The Old Man
The Old Man
But unlike Theodore, He wasn't worried. At least for now. He was eagerly waiting for the future.
"You seem to be in a happy mood," the Goddess sarcastically commented after seeing her husband in the garden smiling to himself.
And God replied in an equally mocking tone, "Ah! Yes. Despite my lovely wife doing everything in her power to ensure my sadness, I found a small reason to be happy."
The Goddess frowned and asked, "Don't tell me you are still obsessing over our granddaughter and trying to write her fate."
The almighty had a mysterious smile on his face.
He looked at his wife's evergreen face and asked instead, "Ariel is extremely curious by nature. Do you think that those barriers can contain our granddaughter? Do you think you can 'protect' her from the greatness that is already in her fate?"
"You're forgetting that fate is fluid, dear husband. Aren't you the one who embedded the option of free will and choice in your so-called grand design?" the Goddess was implying that Ariel wasn't someone who was going to be the next puppet of the grand designer of the universe.
The almighty smirked and sighed out, "Just wait and watch. I will make sure that she will choose the greatness over being bound inside those four walls."
The Goddess rolled her eyes and snapped back, "I wouldn't need to 'bind' her if it weren't for you and your beloved first son."
And God corrected her, "Our first son. And he is not 'beloved'. I just let him slide because I have to keep on maintaining peace here on Heaven as well as on Earth."
He further thought silently, "I don't want any more angels to fall to Hell. I created Hell to punish the rebels and the sinners. But it is becoming a powerful realm. I can't allow Hell to grow any stronger than it already is."
---
Damien was having a hard time saying goodbye to Ariel. And though he wasn't as fond of Ariel's cousins as he was of her, he still enjoyed his time with them. So, he didn't quite want to say goodbye to anyone.
Theodore had to make another promise to Damien again saying that he would frequently come to pick Damien from the Hell realm so that he could frequently meet Ariel and the others.
And after that, as promised to Lilith, Theodore teleported Damien back to Lilith's mansion at dusk.
Lilith was pacing back and forth in her living room when Theodore and Damien finally teleported there.
"You two are finally here. You two took a long time to come back." Lilith rushed to embrace her son.
She had never been away from her son for the whole night and a whole day. So she missed him already.
"Mother…" Damien was also happy to be back home now that he was in his mother's arms.
Theodore would have loved to give the two of them some space but he had some unfinished talk with Lilith. So he cleared his throat and asked, "Lilith, can I talk to you for a minute? Alone?"
Lilith guessed that whatever Theodore was about to say was related to his son since there was no one else in the room other than the three of them.
"Sure," Lilith looked at her son and asked him, "Damien, you should go and ask Mirah to give you a bath."
Damien was happy after his visit to Earth. And he didn't suspect that Theodore was going to reveal his secrets to his mother. So he happily agreed and went out of the room.
"What is it, Theodore? Did something happen on Earth realm?" Lilith gestured for Theodore to take a seat and asked.
Theodore sat while maintaining a good distance from Lilith and replied in a little cautious voice, "Yes, it did. In fact, it happened yesterday but you were already troubled so I didn't tell you."
"What is it?" Lilith furrowed her brows and asked again.
Theodore was never good at revealing things lightly. So he dropped the truth without sugarcoating it, "When I found Damien yesterday, he was trying to bite a maid. He said he had already licked some of her blood before I was there."
Lilith held her breath and kept on staring at Theodore without speaking a word.
"Umm… Lilith? Are… are you okay?" Theodore asked, ready to protect himself if Lilith suddenly attacked him.
However, Lilith mumbled in a rather betrayed tone, "You should have told me yesterday then. Why did you hide such a big thing?"
"I didn't hide it. I just didn't tell you right away." Theodore looked away from Lilith's penetrating glare.
Lilith narrowed her eyes and she looked like she wanted to beat the soul out of Theodore. However, she didn't want to get into a fight with him like she used to before.
So she tried to speak as politely as she could, "If you have nothing more to say then you may leave."
Theodore knew that he messed up big time by not clearly telling the big news yesterday. And he didn't even want to try and justify his action because he knew how stubborn Lilith could get. He knew she wouldn't listen to him unless she calmed down.
Thus, he thought that it would be better if he left the mansion for now.
But before leaving, he told her what he had observed, "Damien might be attracted to human blood but it doesn't look like he is triggered until he sees or smells the blood. Unlike the vampires who can't even resist hearing the blood coursing through humans' veins."
Lilith didn't give any reaction to Theodore.
And Theodore inwardly thought how giving silent treatment ran in the blood of both mother and son.
He then got up from his seat and prepared to leave, "I will be heading out then."
Theodore didn't get any response from Lilith again. Not that he expected one.
So he simply teleported to Lucifer's mansion. He wanted to have a chat with his brother about their father. He wanted to make sure that Lucifer would there be to help him and Ariel if they ever required.
---
It had been about an hour since Theodore left Lilith's mansion.
Even now, Lilith was pondering about the incident that Theodore had told her.
"Should I tell Damien that he is half-vampire? What if he goes into a frenzy and ends up killing humans? He could be punished! I should warn him to be careful."
Lilith narrowed her eyes and mumbled instantly, "Why do I need to warn him? Hell doesn't have alive humans. No humans, no problem. Period."
However, she knew that her son wouldn't sit quietly in Hell now that he had tasted the colorful life of Earth.
Lilith sighed in frustration and wondered, "But since he is half-vampire, is it really a sin even if he accidentally ends up killing a human? Lions aren't punished for killing a lamb, right?"
"But he is also a part demon. And to add to that, he is my son. That old man might try to get back to me by hurting my son."
She instantly felt her gut churning. But her eyes were fueled with rage. She hated that old man for all the things that he had done to her and everyone she ever cared about.
"If that old man tries to do anything to my son then I'm going to burn the Heaven down."