Loyal to no one

Upon hearing the low groan of a man, Katherine's eyes shot open. Instead of her and Amaira's head being in the mouth of the creature, there was an arm and it belonged to neither of them.

The monster tore Elias' arm right off his body and he kicked it into the wall, but it returned before him in the blink of an eye ready to bite off some more. Elias was managing to hold it back with only a single-arm, but his strength was even more limited than before.

His body was too weak, but he made up his mind to do all in his power to protect Amaira who was made into a human shield by her own mother.

Katherine smiled in contentment as she thought of the greatest possible outcome. 'If they both kill each other there will be nothing for me to worry about.' She closed her eyes briefly with a conniving smile on her face as she thought, 'I should start praying for that to happen.'

The smile fell from her face when she met Elias' angry gaze that was locked on her despite him battling the thing trying to bite his head off.

Katherine visibly gulped; she was especially depending on Elias to die since she knew he'd most likely want to punish her harshly for not treating Amaira well as he requested.

'Please die, you sadistic demon!' she screamed in her head.

Elias' arm gave way with his diminishing strength so the creature was about to bite his head off with its wide mouth, satisfying Katherine's wish but suddenly, it ended up slammed into the opposite wall.

Elias' eyes threatened to close as his body fell forward but fortunately, the impact of the ground never came since he was caught by two muscular arms.

Katherine's eyes widened in utter shock when she saw the person who rescued the demon that was so close to dying. 'O-Oliver? Impossible! What does a nice guy like him have to do with that devil and all this mess? And how did he get here so quickly?'

Her heart pounded harder against her chest as she went on to think, 'Don't tell me he's just like him!'

Oliver laid his brother on Amaira's bed before saying, "You can leave everything to me brother."

His movements were too slow and intimidating for Katherine, and what was with that stoic expression on his face? She couldn't tell what he was thinking, but she felt the same evil emanating from him that she felt coming from his supposed brother.

'How can they be brothers, they look nothing alike?' she thought.

"Brothers don't have to look alike to be brothers, or even be related by blood," were Oliver's first words to Katherine since he entered the room.

Her eyes bulged as she thought, 'Is he reading my mind?'

The monster freed himself from the rubble of the wall and charged at Oliver at an incredible speed, but Oliver only slightly turned and flicked it away into another wall with his long and slender fingers.

Oliver's red eyes fell on Katherine who was still holding Amaira captive. His stoic expression remained as he said, "I kindly ask that you hand over the girl."

Amidst her fear, Katherine dared to bargain thinking that Oliver would be a lot easier to reason with than his brother. "Answer my questions first, what are the both of you? What does your brother want with my daughter?"

"She's not your daughter, you said it yourself so I see no need for you to be curious or concerned about my brother's business with her."

Katherine glared at him, "That's not answering any of my questions."

Oliver stepped threateningly closer to her, "I'm not obligated to answer any of your questions." His once silver eyes turned red as he threatened her, "You have two options, Mrs. Hendrix, release Amaira or have me take her from you by force."

Katherine didn't need to be told twice, she pushed Amaira away from herself and she fell in the capable arms of Oliver.

"Thank you for your co-operation, Mrs. Hendrix," he told her before placing Amaira on the bed beside a slowly healing Elias.

Katherine's lips quivered as she asked, "C-Can I count on your protection?"

Oliver took his black blazer off and undid his tie before starting on the buttons of his white dress shirt. "Your safety does not concern me, Mrs. Hendrix, but you may stay behind me if you don't wish to die."

With his shirt off, he started on his black pants and Katherine looked away with a red hue forming on her cheeks. 'Why is he taking his clothes off?' she wondered, but couldn't stop herself from peeking at the greek god-like body of the man before her.

With his back turned to her, her mind conjured dirty thoughts as she shamelessly watched him get completely naked, but quickly averted her gaze when he slightly turned to look at her.

"How can you entertain such inappropriate thoughts with your husband's corpse before you?" His eyes fell on the creature that was tearing itself apart to free itself from the wall as he continued, "You humans are sure loyal to no one."

"What did my husband become? At least tell me that!" Katherine demanded, ignoring the insult sent her way.

Oliver dipped his finger in one of Elias' bleeding wounds before taking it between his lips and sucking on it. "Your husband became a ghoul." His appearance gradually changed as he faced the creature, "A very strong ghoul."

Katherine's brows furrowed in confusion and she looked at him, "What is a gh-" Her eyes threatened to pop from their sockets when she saw that the man before her no longer had the appearance of Oliver.

'Did he already recover?' she internally questioned thinking of Elias, but when she looked at the bed, he was still lying unconscious.

Katherine returned her eyes to Oliver whose appearance perfectly matched Elias', from his ridiculously handsome face to his deliciously ripped tattooed upper body. She gaped at him as she asked, "How do you look exactly like him?"