Revenge Of The Lion Alpha

Eight

"Everything still looks the same," Thaddeus muttered as he arrived at his father's old forest house.

Thaddeus couldn't return to his father's house those years ago because he was being chased by those killers. They hunted him down for several days.

Thanks to his great hunting skills, he was able to evade them. Crawling through tunnels and holes, he managed to escape to the mountains.

He was rescued and raised by the Aiken Family, who lived in the village behind the mountains.

Though they were a family of werewolves, they took him in after listening to his story.

Thaddeus looked at the exterior of the house. He smiled seeing the unique style in which the house was built.

"Can we fit in here?" A man with rough dread asked as he looked at the small hut.

"You can decide that after going inside the house." Thaddeus opened the door and stepped in.

His steps were slow and his eyes were fixated on the house as he looked around. Every corner of the house reminded him of his father and the times they spent together.

"Wow!

"This is amazing!"

The men commented as soon as they saw the interior decoration of the house.

"How can such a huge space be inside this small hut? A lady commented.

She has Auburn hair and brown eyes. Her name is Freya Aiken. The only daughter of the Aiken Family. She grew up with her brother Vlad and ....Thaddeus.

"I wonder how father made this possible," Thaddeus stated as he walked past them.

"This place is so nice." Freya looked around happily.

"If it is so nice, then Thaddeus wouldn't have left," The man with blue eyes commented.

"No Reuben, Thaddeus left because he was being chased, remember? Freya reminded.

"Yes, but thanks to the schemes and hatred of his mother's family, he had no one left to take care of him, wasn't he? The man with blue eyes, Reuben argued.

"You might be right, Reuben, but according to what Vlad just found, those people were hunters. They weren't from his family, were they?"

"They weren't but....."

"My father mentioned aunt Thelma's name before his death," Thaddeus stated to stop them from arguing.

"He mentioned her? Freya inquired.

She had never heard that part of the story before.

"I wonder why he said her name? Was she present there that day?"

Thaddeus was moving around as he spoke. His eyes were dreamy like he was reliving that moment.

"Was she the one holding the sword? Or the other woman? Why would she want to kill my father? Was it because of me? Did both my parents die because of me?

Thaddeus was asking himself all these questions but he didn't know the answer to them.

His life was driven by his thirst for revenge. His heart was filled with bitterness for the human clan. Especially the hunters.

"Relax Thaddeus, you'll get your answers as soon as Vlad returns." Freya went to him and locked her hand with his.

"I can wait no longer, Freya," Thaddeus sighed.

If there was anyone who knew how to read him like a book, then it was Freya. She knew all about him more than he could imagine. She understands every expression he makes and its meaning.

"I know and that is why we are all here to fight with you."

"Yes, Thaddeus. We are here to join your quest," Reuben added.

"And not just us, the entire Malary Kingdom is ready to fight behind our king."

"I appreciate your trust in me." Thaddeus stood with Freya and Reuben.

"Forget trust, we will even lay down our lives for you, Thaddeus," Freya stated truthfully.

"I won't let that happen. I won't lose any of my dear ones anymore", Thaddeus vowed.

He tapped their hands and nodded.

"I'll be right back."

"Hey! Thaddeus! Wait up!"

Thaddeus could hear Freya calling out to him but he didn't stop. He whizzed off into the forest.

Following the same route he passed with his father, he went into the forest. Though he didn't go in a car this time as his father used to, he still remembered the route.

"Thaddeus! Where are you going?" Freya shouted.

She ran very fast but still couldn't catch up with him. She followed in his tracks hoping to find him, but Thaddeus was very good at hiding his tracks.

"Wait up, Thaddeus!" Freya yelled at the top of her lungs.

Thaddeus halted suddenly and he shifted into his human form. He bent down and he touched a reddish liquid on the grass. He inhaled it and tasted it with the tip of his tongue.

He wrinkled his face as he realized what it was.

"Blood?

He looked around as if in search of the one whose blood it was. He inhaled the blood again and rubbed his fingers against each other as he checked for more clues. He frowned as soon as he confirmed his doubts.

"Human blood? How?

Thaddeus shot up immediately and followed the blood trail. It felt like Deja Vu as he ran through the thick forest following the blood trail.

He stopped behind a tree and prepared himself for an unexpected attack from a witch, but none came. Instead, he found a woman lying lifeless under the tree.

He rushed to her and shook her, but she didn't open her eyes. He touched her neck with two fingers to check for breath but she had already turned cold.

His eyes dimmed and became golden as he watched the dead body. He sniffed the air as if he could sense some strange smell in the air.

He followed the scent and he found more dead bodies. His eyes glistened with rage as he found more bodies with life sucked out of them.

"Thaddeus, where are you?" Freya's voice echoed in the forest again.

They had already arrived in the deep part of the forest.

Freya looked around warily as she was getting an eerie feeling of the forest. Her paws elongated and her eyes shone with wariness as she walked deeper into the forest.

Suddenly, she felt a presence behind her. She prepared to attack and turned slowly but her mouth was covered and her hands were held before she could turn.

She struggled to be free from her assailant, but he was stronger and seemed to know all of her moves. He countered her attacks before she could launch them.

"Don't turn around, Freya."

"Thaddeus?" Freya tried to ask but her voice sounded like a muffle.

"Stay still. Something is wrong here," he whispered.

He took his hand slowly from her mouth and she slowly turned to confirm that it was indeed Thaddeus.

"Something is wrong? She whispered too.

"I found several dead bodies."

"Humans?" Freya inquired.

"All humans" he concurred as he went further into the forest.

"What happened to them?"

"Murder," he simply stated.

"Huh?" Freya's brow furrowed.

"They were all murdered and their souls were sucked out of them."

"Their souls were sucked out of them? How?" Freya was confused.

"Shh..." Thaddeus placed his finger on her lips to hush her up. "Listen," He pointed at the farthest part of the forest.

He could hear some movements. He stepped towards the sound with slow movements. He looked beside him to see that Freya was fully ready for whoever or whatever was attacking the dead people.

"Let's split up and search for the perpetrator."

"Alright," Freya went south while Thaddeus maintained his route.

Thaddeus shifted to his Lion to make hunting easier for him. He found more bodies as he went further. His anger heightened at the number of people that had been killed mercilessly.

He concluded that whoever or whatever did that must be a monster. To kill so many people cruelly and mercilessly, the perpetrator must hold as much evil in him as the devil himself.

As the thought of the devil crossed his mind, Thaddeus' eyes glittered with golden rays as a voice rang in his ears.

"Aslaug."