Chapter 68: Chapter Sixty-eight: Damien’s Story VIII: The boy named Jesse.
"You witch! What have you done?!" Xeranthis shrieked out, pulling himself away from her immediately. A little while before he entered her, the effects of the drugged wine had worn off a bit. When he eventually entered and got distracted by the pleasure, she brought her feet up quickly and kicked his ’stuff’ from behind.
A dry sore appeared on the surface of the part and Xeranthis stumbled back out of the bed. Mira didn’t waste any time. For that drink to have weakened her to that level, it shows he wasn’t an ordinary John. Mira stumbled out of the bed in a hurry. She had to leave when she was still clearheaded and find her kids.
"Oh no you don’t you little whore. I’m gonna hammer you till you become senile!" he said, grabbing her hair once again.
Mira gripped the hand on her head and bit down on it hard. Xeranthis fisted her on the forehead as he writhed in pain but Mira took that opportunity and kicked him square in the crunch. The king screamed out in anger as he grabbed his part and fell to the floor in his pathetic nudity.
Mira took the key to the room on the bedside table, dashed outside and locked the door. She knew it was pointless as the man could appear and disappear but at least it’d buy her some time.
She through the halls and endless flights of stairs, looking for the room they were put in.
"Three to the right...no left...center and no no not right again!"
By the time she arrived at the room, she was already out of breath. She grabbed the doorknob and forced it open, almost breaking it in the process. By the time she got in, her world crumbled before her face. The room was empty. Stark empty with no signs of the living.
The windows were left flying open, sending in a cold wind rushing into the room. Mira immediately locked the door behind her and rushed to the window. She looked below but found nothing. She felt her heart literally stop working.
What if that beast had gotten to them first?!
"Damien! Cassian! Baby, where are you?!" she cried out at the top of her lungs as she thrashed the entire room looking for them.
"Where is that disgusting prostitute?!" Xeranthis echoed from the hallway.
Oh no.
She had to hide but she knew it was useless. If she still had her witch powers, she would have hidden her scent. She still was unable to summon her vampire powers and was at a complete loss. Having no choice left, she approached the window hastily and did what any desperate mother looking for her children would do—jump.
Mira landed painfully on the cemented ground. That darned poison! It had totally suppressed her abilities even to the one that stops pain. She shook it off anyways even with how painful it was. At least she wasn’t weak or staggering again.
"Damien baby where are you?! Come out please."
Mira was distraught. They were barely ten years old! Where could they possibly be?! She looked around her in distress. She was the only one there with that perverted maniac. "Damn it!" Mira took off her shoes and ran away from the place, going deeper and deeper beyond the main palace. As she ran, she kept on screaming their names hoping desperately that she would hear at least one of them answer her.
A few minutes passed and she was still running when something caught her eye in a nearby flower bush. She rushed to it, grabbing it with both hands. Mira clasped a hand over her mouth to stop her gasp as she realized what it really was. Tears flooded her eyes and she caressed the pin to her chest, clutching it like it were her lifeline.
The brooch pin. It was the brooch pin she had put on Damien before they left home.
"My poor baby." she said, running her hands over the silver pin "...mama will find you mm? I’ll find you..."
Seeing the brooch pin gave her courage to get up once again. From where she stood, she could still here the madman screaming her name. She had wondered why the entire courtyard was devoid of even a servant. It had all been already planned out to make it possible for him to twist the story since there were no eyewitnesses. What a maniac!
But that was the least important thing to her. He could kill her for all she cared, her kids must not suffer the brunt of it. Mira crouched herself to fit into the small opening in the barrier beside the bush. She got a few scratches here and there but it didn’t stop her. Once she was all the way through, she hid her shoes in the grass beside the opening. She was about to start running when something popped in her head.
Her hands ran over the low-backed dress and roughly tore the ends out.
"I’ll be better off without it anyways." She ripped the dress up to a little bit above her knees and wrapped the torn part around her waist. She decided not to discard it in case they were injured when she eventually finds them. That done, she made her way through the tree-clogged forest with determination flaring in her eyes.
As she navigated the dense forest, the trees seemed to close in around her, tangling together like skeletal fingers. The air was heavy with the scent of damp earth and decaying leaves, and the only sound she could hear was the soft rustle of her makeshift skirt against her legs. She moved with her eyes scanning her surroundings for any sign of movement.
Suddenly, she froze when her ears picked up the faint sound of whimpering. She turned towards the noise, her heart racing with a mix of fear and hope. As she approached, the whimpering grew louder, and she saw a small figure huddled against the trunk of a massive tree.
The child’s eyes were squeezed shut, and his tiny chest heaved with ragged breaths. A jagged cut marred his forearm exposing the angry and red skin around it. She gasped, her hands flying to her mouth as she dropped to her knees beside him.
"I’ll get you help, my baby," she vowed, her eyes flashing with determination. "I’ll get you safe, no matter what it takes."
She unwrapped the cloth around her waist but stopped when her eyes landed on his head. Neither Damien nor Cassian had the hair on his head. Who was this?
With shaky hands and a prayerful heart, Mira turned the face of the boy to herself. Her heart dropped to her stomach in great disappointment as she sank to her knees.
Immediately she saw the hair, she knew it wasn’t them but a small, hopeful fairy in her had given her false hope.
What a shameless grace.
"Oh...it’s you," she whispered, her voice trembling with anguish. "Jesse...right?" She gently reached out to touch his forehead, and his eyes fluttered open, focusing blearily on her face.
"What are you doing here?" she murmured but the child didn’t even flinch. He just laid there as if paralysed all over. Mira was itching to know why he was there instead of her child but decided to hold on. His arm was in bad shape and her soft heart wouldn’t let her leave him untreated.
As she examined the wound, her expression grew grim. The cut was deep, and the boy needed medical attention... fast. She ripped a strip from the remains of her makeshift skirt, using it to bind the wound tightly. Then, she scooped him into her arms and brought him to a sitting position, leaning his head against the bark.
She looked down at his face, confusion etched on her own face. Why was he here, injured and alone? Where was her own child? Her heart ached with worry at the realization. Just where exactly could they be? Who could have taken them?
She needed to get the small boy to safety, and then she would keep searching for her own child.
Mira’s eyes scanned the surroundings, searching for anything that could help her treat his wound. She spotted a nearby bush with a few sprigs of wild chamomile and hastily plucked some of its leaves. Spitting on them, she used the provisional poultice to clean the wound, gently wiping away the dirt and grime. She rebound the wound, hoping it would help stem the bleeding.
As she worked, the boy’s eyes began to open fully and he gazed up at her with a blank expression. Mira’s heart went out to him, and she asked again softly, "What are you doing here, Jesse? How did you get hurt?"
But Jesse’s gaze was blank, and he said nothing. Mira’s felt frustrated. She was in a hurry but still took time to painstakingly nurse his wounds. He was a child but still... She shook her head. Maybe he was still fazed from the terrible experience because looking at the size of his wound, it should be nothing less than a bite of a ferocious animal. But wouldn’t that kill a small boy? Vampire or not, he looked too weak to take on an animal of that supposed size.
Mira tried a different tack. She pulled out the brooch pin she’d found earlier and held it up, asking, "Do you know who was wearing this? Did you happen to see them?"
Nothing. The boy just kept staring at her like she was speaking a foreign tongue.
His silence was unnerving, but suddenly, he raised his injured arm and pointed straight ahead of him. Mira followed his gaze with hope in her eyes but when she looked, she saw nothing except the dense forest. She turned back to him, baffled annoyance etched on her face. Was he playing games with her? Right now?!
And then, her heart skipped a beat.
The boy’s body began to contort as his limbs stretched and twisted in ways that seemed impossible. His eyes turned a fierce shade of yellow, and his skin erupted with a thick, red fur. Mira’s scream was trapped in her throat as she watched transfixed, the boy named Jesse transform into a massive, red werewolf. She couldn’t believe her eyes. What the hell was happening tonight?! Of all the oddities she had seen in her lifetime, a small boy transforming into a wolf was one she would never cease to relive.
Before she could process the shock, a dagger hurtled towards her head, sharply passing by just a hair’s breadth away from her ear. But the wolf was quicker and he snatched the dagger from the air with its teeth, breaking it in half. Mira’s gaze swung to the source of the attack, and her blood ran cold.
Millions of red-eyed monsters swarmed towards her with eyes glowing like hellfire in the darkness. They moved with an unnatural speed as their twisted, abnormal bodies undulated like snakes. Mira’s fear had completely glued her to the ground, but the wolf sprang into action, jumping in front of her and whirling its tail around.
The ground shook violently as the wolf struck the earth, unleashing a wave of power that sent the creatures to dust. The shockwave was so intense that it knocked her out of her temporary paralysis, causing her to stumble. The wolf quickly turned and flipped her onto its back in one swift swipe. As more monsters streamed towards them, the wolf took off, racing through the forest with Mira clinging to its fur for dear life.