Chapter 58
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 In the end, they had managed to get a single video. It was of a vampire who was made to ingest acid. The poor man’s jaw had been dissolved, and he had died by the end of the video.

The important thing was that, he had not extended his fangs the entire time. He looked human enough, and the scientists looked genuine in their white scrubs. This was as good as. Andrew placed a compulsion on the footage, one that made people watch it to the end and heightened their emotional response to it.

Then, the changeling hacked into channel seven at exactly prime time and played it. There was silence as the video, all twenty minutes of it, played. No one tried to stop it or take it down. Then, when it was over, the changeling wrote a message for the viewers.

Human experimentation is done by a branch of the CIA. They have laboratories and torture facilities all around the country. Do you want it all to continue?

There was a compulsion on these words too, and they remained on the screens of everyone who watched channel seven for a whole minute. Then, when they disappeared, the first shouts were heard.

People were cursing in their apartments, some were screaming. The changeling turned to look at Andrew and Erin.

“I will not help you, anymore. Get lost,” they both nodded and picked up their briefcases. When they exited the apartment, there were people in the corridors speaking animatedly. They all looked outraged, which heartened Andrew.

The next day, the video had already gone viral. On social media and news stations, it was played nonstop. The President had to give a press conference when it was proven that the footage had not been doctored.

Andrew and Erin were in a hotel room, eagerly waiting for the news to make a recap of it. When the time came, the saw President Biden in the press conference room, looking like he had not slept much last night.

People of the United States of America. A grave travesty has been done. Human experimentation. And, done by a government agency, no less. I, as your humble leader, would like to inform you that steps will be made…

A man shouted “liar” in the crowd and people turned to look at him.

You knew! People like me are hunted down like animals! The man in the video is a vampire!

Andrew shivered. This was not how it was supposed to go. Then, much to his horror, the man changed in front of the cameras. As it turns out, he was a werewolf. One could not mistake all the fur and the wolf’s muzzle.

And now you will pay!

The werewolf charged at the president and the security got in his way. It was a carnage. Erin turned the TV off and massaged his temples.

“This smells like a civil war,” he said, and Andrew hid his face in his hands.

“Do you really think so?” Andrew tried to think if he hadn’t done something wrong while he had made the compulsion. But, no, it had been a standard spell.

“I know so. Andy, we fucked up,” the first shouts were to be heard from outside and they both went to the window to peer outside. Non-humans were running in the streets, breaking windows of shops and looting. 

“Can’t they see that this is just going to make people hate them?” Whined Andrew as he backed away from the window. A particularly burly ghoul came to the doors of the hotel and Andrew send him away with a thought, warding the building minutes later.

“Andy, we need to leave,” said Erin, and he pointed at the vans that were parking at the base of the hotel. Agents spilled out of them, and they moved to the raging non-humans.

“Do you think that it is like this in the whole country?” New Orleans was huge, and their hotel was on the main street. But, he hoped that all the non-humans have risen in rebellion.

“Probably. Now, the entire world knows about non-humans. And, instead of peaceful protests, their first impression would be of terrorist acts,” said Erin as they grabbed their things. Andrew turned them invisible, and they went down to the parking lot to get to their new car. It was nothing much, just a BMW, but they wanted to avoid sticking out.

Erin drove them away as Andrew made a concealing spell on the car. There was no traffic as agents and non-humans fought in the streets. When they left New Orleans, the city was teeming with agents. Too many for the few non-humans to handle. Andrew saw some rioters go in the sewers and then saw agents following closely.

This was a disaster. No denying that. He had underestimated the thinking patterns of non-humans. But, it was a start. Now, people knew about vampires and werewolves and other creatures. And so, the cooler heads among them could rise and make their case.

They made it to New Iberia after a two-hour drive. The dominant color of the main street was beige, and they drove by a theater. They found a bed and breakfast after an hour of just driving around and checked in.

The small town didn’t seem to be looted, but, maybe, the town’s non-humans had not wanted to damage their home too much. Erin turned on the TV, and they laid on the bed to watch the news.

Riots have broken out in all major cities of the world. The non-humans, as they like to be called, have done damages for millions, if not billions, of dollars worldwide.

I understand that they have been repressed for centuries, but, if they behave in such a way, do they not deserve what they have gotten? This reporter thinks…

Erin turned off the TV and huffed.

“What a load of crap. No one deserves to be tortured,” he snapped and rested his head on the pillow.

“I am certain that more non-humans will come forward. Peacefully, this time,” said Andrew, resting his head on Erin’s shoulder. They drifted off, their soft breaths the only noise in the room.   

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