The Skin Walker

21 | Cain and Abel

"You had to kill me, but it killed you just the same,"

my tears ricochet Taylor Swift

M O R A X

"Come on," I drawled, tapping my staff on the boy's ribs. "Get up."

Having had enough of my training, Seth Argenti rose from the ground with a growl. Eager, I watched as he straightened and swiped away the blood dripping from his bottom lip. His minor injury healed within seconds before my eyes. Seth was a fighter, better than his oldest brother, Jerome.

"That's it," I crooned, hearing the rasp of my ageing voice. "Follow me. I am going to tell you the story that was told to me by many generations."

Using my staff to gain balance, I walked to the crackling fire, caged within wood and bark. Stone pillars surrounded us, blood splattered on the ground from Seth's training. I was right to use this place. The Galilean War started on these very grounds and would end in the same place. I smirked at the mere thought of ending the age long battle.

Really, all the packs assumed their war had ended, but there was another one. A greater evil. They weren't going to be prepared. Not when I had my own pack of wild rogues in the waiting. I wasn't going to let Jerome, the arrogant prick, stop my plans. He was my puppet, whether he refused to acknowledge the fact or not.

"Ever heard the story of Cain and Abel?" I asked Seth as I steadily took a seat on a wooden log in front of the bonfire I'd taught Seth to build.

"From the Bible?" He questioned with a raise of his eyebrows.

"And the Torah, and the Quran. All the same story," I taught him.

Seth stared at me for a moment before quizzically lifting the corner of his lips in a confused smirk. His brown hair, curled wildly around his head from the training, shifted as he slanted his head.

"Wait, is this like, you know, one of those talks where you teach me values and then I question if you even have any-"

I slapped him with my staff on the knee, and he grunted in pain, instantly reaching out to rub the pain away.

"Listen, boy," My voice was laced with a warning that shut Seth right up. "As it is told in many forms of scripture, God gave Adam and Eve two sons. Many, actually, but the most known are Cain, the firstborn farmer, and Abel, the second son, a shepard."

The fiery glint of the fire masked Seth's confusion as he frowned, focusing on my words.

"They both made offerings to their God; Cain offered fruit and soil while Abel offered a lamb. It is said that the Lord preferred the lamb to the fruit, and that bothered Cain deeply. He grew jealous and angry. He lured his brother into the field and murdered him, driven by his murderous rage."

Seth must've understood where this conversation was going because he went still. His taunt muscles tensed as his posture straightened. But he was not going to refuse me. I had been training him for too long. He would make me proud.

"You see, Seth, in this story, God is forgiving and offers Cain protection after exiling him from his family's land. The Mark of Cain, they call it, so that those who see it know not to harm him," I said with a smirk on my lips as I leaned closer. Seth had to hear the rest of what I was about to tell him. "But in our story, we get a different mark for killing a loved one."

Seth glanced at the fire, the harsh flames reflecting in his eyes as he watched.

"Red eyes," He said. "Our wolf forms are punished with red eyes for the rest of our lives."