A MAZE OF GREED

Edwin reached the place with Lester before the arrival of Ruth and the Green family. He waited anxiously for Ruth's arrival.

A part of him did not want her to see the disaster, but the other part wanted her to come so that he could get a glimpse of her. It was selfish, and he knew it. But he was helpless at the hands of his fate and heart.

"Calm down Edwin. I can hear your heart thumping loudly. She will be here at any time. Just do not move from this spot." Lester warned his best friend.

Edwin rolled his eyes at him. Lester could never understand how he felt..

They both waited patiently near a tree that was far enough to not gain any attention from others and was close enough so they could see and hear everything.

The footsteps padded on the forest ground, and at the arrival of four figures, the murmur quietened down. Edwin watched anxiously as she came into his vision. His angel, his mate.

He could tell that she was confused and clueless about why she was here in the woods. She had her hand in Thea's father.

Edwin took a deep breath.

As soon as Rees saw them, he hurried to her.

Edwin took another deep breath.

She asked Rees what he was doing here and what was happening, but instead of answering her, Rees took her hands from Mr Green's and pulled her to his chest.

This time the deep breath did not work for Edwin. His claws were digging into his palm drawing blood. Lester immediately put his hand on Edwin's shoulder.

"~Edwin! Control yourself. He is Rees. Her best friend. He is harmless."~ Lester reached Edwin through the mind link, for he did not want anyone to know that Edwin was also present there.

Edwin kept throwing daggers in Rees's way while taking deep breaths to calm himself. He saw as Rees did not let Ruth move from his hold as he walked her ahead.

Edwin could hear her heart thumping in panic. She was scared. She was confused. She wanted to scream at everyone for keeping the suspense. Her heart was spinning negative possibilities. She needed answers.

She slowly pulled away from Rees, and he let her. But he was near her, not leaving a distance between their bodies.

Edwin heard his heart beating in his ears sharing the same rhythm as Ruth's.

A guard slowly removed the white cover to reveal a pale face of Mr Payne, his eyes open wide telling the tales of terror he might have experienced in his last minutes.

The guard moved the cover more to reveal his tattered body. His neck was torn so were his remaining body at places. There were claw marks, and one could see the biting marks on his flesh.

And without a drop of blood, the dead body looked horrifying. Edwin had seen the previous five dead bodies, but this was the first time he felt the hair on the back of his neck stood in alarm.

His cerulean blue eyes moved up to Ruth. She stood in her place like a statue. Her heartbeats were shallow, hard to hear as if her heart had stopped working momentarily. She looked at the dead body with a face void of any emotion.

Thea neared her and shared a look with Rees. A couple of moments passed while everyone waited for any reaction from Ruth. But when they got none, Thea slowly touched her hand gently.

"Ruth?" She whispered through her tears.

Edwin saw a lone teardrop falling from Ruth's left eye. Every pair of ears ringed, every pair of eyes widened in sympathy, every heart clenched in misery when an ear-piercing and heart-shattering scream left Ruth's mouth.

It was so loud that Edwin felt himself getting slashed by a sword with every ounce of pain contained in that scream. The birds flew, and the ground shook in sadness. Before anyone could comprehend, her body went limp, and it started falling.

Edwin took a step forward, but Lester held him back. Edwin looked at Lester almost pleadingly, but he just shook his head with a solemn face.

Rees was quick to catch Ruth before she hit the ground.

"Ruth! Ruth!" Thea and Mrs Green rushed to help Rees.

Rees tapped on her face a couple of times, he shook her shoulders, but Ruth had already slipped into the darkness where she could not feel the pain anymore. She felt only numbness and, that was what she needed at that moment the most.

*

*

*

Augustus, Theodora, Harold and Douglas had worry etched on their faces. This time, Elsie insisted on joining them for the meeting which was a shock for Eloise.

Lester had already informed Elsie about Mr Payne's death and she knew what that meant for Ruth and her cousin Edwin. In both Edwin and Lester's absence, she wanted to be there in the meeting and see what they had to discuss.

Getting suspicious of an unforeseen change in Elsie, Eloise also joined the meeting. Augustus did not like their participation but Theodora reminded him that they both were his daughters and they had equal rights as Edwin to participate in the affairs of the town and the business.

"This is outrageous behaviour from their side, My Lord. We can not tolerate this." Harold said furiously.

"We thought you had everything under control, My Lord?!" Douglas took a jab at Augustus.

Pinching the tip of his sharp and long nose in irritation, Augustus said, "I can not believe that once more the blood has shed on the soil of Vincardine. They are doing this on purpose."

Elsie listened to her father. She had never shown interest in such issues but now that she wanted to help her brother and prove to Lester that she was capable of being his Luna, she needed to act right away.

"But why would they do that father? I mean if they want then they can declare a direct war against us. Why would they go for killing one person at a time? And they were silent for weeks then why they acted now only?" She voiced out her queries.

Lester had given her a task to extract as much information from Lord Augustus as she could.

Eloise only watched in awe. She had never heard her sister ask questions before. She was also curious to know the answers so she turned to her father expectantly.

Augustus leaned back in his chair. "They are provoking us. They can not strike the war first for they know they do not have any allies. They are already in the bad books of many breeds and families.

This time they are not willing to tarnish their name anymore. And about why they acted just now... I think I know the answer to that question."

Augustus's eyes glinted dangerously.

"What is it father?" Elsie asked.

"You do not need to know that, Elsie. Just be careful around the people you associate. A snake will not give up on biting even if you spend years giving him milk."

With that said, Augustus left the room.

The others sat there in silence. What did Augustus mean by that?

Was it for Edwin or someone else? Elsie wondered.

"We can not just wait till father decides how to deal with this problem. Sooner or later the Council will know about the sixth murder. They will come here questioning us. What are we going to do then?"

That was the main concern of every person present there. What would they tell the Council?

"Barret Addington is always in search of an opportunity to blame the O'Dells. He will not let this chance slide easily." Douglas pointed out.

Theodora was quiet the whole time. Her intuitions warned her of the coming hurricane. And it had knocked on the doors of her. Now the main concern was how to deal with it.

"Let the Lord have his time. He is going through a lot of pressure lately." She said defending her husband.

"And what? Wait for the seventh murder?" Eloise taunted.

Theodora glared at her stepdaughter for talking like that to her in front of others.

"One should be patient and work tirelessly in silence, dear Eloise if they want the authority. And those who have the authority are capable of taking the right decisions that the others with no authority should respect and believe."

Eloise's nostrils flared in anger. She was about to give a befitting reply to Theodora but Elsie stopped her.

~"Sister, you know what father has warned you last time. Please do not create problems for yourself.~"

Elsie's words reminded her how Augustus had threatened her for insulting Theodora. That made her gulp the anger and stay quiet.

"We will again speak with the Lord and come up with a plan on how to deal with the Council. Till then make sure that this news does not reach the outside ears. People must be frightened. We need to assure them of their safety and let them know that the O'Dells are here to protect them.

Gentlemen, we will inform you when the Lord feels like talking again. Have a good day!"

Theodora also walked out of the room to her chamber. She could not shrug off the feeling that had housed in her chest since the last evening.