Somewhere in the far distance, a clock struck nine. The chimes of the clock came to Selena from a far distance. She was vaguely surprised to realize she was lying down on a sofa.
She opened her eyes and hurriedly shut it as the bright light of the chandelier hit her face. After a moment, she opened it again. She sat upright and stared around the room. That was when she saw Caesar seated.
He was dressed in a white open neck shirt, black pants and shoes. In his hand was a glass of whisky. His eyes were heavy and bloodshot. He regarded her with a sneer that made her want to jump off the sofa and get the hell out of the house.
“I was beginning to wonder when you’ll come around,” he said in a guttural voice. “
She drew in a long, slow breath and stifled a yawn with the back of her hand.
“What happened?”
“Don’t you remember?” He shot back.
“I don’t remember anything,” she said blandly.
“You should. It’s necessary for you to remember,”
She stared at him for a long moment, nonplussed. Then the memories of everything that had happened in the previous night came rushing back. Alarm came into her eyes.
“You remember now, huh?” Caesar noticed the sudden look of trepidation on her face. “ I bet you do,”
“Oh, God! Victor is a werewolf,” she muttered, her voice shaky.
“That’s correct. Your boyfriend is a werewolf. And you, Selena is gonna have his child. There’s a wolf baby, growing inside you. Your baby is gonna grow into a wolf man, sweetheart.” he snarled.
A rage of disgustful pain went through her body. Victor had deceived her all this while. He had played on her innocence. He had lied to her. And now she had to deal with the whole situation; an Herculean one at that. The full weight of her reality hit her again and she covered her face with her hands. She began to cry.
Anger jumped into Caesar ’s eyes.
“What the hell are you crying for?” He said spitefully. “You wanted this, remember? You wanted this to happen, so what the hell are you crying about? You fell in love with a wolf man. A beast! An animal! And you both planned to have a wolf baby, admit it. Admit it, damn you!”
“No, don’t say that, Caesar. Don’t ever say that,” she turned her face away. “How could I plan it this way? How could I?” She sobbed.
“Well there’s nothing you can do about it. You are going to give birth to a wolf baby whether you like it or not. The only problem is that he’s gonna end up a bastard,”
She turned on her side and looked at him. She had a startled glint in her eyes. There was a scraped bony look of fear about her face that told him how scared she was.
“What do you mean by that?” She asked in a voice scarcely above a whisper.
“You mean you don’t understand?”He growled at her.
The deadpan expression on his face sent an icy chill up his spine. She shook her head “I…..I don’t understand,” she “It means I’m gonna kill him. In three days, Victor's gonna be a dead man.”
She drew in a long, shuddering breath. His words hit her like a heavy slap across her face. knowing how jealous and ill tempered Caesar was, she controlled her jittery nerves. He mustn’t know his words had thrown a lot of scare into her.
She sat there, motionless, aware that her heart was beating heavily and sluggishly, aware that Caesar was watching her closely, trying to read her thoughts.
“Do you still care about him? He said abruptly.
Selena started up. She remembered how he had goaded her in the cell and it had worked. It won’t work this time.
“No, I don’t.” She said evenly.
“You mean that?” He was staring hard at her, his thick brows raised.
“Yeah, I do. I don’t love him anymore,”she put a lot of emphasis on her words.
He studied her for a long moment.
“Good! I gave him to Dvorak to have fun with him for three days. Then do with him as he wishes. You know Dvorak still got a grudge against Victor? Werewolves killed off Dvorak’s families. He’s been looking for ways to pay back. Victor’s is the fall guy. I hate to be Victor’s shoes right now,” he was laughing at her wickedly, trying to rile her up. “Do you know what Dvorak’s gonna do to him? Let me tell you some part of it. He’s gonna whip Victor like they do slavery in the old days. You see, There’s small razor blade attached to that whip. As it lashes on the body, it slashes. Tearing off the flesh, piece by piece. Charing it up bits by bits. If Dvorak work on Victor with that whip for three days, the poor guy gonna end up looking like a fucked up Christmas chicken.” There was an evil smile on his face.
She imagined Victor’s beautiful lean body bleeding, that well tanned skin tearing off like raw meat. The thought made her sick with fear. I should hate him! I should hate him for lying and deceiving me all this while. But even as she says there, she felt the love for Victor tugging below her heart. She saw Caesar ’s eyes and she knew he was expecting her to say something. She had no intention of disappointing him.
“What Dvorak does with Victor is business. I don’t care about Victor and I don’t want to hear anything about him,”’
Caesar inclined his head “That's fine! Because he’s a dead man already,”
Selena shrugged her shoulders.
“I still don’t care. Please stop talking about him. I don’t want hear anymore,”
Caesar gave a long probing look and got to his feet. He went to the liquor cabinet and fixed another whisky. Holding the glass in his hands, he began to pace the room.
“Well, I think you should know this,” He paused to drink the whisky. Then he went on. “The town has been taken over by werewolves.” He heard her catch her breath sharply.
“What?” She gasped.
“The Blood River pack controls the town now.” He continued. “We lost the fight yesterday. Hatton, his deputy and Hank Woodman were killed yesterday. Mauled and mutilated. Those wolves bit most of the town folks turning them into werewolves. They spared some for some reasons best known to them. I heard some folks hightailed it before they got to them. Lots of Fur Hunters died too. The ones who survived came running down here like bats out of hell. They are all outside now. Guarding the mansion. I guess it’s safe to say the safest place for any human to live is right here,” he waved his hand around. “My mansion,”
Selena sat there, staring up at him, absorbing everything he was saying. Her fists were clenched and her breath came in quick, uneven gasps. She looked pretty bad. And at that moment, the thought of her father came into her head.
“Did you hear anything about my father?” She asked, her voice clogged.
“Old Sam?” Caesar smirked. “I don’t know what has become of him. I told Hatton to turn him loose. Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. Anyways I don’t give a fuck!”
“You took my father?” She was abashed.
“Yeah, he was becoming a nuisance.” He replied as a matter of fact. “Asking about where you were and all. I told Hatton to lock him up for good. Held him in his cell for a day or two. I didn't want that senile old fool coming here with a loaded gun just because he wanted to know if I had you with me or not.
But I think he’s freed now. He might probably be dead too who knows, killed off by those animals,”
Selena stared at him, shocked. The thought of what Sam might have gone through in the hands of Caesar and Hatton, came into her mind and anger gripped her.
“You heartless sonofabitch!” She seethed out.
He stopped pacing and looked at her.
“What did you say that for?”he asked, puzzled. His temper was rising in him.
“You took My father and I unlawfully, you bastard.”
“And is that why you were angry?” He asked her, his voice steely calm.
“Yes!” She screamed at him. “Yes, dammit! You had no right to do that to anyone,”
“You don’t have any fucking right, to be pissed off at me” exploded back at her. He came over to where she sat. He pointed a thick finger at her. “You have no right, you bitch!”
She drew back on the sofa, taken aback by his sudden outburst.
“What are you angry about? Huh? What?” He continued, hatred in his eyes. “Cause I lock up your father, bullshit. Just because I kept you in a cell for a day or two, that’s another, bullshit. You are stupid and selfish, Selena. I just realized how stupid you are. You left me on my wedding day, on the aisle, right in front of people, I didn’t do shit to you. I left you alone. I didn’t even touch you or punish you. Yes still, you went ahead and got knocked up with that werewolf.” His eyes were blazing with fury now and the words were pouring out of his mouth fast and hard. “Look at the town. A town filled with good people. It’s now been overrun by werewolves. By monstrosities! Good man who had fought and bled for this town has died because of these monsters! Father Rupert, Lionel, Hatton, Hanks and good hard Fur Hunters! Where the hell was Sam? Where the hell was he when we were fighting off these animals back to back? What about you? Where the hell was your dishonest, whoring ass? Where?” He screamed.
The thought of what Sam had told her about how the Fur Elders had raped and killed came into her head. She started to say something, then stopped. Right now, it was not wise to be on the defensive side with Caesar. She sat there staring at him, her eyes glittering like wet pebbles.
“That’s right, you don’t have shit to say! Cause you know you ain’t got nothing in that lying mouth of yours. While we were fighting off werewolves, you were busy getting screwed by one of their breeds. You ended up falling in love with the same breed of animals who were killing men and women like you! I’m ashamed of you, Selena. I was ready to give you everything! Anything! But you fumbled real bad!” His voice took a low, menacing tone. “I really wanted to kill you yesterday when I brought you back from the woods,”
The look in his eyes made fear begin to enter her body like the thrust of a knife.
“You ... .wouldn't do it” she said thickly.
"Are you sure?" he asked, his voice calm but she could sense the terror there. "Last night, I was so close. I brought you here, laid you down on this sofa, and just watched you. I could've ended it all, easily. Wrapped my hands around your soft throat and snuff life out of you." He gestured towards an armchair where he spent the night. "I sat there, thinking and drinking. I thought about how to make you pay for everything. How to make you cry and suffer. Make you unhappy. But I couldn't come up with anything. I hated myself for it. I believe I still love you, Selena. I always have. That’s why I couldn’t bring myself to kill you. Why didn't you give us a chance? We could've had a son, a hunter like me, with wealth and fame. Why didn't you give us a chance?"
“I don't know what to say, Caesar,” Selena said tearfully. “I just don’t know what to say. I guess you are frightened. You really really frightened me. I was scared of you. They thought of getting married or having anything to do with you, frightened me, didn't you understand?”
“Ofcourse, I know you will say that,” he said coldly. “Because you were frightened of me, you wouldn’t give me a chance. And even when you finally gave me a chance, you still took it back, embarrassing me in front of everyone. What I fool I’ve been all this while. What a dumb fool I’ve been” he caught hold of her. She tried to jerk free, but he easily held her. He crushed his mouth on her, thrusting his tongue In painfully. She squirmed in his arms, beating hard against his chest. But he held her tightly to himself. Ravaging her mouth with his. Then suddenly he pushed her away. Heaving heavily, he said, “I’m done with you, Selena. I was a fool before, but no more. And that’s why I’m gonna do this. I don’t wish to do it, but I’ve got no choice.”
“What do you mean?” Her voice was trembling.
He grinned evilly at her “You rolled with a werewolf, then you must eat, live and die with his kind. I’m throwing you back to the werewolves. You don’t deserve to live amongst us humans.”
“What are you talking about? Selena asked, her voice husky with fear now.
“You’ll see. You just have to be patient. ,” and he took out his cell phone and dialed a number. Then they heard a gentle tap on the door instantly. “Come on, in”
The front door swung open. They heard heavy footsteps down the hallway and then a Fur Hunter walked in. He was tall and heavily built with a chiseled, rugged face. He was a magnificent specimen of man in his Fur Hunters black jacket, khaki cargo pants and boots. He held a Wolf Stopper in his hand.
“Sir, you sent for me,” his voice was icy cold.
“Yes Slater, I’ve got a little task for you.” Caesar said. He pointed to Selena who was now looking frightened and worried at the Fur Hunter. “I want you to drop her at the entrance of the town. Leave her at the gate and come back here. That’s all,”
The Fur Hunter moved over to where she sat at once.
“You can’t do this to me, Caesar,” Selena screamed at him, realizing his intentions. She drew backwards into the sofa from the reach of the Fur Hunter. “You can’t do this!” She continued.
Caesar looked unbothered. A kind of relaxed, satisfied expression had settled on his face.
“Don’t fuss, ma'am,” Slater said tonelessly. “Let’s do this, nice, slow and easy.” There was something in his voice that sent a cold chill up her spine. Then he made a savage gesture, jerking his Wolf Stopper first at Selena and then towards the hallway.
Selena stood up. So Caesar had decided to punish her after all. He was throwing her back into the town, A town crawling with werewolves; her worst nightmare. They were going to either rip her apart or turn her into a wolf just like that. Yeah, that was how it was going to be. There was nothing she could do about it. She wanted to beg Caesar for her life. She wanted to plead with him for him to take her anywhere but the town.
But by now, Victor’s betrayal and dishonesty, the sordid experience in the cell, the unimaginable thought of the spawn of a beast growing inside her all made her defenseless and emotionally drained. She was beyond feeling any kind of emotion. She felt nothing; at all.
There was nothing else for her to do but to obey. She gave Caesar one last look. But he couldn’t even look at her. He had turned his face away.
Lifting her head high, she walked out of the living room. As they were about to reach the front door; she heard Caesar ’s voice over her back;
“So long, Selena. I don’t want to ever see you again. You are dead to me! Dead!”
Slater opened the front door. Selena walked out. A row of twenty Fur Hunters made a wall of black bodies on the grounds of the mansion.
They stood, tall, thick and massive. The Wolf Stoppers held tightly in their big hands. Their eyes, wild, alert and impersonal. They regarded Selena for a second and looked away. They were the remaining fur hunters that had survived the werewolves attack.
Slater led her to a big truck. He opened the passenger door for her. She got in. He slammed the door shut, came around the truck, got in around the wheels. He grinded the Ignition, whipped the truck around expertly, and drove out of the house through the electric gate.
He drove fast and hard, on the winding, twirling cliff side road. Five minutes later, the Fur Rivers entrance gate came into view. Slater stamped on the breaks and the truck crawled to a standstill.
“We’ve reached the gate.” he said to her, his expression bored. “Please, come down”
Nodding numbly, Selena opened the door and got out. She watched, dazed, as the truck swung around. It raced up the way they had just come, throwing up fine, billows of dust. The truck vanished from sight.
She turned to look at the gate. She stood there, her eyes regarding it, her heart pounding hard, her feet unwillingly to move. She must have been standing on that spot for half an hour when she heard a growl; a low, fearsome growl of a wild animal.
She looked around, petrified.
Just some ten meters from her, her eyes rested on three big crouching animals that she recognized by their wolf-like head and their thick, dark gray fur and misty, mean looking eyes as wild, jungle wolves. They must have been there for some time, watching her patiently, staring hungrily at her.
She stood there, panting, fighting back the scream that rose in her throat.
The wolves continued to watch her interestedly. Finally convinced that she was going to make a nice, early morning meal, they hunched their hind legs, lifted themselves and lunged at her.
Selena closed her eyes in horrifying terror.