"Mother, I’ve come to you because I am lost on what to do. I’ve done everything I could, and now I’m a stranded mother." Elaine finally grieved in front of her mother-in-law who unhurriedly took a sip from the glass of water a servant had dutifully brought before her presence.
A slim-looking male servant stepped into the room and added more dry firewood to the fireplace, increasing its sparks and warming the room with its bright orange-yellowish light.
Her gray short hair was neatly tied in a bun, and unlike Elaine who looked devastated about something, her mother-in-law’s reaction remained relatively calm. She was sitting on her rocking chair while keeping her sharp brown eyes on Elaine who was sitting on the carpet in front of her.
With a flick of her wrist, the servants quietly excused themselves from the room. A sign they had come to understand when the old woman was about to discuss something very crucial.
"You should have gone to watch Inna today." Her mother-in-law, who was named Evelyn, stated in a cool reprimanding tone. "She must be worried sick since you didn’t show up to watch her as promised."
"How can I watch her in this state, mother? I fear that I won’t be able to hold back my emotions in front of my children. This is the only place where I can grieve without the fear of being caught." The pain in Elaine’s tone was sadly felt. "This is the only place where I’m allowed to show my weakness, so how can I step out without freeing my heart from this burden?"
Elaine’s tears streamed from her eyes down to her pale cheeks. "What do I do Mother? My mind is at sea and there are no directions to follow. My son means the entire world to me. He’s my pride and I won’t let anyone harm him. How can I stop the prediction from coming true? You’re a mother, no one else can understand my pain except you, help me."
Evelyn remained quiet as she listened to her daughter-in-law’s plea. The expression on her face unflinching.
"What do you possibly think I can do to stop what is destined from happening?" Evelyn sighed softly. "Your pains are understandable, no mother would want to lose their child to a silly prediction and I really wish there was something that I can do to help you Elaine."
"My son, he can’t possibly be one of them, Mother." Elaine shook her head in disagreement, still finding the prediction to be false. "My son can’t be a vampire mother, how is he destined to be one of those night creatures! How did it get to this??"
The sky outside had darkened further, and Elaine’s fear increased when she looked out the window. The twelve o’clock rule wasn’t only made to reduce the disappearance of people missing, but also to ensure no one runs into what very few have seen and considered to be the night creatures.
For some unknown reason, she felt really restless like something terribly bad was about to occur.
Her eyes returned to the clock and it was already past twelve. Everything appeared calm, but it felt like a storm was gradually brewing somewhere.
All this time, she’s been keeping a brave face and holding in her sadness for none of her children to see. She had succeeded in bringing Cassian up the best way she could, but then the prediction an unknown priest had told her when Cassian was born, was only starting to haunt her now.
"Your son will face many tribulations and hardships. So much so that everything in his life would become unbearable." The priest had said when he had come over to her old house back in the upper west quarters to congratulate her for having a safe delivery.
"His life will be in multiple danger as he continues to grow." The priest added in a pensive tone. "A time will come when he shall be among the night creatures that walk in the dead of night, and it’ll get harder from there."
Elaine could still remember the horrible ways her heart had shattered at the priest’s prediction. "There is one way to alternate his destiny, and the only way to awaken his strength in order to deal with the dangers ahead is to make him realize that he is never alone. He will grow up strong and independent, but he needs to be reminded at all times that he is never alone. You never can tell what might be going through his mind if you leave him to himself. He could be dying on the inside."
No one except her and her mother-in-law are aware of this prediction.
That was one of the reasons Elaine had made the decision to marry Richard even though he was now married to another woman, and she still had to endure the humiliation and move in with him just so she could provide enough safety shelters for her only son.
Her mother-in-law had been her backbone since she had nothing when she married Richard, and that is the only reason why she was able to say whatever was in her heart in front of Evelyn alone.
Everything went fine for a few years, none of those predictions happened until her son faced his first near-death experience during his tenth birthday.
A lot about him changed since then, and she had made sure to build him into the strong nonpartisan person he was today.
"Mother, I don’t have a good feeling about tonight." Elaine looked at Evelyn who remained unusually calm all through their session.
"Elaine my dear." Evelyn finally leaned close to whisper wisely, her rocking chair squeaking with her movements. "Two choices were left for you to pick from. You either let your son become one of the night creatures, or he dies."
"But how am I supposed to pick? The priest clearly said the safety of his life would be in the hands of the person who ends up saving him."
"Then we shall wait and see." Evelyn uttered the most difficult thing Elaine didn’t feel like doing presently. "Wipe your tears Elaine, you cannot be weak when situations like this are slowly starting to arise. Pick yourself up. If you can’t be a bush, then be the tree. All will be well."
Wiping her tears away, Elaine knew her mother-in-law was right, and so she nodded her head and tried to keep herself together. She needed to be strong for both her children.
~~~~
"Lower East quarters." Cassian uttered indecisively after taking a quick look at the little note his sister had handed to him. "This should be Mr Geoffrey’s right location."
Standing before a small dimly-lit house in a remote area, Cassian pulled his cloak over the head and scrutinized the size of the house.
It was extremely difficult forcing Madeline into agreeing to let him come here, but he succeeded nevertheless after promising a quick return.
The whole town was silent as though it had been abandoned, but that gave him the opportunity to locate Geoffrey’s home without getting caught.
"I hope you’re more than alive, Geoffrey." He uttered under his breath before going into the house without knocking.
Behind the back of a tree, someone in a red cloak had monitored Cassian’s movements into the house, and without bothering to follow him in, the figure behind the tree retreated until its sight was completely lost in the darkness.