Chapter Five
Suddenly Undead
“What do you mean ‘they’re zombies,’” Brendon demanded.
“Exactly that, these two are zombies. Well, of a sort,” Harmony stated.
“Zombies aren’t real,” Archer said, rolling his eyes as if dismissing what was before him as nothing.
“Humans say the same thing about us,” she stated causing him to scuff and turn away. “But in a sense, you’re right. These aren’t exactly zombies.”
“Harmony,” Michael warned.
“Well not use hiding it from them,” she sighed. “About fifteen years ago there were reports of disappearances, strange occurrences and sighted, as it was worded, ‘zombies’ in areas in Western Russia. It was dismissed at the time due to it’s ludicrous nature but some five years later there were these same reports in the southern region of the United States, the Court thought it best to refrain from making the knowledge public a-
“You mean you just kept that there were zombies wandering around,” Brendon seethed.
“That’s the thing. These,” she pointed at the corpses before them. “Are not zombies. These creatures are the product of a chain of experiments from a vampire and brilliant scientist well known throughout the Court. This scientist was obsessed with the psychological concept of the mind and having been raised during and a victim of the holocaust he became obsessed with controlling it to ensure a sort of peace. In his experiments he would take human subjects and try to find ways to control them which resulted in a sort of mad cow disease causing the brain to swell and anger and primal instincts to take over. But mostly anger and though the products were feral in a sense, they still obeyed their master as he learned to control them. The creatures before you are results of a specific experiment in which he attempted to creature an immortal version of his so called successful experiments. He did achieve immortal creatures in a way but he was unable to prevent them from decaying-”
“Are you supposed to be telling us this,” Archer asked, bewildered.
She shrugged. “I personally believe that more people need to be made aware of this man,” she stated turning her gaze to Michael who sighed in response, turning away from her.
“If you guys know what this man is doing and what he is capable of, why don’t you go get him? It was only one man,” Brendon demanded.
“It wasn’t just one man,” Mackenzie mumbled. “Mortal Hunters spent years hunting him down but he would elude capture by sending his creatures elsewhere to throw them off his scent which resulted in the loss of quite a few soldiers.”
“Their saliva is contagious,” Harmony explained. “A good bite will instantly put the virus inside you and until recent years, there was no cure and that was if you were only bitten. They would outnumber Hunters are tear them apart leaving them to die before they could even be infected,” wincing suddenly before slowly turning to Michael who stood with his arms crossed over his chest and a hard look on his face.
“Not to mention if they did get him then his zombies would’ve been left to freely roam and multiple,” Shane added.
“But there is a cure, right?”
“My mother found the cure,” Michael stated suddenly. “But the results of this cure have yet to be tested since she was left to die by her fellow scientists.”
Harmony shifted uncomfortably before saying, “Mich’s mother was a scientist researching the cure and she supposedly found the cure but was attacked by the final remaining test subject that was left from Helms’ onslaught. Since then there have been no subjects to test the cure on.”
Michael greatly resented Helms for what happened to his mother nearly nine years ago but he also resented the science division of the Court. When his mother was bitten by the test subject, she screamed and cried for help as it ripped her limbs from her body but the other scientists were too frightened to do anything and left her to die. His father insisted her be the one to end his now turned wife and though Mich hadn’t seen his mother’s attack or murder first hand, he still had nightmares imagining what happened even to this day. Though he doesn’t detest the Court as a whole for what happened to his mother, he does blame it in a sense for not taking the threat more seriously and providing minimum security for his mother’s facility.
“And you’re telling me that the military hasn’t caught this guy yet? What is the government doing,” Archer demanded, his fury apparent as he balled his fists, beginning to shake. “These things are wandering the forest of my territory, my home, endangering my people and has hurt who knows how many people because the government deemed this threat less than necessary?”
“That’s the thing. Helms is dead,” Shane stated,
“Clearly the guy didn’t do a good job of killing him,” Brendon mumbled staring down at the corpse before suggesting, “Maybe he was in league with this guy?”
“One problem with that theory,” Harmony said with a sigh. “I’m the one who killed him.”
“What,” the two exclaimed in unison.
She slowly nodded, casting her gaze down. “Two years ago I was on patrol around the pack’s territory, I had just finished my training at the academy when I had the unfortunate luck to run in Helms’ creations then he appeared, I didn’t even know who he was but I saw he was controlling the creatures so I just went for him and that was that.” She brought her hard gaze on Brendon and Archer, narrowing her eyes. “But I know he is dead because I’m the one who drove a knife through his heart though it was sloppy from me being new and all but I know it went through him, I delivered his body to the Court myself and I watched his body burn.”
“Think it’s possible that there could still be a few of these guys wandering about,” Mackenzie asked.
“It’s possible but then the question becomes why are they here,” Mich said, pondering to himself. “The last sighting of them was back home and I mean, they’d be more likely to go from Vermont to Canada than Vermont to New York.”
“Maybe someone brought him back,” Shane suggested.
Kenzie smacked the back of his head. “His body was turned to ash.”
“Necromancers,” he offered, sheepishly.
She sighed, shaking her head at him.
“Would have to be one hell of a strong necromancer,” Harmony added. “More powerful than Lord Magnus.”
“Oh! We have to report this to the Council,” Michael exclaimed suddenly.
“I don’t think they’d be very happy if we informed them of two of Helms’ creatures. We don’t even know what this is yet, Mich,” Harmony said with a tone of caution.
“True, but we have to tell someone,” Kenzie said.
“Simone would be the best guess of who to tell,” Mich stated before taking out his phone.
Harmony suddenly jumped forward and took hold of his hand. “Mich, I could get in serious trouble if something did happen and he was brought back to life.”
He raised his eyebrow to her questioningly. “Are you in league with Joseph Helms and did you stage his death so he may elude capture?”
She made a face of disbelief. “Of course not!”
With a smile he stated, “Then you have nothing to worry about.”
After Michael stepped away to make his call, Shane suddenly scuffed. “We could totally take on Helms.”
Mackenzie let out a dry laugh. “We’d all become his minions before we could stop him.”
“So pessimistic,” he mumbled.
As they two bickered, Harmony was reminded of the two who stood by them and brought her gaze to her brother and Archer as they silently stood off to the side, looking to one another as if quietly.. She was surprised that they had remained silent during all the time that her team spoke and bickered until she realized that they were having a sort of internal conversation with one another and turned away, feeling almost as if she were invading privacy by staring though she couldn’t hear them. On top of being able to shift their physical form, werewolves are able to create bonds with those around them that are so strong that the attachment links their minds in a way. This is a process that is more so achieved through the bond that is form between two werewolf’s inner wolves that exist within them as their soul; one could say that the soulmate bond between two destined werewolves is a more intense and premade bond. Werewolves are typically stereotyped among the other supernaturals as weak, sentimental and loyal only to one another which did not make for good communication among each other.
“There’s only one way I can think of we’ll find out for sure if Helms is back,” Harmony said suddenly with a sigh, crossing her arms over her chest and turning to her teammates. “There’s one person who would know.”
“No,” Kenzie stated almost instantly.
Shane took a moment to ponder the meaning of her words but upon realization, his eyes widened and he shook his head, “I’m with her.”
“I also agree,” Michael added as he returned. “That is completely out of the question.”
“We all know he would be our best bet,” she said before turning to Michael. “What did Simone say?”
Michael lowered his gaze. “She, uh, was busy. I have to call again in a few days.”
“Exactly, the Peacekeepers will never take us seriously unless we have proof.”
“And a criminal’s statement would be proof,” Mackenzie asked with a tinge of sarcasm in her tone, her hands going to her hips.
“It’s still something and we know that he would be telling the truth even if the they don’t.” A stretch of silence passed as they thought to themselves until it was broken by Harmony stating, “I’ll be going with or without you guys.”
“You would defy my orders,” Michael asked sternly, his hard gaze on her.
She turned away from him. “I need to know.”
A moment passed as they stood silently, Mich’s jaw visibly tensing as he seemed deep in thought before crossing his arms over his chest. “Fine but I’m far from happy about it.”
“And I’m going with you,” Kenzie stated firmly.
“Not a good I-”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m going with her,” she said, determination set in her tone which brought a sigh to Harmony’s lips.
“Fine, but I talk to him alone.”
“What is going on,” Archer asked in complete distress.
“Our presence here may have just become extended, Alpha Haven,” Mich stated firmly, his tone held grim seriousness. “I want your entire territory on lockdown, no one is to come in or out and the forest is off limits. In fact, it would be best to order all werewolves to remain indoors with only a few out to guard the humans until we can get back up here.”
Archer narrowed his eyes. “This is my territory. You have no right to demand such thin-”
“We have every right,” Harmony uttered with warning in her tone. “We understand that this is a lot to ask of your people but this may very well be a situation of life and death.”
He held his gaze on her for a moment before turning away, seeming to be having an inner conflict before sighing and giving a nod. “Fine. Anything you need will be supplied.”
Michael gave him a nod. “More than anything else we need to complete our mission here, while we wait for orders from the heads of PD,” he stated firmly,turning to look around the group for a hint of disapproval but they simply nodded in agreement. “Good. Shane, you go teach the class and Harmony, you assist.”
The two nodded and made their way to the pack house however, Harmony could hardly focus on the task at hand with her mind spinning the way it was.
‘Tomorrow, I’ll have the pack train again and you can beat up Archer to relieve some steam,’ Michael murmured to her mentally
She couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across her lips at his suggestion. ‘I’d like that.’
‘Think we could convince him to act like a zombie for practice?’
‘Probably not but I’d pay to see that.’
Though her friend had brought a smile to her face, it wavered as she thought of the events that had just occurred and the events that were to come.
One tradition that Harmony could remember well from her time in Haven Territory was the biweekly event of attending classes at the pack house; due to the fact that supernatural children attend human schools, children tend to lack knowledge of their own history and physical health and in response to this issue pack’s began offering classes to educate their children. Though she found the information she had been taught very helpful now, as a child the classes were unnecessarily long and tiring and now she sat in the corner of the large pack house living room about to aide in the classes she had despised as the preteens began to file into the room. The classes were only taken by children from the ages of six to nine years old so they could be fully prepared when they had their first shift; the children each took a seat in the chairs circling around Shane as he stood silently facing the circle.
She glanced around the room as the children trickled into the room one by one, the living area had changed drastically from a recent remodel; the walls were a light wooden panel with light tan carpeting and matching beige leather couches gave the room a gentle warmth, the large stone fireplace towered above them. The murmur of conversation began almost instantly until the final child took their seat and Shane cleared his throat, bringing the chatter to a gradual halt; she turned her attention lazily to him as she sat sideways on a wooden chair, with her head propped up by her arm rest on the back.
“Hello,” he greeted as his eyes wandered around the group. “My name is Shane Patrone but many of you may hear me being called Agent Patrone. Does anyone know why that is?”
One of the older children lazily raised their hand. “Because you’re an agent of the government?”
“Correct. Does anyone know which part of the government?” His question was answered with silence, taking a deep breath he prepared himself to explain. “The Court is divided into a few sections, one of these sections is the military which is known as the Peacekeeping Division which is divided into how many factions?”
An older boy raised his hand. “My uncle is in the military. He’s a Spirit Hunter.”
Shane nodded. “The Spirit Hunters are one of the sections of the Peacekeeping Division. There’s also the Soul Hunters and the Mortal Hunters which is what we are,” he said gesturing to himself and Harmony. “The Spirit Hunters in charge of dealing with the paranormal beings like ghosts, poltergeists; they keep the peace between the living and spirits; the Soul Hunters deal with demons and the various kinds of demonic activity and keep mortal beings safe from demons. Then there’s us, the Mortal Hunters who keep the peace between mortal beings such as werewolves,” he stated gesturing to the class. “As well as vampires, all forms of witches an-”
A younger girl raised her hand, tilting her head curiously as she saw she had their attention. “There’s more than of kind of witch?”
“There’s three kinds of witches,” Harmony stated as she rocked her chair a bit. “There are the Mystic witches which are the ones you are probably mostly familiar with. Mystics are the spellcasters known for their green skin and broom riding.”
Shane rolled his eyes. “That is not exactly what witches are like but it’s the most mundane way to sum it up. There are also the Summoner witches who have the ability to summon beings from different dimensions and the Necromancers. However, Necromancer’s practices have been banned by the Court. Does anyone know the names of the Council Leaders?”
“Well, there’s High Alpha Lucian,” an older girl piped up.
Giving a nod, Shane continued on. “Our leader in the Council is High Alpha Lucian and his mate, High Alpha Artemis. Also on the Council is the leader of the Fae, Lady Cantessa, the leaders of the witches and warlocks are Priestess Vivian and Lord Magnus and the leaders of vampires, King Bryce and his queen, Arabella. Though they may not be our leaders, they still deserve the same amount of respect as our High Alphas. As do the leaders of the Hunters, Jeremiah Namira, Simone Fairmen and Blake St. Mont.”
“Is it true that the leader of the Soul Hunters is missing,” one of the boys asked.
Harmony and Shane exchanged glances before he returned his firm gaze to the group, nodding. “Yes, it is true. But the situation is being handled to the best of our ability and we can guarantee that he will be found.”
Faint chatter broke out as the children began talking amongst themselves about the issue, a few suddenly found no reason in being polite and began shouting out their question as Shane made attempts to calm them down while answering questions.
Harmony smiled, getting up from her seat in the midst of the chaos and leaving the room as Shane called out desperately to her. Her smile widened as she shook her head, only being stopped as she bumped into someone standing in her path; she wasn’t surprised to see it was Archer.
“Sorry,” she muttered, going to step around him but was stopped as he moved himself into her path again.
“Wait, I really need to talk to yo-”
She turned on him with a glare. “Why is it now you suddenly want to talk to me all the time? Before you couldn’t even stand the sight of me.”
Though he seemed startled by her outburst, he chose to push it aside. “Harmony, I-”
“Now that I’m considered attractive you want to talk to me,” she snapped, putting her hands on her hips.
He was taken aback by her statement. “No, I’m no-”
“Don’t even try that! I-”
“Harmony,” he snapped, silencing her. “You really think that just losing some weight makes you drop dead gorgeous?”
A moment passed as she stared at him in bewilderment in silence, trying to collect her thoughts. “Well . . . I mean, w-what else could bring you to-”
He suddenly grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a room off the hallway, slamming the door behind them. “Yes, you are much more beautiful than when we were younger,” he stated bluntly as he looked down at her with stern eyes.
Meeting his gaze, she took a moment to process what he said until she was able to understand a faint blush came to her cheeks.
“But it isn’t because you got a bit of a tan, cleared your skin, lost weight or even that you physically matured” he added. “You always had this figure but it was just a bit wider and hidden. You were always so upset that I didn’t love you but you were so fixated on your appearence even when we were kids. How could I love you when you didn’t even love yourself?”
Her eyes hardened as she frowned at him. “Maybe I needed you to love me for who I wa-”
“Yes, and who you were was a shy, timid girl who couldn’t even look me in the eye when we spoke. I understand that that’s just how you were but how could I get to know you when you couldn’t even look at me? Not to mention you made it uncomfortable to be around you, we couldn’t even hold a conversation and I couldn’t just love you because of some bond we share. I would assume that you wouldn’t have wanted that either and I am aware that is no excuse for how I treated you but guess what? I was a stupid, self-absorbed kid that thought he knew all the secrets of life when I of course didn’t. I can’t lie about you being much more beautiful now and yes, the lose of weight helps but what really makes you so gorgeous and much more appealing is your confidence and your obvious intelligence, you smile so much more than you ever did and you’re just so much more comfortable to be around. You’re stronger, Harmony; you’re gorgeous. But maybe you should consider that you may not be the only one who’s changed.”
With that he turned and walked out, not uttering another word as he closed the door behind him to leave Harmony alone in the darkness of the unknown room. A moment passed before Harmony finally brought her trembling hands to her mouth as her face heated up, the glow of her red complexion hidden by the shadows of the room. She had always known she was a more attractive but she had never considered herself to be . . .
Gorgeous . . . Intelligent . . . Confident?
She fumed over these words for a moment before a smile began to spread across her lips and a warmth filled her chest.