The Runaway Huntress
Chapter 48 - 47

Chapter 48: Chapter 47

Chapter 47

With furrowed brows, Ezekiel repeated. "A vampire?"

Drasco nodded. "Yes, alpha. She said she was your distant cousin, and she had something urgent to tell you."

"Where is she?" He stood up. The pain to his side went oblivious as curiosity rose. Just from what he said that she claimed to be family, it was alien to his ears. No family ever visited him in almost a century. And what could be this urgent matter?

Drasco walked to the door with him. "Alpha, I’ll bring her to you. She was waiting right outside the gate."

"No. We are not in our own base, Drasco. The wolves here may get uneasy with a pureblood vampire in their proximity. And—" He ceased and palmed his face, groaning. It was a full moon, and wolves were lurking outside. "Get her. And go, enjoy the wild."

"But, Alpha, what if she attacks you? I’d better stay." Drasco protested.

"I can stab her with the knife if she dares. Just go." He even tilted his head to the weapon at the table. If the said vampire isn’t strong enough, then the dagger would instantly kill her, especially if it was directed at the heart.

With an inward groan, Drasco complied and went out the door.

Ezekiel wanted to take a quick shower, but his visitor might come in any minute. He decided to do it later.

He strutted to the wardrobe at the far corner and picked a new shirt to cover his body. Blood instantly soaked it to his side. He sighed and went to the bathroom for the first aid kit. But upon seeing the shower, he was tempted enough and took off his clothes. Drasco and the guest can wait for a bit. The freezing water somehow eased the tension in his body.

Thoughts drifted on his mate. After visiting his business branch in the capital the entire day, he traced where she was when the sun was setting. He found her at the back of a mountain cabin and witnessed her vulnerability.

How wonderful could it be if he had brought her with him and they could have showered together? Everything could have been perfect in his personal life already. They could conquer the hunter’s threat against their race. She could be a great queen by his side for the extent of how she cared for the people she loved. He understood that her hatred came out of how she loved her family to the core. She would kill for them.

But then she despises the people he rules. Before, he thought that he could just take her to his side when he found her. That she would be putty in his hands and could spoil her of all she wanted. But then, as it turned out, it was all just a dream. She was never he imagined what his mate could be. He protects. She kills.

He groaned, closed his eyes, and shook his head as he ran a hand through soaked hair.

After a few minutes of cleansing his body of any dirt, he grabbed an unused towel outside the shower and wrapped it around his waist before facing the sink. He reached for the first aid kit sitting at the side. Though it had never been used, the things inside were helpful to them. He looked at his reflection in the sink mirror. His green eyes twinkled at the glint of the dim lights. He opened the lid and pulled out a clear bottle with yellow liquid in it. He twisted the cap open and poured its contents directly into the wound. It’s a potion for quick healing that was made by witches for supernatural beings.

Some would think that they won’t need such things for their quick healing abilities. But weapons blessed with magic subside the healing process, and some were fatal enough, especially poisons that were meant for them.

He tapped a bandage and bound a plaster around his torso after. He felt a lot better now. Footsteps resonated in his ears. He hurried outside the bathroom and picked out a new set of clothes from the wardrobe. A cotton pyjamas and a white shirt. A small towel was plopped on his head, rubbing it on his wet hair. Some strands touched his eyes.

Before Drasco could knock on his door, he opened it, the guy’s hand in midair. "Alpha." He bowed and stepped aside for him to present the girl.

The vampire looked familiar, and recognition came to him. "Leave us, Drasco. Thank you." He opened the door wider for the girl to enter.

As he closed the door, he bombarded her with questions immediately. "What are you doing here, Laia? And what’s the urgent matter?" She was indeed a family. "And you seem." His forehead knotted. "Unwell." He can feel her faint heartbeat, and there’s just something off with her.

"My lord." Laia gave a curt nod.

His ears almost twitched upon hearing that pleasantry. It had been a long time since someone addressed him by that courtesy.

"Take a seat." He ordered for her, and he went back to the bathroom to fetch the healing potion.

Laia sat herself down, and an object on the small table in the middle of the sofas caught her attention. It looked familiar.

Zek returned and handed her the bottle. "Drink it or pour it wherever your wound is. It might help."

"Thank you so much, my lord." Laia gulped all the contents and put the empty bottle on the table. Her eyes again back to the dagger on display.

"Don’t touch that." Zek warned. He now sat in the wing chair, to the left of where she sat.

"Why do you have this, my lord?" She had seen it somewhere. As she stared, she rummaged through her memory then in an instant, her eyes bulged. It was from the woman who saved her a few hours ago.

"Don’t ask me such things. What happened? Why are you here?" He noticed that she seemed too interested upon seeing the knife. He took the object out of sight and placed it beside him.

Laia was thinking about what happened to the owner of the knife. Was her savior fine? She blinked and blocked those thoughts for the moment. She was in front of a royalty.

"My lord, I was living in this city for quite some time. And I noticed the hunters had been bolder. They’ve been taking down other beings, but their main target was your people. I heard some wolves talking that you’re in town to visit so I took the chance to relay this to you. It seemed alarming, my lord."

Ezekiel inhaled a huge breath. "That’s why I’m here, Laia. Seemed like this town was their favorite."

Laia took out a small case from the small of her back. "This, my lord. This was what made me unwell." She placed it on top of the table. It was like a pencil case that she got somewhere.

Zek reached for the case and pulled the lid open. His eyes widened and his mouth agape for what he had in his hands.

"They attacked me with that thing. And I wonder how they know I’m a vampire."

He took one syringe in held it up close to his face. It’s a clear liquid and the smell was close to nothing. It can be unnoticeable for them also. "Wow." He uttered in amazement. It’s outstanding. Highly clever. Brilliantly made. Humans and their ways. He can applaud them, only if it’s not meant to destroy the lives of the supernatural.

Humanity, they can wipe them out pretty easily. But because some supernatural rely on them for valuable benefits, especially the other half of him, so of course, they can’t attack them without thinking of the consequences. And then there’s the running the whole world or maintaining everything. There were lazy races in the supernatural too.

"My lord, shouldn’t the other races know about this?"

His attention snapped back to her. He returned the syringe to the case carefully. "For now, their main target is my people. Our numbers were close to extinction. And thanks for your valuable information, Laia. This is a significant improvement for my team’s investigation. We’ll try to create an antidote for it first with the help of the witches. And we’ll do the rest. We can’t alert other races yet. They may attack without planning, and that would lead to more damage to us. I haven’t even told my people for I know how aggressive wolves are." He leaned back to the chair, propping both elbows at the arm.

"What about the Blood Court?" She’s referring to the vampire hierarchy.

He pinched the bridge in his nose between the eyes as he inwardly groaned. Not really want to alert any other races. His mate was with the hunters. That made him worry if she’d be fine as the hunters were the enemy of the entire supernatural beings.

"Let me take care of that." Then he removed his hands to look at her again. "You were injected, right? So, vampires can survive it."

"No, my lord. I would have been dead already if I hadn’t had human blood immediately." Laia had to be careful not to say anything about the woman who helped her. It was what she asked as payment. She should be able to do just that at the least.

"So it didn’t weaken you instantly?" He entangled his fingers and tilted his head. Scrutinizing the details of her movements.

"It did, my lord. But drinking human blood saved me from death mostly."

Zek took note of that, nodding his head. "So how did you manage to escape from the hunters? Where did they attack you?"

Laia was contemplating what to say so that he wouldn’t find it suspicious enough. She averted his gaze and it landed unconsciously at the spot of the missing knife on the table. She heaved a deep breath. "I was staying at the Forest Inn in the suburbs. I was planning to hunt in the forest for some animal blood. Then two people emerged from nowhere, they looked like campers. I thought they were lost so I guided them back to the road. But one of them injected that thing into me. I didn’t know what it was but I fled away instantly. However, I wasn’t fast enough because the substance was doing something in my body. It wanted my heart to stop beating." Her heartbeat was rapid as she reminisced about the incident that occurred. She met his gaze with a horrified expression in her eyes. "It was truly petrifying, my lord. I thought that was my end."

"You were weak. You can’t fight. Was there anyone else?" Zek inquired directly.