Chaos

A World Without Monsters

Carbry

A part of Carbry wanted to fully slake his thirst for revenge as he stood looking at the smoldering remains of the enemy stronghold.

It was unsatisfied with the violence he had already partaken in. But they were starting to build the world on the concept of fairly applied laws that weren't merely about the whims of what those in power wanted. Knight Corp's response to those that had taken Meriwa was a battle between his desire to avenge, and his understanding that he was promising his people a better world and needed to uphold that promise even now.

There were a select few who had fought and been unwilling to concede that they were outmatched, most of whom were the leaders and those he knew had been intimately involved in the torture and confinement of his mate.

Carbry had reveled in their resistance, though he knew later he would not be proud of it when he thought back to it. Yet, Dracul, the man he'd once been, didn't care.

Knight Corp had brought down its fury on the violent resisters, including Shamash showing up. Tim had allowed Carbry to lead and only remained poised for safety, but by the end of it, Shamash had argued with both him and Timothy over the concept of mercy for the beings that dare be involved in the attack on Tiamat. They couldn't slaughter half the planet to send a message, no matter how much the ancient and violent god insisted they do just that. That argument had snapped Carbry out of his mania, though it had been hard to disagree, as the primal part of vampirism sided right along with the God.

Instead of wholesale slaughter, they had taken those who had surrendered into custody, which meant that Carbry would have to hobble together what was still a fledgling concept of justice with those other survivors of the war. He would be transparent and let someone uninvolved in the incident judge the matter for each person.

Because if it were up to Dracul, they would all burn, and that wasn't the kind of world he was building.

Even at this very moment, Carbry was still battling the rage and crippling worry that coming so close to losing Meriwa, had caused. He had still needed to vent his fury, as he was a coiled knot of violence and anger as he stared at his people rounding up the stragglers who had been arrested. He wanted to rip them apart with his bare hands.

"We can process them later." Ryker stepped up beside him, running a hand through his own hair, which was slick with sweat and blood, before replacing his dirty ball cap backwards on his head.

Carbry glanced at his lover, raising a brow when he saw the man's expression was less pained, less conflicted. At least the man was doing better than Carbry was. "This was never your fault, Ryker."

Ryker shot him a disagreeing glance, but the man merely curled his lip and reached over to wipe his thumb across Carbry's cheek. "You're splattered with blood, King Vampire. I really just want to go home to Meriwa and Daryl and the raspberry and blueberry. I want to see my family safe."

They had been lightly using the word "family" throughout the pregnancy, but something about the conviction with which Ryker said it just then seemed like a milestone. Ryker had rarely spoken about his early years. Whatever that dark childhood and immigration had done to the tiny child that was Rurik had left the adult Ryker believing that family was impossible.

But they were learning that family was everything.

Carbry had always been philosophically introspective about the similarities of tragedy in his and Ryker's lives. Centuries apart, both young boys torn from loving families and forced into a cruel world that they'd both barely survived. Perhaps that's why he'd always been drawn to the man.

Now, that dark kinship and Ryker's embrace of family brought a smile to Carbry's lips and soothed his rage.

Slipping an arm around Ryker's shoulders and moving to kiss the man's temple, Carbry nodded. "Yes. Me as well."