“Kael!”
Someone called out in a deep, heavy voice from a distance.
He was standing in front of one of the houses on the edge of the clearing, the largest house in the village.
Kael gently shook Elara’s hand, his fingers slipping between hers, pulling her attention away from Ruth, where it had lingered the whole time.
Elara turned her head.
“We have to go over there,” Kael said, pulling her hand away.
For a split second, Elara felt his thumb lightly brush against her knuckles.
Once again, Elara glanced in Ruth’s direction.
The old woman flashed a faint smile before walking away step by step, as if she had never uttered the words that had just shaken Elara.
“Who attacked the guard at Ravencrest?” Elara asked, half-jogging to keep up with Kael’s long strides, her grip tightening unconsciously.
Kael simply shook his head and didn’t answer.
His jaw clenched, his gaze fixed straight ahead, as if he were holding back something that was beginning to churn in his chest.
As they passed in front of his house, Aldric stepped out without saying a word, then walked alongside them in the same direction, his stride quick and heavy, his hands clenched at his sides.
Other members of the Rhaen clan began to arrive as well, gathering in front of the large house one by one, like water drawn to a single point.
“Shillah is on his way to Ravencrest,” Aldric said between breaths.
Kael simply nodded in understanding.
Elara studied the faces around her.
Some people paced back and forth slightly, their hands clenched or crossed over their chests.
They all wore the same expression, alert and tense, as if they were holding their breath together.
As soon as they reached the center of the crowd, Aldric issued a firm order.
“Younger members, stand guard up front.
The rest of you, patrol the forest.
Report immediately if you spot anything suspicious.”
Without further discussion, several young men and women from the Rhaen clan set off at once, including Xera and Riven.
As soon as they left, Aldric led the rest of them into the large house.
Elara was still standing at the very back with Kael, her hand curled slightly, unsure whether the invitation to enter the house applied to her too.
“Come on,” Kael said.
He walked toward the porch, glancing back and reaching for her hand when Elara’s pace slowed.
Elara’s feet seemed reluctant to follow, and Kael noticed it.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure I should go in.”
Elara looked at the people still standing at the door.
Some were waiting for Kael.
Others stared back at Elara, plainly unfriendly.
Kael followed the direction of her gaze and immediately understood what she was thinking.
Aldric and the elder who had led Kael’s ritual turned around when they realized Kael wasn’t following behind, then approached the two of them lingering outside.
“What’s going on?” Aldric asked.
“Maybe I should just wait here,” Elara replied hesitantly.
Before Kael or Aldric could answer, the elder stepped forward and gently patted Elara on the shoulder with a reassuring smile.
“Come in.”
“But, sir…” Elara was still hesitant, while the people with unfriendly stares began whispering to one another.
“Just call me Lembah.
This house is a communal area.
All Rhaen are allowed to enter without needing permission from anyone.”
Kael tilted his head slightly, as if to say, see?
“But I’m not–” Elara tried to object once more, but Kael didn’t give her a chance.
He grabbed her hand before she could argue, half-dragging her along in his hurried strides.
She had to break into a light jog to keep up.
“She’s with me.
Get your eyes off her,” Kael snapped as they passed the crowd, his hand raised as if ready to block anyone who dared to approach, while his other hand still clasped her fingers tightly.
Inside the communal house, every corner was packed with Rhaen clan members.
Some sat in chairs, while others stood for lack of room.
Kael led Elara to the only empty chair left, between Aldric’s and Lembah’s seats, a chair that seemed reserved specifically for the clan’s leaders.
Aldric and Lembah were already seated.
Kael gently nudged Elara to sit in the one that remained.
Elara felt extremely awkward, sandwiched between two clan elders while Kael stood tall beside her, his arms crossed over his chest like a guard.
Elara tugged at the hem of Kael’s shorts twice, signaling for them to switch places.
Kael merely glanced down, shook his head slightly, then returned his gaze straight ahead, unflinching.
A middle-aged woman broke the silence.
Her voice hung heavy in the air the moment she spoke, and all the whispering stopped at once.
“If it’s true that Rhyze’s guards were attacked, the truce is no longer valid.”
The room erupted in an instant.
“We have to strike back before they attack again!” a man in the back row shouted, rising from his seat.
“We don’t even know who did it yet!”
“Since when has that been a reason to just sit back and do nothing?
Rhyze is our ally!”
Other voices chimed in, overlapping one another.
Some stood up from their seats, their fists clenched in the air.
In the corner of the room, an elderly woman covered her face with both hands, her shoulders trembling slightly, as if she were already imagining what would happen if war broke out again.
Kael said nothing, but his jaw tightened as he listened, the muscles in his arms visibly tensing.
Aldric spoke from his seat.
“Enough.” Just that one word, yet it carried something more than anger.
It was the authority of an Alpha, one that made several people in the room lower their heads unconsciously, as if their bodies had reacted before their minds could.
The room fell instantly silent.
Elara could almost hear everyone holding their breath.
“Decisions born of anger will only lead us into a war we may not fully understand,” he said, calmer now but no less firm.
Kael spoke up.
“There’s something I need to tell you about what’s been happening in Ravencrest lately.
Maybe Shillah hasn’t had a chance to tell you yet.”
“Go ahead,” Aldric said.
“Recently, there was an incident involving Elara.
A vampire from outside Ravencrest was chasing her, and he knew her exact location.
It was as if someone had leaked Elara’s movements to that vampire.”
The room fell silent.
Kael scanned it, then his gaze settled on Elara, sitting next to him.
His hand brushed her shoulder briefly.
Elara bowed her head deeply, her fingers clutching the hem of her garment.
She knew that after this, more and more fingers would be pointing at her.
“I tracked that vampire,” Kael continued.
“He deliberately took a long detour to stop in the western forest of Ravencrest.
Strangely, I couldn’t pick up a clear scent.
It was as if someone had intentionally scrambled it so it couldn’t be tracked.”
Aldric furrowed his brow.
“Go on.”
“Elara also received a threat, deer blood left in her room.
The next day, a Ravencrest guard from the House of Blackthorn was identified as a suspect in no time at all.”
“If the culprit had already been caught,” Aldric said, “this attack shouldn’t have happened.
Or could it have been two different people?”
Kael shook his head.
“I don’t know.
But I don’t think that guard is the culprit, even though Elara herself is convinced he is.”
Elara shrank further into her chair, her shoulders slumping, not daring to lift her face.
Both of her hands were now clasped tightly in her lap, her thumbs pressing against each other nervously.
She wasn’t ready to meet anyone’s gaze in that room.
Lembah, who had been listening silently the whole time, finally spoke up.
“But you said you couldn’t detect any scent at Ravencrest.
Then how was the culprit caught so quickly?”
Kael nodded, raising one hand to rub the back of his neck, a habit that always surfaced when he was trying to find the right words.
“That’s the strange part.
There were scent trails that seemed to jump from one point to another, far apart.
I can’t describe what kind of scent it was.
I’m sure someone used Blood Arts to erase it.
But I’m certain the guard wasn’t the one who did it.”
Another woman stood up fast, her chair scraping loudly as it slid back.
“Only trained vampires possess Blood Arts.
It must have been a vampire who attacked Rhyze.
This truce has clearly been violated!”
“Grace is right!” a man nearby chimed in.
“We’ve held back long enough!”
Murmurs of agreement spread quickly.
Some nodded, others whispered to one another with tense expressions, and for a moment it felt as though the room was about to erupt again.
“Grace, can you calm down?” Aldric snapped, though his voice wasn’t as firm as before, as if he himself were beginning to lose his grip on the room.
“We don’t yet know whether this incident is connected to the same person or not.”
Lembah shifted in his seat, leaning his elderly body slightly forward.
It took a moment before the commotion subsided and all eyes slowly turned to him, as if the words of an elder still carried a weight that could not simply be ignored.
“Blood Arts are indeed an ability only trained vampires possess.
There’s something even more terrifying than Blood Arts.
Magic.”
Lembah paused for a moment, his eyes gazing off into the distance, then continued.
“For a witch, erasing a scent is nothing.
They can manipulate it however they please.
So we can’t accuse one race and declare war on another just yet.”
Almost everyone in the room let out a heavy sigh at the same time.
Even so, some still looked dissatisfied, their arms crossed, their jaws set, as if the explanation weren’t enough to smother the anger that had already caught fire.
Lembah finished, his voice full of conviction.
“But I’m certain that whoever the culprit is, they’re after this girl.”
Elara lifted her face slowly, and her gaze met Lembah’s, who smiled at her.
“Your blood is too valuable to certain races.
You know that, don’t you?”
Elara couldn’t bring herself to answer.
She only shook her head slightly, her gaze falling to the wooden floor beneath her feet.
She knew, and yet she didn’t.
All of it left her confused and afraid at once.
From a corner of the room, someone snorted.
“I told you, trouble started the moment she showed up.”
Elara bowed her head even lower, her shoulders trembling slightly.
She closed her eyes as tightly as she could to hold back the tears threatening to spill.
Elara understood why everyone was turning against her.
If she were a Rhaen, she might do the same.
But still, all of this felt like too much for someone who had only known this world for a few weeks.
Next to Elara, Kael crouched down to bring himself to her level.
He reached out, unclenching her fists one by one before lacing their fingers together.
His thumb stroked the back of her hand, as if trying to soothe a trembling only he could feel.
“Elara isn’t to blame,” he said, turning his head slightly toward the room, his voice loud enough for everyone to hear.
Before anyone could respond, Aldric called out, “Devon found something in the forest.”
Everyone froze where they stood.
Every gaze shifted to the wide-open door.
In the distance, a gray-furred werewolf ran swiftly from the direction of the village entrance.
As it neared the communal house, the figure shifted into the man who had spoken with Shillah earlier.
Devon.
“We picked up movement in the forest,” he said, panting, panic clear on his face.
All eyes were on him.
“It was moving too fast toward the edge of the forest, near the human village.
We couldn’t catch up,” Devon went on, words tumbling out as if he were afraid he’d forget something.
“Who?
A vampire?” Aldric asked.
Devon shook his head fast, his face going even more panicked.
“No.
No.
I don’t know.
We don’t know.
This is genuinely strange.”
“What do you mean?” Kael, next to Elara, was losing his patience.
He stepped toward Devon, his jaw clenching.
“There’s no scent.
I can’t smell anything at all.
Isn’t that impossible?”
Everyone in the room exchanged glances, the same worry written on every face.
“It seems to be true.
Elara’s being hunted by whoever’s out there,” Aldric said.
He looked at Elara, his concern plain.
Elara looked at Kael.
Kael looked back at her, his eyes full of worry, and Elara felt his grip on her hand tighten.
That night, everything fell into chaos in the blink of an eye.
Everyone rushed outside to take up positions at every corner of the village, Aldric and the elders among them, hurrying to lead the guard.
Some still found a moment to grumble about Elara’s presence, which they saw as an omen of bad luck.
Kael’s hand, never once letting go of hers, only made her guilt weigh heavier.
When the communal house was finally empty except for the two of them, Elara stared at her own hand, still held in Kael’s, then slowly lifted her face.
“Kael… if it’s my blood they’re after,” she whispered, “what would happen if I turned myself in?”