I woke with a start, for a moment I had no idea where I was. And all I could think about was the fight, over a dozen people ganging up on me, I hissed and stretched my claws out, my fangs out as I struggled to find any attacker. But a hand stretched forth to clamp down hard on my wrist, and I couldn't even move it.
I hissed about to attack the assailant, only to see my grandmother looking at me with an impassive yet dangerous look on her face. My transformation vanished almost immediately as my red eyes went back to my normal black and my fangs and claws retracted. My heart suddenly started beating or perhaps it was not my heart that was beating, all I knew was that I was afraid.
"Why did you not say anything to me?" she asked, her gaze stern, I looked down at my hands. I wanted to say something, I really wanted to, but I couldn't, shame lanced through to the very core of my being as I shook softly under her gaze. I opened my mouth to say something, but instead all that came out was tears…. and a lot of it.
Cant say I'm proud of myself being in such a sorry state in front of my grandmother, but it has been an extremely hectic couple of days for me. But above all I was scared, and whatever it was that's responsible for making me feel fear on the lowest certain or not at all, it was not there. I felt like I used to before, with nothing but reverence for my mama.
I did not want her disappointed in me or angry, or scared….or for her to hate me because I was different now. What if she did not love me anymore, what if she reports me or doesn't give a shit about me or wants to kill me because I've become a monster. In the end I realized that it was not the fear of discovery from the rest of the world that has had me bothered, it was rejection from my grandmother, sick or not, she has always been a very strict woman even with the close relationship we had.
And in the last two days I've taken every teaching she's had for me and dumped it in garbage, just because I wanted to save her. And then things have gotten way out of hand, so much so that I had no idea what to do. I've just been swept up into one thing after the other ever since I gained this Vampyre deck.
I felt her hand on my chin as she raised my head up to look me straight it in the eyes. She moved the hand to rub my dreads before rubbing my cheek then stretching her hands open for a hug. I fell into it, my sobs a lot more heavier than before. In the end what did I know about this world, I was still just a kid, 18 might seem like a lot for some people but even I knew that was barely still just a child.
With the kind of mind I had now, I could see my own immaturity and insecurities like I was observer outside of my own body. In the end I'm just a crappy orphan kid with no talent for anything that was a total grandmas boy. But how could I not be…. she was all I had left.
"Adeoluwa Warchild….stop crying, you're the man of this family, that means it's up to you to take care of me. Now tell me everything, straight from the beginning, then we will figure out what to do next." she used my full name, it meant that she was serious, and I better get my composure.
So I told her everything, from her diagnosis to watching her slowly getting weaker over the course of a few months, to the point she had to be quarantined and specially taken care of. To hearing about the Silver Wyatt recruitment currently going on, to me going to the test, the test itself. The cabin, the soldiers, the Vampyre, the deck…..dying.
And then everything after since then, especially the big shit I've gone and thrown myself into. The war that was now underway because I decided to eat a bully and almost getting killed by strutting around town with the jacket of the person I had murdered. Everything, and by the time I was done, I seem to have regained my composure, while she kept silent listening to me through it all without saying a word.
"I taught you better Ade, but I cant say I blame you. With just the two of us and me falling sick, I've put too much responsibility on your head, responsibility that you are not ready for. Not everyone is some protagonist that can properly stand up and face the world for the sake of their loved ones. But you have tried your best and that is what counts.
However did it not cross your head that by virtue of being a Vampyre you could have solved the issue of my illness by turning me into one? Or that if you had brought this to me in the beginning I would have made arrangements for you, so that your transition would have been smoother. I'm still the head of the neighborhood watch, even if it's just an advisory position, I have connections to the right people Ade! You put yourself in danger because you wanted to carry this burden alone, that is not how family works boy! You know this!"
When she put it that way, I felt incredibly stupid. But things should be better now right, now that she knew, she had a plan right. I'm just not so sure I can figure all of this out on my own. She tapped my shoulder and gave me a soft smile. It was enough to put me at ease, at least for now.