Chapter 9: Unending Cycle of Revenge

When the two men entered a room, Titania 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 Titania was also there.

Titania 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.

Titania gasped because of that terrible sight. Then Ethan noticed her.

'What is she doing here?' Ethan frowned when he saw Titania'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.' Titania 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 Association 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 Association 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 Titania'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." Titania 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 intervened, "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 accumulated."

"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 classes." the man said as he dismissed them.

Titania 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 classroom. Titania 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."

Titania 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.

Titania 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 Titania 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?'

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~« Titania POV»~

Seven years ago, I saw my kind getting killed by humans called hunters.

Today, I saw a human, a helpless human covered by werewolf's claw marks.

He was tortured by my kind, a werewolf, like me. He was tortured and he is about to get killed.

When this cycle will end? Humans killing werewolves, werewolves killing humans.

My heart was aching just thinking of this unending cycle of revenge between humans and werewolves.

Everyone was suffering. Both humans and werewolves were losing their family members, their loved ones.

I had to stop this, even if I sacrifice my life. Even if I had to give up my life in exchange for peace between these two races.

I won't hesitate to do that. If that was the only way to stop this war I would be glad to do that.

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Titania did not attend her classes for the whole day. She just stayed in her room, crying at her heart's contents.

She did not even eat her lunch. She did not have an appetite. It was already 6:00 p.m. but she just stayed lying on her bed doing nothing.

There were lots of things running in her mind right now.

After a while, she heard someone knocking on her door. She was so lazy to get up but the person outside continued knocking.

She decided to open the door without even fixing herself. It was too late when she realized that. She opened the door only to see Ethan standing outside.

His eyes widened upon seeing her. She looked wasted. Her hair was in a messed due to lying for a long time. There were also a few strands scattered on her face.

Her eyes swelled and became red because of crying so hard. Ethan gave her a weird look as he surveyed her overall appearance.

'What happened to this girl? Is she bipolar? She could be cheerful sometimes and then she could be so emotional sometimes.'

Ethan cleared his throat before saying anything. It looked like the girl was not in a mood to talk.

"Have you eaten your dinner?" He asked her, trying his best to sound polite.

"I am not hungry." She said but her stomach betrayed her. Seconds after saying that, Ethan heard the sound of her growling stomach.

Titania pouted right away from embarrassment. Ethan just discovered that she just lied to him.

"I think your stomach is saying the other way around." Ethan exposed her lie.

"I think it was triggered because you mention food or maybe because I saw your face, you look like food to me." Titania blurted out suddenly without much thinking just to make an alibi.

Ethan was taken aback because of her last sentence.

'What does she mean by saying I look like food to her? Is she still mad at me to the point of eating me alive or she meant something like I am yummy in her eyes because I am a hunk?'

But Ethan immediately erased the last thoughts. 'Why am I thinking like this?' he scolded himself.

"Let's go grab some food. It's my treat." He invited her. He wanted to apologize to her. He felt somewhat guilty when he saw her teary-eyed this morning.

"Okay," Titania said. She was about to leave her room when Ethan stopped her. He cleared his throat again.

"Hmm, can you fix yourself first before going out?" Ethan said to her.

Titania cursed herself when she realized what he meant. She looked totally wasted. She immediately closed her door and went to face the mirror.

'Sh@#t... Did I face Ethan while looking like this? What an embarrassment Titania?! You are really dumb!' she was scolding herself.