Chapter 1628: A Broken Home When Gary slipped inside from the top floor, he carefully eased the door shut behind him, holding his breath so the hinges wouldn’t creak. He immediately sniffed the air, every instinct on edge. He needed to know, right now, whether anyone else was inside. Whether he was truly alone. ‘It smells stale,’ Gary thought, nostrils widening as he drew in another deep breath. ‘I can’t smell anyone else here... no fresh scent, no signs of movement. But it almost smells like no one has lived here for a long time.’ That was the first strange thing. The top floor of the house opened into a single large space that functioned as a work area. A desk rested in the centre, and off to the side was a smaller room lined with bookshelves. As he walked toward the desk, what he saw only confirmed what his nose had already told him. A thick layer of dust coated the entire tabletop, so untouched it looked like it had been sitting for months. ‘I expect dust on books,’ Gary told himself. ‘People keep books around for show, right? Even in my time, half the books on shelves are just decoration. I guess it was the same in the past as well.’ He brushed a finger along the surface of the desk, leaving a clear trail in the dust. No one had wiped this down recently. No one had sat here. No one had touched anything on this floor. ‘Maybe it’s just this level,’ Gary thought, trying to rationalise what he was seeing. ‘It’s a big house. Going up and down three flights of stairs would be tiring, even for Werewolves. And Jack’s family aren’t Werewolves, right?’ He moved toward the staircase, but when he reached the top step, he stalled. There was something off. The stairwell below was pitch black. Not dim. Not shadowed. Pitch. Black. Gary could see through darkness better than any human, but even he felt a slight chill crawl down his spine. “It’s really dark down there,” he whispered to himself. “Like... I can see fine, but there’s no lights on. No candles? Nothing?” It was the middle of the day. The house wasn’t buried underground. Even if no one turned on lighting crystals or lamps, some natural light should’ve been spilling in from the windows. “And I saw the other houses,” Gary muttered. “They all had lighting crystals, kinda like oil lamps. So why would this whole place be dark?” His heart started beating louder, thudding against his ribs. He tried to calm himself, but every step felt wrong, as if going deeper into the house was walking into a throat waiting to swallow him. He descended. Slowly. Carefully. By the time he reached the second floor, the darkness finally broke, revealing what lay below. And it wasn’t... normal. The second floor opened into a large dining room and kitchen space, with several bedrooms branching off to the sides. But the moment Gary stepped in, his eyes widened. The dining table was overturned. Plates lay shattered across the floor. Cupboards hung from broken hinges. Chairs were flipped over, as if someone had been thrown or dragged. A violent scene. A messy one. Recent enough that nothing had been properly cleaned up. Gary inhaled sharply, tension tightening his shoulders. ‘I still don’t understand... Jack has been inside here, right?’ Gary thought. ‘The others said they’d seen his family come out. Or at least... around this area. So why leave everything like this?’ He crept toward the walls, running his hand along the surface, and froze. Deep, jagged scratch marks covered the plaster. Not one or two. Dozens. They gouged long, uneven lines across the walls, as if something, or someone, had lost control. “This is clearly signs of a fight...” Gary whispered, breath unsteady. “But was it with multiple people? Could it have been with Unzoku?” He hesitated. “If it was Unzoku... this building wouldn’t still be standing. And if Jack fought back...” Gary gulped. “Same result.” He left the kitchen cautiously, his ears twitching for any sound, his claws halfway extended without him noticing. He entered the bedrooms next. The first room was destroyed. Cabinets overturned. Clothing scattered. Blankets torn. The second room was no different, same level of chaos. It looked less like a family home and more like somewhere a frantic thief had ransacked while searching for something specific. But the darkest detail wasn’t the scratches or shattered furniture. It was the windows. Every single one of them, from the bedrooms to the main hallway, was completely covered. Sheets had been nailed over them. Thick, dark sheets. Stopping any light from getting inside. The master bedroom had windows facing the street, normally letting natural light pour into the room. But even they had been blocked off. No light seeped through the cloth. Everything remained encased in shadows. ‘To stop people from seeing the mess inside?’ Gary wondered. ‘But... if that’s the case, then why not just clean it up?’ He shook his head. Something wasn’t adding up. ‘Jack has been doing something every day... but I don’t think he’s been visiting this house at all. Not in a long time. Otherwise, the place wouldn’t look untouched. It hasn’t been lived in... that’s for sure.’ There was one last room to check: the front living area. When Gary approached it, the eerie silence of the house pressed heavily against him. He pushed open the door cautiously. The living room mirrored the destruction of the rest of the house. But the most unsettling part was the large front window, the one that faced directly onto the street, meant to brighten the whole space. It was completely plastered over with layers of newspapers. “There’s the same thing down here...” Gary murmured. “So there was a fight... but within the family?” His chest constricted. He didn’t even know if Jack’s children lived in the city, or somewhere else. He only knew that Jack lived here with his wife, at least according to the Red Wing pack. “I thought this place would give us answers,” Gary whispered, frustration creeping into his voice. “But it’s only brought more questions.” He exhaled slowly, forcing himself to stay calm. “I wonder if Lupus and Kai will find anything that makes more sense...” He scanned the room one last time, eyes sharp, claws extended, senses heightened. “I’ll see if I can find anything to do with Unzoku here as well,” Gary decided, bracing himself. **** For updates on MWS and future works, follow me on my social media below. Instagram: jksmanga P.a.t.r.e.o.n: jksmanga When news drops about My Vampire System, My Werewolf System, or any other series, you’ll hear it there first. Feel free to reach out, if I’m not too busy, I tend to reply.