And the Hearts Were Missing From All But One.

Prologue

  I remember it clearly. Like it was yesterday. I was maybe six, and I was playing hide and seek with Mother. We had been playing for sometime, maybe about two hours, just to pass the time until father came home from hunting. 

 We lived quite far from any villages, but mother and father didn't seem to quite care. Father was a dragon, and also happened to be half shape shifter, so he was able to hunt large deer and such quite easily. Mother was a human. She met my father when she was fifteen, and had me when she was eighteen. Her and father ran away from her home village after her father said they couldn't marry. Father built them a cabin close to the mountains, and about a year later they had me.

  It was my turn to count, so I turned to face the fireplace at the front of the main room. I heard mother call from the room over, the kitchen, "Don't be peeking!" Before the backdoor opened and shut. I then started counting. One, Two, Three, I shifted in my spot, casting just a quick glance at the doorway behind me. Four, Five, Six, I covered my eyes again, suppressing a giggle. Seven, Eight, Nine, there was a quiet, muffled scream from outside. My little mind thought nothing of it, it only peaked my interest for a brief moment before I went back to counting. Ten. 

I jumped to my feet and raced for the door. "Ready or not, here I come!" I called, stumbling into the kitchen. There I almost ran into my father, who was lugging a large buck over his shoulder. His silver eyes, just a few shades darker then mine, scanned me over, then he smiled and ruffled my black hair, walking past me and carrying the deer into the backroom. I watch him for a few moments before racing towards the door, pushing into the trees outside. 

  It had just rained, so I wasn't able to follow her scent all to well. So instead I started going to her favorite hiding spots. I started with the large, dead oak that was only a few yards from me. She liked to climb high and hide among the dead branches. No luck there. Next I went to the other side of the house and checked the small patch of Lily looking flowers that stood almost as tall as me, with petals almost as large as my head. She wasn't there either. As I began to turn around, a  a weak, muffle whimper sounded from a few feet away, deeper into the trees. I turned to it, more curious then afraid.  

 When I had pushed the undergrowth aside and looked around, my eyes landed on mother. She was laying on her side is a large pool of blood, her once white clothing now stained crimson. She was no longer breathing, and I didn't realize until a few years later that that one whimper was the last sound she had ever made. That her death was not quick, but painful and slow. Her chest had been torn open, slashes ran across her neck and arms, and one of her legs had been ripped off at the knee, now laying a few feet away. 

  At first, I was fascinated. I had never seen so much blood in one place at such a young age.  It wasn't for a few moments, when I circled her once or twice, nudging her gently, that I realized that she was dead.  I stood, stunned, then stumbled away from her body, letting out a gut wrenching scream. I was young, and had never experienced death before. I was confused, and didn't quite know what was happening. I simply knew that mother was no longer alive, and that something had done this to her. 

  It didn't take long for father to come running, pushing through the trees in the form of a magnificent silver dragon, his original form. He looked around, then quickly spotted mother, then me. He didn't have the same reaction as I did, not even close to the same. He simply stepped over her, as though she wasn't there, crouching beside me. He shifted to his human form and I quickly clung to him, my small mind not realizing that he didn't care that she was dead at all.

  "This is how it goes," He said to me in a soft tone, stepping back over her as he carried me out of the trees.  "Death is a part of life, without one there isn't the other. " He smoothed down my hair, resting me in the crook of his arm. "You'll soon realize that death is a part of you, as it is me." I shook my head, confused. "What...what do you-" He cut me off, pushing the front door open. "You'll see, my son. You'll see what I mean soon. Just another few years and you'll be ready." He set me down and shoved me towards the hall. "Now go sit in your room, dinner will be ready soon." 

 I stumbled, turning to look at him. "B-But...what about mother...?" I asked softly. He shrugged, his gaze on the door. "She must have been attacked by an animal of some sorts. She always wanted her body to return to the earth, so we'll leave her where we found her." He said, then waved me off. 

 I turned and began to sulk my way down the hall, dragging my feet as tears fell down my cheeks. Instead of going to my room like he said to, I went to mothers room, climbing into the bed and wrapping the blanket around me. Against my own will I started to break down, sobbing quietly. I took a deep breath, crying a bit harder when her smell wafted off the blanket as I sniffled. Before I knew it, I was asleep, my tears staining the white sheets. 

  Later that night father came and woke me, leaning me into the kitchen. He had set up the table like it would have been, with us sitting across from each other. He left mothers spot untouched, and at the time I didn't really care. I just wanted to go back to sleep. I ate me food at a slow pace despite this, I felt as though without mother I could no longer function properly. Father stared at me the whole time,  but I only glanced at him once or twice. Each time I did, there was something in his eyes. At the time I didn't know what it was, but now, thinking back, I realize that the look in his eyes was the beginning of pure insanity.

  As I finished up and moved to put my plate in the sink, he stopped me. "Ash, I want you to know something." He said to me, placing his hands on my shoulders. "Your mother was weak, one of the weakest humans I knew. I loved her for a time, but after you she simply grew weaker and weaker. It disgusted me, and though you may not have noticed, you will get what I'm saying when you're older. I want you to know now that Mirabella was never going to get far, she was to weak to even protect herself. And I warn you," His voice suddenly darkened and became more malicious. "If you're weak like her, you'll end up with same fate. Weak boys have no place in the world."

His words terrified me, but I gave a simple nod, shifting on my feet. He then smiled, letting me go and forcefully shoving me towards the front room. "Good." He said, watching me stumble for a moment before managing to catch myself on the door frame. "Now go start a fire, it'll start to rain again soon." I nodded again, and walked towards the fireplace. If I had of known that her death was the start of my years as my fathers slave, I would have ran from the house. I would have ran until something found me, and I would have welcomed death.  But I didn't know, and I was to young to realize that anything was wrong. I was to naive to figure out what was going to happen next.