03: Where Are You Now

Retreating to the weird night of Morbius, he went to his chamber and let himself pour a blood wine over his wine glass. He sipped as he watched the moonlight glow in a different way. 

"What a different night..." he coldly commented as he recalled what he suddenly felt there. He looked at his sweaty hands before letting his right rested on his left chest to feel his heartbeat faintly beating again.

"...I wonder what kind of creature she is...she smelled different..." he muttered to himself before emptying his glass and letting himself do his usual workload.

But as another day began kicking in, the weather was gloomy and threatening to rain at any moment. Natasha began stirring up from resting comfortably the whole night of her escapade. She let her eyes adjust as she opened her eyes only to be welcomed but an unfamiliar ceiling and bloody scent all over the place. It was not a disturbing scent but it made her agitated a little. She looked around and found a vampire servant wearing maid clothing getting wet towels when Natasha began coughing.

"Oh my! You're awake! Thanked God!" the vampire servant exclaimed but not so much that she was jumping like an ecstatic kid. Natasha found it cute but didn’t show it to her face.

"Okay? but where am I?" Natasha tried to sit up from the bed and the servant helped her out.

"You're at Draven's household. My master accidentally hit you that's why you're here." the vampire servant answered what she only knew to Natasha.

"I see...ahm..." Natasha didn't know what to say to her since the servant was a vampire when her stomach crumbled. The vampire servant chuckled.

"Seems like you are hungry. I will get something for you to eat and you have to stay here till you are fully recovered." The vampire servant smiled genuinely at her and she left her alone in the room.

“She seems a friendly vampire…” she muttered to herself when she was left alone in the decent room.

“Well, I better get out of the castle filled with vampires.” She quickly got up from the bed and began stretching as if she had not collapsed last night. She was about to use the window when she saw a new pair of clothing prepared for her. She smiled at the thoughtfulness and wore them but it didn't stop her from escaping again.

The coldness of the weather in the morning was likable mostly to the vampires who were living in the castle. It was doing them a favor by being criticized by humans when they made contact with them. But on Morbius's side, something else was making him intrigued by the strange lady that they saved last night. 

“Master, you had a meeting this afternoon with the council representative Magnus.” his head butler, Rizal who was also working as his secretary informed his master.

“They were going to talk about my marriage again…” Morbius sighed coldly as he started fixing his own clothes for the day.

“Seems like and after that you had to roam around the land to check the businesses since there were reported missing goods after a day or two from harvesting.” Rizal added another report that his master must hear.

“Hoping that I will hear new culprit’s name…it's been happening after my wife died, am I right?” Morbius coldly commented as he began to wear decent clothing that he chooses for himself.

“Sadly, yes, Master.” Rizal sadly sighed as he agreed with his master.

“Anything else to add?” he wondered as he began on wearing his dark maroon polo.

“It was about the strange lady from last night.” Rizal was not sure whether to share it or not but knowing his master, he had to.

“Go on I’m listening.” Morbius coldly ushered him to continue his report.

“Dr. Ross said that she was just exhausted and hadn’t been eating properly but something else caused her sudden collapse apart from being hit by our car…” he started on reporting about the strange lady’s status. Morbius sensed something that Rizal was doubting on reporting to him.

“Just continue your report. Let me hear the rest of it whether they were good or bad omens. I don’t care about them anymore.” Morbius firmly told him. Rizal jolted and proceeded with his report.

“He did some tests on her and found out that she was not a human but a rogue wolf…yet, there’s something that he could not figure out…” Rizal went on reporting.

“Hmm…I like thought…there was something different about her…” Morbius coldly muttered to himself before facing his head butler. Rizal heard it but did not comment since he didn’t want to be beheaded from prying too much.

“‘What kind of wolf she was?’, am I right?” he easily could guess and Rizal agreed by nodding.

“Yes, Master. Is it possible for us not to distinguish what kind of wolf she could be? I’m just curious since I’ve never heard it before.” he wondered.

“It's a rare case but it doesn’t mean it didn’t exist.” with his usual cold voice, Morbius clarified to his head butler and secretary. Rizal nodded in understanding.

“Alright, if that was the case kept watching her in right distance until I said so.” He added as he began wearing his vest.

“Yes, master.” the head butler, Rizal answered politely and was about to leave when Morbius remembered something.

“Oh, don’t make her leave our land at all cost.” Morbius commanded since he was already intrigued by the stranger’s presence even though he had no idea what the stranger looked like. 

“Can I know the reason, Master?” his head butler asked in a curious tone.

“There was something about her that could bring something to our land that we’ve lost once.” He coldly answered as he was about to grab his coat. But he glanced over his sweaty hands before sighing.

“If that was the case then I will make sure that she’s well guarded, Master.” the head butler saluted while smirking since he could sense some fascination from the aura of their master.

“I’m counting you on that.” Morbius said and they both headed out of his chamber.

They were walking in the hall when Morbius stopped in her tracks and looked over the huge window. The morning clouds were getting darker at every moment when he sensed something was about to happen. His hand began to sweat much more than earlier which never happened before except when he met his deceased wife.

“Master?” his head butler wondered what made his master stop from his usual fast tracks.

“Has the breakfast ready?” Morbius asked out of the blue but his focus was on the gloomy weather outside the castle.

“Yes…” the head butler answered but something began to alarm him through his mind. Morbius turned his attention to the window when he heard a report from the assigned servant to the strange wolf lady.

‘I’m sorry, Rizal. She’s gone when I came back with her breakfast.’

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?!” the head butler exclaimed making him bow apologetically to his master but Morbius waved his hand and he dashed off toward a room.

“Hmm, seems to me you love to run.” Morbius found himself smirking at what he was vaguely sensing. And being alone in the hall, he opened the window before him to do a stunt that he did once when he was young. He jumped out of the window and then landed on the earthly ground smoothly without any impact on it. 

Meanwhile, Natasha kept running on her barefoot and she had no idea for how long she was already running around. Without any destination - she easily got lost in the huge property of the vampires who took her in. She groaned and frustration doubled up when an alarm began echoing throughout the entire perimeter of the castle.

“Shit! They know that I escaped.” Natasha clicked her tongue in annoyance as she kept running.

Natasha was looking around but couldn't find any place to hide since it was a field with woods and bushes with nothing else. She frustratedly sighed and ran for some more but something made her weak.

“I have to keep going.” Natasha muttered to herself as she tried to hide herself since she noticed some men were roaming around, searching for her.

“YOU AND YOUR GROUP RUN OVER THERE. WE’LL GO OVER HERE. BE ALERT.” one vampire man shouted.

“YES, SIR!” the rest of the vampires shouted in agreement before running to their designated destination.

“Damn, think Natasha.” she groaned to herself when she heard them being close to where she was hiding. 

The feeling of being cornered, Natasha hates it and decides to close her eyes. She started calming herself by making sure that her mind was as clear as a vast sky. She even does her breathing exercises without letting anyone sense her. They might be vampires but whenever Natasha dropped her being into nothingness, everything was cloaked into zero madness.

"Natasha, let's play like the old times..." Natasha thought to herself and opened her eyes almost shifting into her wolf but didn't.

Letting herself compose, she carefully got off from her hiding spot and dashed somewhere less patrolling guards. But that was just wishful thinking since the reality, vampires were scattered around the castle's perimeter.

"Let's dance in the shadow," Natasha muttered to herself while smirking since she was in her younger years when she was in training with the pack.

Natasha began humming a melody as her body began swaying and imitating the movement of the vampires that she was shadowing. Each move was not noticed or sensed as she was very good at hiding her real identity. But the crumbling sound up the sky was starting to make her tremble.

"Focus." She chanted to herself and went on humming and dancing around without being noticed.

Each step that she created was like a wind within a shadow that can't be penetrated or disturbed. But something was oddly different in the air when she sniffed it.

"Not that scent again." She groaned to herself which made her almost caught up if she did not manage to duck. She crawled and got up behind the tree before running once again.

As Natasha was busy in her own world from waltzing in the shadow of those vampire guards, Morbius was blending in the shadow of the trees. He was using his senses as being the master of his castle but something was amidst in between energy flow within his land. Something was moving but had an unpredictable flow.

"Tell me, where are you?" Morbius muttered to himself as he got down from the trees and decided to touch the ground. He began to feel everything around his land in one simple touch.

Morbius began sensing everything when he noticed a different flow among his kind. He creepily smirked as he found was he was looking for and went to where it was coming from. But his excitement died down when he reached the area, there was nobody there.

"You're different from any wolves I’ve encountered before...who are you, my mysterious wolf lady…" Morbius found himself fascinated by the stranger in his land.

He went on running around his land to check everything without being noticed by his own men. But the weather was getting darker and began to release a few droplets until it poured heavily. Morbius kept running when his palms began to be sweaty again and his cold heart began to beat for some odd reason once more.

"Is she?" Morbius muttered to himself as he halted to feel his heartbeat that he almost cried. The last time that his heart began beating was due to the presence of his deceased wife.

Being wet was not a bother to Morbius as he kept searching for what made him feel like a second chance in love was getting closer to him. It helps him to hide the sudden tears that he misses feeling and he keeps those tears from his men see it.

"Please, tell me where are you now." He thought with hope as he kept searching for the stranger who was making him feel again.