Chapter 9

"Are you kidding me, mum? Surely you must! Did I ever tell you I want to get married to the daughter of your friend or business associates?" He flared up and Lydia could do nothing but stare.

"I think you need to calm down. Just calm down. Let's not argue about this, once we get to the bridge, we would cross it." She said with a wave of the hand to signify her wish not to dwell on that issue anymore.

Roberto stormed out of her presence, up the stairs and locked himself in his room.

Lucia rolled around in the bed as she snoozed her alarm clock. She had slept s bit late the previous night. She had stayed up watching a movie recommended to her by Jackson.

He had done that to help her calm down after killing those people. He told her she needed the movie as it was either she or them. She had to find a way of accepting herself.

She had to kill when in danger. She had to kill in order to defend herself and she had to do all she could to stay away from silver bullet or chain.

The movie was interesting although she couldn't remember the title again.

French police, led by Captain Klaus Pistor, question Claire Porter as she recovers in a hospital bed.

American tourists vacationing in France, Claire’s husband Henry and son Peter were viciously mauled to death in a savage attack by an unknown beast.

When Claire makes a claim that the shadowy figure resembled a man, the police arrest brutish local man Talan Gwynek for the murders. Claire later dies in the hospital from her wounds.

Expatriate attorney Katherine Moore requests to represent Talan. Fellow American Eric Sarin works as her investigator.

Kate hires English animal expert Dr. Gavin Flemyng, with whom she had a romantic relationship five years earlier, to complete the defense team.

While interviewing Talan at the police station, a struggle breaks out with the authorities. Gavin is scratched by Talan while trying to shield Kate.

Kate’s team travels to Talan’s remote house in the woods to interview his mother. Mrs. Gwynek tells them that she is originally from Romania.

She claims that Talan would have been too physically weak to commit the murders because he suffers from a rare genetic condition passed down through the males in their family.

She also makes a claim that the police are targeting Talan because the government wants to take their land for use as a nuclear waste disposal site.

Gavin attempts to flirt with Kate, which spurs resentment from Eric. Gavin also begins feeling gradually more ill since suffering the scratch at the police station.

The defense team comes to believe that Talan may suffer from porphyria. While undergoing medical examinations in police custody, a stress test involving a strobe light causes Talan to react violently.

Using apparent superhuman strength, Talan kills almost everyone in the room and escapes the building.

A citywide manhunt eventually traces Talan to an abandoned building. Talan is caught on camera transforming into a werewolf before attacking an armed assault team, falling eight stories to the ground below, and evading capture.

A second manhunt finally corners Talan after he kills several police officers. Talan is riddled with bullets and his apparently dead body is then transported in a police vehicle.

Kate and Eric follow the police caravan. The van carrying Talan overturns as Talan comes back to life to continue his rampage.

Meanwhile, after becoming increasingly ill, Gavin investigates the Gwynek residence and ends up killing Mrs. Gwynek after coming to realize that he now has the same affliction as Talan.

Gavin shaves off all of his body hair as he begins giving in to his new werewolf alter ego.

In the commotion at the crash site, Talan kills Eric. Talan moves to attack Kate next, but Gavin arrives to battle the other werewolf. The fight ends when Gavin strangles Talan, presumably killing him.

Kate confronts the transformed Gavin at gunpoint. Before she can act, a sniper’s bullet fired by Pistor from a police helicopter hits Kate in the stomach.

Gavin goes into a rage, throwing an assault team member’s body into the chopper and causing it to crash and killing Pistor.

News footage in the aftermath reveals that Kate survived. Pistor is implicated in a conspiracy that killed Talan’s father George to take the Gwynek’s land.

Talan Gwynek's body was never recovered and he remains at large and is assumed to be responsible for the continued killings, meanwhile Gavin’s true identity as a werewolf remains a secret and Gavin says that Talan is a werewolf.

Lucia couldn't have asked for a better morning than the one she just woke up into. The rainfall was so much and the school was nice.

"Good morning dear all! This is to inform you that all scheduled lectures from 7 am to 12 pm have been rescheduled and if the rain still doesn't subside by 12:30 pm, then all lectures for the day will be canceled."

The message read and it was from the management of the university of new york.

The news pleased Lucia and she couldn't hide her joy except for the fact that she still couldn't get out of her head, those she killed the previous night.

She could hear the echoes of their cries and she almost ran mad. The movie she had watched didn't help her any further. It only aggravated her as she wondered at how harsh humans were.

A voice kept assuring her that she did nothing wrong but she wasn't someone to cover her up her blames and wrong. She accepted with her full chest that she wasn't at fault.

Her phone beeped. It was a message.

"Who could be texting me so early in the morning?" She wondered as she stared at the wall clock beside her table.

She opened the message and her face fell. It was Roberto, and he was the last person she wanted to speak or hear from that morning.

"Hi, Lucia! How was your night?" The message read and it Infuriated her.

"Fuck off!" She typed and was about to send it out but changed her mind. She remembered what Jackson said to her. She threw her phone on the bed as she got up to prepare for work.

Not even fire and brimstone would stop her from going to work that morning that She was free. What would she be doing if she stayed at home?

She'd be bored to death. At the shop, she would talk with a lot of people and that would brighten her day up.

She got up from bed and trudged to the bathroom which could barely fit her in.

It was small and cozy but she loved it. The peace, serenity, and comfort of her home. She had lived there since she ran away from Hades, the man who was always sleeping with her.

Jackson had tried cajoling her on various occasions to tell him who and where that man lived so he could punish him but she wasn't ready. Ready for the emotional stress that would bring her.

"Maybe sometimes in the future, I'd tell you about it," she said to Jackson, every time he asks her.

She returned from the bathroom a few minutes later and was shivering like jelly. The water was damn cold and her house had no heater, neither did it have hot water.

She had to boil her water herself if she needed it and to create warmth, she would have to light up a stove in the room.

She had just finished dressing when she heard a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" She asked as she walked towards the door.

"Jackson!" Was the simple reply she got.

"I'm coming." She opened the door and he walked in.

"Did you also get the message?" He asked as he helped himself into a chair.

"Yeah, I did and where are you heading to?"

"Where else if not the coffee shop?" He responded as Lucia picked her bag from the mattress.

They stepped out and she locked the door and then began the trek to the coffee shop. The rain had subsided by then and people filled the street, all hurrying to reach their destination.

The duo arrived at the coffee shop and was surprised to see it opened. "Is the boss around?" Jackson asked, staring around in search of the owner's car. He didn't see it.

"No, I don't think so, maybe it's someone else," she said as they hurried into the shop. They were flabbergasted by what they saw.

The place was scattered and unkempt.

"Who could have done this?" They wondered as they strolled through the place.

"I have no idea, but how did they get in after we locked the door yesterday?"

No response.

"The money!" Lucia exclaimed and hurried into the strong room where the shop kept it's safe. It was slightly opened and her heart raced against her chest.

With a slow-motion, she pulled the door of the safe and fell when her gaze fell on its emptiness.

She felt like crying but found no tears willing to help her with it. A glance at Jackson showed her that he was in no better state.

"But we locked this door before leaving? How then did this happen?" Lucia said as she walked away from the room..

They checked the back door and realized it was locked as well. The front was opened meaning someone broke in.

They were still brooding on that when their boss came in. He had a frown as thick as mucus on his face and they guessed he knew about it.

"How did this happen?" He asked with his hands folded across his chest.

"We have no idea, sir, we came this morning and found the door opened. We locked it yesterday before leaving so couldn't understand how it came to be opened.

"I was the one who opened it this morning! It wasn't opened when I came, and that's why I'm asking what happened? I thought probably there was a fight in here."

"There was no fight sir and we checked the safe, all the money is gone. Everything has gone down the drain." the duo said in unison, shivering severely.

"What? Are you kidding me?" Their boss said and ran into the office.

He checked the safe and froze when he saw it was empty. He felt a sharp pain.

"Are you sure this isn't from you guys?" He asked.

"Sir??? Don't you trust us? We would never do such things? We have worked with you for over three years and this has never happened." They shrieked in pain.

"I DON'T CARE! All I want is for you to find out how over twenty thousand dollars vanished into thin air." he yelled and then stormed out

They were stunned as they began to think things.