"Luke," his father suddenly said in a harsh whisper. He squeezed his son's hand and stared down at him with ferocity. "I need you to listen to me, carefully, okay? People are coming."
Luke blinked, not understanding. "What people?"
The ravens chattered above them, as if asking the same question.
"Men that mean to harm us," he said quickly. He placed his hands on Luke's shoulders and held tight. "I can hear them even if you can't. I can smell them. You need to hide."
His parents had always told him that men were something to fear, especially the ones from the town. Their relationship with humans was complicated, they'd say. They needed people to survive, but in many ways the people were more dangerous.
"Why don't we run away?" Luke asked his father, his heart rate starting to rise. "You're faster than the fastest deer. Faster than anyone."
"Because I'm tired of running away," he said gravely. "I'm tired of trying to keep these people away from my family. I need to stay, to face them. They'll never leave us alone if I don't. They don't like what we are, Luke, they're afraid of us. Call us heathens. They call us murderers without even trying to understand why."
"You don't murder people," Luke said. "You hunt them."
His face grew grim. "And one day you will too. We do it less and less and only to survive, no different than hunting the deer that live here. But humans will never understand, will never have to, will never want to. And they fear what they don't understand. We will always be monsters to them, no matter what we do. They are more dangerous than us because they carry hate in their hearts, hate which corrupts and kills. Which is why this needs to stop. And you need to hide. Then, when it's all over, I need you to run all the way back home and take your mother and brother and sister into the Black Sunshine with you. Your mother will know what to do."
"Black Sunshine?" Luke asked. "I thought I wasn't supposed to go in there until The Becoming? Until I turned?"
"This will be an exception," his father said. He straightened up and waved his hand in the air. "There is always an exception." Suddenly the air in front of them started to warp and shimmer where his father was gesturing, and flames appeared in the outline of a door. "You're still human, Luke, until you turn, but I believe if you concentrate hard enough, visualize hard enough, you will be able to create a door that will lead you home. It's in your blood as it is in mine."
"But…"
"I love you, son," his father said and quickly embraced him, wrapping him in his arms so hard that Luke was lifted inches off the ground. "I will always love you. You take care of your family now. You hang on to them with everything you have. Remember that loss and love go hand in hand, no matter who you are, or what you are. You can't have one without the other, and even we don't live forever."