8. Occisor, part 2.
TEARS OF HATE
At the very moment Mary opened her mouth to begin telling the truth to the young man sitting beside her on the bed, a frosty, strong wind blew opening the wooden windows of the small room in a loud titof, scaring Occisor. Mary rose silently and closed the windows.Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.
Once again she took a deep breath. Though many saw her as a cold, heartless being – as she didn’t really have a heart – she cared too much for both Occisor and Margaret. They were her family, and for them she was capable of anything.
“Do you know what a velut luna is?” Mary asked.
“Yes, I read in one of Margaret’s books that the female with that title is the companion of the alpha male.” he said. He was so smart.
“So you know a lot about the lycanthropes, don’t you?” She finally walked again, returning to bed and sitting next to the boy.
“Not much. Margaret said that wasn’t a book for my age, I disagreed, but she wouldn’t let me read anything else. She’s so boring!” He shouted and Mary held the urge to laugh with the little one’s sullen face.
“I understand. Have you ever wondered why you like to eat only and almost raw meat?”
“I know why, it’s because they’re delicious! What I don’t understand is why neither you nor Margaret like them.” Mary laughed. “Look how strong I am!” he stuffed his chest and crossed his arms, yet in less than three seconds his arms fell, one on each side of his body. “But… What does that have to do with my mother?”
Mary again took a deep breath, and Occisor didn’t fail to observe this. Outside the room, Margaret had her ear placed in the door. She also wanted to know the truth about Occisor; all she knew when he arrived was that his mother and aunt had been murdered by the cruel wolves and that Mary saved him from having the same fate.
“She was a velut luna,” Mary said bluntly and observed the boy’s reaction. Nothing. He didn’t say a word, so she continued. “What I’m going to tell you now is not a beautiful story. Are you ready to hear it, or would you rather wait a little longer?”
“I’m ready,” he said firmly, but she saw his eyes tremble.
“All right. Five years ago, in a harsh winter, the moon shone brightly in the sky and the velut luna gave birth to a cub. The werewolves, when they generate their proles, they…
They stay in their lupine forms until the cubs reach six months of life, and the cubs only show signs of humanity after those six months,” Occisor interrupted Mary and completed her sentence, already losing some of his patience.
“Yes, you already knew that. However, when you were born…”
She stopped for a few moments to look at him. The boy’s prying eyes were cloudy.
Does he already know what happened? Mary wondered as she watched him..
“Childbirth forced your mother back into her human form and then you were born, as if you were a baby with only human blood, with no Lycanthropic characteristic.
“Why?” he whispered, but Mary ignored the question.
“Your mother was accused of treason and involvement with the witches to hide the smell of the man with whom they believed she betrayed her mate. The execution took place the same night, but she fought and fled, her sister, your aunt, helped her escape. Your mother and your aunt believed that the goddess had chosen them for some purpose. A luna cimex rebelled against her whole pack and paid the price with her own life. Unfortunately your mother was badly injured and couldn’t run anymore. Unable to continue protecting you, she entrusted you to me. The wolves found her and killed her and they hunted for you.
“What… What was my mother’s name and my aunt’s?” he asked with his eyes closed. He didn’t want to cry, not in front of a woman.
“Emerald, that was your mother’s name and your aunt was called Ruby.”
“How… What were they like?”
Occisor had his eyes closed tightly, the tears wanted to come out at any cost.
“Your mother had long black hair and green eyes. Ruby had reddish brown hair and amber eyes. The two were extremely beautiful, strong and…
“No, they were not!” Margaret finally appeared and opened the door in a bang. “Never will that cursed race be beautiful!” They’re all horrible! Cruel! Miserable! They’re…”
“Shut your mouth!” Occisor shouted. The burning in his eyes grew even stronger.
“Are you gonna cry? Those bastards left your aunt with an unrecognizable body, trampled her until there was nothing left of her and your mother had her head cut off! They did that to their own kin and they just didn’t do the same to you because…
“I said shut up!” This time he released a growl that made Margaret’s eyes widen.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. I don’t believe it, Mary!” A tear came down from Margaret’s lonely eyes.
“Margaret, listen…”
Margaret didn’t listen, she turned her back and ran down the hall. Mary looked at Occisor and decided to let him ingest the whole story, alone. Now she needed to find Margaret.
With her supernatural speed, Mary caught up with her in seconds and turned her around. Seeing the tears in her eyes made Mary sad, she didn’t want to see them there. She lied to Margaret saying that Occisor was simply a human baby. But I always knew that sooner or later the day would come that she was going to have to tell the truth and it wouldn’t be easy. And it wasn’t. Carefully, she lifted her thumb to the young woman’s cheeks and wiped away her tears.
“Why did you do that? Why did you lie? He’s one of them.”
“No, Margaret, Occisor is one of us. He, like you, is a Van Helsing. You’re both my children!”
Mary hugged the young woman who cried as if there was no tomorrow. After sniffling a lot, she let go of her guardian’s arms.
“What if… If he ends up like those monsters? If he…”
“I’ll never be like any of them! I’m gonna kill those monsters! I’ll hunt them down one by one, I reject them, just as they did to me, I will do much worse to them!” Occisor uttered every word with his fists clenched and trembling by his side.
Margaret startled, she hadn’t noticed the little one’s presence. She stared at him hesitantly, but soon any doubt was extinguished from her mind. From Occisor’s eyes, tears kept falling, but the firmness in his gaze, the hatred he felt for those who killed his mother was transparent.
“I’m in!”