Chapter two

"Damn! That bastard wolf! I missed him!" Bob cursed bitterly bringing his horse to a sharp halt. His teeth gritted coldly. He scanned the woods for any sight of him or even another unfortunate one of their likes. The werewolf he thought he had just caught had disappeared. He knew a little more distance and he could find their hideout or something that might lead him to them. But he would only be asking for his death if he walked in there. He was totally outnumbered and would be peddling. 

"Nuisance!" He cursed again. 

Disappointed, he turned around and headed home knowing he would fume the rest of the day for missing such a great opportunity to bring his enemy down. 

"Uncle Bob!" 

It was the sharp squeak of his little niece that greeted him as he entered the house. A wide grin spread in his big face as he rid himself of his boots and proceeded in whilst Eleanor ran to meet him halfway. She jumped into his big arms and he scooped him up as if she weighed nothing. 

"Hi there! My beautiful little niece! I trust London treated you well…"

"Uncle Bob! I'm not little anymore! I'm all grown now! See, I weigh a little more pounds now too…"Eleanor whined pouting her lips. 

Uncle Bob laughed. Even if Eleanor grew and her head touched the rooftop, he would still see her as his little niece. The little baby girl born years ago amidst the misfortunes that surrounded her birth. It was just like yesterday, he held her tiny self in his palms and rocked her to sleep. 

"When did you get in…I didn't think you would arrive today…where is your dad?" He asked mentally pushing the thoughts of his hunting away and gently lowering her down to the ground. 

Eleanor shrugged. She wished she had gotten back earlier. Abroad was so cool yet so boring that the whole of her screamed for home. 

"I got into an earlier flight." She told uncle Bob as they walked in. 

"How was hunting?" A man bellowed from the far end of the room behind the window. He had a magazine in his hand and his reading glasses perched on his nose. His name is Bertrand; Eleanor's father and her only parents. 

"Uh…you are there…" Uncle Bob grunted dryly making his way to a seat. 

Bertrand tucked the magazine away and brought down his glasses as he focused on his brother. From his sound, he could tell something was amiss. 

Eleanor hopped playfully and sat beside her uncle almost glueing herself to him. She had missed home, most especially she had missed Uncle Bob who literally carried her the whole time she was little. Her favorite, one and only Uncle Bob. 

"Eleanor my dear, welcome back home, okay…let me discuss with your father…why don't you go chat or play some games with Howard?"

"Howard is no fun…" she frowned, imagining how annoying her brother Howard could be most of the time. 

"Uncle Bob, let's play a game once you are done speaking with dad okay?" She batted her long lashes.

Uncle Bob nodded. "Yes, let's do that."

With that Eleanor skipped happily out of the living room towards her room leaving only Uncle Bob and her father. 

As soon as she was out, Uncle Bob made sure to cast another look at the door before he turned towards Bertrand. 

"I ran into one of them while hunting…" his voice was low yet audible enough. 

Bertrand immediately became alert and sat up from the chair's armrest. His eyes flashed with anger. "Did you see their face?"

"It escaped, unfortunately." He sighed sadly. 

"We must protect Eleanor from those monsters. She must never learn of the situation surrounding her birth. Never!" Bertrand gritted clenching his fists. The thoughts of choking to death the monsters that hurt his family clouded his head

"When is she going back to London? We can't let her stay here much longer…"

*************

What the two men didn't know was that curious Eleanor listened behind the door to their conversation. It was unusually strange they asked her to leave since they discussed things in her presence in the past. 

She had acted like she was leaving but had remained behind and eavesdropped on them. 

Hearing her father's words sent chills down her body. 

"What is the situation surrounding my birth…" she muttered to herself confused. What monsters is her father talking about? 

Slowly she backed away from the door not willing to hear the rest of the conversation and headed into her room in deep thoughts walking through the house passage. 

"Hey rocky head!" Howard shuffled her hair sauntering past her hurriedly. 

"Don't mess up my hair, you punk!" She retorted to her brother. 

"You know what, why don't you go back to London…I mean here was all calm and good while you were away…" Howard smirked. 

"Hmmph! I'm not going back anymore. There is no fun." Eleanor snapped and got into her room banging the door shut loudly behind her. She could here her brother's taunting laughter echo behind the door. 

She sighed and slumped heavily onto her bed. 

Now she was having mixed feelings why she even returned home. She had missed home terribly and wanted so much to be back but after hearing her father's words, she wondered if she shouldn't have come back. What monsters and danger was her father and uncle Bob talking about? 

She couldn't make out anything from their conversation but she knew there was something they weren't telling her. She let herself fall back flat on the bed exhaling loud. Worries grated through her sigh and she shut her eyes hoping to shut her mind off her father and Uncle Bob's words. But that didn't help, instead the words rang all over in her head. She groaned and flung herself up. She would leave the house and catch some fresh air. As she dug her feet into her shoes, she decided to go see her friend, Elisa. She was supposed to go the next day but scratch it, anything to take her out of the house, she wouldn't mind. She swung her shawl around her neck and stepped out of the house.