Everything played on so fast in front of her, she didn't even get time to catch her breath. She sat rooted where she fell, afraid to make a movement and distract those things' brawl but more afraid they would come at her if they noticed her.
Just then she saw the wolf being thrown hard against a tree far from where he stood. He momentarily turned his head slightly to where she sat, his back facing her. Meryl saw the blood shut red pupils and the fangs clearly now, as she stared at it or him or whatever it was for a while unable to divert her gaze.
The wolf recovered almost immediately from the hit and came right back at its opponents catching him off guard with that move, it tore at its left flesh flesh causing both of them to fall a few inches away from where she sat as they fought back and forth, the wolf purring every time it was pushed to the ground, it's white sleek fur now covered in blood.
As if cold water was poured down on her, she came out of her shock and denial and got up hastily from where she sat, looking left and right to check which direction to go before taking the left side. It was so dark she could barely see anything and she had lost the flashlight, maybe at where she fell, she wasn't sure anymore.
Her ankle still hurt pretty badly but she tried not to pay attention to that pain for now, at least until she got as far away as possible from those things. She found the full moon was far at its apex which explains how she could make out how she was able to see the fight a bolt clearly even though it was dark. She only needed to focus her gaze.
But why did that thing look at her like it knew her? she thought. It stared directly at her with those crimson red eyes Did it know her, it did save her from that wolf earlier. If it didn't appear the time that it did, she would have been disemboweled by now.
She was amazed at herself: she hasn't even been here for more than a day and she was already been chased by a wolf and being rescued by a…. vampire.? It was so insane how that sounded, she knew wolf were actual wild animals and they existed but vampires, it was not something she would ever bet her money on. Or allow herself to believe, if she did, it would change her entire perception about the world and she was not ready yet to take that bold step.
Meryl heard a loud howl come from the direction she just came from and the faint growls and groans died off, she quickly looked behind her to see if the survivor had taken to the chase and started following her to her relief, no one came after her.
She was utterly surprised though to come face to face with Rangard when she turned back around. He was dangerously close to her, causing her to take a step back.
"Jesus you scared me Rangard," she exclaimed. Where did he come from so suddenly?
"Miss Aldaine I've been looking for you everywhere," he said a smirk around his lips. It was then that she realized she was discovered. God the wolf thing has messed so much with her head that she felt relieved somehow when she saw Rangard. Wait did he just mention her surname.
"How do you know my surname, I don't remember telling you," she said causing the smirk to wipe out of the other man's mouth.
"Let's get to the castle, there you'll get all the answers to your questions miss. And I believe you have many," the man tried to persuade.
"I'm not going back there." No, not back to the place. "I need to get out of here, please let me leave," she pleaded.
"It's not safe for you to be here at this time, there are a lot of wild animals here that you will not like to come into contact with," the man said. "You will be safer in the castle's gates, please come with me."
"For what, what exactly do you want from me? Why am I here, what is all that princess treatment about? Is it supposed to make me feel good so I will accept to play willingly in whatever gave you're playing? Is that what this is?," she was screaming and crying at this point. "I don't want a part of any of this, please Rangard let me leave this place, I beg you I don't want to die," she pleaded again and again hoping to touch the other man's heart. She saw the spark in his eyes for a second and it was gone, he took a deep breath before saying,
"Even if I let you go now, you will not survive the night. No harm will come to you if you come with me, I give you my word." Meryl was not sold by his words but she knew this was a fight she could not win, plus the pain in her twisted ankle was killing her. She couldn't believe she lost this chance but that was not the worst of it, she almost got disemboweled. Her near death experience played in her mind again, causing her to from deeply and shake her head. Rangard noticed her frown and asked her what she was thinking.
"Is something wrong?"
She wasn't sure if she should tell him. She did not fully understand what she saw meant yet- how was she going to explain it to him to make him understand?
She shook her head and pointed to her foot. His flashlight quickly went down to her feet, wincing when he saw the bruise.
"That looks like it hurts, let me," he said before carrying her.
The vampire prince, in his bloodied clothes stood a few meters away from where his right hand man and Meryl was, his hearing trained on them, listening to their conversation. Intrigued by how his right hand man had a way with words going about giving his word on a matter that he had no control over.
He looked over at the now naked werewolf that was being taking away by his men and checked his left hand, the torn flesh was now completely healed. He hated full moons, this was not the first time he had an encounter with a werewolf on a full moon, he almost got torn limb to limb by one on his first encounter. That happened centuries ago. He was in his prime and had greatly underestimated the the strength of those werewolf under the full moon. Belial had been the one to come to his rescue.
A while back, when he got wind of her disappearance from the castle he was the least surprised. He had seen the horror on her face when she saw him in the dining hall, before she fainted.At first he was a little confused but everything started making sense when he remembered she witnessed his little circus on their first meeting. He understood her fear perfectly well.
He watched Rangard carry her out of the woods. He had observed the semblance of trust she seemed to have developed towards his right hand man. He liked that she found a friend in the other man. What he found peculiar though was why she did not tell him what she saw before he came. Guess one can never trust anyone so completely.
He walked over where he was engaged in his little brawl thinking of what would have happened if he came even a little late. Well he knew, she would have been completely torn apart and his brother would have lost his chance at redemption. He couldn't have that happen. Not after all these years; she had made it clear to Rangard that the pampering wasn't doing any good.
So he needed to try it his brother's way from now.