"Besides," Ruk said, standing fully. "You're breaking the wrong man's heart."
Ruk looked up to Koska now. "Wings has called for us. Go ahead, tell em I'll be there shortly, alright?" he told the boy. Koska gave Ruk a suspicious look.
"Ruk," he said, his voice a warning tone, "he won't be happy if you're late again."
Ruk waved the concerns away, walking further into the room. Silas followed him with his eyes, not letting him get out of his sights. Aarav did the same, standing against the wall instinctively, even though he wasn't there to anyone but Silas.
"I won't be," Ruk said, almost indignantly. Koska sighed as he rolled his eyes, but he stood. He gave a slightly sad glance to Silas before leaving the room.
Silas looked at Ruk now, silent. 'Breaking the wrong mans heart'? What on earth did Ruk mean by that?
Ruk chuckled, making Silas jump. "I'm in charge here, darlin'," he said, as if reading Silas' mind. Ruk tilted his head, piercing red eyes staring straight into Silas'. "My brother… well, he definitely isn't. Breakin' his heart won't get you anywhere but hell."
"Damn, this little shit is annoying," Silas heard Aarav grumbled. He resisted the urge to look at his friend, knowing Ruk was watching his every move closely. Instead, he kept his gaze locked with Ruk's.
Those red eyes… they were so… intimidating. Despite willing himself not to, Silas looked down. The money was still on the desk in front of him. He remembered that it was short one fee. Should… should he tell Ruk? He could just leave it for Ruk to find out….
No, Silas thought. No, that's not right… all the money was in a single envelope – if they found out that an entire fee was missing, it wasn't unheard of that they would just choose someone at random and kill them as punishment. He chewed his cheek as he looked at Ruk again. He'd do that, wouldn't he?
"Problem, barmaid?" Ruk asked, leaning against the desk. ���Or do you just love to stare at me that much?"
Silas felt his ears burning, and he just knew they were practically radiating in the dim room. Oh man, did this guy get on his nerves…
"I… didn't pay the fee," he sputtered out. "I mean, I didn't… have… the – the money…."
Silas could practically feel Aarav tense from across the room. "What the fuck – you really are insane!" he hissed urgently. Silas ignored him, watching in confusion as an amused look came over Ruk's face.
"Oh, is that so?" he crossed his arms, standing tall again. "You know what a job is, don't you? You work for money. You get paid after the work. You don't just… storm off." Ruk snickered quietly. Silas felt the burning spread to his face as he remembered the night. He scoffed, looking away.
He nearly jumped out of his skin when Ruk lifted his chin now, making him look into those damned red eyes. Ruk opened his mouth to speak, but he wasn't able to get any words out.
Aarav barely registered what Ruk was doing. He simple saw the man grab Silas, and felt a mixture of fear and anger build up inside him. All that fear and anger exploded mere seconds after it began to build.
He had punched Ruk in the face.
Silas' eyes flew wide in shock. Even Aarav was surprised at the action, freezing. Had… had he really just… punched him? Punched this clear murderer? Yes… he had. But… why? Why on earth would he be so stupid?
Ruk was a bit thrown off balance, stumbling to the side. He put a hand on his cheek, looking up. He looked more confused than bitter, or angry. Silas was sure, though, that it was only a matter of time before Ruk became angry. He was sure this would be where he died.
Something red began to pour form Ruk's eyes. Blood? Silas thought immediately. Had Aarav made his eyes bleed somehow? But the thought was quickly dismissed. No, it wasn't thick enough to be blood. It was… see-through. Tears? No, not that either… it wasn't even a liquid. It… was smoke.
Red smoke was pouring from Ruk's eyes. It was a terrifying sight; it made Ruk look angry, even though there were no other signs of anger. Silas took a small step back in fear, but Aarav was frozen in place, still shocked at what he had done.
Now, Ruk's eyes flicked over. They landed… on… Aarav. They didn't move away. It couldn't be a mistake, their eyes playing tricks on them, no; Ruk was staring straight at Aarav. A slight look of understanding came over his face. He then gave a slight grin, his cheek already turning a deep red.
"You son of a bitch," he said in an almost breathless tone. He gave a small chuckle – Silas had never been so confused, never seen such an odd sight. The man had just been punched in the face, yet he was chuckling? He was amused – how could that be?
Aarav felt another wave of anger, this one just as unexplainable as the last. No, he was sure he could describe it – perhaps it was Ruk's smug expression, the way he wasn't angry. The way he was amused from being hit out of the blue by an invisible force. Aarav lifted his fists now.
Ruk smirked a little, though it was clear that the action pained him. "You don't want to do that," he warned. Yet his voice still held that hint of amusement.
Aarav didn't listen, of course; he stepped forward, swinging. His fist didn't land, though. It stopped in midair. He couldn't move it in any direction. He could only watch in helpless fear as Ruk stepped closer, leaning down until he was eye-to-eye with Aarav.
"You know," he said, tilting his head a little. The amusement seemed to be replaced with malice. "My brothers and I… we strongly believe in that saying you humans have – an eye for an eye, is it? Though, we believe to take it a step further. Say…," he paused, looking up, as if considering for a moment. "A life for an eye?"
He smirked as fear clouded Aarav's eyes. It was a smug smirk, one that practically yelled at Aarav that he was an idiot. "Seeing as you're already dead, however…."
Aarav scolded himself for believing he could actually die by this mans hand. He wasn't even sure if the man could hurt him, let alone kill him for a second time. How would that even happen? The bitter look returned to Aarav's face as quickly as it had vanished the first time.
"I'll do you one better."
Ruk released Aarav's arm, making him stumble. As he did, Ruk snapped. A loud noise sounded, making Silas wince and cover his ears. He had closed his eyes out of instinct; opening them now, he held back a scream.
A beast had appeared out of nowhere. It was made of bone and was on all fours. It had sharp teeth, and a long tail. And it was large. Now, as it bit Aarav, the yell of fear escaped from Silas. Aarav let out a cry of pain, barely seeing the creature.
As quick as it had appeared, it vanished. Silas stared at where it was. He surely hadn't imagined it; no, there was bleeding coming from Aarav's arm. It wasn't a lot of blood – perhaps he hadn't been bitten very deep? – but it was definitely there.
"That should do," Ruk said, the smoke gone from around his eyes. He had bags beneath his eyes, and he was slightly slouched. But he kept a smirk on his face, and looked otherwise unbothered by the whole situation. "Now you can't sucker punch unsuspecting people."
Aarav glared at him. He jumped, quickly looking back at his arm as it was wrapped with bandages that appeared out of thin air. He stared in confusion. He wasn't sure about anyone else, but he surely had not been in a fight where his enemy healed him after. What the hell was this guy playing at?
Neither could question Ruk before he gave a yawn, and disappeared in a puff of red smoke, leaving the two in shocked silence.
Ruk was extremely exhausted now. He plopped onto the couch in the living room, nearly falling asleep as soon as he did. To his chagrin, the door at the end of the couch popped open, jolting him awake. He looked at the front door, seeing Koska, who was glaring at him.
"You forgot!" he said sharply. Ruk placed an arm over his eyes to block out the light from outside.
"Shit," he muttered. "Sorry, bro…."
He knew it wasn't Koska who he had to apologize to, of course. Apologizing wouldn't get him far anyway. Aleson, the brother they so lovingly called 'Wings', was pissed before. Now that Ruk hadn't bothered to even show up, well – he was in deep shit, as one might say.
Before the two younger brothers knew what teleportation was, they thought their brother had flew out of placed quickly – yet, he had no wings. So, the two started to call him 'Wings', out of irony for not having them.
"Don't bother," Koska sighed, shaking his head. "Wings is on his way."
Ruk sighed deeply at the news. This meant the nap he so desperately awaited would be pushed back even further. He should've anticipated that, really; but the sudden drainage of his energy had clouded his mind, making the only thing he could think of was the nice long nap that waiting patiently at home.
Koska walked further into the house now, closing the door behind him. He sat on the couch next to his brother, studying him for a moment.
"Did you use up your magic?" he questioned. Ruk only responded with a small hum, hoping that would deter his brother from speaking so he could rest before getting his ass handed to him. "What for? That human seemed nice."
Ruk took a deep breath, stretching his limbs with a grunt. "No matter," he grumbled, shifting.
The door opening roughly made both brothers jump and sit up straight. Aleson was home.
Ruk looked up at the man that stood before him. His black, usually slicked back hair was a bit messy. Typically, the two scars that adorned Aleson's face – one going up from his eye, the other down from the other – was the first hint that Aleson was not someone to mess with. That wasn't the case for Ruk, however.
Aleson's eyes were the first indication that he was pissed to Ruk. The colors – one red, one purple – wasn't what disturbed him, no. It was the complete malice, the anger that Ruk knew was directly pointed at him that made him fear his brother.
It was silent for a moment. Ruk barely registered the door to Koska's room slamming shut, leaving him alone with his clearly pissed older brother.
"You idiot," Aleson hissed bitterly. "We've already got one don on our asses, now you've gone and made enemies with another! Who the hell do you think you are, Ruk? Because you sure as hell are not some damned god that gets to do anything he pleases!"
That sentence took Ruk by surprise; Aleson did not tolerate cussing. He made that clear with his younger brothers. So it was always clear something bad was about to happen when Aleson came in yelling and cussing.
"The fuck you talkin' about, Wings?" he asked. He shrank down a little as Aleson's glare got darker, and he made a mental note to suppress some language.
"What am I talking about? What am I talking about, Ruk? Oh, I don't know, perhaps it's the Don of Galet City claiming some monster killed some of their men!" as he spoke, he produced a paper from his pocket, shoving it into Ruk's hands.
Ruk looked at the paper, confused. The note opened with 'Sir Aleson', which certainly could have been some reason as to why Aleson was so bitter. He wasn't 'Sir' Aleson, he was 'Don' Aleson. The Don knew this, of that Ruk was sure, and deliberately called him 'Sir'.
Ruk quickly skimmed through the rest of the note. A few men had died, but one had survived, returning to report to the Don of Galet.
They described Ruk with great detail – shit, it was the one he knocked out, wasn't it? He knew this was true, as they hadn't described Orah in much detail, simply stating "another man was with this monster". So it was likely this was before Orah attacked – you don't often forget the face that tears you limb from limb.
Ruk cursed Orah out silently. Why had he left them alive?
"The amount of stupidity you have, Ruk… damnit! It's like you don't even have a brain, Ruk," Aleson said bitterly. He started to pace slightly with his hands behind his back. He often did this when he was angry, or thinking. Ruk was sure it wasn't the latter. "I tell you not to go out drinking at night, you fail to do that. I tell you to be nice to the people in this town, to not go starting trouble, and what do you do?"
Ruk scowled, but he didn't dare say anything. He was sure he would get himself in more trouble if he mentioned it wasn't him doing the killing, rather Orah. Aleson had told him to not go near Orah, but refused to say why, so obviously, Ruk ignored him.
"You go and off people from a neutral town! Well, guess what, Ruk? They aren't fuckin' neutral anymore!" Ruk looked up at his older brother, stopping himself from giving a bitter remark. He was too tired to fight now. That would only serve to piss Wings off more, and that was the last thing he needed right now.
"What do you want me to do about it?" Ruk asked, trying to keep the bitterness he felt out of his voice. Aleson sighed deeply, looking at the younger. It was only then he noticed how tired and strained Ruk looked. He paused, narrowing his eyes at him.
"What on earth did you use your magic for?" he muttered quietly. Ruk glanced away, a slight smirk crossing his lips. It was fun, messing that barmaid. His friend was fun to mess with too. It was all draining, of course, but still fun. He glanced back to his brother now, realizing he was awaiting a response.
"I… was teleporting a lot," he said simply. He didn't want Aleson to know he was messing with a local; that would get him his ass handed to him for sure. Aleson raised an eyebrow now, clearly suspicious.
"Lying will only get you killed, brother," Aleson warned.
Ruk took a deep breath, closing his eyes. That's what you think, he thought silently. He paused a moment longer. He knew there was a way to lie to his brother, but Ruk himself had to believe it at least partially. He had to show no doubt, too. Now he just had to think quick.
"Alright," he sighed. "I summoned a Vybuch."
"A Vybuch?" Aleson questioned, leaning forward slightly. Ruk thought Aleson might have been angrier at this, but he wasn't. In fact, he seemed intrigued at the news. "What did it look like? How much energy did it take to summon?"
"Well… not a full Vybuch… only the skeleton. It also… quickly vanished, but… it took a lot of energy. It looked like the way you described it, only without the… y'know… muscle, and stuff. Long tail, sort of a canid-looking skull…"
"I see…," Aleson muttered, looking away now. "The teeth – what did they look like? Sharp?"
"Yes, but they didn't seem that powerful… the bite mark wasn't that—"
"Bite mark?"
"Well… yea, I – I had it bite a stick in half. It took quite a while for it to fully snap. That – that could've been because it was only partially formed, though," Ruk explained quickly. Aleson's eyes clouded a little as he got further lost in thought.
Aleson straightened, clearing his throat. He pulled at the tie around his neck a moment. "I'll be in my room. Do not bother me," he said, sounding distant. Ruk wasn't sure if that was because he was lost in thought, or if it was because Ruk was half asleep. Probably both, he concluded.
Aleson quickly left to his room, leaving Ruk, finally, alone. He sighed in relief, and fell asleep immediately after.