Dark Fangs: Forbidden Fugitives

Chapter Forty-Three

[Important Note: The Chapter Art Isn't Mine This Time] 

"We need to find them," Ellery shouted gruffly, her face ruckled into a scowl of resolve, "before their parents do." 

     It was such a bitter thought, she registered, helping Dale and Victoria go through a box of the remaining Wolfthorn's unpacked belongings, searching for supplies that would aid them in the perilous search. Fearing that not a carnivorous dinosaur, but their blood-thirsty parents are the most lethal threat to their own kids is just foul. She let a few curses slip mutedly between her lips.

     At this point it'd sadly be a mercy for them to die at the swift strike of a predator rather than live this trauma out. Her jaw clenched automatically in sheer frustration, and the rest of her body rigidified along with her mandible. They're sick in the heads. All of 'em.

     "Ellery, are you all right?" Dale's question broke through the wave of swirling rage behind Ellery's eyes, and she met the old man's kindly concerned gaze with an unintentionally hostile glare. She could feel Victoria's eyes on her as well.

     The three paused for a moment, in silence, before Dale followed up his own question. "Oh...who am I kidding? We know you're not."

     Without words, Victoria rose and sidled up to Ellery before wrapping her arms tenderly around the other woman's shoulders, her frame relaxed against Ellery's stress-taut muscles. "It's  going to be okay...we'll find them." She promised in a delicate hum.

     Unsure by nature of affection, Ellery did not return the gesture of sentiment. 

     But she felt it deeply. She was no expert in showing love, however, there was a longing in her somewhere for this kind of affectionate comfort.

     Even if she didn't quite realize it directly.

     Undismayed by Ellery's lack of external reaction or response, Victoria held the embrace for a while longer before letting go. When she drew back, Victoria met Ellery's doleful orbs with a smile that simply affirmed, "Everything will work out". 

     So Ellery allowed the spark of hope in her heart some air.

     "We are so sorry you have to deal with this, Ellery," apologized Dale, his face sunken.

     Ellery cleared her throat and gave them both a long look of regret. "...You were both dragged into it same as me. Your granddaughter is just as in danger as my grandson." She shrugged, then carried on with searching through the selected box for the items they needed. Victoria crouched down to assist Ellery, and Dale accompanied them once more, grunting with the effort it took him to get down onto his old knees. 

     The lack of voices enhanced the knocking clutter of hands rummaging through items, the sound bouncing off the high dinning room walls in the manor. After yet another period of stillness, Victoria concluded the silence.

     "Dale and I were talking, Ellery,..." she began, and paused, to which Ellery's eyes lifted to focus on her.

     "I'm listening," Ellery replied coolly, her eyes slowly ricochetting between Victoria and the items they collectively sifted through. There was a guise in her optics that clearly concealed the interest Ellery had to hear what Victoria was going to discuss, and it visually made Victoria nervous.