8. Blood of a Beast.

"You should have just left her there." Winifred's father, the head priest said making Winifred stare at him with disbelief.

"Are you joking right now? I should have left her to die out there even though she saved my life? Even though she's my friend? What kind of normal person would even do that?" Winifred snapped, trying so hard not to scream in the dead of the night.

"If I were you, I would not even try to raise my voice so high like that. This is dangerous, it could get all of us killed." The head priest said again, only succeeding in confusing Winifred further.

When she dropped Aquila, she could swear that that she was no longer breathing, that she was dead already. She was already crying and mourning until Aquila suddenly started coughing again, making Winifred squeal with total joy, one that she didn't find on her father's face. He was completely mortified, even when she was awake and looked like she was healing up nice and proper, he had suggested that they bury her, alive.

"We should bury her while we still can, if this gets out, things can get out of hand. She has been tainted already." He continued to say, his hands shaking.

"Tainted with what? I don't get it."

"With the blood of a beast! Soon, she's going to turn into one of them and she will die either way. It's better that she does now. It saves our family and her the stress of being killed gruesomely." The head priest explained but Winifred just didn't get it.

"Look, I don't care what would happen. I'm going to help her, I will not bury her alive neither will I allow her get killed. As long as this doesn't get out, we would be fine, right?" Winifred asked, trying to be on the same level with her father.

"Its easier said than done, the walls have ears. When she starts turning into one of them, it'll be harder to keep unless she's locked up and tied by a Wolf's bane. And then when she fully turns, she would never be able to stay amidst us again, we would have to send her to live away from the village."

"Let's just do all of that, one step at a time. We should try to keep her safe in any way that we can, she's family afterall, isn't she... father?" Winifred asked, calling him that for the first time.

"Yes but we... it will be difficult." He replied, shaking his head as if trying to get rid of the flashes of what could happen if they got caught.

"Father, please. Please, help her, help us." Winifred pleaded, holding her father's hands.

The head priest had no choice but to heed to his daughter's pleading, there was nothing much he could do as he had a soft spot for her afterall. They locked Aquila up in a room and surrounded her with a Wolf's bane to weaken her power. They were able to keep her hidden in the house for four days until some misfortunes started to happen in the village.

"There are no fishes in the stream!" A man said panicking.

"The well has gone dry! What water are we suppose to drink?!" A woman added, sobbing.

"Head priest, the crops are not growing properly anymore too!" Another man spoke.

"Yes, and the fruits on the trees have refused to ripen these few days. Rain haven't fallen in a week either, a famine is what I am foreseeing here and this haven't happened in years! God is angry with us!" Alexander added this time eliciting a chorus of 'Yes' from the villagers.

They were all seated in the village square, speaking their concerns as panics were written over almost all of their faces.

"Something is happening. And we need to take it serious before we all die of hunger, it seems to me like someone amongst us sinned, someone amongst us is bringing this misfortunes to us. There is a bad egg amongst us and until we fish him or.... her out, things might continue to deteriorate." Alexander continued.

"We need to calm down, Alex. We can't just conclude like that, what if it's not related to things like that. We need to be patient." The head priest said, trying to calm him down as he was known to always succeed in instigating fights in the village plus he didn't want any of his gibberish to be traced back to his home where he was harboring a tainted human.

"Dear people, give me some time to find out what has caused all of this in the spiritual realm. Give me a chance to ask God and the church for forgiveness, only after then, can we take matters into our own hands." The head priest concluded, as he succeeded in calming them down, all except one person.

"He's hiding a bitten girl in the house. He has been hiding her for over four days now, only his daughter is allowed to see her, non of the maids can. He claimed that she's undergoing a spiritual cleansing but what spiritual cleansing needs a Wolf's bane. If that isn't suspicious, I don't know what is." A young lady explained.

"Oh! Things are about to get interesting. The man who kills all other werewolves is trying to hide one just because he's family with her in one way or the other? Is that not partiality and stupidity? Thank you so much for spying so well on your master for me, I'll be sure to reward you as promised." Alexander said, elated.

"Oh, Master Alex. You know that you promised to marry me, and I hope that we do that soon. The kind of power that will give me will be second to none since you're sure to be the new head as soon as this gets out." The young lady replied, excited for her new fate not knowing that it was all a sweet talk Alexander used to get her to do as he wanted.

"Oh, of course. You know I don't back on my words." He responded, mentally rolling his eyes as he watched the girl leave.

Soon enough, he was able to gather enough people that had immediately circulated the news around the village and as soon as it was evening, they were all storming towards the head priests house with lit logs and weapons.

"The cat has been let out of the bag, head Priest! You have only five minutes to surrender, you betrayer!"