All Chapters of Howl of the Forgotten: Chapter 101
- Chapter 110
134 chapters
Lines Drawn in the Dark
The room stayed silent long after the video ended, as if the walls themselves were absorbing the shock so no one would crumble beneath it. Annabelle stood perfectly still, her fingers curled against her palm, grounding herself. Ashton, on the other hand, looked like he was fighting something on the inside — not fear, but restraint. A kind of contained violence he didn’t want slipping out. Not yet.Bernard moved first.He shut the laptop with a quiet click that somehow sounded louder than anything else in the room. “We need to discuss what this means,” he said, his voice steady but lined with urgency. “They’ve moved from watching to warning. The next step is action.”Annabelle swallowed, her throat dry. “How fast do they move?”Ashton answered without hesitation. “When they signal like this, it means the next strike is already planned. They’re waiting for the right moment.”“Which could be anytime,” Bernard added.Annabelle felt a coldness spread through her stomach. Not panic — someth
Shadows Follow the Car Home
The night outside Bernard’s estate was unnervingly still, the kind of quiet that didn’t soothe — the kind that made the hair on your arms lift because something in the dark was listening. Annabelle felt it immediately as she stepped outside with Ashton. Not fear. Just a sharp awareness, like her senses had woken up all at once.Ashton opened the passenger door for her, but before she got in, he paused and scanned the street. Not casually. Not the way someone might check for traffic. He studied the shadows, the corners, the rooftops, as though danger could slip out of the smallest crack.“Do you see anything?” Annabelle asked quietly.“No,” he murmured. “And that’s what bothers me.”She slid into the seat, and Ashton circled the car, his steps measured, deliberate. When he got in and shut the door, the silence inside felt heavier than the night outside.He didn’t start the engine immediately.He gripped the steering wheel, leaning back slightly, eyes fixed forward in deep thought. His
The House That Would Not Sleep
The house felt different the moment Annabelle stepped inside. She couldn’t explain why — nothing had changed, nothing was out of place — yet the air carried a weight she hadn’t felt before. As if the walls were holding something in, or holding something out.Ashton closed the door behind them, locking it with a soft click that sounded louder in the stillness. He didn’t turn on the main lights. Instead, he walked through the hallway switching on only the low lamps — the warm, dim ones that didn’t cast shadows too harshly.Annabelle watched him move. Every action was deliberate, controlled, methodical. Not nervous — prepared.“Ashton,” she said quietly, stepping closer. “Do you think they followed us to this street?”“I know they did.”His tone held no doubt, only certainty sharpened by instinct.“But they won’t approach tonight.”“How can you be so sure?”He turned to her, and in the dim light his expression looked carved, set, unwavering.“Because they think fear works like a storm. F
A hidden Agenda
The night carried a strange heaviness, the kind that quieted even the most restless thoughts. It was not the calm that comes from peace, but the kind that comes before revelation—thick, watchful, waiting. The compound felt different too, as though every wall, every corridor, every silent corner already knew what was about to unfold long before any human tongue dared to speak it.The wind moved gently across the courtyard, stirring the dust in slow spirals. Lanterns flickered with uneasy brightness, throwing long trembling shadows across the ground. It was in that quiet, trembling stillness that the weight of everything finally settled on their shoulders.They gathered in the only room that still felt safe enough to breathe in—if “safe” could still exist after everything they had learned. The old table, scratched and bruised from a lifetime of meetings far less dangerous than this, stood between them like a silent witness.Dalen was the first to break the silence. His voice was low, as
THE SHADOWS INSIDE
The silence that followed Mira’s revelation felt like a living thing—stretching its cold fingers through the room, squeezing their voices into stillness. For a moment, no one moved. No one breathed too loudly. Even the lanterns seemed to shrink back, as though the very flame understood the danger lurking in the air.Dalen’s eyes darted toward the door, his hand instinctively drifting toward the blade at his side. Jonas shifted his stance, ready to spring at the slightest sound. Elder Varek remained still, not out of calm, but out of the weight of understanding settling over him like an iron mantle. And Mira… she stood unmoving, her gaze fixed on some invisible thread only she could see.When the next sound came, it was soft. Too soft.A faint scrape against stone.A single footstep.Then another.The corridor beyond the door exhaled a breath of cold air, as though someone—or something—had just slipped past.Jonas stepped forward, but Mira lifted a hand. “Don’t,” she whispered. “They w
THE SILENCE THAT WATCHES
The house felt different now—alive in a way that was neither comforting nor familiar. Every wooden beam, every cracked tile, every passageway seemed to pulse with a quiet, watchful energy, as if the structure itself had become aware of the hunt unfolding within its walls.Mira moved with precision, her steps soundless across the old stone floor. The lantern she carried cast a narrow band of light, cutting through the heavy darkness like a blade. The glow barely reached the walls, leaving long patches of shadow untouched, thick as tar.Jonas and Dalen had split off toward the northern wing, each taking a separate path. Their absence left a stretched stillness behind Mira—one that made every sound feel sharper, every heartbeat louder. Elder Varek remained in the central hall, securing the last defensive measures, his mind working faster than his trembling hands would ever admit.Mira paused at the intersection where three corridors met, the lantern flickering with the faintest draft. Sh
THE MARK OF THREE LINES
The ember-glow of the extinguished lantern lingered in Mira’s vision as she and Jonas moved deeper into the wounded hallway. The house groaned around them—old wood, shifting beams, the kind of noises that usually blended into the background of an aging structure. But tonight, every creak felt intentional, every echo too perfectly timed, as if someone… or something… was listening.The torn gray hood in Mira’s hand felt heavier than cloth. The symbol—the three intersecting lines—kept drawing her eye, as though the strokes themselves vibrated faintly with some unseen tension. It wasn’t stitched; it was cut into the fabric. Each line razor-clean, purposeful.Jonas kept pace beside her, wiping the last of the blood from his face. “Do you recognize the mark?” he asked.“No,” Mira whispered. “And that’s the part that worries me.”“Worse than the masked intruders?”“Yes. These others… they hide in plain shadow. But this one? This one wants to be known.”They reached the central hall where Eld
Shadows That Refuse to Die
Morning arrived slowly, dragging itself across the horizon like a wounded beast. The estate was quiet—too quiet—holding a tension that felt like it could snap under the weight of a single breath.Annabelle sat by the window, legs pulled to her chest, staring out at the dim sky as though it held answers. Every part of her felt stretched thin. Between the betrayal, the truth about the Shaw family secret, Bernard’s sudden disappearance, and Ashton’s spiraling rage, she felt like she had been thrown into the eye of a storm with no way out.Footsteps approached. Heavy. Controlled. Familiar.Ashton.The door creaked open and he stepped inside, fully dressed in black, the kind he wore only when preparing for war. His hair was slightly disheveled, his jaw tight, and his eyes—those cold, dangerous eyes—looked like they’d been burning all night.“You didn’t sleep,” he said quietly, not a question.Neither did you, she wanted to say, but instead, Annabelle kept her gaze fixed on the sky. “There
The Message Written in Blood
The estate erupted into chaos within minutes.Guards rushed across the corridors, security systems were being recalibrated, and Jason barked rapid-fire orders into a phone. But amid all the noise, Annabelle could only hear one thing—the pounding of her own heart.Ashton stood in the center of the room like a statue carved from fury. The blood-stained envelope lay on the table between them, its presence suffocating the air.“We need a plan,” Jason said, pacing. “They’re expecting you, Ashton. If you walk into that meeting point alone, you might not walk out.”Ashton didn’t respond. His silence was a storm forming.Annabelle stepped forward. “Ashton… talk to us.”He looked up slowly, and she almost stepped back. His eyes were different—hollow, murderous, burning. This wasn’t the man who held her close hours ago. This was the one the world feared.“They want me alone,” Ashton said quietly. “So I’ll go alone.”“No, you won’t.” Jason slammed his hand on the table. “That’s exactly what they
The Road No One Returns From
Night fell like a heavy curtain, swallowing the world in a dark, suffocating quiet.The air outside the estate tasted different—colder, metallic, filled with the kind of silence that signals danger. Ashton walked straight into it, his steps steady, his breathing controlled, but inside his chest, war raged like wildfire.The car waiting for him was unmarked. Black. Quiet. Empty. He slid into the driver’s seat and gripped the steering wheel, knuckles whitening. His reflection in the windshield looked like a stranger—sharp, hollow-eyed, hardened.This wasn’t the man Annabelle had fallen for.This was the weapon he’d buried years ago.And tonight, he needed that weapon.He drove without music, without distraction, following the coordinates they sent him. The route felt familiar—an old industrial zone they once used for covert extractions. Now it stood abandoned, rusting, forgotten.Perfect for a trap.The deeper he went, the darker it became. Streetlights flickered, then vanished altogeth