THE GOLIATHUS CHRONICLES

Chapter 14- Father and Daughter

Well. I don't have a real good reason for the lack of an update in such a GAWD-AWFUL long time...but, when I made the promise to write the story and finish it, I never did say just how LONG that would take. Nonetheless, anyone who still cares and reviews the story gets my deepest thanks.

Onward...

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Dinarius crouched atop the Facility's Atrium door, watching the scenes below. Julie had her hands full with Navius, trying to calm the crying infant creature who refused all sources of dairy and in fact would simply spit it out. Her hunger was becoming fierce...and at an alarming pace. Dinarius frowned...so was the life of a heradus...she was doomed to suffer that fate as all others in the past had.

He just hoped that it never truly got as bad as her father.

/

Ami paced the cave, growing severely impatient. Goliathus was taking way too long, and she had just about had it with him. I told him not to go there...I WARNED him. Why didn't he listen to me? ARG...stubborn bastard! She looked over the edge outside again, seeing how far down it went. The sight made her dizzy and quickly step back. There was no way in HELL she was going to actually try climbing down, and so all she could do was sit, rest her chin on her knees, and wait for him to come back.

It didn't take much longer.

Next thing Ami knew, there was the sound of a rather furious heradus as its huge claws scraped stone upon landing and the screams of an infant. Ami nearly paled at the sight...Goliathus was covered in blood (not that it was all that unusual to see him like that) and he held a child that certainly was too normal-looking to be his own.

"What the...where did the baby come from?" The moment she asked the question, she knew. Something at the farm had gone horribly wrong. The other questions died in her throat as he handed the infant to her, rather roughly, then went to a nearby wall, fished something from his pockets, and started scrawling images with a piece of art chalk from one of the many sets Ami had given him. It was grey, seemingly his favorite choice of colors, but the way in which he decided to draw furiously in this moment made Ami feel very uneasy.

Mentally, he was trying hard to regain himself.

Ami just watched, as countless minutes passed, to see what scenes unfolded. After a while, she managed to make out what appeared to be the farm, one of the Taggarts (so she assumed) and the demon...lurking hideously in the background. The next image was of the demon grabbing Goliathus with one of its sickly claws like an iron hook, sticking into his back and using him like a puppet. Several grey strokes later, the farmer lay dead, gutted by a scythe.

The remaining stub of chalk was thrown away harshly to the other side of the cave wall, and then the creature turned, facing her.

"Oh Gollie...I..." Ami wanted to say something, but his expression took all of the will out of her. For reasons most petty humans wouldn't understand, a sad expression upon this tortured creature's face was enough to drain her of all hope.

"It's not your fault..." Yeah, that will just solve everything. How stupid was that to say?

Growling, Goliathus quickly stepped towards her and picked her up...by the neck.

Ami knew not to allow herself to get too afraid, lest that scent excite him, but she also knew he was pretty much emotionally incapable of harming her. It had been proven more then once that they had bonds as iron as those demon's claws...

She dangled there for a while, finding it painfully difficult to breathe, and then after several moments, he put her down, huffing.

Stupid human. You should not love me so much.

"Peh...you should talk. Stupid heradus goes and falls in love with said human."

Goliathus snorted at her response, and after a very brief contact of his wingtip to her face, turned to stare at the art upon the wall.

It manages to have its way with me...even when I have victories. I am so tired of this battle...

Eyes narrowed, he howled, then clawed fiercely at the wall, demolishing the scrawlings and making deep grooves in the rock that years of erosion couldn't hope to produce. Ami's eyes inadvertently widened, his power was always so chilling...so intoxicating. How DID a stupid human manage to do what she did? The question always lingered in her mind, even now.

So who died, Gollie?

The young farmer...

Jackie?

Yes.

Oh gawd...so...this child is his?

Yes.

Ami frowned. What in the world would they do with this poor infant, innocent and torn from its family? Family.

You should bring her back, to whatever remaining family you can find. I don't know, maybe a grandmother or something...or at the very least, just leave her at a hospital. No one will ever know what happened anyway...they'll find Jackie's body but they certainly won't find you. The baby, well...they'll make sure she's okay.

He stood, staring at the wall.

Ami wondered if he'd listened at all. Okay Gollie? Just go and drop her off somewhere safe.

He gave a curt nod, almost as if annoyed at the prospect, but it seemed he knew the child deserved better then the terrible blows it had already been dealt...she was entirely too young to realize she had just lost her father anyway.

He took the infant from Ami's arms tenderly, staring at the child's face a long moment.

I will take her back...then meet me at the Facility. Navius calls for me...her pain is great.

From the rather stoic expression his face normally held, Ami would have thought perhaps he was joking or speaking about the weather. But she realized he was every serious, and before she could question him further, he was out the cave entrance, flapping away into the darkening sky.

He'd be back to get her, but as always, there were always more questions, and all the less answers for them.

/

Dinarius scowled as he saw the great sweeping figure making a beeline for the Atrium, but once the fellow heradus landed, he saw that Ami was with him, which caused him great relief.

"Is everything all right?"

"Well...I'd be lying if I said it was, Dinarius, but I'll tell you that story later. Thanks for taking good care of Navius and getting her back safely." She smiled warmly at him, but it didn't last, as the crease returned to her brow. "Gollie says something's not right with her, though?"

There was a chirp from Puvo, who revealed himself from underneath his master's long white mane.

He gnawed on his wing, followed by another series of frantic chirps.

Ami raised a brow, as did Goliathus, who never quite understood what the hell that bat was trying to say.

"What Puvo is telling you is that her hunger level is so bad she's been gnawing on her own arm even...thankfully she doesn't have real teeth yet..only sharp points..but still...Julie's trying everything...but I don't think they realize that they still aren't feeding her enough. It happened so fast too, who knows why." Dinarius tapped harshly on the glass, catching the attention of Julie, who quickly hit the button. As the strange pyramid-shaped roof came open, he jumped down, being quickly followed by Goliathus who carried Ami.

"I'm so glad you're back, Ami!" Julie gave a tight hug before sighing, a sound all too familiar to her best friend. "Your poor daughter, I just don't know what to do for her anymore."

She pointed over to a smaller caged area, where the child now was. Ami was in utter disbelief, for suddenly the small creature could climb and was all over the walls as deftly as her father. Ironically, ever so often, she'd stop, curling into a ball and wailing in her little high-pitched voice. The sound caused Goliathus to grow anxious and he shifted on his feet.

"Why is she in there?"

"Well, she started gnawing on some of the arms of the medics trying to help her." Julie grinned nervously, rubbing the back of her neck. "They weren't too happy about that."

Ami paled. "Was she trying...to..?"

"Oh no! I don't think so, Ami..she's been doing that to herself too, like...like some sort of pacifier, it seems to help her a little to chew things...but the thing is, we've been feeding her, but she doesn't seem to get enough...she eats a little then refuses more, I can't explain it."

Thoughts of the earlier days with Goliathus were causing Ami to get a wicked sense of deja vu...he himself would chew bars in an attempt to get his teeth on something, anything, so overwhelming was the wicked hunger that cursed him. If that demon has somehow gotten some part of itself within Navius...Ami shuddered, trying not to linger on that thought.

She stared at her child helplessly, miserably...at a complete loss. It seemed only feasible to look at Goliathus, standing there like the most frightening version of a knight in shining armor, for all the answers that were needed. He WAS the father, and also a heradus...he had to know everything...at least right now, in this moment.

Ami's stare caused him to snort with a head-tilt.

I worried about this, I told you.

What do we do about it, Gollie?

First, release her from that prison. Mine was acceptable, since I needed it and deserved it, but this child, she is innocent.

Ami frowned. You're right..I don't like her in there either.

"Eh-hem..." Julie cleared her throat, noticing that the way they looked at each other was evident of mindspeech. "You know not all of us are gifted very well with throwing words around in our minds...can you please vocalize this conversation?"

"Sorry Julie...Gollie says to let her out."

"Are you sure about that? She IS a fiesty little thing."

"Just do it okay? It's not a good idea to say no to daddy."

Feeling a sweat bead fall from her forehead, Julie obliged and opened up the cage door with a slight clank. Navius clambered out, and promptly raised her arms to her father.

The sound she made was much like the happy grunt of a typical infant human, but her blue eyes were reddened by previous episodes of tantrums.

Goliathus swiftly picked up the child, who cuddled close to his neck. Julie couldn't help but grin at the ironic sight.

"So..?" Ami turned once more to Goliathus, also smiling faintly at the obvious bond he had created with his daughter...which both knew had seemingly existed before she had even been born.

Sudden memories of that horrible birth, the pain, blood, and chaos everywhere had to be viciously fought out of Ami's mind just as quickly as they came. For now, she wanted to forget about all that.

Where is a bucket of the "Good Stuff"?

Ami turned to Julie, echoing what was spoken to her, and Julie promptly frowned. "We tried feeding her that, it didn't work."

She will eat it, but not from you. Being what she is, her instincts are to trust her own kind only. It is one reason I myself have been so hard to...tame..if you will...

Ami blinked. Tame? You...? Heh. If you want to call it that indeed.

Julie was surprised by the news once Ami retold it. "So now only her father can feed her?"

"Apparently.." Ami felt almost betrayed in a sense...she had experienced such quick, almost non-existent bonding with her own child...nursing had not lasted long, and neither was the successful feeding of the deer back at the mountain. Though she knew, deep inside, why this was so...her daughter was not human, and couldn't be. The way she looked as a newborn, with human hands, even that was changing...now she could see the little nails starting to take on pointed tips.

Apparently, the heradus side was winning over, and with not much of a battle.

I, and perhaps Dinarius. Bring the bucket here.

Once Julie fetched it, it was clear that Goliathus knew what he was talking about, once again having spoken of some fact of which even he had no explanation for its origin. Navius was ravenous, practically biting his fingers off as he offered each small morsel, but in the end, she finally lay content after her frenzied binging, yawning and curling up within her wings.

You're a good dad, you know.

I am only doing what I feel I must...

What is wrong with you and compliments?

It is the least I can do.

*sigh* Never mind...

The odd couple watched her, finally sleeping peacefully while Goliathus cradled her in his scaly arms. Ami leaned into his tall and muscular form...finding his earthy outdoor scent (for he carried none of his own) strangely calming, even soothing.

Geez I'm a weird human. You smell good to me. Is it possible, I was a heradus in a former life?

Goliathus gave a small snort, which sounded more like a sneeze. I certainly hope not. No one deserves such a life...not even a past one.

But...Dinarius...he doesn't seem so miserable to me. Sure, he has to deal with that hunger too...but for you Gollie... you know yours is something far more extreme, and that even now, it still plagues you in a weakened form. Dinarius, he didn't suffer what you did, and so I figure he's more like what a heradus truly is like...especially considering his kind nature.

If you were more like him, would you still think you were a creature no one else would want to be?

The question caused him to consider, glancing at her from the corner of his eye as he held his child.

It took him a long time to answer.

I told you my story...of how I was torn from all I knew to be a family because of what I was...because humans feared what they did not understand. Dinarius, it is the same for him, he may have been accepted by his creators, just as I was, but in the end, if the other humans had gotten hold of him, I am sure he would have been tortured as well. He paused, looking hard at the little one still sleeping soundly in his arms. This one...she can never have a normal life...she will grow up questioning why you are different then me, and will come home crying when a human sees her and flees in terror, or maybe even manages to harm her with a rock or even a gun...and she will wonder, 'Why did they do this to me?' And then, what will you or I say to that? We will only have the truth, there would be no point in covering it up, of my past, of the time I almost killed you like every other human I hunted...and of the suffering I endured. I can do nothing else but protect her...and God help me, if one should exist...I will protect her with all I have...but I cannot protect her from hurt...you know this, Ami, as you have seen it within me...I still hurt...even after so many hundreds of years.

Tears, something that were so extraordinary rare for such a stone wall of a creature managed to surface to his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. Still, Ami reached out to hold him, giving all that she could offer...

Her love.

End Chapter 14

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Aw. Hey, I enjoyed writing again for this story, finally! If it takes me another six months to write a chapter, you all have permission to grab your keyboards and bash me over the head with it.