The Night [5]

Chapter 21: Henry's Story

As the loud chanting of the creatures in the ballroom began to surely die down, I couldn't help but chuckle. "Alright, alright." I said with a smile, "Calm down, you animals. I swear there is true meaning to the Feral in our family name." This caused a few chuckles to come from various creatures around me, "I'm glad that you all are so hyped and proud to be one of this family, because I am too. However, this night has not yet come to a blissful conclusion." With that now being said, I peered through the darkness, seeing Hyde and Henry sitting off to the side in their feral forms. The older one of the two gave me a silent nod to continue and the smile on my expression stayed, knowing that this was actually happening, "Before this dance is to end, I would like to bring the attention of everyone here to another member of this family, Henry Jekyll Demoric, who would like to say a few words of his own." I said, glancing at the two wolves once again and seeing Henry heave himself to his paws and walk through the crowd to break out into the open floor and stand next to me in the spotlight, "The microphone and floor is all yours, Henry." I murmured quietly to him and then placed a gentle kiss on his forehead, "Good luck, my friend. We're here for you." With that, I lightly rested the small device on the ground in front of him before shifting into my feral feline form and exiting the spotlight and leaping into one of the spare chairs among the crowd that now looked to the hellhound at full attention. He was silent for a moment as his gaze shifted around the darkened crowd as he uttered a softened sigh. "Thank you, Rebecca." Henry said with a respectful dip of his head directed towards his closest friend, "I suppose it would be more respectful of me to be in my human form as I do this, now wouldn't it?" He gave a small chuckle as he looked at the ground for a few seconds in silence again before he decided to not waste their time more than he had to as he shifted into his human form and picked up the microphone off the floor as he stood in the bright spotlight. There was a series of gasps and shocked murmurs as everyone now could see the deepened cut across his cheek and the dark purple bruises on his throat. He avoided the gazes of many for as long as he could until he caught the eye of Beck among the crowd, whose eyes were widened in silent horror to what he looked like. "Heh." The canine-hybrid laughed so slightly as he straightened up his form and held the microphone close to him now in a more formal manner, "I can see all your concern about my current appearance and I want to assure all of you that I am fine now. I just ran into trouble when I went to the restroom about an hour or so ago." Before he could say anymore, he was interrupted. "Who was it? They have broken the truce of our family and should be punished!" A yowl came from the crowd, but it was too dark to tell who it was. There was a few agreeing murmurs to this, but Henry put up his hands before they did anything irrational. "Everyone, there's no need for that, I assure you. The threat has been taken care of and I am fine, trust me." There was still several few that were skeptical of this.

"I came to this family as the third member of our family, soon after Hyde had come into Rebecca's life. As not many of you know, Rebecca was not the one who created me, but my older brother, Hyde, had created me when he realized the pain that he had caused our leader long ago. I was the angel and he was the demon, as you say, his complete opposite." He gave a small sigh once more, his tail swishing behind him as he spoke further, "I am created to be her protector, originally, to make sure nobody got hurt anymore. I was supposed to be the one to be the guard, the one to watch to make sure creatures like Robin and Morph didn't come into the picture. I have been the lover, the best friend and even the protector of our beloved leader and once seen as her most popular character when we were public to the human world. However, as time went on, things changed in our family. So many more creatures came into the picture from Ryuu when Rebecca wrote the story of 'The Beast Within' to Beck when she needed someone to be her aid in a roleplay to Sebastian, who came from a video game called 'Stardew Valley to even DJ and Piper, who was created for music videos on Feral Heart long ago. You've all come from such odd, yet interesting backgrounds. As more and more came into our family, it became more difficult for me to be that protector of the family. Stronger creatures, such as Ryuu and Amber, came into play and I found myself being nothing but another creature that needed to be saved. When Joseph and Tom came into our lives, well, that was a very big game-changer for all of us. It shaped us all as the creatures we are today." He dipped his head as his ears flattened against his hair and his grip tightened around the microphone, "I swore my loyalty and love to Rebecca long ago after Hyde told me that it was my purpose, to make her happy. However, I failed my job multiple times." This caught me off guard from where I now sat, not expecting the hybrid to say all these things, but despite everything, everyone was silent and listening to what he had to say as he told his story. "I was unable to keep Joseph Reeves away from her, even though that human scum destroyed her from the inside out. I stood by and did not even do anything. I wanted to kill him after what he had done. After what Juniper had done to Beck, after what Diz had done to Amber - I wanted him to pay the price, but I could not bring myself to do such a thing. That is why Hyde and I, when we were one being, disappeared for a long time because I had failed to do my job as a member of this family. It was a punishment." He paused for a few seconds to catch his breath, "Then Tom Therrien came along and went into our home. I respected Rebecca for her choice, wanting to heal the barrier that human and hybrid shared, but ever since he showed up, I had a bad feeling about it. That is when I came out of hiding. That is why I snapped at him. That is why I constantly questioned him. I think that Ryuu and Beck actually had to hold me back, but I was in too much of a blind rage. I did not want him to hurt us like Joseph, or I had done." Another pause of silence.