Cruel Laughter [Sequel To "Because He Lived."]

{Chapter 2} Sadistic Love

James's POV

"Wake up."

I opened my eyes lazily, taking in the morning light. Arsen stood above me, his mismatched eyes gleaming with excitement. His white hair was slightly disheveled and it looked like he had just woke up. He probably just did. His Katana was strapped on his back, and he had a bag strung over his shoulder.

"Why do you have all your stuff?" I asked, pushing the blanket off of me.

"We have to restock on supplies and I was hoping that we could head out early so we didn't get stuck in the rush." Arsens explanation got me up and moving. I really didn't want to get caught up the the market rush, that was always a mess.

"Go fix your hair," I stated as I packed up my things.

He looked at me, confused. "Why would I need to do that."

Sighing, I replied. "Because you've got a serious case of bed-head. People may mistake it for something else." His face heated up, realizing what I was talking about. "Now, fix it." With a nervous expression, Arsen combed his hands through his hair, trying to fix the mess. After he played with it for a few minutes, he had it looking good. He stepped back over to me and pointed to my prize from the other night. The sky blue broadsword.

"What are you going to do with that?" He asked.

I responded with a small chuckle. "I'm going to deliver it to someone. I think that they deserve to know what happened to that boy."

Arsen replied with a small nod, and then asked."Ready?"

"Mhm." I grabbed the broadsword and slung it over my shoulder. I started walking first, Arsen following after quickly.

It took us a good ten minutes to reach Scaleswind. When we arrived, two guards were standing in front of the gate. As they noticed us, they both froze, tensing up.

"S-State your business, Sir's," one of the guards stuttered out.

I chuckled lightly and responded, "Just here to restock. Not gonna hurt you." The guards relaxed a little bit, as they motioned for the gatekeeper to open the gate.

The gate rose slowly, revealing the bustling city on the other side. Despite it being early in the morning, the town was still busy. Arsen and I headed for the market place, weaving our way in and out of the crowd. At one point I almost lost him, but I found him a few minutes later looking around one of the weapons stands. He was looking at a new sword.

One he was done there, we headed for the other stands, gathering the supplies we needed. We got the rest of the supplies for the camp without spending much money. Just us looking at the merchants got us a discount. Sometimes we got things for free. And sometimes there was an unlucky merchant who had never met us before. They usually got threatened.

It took us about a few hours to gather everything we needed, and we were on our way back to our camp. On our way, we passed a couple.

I snickered remembering what happened back when I lived with my parents. Back when I was a "normal" person- or I seemed like I was.

"Do you love me?" Lillian asked. She gazed into my eyes, searching for some kind of answer.

I didn't respond right away, I had to think. My eyes showed no emotions. "What is love?"

"Love is when... whenever your around what you love, your heart beats faster, you get nervous and giddy.... a-and sometimes you can't control yourself when your around them," she took a deep breath, and then continued. "When your near them, you can't think straight, and you'll do anything to get them..."

I smirked and then stepped closer to her. "If that's love, then I know what I love."

She looked at me, hopeful. "W-What is it?"

I leaned down to her ear, "I love pain. I love to watch people in pain. Lillian, that's what I love."

She stumbled back a few feet, her eyes wide with terror, and her eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "You're joking right? Y-you don't actually mean that, right?"

My laugh confused her even more, and I laughed even more at her silly expression. It was hard to believe she thought I was joking. "Of course I'm joking," I sang.

Lillian sighed in relief, and then stepped closer to me. She took my head in her hands. "D-do you love me?"

My smile faded and I stared at her coldly. "No." Tears started to fall from her eyes, and she looked down at the ground. Her hands fell from her face. I had to contain a laugh, this type of thing I loved. Seeing people in pain. And this was pain. One of the worst pain someone could feel. Heartbreak.

I smiled and stepped back from her. Without another word, I turned around and headed for the door. My hand lingered on the doorknob for a second, before I turned around. "You might want to find someone-or something-else to love, that's actually going to love you back." I didn't stay any longer to see her expression, and I headed out the door.

The memory still made me shiver in happiness. Even if it was years and years ago, I still remember it. The same with the incident with my parents. I had great memories when it came to something I loved.

Arsen nudged my arm, "We've got to get going. You've been standing in this one spot for a few minutes."

"Right. Let's get going." I started walking again, Arsen following right after me. We walked rather quickly back to our camp.

I froze, as I arrived at the camp. Everything was the same. The fire pit was still there, ashes from last night still sitting in it. The two blankets we slept on where also still there, and the logs surrounding the camp fire were still there. Almost untouched. There was one exception though, there was someone sitting on them. Someone I recognized.

The name made my mouth dry, "Lilith."