Chapter 10
t.i.tania felt like the blood inside her body was boiling due to extreme anger.
'This is a big lie. They are slandering us, werewolves. They don't have proof, and they have not seen a werewolf eating a human heart!'
'But here they are, preaching and teaching the younger ones a big lie! It is even made a book about their lies! Pesky humans!'
If t.i.tania could transform, then she might have already transformed in her werewolf form and show them that what was written in that book was not true at all.
"Do you have something else to say, Ms. Eros? Or you want me to accompany you to the author of this book and ask him or her personally if he or she had seen on?" Ethan said to her sarcastically.
"Yes, sir. Let's go. Bring me to that person and I will ask him or her for proof. I wonder if that author really saw it with his or her own eyes." t.i.tania insisted.
The children just stared at both of them with a confused look with the same question in mind.
'Is our elder sister fighting with our new teacher?'
On the other hand, Ethan just looked at t.i.tania with disbelief.
'I should have listened to the security guard. This girl is really a stubborn one.'
He suddenly felt like his head was swelling because of this girl's stubbornness. He dropped the book at the table and he ma.s.saged his temples.
"Uh...Today is really a bad day for me," he mumbled to himself.
Ethan's brows knitted in a frown as he turned to look at t.i.tania who was still having a serious expression on her face.
"Okay Cla.s.s, is it okay to you that I and Ms. Eros here will leave for a while?" He asked the children for approval.
The young ones just nodded vehemently as a sign of their approval.
"Ms. Eros follow me," Ethan said with his stern voice. Both of them left the cla.s.sroom.
Ethan decided to confront her in the hallway, three blocks away from their cla.s.sroom.
"What is that all about?" He immediately asked her.
Why are you so worked up? Are you trying to go against me? I am your teacher here remember." he added.
"I am just trying to correct that wrong statement in the book. That was a misconception about werewolves." t.i.tania answered him with conviction.
"How can you say that? Have you seen a werewolf once? Are you really a student of Hunters a.s.sociation Academy or are you spokesperson of werewolves?" Ethan said with his right eyebrow raised.
'Oops... Is he suspecting me now?' t.i.tania thought as she met his intense gaze.
She was rendered speechless. She bit her lower lip as the realization came to her.
'Oh my, It looks like I overreacted.' She started to regret her actions. Ethan was still waiting for her response.
"Well? Do you have nothing to retort about that? I thought you wanted to be a hunter. So if you want to become one then clear your mind first." he started to rant at her.
"I did not say that I want to be a hunter." she softly mumbled but Ethan was able to hear it.
"Then why are you here?"
t.i.tania pouted before answering him. "I never said that. Did you forget? I said I want to be a student here because I want to protect my family."
Ethan looked at her with disbelief. "Are they not the same?"
"Of course not, they are two different things." she insisted. Ethan tapped his forehead. This girl was giving him a headache.
"Oh... by the way... can I give you some advice?" t.i.tania was very careful with her word. She did not want to annoy him more.
"What is it? Tell me while I am still being patient here." he gave her permission to talk.
'If I did not find you cute, then I would not bother talking and listening to you.' He thought to himself.
"Ahem... if your students answer your questions please acknowledge them like saying, 'very good', 'okay, thank you', 'you are right' and 'that's great'."
"They are still children, why are you giving them just a nod as a response? You can do better than that." t.i.tania started to lecture him.
Ethan's lips already formed a thin line
"One more thing, while reading a book, don't cover your face and you should make eye contact with your audience and listeners."
"How will you know that they are still listening to you if you are not looking at them?" t.i.tania even put her hands on her waist to emphasize what she really means.
'Okay. I change my mind now. I take back my words, saying that she is cute... she is so annoying. Yes... annoying and stubborn brat is the right words.'
Ethan wanted to say something but he was interrupted by Jeston who came running to them.
"Ethan... come with me. You need to see something. It is about Samuel. Someone sent a message to the headquarter."
Ethan's expression darkened as soon as he heard Samuel's name. Meanwhile, t.i.tania sensed the urgency in Jeston's voice.
'It looks like something is wrong here.' she said to herself.
The two men left without saying a word. But because of t.i.tania's curiosity, she decided to follow the two men.
When the two men entered a room, t.i.tania did not hesitate to come also. She did not ask for permission.
She just followed them inside besides they did not notice her. There were ten persons inside the room, or should we say eleven, because t.i.tania was also there.
t.i.tania followed Ethan and Jeston's line of sights, only to see a picture of a wounded man bathing in his own blood. It was being flashed on the big screen inside that room.
t.i.tania gasped because of that terrible sight. Then Ethan noticed her.
'What is she doing here?' Ethan frowned when he saw t.i.tania's shock and frightened expression.
"Who is that?" What happened to him?" She could not help himself but mumble. Ethan did not answer her. He just warned her to keep quiet.
One of the persons inside who was standing beside the big screen spoke up to give others the detail of that picture.
"This is Samuel Jones, one of our hunters. He went missing five days ago. It looks like he was held captive of our enemies."
"From this picture, we know already that he was tortured by those monsters."
'No... this is not true. We are not that vicious. We are not hurting humans. We are not torturing humans.' t.i.tania could not believe it herself.
"The headquarters received an anonymous message along with this picture."
Then the person talking in front just clicked something from the laptop and the image on the screen changed into a new one.
This time a message written in blood was being flashed on the big screen.
[IF YOU WANT TO SEE HIM ALIVE COME AT RIVERDALE FOREST AND RESCUE HIM WITH YOURSELVES DURING THE FULL MOON OF THIS MONTH.]
"This is a very clear message. They will kill him if we don't rescue him." the man said to them.
"But we all know that this is a trap." Another person said with his worried tone.
"Yes, we know that. The Hunters a.s.sociation knows that. This is the reason why they want you to see these. They want to ask your opinion as hunters, about this."
"He is our comrade. We can't let him die.'
"But the lives of other hunters will be put in jeopardy if we will rescue him. This is a trap." another hunter said, as he argues with the other.
"I will go and rescue him. Relieve me from my punishment." Ethan said as he volunteered.
The man in front just shot him a glare."Ethan Spark, you are not allowed to leave this Academy unless the Hunters a.s.sociation give a go signal"
"You are still under the punishments for three months due to breaking our rules." the man in front reminded him.
Ethan just sneered at him. "Our comrade is about to die and yet you are here arguing with yourselves."
"Then now that I volunteered to rescue him myself, still you won't allow me to do that. So what is the use of calling us here?"
Jeston signaled him to calm down. He was just adding another pressure in the group by saying that.
"Oh by the way, who is that girl beside you?" Now the man in front noticed t.i.tania's presence who was just standing silently beside Ethan.
"Don't mind her. Just think of her as an invisible man here. She is my student." Ethan said as he rolled his eyes.
"Outsider is not allowed here. Can you ask her to leave?" the man said with his stern voice.
"I said she is my student not an outsider. Are you deaf? She can stay wherever I am, wherever I go, she can stick with me."
'Oh, men... Ethan is in his Rule Breaker mode again.' Jeston thought to himself as he watched Ethan having an argument with their fellow hunters.
"Sorry for intruding. I will just go." t.i.tania said apologetically. She was about to leave but Ethan grabbed her arms to stop her.
"Stay with me." He ordered her. "Don't follow them. I am your teacher so you must listen to me."
This time, Jeston intervene, "Okay guys, since she already saw and heard everything, please let her stay here. Go and continue our discussion."
The man in front just sighed in defeat. Ethan Spark was really a hard-headed one.
"Back to our discussion, I will ask you to vote whether we will go and rescue him or not. Then I will inform the headquarters regarding the number of votes here."
"They are doing the same survey to other hunters. We still have five days before the full moon."
"The headquarters will decide and make a plan once all the hunters' vote is gathered and acc.u.mulated."
"Now we will vote." four out of ten voted to rescue Samuel and six voted the opposite.
"Okay gentlemen, thank you for your time, You can now go back to your cla.s.ses." the man said as he dismissed them.
t.i.tania left that room feeling so down. She was still shocked about what she discovered today.
She could not deny the fact that werewolves did that to that human. His wounds were proof of that. Werewolf's claw marks were all over his body.
But she knew in her heart that whoever did that to Samuel, those werewolves did not belong to the White Claw Pack.
But she was still bothered by the thought that werewolves are capable of doing that, torturing a helpless human.
"Now do you believe that what is written in the book is true?" Ethan's voice awakened her from her deep thoughts.
They were now walking towards their cla.s.sroom. t.i.tania did not know what to say.
"Okay, let us say, werewolves don't eat a human heart but you just see the proof that werewolves are beasts who attack humans. They tortured our comrade."
t.i.tania paused on her track and she turned to face Ethan. She was on the verge of crying. Ethan was dumbfounded when he saw her face.
t.i.tania pushed him hard before she ran away from him. She could not accept it. Ethan's words affected her so much.
Ethan was left speechless on his spot while staring at the retreating back of t.i.tania who just suddenly ran away.
'Did my words really upset her that much? Why she was so affected every time we talk about a werewolf?'