Chapter 3

There are two different halls for company meetings. The Brair Hall Named after the first human to come to Makaria. Mindy Brair was the first woman to help research human related diseases in the creatures of this world. She cured almost 80,000 cases of Measles in 16 different races and 200,000 cases of Pneumonia in 42 different races, most of them being mixed races. To reward her for her help, they made research companies in her name. Briar Cane'i eksperimentaalne uurimus (Brair Cane Experimental researcher) or eKr *ER. There are 85 sites around the world, Meona's company included. However, Meona's company is a branch of immediate attention, where they have cases sent to them for Action within months not years. That is why Meona's position as a reference guide is a very important job, if the books or history they give the medical teams and pursuit teams are off there could be a genocide without violence.

 The second meeting room is a room that can fill twice as many workers as her company has. They use that meeting room for high end conventions or presentations for investors from all over the world. Miwa and Meona made it to the giant meeting room just as they called Henderson up to talk about his retirement. Miwa looked back at Meona, looking her up and down, Miwa telepathically talked to Meona.

 "Shh! If they hear us, they may get mad. I'm going to pop my head in to see if Alastor is in sight. I told him to save us a seat." Meona tilted her head at Miwa.

 "You do know that is why we have telecoms for. I mean, just S-Message him. Alastor will come and find us. Anyway, Henderson likes Alastor, and you know why. He won't have a problem if Alastor gets up while he is talking."

"True." Miwa pulled up her sleeve to show her 4 Mic-Cels. Mic-Cels are a wide range of communication objects, they were derived by the old cell phone but updated 400 times. They actually reminded Meona of the gadgets from the second Spy Kids movie. Miwa touched the smallest part of the device, which was mostly used for notifications about missions, reference orders being told to pick up if on hold, and for those on a mission who are in other rooms to communicate without speaking. It's like a text messaging device but voice activated and not used by or for everyone.

 "Alastor, Its Miwa, Meona and I are at the double door, see if you can sneak us through." Meona could hear Henderson talking and in her mind, he didn't sound like his old arrogant self. He sounded like a man caught in something illegal and giving a public apology about it, with a gun to his back. It was the unsteadiness in his voice as he talked, he was scared and trying hard to get through this speech.

 "Meona?" Miwa snapped her fingers. Meona went into a harsh train of thought where she was immersed in her own mind. A common event in Fury's, it's a phase where they can reassure what they know, facts and misconceptions, throw them all in one mindset and conclude their final thought. The problem is when Meona does it, it's very obvious unlike a pure blood Fury's.

 "Sorry, what happened?" Meona snapped out of her train of thought. Miwa took a deep breath.

 "Alastor should be here in a second to take us in. Just lower your head and follow my lead." As Miwa was talking to Meona, Alastor stuck his head out of the double doors.

 "Hey, Girls, we don't have time for this, just walk as quickly as possible behind me. Security is beefing up as the time passes and I got eyed coming over. Get in here!" The Girls finally saw Alastor and as he finished, they walked in with him. Both girls kept their heads low enough to not draw too much attention but could still see who was in front of them to keep up their pace.

 Meona was the last person walking in behind her two friends. Even so, she feels stares in her back. Because of her sensitivity to people in general, she could pin out who was staring. Meona's Fury and Soul Eater senses combined; she can put a stare to a face. The better part is the people staring are somewhere in front of her, so she can look at them to see if she is correct. Staring at her were two guard handlers Maniae Goulding, Marlon Tempest, and her favorite person of all, her boss Hayden AshFlame. She had a feeling it was them, they all lined up in a perfect line of bitterness, Meona found it hilarious so she smiled at them since she couldn't wave. Hayden shook her head and put a hand on Maniae. Maniae Goulding is a Wraith. This is a creature that feeds off rage, the good thing is she can't feed off her own. She hates Meona and has never changed that fact since they met 12 years ago. Marlon is no better being a Djinn. People describe djinns as lower-class tricksters, trying to become like Loki the God.

It's Hayden, Meona must worry about even with the new people coming in. Hayden AshFlame is a crazy combination of creatures, that no one wants to fuck with. Meona knowing this firsthand. Hayden is part Mare. A Mare is known in human folklore as creatures who caused Sleep Paralysis. These would be announced as demons giving nightmares to humans before they wake. The Paralysis part is what humans were experiencing when they woke up. It was said the Mare was sitting on the Humans chest, wondering how they woke up from the dream. However, it was named Sleep paralysis because humans were never going to admit a creature was sitting on someone's chest, causing them nightmares because they wanted to.

 Her second part is she's a Pain eater. This is a problem for most humans, which Meona has seen her do countless times. When a human was in her care, she would give the humans horrible nightmares, some of the nightmares derived from trauma they have already experienced. They would tell her about it, since she is the boss, and she would give them an out. The out would be the nightmares would stop and the pain of what the nightmares brought would be gone, just for a favor and condition attached. Now the favor and conditions are completely different from each other. The favor is a later date favor of anything she asks. The condition is they will start doing as she says with no complaint. When they agree she eats their pain. It's one of the grosses processes Meona has ever seen.

Meona proceeds to walk to her seat with the others, never losing her pace. As they all sat down, Henderson was just ending his speech.

"You know all of you have made my journey with you so special. I cherish every one of you. With this new management I have hope that you all prosper more and more than you ever did with me. I hope you all don't lose your way of always finding solutions to help people out. I (Henderson stuttered, then cleared his throat) um excuse me, I also have two shout outs I like to give. One for Hayden AshFlame. Hayden you are a great leader of your team. Keep up how you do things, for the way you do them is the life of this company. You will help the new people in power be great." Meona stomach had tightened in pain. That was a code for Hayden, and she didn't know what it was for.

"My last shout out and the last words I will say standing on this podium in this place I love so much. I like to give this shout out to Meona Grimm. Meona, look after your fellow people! Be yourself! For you truly know who your friend is and who is your foe. Leave the rest to Hayden AshFlame. And be good." Those words sent spiking shivers down Meona's, Miwa's and Alastor's bodies. Everyone who knows Meona knows she may be a slight rebel. But she will never let anyone be framed, be taken advantage of, they know Meona embodies what they feel is the grey area of good and bad. She is the one person people confide in. The strange thing is Henderson had always found Meona as a threat. For him to say that in front of the whole company, it scared everyone.

"He's in trouble. And I think it's too late for anyone to do anything for him." Meona looked at Alastor and Miwa to see if they heard, then Meona turned back to the stage as Henderson started to walk off. Before he could leave through the curtain, he looked back at the crowd and kissed the air like humans do.

"They're going to kill him. I'm certain of it."