***********
CHAPTER 4
*PRESENT DAY, THE YEAR 2021.*
Vroom!
The sound of cars screeching on the road and the horns of cars honking in the ears of its passersby.
Everyone is busy running their own errands to even bother with the annoying sound flooding the city.
Amongst it all, a girl in her late twenties, rush up the road and crosses it effortlessly as she made her way to the next building on the other side.
She entered into one of the rooms in that building and soon she is greeted by the after the scent of the fresh meal just eaten.
She took a quick glance at the room, the chairs, the half-raised blinds, the broken flower vase and the small music box at a corner in the room. Finally, her eyes came to rest on the most important thing there.
On seeing her, the other girl, seated at the wooden table in the centre of the room with a bit of torn clothes looked up with searching questioning eyes.
"Born of the moon," the intruder muttered.
"Bathed in the twilight."
Immediately the other girl stood up from her wooden seat, leaving the spoon in her hand to fall as she staggered up to the girl and hugged her.
"My good gracious, what happened, Nikini?" She asked, her eyes roaming over her body and unto anywhere, imagining the pain from the scars the other girl must have been through.
"I fled. Only I escaped," the frightened girl muttered as her body shook just recalling the mishap that happened before.
Closing her eyes, she concentrated her powers as she placed a hand over the exposed scar on the girls back. Before long her eyes began to shake but she did not remove it.
Flashes!
Scars!
Killing!
Blood!
Screams… "Ahhh! No! Run for your life…"
Voom!
Her eyes fluttered open immediately. The horrors she had intended to see was much more than she had hoped to see.
"Hey, hey, steady dear. No one would harm you here."
"I hope so," she whispered this time, a tear finally finding its escape route and falling down her face.
They pulled away from the embrace as both ladies stared into each other's eyes.
"You are safe," she muttered again to Nikini. "Perfectly safe under the protection of the Alrich clan."
"Thank you, sister. Thank you."
"Come. Let me take you somewhere safe where you can have a change of clothes and rest," she said with a smile.
As they turned to leave, the scars and injury on Nikini's body began to disappear one after the other.
***
In a brightly lit room, about twelve men and women are seen seated on lightly golden coloured chairs while one man standing towards the fireplace with his hands on his hips yells in anger.
"Another slaughter again. Just how many would fall to their squirms before they stop?" He yelled out in frustration.
"My Lord," one of the men called out, standing up.
"Sit, Alfred. I do not want to hear of it," he commanded pointing to the man.
"But your majesty…"
He turned in the direction of the man that spoke, glaring him daggers and daring him to defy him further.
"Not another word from any of you. What the heck were you doing that we had another batch of our pack destroyed?" He bellowed yet again.
"Just how many more would he kill before he is satisfied?"
No one spoke, they just allowed him to roar his rage out while their eyes danced around the fully decorated room, anything they could think of other than the angry werewolf king.
No one could calm him down when he got like this and mostly it was when he found out that his pack were injured by the Vampires.
"Thye must die and suffer the very same fate, I bet you. Not one survived."
He closed his eyes, as they stung in their quake. The tears he had been holding in threatened to spill.
He was a king but pained as well from the suffering his people faced during the dead of the night.
"Give my decree," he began.
"On no account should any werewolf be found outside during the night, be it the time of the full moon or any other moon."
"But sire, we draw strength from…"
"And give them more than enough meal for their glory, Nuray?" He asked, his eyes flung open as he turned in her direction.
The lady became silent. She understood his pain and the severity of the matter. He wouldn't give such decree on a normal if not that it was important.
"I cannot have my people killed on several occasions. They should lie low, hide for now. Mask their scent if need be. Help is coming."
"Yes, your majesty."
DOOR OPENS
A pair of footsteps matched majestically inside the big room, with each clicking on the tiles, told of a fury burning in its quake.
The ears of those inside the room could only imagine who it was that dared interrupted but the closer the sound came, the more their eyes fed.
The boots clicked on only coming to a stop before the king with her hair and hand, respecting him as they too came to a stop.
Her eyes shone with rage and pain but the one etched deep in her heart was even more seething.
Immediately they laid their eyes on her, they bowed their head in reverence and she dipped hers too in honour before looking at the big fish.
"Father."
"Welcome child. What news have you?"
"A survivor."
Gasps from all corners of the room as everyone turned to look at one another, each mirroring the same expression.
They had got the news that none escaped, not even one, all that went out that night to draw power from the creator, all died.
Even the king wore a look of confusion but when he saw the look on her face, he knew it was so.
His eyes dimmed and his brows furrowed as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Tell me, child, where is she?"