Chronicles of Eden - Act IV (38 page)

“You’re wrong,” Daniel argued. “You don’t have to rape humans, you don’t have to kill in order to have a daughter. You don’t have to do any of what you’re saying!”

“Yes we do, we’re monsters!” Charlotte shot back. “No human will ever mate with us willingly, are you that blind to not see such an obvious truth? This is how it is for all monsters, how it is for witches around the world. Nothing can ever change that, especially not the foolish dreams of an idiotic human such as yourself!”

“You’re wrong, humans can willingly mate with witches. You don’t have to force them, you don’t have to draw blood to get pregnant!”

“No, they won’t!” Charlotte shouted while stomping her foot. “I told you before, and I’ll tell you once more, no human in the world will ever willingly fuck us! Look around you. We’re magical monsters that look like human children! Not a single witch will ever find a man to give her a seed unless she takes it from him however she can!”

“You can if you don’t rape them,” Daniel debated. “If you don’t kill their families, if you stop lying and stealing and manipulating them. You don’t have to act like monsters to get a daughter, you don’t have to act that way to live in this world.”

“We
are
monsters!” Charlotte yelled out at him. “This is how it works, either we take what we need from you by force, or we get nothing at all! For the last time, no human will ever give a witch his seed on his own free will!”

“I know that’s not true, because I would!” Daniel yelled back, with the crowd then looking at him with wonder from that along with Kroanette. Apoch and Astreal glanced to each other then looked back to Daniel questionably as Charlotte watched him with a careful eye.

“I would mate with a witch, or any other monster in this world!” Daniel declared. “I would choose any girl, human or monster, to love and to be with, to marry and have a family with, as long as they were kindhearted! If I could do it then so could my people!”

The witches among the crowd started whispering to each other with hushed murmurs while Charlotte just watched Daniel with a dull stare.

“No, you wouldn’t,” she argued shaking her head.

“I would,” Daniel asserted.

“No, you
wouldn’t
.”

“Yes, I would.”

“No, you WOULDN’T!” Charlotte yelled out.

“Yes, I would!” Daniel retorted loudly. “I don’t judge others by their outer appearance, I don’t discriminate by what they are, and I certainly don’t victimize them just for following their inner nature!” Charlotte looked at him with a scoff as he shook his head and gazed around at the crowd that was watching him with curious eyes now.

“Monsters need to breed,” he admitted. “They have to, it’s what their bodies tell them to do, it can’t be helped. It’s just their inner nature. Well just because a monster is compelled to breed, just because they’ve followed their instincts and did what they deemed to be right for their own survival, that doesn’t make them evil. I don’t deem monsters to be evil just because they wish to breed, there’s nothing wrong with them wishing to do so. That’s how they are.” He then turned to Charlotte as the witch watched him with a cautious expression.

“As long as the girl, human or monster, is kindhearted,” he assured. “Isn’t a murdering creature that has no regard for life around her, and isn’t just interested in getting my pants off, then I could love her. I could be with her in life, I could have a family with her, on my own free will.”

Kroanette watched Daniel with wonder then slowly stepped forward.

“Daniel,” she said carefully, with everyone looking to her as she approached the boy. “Are you saying that, if a centaur, not me mind you, would be ‘kindhearted’ and nice to you, then you would find her, not me of course, to be attractive and even wish to mate with her? Again not talking about me here, but her?”

Daniel nodded and smiled kindly at her.

“If a centaur, you or any other, was a kindhearted girl, and we truly felt a connection with one another, then of course we could be together.”

“You would?” Kroanette asked with shock. “But, Daniel, look at me. I mean look at what a centaur looks like, we have the lower body of a horse. That would mean you would have to have sex with… with a monster like us. You would really do that?”

“Kroanette, you’re a not a monster to me, you’re a very attractive woman,” Daniel pointed out, with the centaur jumping back with a squeak before shaking her head with a blush.

“I’m not talking about me!” she cried out. “I’m talking about centaurs in general, I just said that, remember? Not me, not me at all, I’m just asking a hypothetical question!”

Daniel chuckled and shrugged as he saw the centaur getting flustered.

“Well, if the centaur in question was attractive like you, and we became very close, then I would consider her a perfect candidate to be my mate.”

Kroanette looked to him with wonder then down while holding hand to her cheek as her blush slowly vanished.

“Are you serious? Even though centaurs look like this, you wouldn’t mind?”

“No, I wouldn’t,” Daniel answered, and then turned to Charlotte with a sympathetic smile while Kroanette glanced back up to him with a curious eye. “You said before that no man would want to have sex with you because of how you look, that no man would willingly mate with you because you look like a little girl. Well, you’re not a little girl, you’re a witch, and far older than even myself am. There’s a difference between a human child and a witch, and I know that difference. I don’t see you as a child at all.”

Charlotte eyed Daniel over briefly then tilted her head with a quizzical expression.

“Are you saying that you would actually mate with a witch? You would actually give a witch your seed on your own accord?”

“I’m saying that if a witch was kindhearted,” Daniel repeated. “And we came to know each other very well, I would of course see her as a promising candidate to be my mate in life.”

Charlotte watched him carefully for a moment then slowly smiled and shook her head.

“No, you wouldn’t.”

“Yes, I would,” Daniel said nodding.

Charlotte stared at him with bewilderment for a moment then slowly looked down while eyeing her wand.

“So,” she mused skeptically. “If a witch was ‘kindhearted’ to you, you would actually take her as your mate in life? Even though she looks like a little child, even though she may have done some very, very,
very
bad things in her life, you would willingly take her to bed with you?”

“Let me make something clear,” Daniel replied crossing his arms. “If a witch were to be kindhearted in life, then I would hope she wouldn’t have anything very, very,
very
bad to speak of in her life. However, as I also said before, I don’t judge monsters from what they did in their past by following their nature. That being the case, should a witch prove to me that they could control themselves around men, that they would not harm my people, that they truly cared about me and not just wanted to use me to get pregnant with, then yes, I would see her as a lovely woman all the same as any other.”

Charlotte stared at him in silence for a while then walked away while looking around at the crowd of witches.

“Did you hear that?” she called out. “He says if we’re nice he’ll be just fine with having sex with a witch. I don’t know about you, but I’m having trouble believing him. What do you think?”

The crowd responded with loud hecklings and hisses while the witches scoffed and glared at Daniel. Charlotte nodded then snapped her fingers in the air, the sound echoing out like a deafening clap that silenced everyone, then slowly looked back to Daniel while shaking her head.

“Sorry, but we just don’t believe such a thing,” she reasoned with a shrug. “You talk big, but the truth is we just can’t see you actually doing a witch on your own free will.”

Daniel sighed then rolled up his sleeve, the witches watching as he slid off Kroanette’s bracelet and tossed it over to her. The centaur caught it with a surprised jump then looked at him with wonder as he rolled his sleeve down and faced the alpha with a calm expression.

“Do you agree or not,” he asked as he started walking towards Charlotte. “That witches would have an easier time surviving if mankind welcomed them in their cities and kingdoms rather than forcing them to live out in The Outerlands like this, if they treated them like equal citizens of Eden?”

“What are you doing?” Charlotte asked confusedly.

“Do you agree or not,” Daniel continued. “That witches would have an easier time getting pregnant if they didn’t have to use force and trickery to get a man to be with them, that if mankind accepted them the prospect of having actual husbands in their lives would make having a family much easier for them?”

The witches in the crowd looked to each other curiously while Charlotte laughed at the boy.

“Did you really just remove your only protection from me?”

“Do you agree or not,” Daniel stated accusingly. “That your numbers are dwindling, not just from humans being your enemies but also from other monsters that prey upon you witches out in the wild, attacking and killing you while nobody comes to your aid?”

Charlotte looked at the boy cautiously as he walked right up and stood before her.

“Do you agree, or not, that there could be benefit for both our races if we try to live together in peace?”

Charlotte smirked and aimed her wand at him, the boy keeping his eyes focused on her while Kroanette bit her lip nervously as she watched the human standing before the alpha with no fear or any kind of magical protection.

“What are you thinking approaching me like that without your little enchanted bracelet?” Charlotte mused.

“I told you before,” Daniel stated firmly. “I’m not here to plead for my life, I’m not here to fight you, I’m not here to trick you. I’m here to ask you an honest question, and even though witches are known to be deceptive and misleading, that they lie and manipulate others with their magic as they please, I will not hide or cower before you with this. I stand before you on my own free will. So, answer me,
Charlotte
, can there really be no peace between our races? Is this truly the life you wish for your people?”

Silence filled the plaza as Charlotte just stared at Daniel while having her wand aimed at him, the boy waiting for her answer while the witches around the area also waited to see what their alpha would do. Charlotte tilted her head slightly while keeping her wand pointed at the human, her fingers lightly drumming on the wood for a moment before she giggled to herself.

“Let me get this straight,” she questioned. “You
honestly
believe that witches and humans can live together, you
claim
that you could actually love a witch on your own accord should that witch be kindhearted to you, and you
seriously
think that I’m not going to kill you right now after you removed your only protection from me?”

To her surprise Daniel merely held his hands out at his sides, opening himself up to any attack while watching the witch with a focused expression still.

“I’ve said what I needed to say,” he answered. “I can’t make you choose to do anything, I can’t tell you what to do or think about any of this, you have free will too after all. What happens next, my grace, is up to you. So, what’s your answer?”

Charlotte looked at the boy with wonder then slowly shook her head.

“You really are serious about this, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am.”

Charlotte slowly lowered her wand as she eyed the boy over with a curious glance. She laughed a bit then looked around at the witches who were all watching with wonder.

“Well, I’m at a loss for words,” she called out. “This human
actually
believes we can live together. He
really
thinks that could work. And even more twistedly, he
claims
that he could choose a witch as a mate, that he would willingly give that witch his seed if that witch were
kindhearted
to him. Sisters, is he crazy or what?”

The witches around cheered out in agreement while Daniel watched Charlotte cautiously, the alpha then raising her hands to calm the crowd down before turning to him with an amused smile.

“Tell me, how did you plan on this little idea of yours coming true?” she mused playfully. “Even if I were to agree to such a thing how would that help you in the slightest? Enlighten me, what comes next in your little plan?”

“I’m traveling the land right now to gain support from any monster races I can for this,” Daniel explained. “An ant girls nest has already agreed to talk peacefully about a truce, and your race would be the second.”

“Just to be clear,” Charlotte interrupted with a raised eyebrow. “You do realize that my say doesn’t go for
all
alphas and witches in Eden, right?”

“Yes, I’m aware of that,” Daniel agreed. “However you are a respected ruler and able to enforce change in this region with your kind. My plan is to gather as much support for this and then speak to the queen of Rockhelm, ruler of humans in this region, to show her that there are monsters that want peace and are willing to talk things over. If I can show her enough proof that monsters are capable of controlling their inner nature, that they aren’t truly evil, then perhaps my kind would see reason as well.”

Charlotte just stared at him for a while then burst out laughing, with the boy watching her with a tired expression as the witch held her sides and shook her head.

“Alright, ask a silly question, get a silly answer!” she laughed before trying to catch her breath. Daniel held in his sigh as the witch breathed out slowly then looked at him with an amused smile again.

“Daniel, let me be clear,” she said holding a finger out at him. “You are
incredibly
foolish to have come here like this. I could kill you right now, I could charm you into doing anything I wish, and believe me there’s plenty I could think of to make you do right now if I had the mind to do so.” Daniel showed a worried expression to that before the alpha eyed her fingernails casually while with a shrug.

“But, you’ve piqued my interest. Yes you have, yes you have,” she mentioned nonchalantly. Slowly her eyes shifted back to him as a sly smile returned to her face. “Daniel, you say that witches and humans can get along, that we could live together in peace. Well, I don’t believe you! I don’t believe humans and witches can ever get along!”