“I’m not going to be able to live here.” Ra placed one hand on Zeus’s shoulder and one on the shoulder of the guard.
“Earth?” Zeus raised his eyebrows. “I thought you loved it down here.”
“This coven.” Following the lead Ra saw in the guard’s head, he translocated the three of them to a barn at the back of the coven estate. His impression of the coven didn’t improve when he got his first look in the barn.
/~/~/~/~/
Arvyn gasped and then covered his mouth with his hand as the pictures of emaciated humans and shifters alike filled the screen. Their clothing was nothing more than rags. Skull and skeletal bones punctured skin stretched loosely over where muscle used to be. Many of the beings were chained, much like Kirill had been, their bodies hanging limply due to their lack of strength. Cages, some filled with shifters in their animal forms crowded one wall of the barn. In other cages, male and female human forms, some who looked like they’d barely hit twenty, lay huddled on the wire floors, barely moving when Ra and Zeus arrived.
“Why?” Arvyn railed at Paulie who’d turned his head from the screens and was sitting hunched in his chair. “Why, if these damn screens can show this now, why couldn’t they find those poor wretches before? Look at the state of them.”
“Gods cannot interfere in the affairs of mortals.” Paulie was rocking slightly, and Wes and Cass who’d said nothing up until now flanked him, resting their hands on his shoulders. “No matter the horrors we see, or how unjust a situation might be, by our laws, every being is entitled to free will and we have no right to change the outcome of their situation.” He raised his head and Arvyn saw tears pouring down his cheeks.
“The only reason Zeus and Ra can do anything now, is because of Kirill’s mating bond with Ra. Yakov’s actions directly threatened Kirill’s coven, his reputation and his life. If there hadn’t been that connection, then even if this had been something we’d seen, we couldn’t do anything unless the Fates themselves asked us to.”
“But that can’t be true,” Arvyn cried. “Only a being with ice water in their veins could see that amount of suffering and pass on by.”
“You think this is easy for Ra, Zeus, or any of the other gods that watch the earth?” Paulie leapt to his feet, his face still streaked with tears. “You sit there with your moral judgements and condemn the gods who have been around since the beginning of time. This,” he flung his arm at the screen, “this is nothing. The hatred beings have shown towards each other in the name of religion, or science, narcissism, or pure greed, has rippled around earth’s crust for eons. This was just the work of a few. In a global context, it’s a drop in the ocean.”
“How can you even say that?” Arvyn was shocked.
“Do you know how many babies die every single day in various war zones around the earth? Do you know how many innocent people are killed by their loved ones year after year after year? How many people are intentionally murdered, not an accident or by the hand of fate, but intentionally murdered every single year in the US alone? These people die because of hatred - the actions of other people. People hating others. People exploiting others. People who have such rigid views of what society looks like that they see nothing wrong in killing others who don’t fit their ideas of what is right or wrong. The gods didn’t do any of this. The gods are not to blame. It is people doing this to other people, like Yakov and other coven members being responsible for the atrocities in that barn. At least, thanks to Ra and Zeus, those people on the screens will live. Thousands and thousands of others aren’t so lucky.”
“But some of those…” Arvyn could barely speak. “Some of them… hell, they’re still children.”
“I said the gods still watched the people, but the truth is, very few do anymore.” Paulie sat back in his chair, looking drained. “Zeus is one of the few that takes an active role and tries to do his bit without being noticed. He works to save innocents, paranormals that can lead a good life with a loving mate or mates beside them, like me. Even so he’s skating the line and he knows it. Just