He recoiled away in sheer terror! He stumbled back away on his shaking legs. The two were...he sat in shock. Where had Brice Collin gotten them from?, he thought furious. They were not supposed to exist any longer! He had been on the quest to exterminate their species. He had been one of the people to slaughter men, women and children. It had been his job, and he had done so without asking questions. He should have asked...
One of the two began to cry. He felt like a heel. The one he had connected to for that brief second sat watching him. He didn't want to do it...but he edged slowly back towards the smell of terror and tears. He was shaking from the amount of courage it took him to return to them. He remained tense. Paralyzed by his own fear, but the crying began to slow. The boy touched him gently, petting him carefully to keep from frightening the cat even more. Shadow pushed his nose into the boy's bare stomach and inhaled his scent deeply. He held it memorizing the smell. This done, he turned to the other one. It was a girl, and not related by her smell, he thought in surprise. Did Collin mean to capture a breed able pair? He looked up and licked the girl's face. She had a classic cat nose and pointed ears and the usual furred face...just as he remembered their race. So cute, so sweet, so gentle...and he had helped to eradicate them from all of the planets. All because they had befriended and hidden a known, rogue ancient. They had loved him, accepted him, and paid the price. The gentle creatures hadn't deserved the slaughter, but the ruling council had declared them overly dangerous. They had been breeding with him. That ancient male...Too late now, he thought sadly.
He waited until the two children slept and he moved silently away. He felt dozens of hands stroking his fur as he passed...all small. He eventually found someone not interested in touching him. This creature was huddled into the wall away from him. He heard the chains move, and knew that the stranger saw him. It was awake. But it made no movement to reach out. It was afraid and cautious. He pretended he didn't know the creature was there, using his blindness to his advantage as he stumbled across the creature's feet barely held out from his body.
The man moved swiftly to catch him from falling, telling him many things. One, he was considerate of others. Two, he knew the cat was injured badly. And three, he cared. The strange man lifted him as he caught him. The chains were loud as he moved. He was careful to hold him gently, preventing accidental injuries. So he knew his bones were frail. He nuzzled the shoulder he was drawn against and licked in warning. The stranger tensed but didn't drop him like he had expected. So he sank his teeth and drank and drank. The man held him tighter without thought and Shadow made a sound of protest. It had hurt!
"Sorry," the man whispered relaxing his hold forcibly. It was a little known language he spoke. Very old. He licked the wound closed sealing it shut as he backed away lazily. "You don't seem to be a prisoner here," the man mused softly. "You have free run of the place. What do you think? I know you are blind, but...How can you stand it?" The cat turned to face him solemnly. "You understand me, don't you? They are babies...Just babies! How can you stand to do nothing, knowing what he intends to do to them?" Finally, he understood what the creature was asking. Pedophiles disturbed him. Shadow blinked repeatedly.
How could he explain that it didn't bother him the way it did most people? Their race was born steeped in sexual atmospheres. It brought out their instincts, magical abilities, and bound their ties ever closer. It was how everything was done! A virgin of their kind was a weak creature no matter the age...It wasn't so much when a child was taken that disturbed him, so much as how it was done. Done badly would scar an individual for centuries or longer. Done well, would increase the individuals ability to survive and grow powerful. They were not human! Since when had their own race began to think that they were so frail! Their kind reacted differently to such things. He had been initiated into the pleasures of the realms of sexual satisfaction before even turning two. How could he complain? It had been wonderful! There wasn't a moment in his life that he didn't think about it. For him...the terror had come later! "You don't disapprove...Do you?," he asked the cat in confusion. "Why?"
He growled irritated that he needed to weld his mind to another person so soon. This was becoming a very big habit!, he snarled. He sought the creature's mind; it was difficult. The man was old. When he finally penetrated the natural barriers that seemed to solidify as they aged, he found a willing mind. Fortunate, since he wouldn't have been able to do it, otherwise! He drew the creature into a distant memory. Time had blurred the faces and features into generic shapes, but the impressions were clear.
A man had adopted him from right after his birth. He still had his parents, but this man was closer than even the bond he had with them. The man was allowed to do with him as he pleased no matter what. It was once their way. A companion had more right to the child than anyone save for their mate. He hadn't mistreated him; he had grown very precocious. He had adored and trusted his companion in every way imaginable...at the time. He had been content, happy, and spoiled by the man. Loving his place in life. And why not? Why would he protest being adored and loved and sexually seduced? He hadn't once been hurt, disapproved of, or made to feel inferior! Why would he protest children finding the same? He did disapprove of it being forced, however. Just not it being done.
"My Gods!," the man whispered when he came back to himself. "You are one of the original Clan! Not one of An'dunn Iere's little freaks! You were a Vampire before he moved the survivors to his lands to protect them. No wonder you didn't like those kids! You lived on the same planet with them when they ran wild; when they were screwing that damn heathen! Before the planet revolted into utter chaos and destroyed itself. You are old, my little cat...You are one of the few to even understand why An'shion was NOT a god, but a wicked creature steeped in sin. Very old..." Shadow stared at where he guessed the man's face to be and gave him his coldest look. "As old as Antonie? OR older?" Older, Shadow thought remembering. He remembered the Sieve Gadoma's birth. A sight few living could remember. He had actually been there at the moment he had entered the worlds.
But there was NO WAY IN HELL he was telling anyone that! Especially not this creature before him!. He didn't see himself as an ancient; even though, he was too old to count his age. And Antonie was known to all as The Ancient of this Age! He also didn't see himself as very powerful. Yet he was older than a Guardian. And initiated into sex at an early age. He had been very powerful when he walked the worlds as a child, so he must still be...yet...Yet, he was just a shadow! Not a player...He didn't want anyone to see him, or notice if they saw. He wasn't an ancient walker...He was simply Shadow! And he liked it that way...
