Chapter 6

The day went on with more and more gifts.

Bad was stunned to what some races were offering. Nagas have given them decorated weapons and powerful potions for healing, Werewolves went a little too far offering their strongest warrior to his legions. Bad was gracious and said. "Thank you, but I think he is better alive than a shadow. Let him continue to learn until I am ready for him."

It took them by surprise, it wasn't a flat out refusal, but merely thanks but he's not ready yet. Either way, Bad could always forget about him and leave the poor guy to be!

There were also offered jewels, gold and very fancy treasures. There were also portraits, skins of powerful animals as well as more living offerings.

The ones who could create and fashion clothing were most impressive. There was another arachnid race that gave more blankets, bedding, pillows and even clothing for Botan. "They will be large, but they will be comfortable." The representative explained. Oddly enough, they sent a male rather than a female representative. But those gifts so far have been Bad's favorites.

When the sun set, there was a whole other wave of others.

The night dwellers as they were deemed came mainly with gold or living sacrifices. Bad was getting too many virgins, imprisoned warriors and animals he has never seen before.

By 11, he was tired of it all and the last of the gifts was received. Snek closed off the door and sighed aloud. "Damn!" he announced as he took in the room.

"Yeah… so what do we do about them?" Bad asked pointed to the wall of young women.

Snek sighed. "We can clear their memories, send them home to where they belong." He explained.

"The warriors, go through and see for yourself," suggested Garou. "Not all of them are prisoners, some really are notorious murders and criminals."

"Yeah, I'll do that… and now for these…" Behind the shadow dragon, Bad stared at the animals he was given. There was a baby griffin, dragon, unicorn, panther, tiger, and an egg of some sort. Not to mention a fully-grown rare tiger serpopard.

"I don't even know what we can do with them…" Snek said. "They are all too young to be released back into the wild, no doubt the parents of these creatures has been killed. The only fully-grown one out of these is the serpopard. Damn, not even I have seen one up close like this before!"

"So… we're going to keep them then? I can't just toss them in the wild thinking they are going to make it!" Bad announced. "But I ain't turning them into shadows either."

There came a look of relief on the creature's faces as they must have know who he was! The animal Kingdom even fears the Shadow King!

"Well, Botan is going to have quite a few pets!" Garou snickered.

"Yeah… damn…"

"Fortunately, your legions can raise them as well. You got dragons and creatures under your command too that can help the little ones grow. They can live in the shadow realm too, just ensure they get proper food and water." Said Snek.

Bad nodded. "Okay, take care of the human offerings, we'll tuck the gold and treasures away. We'll pack up the clothing and blankets and such, and these guys will come with us to the shadow realm… but when that's done. I'll deal with the warrior and criminal offerings."

With the plan made, Bad, Snek and Garou began to clean up until the room was empty for everything but the warrior and criminal sacrifices. "Okay… let's make this perfectly clear, and be honest with me on why you were taken prisoner!" he told them.

Among them are werewolves, hellcats, Nagas, lizardmen, vampires, ghouls, beastmen and demons. Bad looked over each of them but then remembered what Death allowed him to see and do. One such ability was called shadows of sin.

He can see the shadows of those who have been killed and by whose hand. Calling upon the power he watched, as the shadows appeared, many hovered around their killers.

'Naga is a murder, vampire too, ghouls have no soul, so I'll just kill him and three demons…' he thought to himself.

"You, you, you, and you three demons. On the wall" Bad ordered. They sneered and drifted towards the left side of the room and waited. The others he stared down upon had no shadows. These were prisoners. "You guys before me… tell me where you live. I'll send you home right now."

They froze.

Many were gasping in shock to the news. "Home? You mean the Shadow Realm after you take our souls?" asked a demon.

"Nah, you haven't taken innocent lives for the hell of it. So, think of where you lived, I'll send you back right now." He snapped his fingers, their chains suddenly came off as the creatures bowed graciously before him.

"Thank you! Shadow King, thank you!"

Their eyes closed as Bad returned these Others to where they lived, which now leaves those who have killed. They must have figured something out, after all, some of them are starting to sweat! "Shadow King… we will swear our loyalty…" one ghoul began to say.

"Shut it!" Bad snapped. "I have seen your actions, and I don't want your kind in my legions!"

They froze. "You… are letting us go too?" asked the murderous Naga.

This guy was massive, no doubt he ate his victims. But Bad gave an evil smile of his own.

"I've been here all day… am I'm hungry!"

There was no time for them to plea or beg. Bad's mouth opened as he took the souls of those before him, yet the Ghouls were unaffected. As the bodies dropped of the dead and soulless, the ghouls smirked. "How are you going to deal with us? No soul and all, no death!" they laughed and teased.

Bad merely smiled. "Yeah, I know, but did you also know… my shadows can still eat?"

CHOMP!

Igris came out of the darkness, in a single bite the Ghouls vanished. "Good job Igris!" Bad announced. "Let's go and see Zenko, she has to be tuckered out."

#

"Okay, treasure room is now full… who knew there was that much gold here?" Garou muttered as he tucked away the least bit of the gifts. He was quick to introduced the small creatures they got as offerings to their shadow counterparts. He was rather surprised to how well they took to the shadows. "Raise them well!" Garou ordered and got a nod of understanding from the shadow creatures.

But then, it left the serpopard. "Now… what to do with you…" he thought as the creature peered up at him with a nervous look. "You are not going to be killed I promise you." Garou vowed. "We just don't know what to do with you!"

"WOW YOU GOT A TIGER!?" came the excited voice of Zenko.

She rushed over to the serpopard, but paused the moment it hissed like a snake at her. "Okay… not a tiger!" she said.

"No, the tiger is with the shadow tigers. This one is in a league of it's own. Zenko, this is the very rare serpopard. It has a long body, but longer neck and a head similar to a snake, but the rest of it is a big cat"

"I've never heard of it before!"

"Me either and I'm over 1,000 years old!" snickered Garou.

In a burst of black fire, Bad appeared. "Whew! Glad that's done!"

"Big brother!" Zenko turned and jumped right into his arms.

"Hey, thank you for waiting today, tomorrow we are going shopping!" he vowed.

"Go without me," Garou said.

"Fine, you can stay home with Botan if you want"

"Fine by me… so, what are we going to do with this guy?" Garou asked as he pointed to the serpopard.

Bad thought it over, yet the more he looked at it the more he wondered how well it would fit in the house. There were shadows here similar to what it was, but nothing remotely close to its actual appearance. "I'm tempted to take it home!"

"Seriously? It growled at Zenko!"

Bad's glare came down upon the creature who instantly coward from his look. "Guess it didn't know. Okay, make you a deal. You come live with us, you protect the house and my family. Including her, this is my little sister!" he stated. "You promise to behave… you can come."

The creature appeared to understand as its head nodded. "Okay, I am taking off your muzzle, one wrong move against my family and you are not going to end up as a shadow, but my next snack! Got it!"

Again, it nodded much more fearfully this time.

Bad reached down and removed the muzzle from there it instantly warmed up, purring and coiling around his leg and even nuzzled Zenko! "Again, Dr. Dolittle can suck it compared to you." Snickered Garou.

"We ought to get home, get a good meal and head off to bed, wouldn't you say?" Bad asked.

"Yeah, Botan's been fed… don't ask…" Garou muttered, as he appeared more embarrassed than anything on the notion. Bad smirked since after all, he does it too! The family went home but was surprised to find dinner waiting! Still hot and fresh there was a nice spread to say the least. Zenko sat and ate, Garou put Botan to bed and Bad fed the serpopard. It was quick to gobble up its meal. Garou was surprised as the thick pieces of meat were snatched up and swallowed whole. "You think it's been feed?" Garou asked.

Bad shook his head, as the creature turned to him, almost pleading for more. Bad continued to feed it until it appeared satisfied. A full belly and it slinked out of the kitchen and took up the couch! "I doubt it, we ought to keep an eye on something like this… I mean I know this ain't MY place to tell people what to do, but this… just seems wrong."

"It is wrong." Garou announced. "Slavery and poaching is a crime in the Other community, however its rarely caught. Those who do get caught aren't punished enough since they can buy their way out."

"Damn…" Bad muttered.

"Perhaps this is what Death means that the Shadow King was suppose to keep the peace, instead, the others before you saw it as an opportunity to grow their power than to actually help those in need."

"Maybe that's why he suggested having more kids…" Bad muttered.

Garou paused as did Zenko. "What!" she demanded but then smiled. "More kids? You two are going to have more kids?! I get to be an auntie again!"

"Whoa, hey, we were SUGGESTED to, I don't know if we are!" Bad protested. "Besides, you know what that means? I got to eat another 10,000 souls! That's a lot of souls!" he said. "Quite frankly, I am still getting use to it…"

"He also doesn't like to look fat," snickered Garou, he was about to say something, but paused. "Hey… those warrior and criminal offerings…"

"Innocent ones went home, criminals I ate" Bad stated. He even muffled a burp after saying that. "Those digest quickly in the shadow realm to say the least."

Garou smirked as he took his fill of dinner. Zenko nearly passed out in her seat until Bad carried her to bed. From there, he and Garou went to sleep, yet Garou was wide awake. "More kids huh? We're barely cutting our fangs with this rugrat!" he muttered as he turned to Botan.

Bad however snickered, despite his eyes closed, he was listening in. "Yeah, like ten thousand souls are just going to show up out of nowhere, Garou. We will plan for this when we are ready, first, lets see how well we can handle the kid we got"

Garou yawned aloud and agreed.