Sorry it took so long, was having a hectic week -_-' well anyway, let's get going shall we?

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Lloyd cried out, trying to scramble back. The others Raine and Colette both let out shouts, attempting to aid their companion and waking the others in turn.

He could see it, see through his familiar's eyes as the scene unfolded. It didn't matter much, he would be there in person shortly.

Noishe leapt between the familiar and Lloyd, growling, though his entire body shook.

From the place where he watched through the familiar's eyes, Kratos sighed, rubbing his temple. While he was grateful to the protozoan for trying to protect his child, as he had charged him, the animal didn't realize circumstances had changed. Lloyd wasn't human anymore, he was never going to be. Just like he had tried, tried to lock his nature away, futile attempts to defy what he was. There was no point, there was no escaping it…no lying about what you were.

The bat knocked Noishe aside, though abiding his master's whims not to injure him significantly. Lloyd was horrified, his eyes wide, his skin going pale with fear.

He would resist. He knew he would, knew he would fight it and try to escape…but…but there was no escape. It was his own fault, he realized, his fault for letting Lloyd hope, letting him dare to believe that maybe he could escape his own blood. He would remedy that, he would make up for everything, he would take his son under his wing and make things right. Protect him, teach him, teach him what he was, who he was, how this was how it was supposed to be…

How it had to be.

The bat was being attacked by Lloyd's companions, but it didn't faze it much. Though should the Chosen use an angelic spell it could be more difficult. It mattered little, he was almost there.

He touched down a decent enough distance away, walking toward the campsite, his eyes perfectly adjusted to the darkness of the night. The scent of blood met his sense, the Chosen, again…Lloyd had fed on her again, just tonight. Further evidence that he was doing what was necessary, what was...right…

Lloyd was desperately trying to slip away from the bat, and managed, finally, hastening to his feet and stumbling backwards. Right into him. Lloyd stiffened, turning his gaze back up at his father, who looked down at him with a set frown.

"K- Kratos-!" Lloyd cried, trying to back up again. "Wh- what are you doing? You- You said you'd leave me alone-"

"You bit her again," he said flatly, glancing over at Colette.

Lloyd stiffened, his heart catching in his throat.

"I- It was just an-"

"And how many more 'accidents' do you intend to have, Lloyd?" Kratos said with a slight hiss, his eyes narrowing.

His heart pounded violently- no- not it wasn't even his heart, it was Kratos' heart; this man's heart, his father's, the – the heart of the current Vampiric God. He stammered, trying to back up, only meeting the bat at his back. Noishe barked and whimpered, but rushed forward anyway, trying to get between the father and son. Kratos looked down at the animal who growled weakly at him, his four legs shaking violently.

"…You can come if you want, Noishe," he said simply. "But I've made my decision."

He grabbed Lloyd's wrist, the icy touch of his fingers causing his own blood to grow cold. Lloyd cried out right as a white mist engulfed them, blocking his vision of anyone but his father. Kratos didn't bother to say anything more, pulling his struggling son off into the mist.

Lloyd choked, trying desperately to think of something, to break away, to keep control of himself from this fear that was overriding his senses. This mist- this fog was the same- the same- the same as when SHE had grabbed him, just like this, leading him off to that- that hell-

"No!" Lloyd choked. "No! Stop!"

Kratos paid no heed to his son's cries, and the beat of leathery wings from above met his ears, almost feeling the bat flying above. There were more, he knew, three more that would be following, circling…

"Dad!" he cried finally, unable to shake the desperation from his voice.

The mist dissipated and Lloyd whipped his head around violently, trying to see his friends, but finding the surrounding area was completely different than where he just was. He didn't even recognize this place…

"Wh- How did you-?" he stammered, eyes wide.

"…My maetala was not the only one capable of such things," Kratos said simply. "I am the king, I'm capable of many such things. Though until recently I did not allow myself to use them."

Lloyd shook. What did he mean by that? What was he- no..no he-

"T- Take me back!" he managed to say, trying to keep the fear from his voice. "Dad, please! Don't do this-"

"You're a vampire, Lloyd," Kratos snapped, his eyes flashing red. "You know this. We tried to find a way to be human, it didn't work. It will never work. This is just something you have to accept!"

Lloyd flinched, withdrawing, gaping up at his father with wide, horrified eyes.

"Don't you understand?" Kratos hissed, furrowing his brow. "We're vampires, just as the Sages are Half-Elves and your friends are humans. That's just the way it is! It's how we were born! We can try to hide behind humanity all we want but in the end it's for naught! I played at human for four-thousand years and look at me! That much time and there was still no escaping from it!"

"D- Dad- but-" he stammered, desperate, horrified.

"There is no escape for you either, Lloyd," Kratos finished with a flat, low voice. "You're a vampiric prince, and it's time you started living like one."

Lloyd's throat tightened, going dry. The red glow of his father's eyes sent a shiver down his spine, and the taste of blood still lingered in his mouth-

Kratos snatched the flask of the remaining shrine blood from his pack, eying it and then Lloyd. Lloyd choked, making a grab for it when Kratos grabbed him by the collar.

"…Did you ever wonder why red was your favorite color, Lloyd?" Kratos said , his voice as soft as a snake's whisper. "Why you always seem to wear it?"

The teen's heart stopped beating. What? What did he- what did he mean? What was he talking about? That- that was-

"That – that has nothing to do with-" he began.

"No, Lloyd," Kratos said, frowning. "It does. You're attracted to red; you're attracted to it because it's in your blood, it's in your nature, it's in your subconscious…"

"No I-"

"That rush you feel in battle, when you slice through monsters and bandits," Kratos cut him off, eyes narrowing. "It's always thrilled you."

"I- tha- that's just because it's the adrenaline-"

"No Lloyd. It's not. You know it's not, you thought it was because you had no other explanation," Kratos said, frowning. "But it wasn't the combat that thrilled you…it was the carnage."

"Stop it!" Lloyd half-shrieked, struggling to get away from his father. "You don't know that! You don't know me! How do you know what I think-?"

He cut off sharply when his eyes locked with Kratos' glowing ones, finding himself unable to look away, unable to fight.

"You hid it well, and I know you dislike to see innocent people harmed," Kratos continued softly. "But you never once lamented over taking a life of an enemy."

"I- that's- why would I-?"

"Exactly," he cut off, eyes narrowed. "For all you believe you never felt even the slightest bit of regret or guilt for killing. Humans do, Lloyd. Half-elves, dwarves, elves, humans…all of them, if they have to take a life it haunts them, it eats at them with guilt, with regret…"

Lloyd choked. We-…he felt – of course he felt bad for killing- …right? Hadn't he? Hadn't he felt…

"At the Temple, at the Oracle," Kratos recalled his attention. "That was the first time you killed someone, wasn't it? The first time you ended someone's life."

The teen stiffened.

"You weren't phased at all," he said, his voice a whisper. "Colette and Genis were, I saw it, though they tried to hide it, distract themselves with the situation at hand. The haunt in their eyes, the feeling that they had done something terrible, even in self-defense. They thought to themselves, Lloyd, even if just for a moment, that they had to be some kind of monster."

"I…"

He- he had thought that too- …didn't he? He scoured his memories, trying to think- ..No. No…that had been the first time he had…killed someone. The very first time, and he had never, even for an instant, stopped to realize what he had done. How could he? How could he have just killed someone- enemy or not- and then not even cared…? His eyes widened, staring into the abyss, feeling his body beginning to shake. He hadn't even stopped to think, how could- how could he have been trying so hard to save people but then not even realize the value of the lives he himself had ended? Enemy or not- and they hadn't even been Desians. They were Renegades, they too, had been trying to save the world, even if it had made enemies of them; people trying to save the world as well and he hadn't even thought twice about it after…

"It's all right, Lloyd…."

Kratos' hand touched the top of his head, the deity's voice soft, soothing, yet chilling to his ears.

"You don't have to be afraid of it…" he spoke, fingering the brown locks. "It's all right. I thought so as well…thought it should be abhorred and hidden…but we don't have to, Lloyden…"

Lloyd's body, seized up, memories of her flashing through his head, her gleaming eyes, her smirk, her soft touch-

"It's what we are, Lloyd, there is nothing that can change that, and there is nothing wrong with it," Kratos said, pulling the frozen boy into a hug, fingering his hair. "We should embrace what we are, Lloyden…there is no other way for us to live, no other way for us to find true peace…"

"N- n..NO!" Lloyd pushed him back, shaking violently. "No! I won't- I don't want to! Stop it! Dad don't- you're sounding like- like her! Dad-!"

Kratos' eyes flashed dangerously, narrowing on Lloyd.

"I am not my maetala, Lloyden," he hissed, taking a step forward. "Unlike her I care for my son. I won't see you try to live a lie any longer, it will only end in pain for you."

"You think this will be any better? Dad-!"

Kratos raised his hand to his mouth and sliced his finger tips, drawing deep red blood. Lloyd froze, his eyes locking on the fluid instantly as his father held out his hand, letting the blood slide down his fingers, dripping onto the ground below.

"You like to watch it move, don't you?" he voice came, low, creeping through the air like a large cat stalking its prey. "You like to watch it slide…and drip…and you don't even have your fangs right now, Lloyd."

No.

He took a step backwards.

No he didn't-

Drip. The round little speck of fluid splattering on the-

NO!

He whirled around and broke out into a flat run. Get away. Just get away. Run away and leave it behind- this- maybe this was another nightmare. It had to be one! He wasn't going back to that! No! No no no-!

Then a whip to his legs, tripping him up, slamming him into the ground. The bat that tripped him up hunched over him, eyeing him, just waiting for him to make another attempt at escape. Lloyd cried out, trying to scramble away from it, only to back up into another. Their tails wrapped around his arms, holding him still as Kratos approached silently, calmly.

"I know it will be hard for you at first, Lloyden," he whispered, walking up to his child, holding his bleeding hand upright. "But in the end it's what's best for you…"

No! No no no-!

Kratos grabbed his jaw and forced it open for just a second, but a second was all that was necessary. He wiped a single drop of his blood into his mouth, and it the taste hit Lloyd's senses immediately.

His body didn't even resist at all when his canines sprouted in an instant back into fangs.

Mind games are fun, aren't they? n.n hee hee hee… I always thought Lloyd never put enough thought into killing people, enemy or not…given how he values life you'd think that'd occur to him at some point.

Oh well. It worked to my advantage x3