Azrael Herrington tried his best to regulate his breathing after the scare by the werewolf form of the old man. He then looked at the man scrutinizingly as a question popped into his mind.
"If you don't mind me asking, who or what are you? The last time we met you disappeared before my very eyes and right now you just appeared as a werewolf, are you a hybrid with some special abilities or something else entirely?"
Azrael asked with a furrowed brow and an attentive stare.
The old man smiled and started speaking slowly, "Oh, well I am not a werewolf, that werewolf transformation you just witnessed was an illusion I am what you call, a protector... " The old man started to explain. He went to get a place to sit and Azrael followed him to a place where a sofa was, he sat down before he was even ushered and continued to listen attentively.
"We protectors were created to serve the witches of the house of Dolf. We are imbued with magical powers to help the witches protect the humans and maintain a balance in the world."
"Your mother came from the House of Dolf, her name was Charlice Dolf before she met your father and changed her last name to Herrington to hide under the human cover. There are other great witches like Elena Gomez, Sharia Gum, Bianca Zul..."
As soon as he mentioned Bianca Zul, Azrael couldn't help but squeeze his face in confusion. "Are you saying Bianca Zul is related to my mother..."
"Yes, Bianca, Charlice, Elena, and Sharia are all sisters, they married and changed their last names to prevent their identities from being found out, but how do you know about Bianca Zul?" The old man was the one curious this time.
Azrael had a wide eye, "So Bianca Zul is my great aunt, this might sound crazy but she sometimes appears to me like a ghost or something..." Azrael responded, wondering if the old man would believe him.
"Bianca is my lover, she wouldn't want to marry any mortal man so she chose me, the last protector. I loved her with all my heart but she never felt the same way, all she cared about was power."
"The Zul that she used for her last name was my last name. I am Yiu Ming Zul, the last protector of the house of Dolf. Wait, Can you make her appear...?" Yiu Ming appeared expectant as he spoke.
Azrael shook his head sadly, "She only appears to me when she wants to..."
"psst...Typical..." Yiu Ming responded with a disappointed snort.
He then continued his story. "Your mother was once one of the greatest of the four witches of the house of Dolf, she was beautiful, powerful, compassionate, and kind, and this kind of trait attracted lots of suitors who wanted her hand in marriage including the infamous werewolf King.."
"The werewolf king tried so many times to have her hand in marriage, but she kept refusing. Your mother got so fed up with the advances of the werewolf king that one day she openly disgraced him, defeating him in combat with her ability and making him a laughing stock."
"The werewolf king got so enraged that he decided that he would rather kill your mother than have her disgrace him and get away with it. He fought her for so long but he couldn't defeat her, until later when he found a witch that produced for him a special cursed salt,"
"The witch asked the werewolf King to add the salt in the food of your mom and assured him that she would poison the bloodline of your mom through that means and activate the werewolf curse and with that, he would have an equal fighting chance."
"The werewolf king tricked one of the maids to poison your mother. I caught wind of this and tried to protect your mom, but before I could raise an alarm, the werewolf King managed to subdue me through trickery and locked me up."
"Eventually your mom was poisoned but she was still okay because she had to kill to activate the curse in her blood. Eventually, I was able to escape being held hostage and found your mom. It was then that we left the house of Dolf in the states of Pelanile and moved to Herrington State."
"In Herrington State, we ran into your father. Using a charm we brought him under a spell and made him love your mother. It was then we discovered that a spell wasn't needed, he already had feelings for her."
"So we undid the spell and allowed both your mom and dad to become a couple. Your mom was able to hide her name and change her last name to Herrington."
"I asked your mom not to return ever to Pelanile again and things were going well until we got the news that Bianca had been attacked by the werewolf king."
"Your mom couldn't stay back anymore, she took off and returned to Pelanile against my better judgment. At that time she was heavily pregnant with you. On the day she arrived in Pelanile, she was attacked and she had to kill some people to protect herself and she, in turn, activated the curse."
"It was a very painful night as she turned into a white werewolf while having you inside of her. She gave birth that night with pains and tears and I was the first to hold you in my arms as you came out of her womb."
"There is a small mark at the back of your neck that glittered for a split second before returning to its dull natural color..." Yiu Ming paused and Azrael confirmed that he did have such a mark by touching the exact spot.
He kept listening to the story as he didn't have any doubt left. Yiu Ming Zul also continued, "After giving birth to you, she managed to regain her strength."
"Days after, I reminded her of the werewolf curse and asked her to at least use her werewolf powers but she refused to listen to my pleadings and warnings. Your mom was so stubborn.."
"Sadly a month later, the werewolf king attacked with his park, he killed your mom in such a ruthless manner, he first slit open her throat, then he opened up her chest and brought out her heart then he used her intestines to write a name on the ground before hanging her head on a pole"
Yiu Ming started to cry as the gory memory returned.
"My heart broke when I saw her, she had sent me on an errand that day, preventing me from staying back to protect her. We buried her body and returned you to your father and lied that your mom died during childbirth."
"Your father was so broken he didn't eat for days, he couldn't handle the pain so he focused entirely on his business to mask the emptiness that he felt inside. All he did was send us a buck load of cash, he didn't care what happened after."
"Although Elena and Sharia later worked together to imprison the werewolf King, but the deed had already been done, Charlice was already dead."
"I've watched over you ever since and I would have remained anonymous until I discovered that someone had forced you to activate your werewolf curse early like they did to your mother and they might come for you too."
"This might mean a possible return of the werewolf king..." Yiu Ming paused and sighed as the bad memories lingered in his mind.