Damnation (OLD AND DISCONTINUED, PLEASE READ NEWER VERSION)

CHAPTER 21

By the time I finished, Ellie was fully clothed. She wore her signature black dress with a hooded cape of the same color. When she saw me in my towel, she smirked.

"So it's okay for you to see me naked, but I can't see you naked?" she pointed out. I rolled my eyes.

"It was your fault for being naked in the first place," I retorted as I sat down beside her on my bed. I placed the first aid kit on my lap and opened it up. "So are you going to tell me what happened to you, or will I have to guess?" I poured medicinal alcohol on a cotton ball and started making my way to one of her cuts. Ellie pursed her lips.

"Joseph did this." I froze. My hand remained still in the air. I gulped down some air.

"What?! J... J... Joseph?!" I sputtered. Ellie nodded, her face grim. Sighing, I started again with taking care of her injuries.

"Glad we're on the same page. Now, you are aware of his neo-lycans, correct?"

"Yeah, the fake werewolves he created with his elixir. My mom was turned into one of those freaks before I had to suck her blood." Ellie furrowed her eyebrows for a second before continuing.

"Well, I found Joseph lurking around a cabin, so I decided to see what he was up to. But before I could, I was attacked by several of those scoundrels. I barely escaped with my life." She stroked her chin. "If this is what he meant by 'Blood Moon Project', then we're in a bigger situation than I thought." I stopped where I was. Blood moon? The memory of Zack and Joseph's conversation during the party came back to me. So that was what it meant. I placed a bandage on the final cut.

"There you go." I stood up. "Now you can be on your way, and I'll be on mine. I have to catch the bus for school." Before I left, she grasped my wrist. I winced; she had a tight grip. Ellie pulled me back.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on for a second. You're not going to school today," she instructed. I knitted my eyebrows.

"Why not? My dad's gonna kill me if I don't," I declared. Ellie made a cynical face.

"Trust me, those neo-lycans can do a lot worse to you than a measly human." I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever." I ambled over to my closet and brought out the outfit I was going to wear today. As I went to go into the bathroom, Ellie jumped up.

"Gina, listen to me when I say this: you're not safe out there. Joseph doesn't just want to hurt you; he wants to kill you. Crush you. Annihilate-"

"Okay, okay, I get it. Sheesh!" When I was in my bathroom, I started to close the door. "Fine, I won't go to school today. Just... give me a minute to dress up." I slammed the door shut and released a sigh. My life was a wreck right now.

Once I was fully dressed, I exited the bathroom. I immediately froze. The house was unusually quiet. Where was everybody? I tiptoed out of my room and down the stairs. After what Ellie told me, I didn't want to take any chances. I reached the bottom of the staircase.

"Mom? Dad? Jacob?" I called out. I reduced my voice to a whisper.

"Ellie?" No reply. A bead of sweat ran down my forehead. I felt it; someone else was in the house with me. The last thing I needed right now was an intruder.

Suddenly, a creak echoed in the house. I held my breath. Someone, or something, was in the kitchen. Very slowly and cautiously, I crept into the kitchen. Along the way, I picked up a broom. It was always a good idea to bring a weapon with you in a predicament like this. With the pace I was going at, it took an eternity to get there. But when I arrived, I nearly fainted.

Standing next to the fridge were, not one, but two neo-lycans. One was a male and the other was a female. The girl one had unnaturally white fur while the male was just a regular brown. They seemed a lot more powerful than Mom did, so Joseph probably made that new elixir. I immediately hid behind the table where they couldn't see me. I watched as the two of them faced something on the floor.