Ruthless love

Cursed Blood

[Flashback - part three]

Circa anno 1698

Mason calmly approached the limp figure that had been locked up at the far end of the basement.

His cousins kept their distance from the pure silver bars that made up the only barrier between them and the figure but kept a close eye on its every move as he approached it.

"What happened to you..." he murmured, his brows furrowing slightly.

He was both perplexed and worried by the drastic change in his brother but found himself unable to come up with an explanation or solution.

"How long do you think it'll stay asleep for?" Nicholas asked boldly, momentarily forgetting who he was looking at.

Jeremiah smacked the back of his head to silence him, scolding him with his eyes for his choice of words.

"He, Nick. HE" he insisted, all too aware that Mason had heard everything.

"He hasn't slept properly for a long time, so it could be a while... Then again, we don't know what we're dealing with here or whether it's permanent" Mason replied quietly, his voice strained.

The word 'permanent' caused a chill to run through the young men behind him and silence filled the room once more.

There was a pool of dried blood on the floor beneath the creature's head, from where the stone had hit it.

To the group's great relief, it seemed like it hadn't done too much damage and that the wound was already healing up nicely.

Mason bent down in front of the bars and observed the creature with great curiosity.

It was unlike anything either of the young men had ever seen before.

Horrifying, yet impressive.

Repulsive to behold.

A deep growl escaped the creature as it stirred lightly.

A heavy chain rattled in response to its movements.

Admittedly it was not ideal to hold such a large creature captive in such a small space, but at this time, this was the only option they had.

"Maybe not that long, huh?..." Max croaked nervously in the background and instinctively backed further away from the bars.

"Sure it'll hold if he wakes up?" Jeremiah asked hesitantly, his gaze not once wavering from the creature.

"It has to..." Mason replied dryly. If there's a God, it'll hold...

Silence filled the room once more as the cousins looked at one another nervously, all too aware that Mason had long since lost his faith in any god or higher power.

Not that they blamed him.

One could only expect that from a guy who had been through so much in life, despite his young age.

The day his mother had been taken from them, was the day his faith started to waver.

He had never been too religious, but he began cursing the god he had been taught to believe in since his childhood.

His father's suicide and his brother's curse only increased his resentment.

Surely if there was a god, they would have found salvation long before. Surely, a forgiving, caring, and loving god would never let his children suffer so...