Chapter 278 - Two Hundred And Seventy-eight: Tracked The Tracker
"Oh shit!" Was the first word Lia muttered when she listened to the voice message Ben dropped.
She had awoken in the night to discover that Daniel's side of the bed was empty. At first, Lia thought Daniel intentionally avoided her because she was going to probe the reason behind Asher dumping her here and was about to go search for him when she saw numerous unanswered calls on her phone.
How did she not hear her phone ring? Lia was quite sensitive and with a ringing tone that loud, there was no way she couldn't hear it. Kind of weird because she's been feeling a wave of tiredness and these strange dreams. Well, she'd figure that out later, finding Daniel and knowing if that stupid Ben had arrived at the pack was her priority.
Ben would be the death of her, who knew he did kidnap a pup! No wonder, she had indeed smelt something weird back at his place until he said those words - oh, her eyes widened, that stupid boy purposely distracted her. She better go find Ben before the pup's mother tears him limb to limb. Afterward, she'd deal with him herself.
Coming out of the pack hospital, Lia bumped into Ryan as if he knew she was searching for him.
"Where is Daniel?"
"He had something to deal with,"
"Details," she pressed.
Ryan wanted to deny her the information but when she thrust her jaw
defiantly, he knew there was no room for argument.
"Fine, there's a missing pup-"
"Oh, that," Lia laughed him to scorn,
"He shouldn't have bothered himself,"
Ryan felt stupefied by her laughter, which made him ask, "What is it?"
"Ben's the one with the pup and he's on his way here," she showed him the message.
Ryan tried calling the alpha back through the mind link but he had gone beyond the communication limit.
"Let's wait a bit. Ben's on his way here, they might meet on the way or Daniel might realize he's not home and return afterward - the idiot should be here by then," Lia suggested.
So both waited and waited yet there was no sign of Ben nor Daniel and the boy called Sam he left with - she learned.
"Am I the only one with the feeling that something's wrong?" Lia mumbled while trying Ben's number which didn't go through.
She knew Ben like the back of her fingers, he wouldn't just call and switch off his phone afterward when he knew she would call back unless something was wrong.
"You're right, I have a foreboding sensation," Ryan acquiesced.
"I'm leaving," She decided, tired of waiting. Something was wrong and she couldn't just fold her arms and watch it happen.
"I'll drive," Ryan offered
"I'll trace them "
And so they began to track down the duo- Daniel and Sam - who had been tracking Ben.
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"This is sick," Daniel commented on the shack in the middle of the woods.
The primitive hut was an abandoned simplistic structure located in the middle of nowhere. The area was sparsely populated and there was nobody in sight. The fact alone that an ordinary human carried Ben all the way here was a surprising achievement - his vendetta was a strong one.
"It's a human, it should be an easy task taking him out," Sam was so full of himself which wasn't surprising to Daniel. Younger werewolves were hot-headed and impulsive, hence their lack of foresightedness; they were quick to act.
"Don't be cocky, this human is not an easy one," Daniel told the boy as he approached the hut cautiously while Sam walked with a devil may care attitude.
"You should be careful where you place your feet, there might be traps hanging around " Daniel warned him.
Sam rolled his eyes, "Alpha, no offense, but you're too uptight - "
"Watch out," Daniel saw that ignorant boy step on a rope - they could see clearly in the night- and the next, darts flew at them from a three-sixty direction.
Daniel managed to ward off almost all but one got him at the neck, neither was Sam spared.
"Great, youths and their arrogance," Daniel moaned and dropped to the ground.
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"They killed her!" Eric roared at his face," They killed my mother and I did nothing but watch- oh, he wanted me to watch. He wanted to show me how weak and pathetic humans were and how much power you could get as a vampire,"
Oh, it all made sense to Ben now. The boy went through a traumatic experience and it shaped him into being the person he was today.
"I'm sorry about the loss of your mother, you shouldn't have gone through that as a child and I pray that vampire be brought to justice,"
"Be brought to justice?" he burst into mocking laughter, "How would he even be brought to justice?"
"There's a council available for that and their responsibility is to see that humans like you and I are not oppressed" Ben hoped to get to him. He doesn't want to die yet!
"Council? The human system has failed me, not to talk of a supernatural system I have no understanding about? Oh please, spare me that nonsense. I would have my vengeance my own way!"
"And you think your mother would be proud of that? Proud of the fact that you're a murderer?"
"Oh, she is, because she was the one who told me with her dying breath to avenge her," He revealed the truth.
Ben was dumbfounded. His mother's words were the problem here. How could a mother ask such a traumatized young child to avenge her? The last words from his own parents who he hasn't even seen for years were " Live well," What mother in her right senses would encourage a young orphan to avenge her?
And now, his revenge was no longer limited to that particular vampire but all supernatural as a whole - everyone has to pay for the sins of one person.
But Ben didn't give up.
"So since your revenge began, what's your achievement so far? How many vampires have you killed? All you ended up doing is killing your own kind!" hissed Ben, hoping that his words somehow put some sense into his head.
Eric stated, "For a great achievement to be made, there have to be some sacrifices. Moreover…. " He curved a smirk that made Ben sick to the stomach," I have a list already"
Ben gulped, he didn't like the sound of that.
"There's so many news you could get from Caroline and children of the founding families,"
Someone has been busy.
"With this list and more to come, I would hunt down the last of them till there's no -" He was cut off by a loud noise.
Both of their eyes met.
Ben had no idea who that was, but a nagging feeling told him that the person was here for him. Had Lia received his voice message?
"Someone just set off my trap" Eric's disturbing smirk grew, "The more the merrier,"
Eric kicked the snapping pup out of his way, took a pistol from on top of the table, strapped it to his back, and left to go find the uninvited guests.
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Daniel unlidded his eyes to see himself chained to a chair, "Damn it,"
"Don't bother mister, you can't break out of those, it's silver," Eric informed Daniel who was prepared to free himself or so he thought.
Daniel's eyes widened, "How did you-"
"Don't worry, I've been doing my assignments. I know a lot about you guys… " He neared the werewolf, "The secrets you disgusting creatures have been trying to hide from us, the public? I know them all and soon the whole world would too," He pointed to the blinking camera.
"Yep, he's recording us, " Ben confirmed.
Daniel finally noticed Ben seated beside him.
"You know I could have you killed right now," he said to him.
"Yep - right after you free yourself," Ben reminded him that he was just as helpless as he was.
"Where is Sam?" he looked around.
"Right here?" said the boy seated on the bare floor, restrained.
"Sorry about that, there weren't enough seats to accommodate you all - wasn't expecting any more captives" Mocked Eric.
"Now, gentlemen, let's begin, shall we?" Eric adjusted the camera in such a way that it captured them all as he took a seat.
"So, tell me more about you guys, " Eric questioned Daniel to be exact. The man was the one who had most of the information he needed anyway.
"Yeah, you can get it answered it in hell," sassed Daniel.
Eric's expression changed, a muscle ticked in his jaw and the next everyone saw, was him loading the gun in his grasp.
"It's quite funny that even the alleged superior race needs some motivation to open up," He focused the gun at the little pup who had exhausted himself struggling to escape.
"You can't be serious! "
"Seriously dude, chill! "
At that minute, Daniel and Ben knew the boy wasn't joking at all. There was this crazy glint in his eyes and his grasp on the pistol was firm.
"Fine, I'll tell you everything you need to know," Daniel gave in.