The soft caress of that voice was intoxicating and created a cocoon of heady pleasure, but Leila fought it and did not fall into its thrall. Rather, it made her fight and flight instincts kick into high gear.
She could not see who the mysterious speaker was, but she could sense that the voice belonged to a predator greater than herself.
While the hunter was distracted by the voice, Leila ducked and pulled the arm holding the gun. The hunter was not a normal human, and his strength was not low. However, Leila was not an ordinary werewolf.
She had been training in combat and martial arts since she was a child. As soon as he tried to turn the gun on her, she jumped and forced him to shoot towards the water. With her petite body and unique flexibility, she turned in the midair and kicked his back.
She had no intention of killing the hunter or interfering with whatever was going on. Her purpose was purely self-preservation. Not against this weak hunter, but against the man in the shadows who could sense her hidden nature so easily.
Her confidence in hiding her true self did not lie in just being able to control her wolf. It was in the various medicinal ingredients and artefacts that she and her grandparents found to hide her scent and the magic in her blood.
Of course, they knew she was not the only werewolf or other semi-human creature in existence. In fact, she had met quite a few in the village and on her various trips. But she had never met anyone, any werewolf, exactly like her.
Therefore, her grandparents insisted she conceal herself until she could figure out her origins. It was surprising that the stranger in the shadows could figure out that she was not human with confidence.
Her instincts told her that she needed to escape, or she would be caught in an unbreakable web.
While she could defend against the strongest humans and other entities, she did not dare challenge unknown supernatural creatures carelessly. And this one was, without a doubt, unknown and dangerous.
She knew she could beat the two vampires together before her with a little effort. However, she dared not say she could confront something she could not see.
Her plan had to be fleeing, even though she hated running like a coward.
With those thoughts, Leila kicked the gun away and landed another vicious kick to the hunter before turning to run. Her best bet would be to jump into the lake and swim across to wash away any scent that could be tracked.
However, as her feet wanted to dash, she found herself suddenly enveloped in nothingness. It was like she was trapped in her own mind, unable to sense the physical. She was nowhere at all.
This time she was adrift in nothingness.
"Why the hurry, Little Wolf?" The words were all around her, tangling like vines around her mind, soul, and spirit.
That familiar endearment her grandparents used, spoken by the enchanting but terrifying voice made her willing to take a risk she should not have, just to escape. She forced her mind to focus on her real body and then bit her lip enough to extract her blood.
The pain did not break the thrall.
With determination, Leila chanted a spell in her imprisoned head to force her mind to be free from the strange magick.
Leila knew blood spells were forbidden and dangerous, but it was an emergency after all.
Once her mind broke free, she felt the swell of blood in her throat. She held it back as she realized she was in the arms of a man, held tightly against his hard chest. In a panic, she felt her wolf rise, and her teeth sharpened.
She turned her head violently and sunk her teeth through his light white shirt and into his arm. Unfortunately, her move made the blood in her throat well up again, and she coughed it up as tried to free her teeth from the bitten arm and shirt.
The man must have been caught by surprise because his arms loosened, giving Leila a chance to escape.
She did not hesitate to run off at her highest speed. She was a blur within seconds.
After escaping the perilous situation, she went deeper into the city, hoping to disappear into the maze of buildings. When she reached into a relatively calm residential area, she slipped into their pool and washed the blood off.
She hoped the chlorine would clear the trail and scent of blood, at least for now.
After that, she headed into a hotel as a precaution. Her penthouse apartment was too close to the lake, and she was not sure that no one had followed her. It was always important to adhere to the precautionary principle.
At the lakeside
After Leila left, the two vampires restrained the hunter and sedated him to prevent further escape attempts. They did not kill him because they needed to uncover the trail he had left behind and prevent others like him from hunting carelessly.
Then, the two vampires kneeled before the third man with contrite faces.
"It was our fault. Please punish us." They said in unison.
"Rise. You will receive punishment for allowing him to escape from an apparent secure facility, but I have said it is unnecessary to kneel before me." There was a thread of irritation in his now cold but still compelling voice.
"Of course, Master." They said as they stood.
The man wanted to correct them again, but he just decided to let it pass. "Wipes."
One of them offered him disinfectant wipes.
"Shall we capture that she-wolf?" The other asked, looking ready to dash out.
"Do you think you can?" The cold man scoffed with disgust. "You did not even detect the fact that she was not human."
"Master, how could you detect it?" They looked at him in awe.
He did not reply to the question as he folded the cuffs of his shirt and exposed his arm. He saw the flesh on his arm close to the elbow was quite damaged. Strangely, it was not healing as fast as it should.
He frowned as he wiped the excess blood around the wound before a sudden thought occurred to him. The fierce little wolf… was more than a little interesting. Maybe, he would play with her a little.
The thought gave him a rush, headier than his best massacre. It was like he was enveloped in a heat of want and anticipation. He could hardly wait to infiltrate her world until her secrets were laid bare to him.
His evil eyes looked at his two subordinates with a chilling factor that made them feel like he was gripping their hearts and ready to crush them into a pulp. They might be vampires, but their hearts were still the wellspring of their life.
"Keep out of her way if you see her. And do not speak of her to anyone." He did not use his thrall because he did not need to use magic to compel them to obey his order. The message was clear.
Before they could react, he was gone. It was like he was never there.
"What do you think the master meant? Does he think we cannot beat that small she-wolf?" One of them asked.
"Do not question the master. Just because he is easy-going does not mean we should ignore our training. His words are absolute." The other replied.
"Is he really easy-going?" The other asked with doubt. "Why does everyone fear him though? And have you heard the stories? I hear that he once killed a vampire coven of thirty in one minute."
"Do not talk about unfounded gossip. Let's go."
As the two vampires left with their captive, they did not know their Master heard them from a great distance. His lips stretched into a strange smile. That rumour was true. And the vampire that spread the story was now ash, just like the coven.