chapter seven

They met Rune who was just waiting for them at the general lobby.

His shirt was roughened and his hair was also in a mess.

“Here's Rune!” Orion introduced both of them.

“How can I forget?” Akira said as she shot death stares at Rune.

“Hello miss,” Rune said with a smile, “I am Rune, I will be helping you out during your stay here.” he said.

Akira rolled her eyes, “I don't want to be here.”

Rune who was still bamboozled from the gang up against him a few minutes ago looked to Orion who gave him a wink.

He seemed to get the message and he decided to play along.

The last human who did this with him was buried somewhere under the city junkyard; this one here would not be any different.

He adjusted his shirt as he spoke up, “we do not intend on having you here for long either.”

Orion frowned.

“Excuse me?” Akira asked in disbelief.

“You heard me right, human.” Rune fired back.

“Rune!” Orion roared.

“Forgive me lord Orion.” Rune apologized quickly, “but you do know for a fact that this….”

“Rune?” Orion repeated in a tone that conveyed his last earnings.

Rune took a deep breath, he had let his temper get the best of him again, something that he shouldn't have.

“I am sorry.” he apologized.

Akira on the other hand stood and marveled at the authority Orion seemed to possess in this house.

The only other person who had this much control in the house was….

“Kai has asked me to assign you to your new room,the last one was, well, you know what happened to the last one and we totally know whose fault it is.” Rune sneered.

“Rune one more uncouth response from you and I will have you hunting ghouls for a week.”

Rune was silent.

Akira was suddenly curious.

“Ghouls?” She asked.

Orion and rune both chuckled nervously.

“Just forget that I said anything, you just need to go take your bath,relax and get ready for dinner that would be served in….” Orion said as he looked up to Rune,his fingers snapping in quick succession.

“Ummm umm…” Rune muttered as he struggled to put his words together, “forty five minutes?”

“Ah yes,” Orion said, “forty five minutes, that's all it takes.”

Akira was no fool.

She knew when people were being weird around her, she was willing to take a Wild guess that these lycans were no different.

“What's going on?” She asked, “what's a ghoul? You know that I am a grown woman right? Not some kid who is stuck up on believing that the unicorn exists.”

“Hmmm” Rune and Orion groaned in unison.

“What in the world?” AKira asked in disbelief, “they do exist don't they.”

Rune scratched his head, “how did we get here again?”

“How many more of you exist?” She asked.

“All these questions would be answered with time, just go ahead and freshen up, we have a long time to discuss this.” Orion urged.

Akira temporarily forgot about her resistance and followed Rune who walked ahead of her to her room.

“So….” She said as the silence between the both of them was already becoming too long, “about the unicorns?”

“Yes they exist and no, you can't see them, no one has in a long time now, and by long I mean far longer than the oldest human alive.”

“Huh. Clear enough” Akira said as they walked on.

“Which do you prefer?” Rune asked Akira.

Confused, she looked around to see what it was that was being offered to her as a choice.

Turns out it was a choice between the stairs and the elevator.

“You might be one of those human conservatives who believe technology is destroying the world and you would like to protect the planet blah blah blah…”

“What floor?” Akira asked from inside the elevator.

“Of course, it would make sense that you're one of the lazy ones.” Rune said as he joined her in the elevator.

Akira ignored him and pushed all of the buttons on the elevator.

Her thought process? If he was going to be a bitch, then she was going to be a bigger one.

“Stop it?” Rune cried, “you're going to slow us down.”

“Well I am not hungry.” Akira said,her nose high up in the air.

“Why? you!!” Rune roared angrily.

Akira was unfazed.

As much as she was scared of what these wolf-like creatures could do to her, she knew for a fact that they could not harm her, at least not for the next six months Especially these two.

That was more than enough time for her to escape.

The door to the elevator dinged and without asking, Rune pulled her out of the elevator and walked on.

“Hey, let go of me!” She yelled, struggling to break free from his grip.

“You know what happened the last time you were this obnoxious? Even as a human your memory should not be short to forget what happened a few hours ago especially as it was life threatening.”

Akira silently followed him up the stairs, “yeah right,just as I thought.” He continued, “only this time, when they come rushing for your necks I would not stay to protect you, I'd gladly let them take the fall and your neck at the same time”

Akira silently obeyed;the mere thought of blood Freightining her.

As much as she could vouch that Rune, Kai and Orion can't harm her, she could not say the same for the other members of this house.

“Welcome to your room!” Rune said, clapping twice.

The lights came on and the window blinds folded themselves automatically and smartly.

“Impressive huh?” Rune asked with a wide grin across his face, “I did this myself.”

He waited patiently for a comment from Akira but turned to see what the problem was.

“Akira?” He called.

“What's going to happen to me in six months?” She asked.

“Huh?” Rune asked, obviously confused.

“Those men, Cain…” she said as she sat in the bed, “why did they want me dead?” She asked.

“Oh?” Rune said as he racked his brain hard to find answers to this question.

There was no logical answer that he could come up with.

He did not want to risk exposing things that should be exposed by Kai.

More importantly, he did not want to scare her off.

“Um,those guys? They are just naturally jerks?”

“There was more, I could feel rage, anger.” Akira said.

Rune chuckled, “Those guys? Pfft!” He scoffed, “they could not harm a fly.” He said.

Akira looked at his arms, they were blood stained.

There was no sign of visible wounds but someone must have bled during that encounter.

Rune observed what she was looking at and got the message.

He tried to hide the stains but it was already too late.

“What are those creatures that attacked me?” She asked.

Rune froze.

He hated this question and conversation as much as the next person.

“I think I heard someone call them honduras.”

“Oh no…you do not want to hear about that.” Rune said as he handed her towels and pushed her Into the bathroom.

“Here, just have your bath and head down for dinner, there will be no more discussions about honduras.”