Monster

Halfling

It was raining again.

A rattling cough shook itself free from a pair of ancient lungs, and Midion wiped his grandfather's fevered forehead, knowing deep in himself that it was his last hour. Rain drummed at the windows, muffling the wretched sounds slightly. The old man had been wavering for a sennight, his voice raving and his once wise amber eyes glowing with madness. But then it had faded into this lethargic pre-death, where he did nothing but breathe those short rattling breaths and cough and stare dully at nothing. It was no way for one of the Old Blood to die.

Kiere crept into the room, his crooked nose twitching at the scent of ill health and death's proximity. But his eyes crinkled slightly in sympathy when he saw the young man hunched beside the prone form lying on the sleeping mat.

"Brother, come and let me watch him in your stead." He spoke softly, but Midion flinched and shook his shaggy head fiercely.

"When he goes, I wish to be there." he rasped. The elder placed his arms around his kin, hugging him hard.

"When he goes, he'll know you have been there for him. You haven't been taking care of yourself." he noted, peering at his younger brother's grey face. Midion's eyes slid away.

"I did not have the time." He reluctantly allowed himself to be pushed towards the door to the rest of the house, pausing when the rest of the clan shifted away from the entrance. The pups curled sleeping in their mothers' arms as they sat against the walls, the older brood swayed on their feet but remained, the men and other women of the clan stood quiet, eyes somber as they kept vigil for their elder.

Midion hunched his shoulders and shuffled past, and felt the warm touch of companionship when family and clan touched his cheek, rubbed his back and drew him into quick hugs, but all knew when one of their kind needed solitude. He stepped outside onto the wide porch, waiting like everyone else was, but he alone felt the true pain of losing that which was loved most.

The minutes passed and he watched the stars, felt the strange feral pull of the moon on his skin, coaxing him to shed the thin flesh and run untamed and unbound by such human things. He was tempted, so tempted, but he had to see this through. Then he'd run.

Another quarter of an hour passed and now Midion saw the faint light of the dawning morning through the rain's haze. He remembered when he couldn't stand the rain, or sunlight for that matter. When he had first been adopted into the clan as a mere pup and was afraid of everything including his shadow. Chael had brought him into their hearth, had raised him like his son though he had never had one of his own. And now Chael was dying.

A low mournful wail came from inside and he felt the tears break free. As the pack howled to send off the soul of their dead to the Otherworld, Midion howled in grief, for the loss of his father- his mentor, raising his face to the sky and giving his own long, painful cry to chorus with the others.