(NEW MOON)
Chapter Seven: Landown Pack, the Halfcrest's home, and their graveyard.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Mallory raised her head in alarm.
Far away on a corner, she saw the trapdoor rattling. There was someone trying to push it open. Mallory raised her vigilance and tried to find a weapon to protect herself and found the dagger. However, it was far away from her.
She panicked. Mallory released her grip on Melita's now cold hands.
Her sense of self still hasn't come back. Her emotions were still all over the place. She couldn't think of anything else, but one thing; escape!
She needs to escape. To live. Because by living, she can fulfill her promises–to grow stronger, to take care of herself and Oddny whom she has yet to find, and to live well.
Mallory had long stood up, her feet ready to dash out from the house when she heard a muffled sound from the trapdoor.
Mallory stopped and listened. The person down there still kept on banging on the locked door. Mallory listened for a few more times before her ears caught a familiar voice.
"Oddny?" Mallory's eyes widen. After she said that, the banging continued, but it was louder than before.
This time, she heard a sob. All the vigilance she had melted down. Without a second thought, she unlocked the trapdoor and the figure of Melita's only daughter entered her eyes.
Oddny looked up at her, her mouth was covered in gauze to keep her from talking, and her hands were tied up. She probably used her shoulders and back to bump into the wooden trapdoor to gain her attention. When their eyes met, her eyes suddenly filled up with more tears.
Without a second thought, Mallory pulled her out took the gauze out from her mouth, and released her from the ropes. Then, she pulled her into a hug.
Mallory felt indescribable relief when she felt her warmth against her. At the same time, her heart tightened again after realizing that this woman was probably the last person she had in this world.
Mallory pushed Oddny out of her embrace and cupped both of her cheeks. Mallory looked through Oddny's eyes full of tears before asking with difficulty. "You were there the whole time?"
Oddny's sob grew stronger. Mallory looked at her in despair.
Oddny was there the whole time. The vampire probably didn't take her out from underground for one thing; to let her witness as he committed murder. She probably heard everything, from their dying screams and the grimacing sound of blood exiting their bodies.
This young girl probably only got the courage to let her presence know when she heard Mallory and Melita talking, thinking that everything is already okay. But alas, Oddny was late. She failed to come up on time. Her mother is already dead.
Oddny looked at her mother and trembled. She escaped from Mallory's hands and kneeled, taking the cold upper body of her mother to hold. "Ma!"
Oddny's cries filled the whole house.
Mallory watched this, and her hands curled. Her anger swelled up along with her grief. Seeing Oddny pathetically crying like she did earlier makes her desire to grow stronger eat her heart.
Mallory pursed her lips and made up her mind.
She looked at the unfortunate women on the floor and felt a surging wave of sadness in her. But that strengthened her resolve even more.
Without delaying anything, Mallory held Oddny's hands and said sternly. "Let's go. We should escape from here!"
Oddny looked up at her in resistance, but Mallory looked back at her, showing the younger one that she will drag her out from there if she resisted. Oddny almost broke down, realizing that she couldn't even give her mother a proper burial, but Mallory was right, they should escape from there.
It won't take too long before the vampires notice that something happened to the Noble vampire. Oddny saw the vampire's body in a corner of the house. A body of a dead vampire. It was certainly weird, and unnerving. How can a vampire die like that?
But even so, she couldn't care.
Rather, she wished that he didn't die peacefully at all. She wished that he experienced all the agony possible before he died.
"Wait," Oddny looked at her mother's body in pain before taking something on a chest. It was a bag. "Y-you have something in here too. Ma packed it for us."
"…" Mallory bit her lips and slowly nodded. "Yeah, thank you. Let's go."
Oddny kneeled again and kissed her mother's head goodbye. She looked at Mallory, urging her to do the same. Mallory bit her lips before also getting on her knees.
She felt the coldness of her skin and felt that the sensation would remain on her forever.
After that, she stood up and had her resolve stronger than before.
'I will keep her safe for you two.'
She looked at Oddny, and without a word, she held her hand.
Oddny let her drag her out of the house, her eyes lingered on the dead bodies on the floor.
When they stepped outside, they saw how the fires were eating up all the wooden houses in the village. There were already dead bodies on the ground; werewolves who failed to escape, or wolves on the ground who were defeated.
It was a horrible sight, but the two turned their sights away and ran towards the exit of the village. While they ran, they passed by dead bodies—human forms and wolves form a like.
She heard Oddny whimper and asked silently. "Damian?"
Mallory held her hands tight. "Sorry."
Oddny needs no more words to understand. She cried even more, however, her speed didn't decrease even a bit.
Hand in hand, the girls ran out and directly headed to the thick and scary forest.
Outside, they saw others escaping from the pack. Their eyes met, and after nodding, they went on separate ways.
The more scattered they are, they won't get caught and killed easily.
The two ran for a long time, kicking the dried leaves on the ground. Small wounds accumulated on their cheeks, legs, and arms from the sharp branches of low trees. The little blood didn't affect their speed.
Later on, when they thought that the forest would never end, in the distance, they saw a flickering light.
Their eyes widen, thinking that the vampires set an ambush for them.
They were ready to stop and detour when suddenly, a creature with four legs appeared by their side.
Startled, the two looked at the grey, furry creature.
It was a wolf.
The wolf looked at them before looking up ahead as if telling them to follow it.
Mallory felt that the hand that was clenching her heart loosened for a bit. She looked at Oddny and they both tactically followed the wolf.
After closing the distance, Mallory and Oddny finally confirmed the suspicions in their heart.
They were indeed other werewolves from another pack.
Their eyes were trailing after them, watching them run towards them desperately. Some were on their horses, while others were in their wolves' form, their sharp eyes observing the approaching figures.
'A foraging unit?' Mallory asked herself after seeing their situation. 'Or a scout? Either way, they have someone Unblessed with them.'
They were using horses, and because of that, Mallory concluded that they had someone who still couldn't change into their other form yet.
"Hmm," someone in front of the unit examines them and comments. "Unblessed, I see. Quick, get into the horses. We need to leave."
Without a word, the two mounted the horses that offered a ride.
Upon sitting on the firm back of the horse, the rider in front glanced back at her. Mallory met his gaze. It was a man her age. It was someone you can determine in the middle of a crowd, a presence and a face that can suck you in. His golden eyes were mesmerizing as they glowed under his hood.
He smiled at her as if trying to reassure her that everything was going to be fine.
The stare lasted for a mere second before he looked away, focusing on the reins of the horse.
"Let's go."
With a word, the unit started galloping away from the perishing village.
Mallory held onto the man's back and cast her eyes back to the pack that housed her for a year.
The fire was visible even with the distance between them. Mallory can feel the burning sensation even from afar.
It took a lot of strength for her to not sob from the pain.
Landown pack is a beautiful and peaceful where the Halfcrest lived. The pack that took years to stabilize got destroyed just in one night.
Landown Pack, the Halfcrest's home, and their graveyard.