"Ahhh" Zoey heard a scream from inside Margaret's house, "Margaret!" Zoey shouted from outside, she tried to open the door and luckily it was unlocked, she saw Margaret trying to release herself from her brother's grip, Margaret's clothes were barely hanging on her body and there were bruises on her neck, "Margaret!" Zoey yelled, she quickly grabbed a wooden stool and hit it on her brother's head "ugh", he groaned and looked back, his canines were elongated and his eyes glowing red "ahhhh!!!" Zoey screamed out of fear and hit it on his head a few more times until he was out. Zoey let go of the broken stool and was struggling to catch her breath.
*Gasp gasp gasp* Zoey quickly took her inhaler and used it until she could breathe normally "Zoey, are you okay?" Margaret quickly rushed to her "don't worry about me, worry about yourself" Zoey said with a worried expression, Margaret sighed wryly "I guess you saw huh?" she said as she sat on the floor "since when?" Zoey asked and sat next to her "ever since his parents travelled " "why didn't you tell anyone? let's report to the village head" Zoey said, now even more worried "Zoey, the Redwoods are the only vampires allowed in the main village because of their remarkable contributions to the village development... they also took me in when no one wanted a rejected child, I don't think I have the right to report their only son" she said "tell his parents then" Zoey suggested "Zoey!, Reverale will kill me! and how am I supposed to write to them when he doesn't even let me go out of the house?" Margaret said hopelessly "you know what? follow me to the shop and you'll talk with my granny" Zoey suggested and helped Margaret up, she glanced at the unmoving Reverale on the floor, 'I've seen two men go unconscious today, what a weird day', she thought as they both left the house.
"tssss" Margaret hissed in pain as Scarlett helped her treat her wounds with methylated spirit, she dabbed the soaked cotton ball on her bruised neck one more time then sat down on the plastic armchair while Zoey stood and watched with pity "thank you Mama Zee" Margaret bowed "don't mention" Scarlett said "you said Reverale has been doing this since his parents travelled two full moons ago?" She asked and Margaret nodded.
"We have to report this to the village head." Scarlett said after some seconds of silence " I agree" Zoey added, Margaret shook her head, not agreeing with them "no, please".
"Margaret. I know the Redwoods, they live like us humans, if they were here, I'm sure they would do a lot worse than reporting, they are not cruel people and definitely won't stand for cruelty especially when it's their own son" Scarlett said, Margaret heaved a heavy sigh.
"Okay, I guess we should do that if I want to survive " she said with a small chuckle at the end, "great, it's pretty late in the evening now and I cannot send you home to Reverale so you'll spend the night at our place. First thing tomorrow morning, we'll head to the village hall" Scarlett explained, Margaret nodded and said "thank you very much Mama Zee but... I -" "if you're still worried about his parents I am going to write to them tomorrow so don't worry" Scarlett gave a warm smile, Margaret nodded again with a smile of her own.
After a while they packed up the shop and closed for the day then made their way home with Margaret.
"Thank you Zoey" Margaret said taking a spoon of sweet rice that Zoey cooked for them that night "you're welcome..." "...and Margaret, sometimes it's better to speak up than to die in silence" "if I had not come over today, I would not have known and it would have continued that way until something bad happens" Zoey said with a frown, Margaret smiled and said "I've heard you, thank you for helping me... And you've gotten really good at cooking" Margaret complimented as she took another spoon of the rice "all thanks to granny's recipes" Zoey giggled and took a spoon of her own.