MY DARLING DAREDEVIL

All those years, right by him

Damon frowned at his parents and hardened his gaze at them when suspicion grew inside of him. His father had a hard and scared look on his face and looked him right in the eye. He knew Ethan Roxwell too well to know that he would say absolutely nothing about it even if he asked him. There was no need to waste his breath on the hard man, so he turned his gaze to his mother. She was hard, and iron fisted more than most but when it came to him, it was always different. She looked away from him once their eyes met and took an unconscious step away from him knowing that she could not stand to hide anything from him if he eventually asked.

“Mom,” he called out to her in an affectionate tone that always seemed to pierce her heart and open all the doors of love she had for him. She sighed heavily, already guessing what he was doing. He could have turned to his father, but he did not and had instead turned to her.

“You can’t stop taking your meds or going for checkups because some stranger asked you to.” Ethan entered to cover up the mistake they had made by showing him a slight discomfort that proved that they were hiding something. But Damon did not pay so much attention to him, he knew his parents like the palm of his hands. They had trained him up and he knew all their games too well to know when they were trying to fool him. He paid his attention to his mother instead, she was still looking at every other place except him and in as much as he hated secrets, this was bothering him more than usual. They would never hide anything from him? So why now?

“Mom,” he called out again, this time in a softer tone that revealed his fear and anxiety. The sound of the fear in his voice was not hidden to her, it was light, and almost undetectable but she heard it too well and it pulled at her heart and filled her with guilt. Yet, it gave her a new determination, to keep him away from that hurt. She could not begin to imagine just what he would think or feel when he finally found out the truth. Not wanting to find out or see him go through any kind of pain, she made up her mind in an instance.

“Damon,” Flossie resigned and finally decided to play along with the cruel game that they had been playing on him and gave him a very serious look.

“Why would she ask you to not take the drugs that you have been taking for ages?” she feigned confusion and anger knowing that he knew them too well and would not want him to see through her lies, yet. He frowned at her words and was slightly taken aback by her words.

“You have been surviving on these medications and checkups for years. What is she going to gain if you suddenly stop taking them?” she turned away like she was deep in thought and crossed her hand over her chest. Any one would think that she was evaluating her words but she was doing everything she could to avoid his gaze.

“Don’t think that way, she isn’t that way,” Damon entered as his thoughts suddenly moved away from the matter at hand into another. This seemed to be more important since it had to do with the red hair and he would not like a whisper against her.

“You don’t even know her,” she turned back to him, keeping her face serious and somewhat angry.

“For all we know, she might be out for you or this family.” She added and slowly started taking serious thoughts into her acting. They only knew that she was not human and was protecting their son, but why? What would she gain? What did she want? And why was she there in the first place?

“She has been keeping me safe for a long time,” he protested greatly and looked his mom straight in the eye.

“Just so she could get close to this family.” She snapped harshly. Something that she had never done before, not in a long time but her insecurity was slowly getting to her. His eyes hardened and he balled his hands into a fist at her words. His anger rising just as fast as hers yet he kept them in check, refusing to lash out on his beloved mother.

“Not everyone has a thing against the Roxwell’s, mom,” he voiced out within clenched teeth.

“What could she possibly want then?” Ethan entered, liking the change of conversation since it was the exact thing that he had summoned Damon for in the first place.

“Do you think that her services are for free? She might be a witch who deals in sacrifices and might want your life in exchange for something,” he added and Damon scoffed at him.

“Are you actually listening to yourself?”

“I’m trying to protect you from that stranger, are you that blind?’ Ethan snapped.

“You no longer think straight anymore. You allowed her to work for you, and even took her to the hospital when you knew that she was wanted. Ever since her arrival, she has done nothing but jeopardise the reputation we have built for years and made you unreasonable with the act of keeping you safe. Something that we have been doing for ages now already,”

“Where has she been all these years? On countless occasions, you were almost kidnapped, almost killed, almost drowned and so many other attempts on your life. We kept you safe, as our son, your grandfather did everything to keep you safe till you got empowered enough in both the underworld and up here to keep you safe enough. What is so special about her, what do you think she is doing that is so special? Can’t you see that this is all a façade? She is a pretentious human being and simply want something big in exchange for all this,”

“I’m terrified of what she wants,” he added lastly, bringing his voice down to reveal the panic in them. Damon could only stare at him, though he had wanted to scream or yell back, but he knew that his father was not the enemy. They loved him just as much as he loved them and his well being could be the only thing they thought of just as Aziza could be doing too.

“Whatever she wants,” he entered more calmly.

“We will find out when she is ready to tell us,” He added and his parent’s eyes widened. He sounded like he had lost his mind or maybe gone mad. If they had an enemy, they squashed him before he began plotting, why would he simply sit still and wait for her to break him first.

“You can’t be serious,” Flossie went closer to him as she stared at him with wide eyes and worry. For a strange reason, she was finally seeing a lot more sense in what Ethan was trying to say to her. This was no longer about taking him away from them, neither was it about the truth finally being revealed, it was about his safety and who she really was.

“Can we drop this?” he groaned and turned away from his mother. Just then she caught sight of the bite mark at the nape of his neck and her heart skipped.

“What is that?” she pulled his hand, stopping him and looking straight at it. He followed her gaze and used his hand to touch the nape of his neck, it stung and reminded him of what had happened earlier.

“Nothing,” he lied, knowing that telling them the truth would only make them hate her even more and he would prefer that they didn’t.

“Did she do that to you?” Flossie panicked knowing what that bite mark meant in more ways that any could tell.

“Tell me,” She roared at him with wide eyes and anger. He groaned seeing that she would not let go and turned to her.

“She needed help,” he explained calmly, hoping that she would see reason. But her eyes only hardened more and her anger intensified at the very sight of an injury on her son.

“You are to stay away from that girl from now on,” she snapped in a harsh tone and he frowned.

“We all know that it won't be possible,” a voice replied. Damon’s heart skipped at the sound of the voice, it was like a song in his heart for he knew very well who had such a voice. Everyone turned to the direction the voice came from and his heart skipped at the sight of her. She was standing at the door with guards all behind her, pointing their guns at her in readiness but those were simply the guards of Ethan for his guards knew her already to know that they shouldn’t do that. A foolish smile appeared at the corner of his lips and joy filled him immensely, it dissolved every other feeling he felt within like they were never there. While his parents could only gape at her with a pale look on their face and wide eyes. They had not expected to see her, not in their house at least.

Her heart skipped a mile when she met his gaze and it fluttered when she saw the tiny smile on his lips and the light in his eyes like he had always had whenever he saw her. She cursed inwardly at herself and the stupid mate bond that she was already feeling. It was making her feel things already, things she was sure were never there, or where they?

“You are here,” he stepped forward. His voice held power, magic and warmth, yet it was soft and gentle towards her like he was scared of speaking too loud for the fear that she might run away.

“I’m supposed to keep watching you till you get home at least.” She responded remembering how she had never actually gone home as she wanted to. No matter how angry she was, she could not bring herself to leave him alone like that.

“And who let you in here?” Flossie snapped when she finally regained herself and stepped forward.

“I let myself in,” she smiled and flashed the woman a glare. She was lying to her son, they were both lying to him and yet they still claimed to love him and have his best interest at heart. How could love work that way? How could they treat him that way?

“I could not help but to hear the conversation you all were having and since my name was being mentioned too often, I decided to partake in it too,” she crossed her hand over her chest and walked deeper into the room towards them. Flossie instantly took hold of Damon’s arm in a protective manner.

“Years back, Damon woke up from the same hospital that we have just come out from.” she started and turned to Ethan who had questioned where she had been all those years.

“I was still a very young girl, a teen,”

“I watched him walk around that hospital for three weeks with the blonde nurse being an exceptional caretaker. You were busy with work but you made sure to visit him often while his mother stayed by his side non-stop.”

“You conducted tests on him and together with doctor Morris, you began the routine checkup and treatment on him till date. I never knew what it was about and now, I wish I did, I would have stopped it a long time ago.”

“I watched him get discharged and watched him resume school in one of the prominent schools in the state. Louisiana school for maths, science and arts. He was given a condo and a caretaker who took care of his needs while he attended school. You had visited one in two weeks while your wife went over every weekend to spend time with him. It was going fine with him till a poisonous gas was thrown into the boy’s bathroom one afternoon after soccer.” she spoke without breaking a sweat. Damon’s brows furrowed at the reminder of a past he was sure no one else knew. And something tugged at his heart.

“A few boys died in those incidents and you had almost died when you heard the news and had run to the school because he was a big fan of soccer and was in fact their very captain in the team. But you found him in his condo, in his uniform sleeping when you arrived there and when you asked him what happened, he simply said he didn’t know.” Their eyes went wide at the very reminder of the event and slowly understanding came. Damon’s heart skipped. He remembered that event and remembered that he was in fact in that locker room as well when the gas filled the air. He remembered he was choking and gasping for breath when it suddenly went dark and he found himself in his bedroom the next minute, beside his mom. No matter how many times he told them that he was in the locker room and didn’t know how he got home, they simply told him that he had a nasty dream.

“You took him back with you and decided to home tutor him till it was time for college. No one knew he was back in the city and no attack had been carried out on him, at least that was what you thought.” she continued ever so boldly.

“But three maids had gone missing during those few months he remained in high school and each time they were found, you only found their bodies and found that they had taken poison, right?” she smiled and turned to Damon, the look in his eyes were one in a million as it was filled with smile, amusement, confusion, understanding and admiration. She quickly looked away and turned to his parents as they looked at each other and turned back to her.

“Those poison were meant for Damon. They had been paid bountifully to kill him within the confines of your house and I paid them back by giving them the poison meant for him. Of course, you never thought anything about it since I made sure that I was not traced.”

“He was accepted in Stanford a year after and had moved to California where he continued with his studies. While you were here, I was there with him, taking away threats. Remember the explosion at the campus that had injured a few. It was in the library as I remembered at about 3pm that afternoon, the same time Damon always stays in there to read alone. The students were lazy and always ran from the library when they had the time while he took the opportunity of peace and silence to remain behind.” She continued explaining and turned to Damon.

“Your grandfather had called you out that day, he was outside the school, remember?” she turned back to Ethan and flashed him a murderous look because he had been the one to remind her of all this. Even in her hurt, she dedicated herself wholeheartedly to Damon.

“You picked your bags and books and excitedly turned to the entrance of the door only to find out that it was locked.” She turned to Damon again and smiled sadly at the thought of it. So many times, he had fought to escape death that it became tiring and he became angry.

“You tried yelling for help, you tried looking for a way out but found none, instead you heard the beeping sound. I remember that you were searching for where the sound came from before…” Damon’s eyes went wide.

“I felt the rush of wind like I was falling from a plane, then I found myself right in the gates with my grandfather’s back turned to me” Damon completed, as he went back in time. In time to the very moment, his heart went cold and he became Damon.

“Your girlfriend and first love had died in that explosion,” Aziza mumbled as she recounted the way he had tried to run back into the fire when he had seen the text, the very text that she sent right before she headed for the library in search of him. She remembered how he was bundled away back to his house and his darkness descended. Not once did he cry after then but she watched him die repeatedly with guilt over what had happened years ago till he became this Damon everyone knew. She had died with him too when he died. The guilt and pain of not being able to save her just to keep Damon happy had killed her also.

The pain came like a sting in his heart as he also recounted those moments of darkness and death. Her face was vague in his memories and just as it came, it washed away and the exact words he said to his grandfather came next.

“Show me what it would take, so no one would ever want to whisper my name in the dark.”

“All those years I watched him and grew with him, not once revealing myself to anyone till now. I do not want to take him away from you nor do I want something that you can’t offer,” she began and drew everyone’s attention back to her.

“I don’t even have a business with you at all. But I do want something nonetheless….” She turned to Damon and started towards him till she was right in front of him. Then she took his hand in his and turned to the door.

“But right now, I’m tired and so is he. Moreover, he has work tomorrow and his health is also my priority, so I would take him home to rest his head while you…” she turned back to his parents.

“Tell him the truth or I will,” she mouthed so only the both of them would hear. And pulled Damon along with her.