A Mother's Story
By Risa
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
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Chapter 3
The two of them thus went to San Francisco. All seemed to be well. Benjamin had soon got a good job and no one from evil seemed to have discovered what Elizabeth had done yet. Elizabeth lived a life that could not be considered as either good or evil. It was not just for Benjamin's sake that she tried to avoid doing evil – or at least any major evil. Now that she had Benjamin in her life, she was all too aware of the pain that a person went through at any hurt inflicted on a loved one or even worse, the loss of a loved one. That made her reluctant to do evil.
Yet, because of her demonic nature, she sometimes found it difficult to serve good either.
Then it all began to change when their son, Cole was born.
It had been a difficult pregnancy. Elizabeth was worried about how he might turn out since he was half human and half demon. She thought that once he was born, Benjamin will find out what she truly was. Even so, she wanted to have the baby and was willing to take the risk. In the end, all the worry seemed to be for nothing. Cole seemed to be a normal human baby showered with all the love and care his parents could give him.
Then, when he was two years old, Cole showed that he was not that normal after all.
He was being scolded by both his parents for having pushed over another child that afternoon in the playground. Not that it had been entirely his fault – at least, in his eyes. The frustration had built within him, especially since his parents had rarely scolded him. Suddenly, there was a small red figure standing in the living room in the place of their son.
Elizabeth knew at once that it was her son's demonic form. Benjamin stood there, stupefied at the sudden transformation. He was shocked and frightened. He rushed over to the boy and shouted at him, shaking his shoulders. "What are you? What the hell did you do to my son?"
Elizabeth quickly pulled Benjamin away. Cole was angry right now and it was the first time his demonic side was unleashed. He wouldn't be able to control it. Right now, he was filled with the urge to evil and violence and could well injure or even kill his father. She bent down and held his shoulders firmly and said soothingly, "Cole, calm down. Get control of your temper. You're home, you're safe and we love you. Come back to us."
Slowly, the old Cole came back. Benjamin stared at Elizabeth accusingly. "What happened to him? There's something you know that you're not telling me…"
Elizabeth sighed and said tiredly, "Cole's half demon."
"No!" Benjamin shouted in disbelief. "That would make you – "
" – a demon as well," she said, looking at Benjamin steadily in the eye.
"But how can it be? You look human… demons are evil – you can't be evil…"
"I was evil until I met you and fell in love. This is just my human form."
"And your demon form? What does it look like?"
"Trust me, you don't want to see it."
"And our son, is he evil too?"
"I wouldn't lie and say that he isn't. He'll have the inclination towards evil because of his demonic nature. But if we bring him up properly, he'll be able to control it. I've been able to control it and I'm a full demon."
"And they let you be with a human?"
Elizabeth hesitated.
"The truth, Elizabeth, please," Benjamin said in a tired voice.
"They don't know about it. But if they did, both of us – and Cole – will be dead."
Benjamin nodded as if having heard the answer to some hidden mystery. "So that was why you wanted us to leave the town then?"
She nodded. "Do you hate me for what I am?"
Benjamin looked at her, shocked that she could suggest something like this. "No! No, I can never hate you, Elizabeth. I just wished that you told me this earlier, that's all. Whatever you've done, it's all in the past. You're different now."
Elizabeth looked at him, loving him at that moment more than she had ever thought possible. "Thank you," she said softly.
A small tug on Elizabeth's dress drew their attention back to their son. "Mother, are you and Father still angry at me?"
"No, love, no," she smiled down at him. "Come on, it's late. Let's get you to bed." She carried him in her arms up the stairs with Benjamin following behind her.
After putting their son to sleep, Elizabeth and Benjamin went back to the living room. She sat encircled in Benjamin's arms on the old large armchair. They sat there in a companionable silence, neither willing to break the silent rapport they had.
Finally, Benjamin broke the silence. "So we'll have to keep Cole under close watch?"
Elizabeth nodded. "You'll have to be careful though. He's dangerous in his demonic form."
"Why?"
"Demons all have powers. I'm not too sure what sort of powers he has yet but if it's inherited from me then they might include energy balls. And you'll want to stay extremely far away from those."
"What powers do you have exactly?" Benjamin asked curiously.
Elizabeth laughed. "I've got quite a few. Preternatural strength for one and I've already told you about the energy balls. I can also shimmer – a power which allows me to go from one place to another almost instantly. I can move things with my mind, sense strong emotions and a few minor powers here and there – nothing really worth mentioning."
"Are you ever going to tell me about your days as a demon?"
"I don't know…" Elizabeth said, looking away into the distance. "I've done some very horrible things that I'm not sure that I want you to know about. I know that a good relationship is built on trust but sometimes – "
" – it's better to let old ghosts lie," Benjamin finished, smiling at Elizabeth and turning her face towards his. He softly kissed her on the lips and then said, "I understand. And remember this, I love you. Yesterday, today and forever."
She grinned at him. "You're such a sweet-talker. That's how I was charmed by you."
"Love, you have no idea how charming I can get," Benjamin said, a mischievous smile on his face. He lifted her in his arms and stood up and carried her into their bedroom.
Later that night, Elizabeth suddenly said, "You took the news very well."
"Hmm?" Benjamin said sleepily.
Elizabeth turned to face him. "I thought that you might be afraid of me, hate me being evil once."
He laughed softly. "Whatever you once were, I know the person you are now. I know that you aren't evil and that I have no reason to fear or hate you. That is enough. I was simply shocked. But yet, I think on some level I've always suspected that you were keeping something from me."
Elizabeth looked at her husband in wonderment at the quiet faith he had in her, loving him more than words could say. "I love you, Benjamin Turner," she said softly as she leaned her head on her chest.
He pulled her closer to him. "I know. But it doesn't hurt for you to say it more often," he smiled at her.
At that moment, Elizabeth knew absolute peace and happiness. This was probably the closest thing to heaven that she would ever know and she was going to cling to and protect every single minute of it.
But it was not meant to be. A few days later, Elizabeth was sitting on a bench reading while Cole was playing with some of the other children at the park. A man sat down beside her. A voice that she would rather not hear again said, "Isn't this a most idyllic scene?"
Elizabeth's head looked up sharply in shock from the book she was reading. "Raynor," she said flatly. She turned to look at him. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"You've become quite the good little wife," Raynor continued, ignoring Elizabeth's question. "Rather surprising actually."
"Again, what the hell are you doing here?" Elizabeth said, her voice becoming deadly quiet.
"Oh, I'm just here to pay a visit to you, your son and your husband. You really should have invited me to your wedding – we are family after all. But then, I forget. Your husband was the human you were supposed to kill."
"That's enough Raynor," she interrupted sharply. "Do I have to repeat myself?"
"Patience, my dear," Raynor said reproachfully. "Did you think you could get away this easily for such a treasonous charge of lying to the Source? But I have to applaud the way you pulled the wool over all our eyes – most impressive. It would probably have lasted a while longer if it hadn't been for your son."
"My son?"
"Elizabeth, Elizabeth," Raynor said, shaking his head. "You've spent too long in the mortal world – it's blunted your wits. Don't you remember that the Source is able to sense the birth of a new demon?"
Realisation dawned on Elizabeth. "Once Cole turned into his demon form, the Source sensed him. But he had no notice of any new demon births, so he sent someone to investigate."
"So you do have some of your wits left. You were really rather careless," Raynor chided. "You forgot that the Source was able to sense the whereabouts of all demons unless they're shielded."
Elizabeth swore inside at her stupidity. "What do you want?" she said coldly.
"Nothing really."
Elizabeth laughed incredulously. "You mean you're just going to leave me and my family alone without anything in return? Who are you kidding here? It's never nothing with the Source."
"So sceptical," Raynor said. "We've met and we've discussed the matter. We decided that if you're foolish enough to want to be with a harmless, useless mortal, then so be it. We'll let you live in the blissful stupidity you choose."
"Oh no," Elizabeth said, shaking her head. "There's a catch somewhere."
Raynor sighed. "Honestly, Elizabeth, will you rather that we hunt you and your family and kill them? Because that can be arranged…"
"No," she said. "You just leave us alone." Then she said warningly, "But I'll be on my guard."
Raynor simply shrugged. Elizabeth had no desire to spend another minute with him and called impatiently, "Cole! Let's go!" The boy came to her reluctantly and Elizabeth had to drag him away.
As the two figures faded in the distance, a cold, dark smile appeared on Raynor's face before he left as well.