The Crown's Obsession (WN)

A young man made his way through the houses' alley's as the streets had never been kind to him or his mother. It was nearly six where the sky had turned dark, a night that was starless. With a small bag in his hand, the young man continued to cross houses until he reached the village's very end, that was also the way that led to the forest.

"Mother I am-" he said, standing outside the door, but he received no response. He knocked on the door, wondering if his mother had gone somewhere. When he knocked harder, the wooden door moved as if it had not been locked, "Mother?" called Calhoun, and when his eyes fell on the woman on the floor, he shouted, "Mother! What happened?" he questioned her frantically, after going to her side.

The woman had blood dripping from the corner of her mouth. She held onto something in her hand, which she put in her pocket, "I am fine, Calhoun." She tried to lift herself, pushing her hand on the ground and standing up to almost fall back if it weren't for her son who caught hold of her in time.

"I should call the doctor-"

"No!" his mother shook her head, "I must have eaten something bad today. Which is why," she rubbed her mouth with her sleeves when her son placed her on the bed.

"Are you sure about it? Let me take a look," said the young man, taking a closer inspection of her eyes and then her pulse, "Let me go get you a glass of water." He left her side to return with a glass of water in his hand.

His mother looked far worse than he had ever seen her until now. She had been alright in the morning, and it seemed like her condition had turned bad by the time he had returned, "Did someone come by?" he asked, taking the empty glass back.

She offered him a smile, "Just someone I once knew."

"Who is that?"

Instead of answering his question, she shifted the subject by pulling out a necklace from her dress pocket, "It was a friend of mine who came to see how I was doing," his eyes fell on the chain, and she said, "When this was given to me as a gift, I was told that this once belonged to a Queen." She started to cough, and soon the water that she had drunk came out of her mouth as if her body couldn't keep it in. But it wasn't just water but also blood that she spewed from her lips, "I wonder what I ate yesterday."

"Please lay down. I will go get the doctor so that he can take a look at you," he pulled the covers so that it could keep his mother warm, and he left the small house.

The young man was worried, and he made his way to the doctor's house. Standing at the front, he knocked on the door, and a man opened to see who it was. On seeing the young man outside, he was about to close the door without responding and Calhoun placed his hand on the door.

"My mother is sick. I need you to come and take a look at her," came the serious voice of Calhoun.

"I don't check whores. Go find another doctor-" the man was still speaking when Calhoun stepped in and caught hold of the man's neck.

"You either come and take a look at her now, or I snap your neck and break your body in two halves," Calhoun glared at the human who had dared to call his mother a whore, "Choose." The man flailed his hands and Calhoun finally freed the human's neck, leaving the man coughing for air.

The doctor glared at the young vampire, but he followed him back to the house to look at the woman. After checking her, the doctor said, "It looks like she has caught an infection. Make sure to give her warm water and keep feeding her."

"She's not drinking water. What next?" asked Calhoun, his eyes cold shifted from his mother, who was resting on the bed to fall on the doctor.

"Force her to eat," answered the man with a sceptical look when he caught sight of the blood that stained the ground, "It would be best for her to stop...working," he said carefully, not wanting to have his neck squeezed again. He gave out some medicines that would help her before he bolted out of the house.

Unfortunately, his mother's health didn't get better, and her body slowly started to crumble every day in front of his eyes. He saw his mother writhe in pain. Her body curled and near the end of her time, her skin had come to stick to her bones as she couldn't eat or drink. Anything that went through her mouth and her stomach came out hurling.

"Calhoun?" Madeline called his name as he appeared lost in thoughts.

"I forgot about it. Hanima's cursed treasures," murmured Calhoun, while taking a step towards the open patio, and Madeline followed him. "It is an old fable, that makes it to be highly popular where people don't believe the outcome of it, but in truth, it is cursed when it comes to the descendants of demons. My mother did receive one of the chains that belonged to the same treasure, which was later thrown. I doubt something like that could affect my mother. But it makes me question now if she still had the ability of a demon."

Calhoun placed his hands on the edge of the railings, his hands tightening and his voice hard when he said, "It never occurred to me back then that the chain had anything to do with my mother's deteriorating health. I took it to be as any other normal chain. It was a chain very much similar to what your aunt had presented to you, but with different effects."

"But the effect shouldn't prolong…"

"Hanima's treasures kills the person slowly from inside. Her health must have started to deteriorate far before the day the effects started to show, which was why she finally removed it from her neck after realizing it," answered Calhoun, "The treasures are held and locked by the High House in their dungeons as artefacts, and with one of it out in the open here, it seems like someone stole it from there."

Did that mean someone came to kill her purposefully? Asked Madeline in her mind.

Calhoun stared at the castle grounds, and sighed, "I was hoping to behead someone today," he changed the topic, as he had already sent his men to find out about the merchant who had sold the jewellery to his relative.

"I am sorry about your mother, Calhoun," she placed her hand on his that was on the railing.

He offered her a smile, "It happened a long time ago, and I have somewhere made peace with the matter."

Calhoun couldn't wait to catch hold of the person, who had made his mother wear the chain with or without knowledge unless he had already killed the person.