to a war that did not concern him. The other alphas had agreed to help, particularly Hunter, who had done so willingly. The vampires came in and sat on the chairs reserved for them on the left side of the table, with the witches next to them. Opposite the vampires were the werewolves. The placement aimed to prevent potential conflicts between the two supernatural factions.

Basil was talking to his son, who was still kneeling beside his mate's bed.

"Son, I have arranged a meeting with the council, and as we speak, they are in the conference room waiting for you," Basil told his son.

"Why did you call for a meeting? You know how much I hate those meetings. They are always chaos. Now I just want to stay here by my mate. At least you could have asked for my opinion," Darrell said with a booming voice.

"When I looked at Katharine's wound, I remembered it from somewhere. Such a wound can only be made by a hunter's arrow, and not just any arrow, a silvered compound arrow. The only hunter clan that uses that kind of arrow is the Arawn. They are the only ones who can afford it because they are hard to make and expensive. Not only do they have advanced weapons, but they are also the last clan of the blood hunters, meaning they have gifts and supernatural strength to go against all supernatural beings bare-handed. You cannot just go against them on your own; that's where the council comes in. It would be better to get up and go for the meeting for it to end quickly. Go fight for your mate, fight for your family, your life," Basil encouraged his son.

Darrell got up, washed his face, put on fresh clothes, and went to the meeting where his parents were welcoming all their guests. He entered the room wearing his usual cold expression. The room fell silent as everyone looked at him, and he took his seat between his parents. After everyone settled down, Darrell stood up, and there was silence as everyone waited for him to state the reason for summoning every council member on such short notice.

"Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for coming on such short notice. The reason you were called here is that, as you may have heard, my wife was attacked by an Arawn, and now she is in a coma. I have also lost my twin to the monster. I have decided to go after them. I will avenge for my pups who I did not get to see because some hunters decided they were not worth seeing. I want to pursue those brats from their homes to the hills and the desert until their river is flowing with their blood, until their children are screaming as they watch us tear their parents apart. As their children cry for their dead parents, we will kill each one of them as slowly and painfully as possible. Their land will be filled with pain, screaming, and gnashing of teeth as we take down every last one of them!" Darrell shouted in frustration and pain, his voice cracking at points.

"The reason you are here is to help my son in his pursuit of revenge. Some of you may be thinking it's your problem, why are you involving us? But I want to promise you this afternoon that these hunters are a danger to everyone in this room. They are very strong and have gifts. That's why we need to come together and go after them. By doing so, we will be saving our loved ones from being harmed by these cruel monsters. You vampires will have an easy time looking for food, and you witches will be free to do your rituals and practice anywhere without the fear of being persecuted by them. Everyone in this room will be able to live their lives to the fullest, and so will your loved ones," Basil supported his son.

"I think you are the only one who can't take down a hunter. I'm sure as vampires, we can take them down without needing your help at any point," Myles said, earning a growl from the werewolves in the room and a scowl from his lord, Melvyn.

"I have come across one of these Arawn, and that was the first time I met something that made me run instead of fighting. I have never felt something emitting such powerful waves. I was still alive when the first one was created, but that's a story for another day. What I am trying to say here is that, like Basil over there said, we have to unite if we are to fight these hunters. They are not your average hunters that you have met before," Melvyn supported Basil for the first time.

"Do we have any specific procedure for the planned attack?" asked Ursula.

"We are going to make plans right now. Does anyone here know when is the best time to attack?" asked Darrell, standing from his chair.

"The hunters perform a ritual to welcome new members into the clans. The ritual usually happens on

 the night of a full moon," contributed Hubert.

"Creating a perfect opportunity for us to ambush them when they are not prepared for an attack," agreed Darrell.

"Did you say that the ritual happens during the night of the full moon?" asked Reece. Hubert nodded at the black vampire. "Is it not during this time that you werewolves have your ritual as well? And this when all your blood thirst is at its peak?" asked Reece.

"Yes, that is true. But the fact that they think we will be holding creates an even bigger opportunity for our attack to be more successful. Most of the warriors have learned to control themselves, and for those who can't control themselves, I'm sure Ursula and her team will have a remedy for that," said Darrell.

"It is my understanding that it is during the full moon that the vampires are the strongest," Gillian said.

"Yeah, it is during this time we are the strongest, and during then, like the wolves, we have our blood thirst at the highest," agreed Melvyn.

"Then I think it's best we do the attack during this time because it has proved to be more advantageous to us," Basil said. Everyone in the room agreed with him.

"So what task is each of us going to handle?" asked Cecil.

"You, the witches, will mask our scent so they won't know when we are coming. Can you make us all invisible?" asked Darrell.

"No, the spell only applies when the people doing it have contact with each other, and the more the number, the more energy it draws from the person performing it, and it may cause death," explained Ursula.

"I think they should put the premises on fire, and when there is chaos, then we attack them," suggested Clive, who had not spoken since the meeting started.

"I think that might create awareness that we are there," interrupted Myles rudely.

"I will go with the idea of starting a fire because when they see fire, they will start running to save their things and children. We set fire to the residential part of their home, where the fire can cause enough alarm and damage. That will make them confused, and the guards that are guarding the borders and the gates will leave. That will create a good opportunity to attack without being stopped by the guards. At the moment, we will continue creating chaos, but you have to promise you are going to cover my people and you won't let them get hurt. We promise you that we will also protect you," Ursula said.

"We promise to give you protection, and I agree with the plan. As for the vampires, you will stay in the woods, where you will stop any of them from escaping. The ones you get hold of are yours; you can have your way with them," Darrell said.

"As much as the offer is tempting because we get to feed on them and add more servants to serve us, what if we want to join the fun? We are strong at that time, so I suggest we also go in with you, and you can have more of your men to stay in the forest doing the job," Melvyn said with finality.

Seeing that the old vampire was not going to accept the task given earlier, Darrell agreed with them. After all, he needed their help, and their point kind of made sense. He gave in to their plan, and the meeting ended. Everyone left for their homes, leaving the Blood Moon Pack in its sorrow.

The witches were about to open a portal to take them back to their place when the vampires suddenly appeared, surprising them.

"What do you want, Melvyn?" Ursula asked coldly because she knew what they were here about. The other witches and wizards were surprised by her cold tone; they had never heard her use that tone for a long time.

Early in the morning, a witch with her one-year-old son had come to her office to report that they had been attacked by a vampire when they were out getting herbs for a ritual.

"Seems like someone knows what we are here for. I thought the war between us was over. But it's been a long time since I had a taste of a witch's blood," Melvyn said, his voice dripping with venom as his fangs elongated, and his eyes turned black with red veins showing, ready to bite Ursula. When Ursula saw this, she raised her hand, throwing Melvyn into a nearby huge tree.

"Your vampire came after one of my witches, wanting to drain her blood and that of her son. To make matters worse, they were attacked on my land. We had made an agreement not to cross each other's borders, and when one does so, they will have to ask for permission from the other. Maybe you should learn to leash your dog!" shouted Ursula angrily. This seemed to provoke Reece, who used his vampire speed to approach Ursula and snapped his head, taking a deep bite from her neck. The witches watched in horror as their leader was torn apart by the black vampire. Together, they started enchanting a spell, and soon the vampires started burning. But since they were old, they were able to escape before they burst into flames.