She grabbed my hair and spun me around; her eyes dancing with menace, “I can see that your complex has still not kicked in. A little bit of motivation might help.”

With a wave of her hand, she sent me slamming against the gate. It opened up with a creak and I stumbled inside. Screeches and piercing shouts echoed in the playground as everyone tried to get out of the playground.

I was shoved and tossed around like a play doll by the crowd until I finally managed to grab the edge of a slide and ducked under it. Shielded from the frenzied crowd, I watched Hera as she jumped right in front of the monster. It towered over her by a good ten meters but she didn’t seem perturbed by its size.

She looked at it right in the eyes, her gaze fixed on his movements. The monster lunged at her but she dodged it swiftly. The monster let out a fierce growl as he struck again and again. She dodged each of its movements like liquid electricity.

A young boy was huddled close to the swing, his face pallid with fear. He was looking across at his mother who was trying to get past the monster. Every time she tried to get past him, the beast shifted his position or struck at something, causing her to step back.

After some time, the boy overcame his fear and tried to get past the monster. His mother shook her head vehemently, telling him to stay in his place. But, it was already too late. The monster had noticed the small boy. ‘

He lowered himself from his waist and grabbed the boy by his neck; holding him aloft in the air. The boy’s legs dangled in the air as he shouted and cried helplessly.

There was a flash of blue light and the next moment the beast was lying on the ground. His grip became loose and the little boy slid down. He sat there, staring ahead with a blank expression; his mind probably reeling with whatever had happened.

Hera’s gaze landed on me and her expression turned cold. I knew I had failed terribly. If I didn’t do anything, I would soon be lying in the place of the beast. Thinking quickly, I stepped out of my hiding spot and praised her openly, “You are not as bad as you portray yourself to be Hera. If you were evil, you wouldn’t have saved the boy’s life.

She cracked her knuckles; her gaze taking on a sinister edge, “I am every bit of evil you can imagine…. I just wanted to test my skills.” Her expression turned condescending, “I wanted to play with the beast for longer but you managed to catch my eye and I ended up killing him quickly.”

She stepped closer and grabbed me by my collar, drawing me closer until we were inches apart, “It will be more fun to play with someone having a superhero complex.’

I gulped but looked straight into her eyes. Despite having little faith in her, I managed to keep my voice even, “I know you won’t hurt me without any reason.”

She snorted and shook her head incredulously, “Just because, I apparently saved that boy, right?” Her gaze drifted to the woman who was holding her child to her bosom now. Their eyes met and something passed between them; I don’t know what it was but it sounded like a silent plea.

Her eyes had become cold; dark like the bottomless hell when she looked at me again. In a voice icier than the arctic, she said, “You think that I will spare your life just because I saved that boy, right?”

I bobbed my head; I don’t know if it was out of fear, belief, or just so I could give some response. Her gaze held mine for a long moment before she spoke in a dangerously low voice, “Something tells me that I have ruined my image by saving that little twit. I will have to fix that.”

She released me abruptly and walked towards the boy with slow steps. She knelt in front of him and grabbed him by his collar. Tears rolled down the woman’s eyes and she mouthed, “Please.”

The next thing I know the boy was lying on the ground, lifeless. She killed him so quickly that I couldn’t even see what she did. My jaws hung open and my eyes widened in horror.

She dusted her hands as if she had just touched something gross as she walked towards me, “Now that the misunderstanding is cleared, let us discuss what to do with you.”

I gulped; this time out of pure terror. I had run out of ideas to save myself. With each step she took towards me, I took two steps backward. At some point, I stumbled. This made me lose whatever hold I had on my composure and I almost shouted, “This is unfair, you know! You can’t judge me by the way I behaved. All of this was too sudden and… I…” I clutched my abdomen, “I am so badly wounded. I couldn’t fight that beast even if I wanted to…. I… I would have just added to the chaos.”

“I think it is indeed unfair to judge him based on this incident; given that he is wounded,” Dreki spoke in my favor. I swear I could have kissed him. My gaze however landed on Hera, who still seemed to be thinking.

Seconds ticked by at an excruciatingly slow pace. With each tick, my heartbeat became more and more erratic. Just when I thought my heart would fail, she finally spoke up, “We will test him again after Seven days; once he has recovered. Until then, he will be traveling with us.”

Her gaze lingered on me for a moment before she climbed over a dead body and walked out of the park. A deep and eerie silence fell over the park strewn with dead bodies. It was a gruesome sight with blood and half-torn carcasses. It was difficult to differentiate the people killed by the beast from the ones killed in the stampede; not that it mattered.

What mattered was that they were gone. They had just come here to have a good time with their family and now they were dead. They were all fucking dead and I did absolutely nothing.

A deep sense of guilt and regret gripped my heart. With a weighed-down heart and laden steps, I trudged out of the park.

I tried to see the silver lining of this dark cloud; reminding myself that my objective had been achieved. I was getting a chance to stay with Hera for another seven days. But for some reason, I couldn’t feel the joy. It was like the darkness of the night had engulfed me in its blanket just like the moonless night….

I sat up with a start, panting heavily. The scene from the playground lingered in my eyes for a couple of moments before fading. My hand flew to my chest as a gust of air escaped my lips; deflating the tension.

Hera had decided to spend the night at a tavern and I was alone in my room. My gaze drifted to the open window. It was still dark. I crossed my legs and straightened my back. I took long deep breaths; recollecting and composing my thoughts.

I had fared terribly the previous day, getting all flustered and jeopardizing the mission. I had to do better if I wanted to achieve my objective. I had seven days to find Hera’s weakness; seven days before she would pretend to test me and probably kill me.

I had to retain my focus, attaining one objective at a time. The first step was to obtain her blood for research. I had to do that before I left the town. My mind veered to the conversation I had with Melinda about this.

I had been completely boggled at the thought of collecting her blood, “This is impossible!” I had snapped, almost shouting. “Do you think, the wereheretic will just hold out her hand and say, ‘Here love, stick in your syringe and take all the blood you want?”

“We are not that unreasonable, Justin. We don’t need a full syringe. Even a drop will do, just so we can analyze her DNA.”

Another sigh left my lips and I massaged my neck. I had to find a way to make this work first thing in the morning.

With a little meditation and self-talk, I managed to gather my thoughts; forcing myself to stash all the traumatic memories in the recess of my mind.

This part of the plan played out surprisingly well. I pretended to stagger with weakness while heading toward the restaurant. Using this opportunity to accidentally bump into her, I stabbed her hard with a needle.

She winced and tried to pull away reflexively but I held on, sneakily holding the vial close to her skin. I managed to collect only three drops of blood before her wound healed.

I had just slid the vial into my pocket when I was thrown back by the impact of her magic. I bumped into a nearby table, crushing it under my weight. The waiters came rushing and helped me to my feet.

She inspected her arm but there was nothing; given that her wound had already healed. We sat at another table and she ordered a selection of dishes. The savory aroma of the delicious food made my stomach rumble.

I couldn’t stop myself from grabbing a sandwich from the table. Hera raised her eyebrows, “Who told you that you could eat with us?”

My eyes widened and the sandwich slipped from my fingers, “Why am I here then? You could have as well left me in my room….”

Her eyes narrowed and the table trembled, cutlery and all, “Don’t forget your place, wolf boy. You are my prisoner!”

I gulped and lowered my gaze, “I am sorry…. I… I will ask permission before doing anything next time.”

“Hmm… Now, look at me.” Her lips lifted in a smirk, drawing my attention to them. I zoned out for a moment but I didn’t let myself get drawn this time.

“You are here to watch us eat…” Her smirk grew wider at my pained expression. “I want to see you squirm and twist as you watch us eat the most delicious food in the world. Your stomach will grunt and growl but you won’t even get a bite….”

Water filled my mouth and a different kind of ache gripped me, “Are you going to starve me for seven days?”

She shrugged, “I might… It depends on my mood.”

I rested my head on my chin as I watched her put pieces of delicious food into her mouth. She took her time; stopping to moan in pleasure and describing how each dish tasted with great precision. Dreki supported her wholeheartedly; pointing out the flavors or descriptions she missed sometimes.

When I volunteered for this mission, I had hardened myself to go through all sorts of torture but this was not one of them. You have no idea how tormenting it is to feel those pangs of hunger gnaw at your insides while you are forced to watch someone else enjoy their meal; that too when you haven’t eaten in over twenty-four hours.

I was completely crazed with hunger by the time she finished eating. But, I held on to those threads of composure with everything. I had already obtained the blood. Now, I just needed to pass it on to Melinda. I couldn’t screw it up just because I was tantalized with food.

It was a relief to finally walked out of the restaurant. The cool breeze slapped across my face. I noticed that the streets were more desolate as compared to yesterday. Most of the shops were closed except for one or two here and there. When we were about to pass by Zesta’s candy store, I asked, “Gigantic elephants are doing samba in my stomach. Can I at least buy a candy?” I held my head as I continued in a weaker voice, “I am afraid I will faint if I don’t get anything.”

She stopped walking and turned to face me; her expression bemused, “You still eat candy?”

I shrugged and averted my eyes indignantly, “It is not my fault that humans make such delicious candy. I can’t stop myself.”

She giggled; mellow, sweet laughter followed. “Go ahead, buy your candies, Wolf Pup.”

My face flushed and I rushed to the candy store. I knew this was embarrassing but we couldn’t come up with a better plan to relay messages. It had to be something so stupid, so silly that Hera wouldn’t suspect.

Walking over to the counter, I stole a glance at Hera and Dreki. They had made no move to follow me. I tapped the counter three times and placed a gold coin on the glass counter.

The shopkeeper’s eyes widened for a moment but he regained composure pretty quickly. He handed me two large eclairs. I opened the one with the red wrapper and scrawled quickly. ‘Point 1’ and added a tick mark beside it. Then I wrapped the sweet again before handing it over to the shopkeeper with the vial. With a curt nod, he handed me a pouch of colorful candies.

I pocketed the other eclair quickly and rushed back. Hera’s arms were crossed over her chest and she was tapping her foot impatiently, “What took you so long?”

“I am so sorry to keep you both waiting.” I gave them my silliest grin as I held up the pouch, “There were candies in so many colors that I got all flustered. In the end, I bought them all….”

She shook her head but didn’t comment, “Let us just continue walking. We need to be somewhere before dusk.”

“Are we going on a killing spree again?”

“Maybe…”

My face turned pale and I stuttered, “B…But, you promised to give me time to recover before testing me again….”

“I promised to not make you fight monsters before you recovered. I will still be testing you in other ways.”

A sigh of resignation left my lips. This was exactly what I needed. I took out a yellow colored candy and held it in front of her, “Will you spare me if I give you a candy?”

She kept quiet for a long time, probably too stunned to react. I kept holding the candy in her general direction as I trotted along to keep pace with her. After a few moments, she grunted and pushed my hand away, “You think you can bribe me with candy?”

“I had to try.” Shrugging, I continued, “You should try it even if you don’t want to get bribed; the lemon sherbets are absolutely the best.”

“If you are so hell-bent on giving the candy to someone, I will take it,” Dreki said, whisking the sweet out of my hand. He popped it into his mouth before I could even react. Hera gave him a warning glare but he just smiled as if saying it is okay.

I popped a blueberry-flavored one into my mouth. I had taken my first step in achieving the second point. I had to normalize eating candies and then convince Hera to try them out as well. That way, we could try out different drugs on her.

We took the rocky road towards the east. Hera kept prodding me to walk faster but my legs just wouldn’t move quicker. I was still wounded and I hadn’t eaten anything either. The scorching sun wasn’t making it any better. My face had turned completely red and I was drenched in sweat.

Reaching a shady tree, I grabbed a trunk and slid to the ground; refusing obstinately to take another step. I had expected wisps of magic to clutch my legs and drag me but nothing of that sort happened. I raised my head and looked up to find that Hera wasn’t there.

Dang! Hera had just left at some point in the journey and I didn’t even realize it. That is how exhausted I was. My brain was so roasted that I couldn’t even curse myself for being careless.

Dreki smiled at me kindly and sat beside me; stretching his legs just the way I had. He looked me in the eyes, “We return every act of kindness tenfold.” His smile widened as he held out a package, “You gave me your candy. So, I will give you my lunch.”

I was so hungry that I didn’t think of anything else. I ripped off the package and gobbled the sandwich in two minutes flat. By the time I realized that something was wrong, it was already too late.

My vision blurred and my head started spinning. The last thing I remember is my head dashing against the strong trunk of the tree.

“You poisoned me?”

“Yes, wolfsbane.”

“Why?”

“As I said, I would be testing you in other ways.”

Her nonchalance was annoying. I felt this deep, simmering rage emerge in the depths of my heart. I was going to teach this arrogant wereheretic a good lesson. If I were to die, I was going to drag her to the depths of hell with me.

I don’t know how, but I was going to do it. It was high time, someone put an end to her atrocities. Now onwards, every word I spoke, every action I took would be to destroy her instead of saving my life!

She grabbed my hand and moments later I felt a strange, warmth tingling all over me, “I have absorbed the power of wolfsbane. It won’t hurt you anymore.”

I raised my eyebrow, “Does that mean I passed this test?”

“Not exactly. I just don’t have evidence against you.” Her gaze grew distant as she continued to speak, “I had expected your comrades to come to your rescue but no one appeared. However, I can’t rule out the possibility that your comrades were just being cautious.”

I was glad that Melinda didn’t show up. She had probably gotten the vial and must have gone to hand it personally to the Lycan King. My mind veered to the way I had gorged the sandwich without another thought. Now that I thought of it, the sandwich did smell funny but I was too crazed with hunger. This couldn’t happen again. I had to make sure that I was in the right state of mind at all times.

Letting out a sigh, I pulled out the pouch of candy from my pocket. Holding out an orange-flavored one, I said, “Will you accept my peace offering now?”

Her eyes narrowed as she took the candy from me. Throwing it over to Dreki, she stated, “Since you like candies, I will just give it to you.”

He took it and ate it promptly. She had at least taken the candy from me. I just had to keep trying until she became used to eating them. A dry laugh almost left my lips. How could the fate of our plan depend on some stupid candy?

My eyes twinkled as another thought formed in my mind. I could find other ways to get her to eat food and drinks together. “Now that you know you have treated me unfairly, can you let me eat something?”

She snorted and shook her head, “You are worse than a baby. You were just poisoned by a sandwich yet all you want to do is eat again. Can you be less of a glutton?”

“We are in the middle of the wilderness, Justin. There are no restaurants or houses nearby,” Dreki was the one who spoke up this time. My heart skipped a beat, “How do you know my name?”

“Since we gave you a mild version of wolfsbane, you were just a bit delirious and kept rambling about stuff.”

Great! That was the exact thing I needed. God knows what I had told him. The eclairs weighed in my pocket. I needed to get some alone time to gather my thoughts and read the message.

My eyebrows furrowed as I looked at the setting sun, “It is getting dark. Where are we going to stay the night?”

“Since there are no taverns, we will just keep walking through the night.”

Dang! What was with her and her walking? Did she have some obsessive walking syndrome? I grabbed the trunk of the tree and scrambled to my feet, “Please let us stay here for a while and eat something…. Since we are going to spend the entire night walking….”

Something flashed in her eyes; her gaze swept around before she sat down on a boulder in a careless fashion, “I will leave the arrangement of food to you then.”

“But, there are no restaurants nearby,” Dreki said, wringing his fingers. His gaze drifted to me helplessly. I don’t know what I had rambled in my sleep but I guess it had earned me the boy’s favor.

“Justin is a werewolf, Dreki. I am sure he can manage,” Hera’s gaze held mine for a moment. Something about it told me that this was another trap laid exquisitely for me. My jaws clenched and my expression hardened; recalling the extensive training session I had undergone. It was time to turn her own trap against her.

“I have heard that there are many golden elks in the wilderness of Ayu. I will go and catch one for our dinner.”

She dismissed me with a wave of her hand; indicating that I could leave. As I walked along the weatherworn path, their voices drifted into my ears. I walked with slow, light steps hoping to catch something important through their conversation.

“Shall I follow him, master?”

“No need.”

“B..but he is injured.”

“I am sure he can manage.”

“What if he escapes?”

“He can’t. There is nothing for miles. Even if he keeps running the entire night, he can’t get out of here….” There was a moment of silence, “I just want to see how he responds to the situation.”

“Master…”

“Dreki. You have spoken enough….” Her sharp voice made him go quiet. Realizing that they weren’t going to talk anymore, I increased my pace.

After walking for a mile, I pulled out the éclair hastily and unwrapped it. A small slip of paper fell out. There were two words written on it ‘Feed her.’

I buried the piece of paper under the ground and wrapped the sweet again carefully. Now, it was time to continue with the act. I didn’t want Hera to be suspicious.”

With a soft sigh, I started unbuttoning my shirt. Taking off, I folded it carefully and placed it on one of the lower branches. My gaze landed on the wound and another pained sigh escaped my lips; my fingers brushed lightly against the coarse material covering my wound.

Something sharp twisted in the pit of my stomach as the sense of betrayal stung me. They should have told me that the dagger would be spelled.

“Don’t look up,” A familiar voice sounded above me.

I picked up my shirt again and dusted it, my gaze drifting around warily, “Melinda?”

“Hmm…”

“Are you alone?”

“Yes, she is resting near the Tainted Brook.”

Melinda jumped down from the tree, landing with a soft thud in front of me.

“Did you get the blood?”

“Yes. It has been sent for research.”

“That is good news.”

“Why wasn’t I informed that the dagger was laced with a spell and I couldn’t heal for seven days?” I ended up asking despite myself.

“Would it have made a difference if we had informed you?”

“No, but I would have been better prepared.”

“Prepared to fail more pathetically?” She didn’t even try to keep the sting out of her voice. “Do you have any idea how badly you messed up our plan? If I hadn’t pushed you at the right time, we would have lost the golden opportunity.”

I stared at her defiantly, “I did fix my mistake later.”

She snorted and shook her head, “What is the point of fixing your mistake? You will just mess up everything again.” She ran her fingers through her hair, “I had told the Lycan King to choose someone more mature.”

She placed her hand on my shoulders and squeezed it gently, “The time for regrets is gone, Justin. You are all we have and you can’t afford to make any more mistakes like today afternoon.”

Dang! She knew about that too. I took a step back and massaged the back of my neck, “Did I blabber too much?”

“You didn’t.” Her expression grew somber, “That is the only reason you are standing here.”

A deep frown settled on my forehead, “What is that supposed to mean.”

She looked away and her fingers clenched, “Umm… It’s nothing. I should leave now.”

I grabbed her hand before she could make a move, “Don’t hide anything from me….please.”

“I have instructions to kill you if you reveal any discrete information to the wereheretic.”

Her words kept ringing in my head for a long time after she left. This was one hell of a twisted mission. Shrugging off all the gloomy thoughts, I decided to take one step at a time.

Pulling off my trousers, I shifted to my wolf form. My vision became clearer, and my hearing sharper. Intense pain seared through me the moment I tried to run, making me whimper. This damned wound. I had expected it to feel better once I shifted but it just got worse.

This was when my gaze landed on the shredded pieces of bandage. Oh, yeah… I totally forgot about that. Padding softly along the rocky path, I went deeper into the forest. Soon, my instincts took over and I hunted down an elk in no time flat.

I dragged it back to the tree where I had kept the clothes. I shifted back to my human form and started dressing up. I had just worn my trousers when the bushes around me rustled as if being shaken by a strong wind.

The next moment, four men dressed in smart suits emerged out of nowhere. One glance and I knew I was doomed. Their ruby red eyes with a blackish tint indicated that they were vampires and very powerful at that.

The man in the blue suit stepped forward, crossing his arms with a condescending expression, “Look what we have here. A wolf.” His eyes lit up as he added, “A bloody wolf.”

The man standing behind him drew closer, “Doesn’t he look all high and mighty after killing that poor elk?”

“Isn’t it our job to uphold justice brother?”

“It is.”

“Then, we must punish him for killing an innocent creature.”

Honestly, I was too flabbergasted to give them an adequate response. They were vampires who drank human blood and quite often than not; they ended up killing them too. If the vampire king hadn’t made strict rules, they would have wiped out the entire human race yet here they were taunting me for killing a deer. What exactly did they want to achieve?

The man in the blue suit grabbed me by my shoulders and rammed me into the trunk of the tree. The impact caused my lips to split; blood trickled down my chin. I dropped to the ground with a thud.

He grabbed my arm and dragged me to the center of the small circle they had formed. Then, they started kicking and thrashing me for no reason; their heinous laughter rang through the forest. Wounded, weak, and without my healing power, I could do nothing against them.