The Family Hunt

XENOIS The scent trail through the forest was easy enough to follow, without doubting if we were headed the right way, even for someone whose tracking skills were probably that of a novice. Sophia's blood had left a clear path through the forest, especially on the undergrowth, dark droplets on leaves and trees bark that told the story of her desperate flee from my parents'penthouse. I walked behind my parents, watching the way they moved together, walking hand in hand, like predators who had hunted as a pack for decades. My father kept his nose and eyes to the ground, focused on following the scent without leading us astray, while my mum walked beside him holding a red jerrycan in her hand, that sloshed ominously with each step. The anger I felt toward Sophia burned hot in my chest, but it was also tempered off a bit by a growing unease about what exactly my parents had planned for her. I'd expected them to want justice for her crimes, but there was something about their calmness and e