Ascension - Book Eight - Man x Man

Chapter 97 (M)

"Yes." Verando snaps. I touch his arm with a sigh. 

"It's alright to be scared," I interject, giving him a firm look to not be so coarse. "But it's not alright to damn people for something they haven't done and might never do. The hero unit in France is performing marvelously, we've seen it, people want to help people. That is all we are asking, is to be treated like people but do not allow bigotry to overshadow the teaching here and create a generation of children who are terrified to be who they are. Who feel like they are actual monsters."

My own schooling sent a chill down my spine, making my hair stand on end. It was easy to forget and I probably wasn't the most experienced in what a magic upbringing was like. My father was a king, a Lord, the most powerful wizard the world had known. I had never been slandered, but I had been trained violently by people who felt I was expendable and that couldn't happen on my watch. 

"We are not experiments," I tell the stage firmly. "This should be decided methodically, not with the hope that it will work itself out. Not as a temporary solution to an ugly problem."

"Or what?" A man questions, I could see the fear through the width of his eyes, "You'll declare war again?"

"Absolutely." Verando nearly snarls, met by a rough wave of uncertainty and murmurs. "My children will not suffer as I have, at the hands of something that they did not decide. A lycan, a vampire, a strigoi uncontrolled is a deadly weapon that the government has already tried to harness. Desperate people make desperate decisions and we can not afford to allow those people to surrender their bodies to become someone's test subject.

The world has already attempted to stop spinning once due to the loss of magic. From someone who has truly been dealt a poor hand at the wrath of a magic user, it's worth a second glance to consider your options. I'm not concerned about whatever support you think I have, I'm here on my own accord for my family. If this is the best you have to offer, it's a sorry attempt and an insult at best."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, the Principle sighs heavily. "Mr.Mercer, we truly were not trying to turn this into a political debate. This is an attempt to show everyone what good this school could do."

"Then you shouldn't allow racists at your table and in your court." Verando seethes, I feel his body threatening to ignite. The vibration rolled through his chest, the heat radiating off of him. Giving Ron a warning glance, I wrap my arm around the rigid man. It was a sore subject for him, it was sore for all of us. He'd lived in squaller because of this, he'd been turned into a weapon and enslaved, with no help from the rest of the world. 

There had to be the lowest form, those without outward differences would be hit the hardest, and those with the most need for assistance would be the ones left in the dust. 

"I'm not racist, I'm just saying that I want the world to return to how it should be. Normal. Normal humans, normal children, normal schools!" The Senator roars, flashing his fangs. "Look at me! Do I like normal to you?! Do I look like I want this?" With a snarl, I see the wolf threatening to leave him and Verando takes a step forward to guard me against the threat. 

I see the chain steaming against his skin, the wolf trying to climb to the surface, flinching he clutches his throat with a light cough and a wince. 

Someone fires a gun, hitting the sprinkler system and sending water cascading down on us. 

My poor husband. Horrified at the overwhelming downpour from the sprinklers. I grip his face, feeling his body shaking, the chain holding the wolf back yet he wanted to erupt from his own skin and get free from this place. "Ron, find out how to shut these off," I yell over the complaints and shouts at the ruined evening.