Beast Blood

Chapter 6: My Mother

With my mother gone from my life for so long, the only things that remained of her in my mind were childhood memories. Now that I had the chance to see her, I certainly could not give up.

The fateful day soon arrived. The next day, my uncle rushed into my room.

"Leon, come with me quickly! Your grandfather is out today. I'll take you to your mother!"

I nodded and eagerly followed my uncle to one of the estate's compounds.

The Storm family could be considered part of the city’s upper class, especially after the Lord Mayor was saved by Loughan. So naturally, the family owned a sizable estate. Though, since my grandfather had never been fond of me, I was forbidden from setting foot in many places of the estate, and the range where I could stretch my legs was limited.

I followed my uncle through bends and turns for god knows how long before I finally saw a hut in a remote corner.

"Is that where my mother is?"

My heart was beating fast and my breathing grew rapid, but my pace slackened.

"What're you waiting for? Hurry it up! Things will get messy if your grandfather comes home."

I followed my uncle to the entrance of the hut. It was a rather shabby building, but its surroundings were well maintained. Everything seemed to be in good order.

"Go on, I've sent the guards off. Your mother is inside, and remember, make it quick."

I nodded. Gritting my teeth, I pushed the door open. I was met with a light fragrance that was extremely familiar to me… The smell of my mother's favorite orchids. When I was young and still by my mother's side, this has been a familiar fragrance, and smelling them again now filled me with a vague sense of warmth.

The woman in green sitting in front of the window turned to look in my direction when she heard the noise. Our eyes met. This was the mother I had missed for so long, but her appearance had changed. She looked haggard and the hair around her face had already begun to gray. Her slightly hunched body made her look miserable.

I immediately felt choked up and unable to speak. Even my sight had begun to blur.

The woman's face was also filled with tears. She sat up and ran toward me, cupping my cheeks with both hands as she looked at me in disbelief.

"Leo, is that you? Let me take a good look at you."

I tried to hold back my tears, but I could not resist the waterfall of emotions welling up inside of me, causing my tears to fall.

"I'm sorry, my child, your mother is useless. I've made you suffer."

Only the sound of our sobs were left in the room. Remembering what my uncle said, I quickly poked my head out of my mother's embrace.

"Mother, we don't have much time. My uncle secretly brought me here to see you. After this, I'm going to Rowe to study at the academy."

"Why such a faraway place? Was it your grandfather who decided this?"

Mother was surprised to hear this news. She pulled me to a nearby chair, and I gave her a simple rundown of recent affairs.

"So, you actually did inherit his..."

Before she could finish her words, a thought seemed to come to her mind as she grimaced in pain.

"What's wrong, mom? Do you know something about my transformation?"

I looked at her with hopeful eyes, but my mother covered her head, and her expression gradually turned painful.

"Mom, what's wrong?"

"I...I don't know...Don't talk to me about him, I want to go outside! Let me out of here..."

Mother suddenly became frantic and she rushed out of the door without a care for anything else. Even though my mother suffered from manic depression, I did not expect her to have an episode right now. Caught off guard, I was taken aback for a moment before rushing out to give chase.

Mother began yelling as soon as she reached the door.

"Let me out of here, I need to see him!"

My uncle was at the door, so he pulled her back in time just as she rushed out.

"Sis! Snap out of it and get back inside. We'll be in for hell if dad sees you!"

Mother had listless eyes. She ignored my uncle's warnings completely, and like a madwoman, she beat and tugged at my uncle. As things grew more and more out of hand, the worst happened. My grandfather had returned.

"What are you doing there!"

My grandfather's loud voice appeared. He stomped over furiously with eyes cold enough to kill. Glancing at my uncle, his gaze finally landed on me.

"You bastard, who asked you to come here?! Guards! Bring her back inside!"

"Yes!"

Two guardsmen went on each side of my mother, lifting her up by the arms and dragging her back into the hut. I could not stand the sight of watching my gaunt mother struggling in their arms anymore, I shouted, "Stop it!"

I ran over to stop the two guards, who looked at my grandfather hesitantly.

"What, are you thinking of rebelling?!" my grandfather barked.

"What do you want before you'll let my mother go?!" I roared at him.

He sneered and spat in disdain. "Humph. She is a stain on the Storm family's name, and you are proof of it! I will never let her out of here for the rest of her life!"

"What gives you that right?!" I glared at him. Blood was constantly flowing to my head, fuelling me with rage.

"I am the patriarch of this family and my word is final! You're nothing more than an ant in my eyes that I can crush anytime I want to. You have no qualifications to bargain with me!" My grandfather spat out a string of emotionless words that crashed right down on my heart.

Sneering, he waved me off without a care.

The guards nodded and pushed me ruthlessly to the ground.

I fell onto the cold ground with a thud and watched as my mother was dragged back into the hut. My chest was quivering, slowly filling up with rage.

"Just you wait, I'll trample you under my feet one of these days and make you beg!" Clenching my fists, I glared at my grandfather and howled at him.

"Hah, you really think you can amount to anything? There's a single spot in the academy this year, and the deputy mayor has already picked someone. You'd be delusional if you think you can actually go."

My heart went cold. I did not think such a possibility could happen.

"The deputy mayor has been looking for ways to capture you and interrogate you, so you'd better make yourself scarce. Don't drag the Storm family down with you. From this day onward, you are no longer a member of the Storm family."

Turning around, he left without even looking back.

"Get to it, then!"

The two guards cracked their knuckles and looked down at me derisively.

I gritted my teeth. Humiliatingly, I crawled up and grabbed my bag off the ground, making my way out of this place.