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Red Moon: Chapter 15

Director Channing stood on the eleventh floor of a modern skyscraper in downtown Moscow. She looked down at the streets below, watching the streams of tiny people scramble around the sidewalks like a bunch of busy ants going about their day. They were all so ignorant of what was going on inside the building which to the public, was a trade building, buying and selling goods all over the world. In reality, it was the European headquarters for the Inquisition. The trade façade just made it easier to send messages and supplies around Europe. Sadly, she feared that it wouldn't be so for much longer.

Just like how the public was ignorant of their existence along with the existence of the werewolves, much of the Inquisition was unaware of the internal strife that was occurring right under their very noses. The whole organization was on the brink of collapse due to an age old problem that was as simple as old people not adapting. She had tried to make them see reason, to make them see that the werewolves were no longer a threat. They were no longer the wild beasts that terrorized farmers and murdered children in the night. They had adapted, become civilized and had integrated into society. They weren't a threat.

When she had stood before the Chairman and the other twelve directors, many had scoffed at her. They nearly branded her a heretic for her wild ideas. They would not listen, they did not see that instead of being exterminators, the Inquisition needed to change its role into caretakers. There were still werewolves that were dangerous to society which needed to be removed, but the main packs were not a threat.

She had heard of the incidents out east and how much of a mess it was. Director Yvonne was too forward and too aggressive for his own good which was going to lead to issues down the road. He wasn't going to come out of it on top. His aggressive tactics were getting his people killed and there weren't that many to begin with.

The Inquisition was never a large organization. It had to be small to stay out of the limelight. It consisted of old families, employed by the pope during the Crusades in tandem with the Templars. Their job was simple, while the Templars dealt with issues in the Holy Land, they would do the same in Europe. It had been simple enough, until werewolves were discovered. While many armies were gone fighting, old tribes of people who had ancestry to Gauls, Goths and all the barbarians who had been conquered or converted over time showed their deadly secret. They became wolves and attacked the innocent and the Inquisition met them and pushed them back and nearly pushed them to extinction.

Today, with werewolf populations thought to be at record numbers and predicted to rise even more, some want to push them back down again. While they called it their duty, Channing and a few others called it genocide. They were better than this and she intended to make sure the right things happened.

"Director." A knock came at the door. One which she was expecting.

"Yes." She said over her shoulder, keeping her eyes on the outside city. The sun was setting and the sky was set ablaze in brilliant orange hues that clashed with the grey winter clouds overhead.

"A man is here to see you." The door opened slightly and a messenger stepped in. "It's late. Should I send him away?" He asked, unaware that she had been expecting the man.

"No, I'll see him." She turned away from the window as the sun went behind another building across the street. "Go ahead and head home as well. I'll lock up for the night."

"Yes director." The messenger nodded and slipped out of the room, silently closing the door behind him.

Channing then sat down at her desk and waited for the man. She knew she was taking an awfully big risk by doing this. If any of the other directors learned who she was going to talk to, they would have her head. Possible, literally. But, she felt that it was the only way she would be able to obtain change.

A few moments later, the door opened again and a man stepped in. He appeared to be in his fifties, but she knew better than to try and guess the age of a werewolf. This was no ordinary werewolf though, it was the leader, the alpha, of the German pack. She was truly taking a risk.

"You have rather lax security, you know." The man said as he walked over to her desk. He walked with a cadence that hinted at a past military life as an officer. He had an air about him that also commanded respect. He wore an older suit, plain and in a rather unorthodox tan color that showed that he wore what he wanted because he was confident enough that he could still get what he wanted even if he were in a clown costume.

"Can't appear suspicious to the public." Channing said as she poured two fingers of scotch into two separate glasses. She then offered one two the man which he took. They both sat down and took a quick sip, but not before the werewolf sniffed his first. Typical werewolf.

"I suppose." The alpha crossed one leg over the other in a casual fashion as he sipped at the alcohol which would have no effect on him unless he were to drink an entire liter. "Just that I would imagine that it would be harder to get in as a werewolf. All I did was go through the front doors and say I was here to meet you." He chuckled at how he himself had been surprised.

Channing gave a chuckle as well. "Well, I don't think anyone would even think that one of your kind would just do that. We're supposed to go out and find you, not the other way around."

"Yes." The Alpha nodded. "But, when you do find us. You aren't supposed to have some boy, scared shitless by the fact that he could be killed in an instant, give us a letter."

"I'll give you that." She tipped her glass towards the Alpha. "Times have changed indeed."

"Doesn't always feel like it." The Alpha looked down at his glass and swirled the last few drops around. His first thought when he had received the letter was that this whole meeting was a trap. It was just so plain, a formal invite for a sit down to talk about the future. Nearly everyone in the pack had protested his decision to go, he had just been too curious to let it slide. It was just in his nature to take any advantage that flashed by him and if this meeting was legitimate, then he believed that it was going to be a big advantage. It wasn't every day that his sworn enemy called for parlay.

"Which is why I wanted this meeting." Channing set down her glass which hadn't been touched beyond that first sip. "There is no longer a reason to be enemies. You haven't been an issue in decades, but many of my peers and superiors can't see that."

The alpha raised an eyebrow, she had his attention.

"It's time for a change."

"What kind of change?" The Alpha inquired.

"I don't know exactly how to do it, but if leadership were to be changed and policies modernized from their ancient ways, then I believe that this pointless conflict could be stopped."

"Not much in the way of specifics."

"No." Channing admitted. It was no more than an idea in her head that had popped up after she was humiliated by the other directors and the chairman. They wouldn't listen to reason so they needed to be replaced by those who would. "However, it's better than doing nothing."

The Alpha conceded that. For too long nothing had been done. "I'll help you and your little coup. This hasn't been the first attempt at a change in power that I've been part of." The Alpha said as he remembered a past life that he held onto. Those days may not have been better ones, but they were not easily forgotten.

"I'm glad to hear that." Channing smiled. She was afraid since she didn't really have time to put together much of an argument to defend herself with if the Alpha decided to question her more.

"I might be able to get additional help as well."

"Oh?"

"Relations with the Russian pack are improving. I might be able to talk them into joining."

Channing didn't really know what to think about potentially having to deal with two packs, however she would need as much help as she could if she was going to take on the entire organization. "Okay. Do that. I'll scrounge up what support I can from within."

"I suppose this is a start."

"All things start small."

"I'll stay in touch." The alpha nodded, happy that something was going to come from this meeting and that the dozen or so werewolves who were watching the building weren't going to have to cause some kind of scene. He hated unnecessary bloodshed, he had seen enough of war.

Channing stopped his just as he was about to get up. "I'm afraid I don't have a name to call you by." She stuck out her hand. "You can call me Director Channing." She wasn't about to give first names, they may now be partners, but they were hardly friends.

"I guess some sort of names are in order." The Alpha thought about what he should give her. He had owned several names, but decided that if he was about to help in some sort of mini revolution, he should use one that he knew came with some respect. He took the hand and looked at the woman in the eyes. "You can call me by what much of my pack still refers to me as. The Desert Fox." He gave the hand a shake and left, smiling to himself at the look that the director gave him. She was bright and had realized who she had been talking to right away.

It couldn't possibly be. Could it? Werewolves were extremely long lived and history books were often wrong in the minor, vaguer details.