Aconitum, also known under various other appellations; the most notable ones being monkshood and wolfsbane. Principally found in the mountainous parts of the Northern Hemisphere. It counts over 250 species grouped under the banner of one family, the Ranunculaceae. Most of which are extremely poisonous…
"Rose?" Nathanael's voice cuts my train of thoughts short and begs for my attention.
"What?" I mumble stupidly.
Back inside the cabin. We sat in complete silence until he broke it. Well, I am sitting on that same couche again. Him, on the other hand, can't seem to rest because of something out there… In the distance. He's been standing there facing that window for as long as I've been aware to notice it. But for the most part, I was stuck in my own contemplations. Whenever the circumstances around me threaten my sanity, my inner voices tug at my conscious mind, drawing it deeper and further into a safe place. A place where I just go through pieces of information that I'd gathered throughout the years from books I'd read. It feels safe because I know every parcel, every crate and every stone of the palace I built in my mind. Nothing can ever surprise me in there, and nothing can happen to me in there.
Nathanael turns away from the window, towards me and speaks again, "I am sorry… I know how all of this must look, but I really had to bring us back in here. We would never have made it out of the forest safely. I'll take you back into town as soon as I can, I promise," he does sound confident but very gentle. A bit like his vocal cords are strained with needless weight. Perhaps that of apprehension in anticipation, worried of what my reaction will be.
As much as I want to ask about who has it for us out there and about how this ancient, decrepit cabin will do anything to protect us from potentially hypersensitive and powerful supernatural creatures, it's at this moment, that I finally find the courage to ask what I've been wanting to ask earlier when we stood outside. Back when I had every fiber of my being screaming at me to hold my tongue, lest I get on his bad side at a very unfavorable moment. But I realize that now might be the moment, in order to finish our unended conversation. I breathe in and let the words out, "The wolves from yesterday… You really have no idea of who they could've been?"
"No, absolutely none," he states.
"You… Understand how that may sound very unlikely to me, right?" it's faint but I hear my voice waver around the end of my question.
"I do… No, I do. But… I can assure you that I knew none of the shifters that attacked you yesterday. I recognized none of them," he says, only glancing at me for fractions of seconds before turning back towards the window.
"You can tell by the way they look or… Smell?"
"Both, really. I may have met them in their human forms before but… I couldn't distinguish them once they shifted. We have a unique smell when we are human and then a different one when we are in our less human form,"
"Well… That's just great! Isn't it?" I throw sarcastically, "But why this influx of supernatural creatures into Grimesbrook? Has this been happening all along or is it a new thing?" I ask.
"This influx is directly caused by an event that's held every fifty years for us… Supernatural creatures, as you call us,"
A little light bulb ignites in one of the cellars of my brain, "Did you say, fifty years? Or did I hear you wrong?" I jump in my spot.
"No, you heard me right. Why?" he turns to me, eyebrows furrowed questioningly.
"I knew it! I knew it! I knew I read that somewhere in the newspapers. Fifty years ago, was 1970…," I trail off, my initial excitement dying down towards the end as I retreat back into my mind.
I remember reading that somewhen around October, fifty years ago, people had begun to disappear in the same fashion they have been doing so lately. I had an inkling that the existence of people like Nathanael was closely tied to the phenomenon but now, I know for sure.
"What is it?"
I realize that I left him hanging for a hefty minute there. His facial muscles seem to have already given up on conveying an inquisitive look, "No, nothing but… Is this event held in Grimesbrook every time it has to take place?"
"Pretty much. This town has a rich history that dates back centuries. Many records have been lost over the years since then but… We know that the first ever election took place on these grounds," he explains.
An election, huh? I'll pry into that later, but for now I have one last question to ask him, "All of that sounds fascinating, but it doesn't necessarily explain the attack of yesterday. Why would some shifters from outside of town go through all of that trouble, at the risk of being found out, just to attack… me? I don't get it. If my memory serves, I haven't really done anything to offend any supernatural community. Well, not yet, at least…," I leave it open ended there. I may be on my way to offending all of them as I go with my questions, but for now, what I said stands.
"I couldn't tell you. It looked like an orchestrated attack, and you were definitely targeted but I can't really tell you why until I get to the bottom of it myself,"
His attention is yet again whisked away by something out there, lurking at a greater distance than my vision can reach. My eyes travel away from his figure and land on my shredded purse. I'd completely forgotten it here when we went out. I pick it up and start going through its content. I dig my phone out of there and note that it's completely out of commission. No, wonder Izzy couldn't reach me. I freeze for a split second, before remembering that the reason my keys aren't in there, is because I'd gotten them out the moment I entered the elevator yesterday. It's a habit of mine to always do so. I laugh internally at the thought of me running through the apartment building for my life, while clutching my keys tight in my hand the entire time. I hadn't even noticed it. But I am frankly more amazed by the fact that I didn't drop them somewhere along my path, as I was being chased.
I plough a little deeper into the carcass of my poor purse, until my fingers came in contact with something solid but soft to the touch. I slowly pull it out of there since I immediately recognized what it was. I hold the small, red velvet box in my hand for a second before opening it up to reveal a stunningly beautiful silver necklace at its heart.
Its pendant is an amalgamation of small rose shaped sculptures, stuck together.
An idea skids by my vision perimeter. I stand up and join Nathanael in front of the window. Without further consideration I lay the pendant flat on his knuckle area.
"What are you doing?" he asks once he feels the cold metal on his skin.
"Testing weaponry," I say innocently.
"Silver…" he chuckles after that mutter, "Silver doesn't really affect us the way it is portrayed in fiction,"
"Hum… Okay… Then what does?" I try but he holds his peace, "Okay, then… Fine, keep your secrets," I cross my arms on my chest.
"May I?" He opens his hand and offers it to me.
"Sure," I place the pendant at its center and look back at him.
"It's very beautiful. You weren't wearing it before, I would've noticed it," he says with a heartwarming smile.
"It was my mother's. It's the only piece of property I inherited from her. I keep it close… Enough to myself," I utter.
"I am really sorry. I didn't mean to…,"
"Don't be," I cut him off a bit dryly, "She was an absolute bitch,"
"Oh… I," he seems lost for words.
"It's alright. I always look at the bright side. In terms of shitty mothers, she wasn't the worst to have ever existed,"
I gently take the pendant from the palm of his hand. My fingers enter in contact with his skin very shortly, but it was enough for my heart to skip a beat. I turn towards the window, hoping he doesn't notice the color on my face changing. I start feeling a lot warmer all of the sudden. Like I've only gotten to notice how close we were to each other.
But he remains silent, his full attention back on the forest behind the glass. My gaze lingers on his features, long enough for me to note that, although very discreetly, his ears are moving the way I've never seen human ears move. The beautiful black of his irises keep on zooming across his eyes. His hands subtly but surely clutching at the window frame, "Okay! I'll bite," I announce.
"Bite?" he asks.
"Yes! I bite. Why are we back in this cabin?"
I catch a slight movement from his throat as he swallows before speaking, "When we were out there. I sensed the presence of multiple creatures around us. As I said before, we would not have made out without a scrap," he says.
"You sensed, as in… Smelt? Or heard?"
"Both. There are simply too many of them for me to count with precision and I can't even tell the nature of all of them," he answers, just as worrisome as he has been all this time.
"Alright, but… What about this cabin? Why here? What's so special about this place that it'll keep us safe? No offense, but it looks like it can barely protect us from the wind. So, an attack from multiple creatures? Please, forgive my skepticism," I say not so apologetically.
He exhales shortly and looks around at the cabin we stand in, "This cabin wasn't just built on our territory. It's a safe haven for members of my family. Only we can see and access it, as well as the people we invite or bring in, of course,"
"How so?" I whisper.
He finally moves away from the window, and heads towards one of the corners in the room. He kneels down on one knee and pulls one of the already banged up floorboards out of its place, "Thanks to this little gem,"
I walk closer to him in order to see what's been hidden underneath our feet this whole time, "What's this?"
My eyes widen. Lodged in between the decaying wooden boards of this shack, is a small porcelain jar, very similar to the one I saw yesterday at the restaurant, in shape. This one however, has no red markings. Instead, it has blue ones, distinctively different from the ones on the other jar.