Chapter Three

What the hell is that smell?

Well, it isn't a bad one, mused the slowly waking Miller, whose eyelids were still too heavy to lift. 

Swaying from left to right on the bed in discomfort, he hadn’t moved too much when his movement was restricted by what felt like iron. Something was not right here. He could feel it.

Forcing a droopy eye open, he suddenly realized that the silky sheets beneath him were not his sheets. With a start, he sat up and cursed as his head ached terribly. He felt other body pains too. 

Nope, he wasn’t in his room. He wasn’t even in his house. Scanning his surrounding, he noticed it was daybreak. Yet, he was in a dark and confined room that only contained an uncomfortable bed and the entrance of the room was secured by iron bars. It looked like he had ended up in a cell. 

Miller tried to reflect a bit and suddenly, the last thing he remembered was Rico appearing before him in a strange form. He was inwardly surprised that his brother was a werewolf all along, but his astonishment doesn’t matter even a tiny bit here. 

The fact that he is separated from his daughter and he doesn’t even know her where about or how she is doing right now riled him the more.

“Rico!!!” Miller bellowed. 

“Rico,” Miller Bellowed once more, but the house responded in silence.

“Where is my daughter, you bastard?” he asked angrily. 

There was still no response coming forth, but Miller knew someone was in there somewhere. He perceived the smell of food. The same smell that almost woke him up earlier. 

“My poor Beverly”, he said, as he burst into uncontrollable tears. 

He thought about his daughter. He thought about how precious his daughter is to him and how he is so fond of her. The two of them were left to themselves since the death of his wife, and now the world had gone crazy again by separating his daughter from him. This is hell!

Shortly after he began reflecting on the emotional muddle he found himself in, the sound of what seemed like a big rod, hitting the floor jolted him out of his reflection. He also discovered that the sound of the menacing noise that came was accompanied by approaching footsteps. 

A part of him was scared, and another part of him was prepared for anything. His priority right now is just to see his daughter and make sure she is safe. He staggered back to his feet as the sound came nearer and nearer. 

Finally, a figure stood before him. He raised his head expecting to see Miller, but he was shocked to see someone else stand before him. Rico”s friend. 

Even though Rico and Miller were brothers, they barely shared any similarities right from when they were growing up. While Miller was the good boy that everybody loved due to his attitude, Rico on the other hand was mischievous. He’s always seen frowning, going about threatening people or causing trouble. Owing to this, no one dared move close to him. 

Although he wasn’t as handsome as Miller, he wasn’t ugly. But even if any lady was to make advances at him, his attitude is a total turn-off. Despite all of these bad sides, he was able to make only one friend in the whole of Omaha, and people wondered how the two got along so well. His name is Rogers. 

Miller was still caught up in astonishment when Rogers stamped his rod on the ground once again to gain his attention.  

Before Miller could say a word, Rogers began…

“This rod that you see here is meant for you. Disturb the peace of this place next time and I won’t hesitate to use it on you.”

Miller knew he had to get out of there alive to be able to set his eyes on his daughter, so he complied.  

On second thought, he can’t be silenced forever, so he managed to ask: “Please where is my daughter?”

“I’m not done talking here young man,” Rogers roared. 

“ Listen attentively to me when I speak. Rico asked that I watch over you as you remain here. You’ll be fed only in the morning for the time being, and anything we give to you, you shall take.”

Miller didn’t respond, but he let out a frown. 

He was in so much bitterness that he didn’t even notice the water and plate of food that was in Roger’s left hand all along. 

"Have this," Rogers said, stretching the food and water to him. 

Miller collected the food through the spaces around the bars in obedience which took Rogers aback. He had expected a protest so he could show him a little bit of the stuff he’s made of. 

Since there was no drama, Rogers turned back and was going towards the direction he came from. He had barely walked a few steps away when he felt water splash on his head.   

He turned back to see Miller holding the bottle of water he just gave to him in his hands, already opened. 

Miller had taken part of the water into his mouth but hadn't gulped it so he spewed it right from his mouth to Rogers's head

Rogers was enraged, and in an instant, he surged forward to Miller and growled Menacingly, giving him what seemed like a last warning. Miller was too dazed to speak as he saw Roger’s body transform in that fit of rage into a wolf form with hairy furs and claws. 

Miler gasped

“So he’s a werewolf,” he said inwardly

Miller was able to decipher the rationale behind Rogers and Rico’s friendship.

The world doesn’t just cease to amaze him. 

Between last night and that morning, he had discovered too many shocking truths that could make him lose his mind: Rico has been a werewolf all along and he was oblivious to that, their father didn’t die of old age as everyone thought – Rico killed him, and Rico’s friend – who appeared to be a normal human being before everyone -- was standing right before him as a werewolf.

If not for the fact that Miller’s cell was locked and Rogers would need to go through the stress of looking for the keys to open his door, he would have pounced on him and probably taught him a lesson. But with a single look at Miller, he could tell how terrified he was at what he saw. 

Satisfied, “that would do for now,” Rogers concluded inwardly. He went away and left Miller to himself.

Miller imagined how long he is going to remain in that hell. His sorrow gave way into despair and he broke into tears.

********

There is a commotion at the royal house as People were wailing at every nook and cranny of the house. The people of Omaha have not gotten over the burial of their beloved king (George Ortiz). Now the king-to-be (Miller) whose coronation was supposed to be on the morrow is nowhere to be found alongside his daughter. 

The people of Omaha knew the consequence of not finding Miller. They can’t even bear to imagine Rico ascending the throne, let alone ruling them but they knew that if Miller was not found before the morrow, that would be their lot.

Rico had returned early as fast as he could that morning. He did his sinister job so well that no one suspected a thing. At daybreak, he was still in his bed pretending to be asleep when he heard a knock on his door. 

Without waiting for permission, a handsome young man opened the door ajar, and instead of a good morning, he simply stood by the door and shot Rico a troubling look.

“Hey, champ….. What’s the matter?” Rico asked, feigning obliviousness.

“Dad, there’s trouble. Beverly and her dad are nowhere to be found this morning and everyone is dead worried,” Elton said in response.

”What the hell,” Rico said, sitting up on his bed. “You don’t mean it.”

“Dad, come outside, come see for yourself,” Elton insisted  

“Alright, go on. I’ll be outside shortly” replied Rico.

As Elton left the room, Rico let out a somewhat sinister laughter as was his wont most time he looks at Elton. Inwardly, he mocks his naivete as there are a couple of things that are oblivious to him. Although he started to become fond of Elton as he grew in his care, he hides his bad deeds from Elton and pretends to be the good father that he isn’t.

Rico rehearsed his next move in his mind and soon hopped out of bed and started towards his door. 

On opening his door, he saw people scattered everywhere in the compound. People had come out from far and near to commiserate with the George family. 

No one even bothered to inform Rico of what is going on. Everyone is always trying to avoid him so he was left all to himself. 

He saw the cold reception everybody was wearing and almost burst into laughter, but thanks to the fact that he had his eyes on the throne, he had cleared out all the forms of obstacles that could stop him, and now he won’t let anything – not even the slight carelessness of laughing out in the present situation – take that away from him. He was able to stifle his impulse to mock them all. He composed himself immediately and wore a sad face.

“Where’s my brother? What is this that I am hearing?” Came Rico’s voice from afar.

There was silence and no one responded. 

Everyone just stared at him as if asking themselves inwardly how come he's been sleeping since and if he really didn't hear what was going on since. 

A group of women who were discussing and hoping that the king returns before his coronation sighted Rico coming towards them. 

Some of the women hissed as he walked past them. 

Rico knew what he'd have done to them if not for what he was trying to attain. So he just let them be, ignoring all their profanities.

He went to a far end and started acting all sober and not too long after then, Rogers came to join him.

Most of the people in the surrounding area had been there since around 8 am when the alarm was raised about the missing king-to-be and his daughter. Now it was almost noon, so the people started to leave the royal house one after the other, but still hoped that Miller and his daughter returns before the following morning.