Hunter

Chapter 39

        Sophie had gone back to Gaspard's house. Arthur and I had eaten, each of us thinking, leaving the house in a dismal silence. When I had looked at Arthur, I had seen a fierce and relentless fear running on his face, and his internal feeling must have been the exact replica of mine. We both knew Sophie's vision would come to be, and the fact that a premonition was only made out of bits of images let the end of this confrontation uncertain, drowned in countless possibilities.

I knew Arthur would not sleep and that was why, during one of his moments of inattention, I had poured a bit of sleeping drug in his glass. He needed to sleep, and I needed to train. He had eventually swallowed his glass of water in one glup. A few seconds later I had gotten to my feet to catch him before he fell, asleep, from his chair.

In the deep silence of the night, I had carried him to his bed and let him sleep. I had then gone to my office and closed the door behind me. Even if he was stunned by the drug for the time being, the racket I was about to make could have awaken the dead.

        I spent the night searching in magic books at times, experimenting potions and spells at others. It was a long night during which I withstood the blows I took from my failures, thrown to the floor or the wall, sometimes on the verge of suffocation because of my failed potions.

        When dawn showed, I decided it was enough for the time being. Sophie had said she would come back this morning. I was covered with some kind of soot because of the multiple explosions, a bath appeared to me as a good idea. As I was headed for the bathroom, I passed by Arthur's room and noted he was still fast asleep. Lying on his right side, he was turned towards me. Ulysses had eventually joined him and slept behind him, on the bed, his muzzle laid on Arthur's knee.  Watching them, I thought Ul understood Arthur. I knew animals could feel our emotions, but with Arthur it seemed to be more than that. Maybe my son's lycanthropy made him the equivalent of an alpha for our dog.

        Sophie arrived at 9 o'clock sharp. I was barely out of the bath when she knocked on the door.

"Come on in! Door's open!"

She did and joined me. I finished to dry my hair.

"How are you doing?"

"Fine."

Silence fell between us and I told her to follow me to the dining room behind the living room and had her sit at the table.

"Something to drink?"

"Nothing, thank you."

"Not even coffee?"

"Do you have some?"

I nodded. A few minutes later, I reappeared in the dining room with two cups of coffee in my hands and sat in front of my guest. Sophie laid her hands around the cup, savouring the heat of the drink warming up her palms.

"How did it happen?"

"What happened?" I asked after I swallowed some coffee.

"Arthur. How did he become a wolf?"

I shook my head as I moistened my lips to wipe the coffee off of them.

"He was born like that."

Sophie abruptly looked up at me.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You heard correctly. Arthur was born like that."

She opened her mouth to ask something else, but her words got lost on the way. She just stared at me taken aback instead.

"I'm not his real father... No more than Susanne was his real mother."