Now my dear reader, at this part of my mother's story some important details are missed in her perspective. While she was trying to let the girls out, a werewolf was arriving back from delivering a message to the Hunters. The message was that any Elyrian's that were on the property were apprehended and locked away, just like the Hunters instructed them to do. This information was a sign for the Hunters that they could come to assess the individuals they caught, and take who they were searching for; my mother.
This means that the breaking of the key ring had to have been some sort of delay in the universe or what you may call the butterfly effect, where a small action can lead to a different outcome in the near future. The purpose of this key detail, see what I did there, was to prevent my mother from running into the Hunter that followed the werewolf back to inspect the prisoners. The Hunter was brought back to the underground cellar where the filthy mutts slept, to discuss the deals when the creatures awoke at sunset.
KODA'S POV:
The Hunters told me they had eyes on the estate, but a werewolf raid on my grandparents' Earthen mansion is not what I'd expected. If only the Elders knew! They would highly dislike the dangerous canines roaming Earth; unlike they are supposed to do. I believe in Elyrian law the animals could get executed for any activities on Earth being in their wolf form.
After my last discussion with the head Hunter, we had a mutual agreement that he will stay away from my family as long as I don't step out of line or interfere with the planned ritual. This is why I am once again on Hunter property to prove myself, that I will do anything to keep my family safe. Even if it means dragging along an Elyrian woman I was sent to capture like the Hunter instructed. A stranger I wanted to leave free.
Inside the head man's office I sit in silence, impatiently awaiting his arrival and holding hostage a previous asset of his group. She sits uncomfortably, giving me an evil eye and I know all she wants is the head man dead. This means that in the future she could be a good resource, because we want the same.
"Sir, I come to meet with you to discuss some recent news..." A follower of the head Hunter enters his office, stopping at me realizing I am not his boss.
The man bows his head, "I apologize..." He looks at me and the woman I capture, "It looks like you have been busy, you must not have heard the news?"
I shake my head no even though I know exactly what is going through the man's mind. He laughs uncomfortablly, finally realizing who I am, "We have a message from the werewolves that their raid was successful. They did not say who they've captured, but we've come to hope that the three escapee's have been found."
My stomach falls, even though I already knew. The three girls I left behind, the ones who are depending on me the most. Maybe they think I'm dead, but it's better off that way. I'd rather not have them know I let them get captured and that I'm not coming to save them right now.
I shake off the thought, "I've got a prisoner of my own. She was working to expose the Hunters to the Elyrian Councils."
The man is skeptical of me, looking me over wondering if I did in fact capture this woman and not betray the Hunters by aiding my family. Thankfully though, one thought safely kept in the back of my head is that there is no evidence I was with my family. The werewolves don't have the right conscious thoughts to figure out who is who. Besides I don't think they were ever told who to look for. From what I've understood is that they were sent to take back anyone that had entered my grandparents mansion.
The man only nods at me and sits down in the chair next to my prisoner. He's awaiting for the head man to come in as well. Thankfully I am here to prove myself which will set my family free, but my safety relies on how easily I can manipulate the men around me. So, I have to please them today by bringing in this new prisoner.
After some time my mind becomes aware of another person close by. From they way they're wandering, and the blank thoughts in their head I know it's the head Hunter. He strolls through the door; stopping in suprise at the sight of me and my prisoner, then giving a dirty glare at the Hunter beside me in a chair. He signs for the Hunter to leave the room and once the door is shut and locked the head man begins.
"I see you have brought me the rebel," He finally spits at me, not believing I did it myself.
This woman will now be held prisoner here and in this moment I know their full intentions with her. She's going to be kept here until her death because of her betrayal to the Hunters.
"I kept my word..." I admit. "I have to."
"Don't be so sure yet." The man hisses, his teeth showing in disgust.
"Ah, don't play with me," I see right through him. "You and I both know that I won this time. You can't hold anything against me now."
"Don't you dare give me attitude!" He thinks long and hard, "I set a trap for you, I'm assuming you had no idea because you followed directions and did not betray me."
I escaped the trap.
I laugh, "I was not planning on betraying you."
"I'm impressed. I was planning to have your whole family brought here in front of your very eyes if you did not follow through with your word. It was nice knowing I had them under my thumb for a little while, but oh the fun I could have had with them."
My stomach drops even though I knew already what had happened and what this man is getting to. Allowing my family to get taken by those creatures was the most disturbing experience I have had to watch, and it will haunt me knowing that if I followed, they'd all be taken into the Hunter's hands and killed. With the werewolves invading my grandparent's home I was able to escape unscathed by being the last, and killing the animal with a spear like object I found in my uncles closet. He won't be too thrilled to find its carcass on his bathroom floor.
At the sounds of his thoughts I have to choose my reply thoughtfully, "Well it looks like this time you have to praise me and leave them be."
He lets out a snarky chuckle, "I do, but that is why I thought ahead."
Yes, he always thinks he is so slick but I will always be slicker! I am always on the same page as him before he speaks. I know what he's going to say before he even opens his nasty mouth. I don't want to get cocky, but I will use this to my advantage. I'm just hoping I can somehow get Elenor out of this.
I assume that I will not see Ellie again until it is too late, until she is here in this building and I'm not able to take cautious chances to save her. The Hunters have already met up with the werewolves to take her as prisoner once more, for all we know they could already be arriving back here within the hour. I must wrap this up before she arrives!
"You see, your family is held prisoner by our wolf friends..."
I become theatrical once again to him with my surprised gasps, "No! You didn't! I thought we had an agreement?"
"We do, but you need to follow my commands."
For all he knows I've been running errands for the Hunters and not showing up on my families doorstep, what else can I do now for him?
I hiss, "You didn't tell me you wanted anything more."
"Well I am now, and I will release them once you do your duties."
"What would you like me to do?"
He laughs, smacking the rebel woman on the arm, "You have to brand her."
She knows what he means because her words spill out of her mouth before she can prevent it, "NO! PLEASE NO!"
Last time I was here they branded me as theirs and now this time he is forcing me to torture another person. Maybe he really knows how to get under my skin.
Without a second thought I grab ahold of her arm, knowing my consequences if she is not taken care of. Maybe this is a good thing, I will do less than most of the men here ever would.
LUKE'S POV:
"Get up Luke..." Leddy's voice is harsh, pulling me from the wooziness that had succumbed my body so quickly. I force my eyes back open, wondering how long I had been knocked out. She stands overtop of me, "Why are you sleeping instead of spending your last moments with me?"
"What makes you think we're going to die?" I question Leddy, getting to my feet slowly.
"You were stupid enough to listen to a vampire." She answers.
My mother cuts her off, "I've already had enough with this conversation!"
"If you wake him you're the first to die." Leddy growls, pointing at the wolf-man out cold on the floor.
He changed to his Elyrian form at an attempt to reason with us, a peaceful sign after Leddy putting a knife to his throat when he was in wolf form. The man, cowardly but apparently intelligent, ended up admitting he was the second in command and then questioning us about Elenor; his pack's initial target. When refusing to respond, the rest of us decided to deliberately block him into the room, forcing him to become violent and knocking me to the ground.
I'm assuming my accomplices were able to defend simply by hitting him unconscious; most likely being the young and bossy soldier-like woman staring up at me. I've always admired her toughness, but she is too masculine brained for me to adore.
"Okay so lets find a place to lock him away and go find my father..." I decide.
The vampire slave rubs his freckled face nervously, keeping his head low but still listening in on our ideas. He looks like he wants to join in, but knows he shouldn't.
The werewolf infested fall out shelter he led us to is where my father must be held, the vampire said so himself; but Leddy wants to be right always so when I agreed with the man that we needed to search this empty corridor first, Leddy became enraged.
"Just knock him out if he wakes up again." I tell Leddy.
"Wish me luck. I don't think I could inside this small space." She huffs.
I agree with her. This space is way to small for all of us to fit comfortably.
I hear a jingling sound.
"Can't you be any louder?" Leddy spits.
"Leddy we don't have time for this so stop," My mother pulls a set of keys from the wolf's hand.
"Alright, we need to drag this canine to the nearest cell room." Leddy orders.
All of us agree, but I am the one who's supposedly the man for the job. So with hesitation I pull the wolf-man over my shoulders following behind Leddy and out of the room. She refuses to allow the vampire to lead the way but he doesn't argue, even though he tells her directions.
Just across the hall from the room we were almost locked into by the wolf, is a room of cells. The first few are locked shut with nothing inside them, but in the middle is one with a wide open door. I place the wolf in human form on the floor, not caring about his head when it smashes the stone on accident.
"What cell number are we in?" The vampire questions quietly, taking ahold of the keys my mother hands him.
"Twelve." I announce while he looks through the keys for the right number.
"Luke, is that you?"
Leddy and I exchange optimistic looks. At the sound of my father's voice I'm ecstatic, "Yes! It's me! We're here to rescue..." Leddy cuts me short by punching my right arm hard.
I whine, "Ow! What was that f-"
"Shut it!" She points down to the werewolf, his head turning and his eyes fluttering open. The man grunts. His expression becoming dark and an evil smile starts spreading across his scruffy face. He gets to his feet, standing in the doorway of the cell, blocking me in.
"Shall I kill you now or have my other werewolves do their worst?" He looks at me with no mercy but does not change into wolf form.
An exchange of keys happen once more while Perry and Leddy come to my rescue on either side of him. I'm able to slide past the tall figure but only for him to turn the other way and pin the vampire against the wall.
He grabs the slave's arm and twists it, the man's green eyes widen as a pop is heard and he jolts further backwards in pain. His head hitting the wall as the wolf's claws immerge from his fingertips, scratching the vampires pale skin. I jump in, trying to pry the two apart, but I am no match against this creatures strange strength. I'm able to push them away from the door, making space for me to step into the swinging barred door.
I watch as his claws dig into the vampire's chest, while another large palm slips and punches his freckled nose. Blood trickles everywhere as the shorter of the two holds his arm around his ribs; they must be broken. The werewolf's prey still fights, and Leddy begins yanking me fully out of the cell.
The wolf spins around suddenly, his eyes landing upon Leddy. With a new distraction for our enemy, the slave is able to sneak past us to aid my mother is freeing my father. This is the moment where we end up in the lead, as Leddy makes a blow to the mans cheek; her fist not being fazed. She follows through with a second, pushing the man back far enough inside.
Before I know it the vampire is speeding past me, taking ahold of Leddy's wrist and pulling her out within a blink of an eye. The door slams shut and instantly I'm confused on when and who locked the door previously. My adrenaline rush makes my head spin, but I'm thankful to whoever thought of the cell door during all of the excitement.
My parents come to meet the rest of us, blinking around from all of the commotion. I step close to Leddy about to ask if she's alright but she glares at the vampire standing next to me who's hunched over in pain.
Instead of thanking him she groans, "What did you do that for? I could have knocked him on his-"
"Leddy, come on!" I sigh, "You can't give him a complement?"
"Pfft, no." She walks away towards the other end of the room.
"Thank you." I whisper to the man who apparently has quite the agility. His nose is already bruising, and blood pours from his nose and upper lip.
The werewolf now locked up starts arguing and spitting out cuss words at his second defeat of the day. I sigh, letting my shoulders relax as I pull the keys from the lock. I look him up and down, feeling the need to taunt him. I dangle to keys for a second before dropping them onto the floor where he can see but not reach. My lips pull into a grin at the panic-stricken werewolf inside the cell.
"Payback."
As we creep out into the corridor trying out best to catch up with Leddy, my father informs me that he has had no sight of the Guard who were taken as well. He decides there is no use in searching for them because it is possible they are long gone.
My only thought is that they were eaten by the werewolves.
*****
It is me once again my darling reader. Don't you love getting into the minds of my uncles? If you have noticed already they are almost polar opposites. One thinks more rationally, and is ahead of the game while the other sends himself in without a plan. This is quite interesting to me, compared to my mother who has a bit of both in her. Now, we can get back to where we left off with her.