WRITTEN IN BLOOD | The Unnatural Brethren | Preview {Unedited}

2. The Red Fox

Uncommon as it was in these lands, it snowed.

I ran to the stables to fetch my horse, Viktor ran behind. Within seconds, he gained enough speed to pass me and reached them sooner.

The moment the sun's first light beams struck the skies, we gathered our gear together and rode out into a vast white horizon. Armed with muskets and enough daggers, we prepared to hunt as many rabbits, deer or whatever prey met our path.

Viktor was an abusive sibling, no doubt about that. But he was also my one and only brother, and sometimes we do what we must to have a good time, right? Regardless of his regular animosity towards me, I did not hate my brother.

He stormed out of the stables in his gorgeous white mare and soon got lost in the glacial fields–invisible, if not for his brown furred cloak soaring in the winter wind. Viktor was the eldest and that meant he got the best of everything; the best weapons, best horses, best clothing, our parents' undivided attention and interest. He got it all.

At twenty years old, Viktor had grown much to Father's likeness; six-feet and two-inches tall, with a lean but muscular body. No hardship did he meet arousing the town's female interest –women of all ages fell for his charm. It got him into trouble more than once.

I had just turned sixteen.

I gathered my hair in a low ponytail and fetched my black horse, Lucifer. Yes, you may laugh; but the fact remains, the name I chose scared the hell out of my parents and by doing so it had met its purpose.

Lucifer and I galloped across the country until we reached Viktor at the mountain's snowy summit. His mare grew unsteady, it moved from side to side while screeching a hideous noise.

"What is wrong with her?" I said, annoyed by her constant neighing.

"I do not know," Viktor frowned. He pierced the horizon with his large squinting eyes. "There!"

"What is it? I see nothing but snow for miles!" I whined.

"A red fox, Ivan... There, by the lake!" He muttered, impatient. "Come on!"

Viktor's mare reached the lake's embankment long before I did. I dismounted and secured Lucifer's reins to a tree. My brother stood by the shoreline of the frozen lake, motionless, his eyes locked into the fox's fierce yellow eyes.

"You cannot possibly get him, Viktor!" I argued as I drew near. "We have no hounds to fetch him; this is nonsense! We were supposed to hunt deer!"

But Viktor remained silent, unresponsive. And in that moment, it was as if I did not exist. In my brother's mind, there was only his prey and him, and the frozen lake standing between them.

He removed his gloves and then spoke in a soft, almost inaudible voice.

"Kill it," he said. His hand moved in my direction with much stealth, as he clutched his newest hunting dagger and offered it to me.

The fox turned into stone, caught in my brother's menacing gaze.

It shocked me. For Viktor, to hand me his precious dagger, to concede me his prey, it was completely unheard of. Perhaps this small gesture meant the end of his disdain for me? Perhaps, now that we were older, Viktor and I would no longer be enemies, but accomplices in life?

Is this a truce you offer with this dagger Viktor?

My heart pounded hard against my chest.

A voice in my mind instigated me to take that dagger and plunge it deep into the fox's heart, forever sealing the relationship I had always dreamt having with my brother.