The Paths of Sin and Redemption

Chapter 5

Mephiles was currently wandering away from his campsite, the light from the fire was helping too much with his hallucinations. He needed darkness for a while. And as he went further into the surrounding woods, he started to smell blood. It made him wary, but he wasn't sure if it was a hallucination or not. So he followed it almost willingly-- another hallucination would help keep him up longer since the nightmares were much, much worse.

He followed the scent until he saw a cave up ahead surrounded by brush and thorns. Realizing that the foliage was not there naturally, he drew his sword and sliced away at the intimidating shrubbery before gingerly stepping inside, sword still drawn and ready for any potential attack. But what, or rather who, he saw before him had the demon stop dead in his tracks.

He'd found him now, but he could clearly see Silver was dead. He instantly panicked; Silver said he would haunt him once he was dead! But he couldn't let that happen, he just couldn't!!

Carefully, he picked up the dead hanyou, but that was when he heard a small and weak cry. He turned around and laid eyes upon his children, not cleaned off from birth and either dead or like the little one before him, barely managing to survive. But there was no problem with reviving them all, of course. Besides, it would probably win him over with the half-breed enough to have him break the curse. Using his own cloak as a blanket to hold the pups against Silver's body, he carefully wrapped up the bodies. With the live infant, however, he had the baby held close to him, in between the warm layers of thick clothing and his father's body to share his body heat with the whimpering little one. Once he had the baby settled, he gave it a bit of his energy and soon, the pup's crying became stronger and healthier.

Carefully picking up the cloak that held Silver and the others, Mephiles then carried them all back to camp.

Once there, he laid the dead hanyou on the ground near the campfire, along with their dead pups. He wrapped them all up in a thick blanket as he went to retrieve his sword--his whimpering little look alike still held in his arms. The infant was too young to open his eyes yet, so there was no telling what his eye color would be.

And once he grabbed his sword and turned to face Silver's body once more, he froze.

Silver was there, his ghostly form transparent as he glared back at Mephiles with glowing gold eyes--his spirit hovering over his lifeless body and those of his pups.

Mephiles immediately lashed his sword at it, trying to get it to go away. He wanted this spirit to leave him alone, at least until he could bring Silver and the other pups back to life. But where the blade cut, Silver's spirit form fell like dust. But it reformed, still glaring angrily at him.

And the evil smirk the spirit gave him only made Mephiles freak out even more.

Gods, what had he done?! Why did he have to make Silver suffer?! Now his own life was falling apart!!

Mephiles slowly backed up, eyes never leaving the ghost. He had to try and get to the body. It'd just suck the spirit right back up. Instinctively, he held his son closer, unconsciously protecting him; the baby had started to cry as Mephiles’ heart hammered away in his chest. The little one could sense his father's fear and it too made him scared.

Silver's spirit then blinked curiously at the sound, all his attention now on the crying baby. He then turned his angered gaze back to Mephiles, his golden eyes turning red in maternal rage--sensing that his pup was in distress.

Mephiles backed away further, near having a heart attack. He wasn't even sure if this spectral form would understand him, but he had to try.

"I... I'm not hurting him, he's alright..." he stammered out, trying to calm his son and apparition.