Sons of Hellfire: Book 1 [Wattys 2016]

Lucien - 9

Lucien woke up to screaming.

He jerked upright, tangled in the blankets he had been sleeping in, on Aeric's bed. After Vajeel had healed Aeric's wounds and cleared them all of infection, she assured Lucien that he'd be perfectly fine except for scars that would would be with him forever. He had asked her why the Soldier's Cure couldn't just take them away like Aeric's other scars but she had told them that since the chimera was a magical creature, a magical salve won't be able to take away the effects. Vajeel had also told him about the little scar on Aeric's neck that Lucien was thinking about but had not asked outright. Magical and untouchable; made before Vajeel found him. Therefore, she left it.

Now, Aeric would have four lines running diagonally on his back, angry and red, for the rest of his life.

They didn't want to move him from the spot on the couch and since they had no guest bedroom, Vajeel ordered Lucien to sleep in the other boy's room for the night. It was too late for Lucien to travel back to the castle now and both of them knew that he wouldn't really be missed. So Lucien had spent the night surrounded by weapons. Surprisingly, he slept quite comfortably.

Until now, when he heard Aeric screaming downstairs.

He threw the blankets off of himself and dashed out out of the room, slamming against the wooden railing to look downstairs. Aeric was on his knees on the ground, next to the couch that he had probably fallen off of. He had his hands clamped over his ears and his eyes screwed shut, as if he were listening to a tumultuous amount of noise. He was yelling loudly, so loudly that when Vajeel came out seconds right after Lucien, he had to yell to be heard.

"What's going on?!" He shouted but before Vajeel could reply, Aeric's yelling turned into words.

"MAKE IT STOP, MAKE THEM STOP!"

Lucien nearly flew down the stairs, grabbing Aeric by the shoulders and shaking him roughly. "Aeric!" He said desperately. "What's going on? Listen to me! Aeric!"

But the other boy's cries could not be penetrated and instead Aeric curled up even tighter, his fingers digging into his hair and skull. "THEY'RE SO LOUD, THEY WON'T STOP!"

"Vajeel!" Lucien called out in warning, turning his head to see the old woman rummaging through her book stack that was pressed up against a far wall. "What in Artus am I supposed to do?!"

Aeric's eyes were darting around the room wildly, not even seeing Lucien. If it weren't for his hands keeping him steady, the boy would've thrown himself into a flailing state.

"Vajeel!"

"Here," She said calmly, carrying a book titled Creatures of Magic over to them. She dropped it on the small table and began flipping through it, finding the chapter titled Chimera. Her finger began to run across the page and Lucien watched in surprise as Vajeel looked through the books with her eyes closed. Finally, she tapped on something and opened her eyes, looking at Lucien. They ignored the hysteric boy to the best of their abilities.

"Prince, did you kill the chimera?"

Lucien nodded quickly. "Yes, it was-"

"It doesn't matter. It screamed when you killed it, correct?"

Lucien hesitated, wracking his brain for the memory. In his dragon form he wasn't too aware of anything else but killing the beast and checking on Aeric. "Yes, I think so."

"Chimeras are very tricky beasts to be killed. When they are, they release a sort of 'parting gift' to its killer by screaming with its last breath. But because you are a magical beast yourself, it did not affect you. Instead, it landed on Aeric, and now he is dealing with its effects."