6 Chapter 6: Wrong answer

Eve ignored the voice, straining her neck over the bovine's back with teary eyes. The faint light of the waning gibbous peeping through the icy clouds above pushed through the room, filling it with enough light for her to have a faint glimpse of the dangerous visitors.

There was a man and a woman- both garbed in the attire of the rich. The sheen of silk was unmistakable. There weren't many in their tiny village that could afford such fine silk except for the Tarletons and the Cavanoughs. But one look at the strangers and she knew that they weren't from any of those families.

The woman's skin was pale- paler than her own, looking almost like one of Grace Tarleton's dolls. Even in the dark, she could make out that the woman was extremely pretty- the kind that was hard to find in a run-down village like theirs.

The man on the other hand was dark- like the depths of the night. Just like the woman, the man was overwhelmingly beautiful. But what marked the two apart as strangers to the sleepy village was not their ethereal beauty but their eyes.

Like pairs of sparkling rubies, they shined, moving slowly from corner to corner as they scanned the room in suspicion. In the man's arms was an almost limp figure, broken from head to toe. Her eyes widened at the sight of her mother's tattered figure.

Her chest clenched and unclenched, at the sight of Meredith's hands, hanging limp like a wet cloth. They looked like they were badly broken. This was much more than what she'd seen with her father hurting her mother. Who were these people? Or rather, what were they? She wondered, the fear inside her making her knees buckle.

"I-It's my cow, Rosie. Please," Her mother croaked with a sore throat. "don't hurt her. She's all we have."

The bovine huffed, edging her to the side as it got up on cue. Eve watched as it beat its hooves on the ground lazily, drawing their attention to her huge body as she shielded the girl behind her. Pushed between the bow's behind and a tall pile of stacked hay, the little one cried, understanding her mother's message for her loud and clear.

The woman took one look towards their direction and said, "It's just a damn cow Julian." She stated, waving her hands in the direction dismissively.

The man narrowed his burning red eyes at the woman, his grip on her mother tightening with every second. Meredith's scream echoed through the barn, her head jerking back with the movement. Blood dripped down the man's elbow, his irritation at the information clearly reflecting on his chiseled face.

"Speak woman! Where is the wolf that you hid?!" His voice boomed through the poorly constructed structure once again, making Eve shiver instinctively.

But his words caught her attention. Wolf? Did these two monsters come in search of the wolf that they saved? She wondered, shocked by the intel. What was so important about the wolf that they were hurting her mother to get to it? And what did her mother have to do with all of this?

But a sea of guilt soon overtook her curiosity. Eve blamed herself- for tripping on the injured wolf, for agreeing with her mother wholeheartedly to take it home, for taking care of it like a lunatic all day, and finally, for admiring it even for a second as she fell asleep in the beast's arms.

If she had stayed around her mother like she was asked to, none of it would have happened in the first place, Eve thought, being dragged into the ocean of guilt with every passing minute. Maybe she should have killed the creature when she had the chance.

"I told you!" Meredith's voice rose as the man's grip tightened. "I don't know!"

"Julian." The woman called, signaling him with a nod.

Without hesitation, Julian suddenly let go of her mother, pushing her to the ground as he disappeared from her side. Meredith hissed in pain as her broken hands thumped against the cold hard floor. The woman's huffed turning towards her companion who magically reappeared near the haystack where Eve realized that she had been fast asleep only a few minutes ago.

Startled by the movements of the man, she stared at him wide-eyed. Julian lowered his head slightly, his nostrils flaring as he sniffed like a predator looking for its prey. Within seconds, he stopped, his head snapping back towards his partner.

The woman gritted her teeth in irritation. The next thing she knew, she was holding her mother up in the air, holding her tightly by her hair. Beside the tall woman, Meredith appeared like a tiny ragdoll, flailing her limbs helplessly in the air.

"You lie, human." The strange woman hissed in rage, glaring at her mother.

"He must have left in the middle of the night." Meredith lied, her voice hoarse from all the screaming. "When I arrived in the morning, he was gone."

Eve's body shook as she sobbed silently, watching the stranger torture her mother. She knew better than anyone that her mother was a very bad liar. Even a three-year old would be able to see through it, she thought, tears streaming down her cheeks.

'Please mother. Just tell them the truth.' Eve prayed, hoping that her mother would hear her silent plea.

"Think again." The woman said, bringing Meredith's face as close to her as possible.

"I swear!" Her mother screamed, unwilling to step away from the lie. "I told you the truth!"

Suddenly the woman burst out laughing, releasing her mother from the death grip. Meredith fell against the woman helplessly, falling onto her like a lifeless doll. The stranger didn't protest like she had watched many rich people do. Instead, she wrapped her hands around her mother's waist, slamming Meredith's body against her in a dominant embrace.

For a second, Eve relaxed, thinking that it was over. The woman stopped laughing, sweeping her mother's hair to the side as she blew against her bare neck gently.

"Wrong answer." She whispered, baring a pair of sharp fangs at her.

As her mother's screams echoed through the silence of the night, Eve felt the ground give way. She didn't register the shock of her body hitting the ground or the pain that followed. She felt nothing in the darkness that sucked her in like a violent whirlpool.