Chapter 4

CASTLES RESIDENCE.

  Blood smelled everywhere, especially creatures with heighten sense of smell could pick it right from the turn to the road that led down to the house. Julian however picked it up and as he opened the door, the smell grew stronger and he could tell it was still fresh. With caution, he headed to the bunker where William was but it was open and empty, suddenly he felt a pull of his leg and to the wall he landed, and down to the ground.

  "Hello Brother," William said smiling with stained lips of blood.

  Julian stood up and dusted his jacket.

  "The sun is still up, how did you escape and fed?" Julian asked staring at a body beside the couch in blood.

  "Pizza delivery guy," he replied walking forward. "All I had to do was call and order for pizza, you can have it if you want to, I've had my sate."

  "We agreed you'll only feed on animals and the blood I get from the hospital," Julian went at him in anger. 

  "You're not a vampire so won't know how it feels," he said constantly poking a finger on his chest. "Perhaps, it's only one guy. Your little white witch will be next, either I do, or you do it yourself. I'm bad, but not compared to you, what you used to be."

  "Stop touching me," he said softly and strictly.

  "You're a dog, a wild one," William kept on. "And I was always there to clean up your mess. 1801, ring a bell?"

  "I said stop!"

   Julian in rage kicked William so hard to the stair case. And before he would make a proper, settled fall, he again was already there and choked William, rising him up above his feet. William however made to defend by managing and swinging his claws at him but it got seized, twisted and broken with a born tearing out through his elbow, then was flung to the same wall Julian landed on. William nevertheless made to stand but Julian once again rushed upon him and broke his knee with a stamp of his feet. 

  "Ah. . .!" William yelped. "You broke my knee."

  "Wait for it," Julian said in his deep monstrous voice. 

  He further dragged William by the leg outside in broad daylight to face the wrath of the sun.

  "W-what are you doing?" William asked in trepidation.

   Julian responded not, instead, held his head to the sun, leaving the rest of the body in shade. The skin on his head began to burn, peel off like rusted metal. Pain unbearable, he gnarled yelling.

  "Never speak of 1801 ever again," Julian said, pulled and threw him back into the house.

  "And fucking stay away from Emma," he added and went for the dead body laying around, actually to get rid of it.

EMMA'S RESIDENCE, LATER ON.

  "You got nerves showing up here boy," Daniel said as he opened the door after a knock from Julian.

  "Don't call me 'boy' ever a. . ."

  Daniel cut him off with a sharp raise of knife at him but he seized his arm and Daniel immediately released the knife from his seized hand and falling, he grip it with his other hand and inflicted a fragile, deep cut to Julian's belly and sharply dashed behind him. He then removed a gun, 'colt python' and it was a head point aim. 

  "That blade is pure silver, so is what this gun is loaded with," Daniel revealed.

  "I'm here to warn you, stand down," Julian said groaning from the cut.

  "Or what?"

  "We hate hunters, Shade don't need hunters," he said and stood up turning to face him.

  "Tell your brother I'm coming for you two. All I have to do is send the signal out there and it's all over."

  Julian walked passed him, but stopped and added, "Do that and they'll all die, and I won't be able to keep my brother from getting to your niece and nephew."

  "If you dare t. . ."

  "Don't worry, I wasn't talking about harming them physically. They lost their parents and you don't want them losing an uncle too, do you?"

  He said nothing further but lowered his firearm as he watched Julian recede.

  During the early hours of the morning, usually before the sunrise, Daniel again was driving along the forest when he heard a stump on his car roof. Before he could make an action, the side door was ripped off. Himself lost control and the car fell over. Making to get out of the fallen car he could see just legs approaching, not the full body because he was still in and down. Suddenly the legs got to the car and then the person bent down to him, it was William, with his usual sinisterous look.

  "Hello, I got your message," he said and gave him a hand out, but a hard one that forcefully pulled throwing him out to the ground.

  "Who're you?" Daniel asked groaning. 

  "William, son of Castle," he said as his eyes glowed bloody red and fangs drove out his mouth.

  Daniel stood up and searched his body for any available weapon but only found a boot knife, but still looked around for a broken wood.

  "Hope Julian told you as we hate hunters," William made a move but stopped as he saw the rising of the sun.

  "Now what?" Daniel asked as he already equiped himself with a wooden stake. "You know what will happen if that meets you, so are you gonna risk it to kill me? Thirty seconds will be too late, and I'll last far more than that, so come on."

  William stared at him then back at the sun, hung on an edge of indecision. So as the sun raised higher, he was no more. And Daniel shuffled in pains to his fallen car. 

  At night, the moon was at its peak, shinning so bright. And underneath the above leaves of the forest was Julian, restless and moving to an intended location with heavy chains. Just at where he wanted to be, he heard indistinctly from distance a voice and footsteps, so he dropped the chains and hurried off for confirmation. Reaching there he saw Emma, shuddering in her jacket making a phone call.

  "Emma!" He called. 

  She startled and dropped her phone.

  "Julian, what the hell!"

  "What are you doing here by this time?" He asked sweating profusely.

  "What are you doing here?" She asked back. "Why the hell are you with just singlet and shorts on?"

  He walked up to her and grip her arm. 

  "You gotta go now, leave here at once," he persuaded. 

  "No, not yet," she swung her arm away. "I'm waiting for Audrey, we're suppose to go somewhere and this is the meeting point."

  Before he would utter another word, they heard slow growl from behind him, then gnarling. He turned and it was a plus sized panther, hight like a human and huge as well, and it was directly channeling it's sight at Emma. Emma had already peed in her pants, the fear overwhelmed her and she froze.

  "Get behind me," he said.

  He then slightly bent and faced the panther. It attacked first diving up towards them, but Julian rolled under, simultaneously inflicting a deep cut by its ribs with just a slash of his claws. It fell and stood up, preparing for a second attack but Julian's deep, monstrous roar scared it off. Emma was even more bemused, stupefied as she saw what Julian did and at the moment what he was doing. His body bones cracking, temporal groans, yelps and constant roars. Rolling on the ground unsteadily, and making fragile cuts to the trees at each grope he made.

  "What's happening to you?" She cried out.

  And finally, there was no more the usual Julian, but instead a huge mutated wolf. Petrified like never she had been, she couldn't feel her limbs or believe her eyes either, she just melted and fell to her buttock with tears gushing down her cheeks.

  "Ju, Julian. . ." She quivered.

  The big wolf gnarled and immediately rushed upon her. She only felt the jamming of his teeth right before her face as her eyes were already shut, giving in to her fate. But then she opened her eyes and saw William, vigorously trying to contain the inhuman wolf. He tried and got the him hooked on his arm with the chain shackles and was trying to tie the other end to a tree. But the wolf was too destructive and violent that he slammed William off to a tree. And just then, huge arrows with chains attached on came from nowhere, pierced and pinned the wolf's limbs to the trees, which the arrows went through the trees and got hooked at the other end. 

  "Emma!" A voice called and it was Daniel. 

  She still couldn't move from the ground till Daniel came and held her by the hand up. Still, Daniel pointing his crossbow at the restrained wolf, released two silver arrows at him but was quickly intercepted and gripped by William with his quick reflexes and speed. Daniel however gave it up and bailed with Emma. But she kept turning and looking at Julian in a wolf form, stunned by the monster he'd just become.