Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 50954 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 255(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50954 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 255(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Lorien looked up miserably as the two naked men came striding out of the undergrowth, laughing and talking as if they were old friends. There had been a time Will was the outcast, but now Lorien felt as though he was the third wheel. It was not a pleasant feeling.
“Nice hunt?”
“Excellent,” Henry said, coming to sit beside him.
“Wonderful,” Lorien deadpanned. “Well fed, are we?”
“I couldn’t eat another bite,” Will declared, lying down next to the fire still completely naked. He closed his eyes and proceeded to go to sleep without a care in the world. Henry was similarly exhausted after the hunt, and though he tried to stay awake for Lorien, it was not long before his eyes were closing, and he was snoring. In the depths of the forest night, Lorien was alone.
8
The argument between Maddox and his maker had yet to end. It had grown louder at times, quieter at others. It had gone silent altogether, and then flared up again.
“I am doing this for you, Maddox. You will hate me in the short term, but in the long run I am saving you much heartbreak. It is better not to become attached to these ephemeral creatures. You can keep them as pets, but you cannot entrust your heart to them. They can only break it. If you had chosen a human, you may have been able to turn him. But you have chosen a dog, one of mortal, incompatible blood. You can never spend eternity with this creature. Tragedy is built into your association by default. I have seen you suffer this way before, and I have no intention of watching you suffer the same way again.”
“I do not need to be protected from my feelings.”
“I disagree. You have forgotten how you mourn. I remember how destructive you can be.”
“Me!? Destructive!? Gideon, you destroy nations.” Maddox allowed his veneer of respect to drop for a second, and Gideon’s smile grew a little wider as the older, and younger version of Maddox emerged to be seen by his maker.
“Yes, but I do it for good reason, or at least with a certain logic. I am not a monster. I tend humanity for its own good. Sometimes wild animals need to be culled. But what you do when you are grief stricken is the most brutal cruelty I have ever witnessed.”
A long time ago…
Madis quickly grew in strength. Gideon taught him how to hunt, how to drain human blood, how to take just enough to allow a person to survive, and how to take so much they would turn cold and stay that way. He also taught him his own worth, what it felt like to be cherished and treasured, how it was to be regarded with pride rather than shame.
As the night waned and the day began to intrude upon the beauty of the perfect darkness Madis now inhabited, Gideon would curl up with him and tell him stories of the old world, times before the ones Madis knew. He was an educator and a lover.
“What have I told you of the flood?”
“The great flood? The ender of worlds?”
“Yes. It truly happened, you know.” Gideon stroked Madis’ hair as he spoke. Madis closed his eyes. It was a long time since he had been comforted. “A loving deity unleashed hell on his creation because it displeased him. There is much that can be learned from that tale.”
“A father should never harm those he creates.”
“A good father will do what he has to,” Gideon said. “One cannot always coddle. One must ask for obedience and then demand it if it is not given.”
“Do you speak of a father or a tyrant?”
Gideon smiled down at the fledgling in his lap. “Both are sides of the same coin.”
Madis missed the lesson, for rays of sun were starting to creep over the horizon and with them the need for sleep was creeping throughout his body.
For the first time in his existence, Madis felt truly powerful. He had always been strong, but all men were strong. Now he was stronger than everybody besides Gideon. He was the second strongest creature on the planet, and he could do anything. Anything at all.
One night while standing beneath the moon, thinking on all he had lost and all he had gained, Madis decided to indulge his desire for vengeance. As a human, he had thought of revenge from time to time, but it was always tempered with rational, reasonable concerns and human impulses. Consequence was a barrier that no longer stood in his way. They had already killed him. They had already forced him to destroy his lover. What else did he have to lose? What else could they take?
This was a decision that seemed to come on the spur of the moment, but in truth it had been percolating through his darkness and his fear from the moment he awoke in this new form. There were those who had wronged him, who had cost him his very humanity and the love of his life. There were those who had to pay.