Blood Lake

Like everyone else all three of them were also covering their ears, the screech lasted exactly for the same time period as before.

When her screeching stopped Jayden stood up and realized he wasn't like an ordinary wolf, he was not completely in a wolf form, he was muscular and tall like a man, exactly the way he was without becoming a wolf, but he had paws, and pointy sharp nails.

But his hands, on the other hand, were as much human as they were before, but hairy, and with pointy sharp nails, his face was like a wolf's, his hairy body his ears.

And most of all he knew what he was doing, when he was still accepting this new change the wolves started running toward the town, Jayden ran like a wolf, and jumped long enough to land exactly in front of them, he stood up and roared so loud that frightened the rest of the wolves.

Jayden's anger made a strange impact on them, they all sat with their faces on their front feet as if they were bowing down to him.

Jayden's eyes widened and after a few minutes of plain silence, there was only one thing that echoed throughout the entire jungle, the sound of cracking bones, and The wolves turned into human and the first thing they did was to bend their knees in front of him.

"Hail Reegan! We will serve you till our last breath, if death comes for you we will take it on us! Long live Reegan!" They spoke together.

Jayden saw his pointy nails shedding down and his hands getting back to normal, his hair slipping back inside his pores his ears tingling and itching while stretching as his skull gets back to normal.

"How did that happen?" He looked at Emric.

"I think Brigid is missing us!" Emric smiled.

"You all are free to go!" Jayden tried to act like a leader but he couldn't because he wanted to be a friend, not a leader.

"We have to find Rose!" Jayden whispered.

As they followed the scent of blood, Jayden was still processing his first-ever self-activated transformation, he was proud to handle it so perfectly.

Emric was also healed now, and everything was normal but when they reached the lake there was no sign of Rose.

"I don't understand. We all smelled the blood, and I still do!" Jayden looked around.

Swan approached the lake "Oh snap!" She was looking in the water,

When Jayden and Emric looked down they saw the water turned dark red, she must have thrown out in it.

But then they noticed the dock also had blood on it "How are we going to fix it?" Emric's brows slanted together.

"Where did she go anyway?" Swan turned around.

"Maybe she headed back to home?" Emric got down on his knees to take a closer look "Can you call Jinx?" Emric looked at Swan.

"I can't! We haven't been able to do any magic yet!" She shrugged.

"Let's get to them the old-school way." Emric stood up and all three of them started running back to the sanatorium in their wolf form.

Jinx was sitting out of the sanatorium, worried and definitely not looking fine.

Emric knew something wasn't right he stared at her with confusion.

"I… saw that body! Accidentally…" She was still having goosebumps "Well I left it with father!" She shook her head.

"What? Uncle Elex? Here? I am going to meet him" Emric rushed to the sanatorium.

Jinx and Emric grew up together, he was so close to her father Elex, he was a healer, and more like a friend to Emric, but later he got called by the elders to join them.

And he deserved it, his knowledge and healing techniques makes him superior so he left Jinx behind, and since then Maverick raised her like his own daughter.

"It looks like you haven't aged a day!" Emric stood by the gate, he was meeting him after a long time he was 16 when Emric saw him last time.

At first, Elex turned back "Emric my boy!" he cackled and both of them locked their arms together.

"We have a lot of catching up to do, once I finish with this guy here!" Elex turned back to the body of the skinless man.

"Speaking of… did you find out anything?" Emric asked.

"Yes, Something or someone… fed on him, he has no blood in his body, maybe he was alive for some time after getting drained out of blood, that's why he lost his hair, nails, etc." Elex was confused, even he had never seen such a thing before.

"What do you suggest?" Emric folded his arms, Elex turned back to him.

"I suggest you find the next victim before he gets attacked" Elex wiped his hands with a piece of a towel.

"He??" Emric raised an eyebrow.

"Yes he, squealer feeds only on male bodies!" Elex said.

"How can we find a victim? We don't even have a clue who could be the next victim" Emric had a point and even Elex had no answer to that question.

He shrugged "I examined the outer parts now I need some more time with his organs." He said and Emric decided to let him stay with that body.

He wanted to show him their hospitality but that matter couldn't be left to rest, the next victim could be slayed out any time now and the least they could do was to keep finding a solution to prevent these attacks and free Rose from that wretched curse.

Later, the news spread through the town about a missing middle-aged man, he had no family left, he was on his own.

They decided to go to his place and learn more about him, his background, where he came from, and where he worked, maybe there was something that could give them a hint.

There was no way they could find the next victim at least not today, so they decided to wait for the clue, to avoid stepping into a trap or anything they wouldn't want to get into right now, Also Ivy and Hawkbone were still on the loose too, so they decided to sleep on it.

Jayden, Jinx, and Swan were talking for hours."I don't understand one thing, when vampires can't travel into the light anymore, how did Rose not get burned?" Swan asked.

"Maybe she's not completely a vampire now?" Jinx shrugged.

"Have you gotten in touch with Ryanne?" Emric asked.

Jayden nodded "What about the lake?" He asked.

"I have sent someone to fix that!" Elex entered the room "Mind if I join you for a drink? And yes you are right, daughter she's a squealer now and she is surviving in the sunlight but do you really call it surviving?" He took a sip from his glass.

Everyone turned quiet because they all knew and understood that she is suffering worse than she deserved, and the drinks continued for a while until they all fell asleep in the same room, except for Elex, he left.