Taint

2 - Primal Grin

Lord Umbra threw his hands towards the fire-soaked sky and a jagged rip tore across the heavens as if they were made of soggy paper.

"Fuck that. No. I'm not going topside for some fucked up family road trip!" Kai stepped back, shrugging off the cajoling hands of his mother on his shoulders.

"Kai, don't do this." Lady Elanizia clutched Kai around his upper arm, her talons doing just enough to pinch. "You and your father haven't seen eye to eye on much over the years, but you must not deny who or what you are."

"I'm not!" Kai snarled, ripping his arm free from his mother's grasp. "I know who I am, and I'm proud of that! I just don't think a pack of wandering demons looking for an innocent to sacrifice is the best look in today's day and age."

"Enough!" Lord Umbra unfurled his wings and leapt at his son with liquid speed. "You're going topside even if I have to gargoyle you there myself."

"Dad, fucking don't!" Lord Umbra shifted from the pure side of winged beefcake he chose as his resting form to his hideous gargoyle-the one designed to make the Morts shit themselves. Every decade he changed a feature, and his most recent one was blank eye sockets-just empty pits where eyes should be. It was unnerving to look at, even for someone who could do the same thing to their own face.

"Like it or not, Malachai, you're still my son. When I say we're going topside, we're going topside."

Kai screamed as Lord Umbra's claws pierced through his chest. The pain sucked the wind right out of Kai's lungs, and the obscenities he longed to roar at his father got stuck in his throat.

"It's for the best, Kai," Lady Elanizia said. She spread her wings and the whole family shot up through the rip, Kai's chest shrieking with every flap of his father's wings.

The air cleared and Kai felt light-headed as they left the Abyss behind for the mild November of Vancouver, British Columbia. Coastal Canada, at least on this side, was known for warmer temperatures and a hell of a lot of rain. Kai shuddered. No matter how many times he came up here, it took a bit to get used to how clean everything felt.

Vancouver's skyline was something to behold, and that was saying a lot for a family that had been alive for as long as the Shadowthorns. They all gasped as they took in the glittering skyscrapers backdropped by snow-capped mountains.

"You should bring me up here more often, my lord." Lady Elanizia's eyes glistened in the bright fall sun. "I could stare at those mountains all day."

"Eye on the prize, Elani!"

Lord Umbra soared up to the tallest building in the city, circling once before coming in to land. He released his talons and Kai dropped the last few metres to the roof of the tower. The gaping holes in Kai's chest healed instantly, but no matter how many times his father hauled him around like that, he would never get used to it.

"Fuck, Dad!" Kai rubbed his chest to get some feeling back into it. "You can't just gore me and haul me around like a fucking slab of meat whenever you feel the need!"

"You listen to me, boy, and I won't do it anymore." Lord Umbra closed his eyes and shifted back to his impossibly hot resting form. "That's better."

Kai gazed out at the glittering lights of the sleeping Vancouver. "Why here, Dad? What the hell did these people do?"

The classic Shadowthorn grin spread across Lord Umbra's face. "I like to keep things fresh."