Chapter 5: Part 1

“Seize that beast! Dead or alive!” The king shouts. The soldiers rush after Emilia as the king jumps down from his elevated throne skipping the rush down the stairs. He yanks Victor up by his arm.

“Get up!” The king shouts. 

The sting of Emilia’s scratch on Victor’s arm stings. He looks down to find blood on his arm. When he looks down at his abdomen, a large scratch rests there as well. She had slipped when she moved her paws to the floor. She probably doesn’t even know she’s scratched him.

Victor slowly straightens her body to slow the pain of the scratches. A servant hands him a shirt nodding to Victors wounds then the king. Victor turns to see his father’s back to him, so he quickly slips the black shirt over his head covering his wounds. The king turns back to Victor.

“Your men are weak because you are weak.” The king says in disgust. He takes a dagger from Victor’s boot, “You had this tool the entire time. You could’ve killed the beast when it was on top of you.”

The king grips Victor’s throat cutting off his son’s air supply. The king glares into his son’s eyes as Victor struggles to breathe and push off his father’s grip.

“Weak! You are no man. You are no king. You are not worthy of being my son.” The king drops Victor to the floor abandoning him in the throne room.

Victor coughs rolling over to his stomach then slowly stands on his feet. Yes, Victor is a failure. He has to hold his abdomen because he’s in pain, because he’s weak. He couldn’t protect himself from a beast or his own feelings. Just because the beast reminded Victor of the beautiful spirited Emilia, Victor was easily swayed from killing the beast.

Victor shouldn’t be a king or a man. Men are strong. Men have no weaknesses. Men show no mercy. Men show no emotion.  Men have no feelings other than contentment and anger. Men make hard decisions and do what needs to be done. Victor is not a man.

Victor climbs the stairs with one hand tightly holding the railing and the other holding onto his abdomen making sure his guts don’t spill onto the floor. He follows the blood tracks that smell like the beast’s blood mix with his blood mix with a scent of Emilia. Victor’s eyes turn blue glowing brighter with each step he takes up the stairs.