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“What Hunters did not realise was the Sin driving the Legendary Shifter was freed with our deaths. Even now, they don’t care. Unfortunately, it didn’t dissipate. The Sins realised they needed a Legend to survive, so many of us found ourselves with multiple Sins. On top of Devastation, I also hold Vice and Megalomania. Which means I have three Sins to please. Luckily, as humankind grew, so did the shadows of the sins they carried. I don’t need to feed my Sins nightly now, maybe once a week or a fortnight.”
“Holy crap,” Willow gasped, her eyes wide, and Jase saw the hundreds of questions that she was holding back. He appreciated her fortitude.
“We’ve been hunted, tortured, and murdered and for what? These were human Sins we carry. Your kind made them, yet we, the innocents, were punished with carrying them. I’ve seen too many of my brothers and sisters die horribly. And killed by those who called us monsters. How can we be beasts if these Sins are human traits? These are your creations, your sin, your monsters humans created that were shoved into an innocent race. And for that, your people hunt us down.” Jase could not keep the bitterness from his voice.
“No wonder you hate humankind. And then we pollute your oceans,” Willow said softly.
“Exactly! Humans ruin everything. They were given this beautiful world to live and play in. And look what they’ve done to it. Huge swathes of deforestation, pollution of the seas, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, wildfires caused by lazy hikers, contamination of the land, and landfills. Take a look, Willow, and tell me why I shouldn’t hate humankind,” Jase exclaimed.
“Oh, I don’t disagree. I watched my best mate die from being poisoned with toxins. Her death probably means nothing to you, but it destroyed me as a teenager. It made me bitter against those who used their power and money to hide their illegal activities,” Willow said with bitterness.
“I very much doubt your friend died like Basilisk or Harpy,” Jase spat, and his anger was all too apparent.
“Tell me,” Willow urged.
“Basilisk was a good and loyal brother. Hunters caught him and trapped him in an Iron Bull. Do you know what that is? A bull made of iron in which you could insert a prisoner. Hunters built an extremely large one and entrapped Basilisk inside. Then, every day for twenty years, they set a fire under him and cooked him alive. And daily, for two decades, Basilisk called out to his brethren.
“We could feel and hear Basilisk’s pain and screams, but the iron dulled his location, and we could not find him. When finally, Vampire did, but Basilisk had gone mad. However, Vampire freed him and set him free in the Hunter village. They both feasted well that day, and the Vampire had the task of killing our brother. Basilisk couldn’t live trapped in his own mind. As Basilisk passed, Vampire claimed he died with gratitude in his eyes. Our mistake was not eliminating the children. We left them alive. They grew up to be Hunters, and so did their children. Had we killed them, Harpy might still be living today,” Jase said brokenly.
Willow waited for Jase to regain his composure, and when he spoke, it was with great sorrow.
“Harpy was the gentlest of us. She was kind, loving, and funny. And she was my little sister…” Jase’s voice softened even further as he talked about Harpy. “Then Hunters captured her. They scaled a cliff and managed to subdue her and carried her away. These Hunters were descendants of those who’d tortured Basilisk. Have you seen a real picture of a Harpy, Willow?”
Jase pulled at a necklace she’d not noticed around his neck and dropped a locket in her hands. He watched as Willow opened it and studied the two miniatures inside.
The first image was of a smiling, gorgeous woman, the second a nightmare-inducing monster. The creature had a woman’s face with long blonde hair, but its body was a combination of a bird of prey’s tail, legs, and claws. Harpy also had no separate arms, but her wings ended with claws.
“Harpy could use her wings as arms and her claws as hands. She was one who adjusted quickly. As you can see, there was no hiding her form amongst the humans. When Harpy was taken, she didn’t even put up a fight; she had no desire to harm anyone. Hunters tortured her for several years, learning from their ancestors’ vile methods, such as trapping her in an iron room to hide her location.
“They inserted hot rods through Harpy’s beak, which was sensitive. They pulled her feathers one by one, causing intense pain as each feather linked to a nerve. Her feathers allowed her to sense things in the wind and turn at the drop of a hat. They scorched her feet, poked her eyes out, and did much more. When I found Harpy, she was nearly as crazy as Basilisk. Picture your eyes being burned out daily, only to regenerate each night. Or your feet to be cut off, only to regrow painfully during the nighttime. That’s what humans put Harpy through. After Harpy’s loss, we ensured we put up a fight, so they never took us alive.”
“Oh God,” Willow exclaimed, glued to the locket.
“I found her. Harpy was crazed and babbling nonsense and begged me to end it. Harpy claimed her life would be an endless reminder of the torture. As I was escaping with her, she shoved me to one side. Hunters had baited a trap to capture another. They knew we’d come.
“A scythe dropped from the ceiling and beheaded her. I destroyed that village, men, women, and children, and no lie, I bathed in their blood and tortured them like they’d done my sister. Nobody escaped. Not even the little blood-thirsty bastards who yanked her feathers out and burned the nerve endings with hot irons. I made sure they felt her pain,” Jase said vengefully.
Willow swallowed, and Jase wondered if she was now afraid of him. It would be no less than he deserved. Willow held the locket gently in her hands.
“Anything else?” she asked.
“There’s more,” Jase admitted.
“You’ve hunted the Hunters, haven’t you?” she murmured.
“Yes. I have taken out nests of them. With my powers, I can flood an entire village and drown them. Then I can make the water disappear and the mystery remains that they drowned, but how?”
“I’ve heard stories of things like that,” Willow drawled.
“Probably me behind them,” Jase admitted.
“And what of this mate thing?” she asked.
“That’s new. We’ve been alone for thousands of years. And then, recently, Vampire found his mate. Nobody expected it, and we were all stunned by it. But they formed a real bond, and his wife developed a shifter side. She can change her human appearance to look like someone else so she and Vampire can go out and not worry about Hunters.”
“And you think we’ve got that?”
“I know we have. Willow, I feel the bond forming. It’s fragile but there. Plus, you are gaining more of my powers every day. That is a shifter thing that you would share my abilities. The sea creatures sense who you are and have accepted you.”
