The Alpha's Little Slave

Chapter 26: Something Amiss II

"You smell it too, huh?" Elijah said. When I turned around, he had just pulled his shirt over his head, adjusting the sleeves so that it properly fit.

"It’s kind of hard to miss," I replied. "The house reeks of it. I can’t believe you’ve managed to pick it up from so far away, though."

"I am more surprised that no one else did," Elijah commented. "Only a handful of reports came in about the odd smell. No one dared to investigate."

"If there are houses nearby, shouldn’t they have picked up the smell?" I asked.

"No one is home," he said. "The members were in the central heartland for training and other activities." His expression turned grave. "And that might be a good thing if my hunch is right."

Without another word, he stalked towards the lone house which was deserted from the others. I followed him cautiously, trying to keep my footsteps as silent as possible, just in case I attracted unwanted attention. If something managed to injure a werewolf family to the point of massive blood loss, they’d make quick work of me, the lone human.

"Who lives here?" I asked as the front door came into view.

It was a generic thick wooden door, and Elijah frowned as he saw the broken door knob. I caught sight of a pair of children’s shoes strewn on the tattered welcome mat and my heart sank.

Oh god. Was there an injured young child? Or god forbid, a dead one?

"A single father and his daughter," Elijah replied, his nostrils flaring up in agitation. "They are usually home at this hour."

I peered through the small glass window, but I couldn’t make out any flicker of movement. Hopefully, they were hiding somewhere. Or perhaps they had run off. I could only hope.

Elijah’s face darkened as he saw what I was looking at, but he merely pushed the door gently to open it. With the door knob broken, that small push was all he needed to cause it to swing inwards.

The strong scent of coppery blood flooded my nose, causing me to gag.

"Are you alright?" Elijah asked worriedly, glancing at me from the corner of his eyes. "Maybe you should sit outside while I investigate the house."

"No, I’m fine," I said, breathing through my mouth instead. I simply had to get used to the smell; I had no doubt that Elijah was probably suffering more than I was since his nose was infinitely more sensitive.

Besides, I refused to let him believe I was so fragile. There were children missing!

And I wasn’t going to be left waiting alone outside in case whatever took out the werewolf family decided to stick around for an encore. Hopefully, the kids were still alive.

"I’ll be right behind you. You should hurry inside and investigate."

Elijah gave me one last worried look, but he knew time was of the essence. He stepped inside the eerily silent house, and I followed suit, gasping as I caught sight of the wrecked interior of the house. What was once a small welcoming family home looked more like a warzone, with vases smashed on the floor and furniture strewn all over the place. Even the curtains have been ripped down from the windows and torn to shreds.

Blood was splattered on the walls. And below the biggest stain, a man’s body was lying on the floor.

"Charles!" Elijah called out and he all but leapt to his side, turning him around. "Charles, are you alright? Where’s Elena?"

Charles’s eyes stared unblinkingly at both of us, his chest depressingly still and covered with humongous wounds that stained his clothes a dark red.

However, the cause of death was definitely the long gash across his throat.

"He must have bled out in minutes," Elijah closed his eyes, his voice full of anguish. He closed Charles’s eyes for him.

"How?" I asked, wincing. "Won’t he heal? How could he have been injured so badly that he bled out from the wound?"

Sighing, Elijah looked at the wounds. Cuts littered his body, and with the way he was covered with blood, it wasn’t clear to see immediately what the murder weapon could’ve been.

"Silver, most probably," Elijah deduced. "Or it could also be wolfsbane. We’ll need to bring the body back to run some tests to know for sure."

I nodded, cautiously walking around the house until something caught my eye. A sharp gasp escaped my lips as I paused where I stood.

"Elijah? You’re going to want to take a look at this. I think there’s another― another body," I said weakly, pointing to a pair of tiny feet peeking out from the other side of the couch with a shaky finger.

The couch was lying on its side, and the hardwood floors below it were stained with a surprisingly large amount of rapidly drying blood.

I didn’t need to be a genius to know where the blood came from.

Elijah went to the other side of the couch, only to let out a howl of agony as he saw the corpse of a young girl. She must have been hiding, possibly ducking for cover when the fight happened in the living room, killing her father. But that did not stop the person responsible from killing her all the same.

I caught sight of her blonde hair, now stained a reddish brown as it was drenched in her blood, and I wanted to retch.

At least they made it quick. That was the only silver lining I could see, tiny as it was. The girl only had one visible wound, and that was the one on her neck. She should have died quickly. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

No, that wasn’t right. Someone so young should not have died at all, no matter what.

Elijah cursed under his breath, running a hand through his hair in distress. "I’ll tell Damon about this. We’ll get to the bottom of this, I promise you."

I kept silent because I had a feeling that Elijah wasn’t talking to me at all. He closed the young girl’s eyes, the same way he did to her deceased father.

Then he focused, pressing one of his fingers to his temple, most likely to report the horrifying incident. I could only watch in silence as Elijah’s face grew more pained and upset before steely determination entered his eyes. Of course, I didn’t have a wolf and I wasn’t actually part of the pack, hence I had no clue what went on.

But I could guess.

Finally, the call ended and Elijah heaved out a sigh, wiping the remnants of blood on his pants.

"I’ll need to get you back first, Damon’s orders," Elijah said apologetically. "In fact, I should have done that the moment I realized something was wrong. You shouldn’t be involved in this mess."

"Then you would have wasted precious time doubling back," I pointed out. "And I’m not a child― what mess are you talking about? Is another pack targeting your fellow werewolves?"

"...No," Elijah said stonily. "I cannot smell any other werewolves in this house."

"Then...who do you think did this?"

"Who else could it be?" Elijah snarled, losing every bit of his cheerful demeanor, "It’s definitely the fucking vampires!"