Elyana
Scratch. Squeak. Crunch.
"Hey, stop that."
The sound of nails digging into a hard surface, a squeaky toy shrilling with a craze, and followed by what seemed like paws playing with a crunchy object echoed in the room.
Not loud, but irritatingly distracting.
"Hey, Mr. Whiskers." She called out, looked down to find her feline friend messing around with his box of toys at the foot of the bed. "Can you keep it down. Can't you see I'm working here?"
Actually, it was not work, but more like research.
After her father introduced her to the Red Hood two weeks ago, she had been obsessed with learning more about their organization. She probably read half of the documentaries and stories posted online.
Yet, she was far from being satisfied.
"Can you imagine it, Mr. Whiskers? We are living among werewolves." She twisted her head to her right and followed her cat, who suddenly jumped from the floor to the bedside table and then to the top shelf of the cabinet.
"Meow! Meooowww!"
"Werewolves?" Her head tilted to the side as she tried to wrap her mind around it.
"In this modern world?" Shaking her head at the absurdity.
"Yeah! It's insane!" Totally outrageous!
The idea that werewolves existed was a bit far-fetched, but she could not just dismiss it without checking and exploring its possibility. After all, her father and his associates firmly believed those night crawlers did roam in the dark.
Still, for someone who thought werewolves only lived and breathed in horror stories, she could not help but be skeptical, reserving her judgment until she had known more about it and seen any proof of their existence.
As far as she was concerned, she needed to see it to believe it.
"Dad? A hunter?" Just thinking about it blew her mind.
A werewolf hunter, to be exact.
That was far more bizarre. If she didn't know her father, she would think he had gone mad— a total loony.
However, James had always been the most sensible and soundest person she had known. There was no way he was crazy or making up stories.
Still, "I can't picture Dad carrying a wooden stick, a cross, or whatever it is they use to kill a werewolf." She spoke loudly, talking to her cat while her fingers returned to the keyboard to search for more information.
Anyway, according to her father, the Red Hood was a group of people, specifically humans, who had united to eradicate the werewolf species.
The members were mostly victims of a werewolf attack, witnesses, and people who wanted to put an end to the wolf's terrorizing and horrific violence against humans.
"As I told you before, your mother was also a victim of those savage werewolves." Remembering her father's words.
"I swore that I won't rest until I kill the one responsible for your mother's death and eliminate all their kind." The way her father's eyes raged with fury told her this was not just a wild goose chase.
The pain embedded between his words was enough to convince her that this was real for him.
This pursuit was not just a game that rich men play. It was more than that. It was personal.
"If I can prove to you that werewolves do exist, will you join our cause? Will you help us hunt them down and kill them and avenge your mother?"
"I need to think about it." It was a question she left hanging for a while.
Of course, she wanted whoever was responsible for her mother's death to pay.
But, hunting werewolves?
Just thinking about it made her skin crawl.
The articles she read claimed they were massive beasts with long fangs and sharp claws that could tear a person from limb to limb.
As she scrolled through the pictures across the screen, she noticed something peculiarly familiar.
Those eyes.
It was not the same, but it reminded her of something, or someone. She believed she had seen it before in her dreams.
Or maybe not just in her dreams.
"Don't be silly." Hurriedly dismissing the idea from her mind. "You're just putting two and two together and coming up with ten." Believing she was overthinking it.
"No, of course not. He couldn't be." Vividly, remembering those blazing eyes.
Then, her body abruptly jerked.
Thud!
Her heart almost leaped out of her chest.
Crack!
And goosebumps spread across her skin.
Smash!
Immediately, with shaky breath and hands clasped against her shirt above her chest, she looked around to check the source of the commotion.
"Meowwww!"
"Oh my God, Mr. Whiskers!" She sighed in relief when she saw her cat. "You almost gave me a heart attack." As it jumped in front of her.
At the corner of her eye, she found a smashed vase that probably rolled from the top shelf and dropped to the floor.
"You should be careful, Mr. Whiskers." She didn't mind the broken vase as long as no one was hurt.
But she could not deny that, for a moment, she was indeed frightened by the thought that a werewolf had broken into her room.
Nonetheless, the thought sent chills down her spine.
"I told you, Mr. Whiskers, we should stop watching those horrible horror movies." She grabbed her cat and placed her on top of her bed before cleaning the shattered ceramic ornament and throwing them in the trash.
"Now, what?"
A knock reverberated on her closed door. "Excuse me, Ms. Elyana." A voice called to her from the hallway. "Your father wants you to join him for breakfast."
"Come on, Mr. Whiskers." Again, she cradled her cat in her arms. "We don't want to keep him waiting."
A few minutes later, she joined her father in the dining room, sitting right next to him at the massive table that seats twelve people. All the while, Mr. Whiskers sat beside her, waiting for his breakfast.
"I heard that you turned down Craig's invitation again." Her father said, in a quiet undertone. In her opinion, it was more deafening than if he just shouted at her.
"Dad, I just don't think I'm ready for marriage just yet." Placing her hand on her lap, she peeked at her father's expression, wondering what his reaction would be.
Besides not liking Craig, although he seemed nice and responsible, she believed she was not prepared to enter a committed relationship.
"I'm young. I still want to explore what I can do with my life." She quickly added, hoping that would explain her hesitation.
The last thing she wanted was to disappoint her father. After all, his approval was all she ever wanted. But she just couldn't let him decide what was good for her and run her life.
"Besides, I just got hired. I'll be starting work next week." It was actually one of the things that she had been looking forward to.
"But Craig is the perfect husband for you. He will be able to protect and take care of you." James looked up from his food and gazed directly into her eyes.
Again, she could not exactly read his thoughts, but there was definitely something brewing in her father's eyes.
"If you marry him, you won't need to work a day in your life, my princess." James touched her hand tenderly as if he was trying to convince her.
"I know that. But..." She didn't finish her sentence when she suddenly felt queasy as her stomach churned.
Holding her stomach with one hand and covering her lips with the other, she ran as fast as she could to the nearest bathroom and locked herself inside.
Hastily, she bent into the basin, her stomach lurched as her body convulsed, dry heaving, retching her stomach's contents.
But nothing.
"What's wrong with me?" She asked as tiny beads of sweat broke out across her forehead.
Then, it hit her.
"No!"