The small vampiress who had been killed two minutes ago was now being unchained from the pole. Hellion ordered his men,
“Take her body and her heart to Darthmore. Make sure to not get caught and bring back the carriage. You know the rules, if you get caught you are out.”
“Where do you want us to throw her body?” Asked one of the men who picked up the dead vampiress’s hands, and another man picked up her legs.
“Put her body in a place where people can see her,” said Hellion. He pulled out a folded parchment with his other hand, “Keep this next to the body.”
The two men nodded, taking the note, they left with the dead girl’s body along with two more men. The other children looked horrified, and Hellion smiled, “Did you think that we humans don’t have the ability to kill?” he chuckled.
Katherine said to Hellion, “You shouldn’t have to do this. Everything can be solved by sitting and talking about it with the people in charge.”
Hellion’s eyes shifted from the children to the woman. He hummed,
“Silver hair,” stepping in front of Katherina and staring at her. “You must be the wife of that pureblooded vampire. Moriarty. To think that our own kind goes and betrays us by joining the blood sucking creatures,” he spat.
Katherina tried not to instigate the man and tried to convince him to free them, “We never betrayed anyone. A human and vampire’s family binding–“
Hellion laughed at her, “Only a person who belongs to the high society will say it. You humans from the privileged families don’t understand what we people from the lower-class go through and how we are treated. Only a person from the pit will know the pain but you were born with a silver spoon.”
“These children are innocent. Let them go. You can keep me here instead of them and I will make sure whatever your demands are, it shall be met. We can talk to the people of high status. They will help you,” and on hearing Katherina, Hellion clicked his tongue. She requested him, “You can keep me back here. Just let them go.”
“These children are the one’s who will help me in my goals this time. To treat them just the way we are treated. We unrecognised humans will come into power. We will not submit to the people of high society and will show what we are capable of. You will see it. The council that turned deaf and blind will finally see us,” Hellion proudly announced.
Katherina pleaded, “I know people who will speak to the council. My husband will talk to them.”
“The vampire you married? All of the high standing vampires and werewolves prefer that the lower-class exists so that they have someone to trample on,” Hellion glared at the woman. “Nobody cares when we die, all the elites care about is themselves and their family.”
When Hellion and his men left to return to the hut, Marceline turned to her mother with her eyebrows drawn together and asked in a low voice, “Mother, what is going to happen to us? Will we not return home?”
“Soon, Marcie,” Katherina could only assure her daughter with words.
Maxwell had started to sweat, and he whispered, “He killed Aliza… He will kill us too!”
After witnessing the small vampiress being murdered in front of their eyes, the others were left shaken.
“If we all can hold on a little longer and not instigate those men, we can survive this. Help will come and we need to preserve ourselves until then,” Vincent heard his mother try to calm everyone around her. But the children were spoiled brats who didn’t listen and had no understanding of why they were tied.
As the hours passed, no one came to rescue them and the anxiety only increased. In the meantime, Vincent stopped trying to unchain himself but used all his force to push the pole from the ground. The metal continued biting his skin, but he didn’t stop trying while pushing the pole with his back. Marceline turned to Maxwell, who was tied next to her and whispered,
“Do you think you can turn and get help?”
Maxwell quickly nodded and whispered back, “I can try.”
“Okay, be careful,” she whispered, hopeful that this was how they would get out.
“Maxwell, no!” Said Katherina on hearing the two children’s conversation.
But the young werewolf didn’t heed the woman’s cautious words and tried to change himself by transforming into a wolf. Soon Maxwell turned into a little wolf with a brown coat, who wriggled out of the chains. One of the men guarding the captives caught sight of him turning into a wolf.
“Catch the boy!” shouted the man, and soon some of them started to chase the young werewolf.
“Don’t let him escape from here!” shouted another man.
The small werewolf ran back and forth, surrounded by grown men with logs of wood and metal rods in their hands. On finding an opportunity, Maxwell slipped through the gap of a man who almost caught him. But his transformation wasn’t stable as he was still learning how to handle it, and soon he turned back to his human form.
The men quickly caught hold of him, dragging the naked boy back to where the other captives were held.
At the same moment, the men who had left with the dead girl’s body in the carriage returned. Hellion stepped out of the hut to meet them. One of them shook their heads and said,
“We didn’t find any movements from the council. I don’t think it is working. It’s like they don’t care about the dead body. Do you think we picked up the wrong person to kill?”
“If one body doesn’t suffice, we shall send them another one, and we will do it until they understand how serious we are,” Hellion appeared angry that the council didn’t accept his demands.
Hellion made his way to where the captives were, and his eyes fell on the naked boy. He questioned, “What happened to this one?”
“This one tried to escape just now by turning into a wolf!” Complained the man who pushed Maxwell to the ground.
“How brave…” Hellion’s voice drawled, and he said, “Your parents must be very proud and even you, to think that you could hoodwink us and put us in trouble.”
What have you done, Katherina whispered in her mind, watching Hellion step towards the boy, who said,
“Go on then. Turn back to your wolf self and I will let you go.”
Maxwell trembled because of the cold snow touching his body and fear settling in his eyes. He noticed the man wearing his gloves and his eyes quickly darted to look at Marceline, whose eyes mirrored the same fear as him.
Vincent watched the human step forward and close the distance between the boy and him.
Everyone had turned quiet, and Marceline, who gave Maxwell the idea to transform into a wolf, now regretted it. She wished to take back her words to fix the situation, but the mistake had been sowed, and it would now be reaped.
Marceline watched her friend trying to move backwards, crawling away from the human who looked down at him and smiled.
Hellion remarked, “All you little vampires and werewolves slowly turn just like your parents. Pompous, arrogant and looking down on us.”
“P-please, don’t hurt me,” Maxwell pleaded, and taking the opportunity, he tried to turn and use his small claws.
But the boy was no match to the adult, even if his opponent was only a human. Hellion used his clawed glove and swiped it across the boy’s face.
“Arghh! Ahh!!” Maxwell screamed, feeling the skin rip and burn.
Unable to see her friend in pain, Marceline shouted, “Stop it! Stop it!” She couldn’t see her friend being hurt.
“Shut that one up,” Hellion ordered his men, and one of them picked up the metal rod and walked up to Marceline.
“Please, don’t hurt them! They haven’t done anything,” Katherina said to Hellion. “Your fight is with other people. You claim to be victims, but you are walking in the same steps as them. Please spare them.”
“Stop hurting, Max!” Marceline shouted, noticing drops of blood drip down her friend’s face.
Hellion picked up the boy by grabbing his hair and said, “Let me show what pain means.” Saying this, he dipped the bloody glove straight into Maxwell’s chest, and Marceline gasped with horror on her face. Her lips trembled, and her eyes widened.
Maxwell’s body was thrown to the ground right before Marceline.
The young vampiress couldn’t grasp what had happened as she couldn’t think. All she saw was her friend’s bloody face and chest that bled with deep wounds.
Tears started to fall from young Marceline’s face, and she said, “Y-you said help would b-be here, m-mother. H-help here. M-Max.” She continued, “Y-you- you said everything will be okay–AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”
Marceline’s scream echoed through the forest, and Hellion looked at his man who held the iron rod.
“Marcie, no!” Katherina shouted, but the man with the rod came to the young vampiress and swung the iron rod, hitting her head, and she fell unconscious.
