Page 16 - Hunter - The Vigil

Besieged by

Hidden Threats

The world is a dangerous place. As much as humanity would
like to believe itself safe and in control of the world, the facts
argue otherwise. On a daily basis, the news is filled with evidence

of these dangers. Natural disasters swallow entire towns, sweeping
away lives like so much flotsam and jetsam. Catastrophic accidents

claim tragic tolls — buses of schoolchildren, planes full of inno-
cent travelers, hardworking laborers just trying to earn a paycheck.
Acts of war, crime and terrorism, ever-present and escalating. For
all the defenses and adaptations that humankind has created to
protect itself, the peril persists.
And those are just the threats the average person recognizes,
the ones that the mainstream media reports. Behind the scenes, be-
yond the scope of most mortal eyes, an entire world of other dan-
gers exists — perils so dark, so threatening to body, mind or soul,
so impossible to defend against that humanity as a whole refuses
to truly acknowledge their presence. These dangers will never be
reported on the front page of a newspaper, nor made the subject of
charity drives or grassroots movements. No bumper stickers or editorial
pages will uselessly prod readers to act against them, and humanity, for
the most part, will continue to ignore their presence and steadfastly
disbelieve they even exist.
The tip of the iceberg may reach the news: “Mother kills
children, then self — town outraged!”; “Body found — Sher-
iff’s Department blames cougar”; “Missing teen sought in brutal
slaying.” But regardless of how much credence is given to such
stories, the truth behind most of them will never reach the public.
The truth is simple — monsters exist. Some are human, some once
were, and some only wear human skins to pass amongst humanity.
Many faces. Many horrors.
All the supernatural creatures of legend and nightmares —
vampires, ghosts, witches, demons and more — lurk just beyond
the kenning of humanity. Some see the human population as little
more than toys, tools or food, resources to be used for sustenance
or pleasure and then discarded with no more thought than a human
gives an empty soda can. Others try to live alongside humankind in
relative peace, even attempting to emulate human ways. Unfortu-
nately for humans, regardless of how harmless the intent of any one of
these denizens of the supernatural world might be, their very presence

still presents a danger to those around them. Even the most pacifis-
My candle burns at both ends
tic of monsters may have abilities, knowledge or enemies that are My candle burns at both ends
It will not last the night
potentially deadly to those who stumble across them unknowingly, It will not last the night
But ah, my foes,
unprepared for the clandestine power they possess. But ah, my foes,
and oh, my friends —
The world at large is not ready for the truth. And so it chooses and oh, my friends —
It gives a lovely light.
to gawk at the blood, to shake its head in disapproval, and then to It gives a lovely light.
Edna St. Vincent Millay,
go about its naïve way, never for a moment believing truly in the —Edna St. Vincent Millay,
“First Fig”
dangers that exist all around it. “First Fig”
Unfortunately for humankind, not believing in these mon-
sters does nothing to make them less dangerous. Instead, it creates
a vacuum within which these threats thrive, a safe zone in which
they exist and multiply and from which they continue to threaten
the unwary. While humanity spins forth an ever-more tangled web
of governmental policy, environmental guidelines and safety regula-
tions in an attempt to deal with the mundane dangers they willingly
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