Chapter 16

Ariella felt the smoothness of the well-polished handrail of the stairs as she took them two at a time to quickly reach the landing. Her stockinged feet bounded on the stairs and made a thump-thump sound as she hurriedly moved. Could rats kill a person? Like scurry all over the person and chew the person to death? Damn, she'd like to see that happen if it was ever possible. Wait, could that have happened to Claudine? Then she should better move faster so she doesn't miss out on all of the action.

The cold night air hit Ariella's face as soon as she opened the door that led to the outdoors. She paused briefly on the porch when she realized that she still only wore her stockings. Being in too much of a hurry to go back upstairs, she eagerly glances around the porch area hoping to see something she could put her feet in. She found her father's crocs, which he had left under one of the cane chairs that were meant for lazy days' relaxation. Her earliest memory of the chairs had to be when her mom sat in them with a five-year-old Ariella while she regaled her with scary tales of wolves and witches. She had never liked fairy tale princess stories, she always preferred the unusual and spooky stuff; head dangling, bloody teeth and smiles, monsters and slaves. The scarier the stories, the better.

She smiled as she pushed her stockinged feet into her father's large-sized crocs while she suddenly remembered how her former friends didn't understand her until she had met this new set of friends. Her current set reminded her of the preschooler rhymes her mum sang her sometimes. 'Make new friends but remember the old, one is silver and the other is gold. Yeah, that's the one. She certainly couldn't wait to introduce Claudine to them, her 'gold friends'. She quaked with excitement as she thought about the meeting.

She walked briskly as she left the porch for the outhouse. Her nose caught all sorts of scents immediately, definitely her werewolf nature kicking in. She had always scented things first before her human friends did, be it danger or a well-prepared bolognese sauce for pasta from their favourite diner back in town. She was always the first to know only that she does not say it first until someone in her human clique brings it up. Then she'd support the finding and everything would look oh-so-natural.

She was mindful of the fence as she walked, she wasn't sure if her mum had already turned on the security electroshock system or not. However, on full moon nights, they usually made sure it was off. But it was not a full moon night on that night, so better safe than sorry, thought Ariella as she inched as far away as possible from it while approaching the outhouse.

Cricket sounds were heard from all over the place, especially from the garden area and the light from the security lamps flooded major areas of the landscape making it easier for Ariella to pick her path across the alternatively tarred and grassy area.

As she picked her way amidst the debris that littered the area surrounding the outhouse, she made a mental note to tell her father about getting a cleaner. Or urging her mother to get the gardener to do it. Whichever worked, as long she wouldn't be the one to do it.

"Bawdy?"

No response.

Ariella smoothly slid out the key from the pocket of her shot but it fell from her hands when she tried to switch it from her left hand to her right.

"Damn it", she hissed as she bent her knees to search for the key on the messy floor. But the floodlights did not sweep over this part of the house like they did the rest of the area. So it was a bit difficult for her to find the keys. She ran her hands along the floor where she stood, smelling the earthy air and getting her hands stained with grassy and messy earth.

"Gotcha!"

The key had fallen under a broken flower vase and Ariella genuinely wondered how that little fall had caused the key to bounce to that side. She slid the key into its lock, turning the handle after she heard the click. She pushed the door open and let her eyes roam and adjust to the darkness before she walked in.

Why hadn't she remembered to carry a flashlight for fuck's sake? It would have certainly saved her all these troubles. These were her thoughts as she gingerly moved into the room, keeping close to the wall and running her fingers along it as a guide.

"Bawdy? You bloody, foolish girl. I warned you about the rats. And what did you do?"

Ariella threw her eyes around the room as she spoke, nearly expecting to see Claudine standing in a corner.

"And what did you do? You happily gave yourself to them. Without any resistance, no nothing. A stupid little girl."

Ariella continued to berate Claudine even though she was passed out in a corner. She finally noticed a heap just beside a table in the far corner. There was lots of stuff just underneath the table as well and Ariella wondered what it contained. She went nearer to get a better look only to have one big rat run across her father's left croc. She didn't scream, she was too strong for that, she only stamped her feet angrily and wished she wore boots so she could have crushed the tail of the stupid little thing.

The heap she had noticed earlier was the orphan girl. She most probably passed out when she had seen all of the rats at once. Ariella bent and roughly slapped one of Claudine's dirty cheeks in a bid to rouse her. But when she didn't still wake, Ariella took a step backwards and using all the strength she could muster, gave Claudine a hard, strong kick to the side of her ribs all the while wishing that her feet were booted.