"Love is never an emotion that can tie a soul down. It can only be tied by sadness, anger, regret and fear."
- A sentence from The Book of Good and Evil
***
When Alex got out of the bathroom, he was surprised by the commotion that was going on. He felt two more presence inside aside from his familiars. The presence of Kal and his servant, Vanciel is in the room together with his two familiars.
"Master! Five demon hounds went out into the northern part of the forest!" He said.
Kal stood up from his seat and shouted, "How did that happen?!"
"Apparently, there were five stables that were left unlocked and the barn was left open. The sun is still not set so we can't get out. I have asked the human servants to go after them." Vanciel replied while still bowing his head.
The king squinted his eyes at him and said, "You know that they are dangerous for a human." He pinched the bridge of his nose to calm himself down from lashing out. "They are feral! What if one of them died?" If any of them died because of the night creatures, surely the humans would be scared and the incident might get out. He needs human workers to deal with stuff during the day! They might leave the residence if any of them got hurt!
He was about to say that he will go after them but Alex beat him to it.
"We will go after them." He said as he dresses himself in front of everyone. He hastily wore the clothes that Asher was giving him. He felt that it is just a simple long, sleeved shirt and slacks. The clothes are quite thin but he doesnt care. This is not the time to feel ashamed because he is the reason why five of the demon hounds got out. And this is not a time for him to be picky about his clothes.
"What?! Are you crazy?!" The king asked on his face while Alex is still fixing himself. Kal was so crazed by his words. "I know that you told me not to treat you like you are a delicate human but I cant allow you to deal with those hounds." He crossed his arms in front of his chest. He is going to stand his ground this time. "They are feral dogs and one of them even bit off your familiar's hand!"
Alex lifted his face towards Kal. He wants to make sure that he will see in his eyes how serious he is with his next words. "Apparently, I am good with demon hounds."
He can see that he is telling the truth but it still did not change his mind. "I said no."
"Kal, Listen!" Alex massaged his temples. "It is my fault why they got out. I did not close the stables of the five hounds because I do not know how to close it. I will go with Asher and Emily. Besides, you said it yourself. It is dangerous for humans to get close with them because they are feral."
"Exactly! They are feral! I dont know where your confidence comes from, but my answer is still the same. I will not allow you to go after them." The king pat Alex's head and said in a calmer, pleading voice. "Stay here."
"Why won't we come together so you can see for yourself where my confidence comes from?" Alex challenged him.
The four of them went to the northern side of the forest. They were last seen running towards this direction. "We are going to split into two groups." The king said. "I will go with Alex and you two," He looked at Asher and Emily. "Look on the eastern side, in case that some of them ran off in that direction."
"What?! No, I will go with my sire!" Emily said with disrespectful tone.
She was forced to shut her mouth when she saw the red eyes of the king, getting pissed. She don't have to use her eyes to see that he is pissed because he feels disrespected. She felt bad for a while, even thought of backing down because he is still the king. but she stood her ground. They are out in the forest and night is about to fall! She didn't know what he is feeling exactly towards her master, but she refuses to trust him. As her master once said, they are strangers in this place. She stood her ground. He might be the king but he is not her master. Why would she fear him?
'Interesting.' The king thought. He feels delighted with this specific familiar of his lover. She is the most feral out of the two. He stared at Asher. He is shivering whenever he looks at him with the intent to kill, but he will stood his ground whenever needed. He is aware of his history with Alex from the past, so he is lenient towards him.
This Emily, however, is a different story. Stubborn as her master, but he trusts her more than Asher. He knows that she will not run from death just to protect the important person for her.
Alex was feeling the tension between his familiar and Kal, so he interrupted them and called Emily to get her attention.
Emily's eyes shifted on him. "I am going to be alright with him. Give him your trust because I told you to do so." She saw the smile from her master's eyes as he went closer to her. "We will meet in the barn once we captured the five hounds. I'll be back." He pat her head.
She stared at him while she went on a short trance. She briefly remembered someone who said the same thing to her. Her mind was brought back on the time when she was alive.
She was lying on the hospital bed when he said those words to her. It was morning by that time. She asked him to stay with her and not leave. He touched her face gently and said, "I'll be back."
But she had a gut feeling by that time that when he comes back, he will sacrifice himself just to extend her time in earth.
So she killed herself while her lover is away.
"Emily?" She was brought back in the present when she heard her master's voice. Alex felt that melancholy air around her once more.
She shook her head to get rid of that awful memory before beaming at him.
"I will wait for you, sire."
***
The temperature of the wind started to drop as the sun sets on the west. The fallen, brown leaves looked golden in the sunset light, while they danced on the tempo of the wind. The god of death decided to call it a day and let his subordinates to roam the night by themselves to collect souls.
His glowing, purple eyes stared at the grave of the woman he only loved in his immortal life.
'Saruyama Iwao.'
He sat on the ground to wipe the leaves off and dusted the grave with his bony hands. All of her relative has passed away so no one has been cleaning her tomb. Some of her friends are too busy living their lives so they don't have a time to visit. Once he is satisfied with how clean it is, he decided to stay in here and spend his night.
He wants to cry. He always wanted to cry since she died. But even if he glamoured himself into a human and gave his bones a flesh to encase, he can't cry. He doesn't know if it's because he is the god of death, or he just doesn't have the necessary glands for crying, but he can't cry. He thought, if he tried to cry, this heaviness and pain in his heart would go away.
His bony fingers traced the characters of her name that was slowly fading. He is made of bones only. He didn't even have a heart that pumps blood. He doesn't even have a brain that would send chemicals to make him feel all sorts of emotions. He is just a skeleton that had the powers and eyes of a god. But his time with her made him realize the reason why humans are fragile and soft.
He laid on his back and stared at the purple and orange sky.
'His time with her allowed him to feel those fragile emotions.'
"I just wish my emotions died with you." He said in the air.
So he won't ever feel the need to cry.
***
"It is so goddamn dark! I wonder if master was alright." Emily said as they walk further into the eastern forest. The day is slowly getting dark. If they stayed here longer looking for the hounds, it would be hard for them.
"He is alright. He is with the king." Asher said as he killed a rabbit that he found randomly. He thinks that they would follow them if they smell blood.
Emily sat at the back of her heels while she watches Asher kill another rabbit with his own hand. "Why do you entrust sire's safety in that king's hand?"
He looked back at her and said, "because I know their history." He focused once more on ripping the flesh of the animal. "I know how much he loves sire. So I trust him. Though it is fine if you wont. He is not our master anyway."
Emily slowly laid her body on the grassy floor of the forest. She can feel the cold wind passing on her skin. A few strands of her silver hair are flowing with it. "Love, huh. Do you still remember how it feels like?"
Asher stopped what he is doing and gave her an are-you-serious look, "I am dead since the 1800's. Do you think I still remember what it feels like?"
They both stared at each other for a while before he went back again on ripping the flesh of the rabbit.
Now that she mentioned it. They have the human flesh and since then, he started to feel pain, worry, happiness and other sort of emotion except love.
Emily sat back up from the ground and came close to Asher. She turned his head towards her and gave him a kiss.
Asher's eyes grew wide in surprise. He felt that Emily has deepened her kiss and he did the same. But both of them cant feel that feeling.
The feeling of blood rushing towards your face and the embarrassment that comes with your pounding heart. They both cant feel that 'butterfly in the stomach'. They feel nothing.
When they separated from each other, they said at the same time, "We cant feel love."
Emily pouted, "And here I thought I would feel that rush once more since I have a human flesh. I can feel pain, pleasure and other mundane emotions..."
Asher stood up and gave her the torn flesh of the rabbit. "Our ability to give and feel the rush of love would be gone once we died. It is an emotion that only the living has the privilege to feel." He held Emily's hand as he continued, "Maybe that is also the reason why we never see each other as romantic partners."
They started walking into the forest while their hands held the torn flesh of the rabbit. They are hoping to lure the demon hounds out by triggering their blood lust. "But what about those that we have left?"
Asher stared at Emily's face and asked himself, 'Why is she asking me this question?' Nevertheless, he answered her with dead eyes, "I am sure the people that I have left are all dead since that war. But in your case, someone might still feeling the pain of your death, or they have moved on and living their remaining days with some humans."
"Hmm. I hope they are all happy with someone else." She said as she stared at the purple and orange sky. The shadows of the trees look like phantoms of the night that was looming over their heads.
Emily randomly looked at some spot of the forest when she saw a white, fox cub sleeping under one of the trees. She pulled Asher to a stop and gave him all of the rabbit flesh to go to the sleeping cub.
"Emily! What are you doing?! Put it down!" He whisper-yelled as he saw her picking it up from the ground. What the hell. The mother might still be around!
"But it is sooooooo cute! Look!" She raised the cub on his face and he saw the baby blue eyes of it. 'Aaaw. Yes, a real cutie!' He thought.
He shook his head to get off the idea of him, bringing it home. "Put it down. It's mother might comeback anytime from hunting." He is not really familiar with fox cubs so he is not sure why this one is here alone. As he stared deeply into it's blue eyes, he noticed how still it is and not struggling from her hold.
Unusually still for a fox that was born and raised in the forest.
Emily sighed. "Alright. I'll put it down. I'll just go to the bush over there and hide it."
Asher waited for her as she go somewhere else to hide the cub. He was staring ahead with a bored face when he heard a movement from his back. He tilted his ears towards the direction where it came from and heard the bushes slowly getting crunched, as if someone is carefully stepping on it. He feels like a prey that is slowly being prowled on. 'Is this the mother of that cub?' He asked himself hopefully.
Then he heard a growl from his back and the last thing that he saw and heard upon turning his head towards the sound, are the glowing red eyes of a demon hound and Emily shouting his name in a panicked voice.
***
Alex was getting worried because according to Kal, night has completely fallen and his two familiars are still not in the meeting place. They found the 4 hounds together and the king was impressed. Indeed, Alex was able to handle his own when it comes to the demon hounds.
They all walked and behaved like those trained dogs! So quiet and peaceful as he led the four into the stables. The king felt proud towards his lover. Is this one of god's ability? He asked himself as he gave him a deep, and lingering kiss on his lips.
Alex's body started to heat up when he felt Kal's tongue in his mouth. He leaned towards him as he felt his arms being wrapped on his waist.He completely forgot his familiars that are still in the forest and his senses started to become numb as his heart pounded on his chest. Every second that passes, he is getting deaf with how loud it is! He is wearing a simple long sleeved shirt and some random slacks that Asher got for him in the room. He believed he just wore it and did not bother to tuck the ends of the shirt in his slacks. So he easily felt Kal's thumb on his skin, from the base of his spine and his warm hand going up. This little act from him aroused him and made his body shiver from heat instead of cold.
As they are going too deep into their kiss, Emily picked this time to come into the scene, running and screaming in panic. The demon hound running after her back.
Alex peeled himself from him and blushed while Kal was getting pissed once more. "Stupid familiars." He whispered. Alex did not miss this from him and he laughed softly.
They were both on alert when they smelled the metallic scent of blood. Kal stared in the direction where it is coming from and he saw Emily covered in blood, carrying a lower limb of human body in her arms, and the demon hound running after them.
The king moved in front of Alex to protect him and take control of the demon hound. His red eyes glowed blue while he extended his hand towards the hounds direction. When Emily went past him, he used his abilities to chop off the body of the demon hound and in an instant, its body was cut in perfect cubes of flesh before it fell on the ground.
When he turned his head back on Emily and Alex, he saw that he is worried and pale, seating on the ground with her. While Emily was catching on her breath because of the running that she did.
"Where did you get that?" Kal asked after he made sure that his lover is alright. He is pertaining to the legs that she is carrying.
Both Emily and Alex stared at him.
He is once more getting fascinated with his blue eyes. Falling in a trance, he thought, he will never get tired of seeing this. This one thing that he can only see, his ocean-like eyes.
Alex was pulled out in a trance when he heard Emily laughing loud. He turned towards her direction and tried to understand the reason why she is laughing. Kal, on the other hand, looked at her strangely and asked, "What is funny? You, carrying a bloody half of a body?" He saw that the guts are hanging out as she dropped it on the ground.
Emily subconsciously wiped her hands on her eyes and the blood smeared on it. "That was scary!" She said.
"Where is Asher?" Alex asked as he felt a faint presence of him nearby but he cant hear his breathing.
"Sire." Emily called him as she held his hand, getting blood on it as well. "I am carrying Asher's body. This here," She guided her hand on the half part of his body. Alex felt the wet, slimy, warm thing in his hand. This is where the strong scent of blood comes from. He felt that there were long things that were hanging down. "Is his gut." She continued as she tries her best to stop from laughing. "He was eaten in half by the demon hound. HAHA! And he once told me that I am stupid for letting my hand be eaten by it when he, himself, was eaten in half!"
Alex wants to face palm himself but he stopped because there were blood in his hand. "So, I assume it is going to grow back." Emily stood up and helped Asher to stand as well.
"Yes, sire. He is going to regenerate his head and torso. It might just take a while though."
Kal went on Alex's back to hug him. He said to Emily, "Well, go in your room to rest. I will ask Vanciel to help you with carrying his body into safety." At the same moment, Vanciel came out of nowhere and lifted Asher's lower body part.
And the four of them, plus Asher's lower body, went into the castle and had dinner as the sky completed its change from sunset to night.