Chapter 2 | Unexpected Guests

“I’m sorry, you’ve got the wrong person,” Elise countered and walked past him, a little bothered by the old dwarf’s accusation. “It wasn’t me,” Elise told herself for quite some time after she parted ways with the nosy, little, old dwarf. She shook that thought off of her head and went off to find a place to stay for the night. However, it never once left her mind.

As she was passing by a dark alley, she heard rebellious teenagers talk about her as they smoke pots of weed. Elise scrunched her nose in annoyance. She knew kids like them who reeked of smoke and alcohol were unreliable agents of rumors. However, as she saw her face printed on the wanted posters plastered on the walls around her, she knew rumors became the truth for the majority of the Xornozians. Facts were twisted on purpose – she was sure of it! She ripped off the posters angrily and stomped her way towards an unfamiliar door at the end of the alley, thinking that it was some sort of an entrance to a cheap apartment.

To her surprise, it was the Gamblers’ Den – Moldengork’s famous casino where all kinds of gamblers camp in for weeks. Unlike the fancy casinos of mortals, the Gamblers’ Den looked more like a pigsty despite its popularity. The place had vandalized walls, dirty floors, cobwebbed ceilings, and the broken windows were curtained with stained, patched-up cloths. Elise hid her disgusted face behind her hooded cloak as she made her way towards a less crowded corner.

“What a disgrace to the Wilstonecraft lineage!” an old, bearded wizard commented. Elise stopped on her tracks as she heard her surname being gossiped about. She listened and watched in silence as the old wizard distributed the cards for their game.

“Elise Wilstonecraft, right? I heard that a werewolf was hired to track her. How dare she kill the vampire king’s loyal escort?” a younger witch added. “How unlucky!” she blurted in annoyance as she arranged the set of cards in her hands. A smirk formed on Elise’s lips as she peaked on the witch’s cards from behind. Her cards were all useless and she was bound to lose the game.

“Serves you right,” Elise muttered to herself as she looked for her way out of the den. She was squeezing herself pass through the swamp of gamblers when she, once again, bumped into a dwarf. Elise accidentally stepped on her foot which she quickly apologized for.

“Ahh!” a teenaged dwarf exclaimed in pain. Her loud scream made everyone turn their heads towards them. Alarmed at the sudden attention, Elise tightly gripped her hood and her other hand was clutching her broom, ready to take off. She fastened her pace as she walked towards a door she expected as the exit. But the bearded, old wizard from earlier recognized her.

“It’s the murderer!” he exclaimed both in anger and fear. Everyone in the room had different reactions. Some panicked while some chased after the so-called murderer. The den was a chaotic mess as everyone tried to either catch Elise, or get away from her.

The exit was packed with people trying to leave. With not much time left, Elise quickly scanned her surroundings and immediately executed her escape. She destroyed the already broken window and slipped herself out of the place. As she was in a hurry, her right leg was scratched by a rusty, loosed nail; and her left palm bled vigorously as she unknowingly grabbed onto a broken piece of windowsill. Nonetheless, Elise hopped on her broom and flew into the night before anyone could get the chance to capture her.

 She maneuvered her broom off to the sky, not knowing where to go and hide. A few brave witches and wizards saw her from afar and they went after her. No, it was not for the sake of justice; it was for the reward they would get from the Vampire King if they caught her.

Elise swiftly dodged the spells casted upon her by the witches and wizards tailing her. She lured them into the moonlight as she muttered an invisibility spell. Just like what she planned, they thought that she disappeared off to the Mortal World. To their disappointment, they had no choice but to go back and report everything to the Council of Zornoxphere.

Unfortunately, Elise was not careful enough to be off the hook unscathed. She found herself in the middle of a dark and crooked forest. She thought it best to hide herself in the middle of nowhere rather than to blend in with her own kind. Though, it was not exactly a ‘nowhere’ for her. She was in the forest of Nardovoa, again. She had been there one too many times already and she knew her way around its confusing, crooked pathways.

She used her broom as support while wandering through the forest. For some reason, she could not remember her way out. The trees she passed by were unfamiliar to her and it seemed that she had not been in that part of Nardovoa before. She lost all bits of hope as she wandered around the woods, trying to figure out her way back. Fortunately, she found herself standing in front of an old and abandoned-looking cabin. However, the lighted lamp hanging on the cabin’s front porch post indicated that it was not abandoned at all. After a series of struggling steps, she made her way towards the cabin’s old and almost broken front door.

Elise was not sure if she should knock, but the cold weather was convincing her to do so. Before she could knock on the door, the strong blows of the freezing wind opened the creaking, old door for her. To her luck, the cabin was empty. The small space inside was dull and dusty as if no one had been there for years. However, the lighted lamp hanging outside convinced Elise that someone had been there before her.

The dusty floorboards creaked beneath her as she made careful steps around the cabin. The place grew stranger with every step she made. She found a lot of unusual things which sparked her curiosity. For instance, she found tons of guns and bullets inside the cupboards when she looked for bondages which she wrapped her wounds with. When she searched some more, she found boxes of different kinds of knives hidden neatly under a bed. Crazy conspiracy theories flooded her head as she found more things that she knew mortals own; particularly, weapons which humans made. It reminded her of the weapons which took the life of Gustavo, and possibly, their baby as well.

A loud, urgent knock interrupted her bitter trance. Her brows furrowed suspiciously and her face twisted into an alarmed look. She thought of escaping through the back door, but her guts told her otherwise. With her wand and broom tightly secured on both of her hands, she cautiously sneaked herself towards the front door to see who it was. Just before she could touch the doorknob, an injured werewolf barged into the cabin. She took a step back, she recognized the wounded lycan. It was the alpha of Mount Gomery pack, the strongest pack in the Kingdom of Zaldigore – the domain of werewolves. She suddenly remembered what the witch from the Gamblers’ Den said – that a werewolf was hired to capture her.

“Did the council send you?” Elise asked coldly in a brave tone, no longer fearing her death.

“Save her,” the alpha desperately replied. “Please. Save us.”