A Bloodborne Tragedy

Chapter 7

Daniel shivered at the thought, the possibility that Sho had done that before was something he dreaded to think. But him confirming it, that he was a killer, had made him think of worse possibilities of his past. Who was this man and why was he drawn to Daniel? Then he thought about it. Thought about the fact there was nobody freaking out about a dead body found in the tree line. Not even a little ruckus about the blood that was surely there. No marshals hurried up from the towns far away. The body had to have been gone, but Sho was with Daniel most of the night? He couldn't have buried him. "What did you do with the body?" he said In a whisper, looking outside the window in front of the bed facing the saloon. And he saw a change in Sho. He froze like Daniel had told him something much worse than what he'd said.

His face went pale. Well...paler. He struggled to speak, every time he would go to open his mouth he just closed it again. "The body—" His speech was brittle and breathy, like he had just got done running until he couldn't bear to stand up. "Its—I—" He clenched his jaw and gripped the sheets, his nails piercing through the fabric. "It's....it's gone." He said before finally settling down. "I got rid of it while you were sleeping." His eye twitched, and his hands were slightly trembling. He looked down towards the bare wooden boards. "I...would rather not discuss how it was done."

Daniel nodded absentmindedly. It was gone. He seemed terrified to tell him how. How cruel was the method? He shook his head, finding the whole situation bizarre. "I don't know you. But you–" He cut himself off. He needed a better way to word this. Sho had been avoiding his questions, never giving him a straight answer. It occurred to him once again he knew nothing about Sho but his strange personality and the fact he was a killer.
He guarded himself from Daniel in a sophisticated way. He knew what he was doing. Daniel could tell his tactics and knew there was no easy way to get answers from somebody like that. But the feelings he'd ignored got the better of him and he blew up.

"Goddammit!" He stood up, pacing in front of the bed. He left Sho sitting there looking up at him with a worried expression. "You– Fuck. Why won't you answer me straight? Why do you know me? Who the hell are you!" At some point he stopped and pointed at him, taking small steps closer until he was edging his space. Sho flinched in response to the yelling and bit the inside of his lip. "Please calm down—" He reached his hand out to Daniel but it was quickly slapped away. "Why won't you answer me! What's so bad about the truth?" He argued in a huff. Sho looked at him and felt the worry wash over him with a look of fear. He looked away, closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. "Daniel," He began, "there's no way I can tell you this without you being afraid of me—well, being even more afraid of me." Sho opened his eyes, stood up, and looked down at Daniel. "I—The body—" Daniel noticed that Sho couldn't bear looking at him in the eyes. "It's—I—" Sho tensed up and clenched his fist. "Oh for Christ's sake! Spit it out!" Daniel demanded resuming his pacing. He was getting tired of waiting for what seemed like a simple answer.

Sho squinted his eyes in correspondence to the yelling. Then he closed them tightly and very quickly blurted "I—I ate him." Almost immediately, Daniel's heart dropped to his stomach and he felt dizzy. "What the hell did you just say?" He said almost breathlessly. He froze like a statue, staring at him with wide eyes. "You–" He swallowed and began to tremble. "You ate him. You're sick!" He said. He took a step back and grabbed what little belongings he had on a chair in the corner. "You're a monster! I can't believe..." He trailed off. He couldn't believe he was that close to a cannibal. He couldn't believe he smoked with them, told them his story, and thought they were gentle. He felt like he was about to puke, but his throat was already sore from the screaming and the pacing and the gash. He needed to leave.

Against Sho's protests Daniel stormed out of the building yelling at him. He told him that he wouldn't come back. He couldn't look at him the same. He should be disgusted with himself. Obviously, he was a terrible guy who deserved to die. But he was torn apart, decapitated, and it must've hurt like hell before he died. And to be eaten after that? Nobody deserves that, he told himself as he threw himself on his horse as quickly as he could and rode out of town. He needed to escape. He needed to get away from Sho. Even if he still didn't have an answer to all his questions, he could live with that. And at that he was gone. Away from Sho and back into the messy criminal lifestyle he'd lived his whole life.

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Author's note:
Owner #1: To make up for the shortness of chapter 6 we made sure to make chapter 7 extra long.