I am not in league with Vampires!

Echo 's POV:

"Echo, you are a huntress, but you conspired with a Vampire to steal the ring-Heart of Moonshadow, which was used to defend against other races, you... you deserve to DIE!"

Right now, I was being forced to kneel in a dark basement, being judged by my family. However, I felt nothing but anger at Uncle Marcus's absurd accusation. I defended myself by straightening my spine. "No! I was not in league with Vampires! Nor did I steal the family treasure!"

"So dear Echo, you still won't tell the truth,huh?"said Uncle Marcus, with a look of hatred and disgust on his face.

"I had told you the truth, but you didn't believe me." I struggled to straightene my back to prove that I had been wrongly accused, but I was filled with tiredness and helplessness when I saw the scornful faces of the other hunters in my family.

"If you ARE telling the truth, then where had our family treasure gone? You were the only one who insisted that there was only good and evil in this world, under which circumstances different races could live happily together in peace. And you even had a Vampire friend!" It was July, the huntress of the family besides me, and the assistant of elder Castile.

"Yes, I can tell the Vampire's name. It was Jenna. I saw her sneaking around yesterday. She must be working with Echo to steal our treasure." Dean chimes in. He was Uncle Marcus's son and the oldest of us young hunters in the family. He had got strength that could never be underestimated.

Because our treasure, Heart of Moonshadow, had been locked in a secret room by the wizard. Only hunter with the purest blood could open the secret room. Yet now, the purest blood of the hunter family was being chosen between me, Uncle Marcus, and my cousin Dean.

Coincidently, Uncle Marcus and Dean were on their way to the city's hunter summit when the treasure was being stolen while I went to the dark forest alone with no evidence. So everyone suspected that I stole the treasure and handed it over to Vampire Jenna. And I did go to the Dark Forest yesterday! I went on to say that I went to the Dark Forest yesterday, and I defended my Vampire friend Jenna by saying this,

"Jenna was a wonderful girl. She came into the human world because she was weak and abandoned by Vampires, and she was kind and sincere. Dean, you can't get back at me and Jenna just because I caught you trying to rape her in time!"

Dean's face changed. "What are you talking about?" I looked at him fiercely and said, "You know clearly whether I am lying or not!" I was starting to wonder if Dean was behind all this.

"Enough! The most important thing for us to discuss now was the loss of the treasure!" Uncle Marcus stopped me and Dean. "Echo, Let me ask you something. You said you were not in league with Vampires. But we all knew that different races were born with different hearts. The existence of Treasure was to fight against Vampires, werewolves and other aliens. I don't think you would tell the truth unless you are given some punishment!" I stared in disbelief at my stern, prim uncle.

"Uncle Marcus, I have great respect for you. It was you who took care of me after my parents died and taught me the hunter's skills. It was you who taught me to love life. But today, why do you insist that I were the one who stole the treasure in collusion with Vampires? Why?" The further I went, the more excited I became, even hysterical. Tears rolled down my cheek.

Dean yelled, "Father, we need to give her a taste of the whip so she can tell us what she had been up to with the Vampires!" With that, Dean pulled a long barbed whip under his belt, covered with thorns, and handed it to Uncle Marcus.

Uncle Marcus swung the whip in the air. It hit the ground so hard that a cloud of white mist rose. The white mist was the atomization of salt crystals after being soaked in salt water. I could easily imagine how much hurt I would suffer when it flogged on my body. The barbs would cut my skin, instantly tearing open a gash. Finally the atomized salt would exacerbate the pain of the wound, making me want to die rather than to live.

I was a little scared that the whip was going to hit me later. But mostly, I was disappointed at Uncle Marcus. I dried my eyes and looked around with determination as the other hunters looked on coldly, with faces of schadenfreude. I was drowning in sadness. Before the treasure was stolen, as the best hunter of the younger generation of my family, I was met with deference. At that time, I felt it WAS my duty to protect my family and my people. But now I began to hesitate. Was it really worth for me to protect these indifferent family members who never got the sense of right and wrong?

"Even I was flogged to death, I would never surrender to things I had never done!" As I spoke these words, the whip came down on my body.

One time. Two times. Three times……Every time I was flogged, there was a tear adding to my dress. Soon, dozens of whips fell, my clothes have been broken in rags. The original white coat was dyed a bright red with my blood. And those volatile salt mist, worming its way to the wounds, tortured me like tens of thousands of poisonous insects gnawing at every inch of my flesh and bone.

I still hold my breath, not crying out. Nor did I beg for mercy. Sweat trickled down my forehead and blurred my eyes. I clenched my fists and bit my lower lip, fighting the pain, nearly fainting. But the next moment, the pain pulled me back into consciousness. Now I couldn't help thinking that even Lucifer's torture was just like this. Just when I couldn't hold on because of all the blood loss. Castile the Elder suddenly let his voice outloud, "Stop!"

"Your majesty! " Everyone bowed to Castile, even Uncle Marcus stopped.

"If you killed her, the treasure wouldn't come back by itself." Castile walked past me and slowly sat onto the highest chair not far from me. I could see the skull of Damon, the Vampire he had destroyed, was at the bottom of his cane. As I lay dying, the skull of Damon was all I could see.

Castile continued, "Echo's father was a very powerful family leader, so the good gene of hunter must be typed in Echo's blood. I was not wrong. She's going to be the next head of the family."

"Your majesty! The question was not about whether Echo would have the ability to be the next head or not, but Echo's collusion with Vampire Jenna to steal our precious treasure!" Uncle Marcus explained.

Castile sighed. "Jenna has been living in our house recently. Just bring her in and the truth will come out. We can't free a bad guy while we can't kill a good guy by mistake also!"

"Your majesty! Jenna was missing and we had sent more people searching for her around here. " Uncle Marcus said.

"In that case, why punish my girl Echo? I hold the firm belief that she would never betray us just because of a Vampire. Let her go and find Jenna. I want to see you are looking seriously into this theft case. The time you get a result of it will you get the right to  judge whom will be to blame."

Castile said with such unbreakable stateliness that no one had anything more to say. After all, Castile was the absolute authority in the hunter family. At this point, I felt glad for one thing that at least Castile chose to believe in me. He walked over to me and crouched beside me. He held out a green pill and put it into my mouth. "Here. Take it! Your wounds will heal quickly. And then go find Jenna and prove yourself." I opened my mouth and swallowed the pill. I felt its melting in my mouth. Just for a second, as quickly as I could see, the bruises of the lash healed. My energy had all gone back. Every muscle cell in my body energized.

As I was about to thank Castile, someone came in and said, "Your majesty! I came to inform you that we've spotted Jenna in the North of Maple woods."