Chapter 15: "I have come for blood."
The air had led the room. The moment I laid eyes on her. She was covered in cuts. Some small, and some slightly bigger. Along with purple and green bruises. Her dress had been splattered with blood. Her hair was disheveled. Parts of it clumped together. Dust and leaves had found their way into her locks. Seeing her this way… was unlike any feeling I had encountered. I felt so much all at one moment. I felt the pain, the hurt, and the shame. My heart was breaking in my chest. I had no choice but to stand there as each piece fell. Her skin was pale; whiter than snow itself. There wasn't a single blemish that would go unnoticed. The pale blue color of her lips. She looked half alive. She had curled herself up on the dirty wooden floor. I was sick to my stomach. I fought the urge of my knees buckling.
I reached out towards her, but then stopped at the last minute, pulling my hand back.
Was being touched something she wanted?
"Kagome," I said quietly.
My voice sounded so unfamiliar… it was so wounded. I had no right to be wounded. It was selfish, especially not at this moment. Not after all she had experienced. The sound of her cries was unlike anything I had ever heard.
"Please." She whispered. "Make him go. I am begging you," she said, her voice cracking.
Her words were a punch to my gut. She did not want me here.
Did she hate me? Did she never want to see me again? Was she angry with me for not protecting her? Did she blame me as much as I blamed myself?
"Sesshomaru..." Sango hesitated. "She wants you to go. I am sure, she does not want you to see her this way."
She hunched over Kagome, blocking my view of her.
"I cannot-"
"Sesshomaru! This is not about what you want. This is about what Kagome needs. I understand that you care for her, but not right now. She needs time. Right now… she needs you to go."
"Am I supposed to stand by and do nothing?" I bit out harshly.
"You are to return home, and when she is ready. I will send for you."
"You are asking too much of me," he whispered. "The woman I love is hurt. She is hurting. She has been taken, beaten, and viola-... I cannot just leave her."
"Sesshomaru I understand, but I am here. She is with me. I will keep her safe. If you can do nothing. Hunt down the son of a bitch that caused all of this. Make him pay."
I bit my tongue. I took one final look at her. I swallowed the lump in my throat. I'd tucked my tail between my legs and left as she wished. I wandered through the dark woods. I followed the sounds of civilization until I saw specs of light up ahead. Branches slapped against my arms and face. I ignored them. I felt empty. A hollow shell, moving on its own. The only person who mattered the most to me. I had let her get hurt.
I had failed.
I had failed her.
Miserably.
Those words kept replaying in my mind. Those images of her will forever be etched into my memory. Her body was covered in cuts and bruises, along with dirt and grime. Her hair and its disheveled form. Most of all… the quick glimpse of the empty look in her eyes. I could not escape it… No, she would not escape this, not for quite some time. Every touch, smell, and memory will stick with her forever. Her physical wounds may heal… but there are wounds deeper than that of any that can bleed. I was selfish. This had happened to her, not to me. I had no right to complain or be hurt on her behalf. This happened to her. I stopped at the edge of the cliff. I peered down at the town.
The sun had long set. The townspeople should have been in their homes by now. My eyes scanned the number of houses. The rat was clever. Still, he was not bright enough to have already left the town. Especially while injured. He would try to hide in plain sight for the time being. My eyes instantly went to one in particular. It was larger than most of the houses in town. He had been able to pay those men. He would have had to come from money. Not a single light came from the house. I quietly leaped through the night, pouncing from rooftop to rooftop; until I had found my prey. I could smell the familiar scent.
The scent of blood.
The same blood I smelled at the hut in the woods. With each step I took, the smell of blood grew stronger. I pressed my ear against the wood. I could hear shuffling coming from the other side.
Next came the voice of a woman. Then that of of a man. I knew who that voice belonged to. I would recognize it anywhere. My hair stood on end. Suddenly, that empty feeling was gone. It was replaced, by a blazing white-hot rage. It shot throughout me. My body moved on its own before I could even form a thought. My leg shot out and kicked the door off its hinges. The cold night air quickly rushed in with the dirt and leaves. I could smell it on them, the fear. So thick that it was stifling. I stepped inside. I did not need light to see them cowering in the corner. I grabbed a chair and placed it where the door once sat. I calmly sat down.
"Light the fire," I commanded.
I could hear her scurrying around in the dark. Until moments later, a single lamp was lit. There he was. A frightened little boy. No, a cornered animal with a crazed look in his eyes. As he clutched his bloody-wrapped hand to his chest. The woman, whom I could only assume was his mother, hurried back to his side. She was a small thing. She could not have been past the age of fifty. Her skin sagged, and wrinkles sat in every nook and cranny. Her eyes filled with fear and confusion.
"Sir please-"
I put my hand up and she immediately clamped her mouth shut.
"You are both afraid. Good. You have every right to be afraid. No… you need to be afraid."
"Does your mother know what you have done boy?"
I watched him glance back and forth between his mother and I. Beads of sweat quickly formed on his brow and trickled down to his chin. I could see the flashes of emotion in his eyes. The instant regret of the poor choices he had made. He had hurt what was mine.
The elderly woman looked up at him. "What have you done now?" She whispered harshly.
It seems the welp has always been a problem
"Keep your mouth shut." he snapped; his eyes not leaving me.
I flexed my hand. Every fiber of my being told me… no it screamed for my reach across the room, and snatch him by his tongue. Rip it out and feed it to him. To pluck on his eyes and feed them to crows. I wished to flay him and then douse his body in salt. To rip out his innards and strangle him with them… but I restrained myself. Such things would be too kind for him. I needed him to know true pain. The pain she had to endure… and I would be the one to inflict it. No matter how long it would take.
"Tell her what you have done. Or, I will. Either way, she will come to know the monster her poorly-raised offspring has become."
The anger in her eyes had disappeared and turned into worry.
She bowed down, touching her forehead to the ground.
"Please, forgive my son for what he has done."
"Forgiveness? Tell me why you think your cretin of a son deserves my forgiveness."
She did not move from her spot on the ground.
"Please, I will do anything. There must be something!"
"Look at me," I ordered
She slowly looked up at me. She began to shake when we locked eyes.
"Tell me, woman. Can you turn back time? Hmm. Can you erase what this failure of a boy has done?"
"Please… tell me what has he done?"
"This heap of nothing; this boy of yours. He has conspired to have a woman stolen from her home in the middle of the night, by a group of men. Not only did these men take her… some took the liberty to violate her further, in other ways. Your boy kept her isolated and locked up in the middle of nowhere, kept her chained to a wall as if she were some wild animal… then he left her for dead. All because she did not choose him! She suffered this because his feelings were hurt!" I said through clenched teeth. "She did not need it, but where was her forgiveness?" I asked, whispering the last part.
She sucked in a sharp breath, as her eyes went wide.
"Now tell me woman… can you fix this? Can you make things right?"
My words were laced with such venom. She had flinched at each word I spoke.
The rims of her slides were bright red as tears spilled down her cheeks.
"Please," she whispered.
"It is as I thought. You cannot fix anything. You brought this worthless welp into the world. If not for you, he would not be here."
She just continued to sob silently, not looking away from me.
"Do you know who I am… what I am?"
She nodded.
"Good. Then you are aware of what I am capable of."
Again, she nodded.
"Please," she begged again.
"I am bored of your please. They fall on deaf ears. Now tell me. What good are your pleas to me? You cannot undo what your son has done. Fix what he has broken. What good are you to me? You were unable to raise your cunt of a son properly. That is how you have failed me. For you to think, there is even the slightest thing, you can do for me now. When he has traumatized the woman that I love, it is insulting."
She quickly turned back to him. Then she grabbed him by the back of the neck. She shoved him downward, forcing him to bow beside her.
"HURRY PRAY FOR HIS FORGIVENESS!"
The boy said nothing. He only shook.
"Raise your heads."
They both slowly looked up at me.
I slowly leaned towards the pair of them. "There are no amount of prayers that can save you. I have come for blood." I leaned back into the chair. "Now, who will pay me what I am owed?"
She knew I had meant what I said. Now, it was only a matter of waiting. To see which of them would crack first from the pressure. I could see it playing out on their faces. Whether they should, or should not betray one another. What other ways out of this were there? Humans boil down to one thing at the end of the day. Selfishness. It is her son's downfall. Ultimately, her motherhood was hers.
"Please, I know he has done something so foolish but please. I beg of you. Spare my son. He-"
He pushed his mother forward and she fell at my feet. He quickly shuffled towards the wall.
"Take her! She has already offered herself to you!"
Pathetic.
"Your son has forsaken you."
I could see the hurt in her eyes, as she looked over her shoulder at him. I leaned further down and stopped next to her ear.
"Yes," I whispered. "Take a last look at him. The ungrateful scum, you call a son. Look at the waste of space you have wasted years of your life on. Do you see how quickly he has chosen to turn on you? The one woman who has done nothing but care for him. This is the boy you have raised."
I stood on my feet.
"Arise."
She shakily straightened up.
"Look at him," I ordered. "Look at your son."
She did as she was told. She had stopped sobbing. She quietly awaited her fate.
"Do not fret," I whispered to her. "He will be joining you… eventually."
In one swift movement, I broke her neck. Her lifeless body hit the ground with a heavy thud. Her lifeless eyes were stuck open. They pointed in his direction. I went over to him. I towered over him. He shook in the corner like a wet dog. He shook his head from side to side wildly.
"No! You cannot kill me! You have already killed her! You have gotten your blood! You have gotten what you have come for, you must keep your word!"
"Gotten what I came for," I repeated. "This," I gestured to his mother's dead body. "Was simply a way for me to pass the time. A way to get my thoughts in order. So, that I may figure out the many ways I will make you wish you had never laid eyes on her."
I grabbed him by the ankle and yanked it upward. His head flew back slamming into the ground.
"You will die boy, but not yet. Not until I have made you pay for every ounce of fear, violation, and shame… that she has felt. I will take my time with you. You will wish that I granted you a swift death. Each time you think it has ended. I will drag your mangled soul from the gates of the underworld each and every time. I will turn you loose only when I see fit… when I am satisfied."
"No, you cannot take me!" he shouted, tears in his eyes. "They will not let you take me! I have been kind to them…. They will save me!"
Such quaint delusions.
"They? These townspeople will not lift a finger to save you. They have turned their backs on you. The same way you have turned your back on your mother. You have forsaken the woman who brought you into this world. What do you think they will do for you? A mere stranger. The lamps in the homes that were once lit; have been put out. I have caused quite a loud commotion. If anyone had planned to come for you, they would have done so already. As you have discarded your mother. They have made the smart choice to discard you as well. I will drag you through these very streets. Let us see if they will come to your aid."
I kicked the chair out of the way and dragged him out the front door. I continued to drag him through the streets of the town. He cried out in pain as he was dragged over every stone, piece of wood, and shard of glass. It was quiet, except for his screams. It was as if the town had been abandoned.
After all, they have seen what happens when you oppose the God of War.