Sin of Fury

Chapter 2





Auro gave Talon his meal for the day and waited to hear what would happen. He stood on the other side of the door, listening silently. There was a rough groan, and then the soft scrape of plates against the ground.

He knew what would happen before Talon did it. In less than a second, the cup and plate clattered outside of the building. Auro pursed his lips in disappointment. He wouldn’t mind feeding the thing more often, but his strength had many cons—one of which was Auro’s possible downfall.

Silently, he left Talon to his thoughts. The pain in his arm was enough to appease Auro, and Talon would surely try harder to kill him if he tortured him anymore for the time being. The thought left a smile on his lips. He almost initiated the collar, thinking of Talon’s cries ringing behind him.

Almost.

Lazy, he strolled down the dark halls of his house. More a mansion than a house, the windows were draped with dark maroon curtains. The floor was covered in thick black, stainless carpets. It was one of his greatest prides, the immaculate house he lived in. Auro hated to have such a wonderful dwelling dirtied, and would kill anyone who thought to make a mess of it.

As the modern language would say, he was a spazz. Auro’s forehead wrinkled, his feet carrying him to a short pedestal. On it sat the head of his previous master. The gray marble was smooth and shiny. His frown stayed in place as he studied the bust, trying to understand what was wrong with it.

He could hear Lyne down the hall, in the kitchen. While they had no need to cook for themselves, or even eat at all, Lyne took pleasure in creating things. Auro was not so enthusiastic. He only ate what his brother gave him if it didn’t have worms festering inside it.

One of Lyne’s favorites was baked scorpion drizzled in seasoned blood with a splash of lemon.

Auro almost gagged, then finally found what was wrong with the bust. Affronted, he stared at the hairline crack that ran from the widows peak to the left ear. It was so thin that Auro might have missed it if it wasn’t for his exceptional eyesight. Sighing with agitation, hating that things aged, he made the bust disappear and replaced it with a replica. He looked around himself, pleased.

Everything was in order.

He continued down the hall, away from the kitchen. He feared that if he entered the horrendous room, he would be forced to try Lyne’s newest experiment. He thought, for a rueful moment, that if they were humans, this taste deficiency would not be a problem.

Then he shrugged, throwing the thought over his shoulder. To be human was to be weak, and to be weak is to be an abomination. Auro was greater than that, and would not bother himself with human problems.

The open window at the end of the hall was dark, covered with a billowing curtain. The harsh wind and cold weather didn’t bother him in the least. Talon, he knew, was affected deeply. Sometimes he would peak into the room, and the man’s normally dark skin would be blue. A smile would grace his lips and he would leave, pleased with mother nature.

The hall came to an end. Going left would take him to his room, going right would take him to Lyne’s. Knowing that his brother was busy cooking, the choice to go right urged him forward until he was in front of Lyne’s door.

Auro was not known for snooping. He didn’t know what drove him, but as he opened the door, he shook the blood that he had forgotten about off his fingers. The act was done in less than a second, and the door was opened immediately after. He covered his presence, lest Lyne be suspicious or wary enough to notice it.

With a wave of his hands, candles took flame and lit the dark interior of the room. The bed was grand, a king size of pure down. A deep violet duvet covered the massive space, with several pillows of the same design placed immaculately against the head board. There wasn’t a thread out of place, not a wrinkle to be seen.

He smiled at how alike they were. Feeling mildly curious, Auro stepped further into the room. It was only a second before he was drawn to the dresser. The curtains over the window were pure black. The satiny curtains reached the floor and rustled as they fluttered in a chilly breeze.He made them stop, unsettled by the sound.

Auro felt as if he were snooping. He felt as if he was defying his brother, or maybe betraying him. Whatever it was, it was uncomfortable and he hated it, yet he couldn’t stop his hand from opening the top drawer. His senses were starting to override. His heart, dead inside of his chest, would have been bursting with trepidation.

The wood creaked as he pulled it open slowly. Looking inside, he had no clue what he would find, didn’t even know if he was trying to find anything. It was empty. For some odd reason, the pressure in his chest eased.

He closed it—then froze, eyes drawing downward. There were more drawers, he told himself. He didn’t want to do it, he really didn’t…but he did. His pale bony fingers wrapped around the second handle.

The haunting flicker of the candle light made it all the more suspenseful. He told himself not to worry, that his brother was busy and he was being foolish for thinking that Lyne would dare hide something from him. A soft rasping sound had his eyes snapping to the curtain. He hissed softly, forcing it to be still with a slash of his hand.

When he turned his eyes back to the drawer, it had already opened.

His heart pounding, seeing the picture frame face down, hiding what he knew would not please him. A trembling, thin hand turned it over.

Auro hissed angrily, eyes flashing to a bright bloody red. The betrayer! his mind screeched, hand jerking back as if he had been burnt. The drawer slammed closed. The face in the picture stared at him, their eyes burning into his skull as he whipped around.

He did not see his brother. He saw the traitor.

Lyne walked in calmly, his face, so alike to Auro’s, expressionless. His hand landed on the bed post, watching Auro calmly. “Brother,” he said cordially.

Auro could not return the endearment. His chest was tight, the image seared into his mind’s eye. He moved from the dresser, making to walk past Lyne. He wasn’t about to admit that he had been looking through Lyne’s belongings, wasn’t about to admit that he was so hurt and traumatized by what he had found.

“You should have known,” Lyne started, putting up a hand as Auro made to leave.

“Known what?” He stopped, wanting to exit but not wanting to touch Lyne.

“That,” he said, gesturing to the dresser. “You should have known. I don’t understand why you look and think as if I have betrayed you.”

Auro turned cold, bloody eyes to Lyne. “After all this time, Lyne?” he asked bitterly, turning from him. The draping curtain was once again scraping against the ground, the sound grating on his nerves.

Lyne’s pale face turned cold. “One does not easily forget the tragedy of losing a loved one.”

“She was a whore,” Auro spat, crossing himself even though he was a creature of the devil. “She used us, betrayed us. Betrayed you!”

“It does not matter!” Lyne shouted hoarsely, his anguish filling the room. “I loved her!”

“She loved another man,” Auro hissed, disgusted with his brother. “I knew from the start that she was not what she seemed. I warned you—you failed to heed my warning and look what happened! The whore went to that bastard. Is this the reason you wish to keep him here?” Auro demanded.

Lyne shook his head, bloodied tears threatening to fall from his pale face. “Brother, you know that is not the only…”

“But it is one of the reasons, is it not?”

He stayed silent.

Auro hissed, pale hand slashing through the air. “Destroy that picture—it’s holding you to the past. If you must, take your anger out on him, but do not recall her when you are with me,” he snarled, his thin voice rising with anger. “It is an insult not only to me, but everything that I have done for us.”

Lyne stared at him. He wanted so badly to tell Auro what he thought of his highhanded remarks, what he thought of his rules and what he had done. He wanted to shout back, but knew that it would only earn him a cold shoulder and a long night alone.

His gaze dropped, and Auro stormed out of the room without another word.

Lyne moved to the dresser, opening the second drawer. Within, the picture of his Amena lay. The old frame was worn, the gold paint chipping. The glass was clouded, and the drawn picture that he had spent several years on was faded. He held it gently in his hands, feeling his chest tighten with emotion.

With anger, at his brother for being angry over the picture. With longing, missing her and her smile. With pain, because of her betrayal. With hate, because of that bastard. His fingers itched to wrap around Talon’s throat, to tear away every limb that had touched her.

It had been so long ago, it was amazing that the hate and betrayal was still so fresh. Auro would never know how it felt to lose someone who meant the world to them. It always amazed him, that his brother could be so close-minded. Now it only angered him.

Amena and Auro were the only ones who understood him. He loved them both equally, had cherished them. It had torn his heart when he realized that Amena was only a whore, using him for his power and position.

He laughed bitterly, hands tightening around the picture frame. How would she feel now, knowing that he had been so lowered in status, no one knew who he was? Before, grown, battle-scarred men had turned their head away with fear for meeting his soulless gaze. That had been his one pride, and he had not known that Amena called to the dark like he called to death.

Darkness had taken her. Death kept him alive.

Lyne stared down at the faded picture, knowing that the time for him to rid himself of her was growing closer.

He had promised himself that when they finally got Talon, he would give her up, forget her. By then, his revenge would have been exacted. It had taken longer than Auro had thought to find the man, and Lyne had only grown more attached. Even through death she held his heart in her grasp.

The last time they had been too late. A raid from France had been Talon’s downfall. A reputable baron with a beautiful wife, he had been the envy of many and, as Lyne was later told by his serfs, kept a strict hand and was horridly loyal to the king.

That loyalty had been his downfall. Lyne could remember running through his manor, praying that they weren’t too late. When he had barged into the room, he had known immediately that he hadn’t made it.

Talon hadn’t known about his powers, his ability to take over legions, hundreds, even thousands of men. The woman that he had died with had not been his real love, but some woman that his parents had arranged for him. The sex had not unleashed his powers, and before the raid. Auro had been ecstatic. The turn of fate had been in their favor, he had boasted as they made the long travel to Talon’s hold.

Auro had been wrong.

The flames had eaten the two alive. Lyne had stared in despair, in fury... They had been too late, once again. His chest tightened with remembered pain. His mind turned back to Amena, their last failure, a shame.

“I’m such a fool,” he whispered. His anguished whisper turned into an angry roar. The picture hit the wall with a bang. Glass flew at him, the explosion not bringing relief as he had hoped, but pain. He was truly done with her. No longer would his thoughts dwell on Amena.

Dropping his eyes to the picture, he stayed still. The silence within the room was deafening after the shattering glass. The faded piece of paper floated to the ground, the frayed edges brushing the wall delicately. He had held it softly for so long, had taken care of the picture as if it were the real woman. Now it was time to forget. To move on. To conquer and kill Talon.

It was the time to forget about the whore who had ruined him and sent him into his endless life.





~*~

“Are you as happy as I, brother?” Lyne asked over his shoulder.

His tunic was stained with blood, his dark brown hair matted with dust and other unmentionables. The two braids on either side of his face were longer than the rest,

just as Lyne’s were.

Auro nodded shortly, looking up at Lyne’s hut. He shared it with his wife, Amena, while Auro had the one adjacent to them. The separation had been painful for them both, but Auro had refused to be around them on their wedding night and every night after that.

“Come now,” Lyne teased, a lilt in his voice. “We shall have a feast! A feast greater than the Gods could hope for!”

His boast went unheard, for Auro was staring around them with a new look.

Suspicion.

“Did you tell Amena that we would be back today? Alix said his squire was taking missives for the families back with him. Surely you sent her a letter?”

Lyne shook his head. “I was hoping to surprise her,” he said, starting to frown. The house was too quiet, he thought absently. The normal laughing voice was not accompanied by her maids, nor was anyone walking about.

He frowned at his brother. “Should I have?” he asked tentatively. Surely she would have been home, tending to the household. Had she taken ill? he thought, leaving his brother in the greeting room. Throwing the curtains back to gaze into his room, he saw the unwrinkled bed sheets.

There was only one thing on the bed, a woman’s tunic. He walked into the room, barely noticing when his brother left the house. The fabric was soft against his nose as he breathed in her scent, his longing for her coming back in a rush.

He put the chiffon down slowly.

“My love?” he called out, praying that she was playing a game with him.

After waiting for several minutes, he came to the conclusion that she wasn’t. His anger ignited. Lyne strode from the room, mind racing. His general had come back early, after the first invasion. He hadn’t said why, and Lyne could really care less.

Maybe he would know what happened to his wife, he thought as he strode to the General’s hut. Several people backed away from him, mothers grabbing their children. Men turned their eyes away, looking down. It was normal for them, but this time… this time, it was because of something else—he knew it.

He knocked for several minutes, yet no answer came. Growing impatient, he opened the door and strode inside, knowing he was breaking the rules of etiquette.

The room was clean, spotless. A chair sat in the corner, a cart next to it. He walked deeper into the house, forgetting about the war that he had just come from and the fact that his general would be angered by his intrusion.

He walked farther into the place, his senses alert. The darkness of the house was unsettling, causing him to stay quiet. With his hand on the hilt of his sword, he stalked to the back of the house. The sounds that he heard brought him to a halt.

Lyne paused, hand stilling on the doorknob.

A deep voice mingled with a soft, breathy one on the other side. His face paled, hand turning numb.

Through the thing walls, the sound of slick flesh sliding together could he heard.

His ears rang. Feeling a raging, boiling anger rising within his body, his very soul, he shoved the door open.

He would never forget what he saw.

Naked and covered with a sheen of sweat, chest thrust into the air. Her legs were on either side of his body, the dark contours glimmering with sweat in the light. Her hair hung down her back, so pale it was almost colorless. Ragged moans were coming from the man under her slick body, and her hips were grinding against his pelvis.

One dark hand was wrapped around her waist, the other on her breast. Even Lyne, standing from the doorway, could hear how loudly she was breathing. The man under her wasn’t in any better condition.

Lyne stared for all of three seconds. Shock hit him. Next the pain. Then the unadulterated fury of knowing that his general, one of the most trustful men in the world, was f*cking his wife. His face devoid of all emotion, he strode into the room.

It took only a few seconds for the couple to register him completely. Amena screamed, the passion in her eyes quickly turning to fear.

Her terrified eyes stared up at him as his hand reached forth. She shrank back instinctively, whimpering, and scrambled off the general’s lap. Lyne grit his teeth against the pain he felt when he noticed the bite marks around her neck and breasts. He made to follow her. Amena glanced desperately at her lover for help. The general, however, just sat there, watching them with dispassionate eyes. He didn’t even blink when Lyne charged at her, didn’t even care that the woman he was f*cking just a few seconds ago was probably in mortal danger. Amena scrambled back, her naked back hitting the wall, her eyes flickering to the general’s impassive face, begging for help she wouldn’t receive. She screamed in pain when Lyne’s hand latched onto her hair.

“Lyne, please…” she begged, her voice high with panic. Her hands wrapped around his wrists, trying to stop the yanking.

He only snarled, tightening his grip. “I come home,” he started, looking at her naked body in disgust, “and I find my wife f*cking someone, other than me?”

His roar had her flinching. Amena dug her nails into his arm, trying to get him to let go. Lyne turned away from her in disgust and looked at the general. He was laying on the bed, watching indifferently. His hand was holding his head up, and he was laying on his side, still erect and damp with his wife’s sweat and juices.

Lyne stared at him, ignorant of his wife’s fearful cries and pleading. “You don’t care—at all?” he asked, the anger in his voice earning a raised brow.

“If you hadn’t intruded into my home, this wouldn’t be happening,” the general said carelessly, waving his hand. “Continue, if you may.”

His face contorted with rage. Hands numb, a red haze coming over his vision, he dropped Amena and lunged for the general. The urge to kill him was so overwhelming --the general, one of the strongest and most dangerous men Lyne had ever met, had grown to respect despite his hard demeanor-- his chest felt like it was boiling.

The strong fist that connected with his face made him shout, head falling back. Blood fell from his nose, the rush of pain that hit behind his eyes almost making him gasp. Instead of surrendering as he should have, he drew himself up to his full height and met the General’s gaze, the lure of retribution almost making him attack again.

“Leave!” the general roared, surging to his feet. Disgusted eyes met Amena’s and then Lyne’s. The fury in them was evident. “Leave here! If you so much as think that you can lay a hand on me without being punished—think again. Get out of here!” he shouted, the power radiating from the man startling and only fueling Lyne’s anger.

Amena’s eyes widened with terror. She dragged herself to the General’s side, wrapping her arms tightly around his leg. “Please, lover! Don’t let him—“

The General’s eyes connected with her pale ones, the repulsion radiating from him in waves as he jerked from her grasp. “Take your whore, you foolish bastard! Take her and leave my land! You made a grave mistake for ever coming into my house and daring to lay a hand on me.”

Lyne stared at him, wishing with everything inside of him that he could kill him. His own weakness sickened him. He vowed to get stronger, to annihilate the general who had wronged him so. Right then, he knew that he would do whatever he could to get his revenge.

Snarling, he grabbed Amena by her hair and dragged her roughly away from the general. Her pain-filled screams rang through the room, and when he would have felt his heart soften towards her, he remembered how she had been screaming for the general—with pleasure. His heart hardened, hate flowing through his veins. A growl of disgust mixed with her cries for mercy as he dragged her from the room.

He shoved her out of the door, watching unfeelingly as she slammed into the wall, a small gash appearing on her forehead. Eyes turning dead, the same time that his heart froze, he picked her up by her arm and shoved her into the street, naked as the day she was born.

The ultimate shame that came over her face was not enough for him. Lyne looked back at the house, the dark interior as eerie as the silence that it permitted. Feeling his face flush with rage as women and men turned to look upon the once happy couple, he took his sword from its sheath.

The cold slide of metal, the sick, gut-wrenching feeling that coursed through his body, and the pained eyes of his wife were not lost to him. Amena cried out in horror, scampering back, her hands trying to protect her modesty even as she ran from her enraged husband. She tripped and almost fell, catching herself with her arms at the last second. Hunched over and heaving, she threw a panicked glance over her shoulder.

Lyne advanced towards her, his eyes dead. The love for her that always seemed to shine in his expressive eyes was gone, probably forever. She crawled forward on her hands and knees, sharp, tiny rocks embedding into her skin and leaving abrasions that bled and dyed the cracked soil with blood. One of the men from the crowd kicked her in the stomach, jeering. She lurched and fell onto her back. The crowd laughed and screamed obscenities at her. Amena looked up at the sky with tears in her eyes. She was dead, finished. She had no one to blame but herself.

Her attempt to escape ended when she saw Lyne staring down at her. Sobs racked her body. Ashamed, she was so ashamed. Her vision had gone oddly constricted, the sides blacking out until there was only her husband’s face. The betrayal she saw there cut her. But she wouldn’t be here to regret it, would she? The fight drained out of her. She was tired.

Amena lay still. She was gone. She was finished. But she would be avenged.

As he stared around the gathering crowd, cheers and boasts ringing the dusty air, the wind picking up, Lyne saw Auro.

Silently, calmly, he leaned against the back of a building, watching with an emotion that Lyne could not begin to make out. The sword in his hand felt heavy, the hilt seeming to burn into his soul as he now stared down at the still woman staring up at him with pleading eyes.

His heart stopped in his chest. The knowledge that Auro had known this would happen hit him, almost bringing him to his knees. The welling tears in his eyes refused to fall, rage and betrayal taking their stead.

As he brought down the sword, the crowd crying louder along with his wife, his whisper was lost among the ominous howls of the now-raging wind.

“You will know this pain one day, Talon.”





~*~





Auro looked up at the soft slide of the door. The candle burning beside him flickered in the breeze, the words of his book fading from sight for only a second. He set it down slowly as his brother entered the library with soft steps.

Lyne was quiet as he sat down, something that Auro was wary about. There was a small puckered cut on his hand, and he knew immediately what Lyne had done.

“I am done.” Lyne spoke quietly, head bowed.

Auro smiled, putting his hand on Lyne’s shoulder. “I am glad, brother. I knew it would only be a matter of time til you were completely done with the remembrance of that whore.”

Lyne nodded, bringing his pale face up to meet Auro’s soft eyes. “I do not know why I held onto her for so long,” he murmured, brow stooping over his expressive eyes. Auro smiled again, more adoring this time. It was a pleasure to know that he was the only one who could read his brother so well. Any other man would have thought Lyne was as dead as a corpse inside, but he knew better.

“Sometimes… I get so angry, Auro. I want to kill everything. I know that is what you wish, but when it came to Amena… Auro, it was so bad…” His voice broke on her name, just as his heart pitched.

Lyne was finally over her memory, yet the piece of his heart that she had taken with her, had crushed and torn…it would never be the same. Auro knew that if the time came—and it would—Lyne would become the more superior wrath. His fighting was more extensive and his emotions, so uncapped and free, would take over his common sense. One day, Lyne would be greater than him.

It bothered Auro naught. His strength and anger would be what kept them alive until they had Talon’s full power.

“Lyne,” he started, brushing his thumb along his brother’s jugular. Matching crimson eyes met his. “What news of the woman have you found?” He had let his brother have the honor of seeking the woman.

Suddenly, Lyne’s eyes seemed to sparkle. “The best! It seems, my brother, that she has been living under our noses the entire time.”

Auro cocked a brow, his fingers tangling in the thin hair at the nape of Lyne’s neck. “Is that so, dear one?”

Lyne nodded, leaning back into the chair. “Remember the woman’s nurse maid, the last time around? The weird occurrences that she spoke of, and how they corresponded with Talon’s former birth?”

He nodded, pleased at the turn of the night. “Oh, I remember. How could I forget?” he asked dryly, already knowing that his brother’s information would sound foolish at best.

“She was originally born in Florida,” Lyne started, ignoring his droll comment.

Auro nodded, telling him to go on without words. The smile that Lyne gave him was salacious. “My men reported back to me that the nurses who birthed her were willing to give them some interesting information. Before I get to that, I would like us both to recall what the midwifes told us the time before last.”

He waved his hand for Lyne to continue when he looked pointedly at Auro to make sure he was listening. “Yes, well, they said the fires flickered, then burst. The candles through the room exploded, and even some of their utensils seemed to spark with life.”

Auro knew the words were spiced to make his claim more interesting, yet he listened with interest, appeasing his brother. “They were not born in the same year, mind you, but at the same time—midnight. Don’t shake your head at me with that foolish smile, brother. What I’m saying is serious.

“He was born at midnight, on the first of January. Same for the woman, but she was born only several years later. Six years apart, yet their birth is concurrent. Just as it was all of the other times—it was the one thing that we never accounted for.”

Auro knew he was right, but couldn’t bring himself to believe what Lyne was saying. It was a silly notion, one that he would not be able to support until he saw the proof. “How do you know that that is what’s linking them, brother? Millions of babes are born at the same time,” he pointed out, moving his hand down his brother’s shoulder in a caressing motion.

Lyne smiled, taking Auro’s hand to place a small kiss upon his knuckles. “The night those two were born, the hospital lost its electricity. They were born in two different hospitals, the only babies born that night, and they both caused a great amount of lost energy. Our men reported back to me that by the time the children were out, the wives had turned into something close to demons. The way that the nurses described it, they said, was as if the mothers had become possessed—“

“And how are our men getting this information so quickly when she was born so far away?” Auro inquired, raising a brow.

“I sent them to Orlando some weeks ago,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “Brother, you amuse me so,” he said fondly, taking Auro’s arm in his and rising from his seat.

Lyne was so jubilant to be talking of his discoveries, that he simply could not stay still. His brother’s arm was cold in his, yet he knew that Auro was feeling the same thing. The house was chilly, but held no effect on them.

“And she lives here now?” he asked, taking them aimlessly down the hall.

Lyne nodded, smiling with appreciation. “She moved here several years ago, in fact.”

“And what is this woman’s name? I had not asked before because I wished to let you have your fill of detective work—I know that it pleases you,” Auro commented, leading his brother down the left and back. Dark curtains blocked sunlight, enhancing the chill that was a permanent in the house. It was an inconvenience, and they always had to replaced the memorable works that were within their house when they became too damaged.

“Jamie Saxton,” Lyne answered, the name a small whisper on his cracked lips. Auro smiled at his brother, incisors flashing.

“You have plans for her, I assume?” he asked, coming to a stop in front of the door that held Talon. They dropped their arms. There was no need to physically touch when their sadistic intent was so close, so perfect, that they were actually one instead of two beings.

“Oh, yes,” he replied softly, his voice a hiss between his sharp teeth. Auro pushed the door open with a flourish, the approval in his eyes clear as Lyne stepped past him.

“Well, then. Why not test these plans on Talon while we wait?”

“Let’s.”

And together they stepped into the room.

The door closed with a soft whoosh.