“Bye, mum.”
Julie waved at Edith, who smiled at her from the main terrace. Right beside Julie, Kai waved goodbye to Alexandra. He was in charge of escorting Julie to her school according to Seth and Edith’s orders.
Julie hoped that her ride this time would not have any obstacles like yesterday because of the witch. She played with the jar of moths that she had caught last night because they had entered her room. Noticing it with a smile, Julie brought the moth to keep her company on the way to school.
The silence was broken when the car stopped slowly. Julie saw three pale-faced men standing in front of their car. Kai quickly got out of the car and approached the three men.
“I guess Mikael was so desperate that he sent you guys on this sunny day just to cheer me up. Speaking of which, how’s Blanche doing after I squeezed her heart?”
One of the three growled angrily. Without saying much, the man attacked Kai by grabbing him by the neck. Kai coughed until both of his hands tried to release the man’s grip.
“I’ll personally handle Kai. You will handle the tribrid,” the man ordered.
“Over my dead body!” growled Kai.
Kai managed to break free. He moved towards the car door to block the two men who were about to pull Julie out of the car. Kai grabbed the body of one of them, pushed him into a tree trunk, and broke his neck.
“Julie, you may use your magic to defend yourself. Don’t hesitate if it could threaten your life. Uncle Kai is a little busy right now.”
Julie nodded. She swung both hands to lock the car door, and she locked it with a spell so that the man who attacked them could not pull it out. Julie felt her whole body tremble with fear, as she was sure that the man who attacked them was a vampire.
“Uncle Kai…”
Julie shouted after seeing Kai’s right hand broken by the vampire who choked Kai earlier. She wanted to help, but her magic was only enough to defend herself. She had never attacked another person with magic consciously.
“Get out of the car, or we’ll force you out!” said one of the vampires after unsuccessfully trying to open the car door.
Julie was even more frightened as she saw the vampire break Kai’s neck to lay on the road with his body weakened by the injection needle that had punctured his neck. She didn’t know what to do. She cried so hard that she felt the car shake and then overturn.
Julie looked at her surroundings, which began to spin. Her head throbbed after hitting the window. She inhaled the smell of fuel seeping out of the leaking tank.
Julie cancelled the spell she had cast. She opened the door and went out to save herself. From where she was, Julie could see Kai’s paralysed state. She knew the liquid injected into Kai was monkshood extract, just like the one her father had stored in the vault.
“Mummy, I’m scared…” Julie whispered.
Julie held her head, which was beginning to bleed. She tried to crawl to escape, but it was no use. She was weak, and fighting two vampires was impossible.
Julie gave up. She felt her vision darken as one vampire lifted her up. She hoped that someone would help her before she was taken away by the vampires.
*
Seth had just arrived at the pack house when Edith returned with Kai. He saw Edith with a face full of tension, especially when Kai’s body was carried by Edith. Edith moved quickly to Kai’s room, followed by Seth, who was curious about what was going on.
“I found him lying on the road after he didn’t return two hours after dropping Julie off. Their vehicle had caught fire, and I was unable to locate Julie anywhere. Seth, I’m so scared.”
Seth instantly shifted into his wolf form, then howled loudly. He ran out of Kai’s room to the front yard. Soon, the pack members gathered in front of Seth.
[My daughter is missing. I order you to search for her until you find her. I will take any risk as long as my daughter returns safe and sound. Beta Jadden will divide your tasks, as we won’t know the true circumstances until warrior Kai regains consciousness. I beg you, find my daughter.]
[Yes, Alpha] the werewolves shouted simultaneously.
After the werewolves split up to do the tasks given to them by their beta, Seth returned to Kai’s room. He immediately contacted Ashley to ascertain Kai’s condition after shifting back to human form. In less than half an hour, Ashley had arrived at the pack house and rushed into Kai’s room.
“How long has he been like this?”
“Probably about three hours. I’ve tried to heal him, but he’s still like this.”
Ashley moved closer to the bed. She saw Emma holding Kai’s hand from the edge of the bed with a worried look on her face. She asked Emma to give her a chance to check on Kai’s condition.
Emma moved away, replaced by Ashley, who was now taking out medical supplies from her bag. After a few minutes of silence and tension in the room, Ashley opened her voice.
“He’s in heart failure from the high dose of monkshood. The only thing keeping him alive is that he is also full of vampire blood. I had to drain the monkshood from all his veins and give him more positive blood to get him better. It took me two days to drain it.”
“Is there any trace of magic?” asked Seth.
“None. He fell into a coma due to a high dose of monkshood injection. There was a crack in her collar bone, but it started to close up due to Luna Edith’s healing powers.”
“Vampires…” said Seth.
“I thought the same as you. Witches do not require monkshood injection to attack werewolves,” Ashley supported.
“They must have staked out the pack so they could carry out this attack and kidnap my daughter.”
“By the Moon Goddess, Julie was kidnapped.”
“That’s what I can conclude for now. Kai had warned earlier that the vampire clan already knew Julie’s true condition. They must be after her blood.”
Seth felt the anger burning through his body. He really wanted to rip out their hearts if he met one of them. As an Alpha, he should be able to keep his emotions in check amidst the conflict that afflicted Red Crescent Moon.
He could still hold it in because he still had Edith. The power Edith had must have led them to where Julie was. Seth tempered his anger in front of Edith with silence and thought.
Edith, who had been listening to their conversation, gasped in shock. She did not expect that even vampires were now targeting her daughter. In the midst of this situation, she couldn’t think clearly as fear filled her mind.
“Luna, can you talk to your mother to find out where Julie is? I also got instructions from my grandfather to meet the witch who knows about the witch who attacked Black Bold.”
“If we all leave, who will take charge here?” asked Edith as she looked at them.
“I will be here until you return.”
Seth turned around. He saw Kellan standing in the doorway of the room. Once in front of Seth, Kellan rubbed Seth’s shoulders and nodded slowly.
“This all started with me, so I have to do my part to defend this pack, especially since my great-granddaughter is in danger. You guys can go now,” Kellan said with firmness and authority.