Chapter Six

Michael swept the whole room with his eyes, slightly scaring some of the people his gaze fell upon. The frightened ones could not be faulted for their fear. It was only natural to be wary of one's mortal enemy, especially when said enemy had been looking at you like you were a piece of prime beef.

    He felt someone poke his side and when he turned, he met Olivia giving him a slight glare.

    "Stop that. You're scaring them," she chastised.

Lee scoffed lightly. "They should be scared-hey! That hurt!"

    Olivia turned her glare on him, her finger digging deeper into his side. He held a gaze for a grand total of two seconds before caving into her unspoken demand.

    "Turn down the scare factor before some of these kids have a heart attack," he said to his leader. 

    Michael did not respond until Jade gave him a look that although was nothing special, it had him withdrawing his magic. As soon as the oppressive atmosphere was lifted, a few of the people in the hall let out breaths they had no idea they had been holding. The hall remained deathly silent despite the absence of the previous feeling, the only sound coming from the group of five as they made their way to the lower rows.

    Before they reached their destination, the door on the lecture platform opened and two people walked in. A man and a woman, both had brown hair and looked somewhere between thirty five to forty years old. They both wore black unbuttoned suits with black turtleneck shirts underneath. A silver cross was pinned to their chests signifying them as members of the Church. The man had a curious look on his face when he entered the strangely quiet hall but as soon as he saw Michael, the curiosity was replaced with a look of exasperation.

    "I thought something was up. Of course you'd be the only ones to make this place so quiet. Well, I guess I should be glad you're even here at all. If you'd please be seated?" he said and gestured towards the seats.

    Michael simply folded his arms and gave him a dry stare which he understood perfectly. 

    "Right," the man drawled out and turned his eyes to the rest of the hall.     "Well, let's get started, shall we? My name is Vincent McAlenn and I am a member of the Church's Inquisitors."

    Michael raised an eyebrow.

'Inquisitors? They sent exorcists here?'

    The man continued, "This is my colleague Diana Stone. We have been appointed as the moderators of this plan. I trust you've all been briefed on its details by your superiors earlier?"     A murmur of assent rose from the crowd and Vincent went on.

    "Well then, let me tell you more about this arrangement. The Church, in collaboration with the Vampire Council and the Arcane Circle, have proposed a four year joint exercise for the purpose of promoting peace between our factions and furthering our advancement. You're encouraged to work alongside each other and learn from one another. 

    "For you to have been selected for this exercise, it means you have been deemed talented by your higher ups. This is an opportunity to improve yourselves, to obtain new knowledge outside the boundaries of your faction. You're advised to use this chance wisely."

    He paused for a moment to examine the expressions on their faces. The witches seemed to be taking the news in stride. They were not unaccustomed to changes after all. Magic was very versatile and volatile as well. The vampires on the other hand seemed more than a bit annoyed at the concept of working with others. Some of them were already openly scowling at their magical counterparts. 

    Vincent laughed inwardly. 

'If they're mad about this, I wonder what they'll do about what we'll say say next?'

    He gave Diana a small nod and she stepped forward to take over the speech. Her crisp voice cut through the tension in the air easily.

    "You may be wondering why they are here," she began, flicking her brown eyes over to where Michael and his team stood. "Some of you, if not most have probably heard of the Hunters. For those who haven't, let me give you a basic rundown on who they are.

    "The Hunters are a group that exist outside the three main factions. In the past they used to be affiliated with the Church but due to some classified circumstances, they broke off to form their own organization. Their primary aim is the complete protection of the human race from all supernatural threats, a job they have done for a very long time, and quite efficiently too.

    "They have been included in this tripartite peace venture as an unbiased fourth party to regulate this exercise. Think of them as watchdogs of sorts. We are aware that cooperation will not necessarily be immediate, as well as the fact that some of you are quite hotblooded. They're here to make sure none of you kill each other."

    Vincent stepped up beside her to continue from where she stopped.

    "Make no mistake about this. Acts of unprovoked violence are severely frowned upon here. The Hunters have been given permission to administer punishment however they see fit. It would not be in your best interest to antagonize them. They were given that name for a reason."

    "Any questions?" Diana asked.

    Throughout the duration of their speech, emotions had been running wild among the youths listening to them. Very few seemed unaffected by the fact that they were being monitored by people who were essentially their natural predators. Nearly all of those in that category were on the left side of the room. Although there were many witches who did not looked pleased at the prospect of being hounded, the vampires seemed to have taken it personal. 

    Their unrest had been steadily increasing all while the two Exorcists talked, the rage slowly building up like heat in a bag of popcorn over a fire. There was only so much it could take before the first kernel burst.

    "I have a question!" a voice spoke up from among the vampires.

Few pairs of eyes looked at the speaker from among his kind. They knew what his family was like after all and that gave them an inkling on what he was about to ask. Practically the entire left wing of the room however turned to see who had spoken with such contempt in his voice that it was nearly tangible.

The vampire was male and exceedingly handsome. With slicked back coal black hair that was parted on one side and a sturdy jaw line, he looked like a character straight out of a romance novel. His beauty was only marred by the arrogant fury clear on his face.

    "Why do we have to listen to them? The agreement was between three factions. There was never any mention of 'watchdogs', mangy ones nonetheless. I refuse to be monitored by homicidal wild animals! Shouldn't two of the Church's finest be enough to keep us in line?"

    "The decision was made by the leaders of all three factions. That means your Council was both privy to and accepting of it," Diana replied smoothly, not even making mention of the boy's thinly veiled slight at their competence.

    Vincent just sighed and rubbed the area between his eyebrows tiredly. He had expected there would be resistance to the idea. Vampires were not the most receptive to change, especially immediate ones. But for one of them to speak out against them...

    He opened his eyes a bit and looked at the group in question. They were seemingly unaffected by the slander, opting to ignore the speaker entirely. All of them, except Michael...

    'Dammit! Why him of all people?'

   The funny part about the whole situation was that Michael was not even frowning. Rather the sandy haired young man was in fact smiling. But the smile was not kind in any manner. Instead it was filled with derisive amusement, the kind an adult would give a child throwing a temper tantrum. But there was an underlying layer of cold fury there that made Vincent wonder if this whole thing was a bad idea from the start. If the Hunters decided to suddenly start a massacre, there was very precious little the two of then could do considering the fact that they would be caught unprepared.

    Luckily someone else came to the rescue before things got out of hand.

    "Dorerra, sit down," another vampire spoke up from her seat a few rows behind the brazen speaker. She was another unearthly beauty and was the only vampire that had not looked at the Hunters with apprehension do far. Her dark eyes had been watching them with confidence and what looked like childish curiosity. If her refined looks and the two well built bodyguards on either side of her were not enough indicators of her importance, the fact that the other vampire was immediately cowed by the order made it very clear.