My eyes went wide, looking at the girl who stood there arrogantly. “I wasn’t expecting you to be serving in the VIP section. It would be great if you called that other colleague of yours, so I can teach you both a lesson at the same time,” the girl folded her hands and stood as if she had achieved something here. 

I snickered at her, “Do you know what you look like? A damsel in distress with so many men to back you up.”

“Huh, I would have fought you, but I don’t want to go hard on you and end up killing you,” she said with a huff of overconfidence. I could not help but smile at it. The men behind her sure looked tough to deal with. They had this aura where it showed this was their regular job. The woman, however, looked like one slap should suffice her. 

“Look, if you are down for a duel I will give you my precious time,” I said while scratching my brow, “or I am not interested in this game.” 

The woman gritted her teeth, “enough talk. Get her.” She waved for the men to attack me and the next moment, all of them charged at me together. “Let me see you smile after they carve your face with blood,” the reference was quite easy to understand. The lipstick, which Hailey had put up as a design on her face. That was quite a scene to watch, though I doubt I wanted to see my face painted in blood with all those marks. Not like they would stay on me, but it sounded way painful. 

I pushed my mobile into my back pocket. It was more secure there. I shook my hand before getting my fists ready. 

The first person came close with the dagger stretched out, aiming for my face. I dodged it smoothly and gave him a low jab. In an instance, the shock reached his brain as his body fell slack before falling to the ground near my feet. I could not afford to waste time with non-fatal blows or the group will overpower me. 

The others stopped, looking at what had happened to the first one. I exhaled before picking up the dagger which the person at my feet was still holding in his hand. 

“Kill her!” The girl shouted, “and I will reward you twice the price.” 

On her words, the men ran up to me ready with all their heart. It was actually quite easy to land a horde of fatal blows on someone than actually being careful to keep them alive. Very well, if they were aiming for my life, so would I for theirs. 

They all caught up to me and I made a run for my life. Nope, can’t take so many of them at once. 

Around the stairs, I twisted a guy’s hand before pushing him over the railing. He landed with a loud thud on the ground floor. The tavern manager looked up from behind the cash counter, “Hey lady, don’t disturb the regulars here.” 

“Sorry,” I shouted. 

The next person tried stabbing me thrice, one of which he succeeded in piercing my shoulder with his dagger. My right hand, which was doing most of the job to defend myself, fell slack because of the pain which travelled down the length of my arm. With my left hand, I smashed the man’s head on the window on the other side of the stairway before kicking him hard between his legs. The vulnerability that followed only made it easier for me to push him down the large window.

Fang sure would have to compensate a lot for this mess I had made. It wasn’t like I had any money on me for that. 

The third guy rushed towards me and I tossed the dagger in my right hand to my left. As I was about to attack him, he swirled himself in the air with the help of the railing and kicked me in the back. I fell forward, by the time I got up, there was one guy in front of me and another behind me. This was bad. I swung the dagger to get the guy in front of me but the person behind me pushed his dagger in my lower back. 

Definitely got the kidney, “That is so rude of you, mister.” 

I had harmed none of them. My image right now was that of an old lady walking with a hand on her lower back. He was ready to pull the dagger out when I turned around and stabbed him thrice in his neck, the first person who would be losing his life in this battle. He held his neck which overflowed with blood as he lost his balance and fell down the stairs. The other guy pulled the dagger out of my back and I screamed in pain, 

“Agghhhh.” 

This was going to be bad if I did not start healing now. I set my ability into action, but it was still in a rough state. At least it made it easier for me to move and numb the pain. 

I turned, raising the dagger in my hand to attack. The one remaining person was this guy, and it was going to be tough with my injuries and him handling two daggers. He crossed the daggers to block my attack and pushed me back. My hand reached out of the windowsill in reflex. He descended two stairs to come and stand in front of me. He went to attack me with both the daggers but using two weapons at the same time meant bad balance and I kicked him in his guts. 

The guy staggered back, leaning over the railing but composing himself well in time. 

It was high time I got on the safer ground, so I ran back up. The woman was still standing there with an odd kind of confidence. I had taken down almost all the men she had brought here to get my throat. Technically, even to go against Hailey, but here I was the only one dealing with them. She better be grateful for this. I looked back at where the goon was now climbing up the stairs and then at the girl. Taking her hostage would be a better case scenario than facing this man when I was injured. 

I ran up to her and seeing me approach, the woman faltered before she panicked for an escape. 

Halfway through, I turned around and taking a firm stance, threw the dagger at the approaching goon. He was surely unprofessional with weapons and I happened to have the best aim in my known circle. Even my trainer in the castle wasn’t as good as me. It was something I was good at, long-range weapons. Though the same cannot be said about the short-ranged weapons, my injuries were enough to answer for that. 

I turned to go kick the girl to her sense to never cross paths with me again, but suddenly the sight in front of me turned blurry. 

Poison!

This was bad. I had to make sure I healed soon. Oddly, that woman was still standing there. My priority was to heal right now, for that I needed to shift into my wolf. 

I rushed to the door of the VIP room, which was right beside where that lady stood. 

Composing myself, I rushed to the door with staggering feet. It was then that I heard an evident thud from someone’s footsteps. I blinked twice before squinting to see who it was. This one looked different from the others I had fought. I could not see clearly but it was surely going to be tough dealing with him. I had to make sure I could at the very least knock on the door. With that man walking towards me, it was going to be tough reaching there. 

My vision went black for a second and hearing became hard. 

“Selene!” I heard a familiar voice. It was a man’s voice. I forced myself to open my eyes and see when I realised my body had already touched the floor. Fang was standing behind that man before he slowly turned his face towards me. “What the hell,” Fang cursed before he ran towards me. I guess the soulmate bond really worked for times like these. The rooms here were quite packed to not let the outside disturbance cause any problems for the VIPs. 

Fang did not care about the man. He just came rushing towards me, but that man wasn’t dumb. He held Fang by his shoulder. 

My vision blacked out again before I tried to see properly again. 

When my sight was back in the blurry mess, Fang cut his wrist and shoved the cut into the other man’s mouth. His blood noesis? I never knew what it was. Maybe I could ask after this. 

I forced my ability to act. As compared to before, where my abilities refused to work in my human form, now it were slow but doing its job. 

When I opened my eyes next, Fang held me up as he scooped me bridal style. I turned my head to see what had happened with that guy, but the sight I saw was surprising for me. He kneeled in front of a person, a person with… with pink hair.. He kneeled in front of Hailey while Hailey grabbed the woman’s hair and slammed her head against the overlooking balcony railing. What was going on? Was it Fang’s blood noesis or was that person a part of the Cermesi clan?