The road from the church to the town seemed eternal, Heisenberg was in a bad mood and held you tightly without giving you the option to let go, causing you pain, ignoring your pleas for him to loosen his grip at least a little.
You've definitely acted impulsively before, but in your defense he hadn't been better behaved, and also you had not forgotten that he had hitten you from the back treacherously. Now that you thought about it, how the hell had he done that? Not only that but everything else, disarming you, closing the doors ... Everything had happened when he had gestured. You thought about asking him about it, but you gave up just by looking at him, he would definitely not talk to you. Sighing and resigned to being dragged by that brute, you realized that as you had supposed the creatures from before seemed to have disappeared. Not that you expected them to disappear but you did hope that they weren't so in plain sight when you tried to escape. Suddenly you felt a tug on your wrist, snapping you out of your thoughts.
"Hey, be careful! that hurts you know?"
You reproached him for his action, but then you realized that in front of you was one of the creatures from before. You felt the color leave your face, the fear so familiar invading you again.
"What 's wrong? Afraid of dogs?"
Without thinking twice, I throw you at the creature's feet, looking up and noticing how it observed you with its teeth showing and its breathing agitated. You leaned back on your elbows, retreating to put distance from the creature, but it seemed to be prowling you with interest. His gaze was full of agitation and savagery as it slowly shortened the space between both. Heisenber laughed while seeing your reaction, lighting a cigar and remaining as a spectator.
"H-help me please"
You begged for his help, unable to take your gaze from the creature that seemed an instant from pouncing on you, knowing that it would be useless but unable to think of another option. This seemed to satisfy the man, who took a drag from his cigarette and continued to ignore you.
The creature, taking advantage of your distraction, threw itself at you with the intention of tearing you apart with its sharp claws. leaving you just a few seconds to roll away to one side, narrowly eluding him.
"That's what I call having reflexes!"
While the man seemed to be enjoying an exciting scene, you were now fighting for your life against the beast that had settled over you, grabbing a rock that you felt next to you and hitting its head before it attacked you again, causing the beast to roar in anger before launching himself once more at you, this time managing to overcome your reflexes, sinking its teeth into your forearm with force, causing you to scream in absolute pain while the tears ran down your cheeks clouding your view.
You were going to die.
"Enough! I need it in one piece you fucker!"
Heisenberg had abandoned his position and was now pulling the beast away from you, tossing it to one side effortlessly, but in his expression a grimace of irritation at having had to get involved.
The creature seemed to have gone insane since it took just an instant for it to recover and launch itself at Heisenberg.
"Wrong opponent"
You closed your eyes, unable to watch how his neck was ripped out again in front of you, the air getting stuck in your throat waiting to hear his screams, but the sound you heard came not from Heisenberg, but instead from the creature, which emitted a horrifying scream before falling lifelessly in front of you.
"Fucker made my cigar go bad"
Heisenberg was brushing the dust off his coat as he stared at his cigar on the ground; he must have dropped it when the creature attacked him.
You watched the inert body in front of you, your heart still beating at a great rate while the tears kept falling. The beast had a fragment of metal embedded in its neck pretty deeply, that must have been fatal to the creature that now laid in a growing pool of its own blood.
You panted in an attempt to resume a more controlled breath, but the adrenaline was leaving your body and it was being replaced by the intense pain from the wound in your arm, making you agonize as you cringed to the ground clutching it.
"For fucks sake why do you keep whining? The fucker's gone"
Gritting your teeth, you standed up when he approached, pushing him with all your might and looking at him directly into the eyes (from behind the sunglasses) completely hysterical.
"That thing almost killed me and you did nothing you son of a bitch!"
Your sudden outburst surprised him momentarily, but not enough not to bother him at being spoken in that tone.
"Ungrateful bitch! Shall I remind you that if you're here right now spitting shit out of your big mouth it's because I've allowed it to happen!"
You couldn't believe what you were hearing, did he really think you were going to thank him for his help?
"Listen to me, arrogant piece of shit! I won't thank you for anything! I don't have a reason to! I don't know what the hell I've done to make you want to screw me up so bad, but I've had enough of you and whatever is happening here! fuck those hairy monsters, fuck you prepotent lords and fuck that Goddess complex bitch, I've had enough for fucks sake!"
You were completely exhausted, your body felt incredibly heavy and your desire to fight was vanishing, you just wanted it all to end. Putting a hand on your forehead you noticed you were getting dizzy but you didn't care at all, it seemed that you had finally shut him up, but when you looked at him again you realized that he wasn't listening at all, just paying attention to your arm. Following his gaze you grimaced when you saw the state of your forearm. The flesh was partially ripped, a bite mark etched deep into your skin. Blood was gushing out and you just laughed at that. You were bleeding out but you couldn't care less.
Heisenberg seemed to finally react, catching you just in time before you fell to the ground when your legs gave out and lifting you up in his arms.
"Save the energy you have to say nonsense to endure, we are close to our destination"
His voice did not possess his usual tone of mockery or arrogance, instead it sounded steady and calm, and while you sank into the emptiness of unconsciousness you couldn't help but momentarily think that in that way it even sounded attractive.
You do not remember how often, but occasionally you would regain consciousness for a few moments, unable to perceive everything clearly but enough to catch a few glimpses of your surroundings.
/Darkness/
You slightly opened your eyes and noticed how Heisenberg held you firmly against him, walking at a good pace and with a serious expression, he seemed deep in thought.
/Darkness/
The next time you began to hear voices so you opened your eyes slightly again, being able to see how an unknown woman and man were talking to Heisenberg, their expressions full of concern while they nodded at Heisenberg's words.
/Darkness/
You felt pain, which prompted you to unconsciously move, half-opening your eyes in time to see how they were treating your wound, panicking to see the wound now clearly as it was being cleaned, feeling like you were hyperventilating as you saw the severity of the injury, unable to tear your gaze from it.
"For fucks sake, what the hell are you doing awake?"
A hand covered your eyes, preventing you from seeing anything else, and before you could do anything to remove it from your face you were dragged once again into the dark.
/Darkness/
The next time you opened your eyes you were on a comfortable bed of white sheets, propped up on a couple of pillows. While grunting at your aching body, you tried to sit up, flinching in pain when you leaned on your injured arm and fell back onto the pillows. It took you a couple of seconds to get over the pain and try to sit up again, this time on one arm. Once incorporated you could appreciate the room better, it was small and simply decorated, a small table, next to the bed in which you were, in front of it at the other end a dark wood closet, a chair leaning against the wall , and a handful of dried flowers hanging from a piece of string on the wall as decoration.
You were immersed in observing these dried flowers when the door opened, letting in a middle-aged lady who was carrying a tray with a glass of water and a plate with a handful of dried leaves on it. Seeing you awake seemed to surprise the woman who almost dropped the tray by accident.
"Oh darling you're awake, you don't know how happy it makes me to see you finally opened your eyes, i was full of concern after all you arrived in a deplorable state"
Her voice was loaded with gentleness as she approached you, placing the tray on the table and taking the chair to sit next to your bed, adjusting her apron before sitting.
"Here, you must take this if you want to recover, I can't promise you it will taste good, but I swear it works wonders"
She took a handful of the dried leaves, crushing them a bit with her hands before pouring them in the water, mixing it with a spoon lightly until the water turned slightly greenish before offering it to you. You observed her with some distrust, taking the glass in your hands and noticing that it was warm, she must have had prepared something similar to an infusion with the leaves, although seeing them floating in your glass made you scrupulous.
The woman, sensing your mistrust, took one of the uncrushed leaves and put it in her mouth, outlining a small grimace at the taste, trying to show you that there was nothing to fear before swallowing it quickly. You observed her for a few moments before deciding to trust her, after all any method of alleviating your pain was welcomed, and she had proven to you that they were not poisonous, so you took a deep breath and began to drink the infusion quickly, trying not to gag when sabouring the intense bitter taste of the infusion, drinking it whole at once and coughing on completion, throat feeling scratchy and mouth tasting horrible.
"You see ? I told you it tasted terrible, but it won't take long to take effect"
Satisfied she took the glass from your hand and putted it back on the tray.
"Thanks…"
You cracked in a raspy voice, trying to smile slightly to reassure the woman.
"Poor thing, all of this had to be very hard for you...But rest easy, here you are safe"
You could see the sincerity her gaze held as she reached out to take your hand gently in hers, giving you a little affectionate squeeze before tracing small strokes with her thumb. She really seemed like a very sweet woman.
"You are very kind but... can I ask how I got here? I don't remember everything clearly and i would really appreciate if you could enlighten me a little"
You tried to clear your throat slightly, still feeling the scratch of the medicine in it.
"Oh of course, excuse me for not starting there, you must have many questions, how rude of me, ask whatever you want, I will try to give you the answers you are looking for the best that i can"
The woman outlined a warm smile while waiting for your questions, and despite how gentle she was, you couldn't help but feel a certain distrust.
Although there were many questions you had in mind, you decided that asking as you went along would be much easier than trying to establish a priority order since you longed to know the answers to each of them.
"What are those creatures?"
The question seemed to momentarily darken the woman's gaze, who took a few moments before answering, a sad tone permeating her words.
"I am incredibly sorry that you have had to witness these creatures and the trail of pain and death that they leave in their wake, unfortunately they have been with us since I can remember, there is not much I can tell you about them since I myself do not know much more than what can be seen with the naked eye. Here we know them as lycans, extremely aggressive beasts that threaten our homes and kill our families without mercy. Had it not been for mother Miranda, they would have killed us all a long time ago, she has blessed us with her divine protection, allowing us to live under her care. She really is an angel fallen from heaven"
You could notice the incredible devotion she professed to her, but you were puzzled by her words of praise. How could someone protect them from those creatures? As far as you could remember, you hadn't felt protected at all when those beasts appeared, the mere memory of the massacre you witnessed enough to make you close your eyes tightly, trying to forget how clearly you remembered it.
"How can you entrust your safety to a woman so easily? It is your lives that are at stake, why don't you just leave this cursed place?"
"My dear, when you've been living like this for so long, you realize that the most important thing is to have those you love close by, and mother Miranda has helped us so much ... We couldn't leave her so coldly, after all she is like one more member of our family, and as long as the family remains together everything will be fine"
The woman was watching you carefully, once again feeling your reluctance to believe her words, sighing softly and giving you a reassuring smile.
"We do not stay out of obligation but because we want to, some of the youngest have decided to leave and no one has prevented them, it may be difficult to understand but for us this place is a home"
"Home? This place is hell itself, can you really live knowing that any day one of those creatures may kill you?"
"Mother Miranda and her children watch over us, we must not fear"
Of course, how to forget the children of that so-called fallen angel, the lords to whom they also owed submission and respect.
"Do she and her children suffer the attacks of those creatures? I bet that castle holds up better than a few wooden planks, why not offer you shelter behind its walls then?"
"Of course some of us take refuge in the castle, Lady Dimitrescu, in her infinite mercy often offers many of us shelter and work under her care, she is a saint. How could we abuse her kindness towards us anymore?"
The blind faith of that woman was beginning to make you feel very uncomfortable, her arguments clearly affected by her devotion to those people.
"Oh and what else do lords do for you? I'm sure that their magnificiences will have no problem helping much more considering their infinite kindness."
You could not hide a slight mocking tone in your words, clearly unable to accept what you were hearing, making the woman look at you disapprovingly for a moment.
"My dear you should measure your words, after all it was Lord Heisenberg who brought you here safely, you owe him your life"
Thank him for your life? Of course, especially after everything he had done for you, attack you from the back, drag your unconscious body before a cult of madmen, and of course, throwing you at the feet of a lycan for entertainment.
You were sure of something, you'd go crazy before thanking that man for anything.