The man sat cross legged on the edge of the cliff, his back facing the opposite direction from the cliff, his head raised to gaze upon the beauty of the sunset that washed over the lands.
Except.... he was blind so he couldn't do much gazing, yet he still practiced this habit everyday exactly at this time whenever he could, I had stayed with him long enough to notice this habit.
Almost a year now.... he always.... always did this, was he reminiscing on a more pleasant time? Perhaps he was thinking about the future? or perhaps nothing at all.
I often wondered that myself.... yet I have never been brave enough to ask him...
I readjust my position from the top of the apple tree I'm perched on... I knew I should've worn looser pants today but... I stuck with a tight leather out of fear of bugs! Funny thing no such creatures have come near me today.
I got stuck here, you see I was picking apples to make up for our lost supplies when I lost track of time, by the time I noticed the new arrival, I got nervous and hid in the tree....
I didn't wanna disturb him but now.... I'm kinda regretting my decision....
I sigh deeply as I wipe the sweat from my brow with the ends of my brown hooded shirt, it won't take long for the action to start, she always targeted him around this time, much to his dismay...
The man sighed deeply as he carried his walking cane and rose, he dusted the sand from his black trousers and readjusted his collar, he tied his long blond hair into a bun and rolled up his sleeves, he turned around slowly and braced himself....
... Nothing, none came this time.... had she given up today? No! it wasn't in her nature to give up, I'd learnt that observing their behavior all this time..... but what's taking her so long?
*RUSTLE*
the nearby bush from the blind man's left shakes, the man does not move but is clearly still on guard, he mutters something but I'm too far away to hear.... he sighs again and walks forward away from the bush....
A figure jumps down from the same apple tree I'm on top and lunges right at him!
The man deftly dodges and smacks the figure on the back, the figure edges close to the cliff from the momentum of the smack, arms flailing wildly but gathers itself and whirls around to see the blind man walking away, paying it no mind.
"Don't underestimate me old man!" She cried, the little girl of 8 years cried as she lunged at the man again.... only to be tripped by his carefully placed cane.
She quickly rose to her feet and lunged.... and got tripped, lunged again.... only to be tripped again, Sol have mercy.... she can mask her presence while in the same tree as me but can't even coordinate her attacks properly.
The man continued walking forward, "How many times have I told you to tie your hair? if you don't wanna cut it at least prevent it from getting in the way...." He explained.
"S-Shut up!" She cried while touching her long smooth black hair, "I can do whatever I want!" She continued, her emerald green eyes looked at the man's back with such disdain, You wouldn't even know he was her own blood.
She frowned her face so deeply her freckles started to dance, she bit her lips and cursed under her breath.
"Watch your tongue girl," The man said whilst he continued forward at his steady pace, perhaps having her pride crushed by, she lunged at him once more this time she tried for a downward tackle, he deftly leapt to the air and she slid uselessly beneath him, she cursed again and rolled up to her feet.
SMACK
The man's cane struck the girl across the cheek... it wasn't hard but there was meaning behind it.... 'How many times must I tell you to watch your tongue!?' is what it likely meant....
He stood still for a few moments, boring a hole at her with his eyes... before continuing with his stroll....
"Jonathan, if you have time to watch this pointless struggle then you have time to make our dinner!" He cried, he didn't even look up at me just continued on his merry stroll...
The girl.... Nora was in tears now, she whirled around and made for him.... this time with her claws popped out, her fangs were out as well, she lunged for her father again.... this time he faced her and smacked across the cheek.
"Fool!" He cried, "Is violence your answer to everything!?" he added.
Nora chuckled, "That's rich coming from you! Isn't it your job to hunt monsters like me!" she spat.
".....You are not a monster"
"Yeah.... well I wouldn't know, I haven't met anyone like me... the others I've met are human slaying psychos!"
"The swamp people were nice, were they not?"
"They wanted to take me away from you!"
"You would have been safer with them...."
".....you really wanna get rid of me that much, huh?"
"What are you talking about? You're my daughter!"
"Yeah.... well I wished you'd treat me like that sometimes..."
"Nora.... I-"
"Why don't you tell the other humans what I am, huh?"
"..... They're not ready yet..."
"You sure that's the reason? or you're afraid they'd know the great 'Nicklaus of half hand hill' has a bastard werewolf for a daughter!"
SMACK
He struck across the cheek again.... a pained expression etched on his face.....
"You.... you have no idea why I do what I do... have I ever slain anyone, Human or werewolf that was undeserving?"
"....."
"It pains me that I have to slay anyone at all.... but the law demands ALL criminals be dealt with accordingly, with brute force if need be...."
"yeah.... keep telling yourself that!" Nora spat before running off.... Nicklaus stretched his hand, as if to reach her.... but he put it down as soon as he raised it.
".... Jonathan...."
"Yes Lord Klaus?"
"Am I a bad father?"
"....I don't know enough to say my Lord,"
Lies!
I know plenty.... he isn't a good father.... not in the conventional way, he feeds Nora, shelters her and clothes her.... but something is missing..... some part of himself he's unwilling to show her..... she senses it too.... perhaps if he did share.... then their relationship would....
"I know what you're thinking.... you're probably right too...." Nicklaus said whilst looking up in the now night sky, "Maybe.... if we met her brother she would understand.... maybe things would be clearer then...."
Sorry..... Brother?
"Nora has a brother?" I said incredulously, "This is the first I'm hearing of it!"
He chuckled slightly, "Yeah she does! His name's Barker apparently, I've never met the boy, but Amanda spoke about him a lot, it feels like I know him, he's hot tempered like Nora but the kid's got a good heart.... I wish to meet him one day!" he said heartedly.
"Amanda.... that's Nora's mother.... what happened to her my Lord..."
*SILENCE*
"I'm.... I'm sorry I didn't mean to-"
"It's fine..... you remember how we met?"
"Of course! You caught me slipping an apple into one of my pockets my Lord.... although I still don't know how you managed that feat.... given your....."
"Blindness? Hahaha.... it's a trick Amanda taught me when I started to lose my vision.... it's all about people's feelings you know?"
"Feelings.... huh.... Why did you save me my Lord?"
"What do you mean?"
"You didn't know me.... or owe me.... the fact you took someone like me under your wing is a blight on your honour..."
"Nonsense, you were an honest man that fell on hard times.... besides I wanted a good cook and you just happened to fall into my lap!"
"You didn't know I was a cook by then though...."
He sighed, "Look I just didn't see the sense in having an innocent man lose his hands for an apple of all things.... that's all!" He said with a 'hmph' in his gut.
I'm glad I met lord Nicklaus, he isn't the merciless monster many think he is.... He doesn't needlessly slay without reason, I had once questioned why he felt safe around literal werewolves but took the opportunity to exterminate an entire village of refugees....
Turns out my feelings were misguided, the village housed no refugees, only bandits and cannibals that preyed on travellers, he had slain all but the little children .... perhaps out of pity or perhaps something else.... either way I don't believe it was wise in allowing them to walk away, the look they gave Lord Nicklaus.....
I wonder.... Children or no.... would they have shown us such mercy? The lot of them were ready to slay us in our sleep afterall...
Still I'm curious of one thing....
"..... My Lord, I don't mean to pry.... but this Amanda.... she had a village didn't she? Perhaps-"
"It would have been best to leave Nora with her? Yes I've thought the same thing.... you see, I wanted to be a werewolf too Jonathan..."
"My lord...?"
"Yes.... Amanda.... she was my senior by nearly 2 decades but she didn't treat me like that.... no she didn't treat me like a little boy... she loved me and I loved her.... The day she told me she was heavy with Nora was the happiest day of my life! I would have been more ecstatic had she turned me into a werewolf too! That way our Family could live together.... alas that wasn't meant to be...."
"What do you mean?"
"I was.... immune to the transformation process.... maybe something in my ancestry but I was immune.... she didn't know how her people would receive me so she thought it safe to not mention our relationship to them... she left Nora with me so I'd have of piece of her with me always..."
"My lord...."
"Yes.... I miss her greatly...." He began to weep, "It's all my fault.... if I had done things differently.... perhaps.... perhaps...."
"I.... I don't know the circumstances of what happened my lord... but I'm sure it's not your fault...."
"I'm not.... I'm not so sure about that...." He said with a solemn look on his face.... "Sometimes.... I think about our dream, you know? a world.... where we humans and werewolves could live together in peace, no war, no discrimination.... just two races leaving together as one...."
"You don't think that's possible...."
"No.... not with someone like me, there's too much blood on my hands.... but Nora.... she's still innocent.... still untouched by the savages of of both our kind.... if it's someone like her...."
"You think too highly of my Pops..." Nora said, she was sitting atop the apple tree now, she cleaned an apple with her scarf before taking a bite into it.
"That's because I believe in you.... I know I'm not the best father in the world.... I know that my way of doing things is.... Bashful at best..."
"and Vindictive at worst," She snorted.
"....Point is.... I.... I want you to stay clean... I don't want you to dirty your hands like me..."
"You can at least teach me how to properly defend myself!"
"Nora, I-"
"My lord if I may say... The world isn't gonna be as kind to Nora as you want it to be.... perhaps none lethal training would serve her well in the likely outcome of her meeting dangerous characters...."
".... Perhaps you are right..." He sighed whilst Nora had the biggest grin on her face I'd ever seen, she whooped in joy as her father sighed deeper.
"So I have a big brother huh?"
"Barker.... yes,"
"You think he'll.... accept me..."
"I'm sure he'd love you... we'll meet him very soon.... but for now, we have business in Bloom County, when we're done I promise we'll finally get to meet him,"
Nora hopped down from the tree and raced over to her old man hugging him tight before breaking away and heading into the woods, likely towards our camp.
"Jonathan..."
"Yes my lord..."
"Thank you..."
"I- It's nothing my lord!"