Chapter 748: Baron

Tayme took advantage of the fact that the Firecolds didn't seem interested in watching her every move after their leader left and went back to the place where she saw the human kill one of them. She waited for four days. She didn't mind returning home where she was with the creature. While she was waiting for the human, she met some of them and realized that the Firecolds didn't care about her presence and were only focused on searching everywhere.

At first, Tayme believed that they were searching from house to house for some hidden human, but then she began to notice that they emitted high-pitched screams every time they left one of the houses and this scream was immediately answered from another location. They were looking for the Firecold that the man had killed. It wasn't hard to come to this conclusion, as their indifference came to an end on the third day.

Tayme was asleep in the house she was in when she saw the man kill Firecold, when she felt, much more than heard, a hostile breath. She opened her eyes without fear. One of the Firecolds, the same one who was always willing to talk about rules with the werewolves in the tunnel, was looking at her with inexplicable admiration, crouched over her bed.

She sat up.

“Don't you have a more interesting TV program than watching me sleep?”

“It's over, witch.”

“What's over?”

“There are no more programs. And that hasn't happened in the few days you've been here. Sometimes your ignorance is annoying.”

“Be clearer, you stupid creature!”

He smiled at Tayme's impatience.

“Are you going to keep fooling yourself? How long will you pretend that you believe there is life somewhere? We've devastated the world. We've taken over all of Earth's territory. There are no more useless things like TV shows.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Tayme said, feeling her face turn red. She hadn't really stopped to think about it.

“Do you believe that our Baron didn't know any of those things you brought up in the videos?” He asked and smiled when he saw Tayme's face turn indignant. “He thinks he doesn't know. He's still finding himself. And he's not going to be very nice to you when he remembers his other part.”

“What's Baron? And what does that other part mean?”

“Baron is the name by which we call our leader, not to mention his real name. The other part of him, don't rush to get to know him. You won't like it.”

“I already don't like this part that I know, so...”

The creature stood up.

“You know what happened to our brother, right?”

“Why do you care about the disappearance of one? There are so many of you. I thought I wouldn't even be missed.”

“We're not like humans, or like werewolves, witch. We're united. We're one big family and any one of us who disappears, something that's never happened before, we all feel it.”

Tayme smiled.

“Don't tell me you're like phoenixes! You only have to kill one for everyone to die?”

The creature seemed to grow in size and became intimidating, but Tayme saw admiration shining in its pink eyes.

“You're very clever, witch. But it won't help you if I find out that you're involved in my brother's disappearance.”

“Your Baron won't like knowing that you're threatening me.”

“My leader needs to agree with what I say and speak for that to happen. We don't betray our own kind, witch.”

“Is he listening to us now?”

“We are not werewolves. We don't enter the minds of our equals unless we're invited.”

Tayme feigned a bored yawn.

“If you've finished talking about your uninteresting species...”

“You've been warned. Baron won't intervene in our punishment if you try to trick us.”

Tayme lay down again and pulled the covers over her head.

The creature smiled and left the room.

As soon as she realized she was alone, she threw the blanket aside and went to the window. The Firecolds had retreated from the streets and she could feel that she was alone when the sun went down and night came.

She stared for hours at the darkness outside and seeing nothing, she decided to go back to the house where she was staying with that Baron. That man was probably already dead, or far away. In any case, she would never see him again.

She walked out into the dark night and when she had almost reached the Firecolds' house, someone grabbed her from behind and clamped a hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming.

Tayme was frightened when the person holding her tightly began to drag her into a small house, which was very close to the house where she lived with the Firecolds.